Courier Woes

Kashikoi’s dark-furred tail flicked as she wiped sweat from her brow, her cat ears twitching as she noticed her purple-dyed hair and ear fur fading to turquoise. The bright colors contrasted with her gray skin tone, and her green cat eyes narrowed.

The “town” was just a collection of scrap metal, cobbled together to resemble buildings. There was the sound of a shard gun firing somewhere in the settlement, but it was such a common occurrence that Kashi didn’t even flinch... But she did undo the clasp of her holster for better access to her blaster. She wrinkled her nose at some unknown repugnant smell and pulled her leather jacket up over her red tee-shirt with a black heart.

“It’s so dusty here,” she said aloud to no one in particular, but loud enough for other creatures around her to hear. “I think I got too used to Aerios.”

Once she’d called the wastelands home, but now the gleaming sky cities above were her domain now. She sauntered on her merry way, humming a ditty to herself as she went, several of the wastelanders looked at her quizzically.

“Mad, she is,” a woman with squirrel ears and tail muttered.

Kashikoi, still walking past, waved at a large scarred human who was giving her an unfriendly glare.

“Hiiiiiii! I see you staring at meeee!”

The bearded, slightly overweight man in overalls - not knowing how to respond - merely blinked as he watched her past. A rabbit-eared girl covered in grease wiped her sunkissed brow as she came out from beneath the vehicle she had been working on. Kashikoi waved to her.

“Working hard! you go girl.”

“Uhhh, thanks?” the mechanic muttered.

A horse-eared man was trading blows with a man with bear ears, while a human woman watched with folded arms, face twisted in disgust.

“Men are dumb, yeah?” Kashi asked.

“Pah,” the woman scoffed. “You have no idea.”

Around the next corner of the grimy, workaday Wastelands, the far too perky neko could see her destination: a large canvas tent. Guards in head-to-toe scrapmetal armor, stood watch - shard guns in hand.

“Hey there! I’m Kashikoi, the baron’s courier! Here to speak to your bossman!”

The two remained stoic as one peeled back the flap of the tent.

“He’s waitin’ for you,” one of the guards rumbled.

Kashikoi clapped her hands together and sauntered past.

“Thanks, doll!”

The guards looked at each other.

“Doll?” one of the guards questioned.

Kashikoi strode into the tent with a wide grin.

“Hey there, Mr. Bossman! I’m Kashikoi!”

The “bossman” was a man with white hair and two tufted lynx ears, one of which had the top portion sliced clean off. He stood to his full height, his yellow eyes boring into Kashi as his damaged ears flattened. She smirked, assuming the stub tail he had was likely twitching behind his back.

“So, the high and mighty Sky Cities have come down to request an alliance with a lowly Wastelander chief like me!”

Kashi blinked.

“Wow, buddy, you’re coming in pretty strong. I’m literally just the messenger.”

The man folded his broad arms. “Is that so, and what message do you have for Huarang?”

Kashikoi looked around, “What’s a huarang?”

The lynx man puffed out his chest.

“I am!”

Kashi’s tail flicked. “Ohhh! Sorry, they completely mispronounced your name up there.”

Huarang slammed his palm on the table. “Typical of you sky dwellers!”

Kashi smiled. “Well, I was a wastelander, originally.”

Huarang lifted a brow in interest.

“You were?”

Kashi nodded, her tail flicking back and forth. “Till... well, things happened and...” she stopped talking for a bit, mouth open. Her cheery nature faded briefly before she instantly snapped back. She shook her head, as if waking from a dream. “...Well, the baron took me after one of his ships crashed on our house.”

“So he kidnapped you?” Huarang asked.

Kashikoi shrugged. “I guess?”

“That’s life,” Huarang said flatly - like someone who had lived several.

Kashi’s ears flattened as she frowned and looked down at the scuffed, carpeted floor. An awkward silence hung between the two before Huarang cleared his throat and Kashi’s wisecracking smile returned.

“Alright. The terms of this alliance?” Huarang asked.

Kashi smiled as she handed over a rolled piece of parchment.

“Right here on this official-looking document.”

Huarang unrolled it. His eyes seemed to scan the paper, but Kashi could tell something was wrong. The lynx-eared man held it at arms length and did a mediocre impression of someone reading.

“Hmph, hmph, hmph,” he grunted.

Kashi put her hands on her hips.

“Well?”

Huarang blushed, his ears twitching in anxiety. “Uhhh, well… it’s not acceptable, no. No, not at all.”

“I’m sorry?” Kashikoi asked.

His ears fidgeted. “Maybe if we remake some provisions…”

Kashi’s tail flicked. “I’m sorry... You can’t read, can you?”

He slammed his fist on the table once again. “No, I can’t! Not much time to read down here! Or learn! Kids too hungry to learn anything, and adults too busy stealing scraps!”

Kashi’s tail twitched. “It’s not a problem, bud - things are tough. Would you like me to read it to you?”

Huarang stepped around the desk and looked Kashi up and down. The cat-eared young lady leaned backwards, instinctively going for her blaster before simply standing and fidgeting while he studied her - frowning the entire time. She had kept her blaster because - she had to admit - killing him wouldn’t solve anything and would only get her killed too. Finally, Huarang inhaled and relaxed.

“...Please?” Huarang pleaded in a voice far too soft for his frame.

Kashikoi flicked her tail. “You got it, bossman.”

The neko cleared her throat dramatically before she began to read. “Dear Huarang, I, The Baron of Aerios do hereby propose…”

“I’m not into men,” Huarang blurted.

Kashi’s ears flicked. “What?”

“I’m not marrying the baron, proposals are for marriage.”

Kashi giggled. “No, no, not that kind of proposal, he wants to establish an alliance with your tribe.”

Huarang let out a guffaw.

“Ha, the mighty baron needs help from us wastelanders! I knew they were all soft up there in their flying, gleaming, cities.”

“Hey! Rude! I’m reading this!” Kashikoi chided him.

Huarang waved her words off.

“He wants an alliance. Why?”

Kashikoi rolled her eyes and scanned the next few paragraphs without reading aloud.

“He thinks having allies on the ground... would be useful... especially for the ruin expeditions he sends down,” She said, squinting, then looked up. “Less work for his own troops if you and your tribe keep raiders away. And he can focus on his usual thing of scheming against the other city states, making war with them, and crushing any political rivals. All that good stuff a noble does when they’re not stuffing their faces with treats.”

At that mention she pulled a bar of chocolate from her pocket and took a bite.

“Sorry, just remembered I had this! Looooove chocolate so much.”

The lynx-eared man sighed. “Alright, if we’re going to protect his little expeditions we want things in return! I demand….”

Kashi held up a hand, “You’re going to need to put it in writing, I have a bad memory.”

Huarang growled: the idea of writing being even more daunting to him than reading. Kashikoi smiled, her finger twirling a blue phial of liquid in the necklace she wore.

“I could write it for you, unless there’s someone here that can do it.”

“Fine,” Huarang relented as Kashi sat at his desk.

“Alright bossman, what are your demands?”

“I want two hundred blaster rifles with ammunition,” he said. “They’re far more accurate then our shard guns. And fifty pistols.”

Kashi blinked. “So, just weapons? No food, water, blankets? Nothing else useful?”

“Oh, yeah I guess we can ask for that too. Put a line in there about how mighty we are, and such,” he said, waving his large hand dismissively.

Kashikoi lowered the number demanded of weapons, and added some humility he wasn’t showing, and compliments. She added things that were slightly more important to the inhabitants of the Wastelands, like medicine, blankets, fresh water...

...And a pallet of textbooks for learning how to read and write, “if they had any available.”

“Oh, yes, I’m making it clear how strong and powerful you are, they’ll meet your demands. And maybe add some more.”

She handed the paper to Huarang, “Going to need some form of signature, a symbol or something?”

Huarang’s ears flattened. “Hmm... Ah!”

He drew a knife from his belt and Kashikoi went into a defensive stance, but he didn’t attack instead he sliced his left palm, wincing as he pressed his thumb to the wound and then pressed the thumb to the paper.

“There, that will do it. Gaaah, that smarts.”

Kashi’s tail flicked, “Yeah… that definitely proves it’s you.”

She folded the paper and stuffed it into her satchel.

Huarang poured a half drunk bottle of something alcoholic on the wound and hissed in pain.

“Oh, there’s got to be a better way to leave my mark.”

“Learn how to write?” Kashikoi blurted.

“Out!” Huarang shouted. “Go back to your sky city!”

“Sure thing!” Kashikoi smiled as she scampered out of the tent before he threw something at her.

Alliance secured. That was all that mattered.

She made her way back to her hover cycle and readied herself for the trek back to the cities above, when a white-haired woman with goat ears and horns in bedraggled clothing ran straight for her, trying to flag her down. Almost crashing into Kashikoi, the wild-eyed, goat-eared woman grabbed her shoulders.

“Please! Take me with you…. They’re after me.”

“Who, what?” Kashikoi asked.

“Them!” she pointed.

A squad wielding shard guns, and wearing far better armor than Huarang’s men were rushing Kashikoi’s position, one of them fired, shards of crystal arching over the Neko’s head.

“Woah! Not nice!” Kashikoi squeaked as she squeezed off a few shots in retaliation forcing the encroaching force to break for cover.

“Get on, weird lady.”

Kashikoi started her cycle and gunned the throttle as more shards were fired at her. The strange woman holding the neko from behind for dear life.

“You owe them or something?” Kashikoi shouted.

“Just drive!”

“Here we go again,” Kashikoi sighed.