Chapter 109: Negotiations

FieryKathy

“Four street beef tacos for the lovely lasses.” We are barely at the shack as Scott hands over four tacos over the counter into Hilda’s hands. Hilda hands me two and keeps two for herself.

“Thank you.” Hilda takes her bank card out of her pocket and beeps it against a sensor in front of her. 

“And thank you for the patronage.” 

I inspect the tacos more closely, giving them a good whiff, because everyone knows that part of the eating experience includes smelling your food. The steak smells juicy and the onion gives it that extra little bit of spicy in the nose, together with the chipotle and chili powder that’s sprinkled on top of it. 

Scott looks at me with anticipation. “Go on, lass, take a bite.”

Hilda, who’s already eating her first taco, starts talking to Scott. “Don’t push her. She must’ve the complete experience.”

“Right, right…” He leans back and stands straight behind his counter. The experience matters most. But I’m always so… burnin’ up with excitement when I get new customers!” He pumps his fists excitedly a couple of times. You can tell he’s really passionate about what he does. 

I decide not to let him wait for much longer and take my bite from the taco. I don’t know what I was expecting but this taste… It doesn’t even come close to any other taco I’ve ever eaten. So much so that I need to cover my mouth before I accidentally start making inappropriate noises. “Ohmagawdess… Itsh sho good!”

“Haha!” Scott cries out in victory, waving his arms above his head. “Another satisfied customer.”

After I finish my first taco I look around the stall and notice that there’s not a single mention of a pricelist anywhere. “Hey, Mister Scott, can I ask you something?” I look up at him. 

“Just Scott is fine, lass.” 

“What does one taco cost?” 

“Should’ve seen that one coming.” Hilda laughs. 

“Fair enough.” Scott laughs as well before he leans on his counter. “Let’s just say I practically don’t make much money on them, if any.” 

“He uses only the best of the best for his ingredients, and those don’t come cheap.” Hilda nods. 

“And I don’t have any price lists because I don’t want people to come here because my food’s cheap. I want them to come because my food is the best around!” He balls his fist again and raises it in the air. 

“But… how do you manage to stay in business then?” 

“We have an entire network of like minded people who pool all our money so we can all keep being in business. Couple that with a couple of generous and incredibly wealthy patrons… If we keep breaking even, more or less, then money really isn’t an issue.” 

“So it’s a bit of a secret organization of taco people?” 

Scott laughs once more. “In the network we have many people who sell many different food items, it’s not like we all do tacos. That’s ma thing, y’know?”

“No taco conspiracy. The free taco masons, if you will.” Hilda winks. 

“Shush, Hilda, that name still needs to be voted.” Scott puts his finger in front of his mouth before the two of them start laughing together.

Hilda and I finish our other tacos and prepare to get going again.

“Shouldn’t we take some with us for Sam, Nikki and my sis?” 

“Hmmm. Well, I would want to, but…” 

“Are ya talking about taking my tacos on some kind of takeaway?” 

I nod at Scotts question.

“No way in ‘ell!” He calls out. 

“Why not?” I ask, a bit taken aback by the sudden denial. 

“They need to be eaten at the OPTIMAL temperature!” He pinches his fingers to accentuate. 

“But…” 

“No, there’s no way I can do that.” 

“...” 

“I’m sorry lass…” 

“Ami, let’s go.” Hilda puts her hand on my shoulder. 

“Wait a second.” I walk up to the counter and put on my biggest kitten eyes. “M-my girlfriend would really love these, and all her friends would love to come and eat here…” 

“Argh.” Scott bounces back in fear. 

“She’s the captain of the basketball team and is very popular… j-just think about all the word of mouth advertisements she could give… All these people who are now missing out on lesser tacos…” 

Scott gulps. “A-a-alright. How many do you need?” 

“I think six will do.” I pull away from the counter and smile at him, while Hilda stares at me, her mouth wide open.

“I can’t believe you just got him to do that… That was pretty scary, Ami. You are one dangerous kitten.” She whispers at me. 

“Teehee.” 

It doesn’t take long for our bag of tacos to arrive in my arms. Hilda pays for them swiftly. 

“J-just don’t let them get too cold, okay?” 

I nod. 

“We’ll go straight home from here.” Hilda smiles and puts on her helmet. I do so too and make my way to the sidecar. 

“And don’t put them in the microwave! For the love of all gods in the heavens above!” 

Hilda and I laugh as she starts the engine of her bike. And just like that we are on the road again. I keep the taco bag close to me before I realise something. 

“I think I can actually keep these warm with my magic!” 

“Oh?!” 

“If I just cast my blue ball of death at a lesser intensity, I could just keep it nice and hot.” 

“Ami, please don’t burn down my bike.” 

“It’s fine, I can repair it if I did.” 

“... that’s fair but I’d still prefer it if you tried not to, to save me the heart attack, y’know?” 

I giggle and concentrate on my cast. As I had theorized, I manage to cast it in such a diminished form that it forms a bubble of warm air around the bag. The spell doesn’t even glow so oncoming cars won’t get spooked because of my magic. 

“That’s definitely some impressive control.” Hilda says, after she glances at me for a second. 

“It’s the same principle as the heal I used during the basketball game. So it’s kind of your idea as well.”

“Eh, you give me too much credit, kitten.”

“No, I’ll call it the Hilda technique.” 

I can hear Hilda chuckle at my reply and shake her head. She does not go into it more than that though, to keep her eyes on the road like a responsible adult. 

We arrive back at Hilda’s house not that long after, I can feel the tacos are still quite toasty. Hilda parks her motorcycle in the garage and after having undressed our motorcycle gear we make our way up the stairs. To find my sister, Nikki and Sam huddled next to each other on the sofa. With some music playing from in between them. 

“What are y’all doing?” Hilda asks as she puts the bag of tacos on her living room table. 

“Ah, Sam was just showing us this band she likes.” Nikki looks back at us. 

“It’s called Coheed or something.” My sister turns around as well.

“Coheed and Cambria. It’s an old progressive rock band.” Sam nods. 

“Oh! I think I know of them.” Hilda says while getting a couple of plates from the kitchen.

“I love them, they are really great.” Sam holds her phone close to her chest. 

“How come you’ve never told me of them?” I tilt my head at my girlfriend. 

“My mind just gets too hazy with cuteness and fluff when I’m near you, sweetie.” 

“Awww.” I blush. 

“Nice safe, Sam.” My sister chuckles and rubs Sam through her hair. “So, what’s in the bag, Hilda?” 

“Some crazy good tacos.” Hilda hasn’t turned around yet as my sister gets to the bag in the blink of an eye. 

“Tacos you say?” She takes a whiff. “Oh, damn, they smell really good.” 

“Where did you get them?” Nikki casually follows her partner to the table, while Sam heads over to me instead to give me a kiss.

“At a shack in the forest.” 

“Oh, that place.” Nikki nods. “I’ve heard other people talk about that.” 

“Sounds shady, but I don’t care, it smells too good.” Lise says as Hilda arrives with the plates. 

Hilda starts dividing the tacos on the different plates. 

“How did you keep them warm?” Lise asks as she sits down with pure anticipation. 

“Ami used her magic.” Hilda replies almost immediately. 

“Wow, nice. So you learned a new skill then?” My sis looks at me, which forces me and Sam to stop kissing and cuddling for a second. 

“Uh, not exactly…” Sam keeps her hold on me tight, she clearly doesn’t want to stop hugging me. My body doesn’t mind, which was obvious because I was purring quite profusely. 

“... I’ll let you explain when Sam’s done.” Lise chuckles as she unwraps her first taco. 

“I won’t ever be done though.” Sam giggles and whispers into my ear. “I just want to hold you forever. I’ll survive on my little purrito.” 

“What if I promise you tons of kisses later?” I whisper back. 

“Hmm, what about some cuddling and pouncing on top, to sweeten the deal?” 

“Sure.” I giggle and give her a little nom on her neck. 

She shivers for a second. “And I wouldn’t mind a couple of those either…”

FieryKathy