Chapter 1101 1101 Still Killin’ Time



Kat had borrowed a few chairs from the stacks in the back corner. Kat had grabbed four chairs. One for Sylvie, one for Callisto, one for herself and one for the chess set. Lily didn't need a chair, because Kat was perfectly happy, and Lily very willing to just use Kat's lap instead. Kat herself didn't really need a chair if it wasn't for the fact she was trying to seem normal, but Kat was trying to be cautious. Kat and Lily chatted mentally as they pretended to watch the chess match.

Two matches in, a woman in floral dress rolled up to their booth and said, "What are you two doing?" 

"Playing a game of chess," said Callisto with a glare. 

"No, those two," said the woman, pointing to Kat and Lily. 

Kat and Lily glanced at each other confused and Kat answered, "Watching a chess match," 

The woman frowned at that answer, her glare intensifying. She went to say something else, but the words caught in her throat. Instead of saying anything, in the end, she just huffed and stomped away. "Well that was fucking weird," muttered Kat. 

"No swearing," said the woman as she continued on her way. 

Kat looked at the woman's retreating back. "I stand by what I said," 

"I do not know who that was, but I believe she was just someone looking to create problems," said Callisto. 

"Yeah, that's ol' Sue," said a guy, presumably a father, leaning against a post in the booth next to them. Kat looked over to see a man in jeans and a striped flannel shirt. Behind him, his kid, a young girl with messy blonde hair, was napping in the corner. They'd done up a rather nice looking model volcano, complete with a town nearby and a bunch of details on the eruption of Pompeii, that they'd presumably tried to mimic. "She just likes to cause trouble for people. I think it makes her feel powerful," 

Kat nearly choked as she heard the name. Sue! That woman's name is Sue! Oh my god, if she's really called Sue that's too funny. Imagine a meeting of the Sue's! "Why was she trying to find issue with us though?" asked Kat, trying not to laugh. 

Man shrugged, "Eh, she might've thought you were easy targets till she got a good look at Callisto," Kat, Lily, and Sylvie looked at Callisto who didn't seem to be doing anything special at all. She wasn't even wearing her normal maid outfit, which was the weirdest part honestly. They saw nothing wrong with Callisto… until what the man said caught up to them. 

"Wait, how do you know Callisto?" asked Kat, "Or…how did you recognise her?" 

The man chuckled, "The name's Hank, and my daughter's name is Alice. As for how I recognise Callisto? Well, I'm a builder by trade and Callisto has released quite a few little devices to make my job easier. The fact she lives nearby and my boss is always trying to get a meeting with her, means I've been told who to look out for. Not sure if Sue recognised her or not, but Callisto just has that glare down," 

"I don't really see it…" said Kat uncertainly with Sylvie and Lily nodding along. 

Hank just laughed, "Bah, you're clearly family so I doubt it seems all that scary too you, but trust me, it's pretty intimidating," 

Callisto took this observation in stride and simple smiled back. The shiver that ran down Hank's spine seemed to imply it wasn't a nice smile, but the girls still couldn't see anything wrong with it. "So, what have you and Alice designed?" 

"Ah, it was mostly Alice's idea. I did read the rules and whatnot. Wouldn't want to get her in trouble. We went with building a model volcano. Bit of a classic, and perhaps it seems a bit simple compared to whatever genius ideas I'm sure you came up with, but Alice has my knack for building tings, and her mother's knack for destroying them, so this seemed like a nice compromise. Had fun building it anyway," said Hank. 

"Is that really something you should be saying about your wife?" asked Lily. 

"Well why not," said Hank with a grin, knowing how he'd sounded. "She's the sight manager for a demolitions company. Always tells me I should pack up my construction job and have some real fun at work. I don't think I could keep meself interested if I'm being honest. Explosions are cool, sure, but every week? I feel like I'd be sick of them within the year, let alone the decades me wife has been working there," 

*I'm somewhat surprised there's enough need for a demolitionist in our town.*

[Well Kat, we're in the city now! Plus, they're probably just based here and move to where things need to be taken down. Old and unstable buildings, buildings that just need replacing. Tunnels for the train lines perhaps? Demolitions is a surprisingly wide field so I suspect Hank's wife will always have a job.]

"I see," said Lily, "If that's the case, what sort of career do you think Alice will try to get into? If she takes after both of you, that is," 

Hank shrugged, "I can't rightly say. Alice likes to say she'll be a firefighter, but last year it was astronaut, and before that it was superhero. All very dramatic and necessary jobs… but I don't think Alice has any firm idea of what she wants to do later in life just yet. Still, she's young and got time to work on it. Are you both still in school?" 

Lily and Kat shook their heads, and Lily went first, "No, we finished up recently… or well, more like last year, which… is a while ago now."

"You manage to find work?" asked Hank, curious. 

Kat and Lily nodded. What do we tell him?

[I don't know!]

*Come on Lily, my brainier half, please come up with a reasonable idea.* 

[Um… trouble-shooters? Perhaps? We work for a decent sized company that deals with all sorts of problems. We get called in when necessary. We're pretty much told to go somewhere, and we go, check out the problem, fix it and then leave?]

*Well it sure is accurate enough.* Lily said, "We mostly do troubleshooting work. Our company has a bunch of clients, and when a problem comes up, someone from our company gets sent in. Sometimes it's handyman work, sometimes we're looking for lost files, sometimes we've got to help train up new people, it varies," 

"Huh, bit of a strange thing for someone so young to get into. I'm surprised you both have the skills for something like that," said Hank with a raised eyebrow. 

Kat decided to jump in with, "I grew up in an orphanage, and I was sort of thrust into the role of caretaker alongside Gramps, the old man who runs the place. I know a little bit of everything because of that. Fixed a few broken pipes, know how to maintain the lawn and garden, I know how to keep people on task. Really whatever was needed and Lily…"

Kat gestured at Lily who took over, "I focus more on the clerical side of things. In school I loved to research anything that caught my interest so I know more about computers and tech, alongside the more technical stuff and horrible filing systems. Kat and I work as a team most of the time, with one of us taking a supporting role if it's not our area," 

"I s'pose  that makes sense," said Hank with a nod. "I know we have that sort of trouble occasionally, though the boss' wife just handles it usually. Not sure we need a dedicated team for it…" 

"Indeed, that's why the company we work for just does troubleshooting. We have people reach out to us. We're not just a department in a large company, if that makes sense," said Kat. 

"Ah, yes that does make sense," said Hank with a nod. "So what sort of project did you work on… I'm afraid I don't know your name," 

"Sylvie," said Callisto. 

"Sylvie," finished Hank. 

Everyone looked at Sylvie, who shrank under everyone's gazes. Sylvie looked at Callisto, then Kat who both had reassuring smiles. It helped Sylvie find her courage. "Um… I wanted to do a paper on what it would mean if people have wings. That… that's why Kat is wearing those fake wings. A lot of people go to birds, but we're mammals, like bats so I took a different direction. I um… I've got a lot of calculations regarding the needing wingspan, the force necessary for flight, and what uses they might have, from flight, to threat displays, and mating dances," 

Hank nodded as he glanced over the calculations on the walls, "I'm sure that was very difficult," 

"The math wasn't too bad," said Sylvie, "The real issue was finding the biological proofs necessary for it as well as adjusting the skeletal structure to compensate for wings in all of the diagrams and models," 

"Right…" said Hank, not really understanding.