Chapter 36: A Bloody Steak

Rick flinched as the aura blades sliced out, actually cutting through the edge of his jacket. They weren't blunted... and they were getting uncomfortably close to his skin. He tried to flee with a Bunyan's Step, but Emily managed to keep pace with an equal burst of speed, now driving one of her blades directly at his head.

Somehow he managed to evade, throwing himself back and bouncing off the ground, but Emily barely paused before coming for him again. He didn't really think she would hurt him, yet that lethal look on her face almost frightened him. They had sparred before and she had never been this intense. After missing him so much, shouldn't she have been nicer to him?

Instead she kept attacking relentlessly, driving him to the edge of his ability and forcing him to almost constantly use his defensive core against her blades. Each blow that got through felt as though it was calculated to exactly test his limits, which was no mean feat. He would have been glad for the opportunity to train if he wasn't so exhausted from his ordeal in the demon realm. His body might be better, but his mind needed more time.

At last he stumbled backward, raising his hands in defeat. "Sorry, I'm through. I can't take any more." He dropped forward to brace his hands on his knees, catching his breath. "I'd almost think you're trying to cancel our date tonight."

"No." He'd been joking, but Emily just shook her head and regarded him seriously. Fortunately, she dissipated her aura blade. "No, I am looking forward to it. But I thought that since you would relax during that time, it would be good to push you to the brink now."

"Good strategy... I guess..."

She stepped up beside him and brushed some of the dirt off his elbow, her fingers lingering. "I just don't want you to be hurt for real. But you did well enough today... let's get there in time for our reservation."

Emily left the training chamber and he followed, though only after rubbing a few places he thought might bruise. Then he padded his way out of the Recluse's Retreat. The guards still treated him like a guest who was there solely based on Emily's discretion, which he supposed was true. He'd looked up the prices online, and while the hourly rates were reasonable, the membership itself seemed frustratingly exclusive.

He found that Emily had already reached the parking lot, and when he got close she manifested her car so that the passenger door was facing in his direction. When he got in, he grunted in pain, though he managed to stifle the sound through discipline. Emily didn't seem to notice, simply turning her keys in the ignition and heading out.

"What lit a fire under you now, of all times?" he asked. She didn't answer even when he looked over at her, but Rick just watched and waited, knowing that she would speak eventually.

"I don't want you to be hurt. I'll defend you if I can, but I don't think you want to rely on me and there are limits to that strategy in any case."

"I'm glad you're concerned, but why now? I mean, Granny Whitney didn't have my best interests in mind and I had some other nasty things hanging over my head. I actually got maimed in that Slayer match in the Underground. My life is much safer by comparison now - honestly, even getting stuck in the demon realm wasn't as bad as it could be."

She looked over at him, gaze piercing. "Rick, that was a murder attempt. You need to take it deadly seriously."

"You mean Jack?" Rick was taken aback, though he understood her thought process a little more. "I really don't think it was that bad, he just hit me to make me perform worse on the exercise. He had no idea that there would be a reaction like that."

"I disagree. Based on everything I've read about such anomalous disruptions, they can be extremely lethal to the unprepared, and they're more dangerous the closer you get to them. Striking you in the middle of combat was an attempt to end your life."

"You think he'd try to commit murder in front of a bunch of GLA and demon reps?"

"He obviously felt confident enough to commit assault."

"I don't think it would go beyond that. When he threatened me back at the golf course, he just said he wanted to maim me-" Rick saw Emily's fingers whiten on the steering wheel and realized that he'd made a mistake mentioning that. "Look, he's just someone with a grudge. I've had people who hate me trying to beat me up for most of my life. I'm not saying to just ignore it, but I don't think it's as serious as you think."

"You may be right, but I see no reason not to take the threat seriously." She glanced over at him, brow furrowed. He thought it was in concern for him, not anger, but he wasn't actually sure. "You still don't know which relative of his you beat at the tournament or anything about his alignments. It's premature to assume you understand the threat and therefore better to consider the worst case scenario."

"Maybe you're right." He managed to say it, but he didn't really mean it and that was obvious. They drove in silence for a while, the quiet growing heavier between them. Before they arrived, Rick decided he needed to say more or their date would get off to a terrible start. "I'll investigate what I can about him, okay? I agree that I should have at least been doing that."

She didn't answer, staring forward. They arrived at the restaurant and Rick shifted his position automatically, ready to land when the car reverted into her keychain. Emily paused for longer then usual, then after the car disappeared, stepped closer to him. He wasn't sure when she'd put up her hood, but it shielded her eyes from his angle.

"Rick, I'm not trying to criticize you. I just... I fuck up enough of my relationships, I don't want someone coming from the outside and ruining it before I even have the chance."

"Emily..." He leaned down so that he could look under her hood and found her staring back at him. Not angry anymore, at least. Since she just looked concerned, he leaned in and kissed her briefly. "I'm glad you're doing so much to help me. Let's just leave it alone and have fun on our date, okay?"

She nodded and leaned up to kiss him again, then headed toward the restaurant at a brisk pace. Though Rick hadn't thought anything about the selection when she'd suggested it, now he found himself reconsidering. The place looked like a pretty nice upscale restaurant, but that wasn't the issue.

No, it was the fact that it specialized in unique steaks from exotic creatures. The site had talked about serving steaks from local bison... bison that were known for using lucrim. They weren't very dangerous, but their meat was supposed to be extremely useful for lucrim development. At first he had just thought it was the kind of place Emily might pick if she was feeling slightly more adventurous, but now he had to wonder if it had been a calculated choice. Most likely he could assume that safely.

Inside, he was surprised to be greeted by a rather large man wearing a cowboy hat and traditional combat robe. It was obviously a costume, unless he actually had a legitimate reason to be wearing boots with spurs on them. The man tipped his hat to them politely.

"Park, party of two? Right this way."

They were led to a corner booth and the host assured them that their waiter would be around shortly. Before they had even gotten completely settled, Emily spoke up quietly. "They have lucrim-boosting numbers on the menu here and some of the food gets expensive. Please get whatever you think would be best for you, regardless of cost."

"So that is what this is about." Rick sighed and caught her gaze. She hadn't even tried to hide it. "Emily, I appreciate that you're concerned, but you're pushing this really aggressively. There's such a thing as over-training, you should know that."

"You haven't yet reached that limit." Her eyes bored straight back into his. "Your training regimen is excellently balanced for long term growth, but we can't count on the long term right now. Two or three periods of your life where you're pressed beyond your limits won't lead to any long term harm."

"Oh, really? You've been through the same thing?"

"Twice, so far."

Her flat answer caught him off guard. She didn't look away and he found himself thinking about how she had killed the hitman who threatened both of them. It was easy to think of her as just a laid back engineer, but at that moment he had to wonder who she really was. "Why?"

"That's... difficult to explain." For the first time Emily looked down, though he caught a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. "I really want this to work, I just..."

She trailed off and Rick found a deep discomfort welling up from within him. Their relationship had been so easy thus far, but now this made him wonder. He enjoyed being with Emily, but was he actually the right person for her? If he didn't make the right decision now, this minor argument could grow into a rift that would-

"Hey, folks!" A jovial voice cut in from the side. "Welcome to - holy shit, Rick? What the fuck, man?"

The greeting completely threw Rick off his train of thought and he found himself staring up at his old coworker, Henry. He looked leaner and he was wearing the apron and hat of the waiters. It was just about the last thing that Rick had expected, and at least part of his mind had expected a sudden attack.

"Uh, hey, Henry. Really didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah, it sucks, but..." Henry gave an exaggerated shrug. "What can you do? Those Advanced Lucrim stations really got me out of a bind, but they don't tell you how those things can bite you in the ass! So I decided that I should go back to basics and just earn some money the old-fashioned way. That gym you work at is a dead end, no offense."

"No, you... got out at a good time." Though Rick would never forget how his coworker had thrown him under the bus, he saw no reason to make an enemy. "I've left too."

"More Underground fights, then? I guess that explains why she's with you again. I take it you'll be ordering the most lucrim-heavy items on the menu?"

"Yes," Emily snapped, glaring at Henry, "but that is not the reason. This is..." She had started to put her hand on the table toward Rick, then hesitated. The uncertainty in her expression looked so wrong that Rick immediately reached out and put his hand over hers.

"This is a date. Listen, man, it's been great catching up with you, but..."

Henry looked back and forth between them as if he didn't believe it. Eventually he shook his head a few times and somehow transitioned to nodding. "Yeah... yeah, you're right. My boss would get on my ass for chatting too much anyway. Let's get your orders quick, alright?"

They ordered and Rick did as Emily planned, ordering one of the most expensive bison steaks. He wasn't sure how much good the ethereal mushrooms and alleged crushed pill toppings would really benefit him, but at minimum it would be a shot of natural lucrim to his system. Henry took their orders quickly and headed out.

"Fucking asshole..." Emily stared after Henry, but her hand shifted to lace her fingers through Rick's.

"You know, you never explained why exactly you hate him so much."

"Before you joined the Underground, he would not stop creeping on me." Emily sighed and rolled her eyes. "Listen, I work with engineers and some of them are pretty awkward. I'm not going to get offended if somebody clumsily hits on me. But that guy... I can easily imagine he went off about how I was a lesbian or something..."

"As it happens, I have bad news for you there." Rick briefly told the story about the first time they'd met, which had also been his first conversation with Emily. To his surprise, he actually got a laugh from her.

Wanting to continue the positivity, Rick pulled out his phone to check... yup, Henry had never revoked Rick's friend permissions. Therefore he could easily access his portfolio:

[Name: Hendog69 (pseudonym)

Ether Tier: 20th

Ether Score: 31

Lucrim Generation: 15,250

- Demonic Bond: 12,000 (overextended - 20% repayment penalty)

- Demonic Bond: 4000 (overextended - 23% repayment penalty)

- Demonic Bond: 7000 (overextended - 35% repayment penalty)

- Advanced Lucrim Penalty: 3000

Lucrim Generation with Penalty: 6480

Current Lucrim: (private data)]

The numbers were so bad that Rick almost winced. He showed the screen to Emily and she laughed again, but he found himself a bit sobered. Henry was kind of a dick, but even he didn't deserve to be so abused by the system - it looked like his generation rate had actually decreased, which it shouldn't normally. Rick kept that thought to himself, just glad that Emily was relaxing, but at that moment her expression faded to a somber one.

"If I recall that first conversation, I was actually the asshole there." She watched him seriously and he hastened to reassure her.

"No, given how things went, I completely get your assumptions about me."

"I disagree. I didn't have a right to make assumptions like that. I can be... hard to live with sometimes." She reached out and touched his hand again, staring back into his eyes. "Sorry about pushing you so hard. It's because I care, but you can tell me if I go too far, okay?"

"Thanks for saying that, Emily. I just want us to be on the same page." He squeezed her hand back.

They chatted lightly until the food arrived. It was delicious and managed to push the conversation into more comfortable territory. For once they didn't even discuss lucrim, but instead he found out that Emily did have some opinions on technology and entertainment after all. He knew they'd have to discuss their broad objectives later, but it was a wonderful relaxed evening like it had been before.

For the first time in his life, Rick thanked Henry for being a good wingman.