Neon Rush {M/M} ❀

Ch.18.1 Matryoshka Doll of Mud

Unease creeps back into the fresh safety Zef had only begun to feel. He heads down the hall, glancing into empty rooms. No Gray. In the kitchen, Damo holds up a napkin.

"He left a note."

Gray's penmanship, even on a crumpled napkin, reminds Zef of the letter inviting him to the Iron Steer. This message is far shorter and less sentimental.

Went out. Not sure when I'll be back.

Lay low. Don't do anything stupid.

-Gray

Zef lets out an annoyed breath. "Went out where?"

"Always been cagey with me about where he goes. A bit like a stray cat. You never know whether he's got other families he goes to for a few scraps in between yours."

Zef squints at Damo suspiciously.

"All right, I got some idea where he might've gone," Damo confesses. "But our sweet feral cat might need some space, first."

"Yeah. Okay."

Zef had wanted to say something to Gray after Matthias lit him on fire yesterday. Now it'll have to wait.

He feels like a matryoshka doll of mud, blood and barnyard dirt. Desperately needs a shower. Damo takes off his bandages and dressing first. Her brow wrinkles as she takes in his bruises. Dissatisfied with the healing progress, she says it's a good thing there's nothing for him to do but rest.

With Gray gone and an unresolved pile of problems fermenting between them, Zef won't rest easy. He gets in the shower, luxuriates in the hot water, scrunches his curls in the towel. He finds Damo buttering a slice of toast in the kitchen, which she shoves forcefully into his mouth.

"No, he's not back yet, and might be gone for longer than you'd like, so please kick back. Relax. Eat. Listen to me yammer on for England." She starts buttering another piece of toast before he finishes the first. "My sources say Rylan's people have crawled back into whatever pocket dimension she summons them from. No more surveillance state. Well, no more than usual."

"Sources?"

"That 'communication network' I mentioned? She's a sentient android, like me, only she's...multiple? Plural? There are a couple hundred units of her, and she's all over the city. I'm sure you'll get a chance to meet her."

She sets the toast and a glass of green slush in front of him. He eyes it doubtfully.

"It's a spinach and banana smoothie, not algae. Scout's honour."

The toast scrapes Zef's raw throat. He washes it down with the smoothie, sweet and happily not tasting like grass.

"So. Change of subject." Damo gestures for her holo computer, the screen illuminated above the table. She flicks through a few screens, landing on one with a cybernetic enhancement that makes Zef choke on his smoothie.

"That's a penis."

"Yep."

"It's blue."

"Doesn't have to be," Damo says, swiping to show a bunch of other models. Some which look fairly realistic, some with more...fantastical attributes. Others are photographs from non-cybernetic surgeries. "Don't know how much Gray told you, but us androids have an underground operation going. Well, operations, plural. We've got our fingers in lots of pies." Zef can't think of a worse expression to use while he's looking at 3D cock models. Damo continues, "One of those pies is for trans people. We helped Gray out. Wanted you to know, just 'cause you don't have that stinky job anymore, doesn't mean you're out of options."