Chapter 815: Singing in the Shower


    The group, lead by Belle headed downstairs and it was noticeably quieter for the two with enhanced hearing. The constant background noise had drifted off. When they got back to the reception desk Belle said, “Stevon, I see you’re still working despite the fact everyone else is finished for the day. You can go home on time you know,”


    Stevon just shrugged and easily answered, “Ah but if I got home first I’d be the one that has to cook dinner and I can’t be havin that,” It was clear from the small smile on Belle’s face this was a very expected answer at this point. Still, Stevon started to put away the various papers strewn across the desk.


    The gang left before Stevon waspletely finished and Belle headed straight for the shower. It was in between to warehouses and somewhat strange to look at. Belle stopped beneath a chain and said, “For water you’ve just got to pull this,” before pulling on the chain.


    What it did was raise part of the wall near one of the corners of the aqueduct. The water then rushed straight into a raised board that served as the ‘back’ of the shower. For the most part the water fell down into the shower are after that but really no area around the contraption was saved from the waterfall. If they had anything other than an infinite source of water Kat would have said something about how horrible it was in regards to efficiency but... well... wasting a bit of infinite water is literally insignificant.


    “That’s an... interesting setup...” said Kat with a wince, doing her best not to lie about it.


    Belle gave a sharp barkingugh, “It’s a horrible setup that was done by my father over thirty years ago just to have a ce to wash a bit. I sometimes can’t believe he got away with it because even modifying the aqueduct slightly like this requires a tonne of permits he most certainly did not acquire. I think it was because he had a mate in charge of inspections who just signed off on it after the fact to avoid the extra work,”


    “Was your father routinely irresponsible?” asked Lily before she could think better of it.


    .....


    Belle turned to Lily with a raised eyebrow. Her stare bored into the younger girl as they locked gazes. Lily was of course the first one to break, looking away from that piercing stare. Kat was just about to move into that line of sight but Belle burst outughing instead. “Yup! It runs in the family!”


    Lily’s head whipped back around, mouth opened wide and confused look on her face... for a few seconds that is. She remembered that Belle had a child out of wedlock partially on a whim and with the lord of the area. On top of that Gaston was apparently quite likely to have attempted inviting said father to his wedding. [You know what. Kat. I don’t want to know.]


    Belle held up a single hand, two fingers together ready to click and a grin showing a few teeth. “Nope. No conversations here no sir-ee” said Lily quickly wave her hands in front, “I was just thinking I do NOT want to know whatever nonsense your family got up to,”


    “Well my mother decided it was a good idea to build a small raft and ride it down the aqueduct. She managed to get to the end before she was caught actually. The only reason she was caught at all is because it’s guarded decently well,” said Belle.


    Lily let out a groan but couldn’t resist asking another, though safer question, “Um... why is the end guarded?”


    Belle shrugged, “I don’t rightly know. It’s not like the water can go much further. If the water spills out onto the ground it seems to stop after just a bit. It needs a certain speed to it to keep its propagation properties. It’s why nobody identally floods their gardens. The aqueducts have been redone a few times over the lifespan of the city and eventually the end up pretty much at ground level. They empty out into pitifully small fountains... small fountains with a guard presence,”


    “I still don’t see why they’re guarded,” pointed out Lily.


    “Look I don’t honestly know Lily,” said Belle tly.


    “Oh,” mumbled Lily. Belle just nodded.


    Belle didn’t let the awkward silence linger though, “Welp follow me and we can grab some food,”


    This time Belle shuffled them through thepound to one of the warehouses. They entered through a smaller door towards the back rather than bothering to reopen therge doors at the front for moving product. Inside was boxes and boxes stacked all the way to the ceiling. They were pushed up against the walls withs covering them all, as Belle had said.


    Belle led them off to the back where there was two boxes just on the ground and pulled them both open. The first was filled with an assortment of vegetables, while the second was split in half. The firsts half had smoked meat of some kind. Looked a little like pork from the roundness but the fact it had talons instead of hooves killed that idea. The second half was filled with crackers.


    Nearby there was a ‘table’ made out of a crate lid resting on a pile of broken wagon wheels and there was a single chair that had seen better days. It was torn, ripped, had multiple stains and looked like it was ready to fall to pieces if the wind ever got back there. The only thing that looked somewhat high quality was the water jug that sat on the floor and seemed to be arge but well cleaned barrel, vanished so much it had a mirror shine. “Feel free to help yourselves,” said Belle.


    She didn’t even wait for an answer before grabbing a few things from the boxes. The pair were actually a little surprised the first thing she grabbed was a table cloth. It looked clean, but perhaps not. This was followed by two wooden tes. Belle filled the first one with a number of greens before adding a couple of crackers and then pulling a dagger out of her sleeve and slicing off a bit of the meat and sitting down.


    Kat just shrugged at that and grabbed the second te, picked a few somewhat familiar looking vegetables, a single cracker because really they looked drier than the dessert, and used her tail to hold the end of the animal’s leg, a hand to steady it, and the nails of her other hand to carved off a chunk before cing it one the te to dice properly. Kat’s nails weren’t particrly long, but with the application of a bit of demonic energy they were able to glide easily through the meat. Kat just had to be a bit careful.


    Lily was still looking dubiously at the food while Belle was half done, and Kat was taking to trying things out. The crackers were terrible. Nothing good could be said about them. Belle was eating them alongside her own pieces of meat, but it was clearly just to add a bit of carbohydrates into things, or stretch the meal. Speaking of the meat. It had a rather pungent taste of smoke. It was like the animal died of smoke inhtion before then being smoked before smoking it again using sauce made of smoke. Kat felt like sticking her head in a campfire would be less smoky.


    Really what saved the meal were the vegetables. Whatever they were. They were all quite juicy, many also had a nice crunch, and the vour of each piece was nice and fresh but didn’t linger overly long. “I’d stick to the vegetables, with maybe a bit of meat on the side,” advised Kat from where she was standing.


    Lily nced over at Belle who seemed to be fairly happy with the meal. Noticing the attention Belle paused and said, “If you’re not used to it Kat’s probably right. The meat is a bit of an acquired taste. Once you get used to the smoke it has a lot of nice undertones and it keeps extremely well. That willst me a few weeks easily and I don’t have to worry about keeping off the mould,”


    Lily frowned, debating internally over the truth of that. “Kat pass me a piece of the meat,” she said as she transformed. Kat raised an intrigued eyebrow but handed it off to Lily as she sat on the surprisingly clean floor in this section. Lily bit down on the meat and frowned. It was probably quite different as a Memphis. She couldn’t really get all of the smoke the others did. It just wasn’t part of her natural pallet. Instead, she got to enjoy a very gamey but vourful piece of meat. Kat gained a small smile, feeling the appreciation across their bond even as she rolled her eyes.


    *Of course you’d figure out some work around.*


    Belle of course was just staring at the strange woman who could apparently turn into a cat. It might have been said earlier... but to see it...