The Guest List

Goddammit.

Taylor begrudgingly allowed Junko to hug her, but she didn't like it. Being all mom-like and nice shouldn't be used to win arguments. It was so unfair it made her want to puke. "Kicking his ass won't make Cassie feel any better," she mumbled.

"At least you get plenty of video of him fucking every other girl in Japan just to make sure Cassie knows he doesn't give a shit about her." She pointedly directed her attention back to Morrigan and shut out her husband and mother-in-law. "So anyway, like, Nikolette'll be cool about stuff, don't worry. Everything will be fine. And... put down Jessica. I don't actually know her last name... Um..."

She tried hard to think of anyone to invite, but came up mostly blank. "Fuck," she leaned forward and bonked her forehead on the table. "I don't have any friends. Um... We could invite that Mai Nagasagasawa chick, she seemed alright. And there's Natalia, ya know, she's like, my girl, even though I haven't seen her in at least a year. Uh..." She shrugged at Johnny. "Silver Ace? Bonnie Gastin... is Clyde's sister, so I dunno about that. Rally, um... We could invite Lukretia, that'd be hilarious." She laughed.

"Oh! Mercy! Get Mercy on there."

Junko shook her head and went back to her cooking. She wasn't going to fight with her daughter-in-law anymore. She had a lunch to prepare, anyway.

Morrigan yawned as Taylor began rattling off names. She began typing them as Taylor rattled off more names. However, she stopped when Taylor mentioned Lukrretia. "What?" She said and stared at Taylor from her glasses. "That's not a very funny joke." She said. "Why the hell would you invite the..." Morrigan stopped herself and turned her head. "I'm not sending an invitation to Lukretia..." She said with a snort.

Taylor cracked a smile while Morrigan squirmed. "Why not? You think she's too good to party with the peasants? C'mon, what's even your deal with her? Are you madly in love with her or something? Did you get Mercy in there?"

She got up and topped off her water glass with a jug of filtered water from the fridge, and added slices of lemon and cucumber from a plastic container. Then she pulled a nectarine out of the brown paper bag on the bottom shelf and went to the sink to cut around the pit with a knife. With a twist, she separated the two halves and tossed the pit in the sink before she biting into the juicy yellow fruit. It started to drip down her chin, and she caught it with the back of her hand and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Sorry, I pretty much need to eat constantly. Do you want anything, Morg?"

"Yes!" Morrigan said and slammed her laptop shut. She stood up and walked to the edge of the kitchen and began to clean her glasses. She then trudged back to her seat flipped open the lap top and very deliberately punched in the name one key at a time: M-E-R-C-Y!!!!!

She then closed her laptop again and tried to calm herself, rubbing her temples while Junko and Johnny watched on. "Lunch is going to be ready soon." She said through her teeth. Her cheeks were flushed.

"Yes... you got Mercy? Or yes you're in love with... oh." Taylor's eyes widened as the implications dawned on her. "Ooohhhhhhhh... okay."

She washed down another bite of nectarine with a long drink of water. Probably the only reason why she hadn't thought of it before was that she sort of figured that Morrigan was incapable of strong emotions, apart from whatever it was she felt when tasering or knifing some poor bastard. The plot thickened, and she suddenly found the red-haired psycho a lot more...

"Morgan," Taylor said with an affectionate smile. "Is that... Okay. Let's go for a walk. While they cook. We'll be back for lunch. Okay? C'mon." She gave her a pat on the shoulder as she passed and went to put on her shoes and a short black leather jacket.

Morrigan narrowed her eyes as Taylor spoke to her. Taylor had been kind of wrong with her question. Specifically Morrigan had been saying yes to Taylor's second question. But she couldn't deny that she had strong feelings for Lukretia.

Morrigan stood up and followed Taylor, staring at her as she put on her shoes. She did the same and followed her out the door. "What?" She said. "Are you going to tell me how Lukretia doesn't give a shit about me? That I'm wasting my life trying to chase after her? Do you think I actually expect her to just throw away everything for me? I'm not THAT stupid, you know." She said, trying to shoot down whatever hart to heart Taylor was looking to have before it ever got off the ground.

"No."

Taylor cocked an eyebrow at Morrigan while she walked. Her feet clunked along on the sidewalk in her black Doc Marten's that she'd only bothered to lace halfway. The weather was a bit more accommodating than it had been in the more wintery months, so it wasn't a bad day for a walk.

The time she spent volunteering at the youth program was mostly spent running around like a fool, getting kids to relax and have a good time and get some exercise. As her Japanese improved, though, she found more opportunities to talk to kids. She found that she was approaching Morrigan in the same way she would one of her kids, and it probably wasn't all that inappropriate.

"I don't think you're stupid," she said. "So tell me about Lukretia, like... what's great about her or whatever. What is there to love about Lukretia?"

Morrigan was ont he defensive and ready for Taylor. No matter who she was or what she was, there was no way at all Morrigan was going to let her start talking shit about the German domme. She'd go right here and right now if she had to.

But... that wasn't what came out of Taylor's mouth. Morrigan blushed deeply at Taylor's words and turned her head. "W-What?!" She stuttered. "What do you mean, what's great about her?" She repeated like Taylor was stupid. "Aside from being absolutely gorgeous." She said. "She's..." Morrigan looked down. "She's got the right mindset. She's strong and fearless. She doesn't let others push her around. She's... charming too." Morrigan said in a softer tone, staring directly in front of her. "She can laugh and smile like normal people, you know." Morrigan said, finally looking at Taylor. "She's not only what she shows to the camera. I mean..." She began. "That IS who she is, but.. it's not her only side.'

Morrigan huffed. "Look, I am here, right now because of her." She said. "I left her employ. I'm doing all this stuff... for her. I'm never expecting her to look at me as an equal or love me or anything like that." She said. Morrigan clenched her fists. "I just want to see something other than disdain in her eyes when she looks at me!" Morrigan pulled her glasses off and scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve. There weren't tears rolling down her face but it looked like she had fought hard to prevent them from appearing.

Morrigan snapped her head and stared at Taylor. "If I have to burn this whole fucking world to the ground to make that happen, then I'll do it!"

Taylor listened quietly with her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. She stole little glances over at the redhead, but she didn't want to interrupt her. A part of her was so excited to be hearing what she was that she just wanted to call Akashi and Cassie and jump up and down and hug the crazy psycho to death. She settled for mentally high-fiving herself and playing it cool.

"I don't think you'll have to burn anything," she said. "You like that no one can fuck with her, though? I get that, man. I tried really hard to be someone people wouldn't fuck with anymore." She shrugged, and resisted the urge to get into the whole story and start explaining it. It was as much a revelation to Taylor as it was to Morrigan, this budding side of her that only saw the light after her retirement and now had room to grow. She wasn't sure what would come out of her if she just let it go.

"I think that's just her face, man. Like... Luk digs me in a way I don't think I'm entirely comfortable with, but she still looks at me like I'm just a punk ass kid from Staten Island. I am that, and we both know it, Luk and me, but I'm more than that, and we both know it. I think... If you're killing yourself to get something from someone that isn't selling it, you'll go crazy. Ya know, like..." She poked Morrigan in the ribs and gave her a crooked smile.

She couldn't help but think of her dad. She always only wanted his love, but he just wasn't willing to put in the time. She drove herself crazy trying to figure out what was wrong with her that he just went wherever he went and wouldn't come back to her. Fact was that he left, and he didn't come back. Her mom was stuck with her, and only for as little as she could get away with, but Taylor wondered, maybe for the first time, what the whole thing was like for her mom.

"Being alone's really hard," she thought out loud.

Morrigan stared at Taylor as they walked. She had a skeptical look as Taylor spoke. Oh, she knew all too well how Lukretia felt about Taylor. It made her seethe. She may have known more about Lukretia's feelings for Taylor than her own. She was still convinced she hated the girl but she's all but given up actively trying to antagonize her. She wasn't going to take the girl's SHIT, but she wasn't looking to have a fight at every turn either. That was just bothersome, really.

Her eyes narrowed when Taylor poked her in the ribs. She flinched and didn't give the girl an inch of satisfaction. She was about to speak when Taylor's last words hit her. Morrigan turned her head. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and quickened her pace. "Wouldn't know a damn thing about that." She said bitterly, keeping her shoulders hunched. She was obviously lying, but to what degree she wouldn't give Taylor the satisfaction of knowing.

Morrigan turned around and began walking backwards, looking Taylor over. "That woman is my life." She insisted. "I have no problem serving her. I'll just do it on my terms."