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jeriendhalJust a little scene that I always imagined happening between Margo and Ali, but I never found a proper place to put it in the story.
* * *
Margo sat on the bunk in her cell aboard the Foxen Navy destroyer, staring through the diamondoid cell wall at the conniving bitch who had helped put her in there.
“Come to gloat, Ali-Kat?” she demanded. She ignored the grumble in her stomach. Dinner wasn’t for another hour by the cell’s clock, but she was already hungry. Always hungry these days. The half a year she’d hid out in Greenholme’s wilderness, forced to share her food with the pathetic bunch of survivors from her crew that she’d painstakingly gathered together for the raid, had left her thinned out and starved.
The black and white furred Foxen bitch smiled at her. “Maybe a little,” Ali-Kat said. “Mostly I just wanted to see you one last time before they hauled you away. Way I figure it you’ll be lucky if execution is all they do to you.”
“Belike,” Margo answered. “What about you? Why are you walking around free instead of hanging from a pole with a noose around your neck?”
“That’s not how Foxen execute people,” Ali-Kat answered. “Anyway, they absolved me of all the crimes I committed under your command, even the murders, since I was your slave at the time.” She held two fingers to her throat, mimicking a collar.
“What about the ones you did for the Red Vixen?” Margo demanded.
Ali-Kat shrugged. “Lifetime of hard labor, under Lady Sallivera’s supervision. I can live with that.”
Margo snorted. “Still a slave, then.”
“Yeah,” Ali-Kat admitted. “But she doesn’t tell me to hurt anyone, or steal from anyone, or beat me because I ask questions. So I can live with that as well.”
“And you’ll be licking her fur the rest of your life too, until she gets tired of you and chucks you away.” Margo grinned sourly. “I saw how you were looking at each other when you came to get her. Bet she was glad to finally have on your knees in front of her after getting knocked around by her husband.”
That scored a hit, Ali-Kat’s expression souring. “You don’t know Lady Salli.”
“Sure I do,” Margo taunted. “She’s a rich bitch who found a little pet to play with. How’s it taste when you slip your tongue up in her…”
Ali-Kat’s paws slammed down hard on the daimondoid panel, the slap echoing through the cell. “You want to know what Lady Salli is to me?” The little Foxen bitch smiled in the way most Foxen avoided doing in front of aliens, the way that showed off all of her fangs. “She’s the one that came back for me. I was hanging naked, wounded, shaved, in the cold rain, dying, and she came back for me. She could have hid and tried to find a way to call for help, but she came back and rescued me, even knowing what I was. Just like the way the Red Vixen pulled me up, bleeding, out of the mud, after I tried to kill her. They both saw me when I was at my worst, bloody, beaten, half-crazy because of everything you put me through, and they thought I was still worth saving.”
“Big fucking deal,” Margo said, frowning at her. “They’re both Foxen. You fuzzies stick together.”
“Maybe we do,” Ali-Kat said. “But if that’s true, what human is going to come to rescue you? Compton is dead. I know because I shot him in the back and shoved his body out the airlock myself. Who else from your crew is going to stick their neck out on the line for you? Who is going come back and fight their way through your guards to rescue you?” She was baring all of her teeth now. “Name one person. Who is going to come back for you?”
* * *
Margo sat on the bunk in her cell aboard the Foxen Navy destroyer, staring through the diamondoid cell wall at the conniving bitch who had helped put her in there.
“Come to gloat, Ali-Kat?” she demanded. She ignored the grumble in her stomach. Dinner wasn’t for another hour by the cell’s clock, but she was already hungry. Always hungry these days. The half a year she’d hid out in Greenholme’s wilderness, forced to share her food with the pathetic bunch of survivors from her crew that she’d painstakingly gathered together for the raid, had left her thinned out and starved.
The black and white furred Foxen bitch smiled at her. “Maybe a little,” Ali-Kat said. “Mostly I just wanted to see you one last time before they hauled you away. Way I figure it you’ll be lucky if execution is all they do to you.”
“Belike,” Margo answered. “What about you? Why are you walking around free instead of hanging from a pole with a noose around your neck?”
“That’s not how Foxen execute people,” Ali-Kat answered. “Anyway, they absolved me of all the crimes I committed under your command, even the murders, since I was your slave at the time.” She held two fingers to her throat, mimicking a collar.
“What about the ones you did for the Red Vixen?” Margo demanded.
Ali-Kat shrugged. “Lifetime of hard labor, under Lady Sallivera’s supervision. I can live with that.”
Margo snorted. “Still a slave, then.”
“Yeah,” Ali-Kat admitted. “But she doesn’t tell me to hurt anyone, or steal from anyone, or beat me because I ask questions. So I can live with that as well.”
“And you’ll be licking her fur the rest of your life too, until she gets tired of you and chucks you away.” Margo grinned sourly. “I saw how you were looking at each other when you came to get her. Bet she was glad to finally have on your knees in front of her after getting knocked around by her husband.”
That scored a hit, Ali-Kat’s expression souring. “You don’t know Lady Salli.”
“Sure I do,” Margo taunted. “She’s a rich bitch who found a little pet to play with. How’s it taste when you slip your tongue up in her…”
Ali-Kat’s paws slammed down hard on the daimondoid panel, the slap echoing through the cell. “You want to know what Lady Salli is to me?” The little Foxen bitch smiled in the way most Foxen avoided doing in front of aliens, the way that showed off all of her fangs. “She’s the one that came back for me. I was hanging naked, wounded, shaved, in the cold rain, dying, and she came back for me. She could have hid and tried to find a way to call for help, but she came back and rescued me, even knowing what I was. Just like the way the Red Vixen pulled me up, bleeding, out of the mud, after I tried to kill her. They both saw me when I was at my worst, bloody, beaten, half-crazy because of everything you put me through, and they thought I was still worth saving.”
“Big fucking deal,” Margo said, frowning at her. “They’re both Foxen. You fuzzies stick together.”
“Maybe we do,” Ali-Kat said. “But if that’s true, what human is going to come to rescue you? Compton is dead. I know because I shot him in the back and shoved his body out the airlock myself. Who else from your crew is going to stick their neck out on the line for you? Who is going come back and fight their way through your guards to rescue you?” She was baring all of her teeth now. “Name one person. Who is going to come back for you?”
