Turns out Michelle wakes up far too early for Tesen's tastes but was nice enough to let him sleep after his long trip. It was close to noon when he stepped out of the room yawning in only his shorts to go to the bathroom. The TV was on and Tira was in her pajamas while watching some reality show about a family of nymphomaniacs.
"Morning, Tira." He said lazily while glancing at the TV. Tira didn't say anything until he was out of the bathroom and back in the living room. "Morning."
"Hey, mind if I do my morning routine?"
"Knock yourself out." She said amidst the crunching of her potato chips as she watched the brother and sister secretly groping each other without noticing the camera caught it on vid.
"Thanks." Tesen issued into a grueling physical workout of pushups, crunches, squats and many other exercises that made his toned body ripple and get a sheen of sweat glistening on his black skin. He was too focused on his exercise to really notice Tira's gaze lingering every time she glanced in his direction and hopped back onto the balls his feet with his whole body cracking from the movement.
"Phew. So, uh, where's Michelle?"
"Mom's at the bar. Gotta make up for closing so early yesterday." Tira's voice was quiet as she seemed to by trying to focus on the rather dull commercials that were blaring at her from the tv.
"Oh. Yeah, sorry for that. Do you help her out?" He wiped away the sweat with a towel before sitting on the other end of the couch and relaxing against it. It was an old and worn one as his ass sunk into the cushion and how it creaked underneath him. His tail slipped to the side, towards Tira.
"Yeah. Did the prep work early in the morning and pretty much waiting for customers." The infomercial was about some cutting-edge gene mod to improve cognitive functions and how it was inheritable further down the line.
"Glad to hear Michelle's got help." He said with a smile.
"Yeah." And feeling more than a little awkward. They sat there, both staring at the tv in silence as it continued to blare its infomercials about products that most people here can't exactly afford. He wanted to talk to her more but...he wasn't sure how to broach a topic.
They way Tira's lips moved and how glazed over her eyes were looking, she was either mulling something over or she just has this kind of reaction to mind-numbing infomercials. Tesen wasn't certain but as he was starting to get up, she opened her mouth to say something. And then closed it back up.
"You alright?"
She nodded rapidly. "Yeah, yeah."
"Well, I'm gonna go see your mother." He said as he went into the bedroom to get dressed and checked his commlink. His luggage is gonna arrive soon.
Michelle was busy checking if everything was in order around the dimly-lit bar as stale cigarette smoke and spilled booze filled Tesen's nostrils. Michelle was dressed in a darker pair of jeans with a blue tank top as she goes around and calling to him.
"Morning, sleepyhead." She said, straightening up after picking up a chair to move it somewhere else. "Had a nice sleep? Thought you'd be out of it for longer after last night."
"Michelle, have you forgot those all-nighters I did to pay the rent? While going to school at the same time?"
She laughed and nodded, settling down the chair and going to the bar. "Can't believe you still had time to chase ass during it all." Tesen followed and settled on the other side on a stool.
"It was all quickies in the bathrooms or in the teacher's office. Boy, had it not been for my huge dick, I would've flunked." He said with a laugh. Michelle rolled her eyes.
"Unlike you, I was honorable and flunked like a proper loser. Probably a good thing. Wouldn't be a data slave in some megacorp."
Both turned somber, acutely aware of the world they live in. And they had a child that should somehow survive in it. He looked to her, offering her his hand. "You gonna tell her I'm her father?"
Michelle took it with a frown, mulling it over. "I don't know, T. It's got so complicated so fast. You come here after god knows how long and immediately fuck our daughter. Putting a baby in her no less."
Tesen sighed. "You know what I said and I'm standing by it. I want her to keep the baby. Incest on Luz isn't a big deal and it isn't here. I see why you're mad but you don't have to. She won't even need genemods."
"It's not about the money, Tesen! It's about what's right! And fathers don't fuck their daughters!" Michelle shouted furiously as long locks of her auburn hair came loose from her ponytail. Tesen raised his hands and backed away from the bar a bit.
"Alright, alright. I hear you. Sheesh, if I knew you thought it in that way, I wouldn't have said anything." He then checked his commlink. No answer yet. He remembered he gave them her address. Where are they?
"Hey, uh, M, did anybody come here real early?"
Michelle was still flustered but decided not to push it any further and regained her composure. "Except for a couple of drunks, no. Why? Why are you even here, Tesen?"
"I'm on a job. All I can say is that it's big money." He said simply before getting up, his stomach grumbling angrily for food. He looked around and then checked his commlink to see it's Saturday. "Hey, you and Tira wanna go get some chow? I'm hungry as hell."
Michelle looked uncertain, looking around as well and seeing it empty. She mulled it over and shrugged. "Oh what the hell. They only come here at night anyways."
Soon Tesen, Michelle and Tira went out. Tesen quickly got a cab and they went on a trip to corp NY that always looked like it would turn over and devour the lower wilds from its perch atop the massive platforms. Unlike Tesen, the girls have never been in the spic and span corp sectors and both rolled down the windows to enjoy the crisp air and beautiful sights.
Tesen took them to a nice and secluded diner that was a hundred times better than any eating place down in the wilds by sheer hygiene standards. Michelle's torn jeans, well-worn tank top and Tira's own skimpy get-up were more of a fashion statement here than a harsh reality of their job and life.
The glances they got didn't escape Tesen's notice but he didn't care as he ordered all three of them the diner's classic: eggs and bacon.
It was both nice and stressful for the alien as they reminisced and talk about the current situation, once again being reminded that it's been the better part of two years since he came into a lot of money and spent it all on things that didn't matter.
Overall, he didn't regret it one bit. How they wolfed down good, actual, food and grinned from ear to ear to each other when the desert came in, it so made it worth it. He would've taken the girls around a few stores to shop but Michelle denied him the horror that is two women shopping and instead hanged out in a park when Tesen's commlink chirped.
They were here.
He quickly hired an escort for the girls and rushed to the new location he set up for the meeting. It was time to get to work.
They met in a dingy hotel room with cases and bags on top of the squeaky bed with Tesen trying to ignore the obsessive looks one of his accomplices was shooting his way as she was pulling out equipment from a black duffel bag while the third one was busy typing away at his state-of-the-art laptop.
"We got everything?" Tesen asked.
"Oh yeah. Harvey says it's got pretty lame defenses for a home so I'm pretty sure what we've got is overkill." The woman said. Her neon-green hair was swept to one side and her gene-modded purple eyes flashed back at Tesen as she pulled out a pair of electricity rerouters. As per usual for an impending job, she was dressed in non-descript black clothing with her mask lying on a pillow.