BXBX NOVEL Chapter 806
Still. There wasn’t anything to do about that now. Kat hopped down from the fence and melded back into the crowd, following the fence around until she found an open gate. Following the path for a bit couldn’t help but take a look around. The building next to her seemed to be a warehouse, not an office, and the building directly in front of her was clearly a resting spot for carts. Shrugging at the layout Kat continued further in.
Once she got to the open courtyard it was easy to spot the main building. It was right next to the cart stop and stood slightly higher than the warehouses. Kat paused in front of the sliding door to whisper, “Lily, do you want to transform back for this?”
Lily leapt down from Kat’s arms, answering the question with her actions... and a few words, “Yeah I think so. I’m not sure they’d be all that happy with you bringing a pet along and while it might be nice to look around we really aren’t here to investigate Gaston’s mother. I feel like that’s pushing things a bit too far away from our original goal. If they are actually some horrible smuggling company I don’t want to know,”
Kat nodded, opening the door and stepping inside. The floor wasn’t particularly clean, dirt tracked back and forth along the wooden flooring over years had discoloured despite the cleaning. The chairs on the left side of the room were the same. Marked with various stains that might have been cleaned regularly, but they were clearly dirtied more often.
Behind the counter stood a young man, likely out of his teens. He was a bit on the shorter side, standing half a head shorter than Lily, with a slight baby face. The main argument against him being young of age, was his impressive beard. It wasn’t quite up to dwarvish standards, but it wasn’t something that could be grown in a hurry. It was carefully braided at the front, leaving the back and sides free. “Greetings. What can the Long River Road Traders do for you today,” the man’s voice was on the softer side, but he clearly had practice projecting his voice. He was easily understood.
“We’d like to speak with the owner for something... somewhat sensitive in nature. Would that be possible?” asked Kat.
.....
The man looked at her carefully for a few seconds, letting the silence stretch before he checked some paper that was hiding somewhat out of sight from where Kat was standing, a few steps back. “While she is indeed in at the moment, you’ll have to wait. She is quite busy at the moment,” was the response.
Kat nodded, even as she felt her eye twitching somewhat. Must be a bit dustier in here than I thought. “That’s fine. We can wait,” said Kat as she walked over to the chair. Kat glared at it a little bit before sitting down. They weren’t really that bad once you were on them. It was mostly the appearance that looked like they’d seen better days. Lily glanced at the young man who was now walking into the back. She glanced at the door he just entered, the chair next to Kat, and then Kat herself, warring with the ‘polite’ thing to do and what she wanted.
Kat just rolled her eyes and patted her legs lightly, settling the deal for Lily. She curled up in Kat’s arms and relaxed, yawning immediately after she got settled. “Woops...” mumbled Lily.
“It’s fine. Get some rest if you need it,” said Kat.
“We just took a break though! It’s been like... a twenty minute walk at absolute maximum!” retorted Lily.
Kat just shrugged and Lily’s retort. She might have been in her human form at the moment but she’d spent a good deal of time in the morning as a cat. Perhaps it was just instincts, or perhaps she needed more sleep. Kat didn’t really care and it wasn’t like they were doing anything. “I can just wake you up,” said Kat.
Lily pouted again but couldn’t quite resist the call of the dream. It was a good thing she did though, as while the receptionist returned shortly, they didn’t say anything in response. Kat had to sit there just waiting to be called for over an hour. The whole time she was tempted to rest herself or duck into meditation but held herself back. She wasn’t quite willing to leave herself so open after being made wait for someone who was only apparently busy.
Oh there was some traffic. A worker would come in, sign a few things and then leave, that happened every ten or so minutes like clockwork. They were all handled directly by the receptionist though. Not a single one was required to walk past the desk, and the receptionist never left again. Not to pass notes. Not to have a break or anything else for that matter. He just sat behind his desk and based on the sounds Kat could hear of scratching on paper, filled out a few more forms.
Eventually, after an unknown length of time, 1 hour, twenty-three minutes and twelve seconds, but really nobody was counting. Certainly not Kat. The receptionist got up again and headed through the door. Kat rolled her eyes at the empty room. This time she didn’t have to wait long because the man came back and said “You can go up. Boss’ room is up two flights of stairs and the only door on that floor. You can’t miss it,”
Kat nodded and pinched Lily’s cheeks, pulling them in various directions. It was adorable, but not all that effective at waking her up. Taking a new approach, Kat waited for the receptionist to get back to work and kissed Lily full on the lips. It only took a few moments for Lily to start responded. As soon as she did though Kat pulled back. Lily pouted, still half asleep and cracked her eyes open to look at Kat questioningly.
Kat just grinned back and waited for Lily’s brain to catch up. It took a few seconds, and Kat took great enjoyment watching Lily’s expressions change as her brain started to catch onto what was going on, ending with Lily leaping up onto her feet and blushing bright red, looking in the complete opposite direction of the receptionist. “Come on,” said Kat as she stood and walked past Lily, putting a little extra sway into her walk as she did so.
Lily turned at the sound of Kat’s voice only to get hit by the full weight of her lust. Kat had just ended their kiss early and now this? Lily thought it was mightily unfair. That didn’t stop her blush deepening, or the slight glance she directed to the receptionist, thankfully not paying them any attention.
Kat was already at the door though and Lily hadn’t moved from that spot. Lily’s eyes widened as the door started closing behind and dashed after her. The back room was rather musty. Filled with shelves, containing rows and rows of paper bound together with twine. It seemed to start over on the left and continue to the right, going from front to back. Some of the shelves over on the other side of the room didn’t have anything on them yet. Of course, it was also clear, that it was just a matter of time.
Kat started the trek to the first floor and wasn’t terribly surprised to find it blocked off. On the landing there was only a door with a large deadbolt on it and another flight of stairs leading up. Kat just shrugged at it. Whatever was in that room wasn’t any of her business. On the second flight of stairs though, things were a little more interesting.
There was a ‘short’ hallway with the door in question not too far along. The reason that hallway was short though... well that turned out to be a bit of a surprise. The floor had caved in by the looks of things and there was now a tarp nailed to the walls to cover the gap. *That’s... well... I don’t really know what that is.*
[Unprofessional?]
*Yeah lets go with that.*