“You want me to go with you where?”
With a breath through clenched teeth and a heavy clank, Shyla racked the weights and slid out from under the bench press bar, wiping sweat from her forehead. She brushed some stray strands of hair out of her eyes and looked up with curiosity at the man who had been spotting her - one Crowe Ischoron, if she recalled the name correctly.
“The circus. And not you. Fletcher and you.” Crowe leaned against the bar, flashing a smile as he did so. The pair had chosen to occupy the vacant weight room in the Ischoron compound, which Shyla was visiting for a spell with a few of her other Sisters. She didn’t mind. Good place. Decent people.
“What about Fletcher and me?” Shyla inquired, drinking some water from a bottle. The sweat made her green skin gleam, as most of it was exposed - a sports bra and some workout pants constituted most of her outfit. Her muscles burned slightly from the exertion, but she welcomed the pain. Soreness meant that she was doing just what she should be doing. Break the muscles down so they could come back stronger.
Crowe knew better than to answer that directly. He wasn’t to well acquainted, but he wanted her help in planning this. “I want to plan a surprise thing for him, and I want your help doing it. Will you help me?”
Shyla nearly scoffed, but her breathing was still labored from the exercise, so she settled with a “are you serious” look. “Surprise thing? What, like a party? He’s not a kid.”
“Who doesn’t like surprise parties?” Crowe asked, somewhat indignant.
Shyla raised her right hand, the limb trembling slightly at the shoulder. “Birthdays aren’t anything special, they just tell us we managed to go another year without up and dying, be it from old age, disease, or some Fed that has a power cell with your name it. It’s a dumb idea.”
And yet, as she said it, she knew Fletcher would love the idea of a surprise party planned for him.
“He likes dumb ideas. You know that,” he countered, “and yet there you sit. Come on, help me out here.”
Shyla sat there for a moment, wiping herself off with the towel, thinking. Yeah, he did like dumb ideas and stupid random shit like this. He could cream himself when they all popped out and said surprise.
And maybe she could give him a unique gift.
“All right, fine. I’ll help. But don’t expect any big favors. The man annoys the hell out of me,” she said, finally relenting to Crowe. Man was a decent talker, and she didn’t do nice things for Fletcher often. Maybe this would be some fun payback.
Besides, she always had wanted to see the circus.
