The woman shook her head, laughing. “He’s right. And you do want a bedtime story.”
“C’mon, why not? It’s about time I learned something more about you — in the name of trust and all that jazz.”
“You sure about that?”
“The evening is young.”
“That sounds disturbingly suave. Don’t you have better things to do, like roll over?”
“Right now, there’s nothing better than getting to know a teammate who sweetly patched me up not so long ago.”
“All right, all right — don’t make me ill.”
PA leaned back, hands clasped behind her head. She blew her cheeks out, and then sighed.
“When I was a little kid, my dad was transferred to Tokyo on business. He was a specialist in beetles — don’t you dare laugh — and the Japanese islands had a lot of these. My mum, my sister and I went with him. We ended up spending several years in Japan. This was way before the Catastrophe.”
“How many years are we talking?”
“Don’t be cheeky. You want me to stop?”
“No. Understood.”
“Good. The most popular girls’ anime series on TV when we arrived was a show called Pretty Cure, or PreCure.”
“Based on a manga comic?”
“No, they skipped that route.” She pursed her substantial lips. “At the time — I later learned — things were dire for televised animation in Japan. Most of the innovative studios were stuck in hibernation or kept their claws sheathed. Looking back now, it’s clear the industry was going through a rough patch like that which crippled the newspaper, magazine and music industries — but I’ll leave appraisal to better qualified people.”
“Ancient history,” Jack said. Before he was born.
“Still. There was a bright note here, one series on the telly that kept me amused and more than a little infatuated.”
“Pretty Cure.” Jack frowned, suddenly less confident. “PreCure? — Which one should I be using?”
“Either is okay. I tend towards PreCure in spite of my name. Anyway, the series had different story arcs and my favourite, the one I first watched, was HeartCatch PreCure!”
“How old were you again?”
“Four.”
“Ah-hah.”
“Don’t mock, SC — it doesn’t suit you.”
He laughed, and then grimaced. “Ouch. Point taken. Physically as well.”
“Karma.”
“I know, I know. But it’s your fault. I’m still awake.”
“Then prepare to be bored senseless as I run through the season synopsis of HeartCatch.”
Pretty Amazonia untied her smock, took a deep breath, and plunged straight in.
“The yarn started with our shy, upright schoolgirl heroine Tsubomi, who is suddenly magically endowed with special powers and becomes Cure Blossom, swathed in a pink costume. Trusty neighbour and fashion-minded sidekick Erika, as the all-blue Cure Marine, joins her. Five months into the series, the third heroine emerged with the gold-hued, androgynous Itsuki, Cure Sunshine, who dressed in boy’s clothes but shone in her girly Pretty Cure persona. Later on, a reticent, quietly cantankerous and quite possibly bitter senior high-school student, Yuri, was revealed to be the purple-shrouded Cure Moonlight — the predecessor of our other three champions. Turns out she lost her powers in a big battle with Dark Pretty Cure. That’s a long story for another day — or not.”
The man’s light snoring was her only response.
“Mister B was right,” she muttered, “it does bore people senseless.” That was when she noticed the hand on her right shoulder, and she looked up.
“I never thought you had it in you,” Gypsie-Ann said. “You do care.”
Hesitantly, Pretty Amazonia placed her fingers around her sister’s. “He’s a good kid.”
“You’re not too shabby yourself.”
“Quiet, you.”
#154
“Junior — wake up.”
Jack came to with a pile of shoddily paved cobbling and a pair of blue eyes six inches from his face.
“The stuff that dreams are made of,” he muttered.
“Awright, wiseguy. Rise an’ shine.”
With some assistance from his partner, Jack sat up on the cot. The sun outside the window was low on the horizon, mostly obscured behind other skyscrapers.
He noticed Gypsie-Ann standing in the doorway to the room, fully clothed and completely recovered. She raised her small felt hat as a greeting.
“Where’s our erstwhile doctor?” Jack asked.
“Off checkin’ into some leads,” said the Brick. “Broad saved yer life, y’know.”