Sweet Venom Arc 03 Ch. 17

"Hey lovely, everything going okay in here?"

Oxyi let out a long, frustrated sigh and sank back into the sofa as the elder feline padded softly into the living room. Geralt still had that same worn and tired expression that he'd had ever since they left Barru X, but now, a small smile also graced his face. He looked tidier too; it seemed that the chat they'd all had the other night had done Geralt some good. His old, tattered gown still looked tattered, but now it was a freshly washed, soft shade of blue.

Oxyi rubbed her eyes and stretched her neck; she'd been sitting, hunched over her phone and furiously swiping and typing for... well, she wasn't actually sure. But it had been light outside when she started, and now the living room was illuminated only by the faint glow coming off their second-hand TV.

"Hey, Geralt. Yeah, yeah, things are going okay... Close the door behind you, would you?" She quickly glanced through the crack in the doorway, checking the coast was clear. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but if there was one person here she could trust, she knew she could trust Geralt.

He eyed her softly but curiously, and did as she asked. As he did, the unmistakable chime of cutlery clinking against bowls rang out around the room, and Oxyi spied the large tub of strawberry ice cream tucked underneath the feline's arm.

"I hope you brought two spoons!"

Geralt chuckled and sat down beside the lioness. "Your spoon, my dear." He said, holding it out for her.

With a grin, Oxyi quickly took it and plunged it straight into the middle of the open tub.

"Guess we won't be needing these then!" Geralt smiled, and placed the bowls to the side.

"Oh, sorry!" Oxyi laughed around a mouthful of the pink ice-cream.

"So... why don't you tell me what's got you looking so worried?" Geralt asked gently, taking his spoon and scraping a little ice cream from the corner of the tub.

"Ugh, I don't know. Maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing." Oxyi lowered her voice a little with a glance towards the door. "I've been keeping an eye on our money situation. And we're doing fine, we've got plenty to cover rent and the bills, and thanks to Seeth's new contracts, our savings are looking great. It shouldn't be long before we can actually start looking into hiring some scouts, maybe even some mercenaries, and getting Diego back."

"That sounds great!" Geralt said, licking the end of his spoon. "But I'm sensing there's a but?"

"Well... But there should be more in there. Look." Oxyi rested her spoon against the arm of the chair and leaned in slightly, showing Geralt her phone. "This is our savings account -" Geralt raised an impressed eyebrow as Oxyi scrolled down. "-And here's our deposit history. I'm in there, every single week. Trent's in there, Seeth's in there loads. But look at Venner. She hardly deposits at all any more, and when she does, it's fuck all. She's putting in less than Trent, and I know she earns more than he does. She earns more than me some weeks."

Geralt didn't say anything. He stared at the figures in front of him and rubbed his chin, thinking.

"And I know we said that Venner didn't have to pay in." Oxyi continued. "She's done so much for us, what with getting us this flat, and letting Seeth use her ship for jobs. But she said she wanted to help us with the 'Save Diego Fund.' And then, I noticed this." Oxyi scrolled right to the top of the page, and showed one solitary transaction, in red, sticking out like a sore thumb. A withdrawal.

"She took money out of the savings account?" Geralt exclaimed.

"Yep." Oxyi slumped back and pressed a hand to her forehead. She could feel the anger rising in her chest again. "Now it's one thing to change your mind about contributing to save someone who's capture you may as well have fucking orchestrated - sorry, sorry, I didn't mean that. She was put in a lose-lose situation, Diego for her husband, I know." Oxyi sighed deeply through her nose as Geralt gave her a stern look. "I just, I don't get it. I mean, I like Venner. She's lovely when we're out working together, don't have a bad thing to say about her. So why is she taking our money out? We're not struggling for cash. Is she hiding it for herself? She planning on taking as much money as possible and running? Maybe she's just testing the waters right now, to see if we're smart enough to notice a withdrawal." Oxyi scoffed, and tossed her phone down on the coffee table before shovelling a heaped spoonful of ice cream onto her mouth. "Maybe I had her wrong this whole time."

"It could have been an accident, you know." Geralt murmured.

"I know, I did think about that. But the timing's off, we haven't been paid from our last contract yet. And the amount too, seems too small to me to be a deposit. I'm gonna have to confront her about it, and I'm really not looking forward to that." Just the thought of having that conversation was enough to stress Oxyi out; she dug her fingers into the sides of the sofa cushions and tried to calm down a little. "If she was short on money, why wouldn't she just tell us?"

Geralt sat quietly for a few seconds, deep in thought. He stared down at his distorted reflection in his spoon, tilting it gently from side to side. Finally he spoke.

"What do you think of Robin, Oxyi?"

"Uh... Robin?" Oxyi asked, taken aback by the question. "I don't... He seems alright? Between our jobs, I don't really see that much of him,... Wait, you weren't asking if I found him... attractive, were you?" Oxyi suddenly blushed heavily and awkwardly. "Because I do not - This is not some ploy for me to try and take Venner's husband!"

"No, Oxyi! I wasn't implying that at all." Geralt chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Honestly, Oxyi, you've got to get better at talking about men." His smile flickered away, and he dropped his hand. "What is Robin's job? Do you actually know?"

"N-No, I don't... Some sort of fancy office job in The Plaza, isn't it? But like I said, I don't see much of him. I see plenty of those fancy techni-coloured suits he wears every day though, the washer dryer is always full of 'em! Looks like a big wet bag of skittles. What're you getting at anyway, Geralt?"

"What I'm getting at... and don't breathe a word of this to anyone -" Geralt quickly glanced at the door and dropped his voice. "- But I think he's mistreating her."

Oxyi froze. For a long moment she just sat and stared at Geralt, trying to take in his words.

"Wh-What makes you say that?!" She finally exclaimed.

"I have no proof of this, just a gut feeling and twenty-five years of a marriage that was doomed to fail."

"Right... Okay... Geralt if you know something, you have to tell me. This is serious." Oxyi placed the lid back on the ice cream tub, and onto the coffee table. "Do you think Venner needs help? Do we need to tell Seeth?"

"I..." Geralt had started to pick at the loose threads of his dressing gown, as though he was feeling uncomfortable, but then, suddenly he sighed, and looked Oxyi in the eye. "I think he's financially controlling her. I think he's a liar, and a manipulator. I think Robin's got Venner right where he wants her, and isn't about to let her go."

"Financially - wait, do you think it was him taking the money out of our account? He doesn't even pay anything in!" Oxyi's tone was still serious, but she was looking confused now too. "Robin doesn't even know Diego. Why would he try to sabotage us?"

"It's not about sabotaging you, Oxyi, it's about controlling her."

"I... I don't understand. Have you heard something? Has Venner said something to you?"

"No no, she hasn't said anything to me, I just..." Geralt dropped his gaze. "I've had, not really anything to do for the last six months. And this is a small flat. I can't always hear what they say, but I've heard them arguing in their bedroom. It never sounds like Venner wins them, either. When they're together, they seem... awkward, too. When Robin's home, he hardly ever eats with us, he takes his food into the bedroom and eats alone. Once I walked in on them talking about one of Venner's contracts, they were sat at the kitchen table, and she was so excited, talking about how much she had earned from it, and he just kind of gave her this... disappointed smile. 'Oh well, there's always next time' he said, or something along those lines, and you should have seen her face drop."

"I mean... He sounds like an asshole, definitely." Oxyi replied. "Why do you think he's controlling her, though?"

"Because... Because that's the exact sort of thing my wife used to say to me." Geralt said, softly but with determination. "And before I knew it, she had taken my farm, my cottage, my car, everything in the divorce settlement, using a lawyer I gave her the freaking money to pay for, trying to keep her happy."

Oxyi sat quietly for a few moments. "So... Do you think Venner is giving Robin money... because she's worried he'll leave her?"

"Almost certainly. You've seen his ever-growing collection of three-piece suits!"

"You don't think he buys them himself?"

"Pfft! No chance." Geralt swiped his hand dismissively at the very thought. "There is no way that man has a job. Not once have I ever heard him tell anyone what he does, or where he does it. Just that it's ever so important."

"Maybe he's started smuggling again?" Oxyi suggested. "That would explain his... aesthetic. And why he's being so secretive about his work."

"Seeth hunts Vora Barons for a living. Why would he be worried about telling us he's smuggling? And besides, he's home every night, he's not gone long enough to be a smuggler." Geralt sniffed. "I'm telling you, he's not working, and Venner is funding everything. Robin wakes up and struts out of this place most mornings in a brand new expensive suit, on his way to his 'job.' All the while, Venner's been wearing the same uniform every day for the last six months, her shoes are falling apart!" He gestured over to her work boots, which were currently drying on the radiator, and were, indeed, falling apart. "They must be so uncomfortable to wear! No loving husband would let his wife go out to work and get her feet torn apart by old tatty shoes while he struts about in several-hundred-die suits!"

Oxyi followed his gesture and stared across at Venner's boots. Oh my god, maybe he's actually right... how had I not noticed that before?

"And as for this 'job...'" Geralt started to raise his voice - he was getting angry now. "I was working on my farm before I could walk. I know how it feels to go to work, to come home after an honest day's labour. You know what that's like. It's exhausting! That man comes home, sometimes earlier, sometimes later than you, he comes swaggering in with his face all flush and his breath stinking of alcohol, he grabs some food and goes straight to his bedroom. That man doesn't come home tired after an honest day's work." Geralt clenched his fists tightly. "That man sits and waits for his wife to come home, to let her know how good a job she does every day but how she should be doing just a little bit better, because the money she's giving him isn't cutting the expense of his travel and his professional guise - how am I supposed to get a good job sweetie if I don't look the part - and all the while he's sat at a bar drinking in girls and necking back shots."

The two fell into silence then, for a while. Oxyi blankly at the TV screen. The flat seemed uncomfortably quiet, as though it was just waiting with bated breath to expose their secret conversation.

"Do you think he could be cheating on her?" Oxyi asked finally.

"I wouldn't be surprised. That flushed look he comes home with, I wouldn't say that's all alcohol." Geralt stood up, slowly, his joints creaking a little in protest. Oxyi watched him with a regretful look in her eyes as he bent down, and picked up the ice cream tub. "Listen, I... Don't pay too much heed to an old man's ramblings. I'm probably wrong. I usually am." He chuckled lightly, suddenly embarrassed. "I do think you should confront Venner on that withdrawal though; I'm sure it was just an accident."

"Yeah, I will..." Unless it wasn't an accident. Unless you're right, and maybe she was actually hoping someone would notice.

"I'm gonna go put this back in the freezer, then lie down for a while." Geralt turned away and shuffled back towards the door. Before he pulled it open though, he looked back at the lioness. "Don't repeat anything I've said to you, Oxyi. Please."

Oxyi smiled at her friend. "Of course. I won't say a word."

Geralt nodded, then made his way down the corridor, closing the door behind him.

Oxyi didn't move straight away. She sat in silence, and contemplated the feline's words. She picked up her phone and unlocked it, and stared at that one, singular withdrawal from their savings account.

"I'm gonna have to do something though. If Venner really is in trouble, I have to do something."

*

The next morning, Oxyi was downstairs bright and early, munching her way through a large bowl of cereal. She wasn't wearing her usual work attire today though; Oxyi had today off, and today, Oxyi was on a mission.

"You're up early!" Venner walked into the kitchen with a warm smile. Robin was a few steps behind her, wearing another one of his fancy colourful suits. How had I not noticed it before? Oxyi thought to herself as she returned Venner's smile. Her uniform is so dull, faded, worn... I can see from here where she's had to sew and repair it herself... And the two of them, standing next to each other... Husband and wife, they couldn't have looked more different than night and day. Robin looked smart, tidy, well-groomed and - she hated to admit it - attractive, as he sidled around Venner and grabbed a breakfast bar. Oxyi couldn't help but notice the distaste in his face as he eyed it, then stuffed it in his blazer pocket.

Our 'saver-value' brand groceries not good enough for you, Robin?

"...Earth to Oxyi, hellooooo?" Venner laughed - tiredly - and waved a hand in front of Oxyi's face, which made the lioness jump.

"Fu-um-sorry! Sorry, I don't think I've woken up properly yet!" Oxyi replied, quickly. "What were you saying?"

"I asked if you had any plans today! Figured you'd be sleeping in, long deserved rest after that hell-hole of a contract we just put ourselves through."

"Oh! Yeah, well, I've got a couple days off now, figured I might as well do something with them! I realised the other day that I hadn't actually seen much of the space station, outside of work, so thought I might go for a little explore."

"That sounds nice." Venner smiled, pulling open the fridge and grabbing her pre-made lunch for the day, courtesy of Chef Tivy. "Hopefully I'll be home early today myself, I could use a much needed break!" Venner yawned and walked out of the kitchen and into the entryway, shoving her flask and packed lunch into a worn-looking backpack.

God, Venner, have you always looked that tired?

"Well, while you ladies are off pampering yourselves and putting your feet up, I'm expecting to put in a bit of overtime tonight!" Robin suddenly announced with a big, shit-eatting grin on his face. "S'pose at least one of us here has to be making some real money!" He continued to boast as he followed Venner towards the door. Oxyi glared after him, then stood up and dumped her bowl in the sink. As she washed up, she watched them out of the corner of her eye; Robin was saying something quietly to Venner, and Venner looked uncomfortable as she replied back; then, he placed a hand on her shoulder, and steered her towards the door. He glanced back at Oxyi as they left.

"We better get a move on, can't be late! Tell Tilly or whatever her name is that I won't be needing dinner tonight!"

"Bye, Oxyi!" Venner waved and smiled as she was pushed out the door.

"Bye, Venner." Oxyi mumbled back. She dried her hands in the tea-towel and moved towards the window. A few seconds later she was watching Venner and Robin leave the building, and make their way quickly down the street towards the train station.

"Tivy! Don't wait up for me! Gonna be out late!" She shouted as she quickly laced her shoes, grabbed her backpack and ran towards the door.

I've got a cunt to keep an eye on.

The space station that the gang had called their home for the last six months wasn't like a typical nomad space station you might come across. It had started its life on a large asteroid, and as its inhabitants grew in number, so did, so did the number of asteroids. Currently, there were fifteen asteroids making up this station, each joined together in a chaotic jumble, each of varying shapes, sizes, colours and enrichment, in its own unique manner. The asteroids were interconnected by a long intergalactic trainline, all centred around The Plaza. The Plaza made up the largest and innermost asteroids of the nomad 'super structure' in the system, composed of several huge asteroids that had been literally locked together via ridged bridges, originally built out of boredom rather than purpose. Years on, The Plaza had grown significantly and was now more than fifteen different asteroids

Venner's flat was on one of the smaller asteroids on the outskirts of the space station, and as such, the main town where the asteroid's train station was, wasn't too far away. It also meant that their rent wasn't too expensive, which is exactly what they needed right now.

Oxyi loitered about awkwardly at the back of the train platform. The platform, to describe it in one word, was musky. The concrete slabs were a dirty, faded yellow, the walls a lifeless grey. However despite its appearance, the platform was bustling with commuters, trying to get to their jobs on the more innermost asteroids. Oxyi at least didn't have to worry too much about Robin and Venner spotting her; she was having a hard enough time keeping an eye on them.

The space train pulled up, a sleek and shiny tin in contrast to its dilapidated station, and as Oxyi was pushed on board and sardined into one of the carriages, she couldn't help but feel a bit silly. What was she actually doing? She felt like some silly little spy, or make-believe detective as she glanced down the carriage, and brought her faded-red scarf up over her nose, as if it were some sort of disguise.

"I must warn you, Oxyi! I am quite the mysterious stranger! I'll steal your heart, your flat and your food!"

Oxyi's heart skipped a beat. For a moment, she was back in the forest, with Diego, posing with her scarf around his neck, and laughing. God, that felt like such a long time ago now... As she breathed in his scent on her scarf, which was wrapped tightly around her nose, tears pricked in the corner of her eyes. How could so much have changed, in six months?

And how does my scarf still smell like him? I've washed it loads since then!

People were suddenly moving all around her, bustling and pushing past to get to the doors. Oxyi sighed and watched through still blurry eyes as Venner too stood up from her seat. They were at her stop. The train hummed gently as it began to slow down, and Oxyi watched intently as Venner attempted to say goodbye to her husband. She reached down and swung her backpack over her shoulder, and leaned in gingerly for a kiss. She watched Robin glance up at her, and offer her his cheek, instead of his lips.

A few moments, and several dozen people later, and Venner had disappeared into the crowd.

No. It doesn't matter how silly it may feel right now. Diego helped me when no-one else would. This is the right thing to do, even if it leads to nothing. He would do the same... probably.

Robin would be getting off at The Plaza, which in its essence was a large mall complex with a decent variety of commercial and housing areas, high-rise office buildings, and even a few artificial green spaces. The Plaza was a pleasant place for the most part, having been recently refurbished with thick grey floor tiles and an artificial environmental dome, able to emulate planet-side seasons despite being built on a massive asteroid. It was easily the wealthiest of all the asteroids that made up this space station, which was why Robin regularly made a point of bragging about his currently unspecified but extremely important job there.