Chapter 323 - 323 Moving A Desk Is Harder Than You’d Think.
Once Lily's desk was divided into pieces and Chekov had given very clear and specific instructions, he turned to the girls and said "What do you wish to do now? Take this outside perhaps? Or go see the little one's desk?"
"Hmm, how close by is it?" asked Vivian
"Little one's is on the other side of the wall" said Chekov tapping the back of the cubicle. "But the only way to get there is by going all the way to the end or beginning. It seemed like a good idea having them so close, but I clearly wasn't thinking when I set this up"
Vivian eyed everyone and said. "I think we should take this back to the car first. Is that alright girls?" when Vivian finished, she was specifically looking at Sylvie, knowing that it was likely causing her the most inconvenience, as she would be missing out on seeing her own desk as well as being unlikely to be physically capable of carrying any of the pieces.
"It's fine. The sun is out so leaving Lily's desk outside won't be a problem and I can wait" said Sylvie.
Chekov nodded, and went to start handing out pieces. Before he got too far though, Kat gave Vivian a look, to which she responded. "What crazy idea do you have now Kat?"
"Well… Chekov has already seen me fly, so it's not like he's going to think I was normal anyway. Now that I'm rank 2, I can sort of… carry things without them falling apart despite my strength. I sort of support the structure with my energy. If Chekov put it all back together, I can carry it for everyone… though maybe leave the shelves and stairs. I'm not sure that it's quite that good. Just in case I bump it, or maybe hold it at a bad angle"
Vivian glanced at Chekov, who just gave a shrug as if to say 'I'll go with whatever you want'. Vivian sighed, but had a grin on her face as she gazed around at everyone else. They all seemed on board with Kat's idea, so she eventually gave Kat and Chekov the thumbs up. It took Chekov no time at all to put the desk halfway back together.
Once that was done, Chekov himself picked up one full side of the shelving, before directing Lily and Vivian to take the one half each of the left side of shelving. Once they'd grab them and cleared out of the cubicle it was Kat's turn.
Walking forward, Kat was sure that it was well within her strength limit, her main concern was making sure that it could withstand her grip. When Kat rest her hand on it, she let her energy form its thin film over the whole structure, before pushing more into it. Kat grinned when the barrier happily complied and strengthened itself. Once this was done, Kat, making sure to keep her hand on the desk and keeping the energy flowing to the shield, she bent her knees and locked her arms in place.
Lifting at the knees, Kat felt the desk leave the ground with minimal problems. This much weight was hardly a problem for her. The only issue was that there wasn't exactly enough room for Kat to turn the desk around in the cubicle. The thought of flying up to turn around flashed through her head, but Kat ended up just slowly walking backwards, head turned away to make sure she hit nothing, and legs stepping carefully to ensure she wouldn't hit the sides.
The others all made sure they were out of her way. Chekov had chosen to step back, and would be keeping an eye out from behind the group, while Vivian had taken point with Sylvie standing next to her and Lily just a little bit behind that. Once Kat was free of the cubicle walls, it was easy to turn and face forward once again. Kat was happy to see that despite how easily Chekov had made sure the desk would be, the main thoroughfare they'd be walking through was wide enough to accommodate.
Once Kat was safely out, Vivian took off back to the doors. As they walked, Kat split her attention. Most of her focus was of course on not hitting anything and ensuring that the barrier keeping the desk from suffering any damage from how it was being carried, Kat was also trying to use her ears to try and make sure that there wasn't anybody nearby.
The fear was of course, that while it was easy enough to just ignore the demon horns and wings as someone who was a little crazy or on their way to a costume party. Someone with thin arms like herself easily carrying what was clearly a heavy wooden desk likely twice or three times her own weight, wouldn't go unnoticed, and would cause a few questions to be asked.
Sadly, her hearing really wasn't where it needed to be to be spying on the locals. Luckily it was no issue. The warehouse district was just as empty as it had been before and Kat's thought that Chekov owned most of the warehouses around this area was further reinforced. When they got to the doors, Vivian and Lily were a little stumped until Kat said "I got this"
Testing out a minor theory, Kat had Vivian and Lily stand to the side, while she put the desk down next to them. Keeping an eye on the barrier, Kat changed her hands over for just her tail and watched as the small energy barrier was maintained. Once she was sure of that fact, Kat pulled open the doors as much as she could with her tail 'tied' to the desk.
Once open, Kat had assumed there would be no further issues. There was however a slight problem that Kat only just now realised. While there was plenty of space while walking through the warehouse, plenty to cross the road, and even the door wasn't too much of a challenge… There was not such ample spacing between two warehouses that constituted the route back to the carpark and Kat could not simply open the pathway further.
Despite the fact that Chekov was at the back, it was actually he who actually realised the problem right after Kat. "Ah, da path is a little small for you isn't it… hmm, can you just fly over? Or do you want me to take the rest of it apart again?" asked Chekov the same way Kat assumed he'd ask if she preferred her coffee with milk or not.
Of course, the answer was that she didn't drink coffee, but for Chekov's second question it was a resounding… "I'm not actually sure. This will be the most I've ever tried to lift while flying and I'm not sure I want to risk things too much"
Chekov nodded. "That's understandable. Still, my constructions not so shoddy that a little jolt would destroy it. I say you try, if you are comfortable, and glasses doesn't object da?"
Kat's eyes went to Lily, who said "I trust you"
*I don't though!* Kat shouted back in her mind. *This just doesn't really seem worth the risk… aw well I guess the worst that can happen is a bit of damage to my knees. I can make sure not all of it gets carried over to the desk and all will be well… ish.*
Kat tightened her grip on the desk, but made sure that her barrier was as strong as ever, and made sure to also apply a light barrier to the ground beneath her feet before kicking off from the ground. Kat knew she wasn't going to be quite as high as she wanted for this, but her thoughts didn't waver, flaring her wings at the tip of her jump, Kat angled herself to try and make it most of the way across the warehouse and back to the parking lot. She kept her eyes peeled as well, for anyone that might see her. Scanning with her eyes full of energy yielded no results, so Kat returned her attention to her task.
Kat was barely gliding along, and despite the rhythmic wingbeats that accompanied her passage, she could feel the weight on her wings. *This is a bit too much for me, I think. At least on Earth that is. I wouldn't put it past me if I was in a dimension with at least some higher energy, but this isn't easy.*
Watching her gliding path, it became clear that Kat wasn't quite going to make it. Looking at the flimsy tin roof that graced the warehouse, Kat also wasn't very confident that it could take her weight alone. That was without considering the additional weight of the desk as well. Angling herself to make use of the gap, Kat was now hoping that she could use the slight extra time bought by lowering herself into the pathway while keeping the desk higher up.