Fuzzy, Kenji, Clever and Puppy - Saturday, July 28th, 2074 - Morning - The ACHE, Clever's kickback

"Clever!" called out Kenji, happily, "You fucking toaster, c'mere!"

They'd gone back down to the third floor and Clever, Kenji's cousin, was done with the cyberdoc. The teen, no, man, was older than Kenji. He was chromed out with cybernetics, called cyberware. His arms were cybernetic and obviously fake unlike some who went for cyberware that matched their body, but they looked newly inked with tattoos as Kenji's cousin wrapped his arm around him. His army surplus coat was ripped at the shoulders to show them off and said coat was laid over a lined armor jacket. His black synthleather jeans were frayed artfully at the front and he wore heavy black boots. His eyes were chrome as well, and had tiny cross hairs in the middle of them as an affectation. His head was shaved and on both sides of his head there were nanowire tattoos which glowed an electric blue. He was of East or maybe Southeast Asian descent and pale like Kenji. Clever's arms whirred softly as Clever gave the hug an extra squeeze. They were both tall, though Kenji was slightly taller.

"Hey Ken," he said, voice surprisingly cordial, "Who's the tourist? And who fucked you up?"

Clever pointed to his own eye, where Kenji had taken a punch from Fuzzy on the beach.

"That would be Fuzzy and Fuzzy," he said, and gestured to her, "Just seeing the sights, meeting some people, you know. Fresh out of the barrens."

Clever began to walk away from the cyberdoc clinic and they took the broken escalator down on their way out of the Red Market. Unlike before where they had to negotiate their way around people, people moved out of Clever's way.

"Oh yeah? Redmond?" asked Clever.

"Puyallup," said Fuzzy.

"What, that strip where on the SINless live on the north end?"

"No," said Fuzzy, "Southeast Puyallup."

"What, in the ash wastes?" asked Clever, "I didn't think anyone lived out there."

"There's a few hundred," said Fuzzy, "But no, not many. It's hard land. Half abandoned buildings, half hills, all ash. There's some farmers out there and a gang called the Chulos on the Salish border in Carbonado. Rat Man told me that it used to be a coal mining town but now they mostly make their money from bored soldiers on the border."

"So they're pimps," said Clever, "Got it."

"How you figure that?" asked Kenji.

They made their way down to the bottom floor and headed out of the Red, taking the path full of addicts. It was a lot easier to move around when the crowd got out of your way.

"Need to brush up on your Spanish, Ken," said Clever, "Remember that guy that had all those girls in A block on our level a few years back?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Kenji, non-noncommittally.

"Called himself Papi Chulo," said Clever, "Then he crossed the wrong people. Chulo Muerto."

Fuzzy's face darkened and she nodded.

"The local gang leader out there is some guy named Big Dredge," said Fuzzy.

"Ork or troll?" asked Clever.

"How'd you know?"

Clever looked to Kenji, who sighed as his cousin dropped the impromptu ganger pop-quiz on him.

"All the orks and trolls mixed up in gang shit are named big or huge or large or whatever," said Kenji, "It's an honorific. Like calling someone Mr. or sir or something, but who's big and who's not is a big deal. It means you got street cred. And if two people who are both big are in the same place, they start posturing. They got to know who's the biggest. Not in size, though that matters, but you know, in rep."

"I didn't know that," said Fuzzy.

"Always watch out for orks and trolls who call themselves big something," said Clever, "It means that they're the kind of people who make moves."

"Moves?"

"Boss moves," said Clever, seriously.

Fuzzy narrowed her eyes and produced the fifty caliber round from her pocket.

"If they make moves towards me or mine, they get these from the big rifle," said Fuzzy.

Clever raised an eyebrow.

"That's a lot of ouch," he said, "But you only get one shot out of that."

Fuzzy looked at Clever like he was dumb.

"it's Puyallup," she said, flatly, "Everyone does their own reloads. This'll get reloaded at least twenty times."

"Oh yeah?" asked Clever, "You got one of those?"

"Rat Man does," said Fuzzy, "He always says load it until you lose it. I mean, who just shoots a bullet once?"

"No one around here," said Kenji.

Clever grinned at Fuzzy and both Kenji and Celver's estimation of her seemed to go up after that. After that, Kenji's cousin slapped her on the back with his metallic arm. This almost made her step on an addict, though the addict was so out of their mind on BTL's that Fuzzy doubted he would've even felt it if she had.

"Sorry for calling you a tourist," said Clever.

"I am one though," she said.

"That's for the people looking to score drugs, guns or ass," said Clever, "Though it looks like you did score something."

"Arrows," said Fuzzy, "I hunt."

"You get your hands on fresh meat?" asked Clever, suddenly interested, "What kind? I do barbecues for for some people. I'll pay if the meat is good."

Fuzzy looked to Kenji, who shrugged.

"Nothing yet," said Fuzzy, "I'll be bagging a lot of birds though and maybe some deer. Need to learn how to butcher those though."

The conversation lulled and they backtracked the way that they came. Fuzzy, who'd been counting her steps and turns, figured out quickly that she would've gotten lost on her way back, which made her nervous.

Soon enough they were in a new part of the ACHE. This part had actual working glass elevators though it wasn't here yet. Tthe trash was so high that it pressed up against the cracked glass surrounding the elevator shaft.

"They just let you hunt shit at that fancy school of yours, Kenji?" asked Clever, "You should bring some home."

"I don't know how to use a bow and arrow," said Kenji.

"Just bust out that Colt Cobra," said Clever, "Deer won't know what him them."

"Pretty sure that hunting deer is different that delving, Clever," said Kenji.

The elevator came down with a sad little ding. From her pocket, Puppy barked and whined a few times at the new the sound.

"Oh shit," said Clever, "You got a dog?"

"Couldn't just leave it," said Fuzzy.

"Man, I love dogs," said Clever, "Kenji does too. Haven't had one at the kickback in years."

Kenji's face grew dark and he stayed silent. Sensing this, Clever decided to let it go. Fuzzy tried to pet Puppy, but there was a tiny retching sound from her pocket and she sighed as she realized what had just happened.

"Well, my puppy just threw up in my pocket," she sighed.

"Everyone does that their first time," said Clever, "Don't worry about it. We'll get him cleaned up."

"Royal treatment, huh?" asked Kenji.

"She's no tourist," said Clever, "She's your guest. Guests get that good, good."

They all stepped into the elevator. Fuzzy had been in buildings with elevator shafts, but never working elevators. She didn't have a word for what these were and she didn't ask. So when she stepped inside and the doors closed behind her, her stance widened in alarm as the elevator began to ascend. This felt a little silly as she'd seen it descend, but she did it anyhow.

"You weren't kidding about the deep barrens," said Clever, “You got the reflexes, but they're tuned wrong.”

The elevator shaft grew pitch black for a while as the garbage obscured all light. Puppy whimpered in her pocket and she pet him despite the fact that he was covered in vomit.

"Work in progress," said Kenji, "You might say that she’s a diamond in the rough."

Half a minute went by and they kept ascending in the now pitch black, which made Fuzzy nervous. Meanwhile, Clever's cybernetic eyes lit up in the darkness, white with red crosshairs for pupils.

"Hey Fuzzy," said Clever, "Everything is fine right now. If I light my eyes up red? Everything is not fine. No worries right now, okay?"

"Okay. Red eyes mean a fight," she repeated, mostly to herself.

"Got it in one," said Kenji, "But it's still morning and we're near a burn. Doubt anyone is going to start shit."

"Wrong time of the month," agreed Clever.

The elevator repeatedly dinged its sad little ding as they ascended. It stopped once and people began to board, but Clever's eyes flared red and there was a click-clack sound that emanated from both of his hands that she couldn't see. Those people who'd been looking to get on with them suddenly looked far less eager. The door closed and they were in the dark once more.

And then they suddenly weren't. The elevator shaft broke free of the trash sediment and she could see in all directions as light poured in. She could see up to a ceiling that looked like it went up forever. Across to floor after floor of people as they moved around. And down to see the garbage.

"This is the atrium," said Clever, "Almost a football field across and wide. Biggest open air dump in the metroplex."

"Overdue for a burn," said Kenji, "it's almost thirty stories high now."

"How do you know that?" asked Fuzzy.

"Because we live on the thirtieth floor," said Kenji, "D block."

Fuzzy stared up from her place in the elevator but hurried along as Kenji and Clever left. What she noticed first were a handful of teenagers with credsticks. She had one and it was what people kept their nuyen on. It was about the size of a pencil, made of plastic and the teens, who were all wearing clothes that ranked as decent for the ACHE, were using lighters to melt the plastic. One pitched a still burning credstick over the wall and at a handful of people who were picking through the trash some two stories below. Though the trash pickers had mostly moved away from easy chucking range.

Fuzzy didn't understand what they were saying as it was some sort of East or Southeast Asian language, but she did get the gist of it by watching them. They were melting the credsticks and pitching them at the trash pickers below. The young teens, maybe thirteen or fourteen, were goading each other to throw more of the credsticks, which were cheap because she doubted that they had any money on them, and seeing if A, they could hit anyone and B, if they could light up an enormous, thirty story, football field sized trash fire.

"Hey!" snapped Clever, "If you light this shit on fire while we got a guest I'll beat all of your asses!"

The teen boys ran away laughing, leaving behind a pile of credsticks and spent lighters, which Clever scattered with a kick from his heavy boots while walking by.

"Why's it so big in the middle?" asked Fuzzy.

"The arcology used to belong to this huge megacorp," said Kenji, "Renraku. One of the Japancorps. I guess it used to be nice and clean and airy and full of soul crushing, authoritarian artwork. Now it's not. It's where we dump our trash because the government doesn't want to pay for trash pickup."

Kenji sported a frown, but Clever seemed far happier as he inhaled deep and smiled as he came to his neighborhood.

"Corridor sweet corridor," he sighed, out loud, "My turf."

Fuzzy felt a real sense of pride off him. The gang tagging was far heavier here than Puyallup, and there were loads more people. The sounds of people laughing, yelling, fighting, even the occasional gunshot from an upper floor rang out, but not here.

There was something about places, Fuzzy knew, that said they were safe. It was one of the first things Rat Man taught her when she started to hunt near what he'd disdainfully called "civilization". If there were children around and playing, then the area was safe, at least for the moment. Though you did keep an eye on them and move like they did as kids might not know exactly what was happening, but groups of them generally knew how to keep safe. If there were women or old people around, again, it was still safe, though less safe than places without children. And if there were only men around, especially only young men, it was definitely not safe.

What Fuzzy saw in Kenji and Clever's neighborhood were children playing, women and old people watching the children while chatting and a few men, both older and younger. There wasn't a speck of trash on the floor and the walls only had a minimal amount of gang tags with plenty of room for chalk art from kids on the floors and walls. It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination clean, but the cleanliness and feelings of safety in this neighborhood helped her relax.

"Nice place," said Fuzzy.

Clever turned to her, his face a scowl, but that scowl turned thoughtful when he found she wasn't messing with him. He nodded and smiled just a little.

"Thanks. I try and keep it safe and clean," he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

He turned around and began to walk again.

"I can tell,” said Fuzzy.

"Can you?" he asked, over his shoulder.

"Yeah,” she said.

Clever smiled broadly at that and hooked a chrome thumb at her.

"She's not just fucking with me, right Ken?" he asked.

"She has this weird sort of charm," he said, offhandedly, "I'm still trying to get a handle on it so I can help her develop it."

People would occasionally nod to Clever and Kenji both. A few leered at Fuzzy, but not in a way that made her feel like she was in danger and even then, the presence of Kenji and especially Clever kept on anyone making a pass at her.

Puppy barked from her pocket and people, shocked that such a creature was here, would laugh, scowl or speak in a language she didn't understand and point to the girl and her dog. Then all at once they came to a stop in front of a doorway. Two men stood before a door, one shirtless and covered in tattoos, one in a tank top far too small for how fat he was. They nodded respectfully to Clever, in more a familiar way to Kenji and then one leered again at Fuzzy that made her feel decidedly unsafe.

"Hell yeah, party favor," said the fat man, who clapped his pudgy hands together.

Clever shot an angry look at the man, who backed away as sure if he’d been kicked or was expecting one.

"Or not. Fuck, sorry," he said, apologetically.

"She's a guest," said Clever, icily, "You and me are going to have a talk about how we treat our guests. Fucking apologize."

The man muttered apologies, first to Clever, Fuzzy noticed, and then to her. This didn't satisfy Clever but he moved on anyway. The feeling that radiated off him made her shiver. As they passed the two men, Clever smacked the fat man upside his head.

Into the kickback they strode and it looked surprisingly normal so far as apartments went, though Fuzzy didn't know this at the time as she hadn't been to many that hadn't been abandoned. Extra tables and chairs for everyone to sit though. Though Fuzzy instantly noticed something odd. In one corner there was a long table where a dozen people worked with electronics. Specifically, they were making tiny computer chips with tools both sophisticated and simple, all of which went into big, white buckets on the floor when someone decided to finish with them.

Fuzzy had her suspicions about what they were doing. Meanwhile, Clever flopped onto an old couch and not knowing what to do, Fuzzy stayed standing. A few of those who were working looked to Clever, then Kenji, then Fuzzy but quickly went back to their work.

Meanwhile, Fuzzy pulled out a tiny, miserable looking, vomit covered Puppy to inspect him. Clever called out something in another language and one of the women at the table put down her soldering iron, quickly stood up, grabbed some water in a plastic jug from a mini-fridge along with two chipped but brightly colored bowls and set it down on a table in front of the couch. She bowed and then she returned to her work.

"Just wash him off in the bowl," said Clever, "It's fine. Drink after. The water is clean and so is the other bowl. Don't got any shampoo for puppies though, sorry. Pop a squat and wash him off."

Hesitantly, Fuzzy did and she placed Puppy in one of the bowls. The poor little guy looked exhausted and ill from the smell. Meanwhile, Kenji had disappeared into a room and only now just came out again, looking sheepish.

"Looks like it's not here," he said, "I guess it's at moms' place."

"Kenji, if you wanted to go see your moms you could've just told me," said Clever, "We could've visited."

Kenji awkwardly shuffled his feet.

"Hey, you seen Mario?" he asked, almost too casually, "Because I need to talk to him."

Clever rubbed his temples, obviously irritated.

"No, we are not having this stupid fucking argument again," groaned Clever, "For the last time, we are not tossing Mario onto the trash pile. Your moms likes me and he'll be missed by C block because they like him, fuck knows why. I don't want to start a floor war over his dumb ass. Drop it."

They then began to argue in another language, quick and frenetic. Fuzzy had no idea what they said, only that the argument consisted of Kenji's anger and Clever's boredom. In fact as it escalated Kenji only grew more animated while Clever seemed to convey his boredom in the same way, only more loudly, and without even looking at him. Eventually Kenji stalked back to the stash room, rapidly made his way back out and then stormed out of the apartment entirely.

"You thirsty?" asked Clever.

Fuzzy showed off hands that were only now beginning to wash Puppy. Also she was still wearing her mask.

"I'm good," she said, "I just wanted some water for Puppy."

Clever nodded in approval.

"I like how you're thinking of others first. It's what I'm all about," he said, with a proud little sniff, "Good thing we stocked up on extra water. The water out of the taps ain't any good. Another fucking boil advisory. Third time this week."

He yelled something at one of the people doing inventory in that same language. They shook their heads and said something back.

"We got Fizzychug soda if you want something tastier," said Clever, "Beer and wine too. Baiju if you really want a drink."

"What's baiju?" asked Fuzzy.

"Chinese liquor," said Clever, "Kind of tastes fruity and nutty and it smells sort of like soy sauce. My girlfriend makes it herself."

"I'm okay," she said. “Thanks.”

"Not hungry or thirsty is rare in the ACHE” he said, “But that's cool. My rice bowl is pretty big, but not everyone likes what's inside. Doesn't mean we don't offer anyway. Hospitality, you know?"

Fuzzy nodded in genuine appreciation. Out where she lived, hospitality was taken seriously as well, though Rat Man rarely had visitors over. Meanwhile, a wet and now cleanish or at least less vomit covered Puppy got rubbed down by a towel that Fuzzy was handed. After being dried, he leaned over in that way that dogs do when they're held, unbalanced, curious and trying to catch the scent of whatever they were interested in. Clever held out a metal hand for Puppy to sniff and Puppy cautiously licked it, but only a few times as his hand was metallic.

"Nice dog. I like dogs," he said, wistfully, "I used to have this massive one. Real beast. He won three dozen fights and change...Good earner. I loved that dog. So you go to school with Kenji, right? The magic one? You do magic?"

Fuzzy, unsure of what to say, nodded at him.

"Man, I'm jealous. I saw all those trids when I was a kid," he said, "Blowing up buildings and shit with fireballs, summoning spirits that do whatever you tell them or swinging around a magic sword. I know that's not how it works in real life, but I always wanted to throw fire with one hand and fuck shit up with my frosty blade in the other. None of that for me though. I've just got these clever hands."

"That's why you're called Clever?" asked Fuzzy, who took the bait.

With a small flourish and a whirring, click-clacking sound, both of his hands transformed into shiny submachine guns and Fuzzy decided to stay very still, though Puppy barked at the sudden transformation. Then with another flourish they were back to shiny hands again. Fuzzy took a breath and decided to nod in appreciation. She was impressed, though they were scary.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool,” said Clever, “Tell you what, when you learn some real mojo at that school of yours maybe you moonlight for me. The pay is decent and this floor is pretty quiet. I'd pay good money for a healer. Normally you'd have problems with casting magic here because we got some uh...Bad history here, my girl calls it, but we have some workarounds.”

"I'll think about it," she said, cautiously.

He laughed and shook his head.

"Just fucking with you," he teased, "You know how to handle yourself, but you’re still a kid. Don't get sucked into this shit.”

"Then why do you stay?" she asked, unable to help herself.

Clever tossed a look over to the people doing inventory and then out towards the guards outside.

"I got friends and family on this floor. It was beyond bad before I took over. Now shit is quiet. The drugs flow off this floor, not onto it...At least mostly," he said, and sighed, "People can actually go to work if they live on this floor. Or they can work for me. I take a small tax to pay my guys and we keep other people from messing this shit up. It’s the best of a bad situation. I don’t have any illusions. I know what I am, but there’s way worse than me."

Kenji strode back in just then. He held out a survival knife in a synthleather sheath. Fuzzy reached out, took it, inspected the blade and pursed her lips.

"Needs sharpening," she said, "But thanks."

She felt much better now that she had a good blade in her hands, though she'd have to test it. Then she noticed something on his cheek, though she wasn’t sure what it was. There was red paint in the form of lips. Clever looked at him. His eyes whirred. When he next blinked there was click and he snickered.

"Saved for posterity," Clever teased. "Got you again, huh, Ken?"

Kenji understood immediate, swore furiously and wiped at his cheek.

"I think it's cute that you're a momma's boy, Ken," he said, then grew serious, "Now I'm not going to find Mario knifed or tossed on the trash pile, am I?"

"No," said Kenji, his voice sullen.

"I know you don't like it, but Mario sells clean shit," he said, "You know she'd just get it elsewhere and I don't sell to family. She'll find it on her own and I can't protect her if she decides to wander out of my territory. Better to keep her here."

Kenji said nothing. Neither did Fuzzy. With nothing left to say, Fuzzy, Kenji and Clever departed the way they came. Kenji stayed quiet on the way out too, though he did hug Clever right after they'd left the ACHE."

"I'll watch out for your moms, Ken," he said.

Kenji nodded and sighed and they left towards one of the more traveled paths this time. He also spent a few minutes bribing the Lone Star corporate police officer so Fuzzy could keep her bullet, which cost more than the three nuyen to buy it. After that, Kenji was quiet for a long time as they walked away from the long shadow of the ACHE.

Not in the mood for a hot dog, they decided to stop at an Ivar's which was an old chain that specialized in fish and chips. Pets weren't allowed inside, but since it was on the docks and Kenji could order wirelessly there was an outside area surrounded entirely in chain link fence. Not to keep strange people out, because it was Seattle and strange people were everywhere. No, it was to keep stupid tourists from feeding seagulls and thus being mobbed by them. The french fry, soy or potato, is after all the natural prey of the seagull and it is tourists who are their foremost providers.

Kenji bought fish and chips for both of them and it was a realmeal, which cost quite a bit more than normal. The normal fare looked the same, but was really just different types of soy and reconstituted krill that was shaped and flavored to look and taste like fish and chips.

Fuzzy had never had fish or chips before so she didn't notice the difference. She thought it was grand though and especially liked tartar sauce (soy based) and vinegar which was cheap but real. They drank their colas (soy again) and she tried and succeeded at feeding Puppy a bit of her fish and even had a little water for him which he lapped up greedily. They hadn't talked to one another for half an hour when Kenji sighed and pushed away his food for the moment.

"Might want to check that knife in with security or hide it when you get back,” said Kenji, “Don't know what you're going to do with the bullet. Can't take it to school?"

"Why not?" asked Fuzzy.

"Not even gonna touch that right now," said Kenji, "You just got to find a place for it. Anyway, the knife is a neat tool though. It's got a compass, fire starter, micro-lighter, multitool, GPS and the blade won’t reflect light. It even makes comm calls, though they're a ripoff. I used up the light though. If you want that replaced you'd have to buy a refill. It's chemical."

Fuzzy knew about those sorts of things, but they'd almost always been too expensive for her to own. Only in the last year of her life was she really able to afford one and even then it would've cost almost all she had.

"Was this your knife?" she asked.

"Yeah. I’ve had it since I was a kid. Sort of wish I'd gotten some of Mario's blood on it as a parting farewell, but..." he trailed off, and shrugged.

Fuzzy noticed something, though it was brief. Kenji’s face betrayed sudden emotion, though she wasn’t sure what kind it was, just that it was negative. He turned his head and jammed his drink against his lips. He took his time before he continued. His face was now placid once more.

"Anyway, it’s training day," he said, and sighed expansively, before he stretched. "I'm still not sure what to make of you, Fuzzy. I need to spend more time around you before I can help you develop a style of speaking because you're actually going to need to talk at school and that means not outing yourself as not one of the corporate elite. You're speaking more though which is good. I think you just need to learn more things first. Less risk of looking dumb if you know things and can say them with confidence."

Fuzzy, now underwhelmed, eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm not dumb," she said.

"I didn't say you were. Not knowing things is ignorance, and knowledge is the cure. Dumb people know things, but they're wrong things,” he explained, “Don't think I'm not going to help you. I am. I’m going to help you get presentable and arm you with knowledge. I'm thinking we get you a haircut to straighten out your hair, maybe buy you a little makeup and I get your teeth looked at. I notice you don't smile with your teeth much and I think you should. I think you could be pretty if you put your mind to it, and pretty people get a pass in life. Like me.”

He winked at her. Fuzzy sighed and suppressed her growing frustration and simmering anger.

"I'm fine the way I am,” she said, stubbornly.

"No, you're not,” he said, “Look, we're going to get outed at some point as not part of these ultra rich kids. The best thing we can do until then is to make friends and connections to help cushion the blow when we do get outed. So I want you looking presentable, I want you to learn how to talk and if you don't know how to talk, you already know when to clam up."

Fuzzy said nothing.

"Clam up...Uh, stay quiet.

"Right. Clam. I knew that," she lied.

---

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