Fuzzy, Kenji, Jimmy and Puppy - Saturday, July 28th, 2074 - Afternoon - Seattle Metroplex

"So you like art, Fuzzy?" asked Kenji.

"You mean like graffiti?” replied Fuzzy.

“Something like that,” said Kenji.

Fuzzy nodded and gave Kenji a small smile.

“Yeah, it's all right. There are some old murals I'd look at sometimes,” she said, “Plus they'd let me know where I am because there aren't a lot of good landmarks in Puyallup because of all of the ash. There was one I liked with a man playing a flute that wasn't too tagged over. It meant that when I saw it that I was close to home.”

"Okay, cool. We've got about six hours before we got to be back at the docks unless you feel like staying the night. Hey, you put your knife and bullet somewhere not so obvious, right?"

Fuzzy patted her devil rat leather hunting leathers and nodded.

"Inside pocket and a hidden pocket," she said, "And I washed out the one Puppy threw up in."

Puppy barked from his place in her other pocket in the front. At present he was half in and half out instead of fully inside. Seattle smelled far less bad than the ACHE did. Not good, just not awful.

"Cool," said Kenji, "Might get some takeout for dinner. So we're going to do four things."

He held up his fingers and counted them down.

"First I'm going to get you in to see a dentist. They fix your teeth if you didn’t know that. It’s the most important thing we have to do. I'm making an appointment for you now and checking prices. It's going to hurt afterwards, but it needs to get done."

Fuzzy felt defensive all of a sudden. She was no stranger to pain, but if she could avoid it she would.

"I don't want to,” she said, immediately.

"Then we call it a day and you're on your own," he said, "I'll walk you back to the docks so you don't get lost."

Fuzzy blinked and frowned.

"Let's skip it," she said.

"Look, I already paid you like you asked. I gave you lunch and a knife. That was my old knife too, so I know it's good," he said, "You said your time is valuable to you, but mine is valuable to me too. This needs to get done. Having bad teeth is a dead giveaway that you're not some corporate higher up. You refusing won’t make it better or go away. You get insurance through the school, that makes it cost less, and I'm going to shame Julian into getting the school to pick up the bill. So it won't cost you anything."

Fuzzy was dubious at the idea of people messing with her teeth. However, if Kenji was going to do something bad to her, it would've been at the ACHE. So she nodded begrudgingly.

"Cool. After that, we get you a haircut and maybe some makeup," he said, "Then I get you a set of clothes or two so you don't look lame after school because that's when people stop wearing their uniforms and show off. You can't always go out in your hunting leathers."

"Why not? It's what I wear back home."

"You can get away with it sometimes, just not all the time," he said, "If you want to wear hunting gear all the time you need a few different sets of gear to rotate through. But I figure that for right now, we get you some nice outfits that make you look like you're going to slum it after school."

Fuzzy didn't understand, but she was reticent to admit to that. There was another problem too.

"I don't have that much new ends," she said, "And I don't want to owe you money."

"Nuyen," he corrected.

"That's what I said."

Kenji sighed.

"Look, you won't owe me anything. if you blend in then I blend in too. The longer we blend in the safer we are. Part of blending in means having your teeth fixed, a few pairs of clothing that other students are going to see you in and being able to talk to people."

Fuzzy wasn't happy with this but she saw the logic in it.

"I don't owe you anything for clothes that I don't want in the first place," she said, firmly, "And if you say I do then we're going to have a problem."

Kenji held up his hands in placation.

"That's fine," he said, "Last thing, we do the art museum as a treat. I think you'll like it. Then we had back to the island."

Fuzzy had no idea what a "museum" was, but if there was art there she might like it.

"That's five things," she said.

"I'm going to count makeup and a haircut as one,” he said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Reasons,” he said, smugly.

Fuzzy snorted and decided to go along with him. So far he seemed like he knew what he was doing and she didn't. Though she was ready to walk if he broke his word.

A few minutes passed and they walked over to a park to let Puppy gambol about cutely on his leash. Kenji had a quick discussion with a local dentist's assistant over his commlink, set up an appointment and then had yet another terse discussion with Julian over commlink as well. Fuzzy tried to listen in, but couldn't catch the conversation. She didn't know the right distance to eavesdrop in a busy city and Puppy was too interested in this new world and all of its smells to be anything but conspicuous as he barked loudly and tried to play with Fuzzy.

Minutes later they hopped a bus. Kenji slotted his credstick twice. There was no driver.

"Where's the driver?" asked Fuzzy.

"Working remotely in some office somewhere," said Kenji, "They're probably driving at least ten buses right now. They let the autopilot do its thing and checking in if something out of the ordinary happens."

Fuzzy looked nervously at the empty seat. In her experience, vehicles didn't drive themselves but this one apparently did. The bus was itself relatively clean though and so they both sat in front. Fuzzy had never been in a vehicle this big before and so she watched just how fast she was going, which would be very fast sometimes, slow at others, and occasionally it stopped sometimes either to let traffic go by or to let people on.

Both she and Puppy stared out the window at this new and strange world. There were so many people who seemed to know how not to get hit by cars. These were cars that didn't crash into one another despite many people not paying attention or even a vehicle not possessing a driver at all like the bus she was in. People were on motorcycles too, which interested her as she'd seen a few of the motorcycle gangs riding those. She even saw one go by without anyone on it, which seemed strangest of all.

They got off the bus, walked two blocks, went into a building, up the elevator, which she was now familiar with so she didn't act foolish, but felt uncomfortable being crowded in with other people. A well dressed, matronly human woman smiled at her and Puppy.

"He's so cute," she cooed.

She tried to touch him without being asked and Fuzzy pushed her away. Not hard, but in the elevator that sent her into other people who looked at her and complained. She glowered at Fuzzy while others glowered at the woman for having been pushed into them.

"How very rude," she said, indignantly.

"Don't touch," said Fuzzy.

Others were beginning to look at her when Kenji stepped out and motioned her to follow where they ducked down a few long, generic looking corridors in the office building they were currently in. Kenji frowned at her at first, but then begrudgingly nodded in approval.

"Good on you for not letting her touch without asking," said Kenji,

"I know. I wasn't rude," said Fuzzy, testily, "She was."

"Yeah, I agree. Just be careful with these rich people. They'll call the cops in a fucking second. And they won't take your side looking like you are right now."

"What's wrong with how I look?"

"You're in Downtown Seattle," said Kenji, "If it's rich versus not rich, the cops are going to take the side of the rich person nine times out of ten. Maybe just shield him next time. Less chance of getting arrested."

Fuzzy frowned in confusion and Kenji seemed to notice this.

"Fuck, okay. Look. I'll tell you about what a cop is later," said Kenji, "We don't got them in the ACHE either but they keep us in there. Just be cautious around rich people, okay? They can cause all kinds of trouble for people like us."

"She should learn not to touch without permission."

"She doesn't have to learn anything," said Kenji, patiently, "She's rich."

They made their way towards the dental office and stepped into the waiting room. The difference between a waiting room a century ago and one today was minimal. The magazines were digital and the receptionist was a pretty looking dark skinned ork who looked dubiously at Puppy.

"I’m seeing that he’s not a work dog," she said, "He'll have to wait outside. Sorry, policy."

Kenji flashed a black credstick in a not so obvious bribe.

"Oh, he's a work dog," said Kenji, "In training."

The receptionist looked hungrily at the credstick, then back to Puppy in her pocket and finally she looked at an obvious camera behind her station and sighed.

"Can't," she whispered, "I might lose my job. Sorry."

Kenji only shrugged and looked to Fuzzy.

"He can't stay in here, sorry," said Kenji.

"Uhh...I'm not leaving him," said Fuzzy, "He'll get stolen."

"I'll keep an eye on him and I'll keep you company over the commlink so you're not alone. You just go when you're called. You'll be done in half an hour."

Reluctantly, and for only the second time, she handed Puppy over to someone else. Not doing so would end the day and this seemed very important. She didn't like it though.

"I’m gonna swipe a few free magazines though. I love me some Goofus and Gallant," joked Kenji, "I've got a soft spot in my heart for Goofus."

Fuzzy had no idea what he meant, but he left before she could ask. He walked out with Puppy and she felt a building anxiety at being alone. However, he chirped in on her commlink, which was really his in actuality since they'd switched.

"So a few things are going to happen," said Kenji, "You'll get on a little table. You'll lay down on it and they'll attach some nanotrode paste to your temples. Since you don't have a datajack, that'll put you in virtual reality. You ever been in VR before?"

Fuzzy didn't even know what that was.

"No," was all she said.

"It's like a fake world in a computer that you kind of, sort of feel," said Kenji, "They use it to keep you still and block out pain while you're in it. Plus I paid extra so you won't just get bombarded with commercials. Sometimes people freak out a bit their first time in VR, so I'll keep you company. Anyway, he's going to do stuff to your teeth to fix them. They'll hit you with some pain killers and it'll hurt in a few hours. You'll be fine in a day."

Minutes later after sitting she laid down on a dental table. There was no dentist, just the table, though there was a drone arm that lowered. Fuzzy squirmed away and the arm stopped. A man's voice piped through.

"Hello miss," said a cheerful but tired male voice through the line, "You okay there?"

"Just relax," said Kenji, "It's fine.

"I'm fine," said Fuzzy, through gritted teeth.

In AR, a human man's face popped up. His face was broad and may have once been handsome, but now he was in his early middle age. He had brown eyes with heavy looking bags under them from lack of sleep and his brown hair had a horseshoe bald spot in the middle. He had a small double chin and his skin was pale. In fact, he looked like he'd just stepped out of an antacid commercial, though Fuzzy had never seen one.

"Miss uh...Fuzzy Smith," said the voice, "Hi, my name is Jimmy. I'm your dental tech. And I can see you're a bit concerned. Is that right?"

Fuzzy fidgeted nervously with her hands and said nothing.

"I see that you're a first timer," said Jimmy, soothingly, "And that's okay. It's good that you're looking after yourself like this. Healthy teeth are important. I've been doing this for over a decade now and I'm good at my job. You'll be fine. All you need to do is relax."

That was when Fuzzy noticed the extra weight he was carrying due to his slight double chin. To anyone else, Jimmy the dental tech was just an overweight wage slave. To Fuzzy, who was fresh out of the Puyallup Barrens, thought that being older and having actual fat stores meant that someone was very successful. There were some old people in Puyallup, but not many as the ash wastes were harsh to live in. And what Fuzzy thought of as old was someone in their late thirties or forties. There were a handful of overweight people too, but not many as the ash wastes were lean to live in. To be old and overweight meant that someone was extremely competent. So oddly, the fact that he was both put Fuzzy more at ease. She was still nervous, but she decide to just deal with it and let the man do his work.

"I understand," said Fuzzy.

"That's great," said Jimmy, "This'll take about ten minutes. If you have any questions or just need someone to talk to, you just ask for me in VR."

She held still and the drone arm quickly, but gently painted her temples with a blue, nanotrode paste and attached small devices to them. Within seconds, the ceiling of the dental office that she'd stared at fell away and she "dived" into virtual reality.

Fuzzy sat down at a chair much like the boring waiting room she'd just sat in, though this time she was alone. Before her were a number of buttons suspended in mid air along with words that she obviously couldn't read.

"And there you go," said Kenji, in her ear, "Ten minutes and you'll be out. If you're bored you can just put yourself in one of the VR programs."

Fuzzy had no idea what was going on. On instinct, she poked herself and it felt like she had gloves on instead of making contact with the bare skin of her other hand.

"I thought I was on a table," she said, to herself.

"Oh, you still are," said Kenji, "Just think of it like uh...Like you're dreaming, except you're still awake in the dream."

Fuzzy nodded to herself.

"Okay, that sort of makes sense," she said, "So...I just push one of these buttons?"

"Yeah, just pick the VR program that you want," he said.

Fuzzy couldn't read and there were no familiar words from the handful of words that she knew. So she picked a button at random. She was instantly transported into a idyllic nature setting and instead of sitting like she had been, now she was laying in a gently swaying hammock despite never having moved.

"What's this?" asked Fuzzy.

"Looks like a pretty chill place," said Kenji, still in audio only mode.

Fuzzy got out of the hammock. Below her feet was only grass. No rocks like over at Blake Island and despite the number of trees, there wasn't a single root that she could see. Only flat ground with short, manicured grass. There were also quiet birdsong in the background, but she couldn't see a single bird in the treetops.

"What're you doing?" asked Kenji.

"Exploring."

Fuzzy did what she did at Blake Island on her first day. After quickly surveying the area, she tried to climb a tree to get her bearings. After all, she was light and she wouldn't need to go up far as the trees didn't seem particularly tall. However, when she tried to jump up to a low hanging branch, she couldn't jump high enough knowing full well that she could. And when she took a running start to get another jump, she found herself unable to jump past a certain height.

"Why are you exploring?" asked Kenji, "The hammock is right there."

"I don't want to take a nap. I want to explore."

"Yeah, it looks like you picked the nap option," said Kenji, "And you're basically hitting a kind of invisible wall. You can't climb the trees. I doubt you'll be able to go twenty feet away from the hammock."

"I thought you said this was like a dream."

"It is," said Kenji, "In this dream, people dream about taking a nap. People don't explore the forest in their dream about napping. They nap."

Fuzzy finally stopped trying to climb the trees, now knowing that to be impossible. She turned back to the hammock. One that looked inviting and large and it even had an almost comically large pillow.

"Why would someone dream about napping?" she asked.

"Well you've never been a wage slave," said Kenji, "I paid an extra fifty so you wouldn't be bombarded with commercials. So to a lot of wage slaves, they'll pay fifty nuyen so they can get a solid ten minutes of sleep."

"Why don't they just sleep at home?"

"Because they spend most of their time at work," said Kenji, "The minimum is a nine-nine-six schedule. Nine AM to nine PM, six days a week. More do fourteen hours a day seven days a week, or even sixteen. And before you ask me why someone would ever do that, remember that they're wage slaves. They don't have a choice. So getting a nap while getting your teeth seen to is decadent."

Fuzzy didn't say anything after that. She was just trying to process what Kenji said to her. How people were forced to work long hours for low or no pay. To a huntress like her, she brought home the spoils of her hunt back home to Rat Man and the other kids as repayment for taking her in as a child. Or if she needed supplies, she took it to the swap meet. Work was necessary to stay alive and she liked working, but she couldn't fathom working that long to get so little. She had bad hunts and lean times, but not all of the time.

So as she contemplated this, she sat down on the ground instead of the hammock and felt a lot of feelings that she had no words for.

"Hey Kenji?" asked Fuzzy.

"Sup?

"that thing you're reading? The thing with good us?"

"Goofus and Gallant," said Kenji, and then after a moment he added, "I can share my feed so you can see it too. Want me to read it to you?"

"Yeah," she said, quietly, "Sure."

There'd been a lot happening today and it wasn't even over yet. Fuzzy needed the distraction.

---

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