Allison resisted standing up out of her seat, to grab onto Adam, who was almost drooling after a single drag of his smoke; his first smoke, ever.
“Is he OK? Will he fall off the chair?” Allison asked.
“What do you think?” Jenny said.
Allison looked at Adam. He was breathing slowly, but he wasn’t wobbly, he wasn’t even really slumped in the chair. He just looked relaxed, so incredibly relaxed. His breaths were patient and rhythmic.
“Are you up to date on your first aid, Sue?” Jenny called out.
“He’s more likely to be dancing. Soon, anyway. Not needing the recovery position,” Sue said, smiling. “We’ve seen a lot worse, Allison, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, he just looks really relaxed,” Allison said, looking at Adam. “But I’m glad I didn’t do this with them on my own. Thank you, Jenny. And you, Sue!”
“First time always hits hard,” Sue said.
“Now taste some of Adam’s smoke,” Jenny said. She inclined her head towards the smouldering rollie of Adam’s Allison held.
Allison took a drag of it. She tasted something more to it than before, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was, so she took a drag of the rollie Jenny had given her, the one that made the beer more complex. When she dragged on Adam’s rollie again, she realised something, instantly.
She placed Adam’s rollie in the ashtray in front of him, where he could get it if he wanted. She looked up at Jenny. “Those... What Angie and Adam are smoking... Those are the same as the brown rollie One gave me. Earlier. When I knew... When I realised who I am. Not as strong, though. Not near as strong, but the same. And they're all the same as with Des, they’re all weaker versions of the brown smoke.”
“These are the base of everything we do, you do. It’s foundational. The original modern form of tobacco once we made it not-dangerous, except sometimes to the psyche. One gave you another smoke before he gave you the brown one?”
“Yeah, it cleared my head. It was fuzzy from a hangover, I think,” Allison said.
“It can clear your head, some people will have no reaction, some people will get agitated. Lots of things can happen, but it is extremely safe. It’s typically the first rollie you give to anyone you’re not certain has smoked before so you can gauge from their reaction what they’re capable of handling. You’ll learn how to judge it.”
Allison took a drink of the dark beer on the counter as Jenny did so too. “So I should really have given what One gave me first to Adam and Angie,” Allison said. “Why didn’t One tell me?”
“How many brown rollies did you smoke, do you know?” Jenny asked, eyebrow raised a little, or maybe it was just a squint in one eye.
“Just the one, I think. One said it was one of the easiest whatever-he-was-doing he’s done.”
Jenny shrugged. “If it was easy he probably sees a lot in you, he wants to throw you in at the deep end. See how you cope, what questions you ask. What you learn. I might have done the same. I have done it with a few people. Sometimes it’s a success, sometimes there’s setbacks. It doesn’t matter. People try their best, and if something happens someone more senior — or many someones — will step in and recover things. No-one has ever had life altering issues for as long as anyone has been talking to me about this.”
Allison laughed at the lack of life altering issues. “Yeah,” she said, dismissively. “No-one’s had their life changed. Not in a serious, never-heard-of-before way.”
Jenny shook her head and smiled a smile that revealed a vibrancy to her Allison hadn’t noticed before. It wasn’t the playfulness she’d had with Adam, it was something else.
“You would have been fine with these two. But I can definitely see you causing trouble. Maybe not for yourself, but a headache for others. Some of the numbers...” Jenny said. “Personally I can’t wait. The new generation is far too cocky.”
Allison looked at Adam whose eyes were half closed. He had taken the smoke back from the ashtray Allison had placed it back into, held the rollie to his lips and was taking drags but it wasn’t lit.
Allison picked up the lighter and held it to the tip until it glowed again with Adam’s inhale. Then she took the rollie from his fingers and set it back into the ashtray.
She turned to Angie, who was happily drinking her beer, the rollie in her ashtray half gone but also extinguished from lack of smoking. “How are you doing, Angie?” Allison asked.
“Good, yeah. Thanks. That smoke was nice. I’m so glad you are who you are. Who you really are! It makes so much sense. I should have figured it out.” Allison smiled and for some reason Angie was smiling serenely. Allison figured it must be the tobacco, then Angie took another drink from her glass. “This beer is amazing,” she said.
Allison looked at the tin her own smoke had come from, the red tin next to the green tin of Angie and Adam’s relaxing smokes; Angie and Adam’s the foundational tobacco; the same tobacco as Des’s tin. The red tin was the tobacco Allison’s had that made the beer feel alive.
Allison looked at Jenny.
“What do you think?” Jenny responded, understanding the question on Allison’s face.
“Yes... It would be good,” Allison said. “Can I?” Jenny shrugged. Allison opened the red tin and took out a rollie. She held it out to Angie. “Try this one, Angie” she said.
Angie swallowed the beer in her mouth. “I’m OK, really. I’ll take things slowly, for now. I prefer the beer, anyway,” Angie said. “There are times I feel I could do with one of those smokes, but not right now.”
Allison smiled. “You’ll really like this one, I promise. Will you try it? For me? If you don’t want more after your first bit I’ll smoke it.”
“OK. But I’ll really like it? Really, really?” Angie said, looking doubtful. Allison nodded and Angie took it, held it to her lips and lit it. A few seconds later she looked quizzically at Allison. “I don’t feel anything. Not more than the first one.”
“OK. I got it wrong. I’m sorry, I’m new at this. Go back to your beer.”
Angie consolingly rubbed Allison’s shoulder as she took a sip of the beer. Angie froze. She took another sip, then a drag of the rollie she’d just put down in the ashtray and another sip of the beer.
Her head snapped around to Allison, with her eyes locked on Allison’s eyes. “You amazing bitch! Fuck me!! I love you!” She took another sip of her beer and tilted her head back as she held the gulp of the beer she now completely adored in her mouth, before washing it around every taste-bud she had, and some she didn’t know she had. Angie would die happy if she drowned on the beer.
Allison spotted Sue carrying what looked like two boards towards them. “Ladies,” she said, placing two large platters filled with meats, cheeses, nuts, olives, pickles, breads, oils, and vinegars down in front of Angie and Allison.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“This is the fucking best day of my life. This is better than sex! Fuck me!” Angie said, taking a deep breath. “How am I this lucky? How do I know you, Allison?”
“How are you this lucky, Allison?” Sue asked. “You get your first personal client, on your first day?”
“Personal client?” Allison asked.
“You discovered what Angie loves. She’s your client. Taste is a common one but her reaction? It’s a particularly strong one. There’s no going back from this,” Sue said with a laugh. “Luckily for her she’s your support. She won’t have to pay for the tobacco.”
“Did you know it’d work like this?” Allison asked. “You had the food ready to go.”
“The food would have happened anyway, and I had an idea she’d smoke what you did. That you’d see it in her. The way she described the beer when she tasted it was fun... No idea she’d be so into taste though.” Sue shrugged. “You did well. You have good friends. And you’re going to have a lot of fun with him too.”
Allison looked at Adam and saw him smiling, bouncing his head to himself. She kept watching a man in a seeming reverie where he picked up the rollie, only half smoked at this point, lit it with the lighter and took the smallest of drags, all while remaining smiling, with his eyes shut. Then he put both lighter and rollie back down.
“Yeah,” Allison said, smiling too. “They’re good friends. How are you doing, Angie?”
“This is... I can’t believe it,” she said, as she picked up an olive and bit into it before moaning in pleasure. “Can you get me more of these smokes?”
Jenny laughed. “This is a present from us. From me and Sue,” Jenny said as she slid the red tin towards Angie, with a lighter on top. “I think they’ll be in tins labelled 1 in your bag, Allison. The ones you and Des smoked, the same as the ones your friends smoked first, are labelled 0. Colours can sometimes change. Brown smokes are brown though, always in ugly brown paper.”
Angie was nibbling at cheese like a mouse when she stopped and rested her hand down. “We can only smoke in Allison’s apartment, and they don’t really allow food out of the mess halls, certainly not to apartments. I’m not sure how often I need these?” She tapped her nail on the tin of rollies.
“Come back here any time you want. Any of you three, with each other or on your own. You can smoke here. If you want to eat some food here we can arrange more than the platters. It’s a privilege of being a smoker, which you are now. It costs credits, quite a few, and you might not want to spend them. You have plans to open a business when you’re old enough?” Jenny asked.
“I’m always thinking,” Angie said. “No firm plans.”
“Saving credits is important, you might get a plan for something. Does Allison understand that given her ‘new-ness?’” Sue asked.
“I dunno,” Angie said. Then she turned to Allison. “There are ways to get most of anything as a woman. Not some stuff like taking food to your apartment if it’s an official, registered apartment, on an official floor. That’s for parties on unsecured floors, but you know that... But most women want to own a business or do something ‘bigger’ when they’re old enough, so we save. Men are stupid enough to pay for anything you want. If you give a little in return.” Angie laughed, and so did Jenny and Sue.
“Yeah... Socially acceptable prostitution,” Allison said, rolling her eyes.
“A little, yes... If men stopped offering women would eventually get horny enough to have sex just because. We do want sex, most of us,” Angie said, then laughed again. “They’re not that smart, though.” Then she was laughing so much her shoulders were going up-and-down, repeatedly. Sue and Jenny were grinning.
Allison shook her head. “This is all bullshit,” she said. “I don’t know why things are like this!”
“Have you told her about libraries?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah, there are libraries. Filled with fiction like from when we were in school. Much, much better fiction though. I’ll take you to one. You’ll like it,” Angie said.
“Is this another ‘women only’ thing?” Allison asked.
Sue shook her head, now back behind the bar. “No. If you know a man who says he’d love to read fiction again, like in school, invite him to one. There’s a few male members of libraries, especially older men.”
“What’s the catch? There’s always a fucking catch, I’m finding!” Allison said.
Jenny laughed, then Angie said, “There’s junior and senior libraries. Junior libraries you just join. To get into senior libraries you have to write something they think is worthy. I’m a senior member in a few branches.”
“Did you check out this level’s library, Angie?” Sue asked.
Angie took her smoke away from her mouth, and said, “Philosophy? According to my conn... I’m not sure what that is. I have vague memories from school, but that wasn’t fiction.” As she spoke smoke came out of her mouth and once she stopped speaking she took a quick sip of her beer, then stuffed a thin slice of salami in her gob, relishing it.
“Just ideas about how the world works, how societies work, what makes people who they are, and what people are. You and Allison should check it out, especially you Allison. And get her to join a general library, Angie. I think she’ll like fiction,” Jenny said.
“Because I’m a woman?” Allison asked, starting to get annoyed.
Sue sighed and looked annoyed as well, at Allison, but Jenny didn’t look any different. She simply said, “When you described your smoke with Des you said you thought of it as like sitting in front of a fire, drinking mulled wine in a cold climate. That’s a rather writerly turn of phrase. It’s certainly not sterile and dry.”
Allison guffawed. “Sterile and dry? Yeah? Like the encyclopedia I don’t have access to?”
Angie laughed. “We have most of that; not completely up to date. There’s a lot of rubbish in it, especially about women. Written by men, I’d guess.”
“I’m so sick of this!” Allison said. “Why is there all this ‘hiding things?’”
Sue was no longer looking annoyed. “Join the philosophy library, you might find some answers to that,” she said.
Allison shrugged and reached for one of the 0 smokes, the foundational smokes. The calming smokes. “Yeah, less obfuscation but instead more work to find out things.” She lit the smoke and inhaled. It didn’t do a huge amount of good, but some.
Jenny had poured a beer from one of the taps nearby and placed it in front of Allison. A regular beer like Allison would have bought before, when she was a man, when she didn’t have to uncover secrets to achieve things.
“Did you think life would be easy?” Jenny asked. “It can be if you want. It is for many people.”
Allison took a drag from the smoke. A drag which helped more than the first one, then took a sip of the beer. “No. I don’t want that. It’s just so new, and aggravating.”
Everyone nodded, and Allison accepted it. It was all new. Then Adam spoke up, interrupting the quietness of people contemplating 'the new and aggravating' to say, “Thank you so much, Allison. That was amazing. Just wow! I feel so great. I love you to bits, really.” Allison looked at him and he was nodding to himself. Sure of something. Allison thought he looked sure of himself; certain within himself.
“You can live an easy life if you want,” Jenny said. “There’s no shame in that. If it makes you happy that’s all that matters.”
Allison nodded at Jenny, then turned to Adam. “Drink your beer and eat some food, Adam. And thank you, I know you love me.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Adam said. “The food looks great.” He reached for the platter Allison had slid to him and began to dig in.
Sue placed three chocolate bars down in front of each of them. “When you want to try the tasting smokes again, the 1s. Another day. Try the chocolate beforehand, especially you, Angie, then have a smoke and eat a little bit more of the chocolate. And please come back to me at some point and tell me what the food you have tomorrow was like, don’t smoke your smokes tomorrow, really, believe me on that. I have to get back to work, it’s finally starting to pick up.”
Allison rotated one of the chocolate bars around to her. ‘Indulgence – Approved for Apartments.’
Allison looked around and the bar was a little more filled, people were smoking, but now they saw Sue was ready to serve, and not be dealing with three new customers, one or two were standing to approach the bar for drinks.
“Why was it so quiet? It’s a Saturday night. Isn’t that the busiest time for bars? Do older people smoke and drink later at night?” Allison said.
“Oh! You’ll like this!” Angie said.
Jenny laughed and shook her head. “Don’t tell her, let me... I think this is what’s keeping people occupied.” Jenny pulled her conn out of her pocket. She showed it to the three of them and there was what appeared to be a movie on it, but it was short, and it repeated when you clicked on it. None of them had seen that on a conn, ever. Allison, especially, hadn’t seen what it was showing.
It featured a few clips — probably from security cameras — of women getting piggyback rides from men, their arms wrapped around the man’s neck, their unworn shoes held by their hands, dangling against the man’s chest.
Every few seconds a man, with a woman on his back, would hop, and dart ahead. A few were even twirling. They all looked like they were having the best of fun. There were people, of all ages, standing outside bars, with drinks, smiling, and occasionally cheering as they watched.
“That’s your doing,” Angie said to Allison.
“Biggest trend the station has seen in a while,” Jenny said, smiling. “Next weekend the doctors and carers will be working overtime with the injuries. If they're not already busy tomorrow with back strains. The age of some of those people! Lots of days off work, unwell...” Jenny laughed.
Allison groaned and said, “It was all Robert.”
“That’s a point!” Angie said, with glee. “What do you think of Robert? Did you tell me what you two got up to in that room? Probably not considering I’d remember if you did, I hope. Today has been weird. Come on, tell all!”
Then they all talked, and chatted, and drank beers. Adam even seemed more easy-going. When the platters were gone they were ready to leave, accepting it had been a long, long day. Jenny said she’d store Allison’s beers in the bar, and told Allison she had eight left to drink; this despite Des’s instructions one of the six packs was for Jenny. Jenny only wanted two beers. The rest waited for Allison, with her name on them.
On the way to Allison’s apartment, while Angie insisted that Doctor Grace’s instructions to watch Allison for the next day or two meant both of them sleeping in the double bed in Allison's spare room — a double bed a rare privilege usually for older women actively seeking pregnancy — Adam gave Angie her first piggyback ride. Then Allison agreed that Angie, having a steed, was a powerful knight and she couldn’t argue with the logic that she needed to be watched overnight by a respected and knowledgable noble.
Which was the end of everything, with everyone quickly tucked into bed. Adam asleep within seconds of arriving back to his own apartment.
Except Allison kept waking during the night, or at least coming half awake, pain growing. Her moans and groans eventually rousing Angie, early in the morning.
Moans and groans, and turning, and sweating that had Angie extremely worried.