Fuzzy and Sasha - Saturday, August 11th, 2074 - Late morning - Ares Macrotechnology Arcology

With the sleepover planned, at least for now, Fuzzy immediately ran into other problems. Chief among these was that she hadn't really brought much in the way of clothes to change into after her hunt. The idea of "other clothes" was still a new concept to Fuzzy. She was getting used to changing clothes and showering everyday because she could. In fact, the idea of a hot shower every day and clothes that she hadn't worn the previous day or days was beyond luxurious. In the Puyallup Barrens, ash got everywhere and because water that wasn't contaminated with ash or pollutants was precious so actually washing clothes was something one did rarely, if ever.

"So what was that message that was so bad?" asked Fuzzy.

Sasha's smile turned little brittle, but then she shook her head.

"How about we...Talk about that tonight?" asked Sasha, with false cheer, "We'll have a good day right now. Does that sound good?"

"Is it important?" asked Fuzzy.

"Wellllll," hedged Sasha, "We can't really do anything about it. Sooooo...Let's just have a good time, okay? Let's uh...Let's go shopping. You still need those clothes for tonight, right?"

"Uhh...Right," said Fuzzy, a little dubiously, "I guess I do."

It seemed that Sasha wasn't inclined to tell Fuzzy yet. And while Fuzzy was curious and a little worried, she decided to let it rest for now. Christina hadn't struck Fuzzy as a serious threat.

The conversation turned to outfits for a while. After a little explanation, Sasha learned that the only outfits that Fuzzy had were here hunting leathers, the outfit that Kenji had bought her and the short sleeved shirt and shorts that made up her school uniforms, which accounted for all of her meager collection of clothing. Fuzzy had actually thought that she had her priorities straight when she sent her weapons ahead with Sasha's security guards. After all, they'd planned to go hunting and so weapons were important. The only other clothes she'd brought were extra socks in case her socks got wet. One could never have too many socks on a hunting expedition. After all, there was water in the Puyallup Barrens. It was just mostly bad water. So it was important to bring fresh changes so her feet would stay free from infection.

After Sasha took all of this in, she explained that it was perfectly fine to wear clean clothes every day and have a closet full of clothing. And shoes. Hats too if you were a hat person. In Sasha's opinion it felt good to look good and so together, they both headed over to the Ares arcology mall to go get clothes.

"So you were just going to sleep in what...Your hunting clothes?" asked Sasha.

The Ares mall was white with soft angles and corporate levels of sterile. Though there were interesting things in each storefront. Since it was the morning, there weren't many people yet. Just a few people along with the odd robotic drone that cleaned the already clean floor.

"Maybe," she said, "I don't know. I've never been to a sleepover before."

Sasha sighed.

"I guess you didn't have any sleepovers in the Puyallup Barrens, right? You just...What...Stalked knee deep through ash hunting animals?"

Fuzzy only shrugged.

"Usually it wasn't knee deep," said Fuzzy, "Unless there's a depression in the ground somewhere that it all blows into. Those can get really deep."

Sasha pursed her lips in thought.

"That's so fucking cool," muttered Sasha, and then a little louder she said, "Okay, I'll get you some clothes."

Fuzzy figured Sasha wouldn't think it was cool if she fell into a pit of volcanic ash, but she held her tongue. The barrens was not a playground.

"I'm not really sure that..." began Fuzzy.

"It's fine," she said, "You don't have any clothes for the sleepover. I invited you so I'll get you something."

The idea of someone giving Fuzzy anything filled her with a nervous anxiety which made her hands fidget. In the barrens, one didn't enter into the debt of another unless they absolutely had to. That was a way of finding yourself under someone's thumb or in extreme cases, finding yourself enslaved. There were some gangs who just outright captured slaves in raids of course, but some people used debt in order to control or enslave people as well.

As Fuzzy later learned, the Ares Machrotechnology Arcology wasn't just a place with a forest and a restaurant, but a kind of city. Not one that sprawled outwards, but instead one that stretched upwards as it was an enormous building. It wasn't as big as the ACHE, but it was still over a hundred stories tall and a quarter mile wide, containing tens of thousands of people who worked for Ares. Though what exactly Ares was, Fuzzy had really no idea other than "corporate". But Fuzzy was still having problems with what a corporation was.

The arcology was surrounded by walls as well and reminded Fuzzy of the Petrowski farm that were Rat Man's closest neighbors, only on a scale that was much, much bigger. The arcology was basically a fortress, though much of the security was discreet. So she understood that the place was defensible, even if this mall thing that she was at now didn't look well defended. She doubted it wasn't actually undefended though. A market was a market and even the swap meet had people that guarded the market, even if it was mostly the merchants.

So at Fuzzy's request, Sasha pointed out what security there was from the simple such as security cameras and corporate security guards to more high tech security such as concrete blocks that would rise from the roads to stop traffic outside, steel doors that would shut on the inside and recesses for security drones that were behind walls that could emerge at any time. In fact, Sasha was all smiles at Fuzzy's interest as they walked through the mall.

"Yeah, when Crash 2.0 went down, the arcology was a place of stability in Seattle," explained Sasha, "Everything was awful outside, but inside everything kept going just about like it is right now. I don't remember most of it since I was pretty little at the time though. How was it like in the barrens? Real bad, right?"

Fuzzy shrugged carelessly.

"Rat Man talked about the Crash sometimes, but nothing really changed in the barrens besides more raids than usual as people got hungrier," explained Fuzzy, "Not on us. We didn't live on anything that's valuable so it's pretty rare that anyone would ever come, but some farmers nearby that we get along with got raided a lot. Rat Man would send fire spirits and rats to help fend off raiders. I never saw it, but we always knew there was a big raid because we'd get extra food afterwards as thanks. Good food too. Fresh veggies."

"He'd send...Rats?" she asked, slowly.

"Yeah," said Fuzzy, "Lots of them. He can control them with his magic."

"Which is why he's called Rat Man," said Sasha, "I guess that makes sense. Who is he?"

"He kind of raised me," said Fuzzy, "He runs an orphanage."

"Just...In the middle of the ash wastes?"

Fuzzy nodded.

"Yep. He takes in all of the abandoned kids."

"So you're an orphan?"

Fuzzy scratched her head.

"I guess?" asked Fuzzy, "There were a couple of adults in the house and all of the other kids. But no, I don't have a mom or a dad. I had people though. I sort of have this kid I taught how to hunt. Manny. He's about maybe...Ten now. I think."

"You think?"

"Yeah, not many people know their actual age out there," said Fuzzy, "Days and months don't mean as much when it's just ash every day. We have seasons...Sort of, but time feels kind of weird out there because not a whole lot changes."

Sasha frowned at that, but didn't continue the topic.

"Kind of hungry," said Sasha, "You hungry?"

"I'm always hungry," said Fuzzy.

"Cool," said Sasha, "Food first, then clothes. I'll get you something. On me, don't worry about it."

Again, this made Fuzzy fidget, but Sasha didn't seem to notice. It was really hard to say no to free food and Fuzzy had no idea how to refuse without angering Sasha. So she decided to just go with it for now.

They ducked inside of a smoothie bar to get drinks. There was a dark skinned human woman with dreadlocks wearing a hair net. Her outfit looked like fake armor of some sort colored a mix of bronze and green. Around them in the juice bar were statues of armed and armored warriors that looked a bit like her in their color scheme, though they were in dramatic martial poses, the person behind the bar looked like she'd never even held a spear before.

"Hi, welcome to Chymos," said the woman, who both looked and sounded exhausted, "How may I serve you to the utmost today?

Fuzzy stared at the woman across the counter from her and tilted her head slightly, then looked to Sasha who was already looking at an AR menu.

"Why is she dressed like that?" whispered Fuzzy, to Sasha.

Sasha gave Fuzzy an odd look, but she shrugged.

"Ares corporate culture is weird sometimes," she whispered back, "Sometimes it goes for Greek and Roman styles like with her "armor" and sometimes it goes for old golden age, nineteen-fifties America. Cultural revivalist. All of the big corporations do shit like this to make themselves look older than they actually are. It's weird, but you get used to it."

This only left Fuzzy with more questions, but she didn't pursue them because it felt like asking would just lead to even more questions. Though she did look at the woman past her odd fake and shitty Greek hoplite armor, sans helmet, shield and spear. She looked absolutely exhausted in a way that Fuzzy had really only saw in people who'd not just slept in days, but from long term exhaustion. Rat Man had looked like that once when there'd been a number of ghoul packs around their house one summer when she'd still been young.

The woman didn't seem to notice or care that they'd been noticing. When Fuzzy made eye contact the woman she put on a corporate approved smile purely out of reflex while her eyes gazed into the middle distance.

She realized that she'd been staring for too long and that people were waiting on them to order. Fuzzy couldn't see the menu, but Kenji had taught her about menus when they'd been to Ivar's. Most menus these days were accessible only through augmented reality. So with some doing she accessed the menu by taking a picture of a QR code and then she tapped a few commands on her commlink to try and get her app to read it into her ear. It felt like she was getting somewhere with it was slow going as she was still very new to commlinks.

"I'll have the hoplite special," said Sasha, after some deliberation.

"Me too," said Fuzzy, "I guess."

Fuzzy had no idea what that was at all, but Sasha turned around and smiled at her.

"Oh, you'll love it," said Sasha, "It's really good."

"Would you like anything else or does that complete your order?" asked the woman behind the counter.

"No, I think that about covers it," said Sasha.

"That'll come to one-hundred and twenty-four nuyen," said the woman, "Are you part of the Chymos rewards program?

Fuzzy almost gasped at the price. Meanwhile, behind the woman, a robotic drone arm that was fixed to a table began to prepare their smoothies while the woman continued to stare into the middle distance. From a number of ornate looking basins the drone arm fetched one apricot each, one mango each, real milk, whey protein and yogurt. It then slid a sharpened blade out from a recess and carefully began to remove peel the fruit and removes their seeds before putting it all into a blender.

"No," said Sasha, simply.

Unperturbed by the price, Sasha produced a shiny credstick from her purse. Not battered and black like Fuzzy's. Instead it was silvery-white in color. And though Fuzzy's anxiety was still a little high, she was briefly distracted by how shiny it was. Shiny things in the barrens were always interesting. Not always safe, but definitely interesting.

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"Oh, that's pretty," said Fuzzy.

Sasha smirked a little.

"Yeah, it's platinum," she said, "Kind of a big deal. It's funny, my dad gets on me about spending any amount of creds but my mom wants me to have a platinum credstick if and when I do. You know, for appearances. I got my own money but it's a silver credstick and no way am I pulling it out. If it means getting lectured by my dad about spending or...You know, yelled at by my mom, I'll take the lecture."

"So...It's extra special somehow?" asked Fuzzy.

Before Sasha could answer, the eyes of the woman, who'd been staring into the middle distance up until that second, locked onto the platinum credstick. Fuzzy could see raw terror blossom on her face and the wage slave began to scramble for a data pad.

"Of course you're on the rewards program!" she said, frantically, "I'm so stupid. Of course. I'm so, so, so sorry."

As if summoned by magic, a door opened in the back of the smoothie bar and an slightly older, light skinned elven man dressed similarly to her almost seemed to materialize across the counter from them, he moved so fast.

"Oh, hello Miss Oliver!" he exclaimed, with desperate, forced cheer, "Don't worry about the smoothies. They're on the house. Please."

Fuzzy looked around and even a few of those in line were rigid with fear. Not all, some looked confused, but among those who were fearful either stood very still, smiled and dipped their heads in respect or in the case of one person who'd come in at that moment, slowly backed away before leaving. As Fuzzy turned around, she caught the man in the fake armor not too gently poking the woman in armor into action.

"Does he know you?" asked Fuzzy.

"No," sighed Sasha, "This is...Well, I'll tell you in a bit."

"My associate can get you some premium wraps," he said, "On the house!"

Sasha sighed wearily, resigned to her fate. The woman wage slave loaded a bag with a number of pre-made wraps while the manager almost ripped the smoothies from the drone arm in order to present them to Sasha seconds sooner. Then Fuzzy's augmented reality was inundated with popups as the manager flung free AR coupons at them, which Sasha's ignored. He handed Fuzzy the bag, who took it. She felt deeply confused and somewhat ashamed for how distressed they both were.

"Here you are," he said, quickly, "Thank you so very much for patronizing Chymos. Please come back any time. Any time at all!"

Sasha, who hadn't slotted her credstick at all, sighed and put it back into her purse. Then she grabbed both smoothies.

"Come on Fuzzy," she said, "Let's go."

Fuzzy followed Sasha away from the terrified employees. They didn't take any of the tables inside of the smoothie shop even though they were all empty and instead found an empty bench against a wall that was out of sight of employees in the smoothe bar. Sasha looked annoyed and sad while Fuzzy sat next to her with a paper bag containing dozens of pre-made sandwiches and along with a few handfuls of plastic cups full of some sort of green drink in small, plastic cups.

"What just happened?" asked Fuzzy.

Sasha removed the credstick from her purse and idly twisted it in her hands as she stared at it.

"I got made," she said, "Not hard when you have one of these."

"Made what?" asked Fuzzy.

Sasha took a look at her smoothie, which she'd set down next to her, but she seemed to have lost her appetite.

"It's complicated," said Sasha, "I don't think you'd understand. You know, being where you're from."

"Try me."

"There any corporate enclaves in the Puyallup Barrens?"

"No," said Fuzzy, simply, and then repeated once again, "Try me."

Sasha thought about it for a few more seconds as she twisted the credstick in her hands. Then she handed it to Fuzzy, who took it and looked at it.

"Okay, fine. So there are different kinds of credsticks," said Sasha, "And each one can hold more money. Black is common. It can hold up to about five-thousand nuyen on it. Silver can hold twenty-thousand. Gold is a hundred-thousand. Platinum like mine is five-hundred thousand and ebony or ivory goes as high as a million. It's a measure of how much money you not only have, but how much you can borrow and your credit limit. Do you understand?"

Fuzzy sort of did. She had no idea how much a million was, though she figured that it was a lot.

"I guess so," said Fuzzy, "Shinier colors mean more money."

"Well yes, but it's also a status symbol," said Sasha, "The more money you have the more important you are because you can't get gold for instance if you just rate silver. I keep my old silver one just because I thought it was cool when I first got it. Anyway, I can't use my personal credstick here. I have to use the one my parents gave me because it's a status thing. If I spend any money I get a lecture from my dad about personal responsibility and how he didn't have any nuyen growing up and how lucky I am and blah, blah, blah. But if I try to use my own, which is my old, silver one or my really old black one like basically everyone else uses it, I get yelled at by my mom because I'm making the family look bad."

Fuzzy pulled her own, beat up credstick out of her pocket.

"This would make you look bad?" asked Fuzzy.

"Yeah," griped Sasha, "But if I decide to eat a lecture and bring out the platinum, people figure out really quick that I'm the kid of someone who matters. My dad is their boss' boss' boss' boss' boss or whatever. And they know that if they displease someone with this credstick..."

Sasha gingerly plucked it from Fuzzy's hands and began to look at it once more while Fuzzy put her own away.

"That someone like me can just casually ruin their life," said Sasha.

"Why would you want to?" asked Fuzzy, with a hint of suspicion,

Sasha raised her arms in her defense.

"I don't want to," said Sasha, "But some other people with a lot of power or sometimes just enough power get off on that shit. But I don't even have to say anything. If I just make some micro-expression like I smelled something bad and wrinkle my nose and their boss gets wind of it, everyone gets screamed at and their hours get fucked with or they get reassigned to some shit job or they even get kicked out of the corp and then they're homeless. I don't even have to say anything to fuck up their life. It doesn't happen often, but you know, it happens. You get eager, go-getter sadist types around here as corporate underlings."

Sasha looked inside of the bag that Fuzzy held and pulled out a labeled sandwich.

"They gave us...Let's see..." said Sasha, irritably, as she rummaged through the bag that Fuzzy still held, "Ten, eleven, twelve...Twelve. A dozen tuna wraps aaaaand six salmon wraps. They'll be inedible in an hour or two unless I get them in a fridge. Son of a bitch, I just wanted to get you some clothes and they weigh me down with wraps when I just wanted a smoothie. And what's that? Buffalo chicken, spicy turkey..."

"Any porks?" asked Fuzzy.

"Pork? Uh..."

Sasha rummaged through the bag.

"No pork, sorry," said Sasha.

Fuzzy wanted porks, but she'd eat whatever and from the whiff of food from the bag, she'd probably like it.

"Can you get them into a fridge?" asked Fuzzy.

"Yes," sighed Sasha, "I can call a drone and send up fifty wraps and my parents will ask why the fridge is suddenly full of wraps. Whatever. That's not the point."

"What's the point then?" asked Fuzzy.

"The point is that I want to be normal," said Sasha, her frustration obvious, "I don't want people to treat me different. I don't want people to be terrified of me or to kiss my ass. And the fact that they just dumped fifty wraps on me for free tells me that someone around my level in the corp just did something really awful to them. They both had that look that screamed please me and get me out as quickly as possible so I don't do any damage. I just wanted to get a smoothie and then get you some clothes for the sleepover."

Sasha gestured at the smoothie shop down the way.

"Look, I used to be like them," said Sasha, "My dad started out as a beat cop after he graduated high school. I went to the same corporate schools as everyone else and I had normal friends that I'd hang out with or game with and everything was cool. My parents weren't home much, but that's everyone's parents in Ares. My dad does the work, gets promotions, he and my mom have me, but he's still a cop with a better title. Slightly better apartment, slightly better food, vacation to go see my grandparents once a year because police get discounts on travel. That's the difference. Small things, but they mattered."

Sasha took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Then a couple years ago dad gets in with the right people and just shoots up the corporate ladder," she continued, "The Ares dream. Anyone can make it. Bootstraps. Whatever. Now he's the chief of police in Renton, which is a whole city in the south central metroplex. But that's too important for me to live my old life. So I get pulled out of school and put in a new school for rich kids from upper management. You know, the people who are actually scary with scary parents that used to scare the shit out of me like I scared the shit out of those poor people who gave us all of this food. And all of upper management are so, so up their own asses. They're all so fucking miserable. And I'm the new girl from new money, even though Ares it's not even that old and..."

Sasha twisted the credstick in her hands and then cocked her hand back as if to throw it. She didn't though. Instead she slumped in her seat, resigned, and then she put it back in her purse.

"I just want to be normal," she said, with a sigh.

Fuzzy didn't really know what Sasha was going through and even her guesses were likely to be wrong in some way. She could only tell that Sasha she was frustrated, angry and sad. So she put a hand on Sasha's shoulder, because it was the only thing she could do.

"Thanks," said Sasha, "I'm sorry it's just...Fuck."

She finally took a breath and steadied herself with a shaky breath.

"What do you want to do with the sandwiches?" asked Fuzzy.

"I don't know," she said, "This is at least two-thousand nuyen in fancy-ass sandwiches. I mean, I don't make peoples' lives suck because I know how it is to fear people like me in my position. But this isn't the first time I've got bought off to leave just a little quicker. Ugh. A couple years ago I would've killed to have this in the fridge. Now I can't even look at it. I don't want to throw them away. It'd make me sicker than trying to eat all of them. I mean, not really, but you know."

The mere idea of throwing away all of this food made with real meat revolted Fuzzy. However, as that feeling rose up in Fuzzy, Sasha suddenly looked away, sick from looking at her aura. Belatedly, Fuzzy realized what she'd done.

"Sorry," said Fuzzy, "Did you look away because..."

Sasha whipped her head back and furiously tapped Fuzzy on the shoulder, which stopped her. Then she pressed her lips against Fuzzy's lips, which made her stomach feel strange for some reason but she didn't have time to focus on that feeling as she listened to Sasha.

"Don't talk about that here," whispered Sasha, urgently.

Sasha pulled away, her eyes pleading. Fuzzy didn't fully understand, but she did nod. Apparently Sasha's inability to shut off her astral sight was deeply embarrassing. Or maybe it was worse. Fuzzy didn't really know.

"Okay," said Fuzzy, slowly.

Sasha closed her eyes and nodded in relief. Fuzzy frowned in thought and then smiled as she had an idea.

"Hey Sasha, do you mind if I have the bag?" asked Fuzzy.

"Sure, no appetite here," said Sasha, "At least not anymore."

Fuzzy decided to call Kenji with her commlink like Kenji showed her. Or at least she tried and failed to do so. Minutes later after several more failures, Sasha helped Fuzzy make a comm call and mercifully didn't ask any questions. Kenji took it as the call connected, audio only.

"Yo," said Kenji, on the other line, "Can't talk long. Doing a thing."

"Hey," said Fuzzy, "i've got something like fifty fancy sandwiches here. Realmeals with real meat inside. And also these cups of..."

Fuzzy took a look at dozens of small cups of plastic at the bottom of the bag.

"I think those are whey protein wheatgrass shots," said Sasha.

"Yeah, those," said Fuzzy, "If I get you some sandwiches, can you get some of these over to the ACHE?"

Fuzzy actually wanted to send these sandwiches to Rat Man and the kids, but getting that bullet to Rat Man had been a real hassle and would probably take more than two hours. Apparently drones had a really hard time delivering to that part of Puyallup due to all of the ash in the air that would foul the engines.

"Hey, that Sasha I hear?" asked Kenji, "You two having fun?"

Fuzzy looked over at Sasha and smiled. Sasha couldn't hear him over the piped in mall music and so Fuzzy nodded.

"I can see see your field of view nodding, but not you," said Kenji, "Don't nod into a comm call unless they see your face."

"Oh," said Fuzzy, who blushed a little.

"Take a look at all those sandwiches though," said Kenji.

Fuzzy did so and Kenji made a delighted noise on the other side of the comm call.

"Score," said Kenji, "You have my attention. What're you doing?"

"I'm with Sasha," said Fuzzy, "We're having a sleepover."

"Uh huh," said Kenji, knowingly, "Sure. Anyway, I'm not at the ACHE right now. Less time spent there the better because showering off that stink is a bitch."

"Yeah, it was," sighed Fuzzy.

"Also, if you drop food on those people the wrong way then they might fight to the death over real meat. Hell, they might fight to death over the fake shit. That much good food is a problem if you drop it in the wrong way. Not as bad as if it was the end of the month, but yeah."

"So you can't?" asked Fuzzy, with a frown.

"I mean...There are some people who do soup kitchens and shit outside," said Kenji, "People living in the ACHE know not to fuck with them. Unspoken rule. Don't fuck with the feast. People who fuck with the people who bring the feast get a beat down real quick. There's always someone dishing food but they never have enough. What do you got though? I can eat and getting this in the right hands is worth a commission in tasty wraps, right?"

"Uhhh, right..." said Fuzzy, as she tried to remember, "We've got chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon..."

"Send me one of each on a delivery drone and I'll find you their contact info and geo coordinates for dropoff," said Kenji, quickly, "I'll text you my location and theirs. Theirs will be the second one. Anyway, we good? Good. Yeah, later."

"Okay, I'll call you back in..."

Kenji had already hung up the comm. With a little smile, Fuzzy looked to Sasha.

"You want to send food to the ACHE?" asked Sasha, "Why?"

"Because I went there last month," said Fuzzy, "And I saw a lot of starving people."

Sasha furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Oh...That's what that smell was," said Sasha, awkwardly, "Wait, don't they get food? Like a lot of it?"

Fuzzy shook her head.

"Not enough. They were starving."

"I mean...I believe you," said Sasha, cautiously, "But are you sure?"

Fuzzy looked at Sasha dead in the eyes.

"Sasha," said Fuzzy, seriously, "I know what it looks like when someone is starving to death. That wasn't my first time seeing it up close. The people in the ACHE don't have enough food at the end of the month. They run out near the end of the month for days and not everyone gets the same amount of food."

Whether it was the gaze that was too intense or whether it was Fuzzy's aura, Sasha had to look away.

"Oh..." said Sasha, quietly.

Sasha's shoulders slumped even more.

"Oh...Um...Okay," she mumbled.

So Sasha had a think. Then she stood up.

"Be right back," said Sasha.

Sasha left back towards the smoothie bar. Fuzzy blew out a breath of frustration, but she was hungry. The mix of memories and feelings had soured her mood a little, but she was pragmatic. If she was hungry, she should eat. So she gave each wrap a sniff until she found something that pleased her and ended up eating a buffalo chicken wrap while drinking her smoothie. The food at the school had been heavenly compared to what she was used to out in the barrens, Ivar's had been tasty in its way and the hum bao had been filled with heavenly porks, but the wrap and the smoothie were extremely tasty too, but in a way that was refreshing.

She had a second one as well while she waited. The salmon wrap this time. She he knew that some of this would be going to the ACHE and that they needed the food more than her, but she was a creature of habit. Since Sasha didn't want it, that meant this was her kill, or at least that's how she thought of it. Just like she was bringing some bush meat home to Rat Man and his hungry kids. Her kill meant she ate first, even though she only took what she needed so she could go hunting again. It wasn't a conscious decision, just habit.

Sasha returned with two bags held in each hand as big and stuffed as the one that Fuzzy had, She seemed extremely pleased with herself judging by the sly smile on her face.

"Turns out I can have as many coupons as I want," said Sasha, "Which means I get as many sandwiches as I want. Ares is footing the bill today. Also, I think it's pretty shitty that I forgot to tip, so I did. And of course I have to tip big because otherwise it makes the family look cheap. If I get a lecture or I get yelled at, whatever. I don't give a shit. Let's make this happen."

Fuzzy beamed and between the food that Sasha didn't need, Fuzzy's idea and Kenji's on the ground knowledge, that day, they fed what little they could to the people of the ACHE.

---

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