PASsport, Happening Encounters Day 21 free porn video

8PHE0021 word count 10820 ******** Day 21, Monday Kinny woke to his alarm. Neither woman had come home last night. Kinny checked his messages. Nothing. "Rude," he said. He texted both women. 'Hello? Anyone coming home today? I have to go to work. Hope you're okay.' He showered. Ate breakfast. Fed the baby. Pumped milk for the day. Got dressed. He'd waited as long as he could. He called Two Debs. "Hey, um. I'm babysitting and the mom? She didn't come home last night." "Is she okay?" "I don't know. This is not like her." At that moment, Kinny got a text. It was from Joi. 'Sorry. An emergency with Marion. I won't be home until Tuesday. Can you watch the baby? Will make it up to you.' "Oh, wait," Kinny said. "I got a text. She's okay but I'm stuck with the baby for a couple of days." "We have a day care. Do you have a work contract for that baby?" "Does a text message count?" "Forward it to me.... Boss says that's a contract. Bring your baby." Kinny loaded the baby into the front-carrier. He shouldered the diaper bag. Mounted his bike. "What in blue fuck are you doing?" Roy asked him. "Going to work." Kinny felt heat in his loins. He associated that heat with PASsport. But he had turned that off. He had checked it and double-checked. "Like hell. Get off the bike, Princess. With a baby?" "Um." He dismounted and dropped the bike. Unreal. It felt like he was two places at once. "Get in the truck. Do you have a car seat?" "It's in the...." Kinny tried the door to Joi's car. Locked. "No, I don't have a car seat." "I should make you walk." Roy pulled a slim-jim from his truck. "You tell anyone I did this and I'll deny it." It took him two attempts and eight seconds to open Joi's car. The car alarm sounded. Roy reached in, popped the hood. Then he pulled the cable off of the battery. The alarm stopped. "Get your car seat." He shut the hood. "Yuh. Sure." Kinny resisted an urge to rearrange himself, to let his trouser snake ride free. Roy said, "Wave to Mrs. McCarthy. There went my deniable plausibility." Kinny waved. "That, and the cameras on this house." He retrieved the car seat and locked Joi's car again. Baby in the car seat. Car seat in the back. As Kinny pulled the front-carrier off, he was conscious of Roy's eyes. Watching. Kinny shivered at the sensations this brought. What was wrong with him? He didn't like men. Did he? Roy said, "You're right. In the light you don't like Linda." "Told ya." Kinny twirled his pigtail. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped. "But if she had short hair - and bigger tits? I could get in trouble." Bigger.... Kinny checked his chest. "De-nied." He stuffed the front carrier in the diaper bag. He strapped the baby into the crew cab and climbed into the truck. He was distinctly aware of his breasts now. It felt like Cookie was playing with them. But that was impossible. Perhaps this was the milk coming in? This felt different from a let- down reflex, though. Roy held the door for him. Put a hand on Kinny's arse to steady him when he wobbled in his heels. "Thanks." He had mixed feelings about that. The hand, and Kinny's own reaction to it. But, without help, he would have fallen. Kinny sat in the passenger seat. His mind was whirling. He was in a haze of need. One day without sex. And this is how he felt? Kinny took a cleansing breath. Roy got in; started the truck. He sighed, shook his head and reached over Kinny to pull the seat belt. Kinny froze. He felt Roy's breath in his hair. Felt his pigtail poke into Roy's face. He felt the seatbelt slide over. It snagged on his bra through the fabric of his shirt. Plainly, it was not designed for busty women or for short people. Roy tugged on the belt. It advanced. In increments. Kinny startled when Roy's hand brushed his breast. His heart bounced around like a sparrow in a cage. He very nearly came in his shorts. "Sorry," Roy said. "Pull that, will ya, hon? This old truck is tricksy. What kind of shampoo do you use?" "Cosu Pure." Kinny pronounced pure in the English way. His voice shook. He freed a hand from lethargy. Pulled the seat belt from its collector. "Intoxicating," Roy said. The seatbelt clicked into place. "I should be careful around you. Walk in the wrong house. Might not see the difference." He put his seatbelt on and backed out into the street. Kinny couldn't muster strength to speak loudly. "She will fry your balls on a skillet." He wondered if Roy could hear him. Roy clapped Kinny's knee. "Kidding. Where to, Princess?" Kinny's heart lurched. "Ninth and Main." "You work the strip park?" "Across the street." He felt the hand inch up his thigh. But he was looking at it. It hadn't moved at all. "Coffee girl?" Kinny nodded. He imagined removing his panties. He could almost feel it. Similar to the sensations he had when Cookie removed clothing. "Going to carry that baby all day?" "If I have to." He continued looking down at Roy's hand, which hadn't moved. Unreal. "Motherhood's a cunt, ya? Do you need a babysitter?" Roy gave Kinny's knee a squeeze. Then he moved his hand to activate the phone in his truck. "Nah. I'm good." Kinny felt rough hands grab his wrists. Imagination? "Okay. But I know a fella." "You drive in manual?" Kinny twirled his pigtail again. He squirmed. "Don't trust robots. This truck's old. Hardly a dent. I aim to keep it that way." Kinny had never seen a car actually driven in manual. Bikes, yes. But a car? No. He knew that you could drive it in manual, mostly because of questions on the written exam for a driver's license. A new experience. The other cars in traffic seemed to know. Kinny noticed that Roy got an extra measure of space. In every direction. Not a wonder that rush hour was bad, and getting worse. People like Roy. Roy keyed the entertainment center. A music video came up. Zwabiman, Respect. As he drove, Roy sang. He clapped. More than one time, he glanced over to the video display. Or to Kinny's legs. Kinny's gut twisted every time Roy looked at him. At the next stoplight, Roy's gaze took in Kinny's legs, his boobs, and then his face. Kinny smiled grimly. Kinny's glasses flashed him a message. 'Green light.' Kinny read the message in a monotone. "Green light." He felt a small jolt from his prostate spider. Fav. It was misfiring again. "What do you mean by, 'Green light?'" Roy looked back at the road. "Oh." Kinny watched the road, ignoring Roy, except when they both watched a hot mom pushing a stroller. After watching the woman cross the street in front of them, Kinny traded a look with Roy. He was smiling. Roy said, "Well, I know which team you scrum for. How'd you get a baby?" Kinny shrugged. "None of my business?" "Two blocks up, Roy. Thanks for the ride." "I'll be by on my noon break to get a coffee." "I'm off at noon." "I'll give you a ride home, then." "I.... No, I'm going to the gym." Kinny's glasses flashed him a message. 'The library.' Kinny smiled. He said, "The library." Kinny ignored the small jolt of pleasure from the spider as he spoke those words. But his body was starting to react. 'The Moon?' Kinny ignored that. He said, "But thank you," and got out of the truck. His shoes caught in the expanded metal of the running board. Kinny stumbled gracelessly and almost fell on his tits. He adjusted his bra, opened the door to the back seat, and got the baby. "Have a Debbie day," he said. "Oh. You're one of those. Debbie Does Coffee?" With all the eye contact on Kinny's boobs, Roy hadn't seen the name tag? Roy asked, "What else does Debbie do?" Kinny read from the list that his glasses provided. 'Flowers, cake, sausage, ice cream. Anything you need.' What? What the fuck? That wasn't part of the jingle. Was it? Two Debs met Kinny at the door. Today she was wearing a standard Debbie uniform. Her name tag said 'Debbie Debbie.' Two Debs smiled. "Good, you're early." She took the baby. "You're on the sausage cart across the street. "Our other Debbie has a family crisis. Her child got hit by a school bus." "Whoa." Two Debs walked him to crosswalk while carrying the baby. "The sausage cart is the same as the coffee cart, except that you have breakfast sandwiches and whatnot. You have three ovens. Use them in rotation. It's all automated. Pull the product from the chiller. Rip the seal; pop it in the oven. Ding. Bam. Hand it to the customer. Watch the condiment tray. Birds steal honey packets and ketchup. They're biodegradable, but we have to send grumblers to clean the park. If someone takes all the condiments and napkins, don't stress. Refill the tray. Call us if your inventory is getting low. May Debbie be with you." She held up a hand in a mock Girl Got Cookies salute. Debbie was with him, or, rather, was ahead. The other CEO was working the Debbie Does Sausage cart in the strip park that separated one-way lanes of Main Street. "You're the new girl?" the woman asked. "Yes." "Can you handle it?" "I think so." The CEO stepped back. Kinny stepped in. He said, "Hi, I'm Debbie...." The CEO watched Kinny for a few minutes. Then she left, with her bodyguard. He barely noticed. The breakfast rush had just begun. Kinny stumbled through the motions of customer service in a rising tide of sexual frustration. Had he left the game on? It felt like he had. There was a lull after 9 a.m. Kinny heard a familiar voice. "Americano, please. Standard cup." "Hi, I'm Debbie...." "Yes, Debbie, I know. A cup of joe, please." He put two coins on the counter. "Sure." Kinny took the coins. His heart jumped around in his chest again. He felt the distinct sensation of a penis in his ... somewhere. "Cream? Sugar?" His voice rose and octave. It squeaked. "Black. Thanks for the, um, referral. Got my friendlies cleaned yesterday." He grinned. His name came up on Kinny's glasses. "Colin." Kinny handed over the coffee. His hands shook. "Um. Sorry about yesterday. Didn't mean to scare you." "'S okay." "Doesn't look like it. You're shaking, girl." He was also close to orgasm. This felt just like sex. Except ... odd. Kinny called up the program for his prostate spider. 'Off.' That wasn't it. Colin spoke. "Jenni's Tea Cup says they're not hiring." The stats for Jenni's Tea Cup came up on Kinny's specs. The pressure eased, and with it, the sexual tension. Kinny said, "They will be. Mmn, thirty percent employee turnover every month." Now Kinny felt warmth down there. Had he peed? "Yeah. But I need a job now." "A lot of that going around." "Have you met the mama-san at the Tea Cup? What a beast." Kinny said, "A few simple rules." He held his hand over his heart. "You know her." Kinny nodded. He felt whatever it was - virtual sex? - pull out with a pop. Kinny startled. "That place is full of girly boys." "They have women." "I found one. Easy, girl. I'm won't hurt you." "Mmn." Kinny called up his connection to PASsport. Active. He killed it. "Did you send me there to fuck with me?" "Listen, Colin, if I'd wanted to fuck with you, I'd have sent you to Casa de Pomo." "House of Doorknobs?" Kinny nodded. "Remind me to avoid that one." "They're also hiring. But you're not turning tricks. Yet." Colin laughed. "You're a real cunt, you know that?" Kinny shrugged. "Anything else, Colin?" He smiled. "Anything from the menu? I'm not available." Kinny felt heat from Colin's gaze. PASsport was on again. Kinny killed it. Again. "Nah. No coin. Who else is hiring?" "Dunno. You have a college degree?" Colin laughed. "School of hard knocks." "Got the associate's degree, myself." "I'm probably a B.S. in Anger Management. Minoring in extortion. And car-jacking." "Have you thought about Collections or Repo?" "Those guys get shot." "Hardly ever." "Pass." "Well. Hotels are always hiring, but the pay is fuck-all. Unless you're in a casino. Different kind of fuckery, there. Maybe the logging camps?" "I just spent eight months in the JerseyMax. I want to work someplace where there's women." "The logging camps have women." "Yeah. Two kinds. The ones that are for hire. And the ones who could break me in half." Kinny smiled. "I'm sure there are some hetero girls in the work force." "Eight men for every girl." "You need to work the brothels." Kinny felt a small, dry orgasm. Like he was playing the game with the recension at minimum. He checked. It was off. It had stayed off this time. "Hey!" Colin looked angry. That confused Kinny. He looked at Colin. "What? Ease up, Imbo. They need bouncers? Cooks? Housekeeping?" He felt a cramp. Like a baseball bat being pressed against his prostate. "Oi. Right." Colin finished his coffee. His fist unclenched. The sensations eased. Kinny said, "Two months at the Tea Cup and you'll be daydreaming about life in the lumber camps." It amazed him that he could speak. He called up the appointments calendar at the Free Clinic. Time to ask the doc to run a systems check. "Dubious." "Testify." Kinny held up a hand. "Less trouble in the camps. And the women are nicer." Colin threw the empty cup into the trash. "See ya' around, Debbie." They sent another Debbie out to relieve Kinny at noon. Kinny counted the inventory and the till. He pooled his tips. Eight hundred dollars. Five-fifty after taxes. Then he toddled in his heels across the street to the Two Debs building. Sexual tension had come and gone in waves. At the moment, he was between sets. Two Debs pointed him to the day care. The baby was sleeping in a stroller. Kinny started to lift him out of it. "Keep it," the woman said who ran the place. Her name tag, Kinny noted without surprise, said 'Debbie.' "Bring the stroller back tomorrow." "Really? Nah. Thank you anyway." He pulled the front carrier from the diaper bag. Fit his arms through the holes. Clipped clips and strapped straps. Drake was dead-weight limp when Kinny picked him up. The day-care worker said, "Rub his foot like this to wake him up." "I usually just stick a tit in his mouth." "That works. But this is more family-friendly. The same foot rub will put him back to sleep. It takes a while but it knocks him out." "Really?" Kinny watched as the Debbie rubbed Drake's foot. "I'll have to try that the next time he has colic." "He gets colicky?" "The worst. I didn't sleep until three." "Strange program. Colic?" "I think he's allergic to garlic." "Tell me you're not feeding him solid food." "No, no. He reacts to garlic when I eat it. I love my girlfriend's agnolotti, but I think I have to...." "Try shallots instead of garlic." "Really?" The Debbie shrugged. "Worked for my sister. Less gassy." "I'll try it. Thanks." Drake woke up. He yawned and stretched. He looked at the day-care Debbie. He looked at Kinny. He said, "Ba." "Yeah. Ba." Kinny sighed. He looked around. "Where is the breastfeeding station?" Debbie laughed. "Anywhere. Nobody will schitz if you show a little nipple." Kinny nodded. He sat and watched 3D. A game show. Tentacle monsters and the damsels who fought them. Rescue! 3D. With Universal View. Half-an-hour and a diaper change later, Kinny was on the sidewalk. Baby in the front carrier, baby seat in hand. He walked home, stopping at the Truckee 77, 'Eat More!' He had poutine and a Tasty Cola at the American Beefy. He watched the crowd as he ate. Kinny walked home. Roy's truck was in the driveway again. He smiled when he saw that. "What could she possibly be doing?" he asked Drake as he passed his house. "Fuck." Kinny looked at the baby. "Who taught you that word? And how to use it?" "Fuck. Fuckafuckafuckafuck. Ball." "I know for a fact. That is not on your Baby Can Read videos." "Ball." Kinny smiled. He let himself into Joi's house. The laundry basket was by the couch. Joi's panties and bras were folded and stacked on the couch. "Hello?" Kinny called. "Somebody home?" He could hear birds outside. Children yelling someplace far away. "Hello?" No answer. The rumble of pipes rattling. But they always did that. Kinny went upstairs. He found the vibrator he'd cleaned this morning on Anabelle's bed. It was heavy with fuel. "Somebody refilled this?" He put it down again, next to the handcuffs. They weren't rusty anymore. The mechanism was freed up and oiled. No key, though. Clothes were folded and stacked on the bed. Panti Bar and Gril tee- shirt, a tartan skater skirt, black shelf bra, black boy shorts. Black stay-ups. Kinny changed clothes. Without stopping to consider, he put the clothes on that were set out for him. It aroused him, mildly. He wasn't sure he wanted to examine those feelings. He wore the same shoes he'd worked in. Black wedges. He went to log on. He noticed a few things at that moment. The Piglet bandage was on the keyboard. The monitor was on. He was live, camera active. Kinny thought for a moment. Where had he changed clothes? Off camera. Habits were useful things. He sat. The game was on. Cookie was on auto-play. She was crying. Kinny sat with the baby in his lap. The baby pulled at his shirt, so Kinny bared a breast and let Drake latch on. Cookie said, "I fucked up." Drake said, "Fuck." "That's where you learned that word," Kinny said. "Fuck my life." Cookie sat on the steps that ran down from her brick apartment building to the alleyway behind it. "Cookie, language. There's a baby here." "You never minded before." "Yeah, well, he's repeating what you say." "Okay. I won another achievement today. If you can call it winning." Achievement unlocked! Goat sucker. Drake said, "Goat." Kinny looked at Drake. "You can read that?" "Fuck. Goat fuck." Cookie said, "Not exactly. Goat suck. Suck a goat. Goat sucker." Drake looked at Kinny. "Cookie, don't teach him that. What happened?" "I thought I could get help with the dog. There's a roving monster called a Chupacabra?" "You're kidding." "I lost the contest." Kinny snickered. "And now you have the badge." She looked at her feet. "Yuh. It gets worse. The dog found me." "Ba!" "Did you break the curse?" "No, he made me his bitch. My knot count is up three." "Ba." Kinny looked down. "Are you playing or eating?" he asked Drake. Drake put his mouth to Kinny's nipple. He looked at the monitor. "Oh," Kinny said to Cookie. "I had some nice orgasms?" Kinny laughed. "There it is. Cookie, who logged on?" "You did. It looked like you were going to log off but you didn't. So I spent my time constructively while you passed out sausages and flirted with an ex-con. I lost some time, though. I woke up in the zombie cab. At least I had money this time." Kinny checked Cookie's 'Brains' meter. 100%. "And then, I dunno. I was in an alley someplace. And there was the chupacabra." Kinny checked Cookie's stats. "Oh, Cooks. We spent weeks getting your willpower and your dominance back in the forties." "What am I now?" "Thirty-five willpower. Twenty-eight dominance." "That's not so bad." "If it goes low enough, even if you defeat a monster, he will still have his way with you." "That's not always terrible." Kinny sighed. "Oh, hey. Here it is. Your roofie count is two now." "I got roofied?" "Yuh. Most of your other stats took a bump. What do you remember?" "Not a fucking thing. I am sore, though. And dripping." "Yeah. I can feel it." Most of what happened this morning made sense now. Drake said, "Fuck!" "Cookie? No more bad words when the baby is here." "That's like all the time. Even on your days off." "Don't remind me. He takes naps. How much silver ... doesn't look like they stole anything from you. That's strange." "That thief is good for one thing. His mouth." She laughed. "The whole guild is avoiding me now." She smiled. "They think I still have the armor." "Yeah, but, the person who roofied you knows what you have and don't have. He didn't loot your body. Did he give you something? Cursed?" "Let me check." Cookie evoked a Detect Curse spell. She checked herself, what she was wearing, and items around her. "Meh. I'm clean." "Check everything in your bag." Cookie emptied the bag. "No cursed items. Oh. I'm missing a set of handcuffs. And my strap-on." "But they left the silver. Strange. Do you want me to dump this game and load a save point?" "Ask me again in the morning. I'm going upstairs to sleep." "Don't you have to work tonight?" Cookie grunted. "Think I'm calling in sick." "Rent is due in three days." "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Nine-dot's balls! I'll go to the poxy whorehouse." "It's either that or...." "Yuh. I know the or. I live here, remember?" "Wait, wait. How much do you need?" "Two silver." "Forty bucks? I can swing that." "Really?" "Take a day off. I'll convert dollars to nuyen." "Thanks, Anabelle." Kinny shut down the game. "House?" "Yes, Anabelle." "Show me who was here this morning while I was out." "Unknown visitors. Four." House video came up. Anywhere else, this would be security footage. Here, though? Almost useless. Four sims. They didn't have any trouble with the door. One went downstairs, one went upstairs, two stayed on the ground floor. They made beds. Folded laundry. Washed dishes. Mopped and vacuumed. They even cleaned the drapes. "House. Does Joi have a housekeeping service?" "Not that I am aware of. Nothing on our accounts." "How did they open the door?" "I record one thousand, nine hundred, and forty three attempts before the correct combination was keyed." "Someone broke into Joi's house and washed dishes." "They also stocked the pantry and the liquor cabinet. Fresh meat in the freezer." Kinny went downstairs to look. The freezer now held something besides corn gorillas, sausage, and mixed vegetables. A bag of fish. Crappies. A haunch of smoked wild pig. Something that might be venison. Or dog. Beer in the fridge. A cube of Pretty Ale. Huh. In the liquor cabinet, the nearly empty bottles of Jack brandy and Dakila vodka were replaced with gallon-sized bottles of the same liquors. The pantry had new additions. Rice, canned beans, a variety of (presumably edible) roots, and Spam. Kinny went back upstairs. He logged back on to the console and researched the roots. Local stuff, wild. Recipes came up on Kinny's console. Meh. Kinny researched sex change in humans. He tried a number of search strings. There was a lot of information out there but most of it wasn't helpful. His fingers flew over the keyboard without much conscious control. When had he learned to touch-type? He looked for articles that mentioned cancer. Most of them cited risk of cancer, not cancer as a tool. The search string 'inducing cancer,' was similarly unhelpful. The few articles he came across that seemed to point the right way were abstracts in the Public Library of Science. To get access to the papers there, he needed to be a member. Or have a student ID. Or. The university library at Girls College had public access. Riverside. Half-hour by bus. His fingers tapped out another query. Huh. The public library, here in Fairview, was also an annex of the university library at Girls College. Eerie. Hair rose up on the back of Kinny's neck. His whole scalp prickled. Once again, the secretary program on his glasses had known what he was going to do before he did. Kinny packed the diaper bag and the baby and walked to the public library. He stopped by the shoppette at the truck stop. Kinny watched the crowd as he shopped. He looked at music. He looked at junk food. He looked at hats and tee shirts. He picked up a package of make-up wipes - diaper wipes were out of stock. He waited in line at the check-out counter. Many people cooed at the baby. It was a fine way to meet women. Also middle-aged men, truckers who missed home, and grandparents. Drake said, "Fuck," every time someone said truck. He said "fucka," every time someone said trucker. It embarrassed Kinny but most of the people who heard Drake's first words thought he was cute. On the way out of the store, Kinny said, "I have to teach you some new words." They played the name game on the way to the library. Kinny would say "bird," and point to a bird. Drake would then squeal and clap, surprising the bird and making it fly away. Or, sometimes, he would say, "Ba." Dogs were ba. Cats were ba. Most things that started with b were ba. Ball was ball, though. Trucks were fuck and, eventually, so were taxicabs and cars. "Bush." "Ba." "Tree." Drake paused. "Ba." "No, tree." "Ba!" "Baby," Drake said, pointing to a mother pushing a stroller. "Ba." "Bottle." "Ba." "Hot mama." "Fuck." "No, Drake. Mama." "Fuck." Kinny sighed. "Library." Drake paused for a moment, processing that word. "Ba." "Books." "Ba." "Right. Okay. You have to be quiet now." "Fuck." "Ssshhh." "Fffff." Kinny headed for the reference section of the library. He quickly found that he needed a library card to access the multimedia section or the reference books. The librarian said, "These IDs don't match." Kinny nodded. "One is my driver's license. The other is my doing- business-as company ID. I also have a bank statement in that name. And a credit card." Kinny had wondered why he had packed the bank statement into the diaper bag. Now he knew. Another day, another wtf. Although, on occasion, the wtf moments were pleasant surprises. The librarian accepted these documents. A moment later, she returned. She handed Kinny a library card. "Here you go, Anabelle." Drake said, "Aba." "Ssshhh." "Fffff." Drake looked over to the librarian. He smiled. Kinny said, "Don't do it, kid. Don't use that word." Drake looked back to Kinny. He lost his smile. "Ba." He sounded annoyed. The librarian showed Kinny how to load PLoS articles and e-books to his specs. She explained the 'returns' policy on e-books and music. "Books evaporate after a week or ten days, depending on the book. You can renew your download at any time, though. If you haven't purged your memory - or overwritten it - it will still be there. Music can be renewed indefinitely, but each time you renew it, you have to log back on and download it again, using your data plan. Movies, feelies, and sports trainers are similar. PLoS articles and magazines are media, not books. People complain that we eat up their data plans. However, if you come here, to the bricks and mortar library, you can use our servers and transfer data for free." The librarian helped Kinny search for relevant articles. She seemed completely unsurprised by his requests, but then, she had already seen his driver's license, which listed him as male and company ID, which listed him as female. When Drake grew restless, Kinny took him to the park. He fed Drake, checked his diaper, and put the baby on the ground. Drake pulled himself up and hung on Kinny's knee for a while. Then he walked completely around the bench, hanging on to it for support. Eventually, he grew brave and started chasing birds. Crawling. Kinny kept an eye on Drake, but he spent the time reading articles. While Drake was chasing birds, two men sat on the bench with Kinny, one on either side. Kinny looked up with alarm. Colin on the left. Colin said, "This is the girl I was telling you about." Both men put a hand on Kinny's knees. Kinny said, "Colin. Take your hand off my person. Both of you." They did. Kinny waited a moment for his heartbeat to slow down. He straightened his skirt. Colin said, "Nice baby." "Thanks." "He's headed for the pond." "Aw, fuck. Thanks." Kinny got up and chased after Drake. When he came back, both men were standing. The other man, who looked like he might be part giant, handed Kinny the diaper bag. The man shook Kinny's hand. His hands were rough. Scaly. Brick-like. And hairy. "Name is Jorry," he said. "You ever have trouble, give a holler." He had a presence. Intimidating. Wolfish. Kinny's gut twisted when the big man pat him on the shoulder. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Kinny worried about that. Jorry said, "Because of you, we both have jobs." Colin said, "Always joked about getting a job at a whorehouse, but I never thought to actually apply." "Something wrong with that baby," Jorry said. "He doesn't smell right." Kinny checked the baby's diaper. Jorry smiled. "His eyes," he said. "He's older than he looks." He put a rough finger under Drake's chin. "Bukwudjiman." "Ba." "Like hell. Bukwudjiman." "Book." "Better." "Gi-woka." Jorry straightened up. Kinny asked, "Did he just call you an ewok?" Jorry shook his head. "He called me an ice giant." "He's babbling." Jorry smiled. "Maybe. Not kidding, Anabelle. Holler if you need help." They walked off. Drake watched them go. "Fuck?" "Book. Ewok. Jorry." "Gi-woka. Miko." "Speak English, child. I don't speak baby babble." "Ba. Aba. Ba." Drake pulled at Kinny's shirt. "Sure." Kinny sat at the bench and fed Drake again. As he sat, he thought about what had just happened. "Oh, fuck. He called me Anabelle." Kinny checked his bag. Diapers, bottles, wipes. A change of clothes for Drake. Wallet, phone, keys. Company ID. Bank statement. STD test strips and condoms. Sunscreen. The hat that Joi had given. A bottle of Body Gargle. It was all there. Kinny checked the wallet. Money, cards, condom. Nothing missing. He looked at the key ring. There was a charm hanging from it. A wooden carving of a wolf. Kinny collapsed into a panic attack. He felt his Z-guns firing. He leveled out. He looked at Drake, focusing on the baby. Because he really, really, really. Didn't want to zone out. At this moment. Drake grabbed the wolf charm. He said, "Gi-woka." They knew where he lived. The address on his driver's license. On his bank statement. Correction. They knew where his mom lived. Two ex-cons. Were they friends of Brennan? Kinny sighed. It was all the emotion he could muster, with his Z-guns firing like this. "I have to warn her. I have to warn Mama." "Baba. Baba-ra." Kinny got up. He walked home. On the way there, he stopped by the hypermarket. His mom wouldn't be home now anyway. Kinny struggled with four bags of groceries and a baby on the way home. By the time he got out of the parking lot, he'd figured out that he could hang groceries and the diaper bag from the stroller. A truck slowed down beside Kinny. Roy's truck. Roy rolled his window down. "Hop in the truck, Princess." "No. I'm good. Thank you, though." "Get your wiggly little bottom in this truck." Kinny stopped. He turned to give Roy a clear message. "Listen, Roy. Oh. Hi, Aunt Linda." Kinny's mom grinned. She nodded. "How's my favorite niece?" "Bills are paid." Linda said, "Get in." "Sure." Kinny tossed bags of groceries in the back of the truck. He broke the car seat from the stroller. Roy folded up the stroller while Kinny strapped the baby seat in behind Linda. Kinny pushed sacks of groceries to the middle of the truck. He sat in the seat behind Roy. "Seat belt?" Roy asked. "Wearing 'em," Kinny said. "You guys just came from the Four Corners?" "Farmer's market," Linda said. "I like your shirt." "Found it in the basement. I think it used to belong to Joi's mom." "It did." "You know I was sixteen before I figured out that 'bar and grill' wasn't a pun? I thought it was supposed to be 'bar and girl.. All because of this shirt." Linda smiled. She shook her head. Kinny said, "I'm making zingaroni tonight. But." "You need my help." Kinny nodded. "Why don't you cook it in my kitchen?" "Sure. Oh. Before I forget. I met two men today who might be trouble." "They have a message for either of us?" "I don't know. They're just here to help. Or so they say." Linda sat quietly. Roy turned around. "What kind of trouble?" Linda said, "Eyes on the road, mister." Roy ignored her. "It's in auto," he said. Kinny smiled. With Linda in the car, Roy drove in automatic. Drake said, "Basa." "Huh?" "Basa." Drake looked at the groceries. Then he looked at Roy. "Basa." Kinny looked at the groceries. He twisted a wine bottle around. "Basadone," Kinny said. He pronounced it in the Italian way. "Basa." "He can read?" Roy asked. He sounded skeptical. "Some words. He can read more than he can say." "That doesn't sound likely." Kinny shrugged. "Oh. Aunt Linda. Congratulations. You found a good one?" Linda touched Kinny's knee. "He has a magic penis." Roy spoke in mock alarm. "Pussycat?" Drake said, "Puri dod." He squealed in delight. "Puridad, puridad. Puridods." He pointed out the window at a bird. It flew in front of the truck. "Ba! Aba? Fuck." Roy looked in the mirror at the baby. "Did he say what I thought he said?" "He's trying to say truck." Drake nodded. "Fuck!" "Truck." "Fuck." All the adults said it, together. "Truck." Drake looked around. He looked at each person in the truck. "Puridod, Basa, Aba. Fuck. Fuckafuckafuckafuck. Ball!" Roy said, "Maybe you should teach him to write. Or sign. My niece's children all signed at that age." Kinny said, "And now you know why." The two 'women' prepared dinner in the kitchen while Roy watched football with Drake. "Shallots? Why did you buy shallots?" Kinny explained about garlic and colic. Linda shrugged. "We can try it. You have everything here but meat." "Joi has meat in the freezer. Pan fish, pig, dog." "She eats dog?" "She will if I don't tell her what it is. It might be venison, but it's small." "I have hot dogs. We'll use those. Zingaroni is pretty easy...." She helped him make it. Linda asked Kinny to tell her about the two men he thought might be trouble. At the end of it, she said, "I don't think they're that kind of trouble." "You think they're safe?" "Men are not safe. Especially violent ex-offenders. Those men do sound violent. I just don't think that Brennan sent them. The men he sends say to you, 'Be good to your mom.' To me? It's, 'Gimme a fuck and a suck or I'll rape your boy.'" She looked down. "Hi there, little man." "Fuck. Suck." Drake clung to her leg. Linda smiled. She shook her head. "Looks like I have to clean my language." "Puridad. Aba." "Puri daj?" Linda asked. "Puridods." "Pussycat," Kinny said. "Puridad." Linda said, "I used to call my grandmere Puri Daj. Do you believe in spirits?" "These kind of spirits." Kinny held up the bottle of wine. Basadone. Drake said, "Basa." He pointed to the living room. "Ball." After dinner, Kinny asked his mom. "Puridad? Can you babysit while I go to the gym?" "What makes you think I don't want to go to the gym?" Kinny smiled. "We can go together." He looked over to Roy. Linda said, "I'll break the news to him." "Oh, no," Roy said. "I'm not a babysitter." Kinny said, "You offered to babysit this morning." "No. I offered my son to babysit. Big difference." "Pleeeease?" Linda sat on his lap and kissed him. Roy laughed. "How long will you two be gone?" "An hour," Kinny said. "Plus travel. Unless the Tai Chi classes are open." Kinny took control of the 3D. "This is the place we'll be." "Is that live?" Roy asked. "Yes." "The showers, too? The locker room?" "Yes. And the sauna. See?" Kinny split the screen into Collage boxes. One for every camera at the Fit-n-Pretty. "This is how you zoom in. I think they have Universal View. I don't recommend it. Because your browser history will still be on the 3D when Linda returns." "I can watch?" Linda said, "You can watch. Don't perv on the other women. Too much." "Oh," Kinny said. "If you see a crime, report it. They broadcast their security footage because they're too cheap to hire security. They also make money from subscriptions." "How much is a subscription?" "Don't even think about it, mister." Kinny said, "Four hundred bucks a month." His mom hit him. "I get a kickback if you use my name. A. Lee Violage." She hit him again. "Ow?" "You are not too old to spank." She grabbed him by the ponytail and dragged him upstairs. Kinny went to his room. He pulled out clothes. Sports bra. An Army tee-shirt and PT shorts. Running shoes. Bootie socks. He turned around and bumped into Roy. "Oh! You scared me." "This is Kinny's room." "Linda let me bunk here before I moved in with Joi. See? My clothes, his clothes. Most of this stuff is his." "I thought your girlfriend's name was Jazz." Kinny smiled. "Three of us. It's a big house. Excuse me." Kinny pushed Roy out of the room. "I have to change." He shut the door. Linda drove to the gym and parked on the street. Kinny signed her in as a guest. Linda went straight to the treadmill. Kinny went to the TopFit machines. It was Booty Day. He started with leg curls. Twenty minutes later, Kinny switched over to free weights. He watched his mother run. After his weights routine, Kinny set up on the treadmill next to his mom. "That's all you do, is run?" He asked. Linda was sweating now. "Yuh." "Okay." Kinny started slow, and was soon running at something close to a sprint. He did a mile in five minutes, two miles in twelve. Then he slowed to a walk. "I like this," he said. "It beats running in traffic." Linda nodded. She stepped off the treadmill and wiped her face with a towel. "Water," she croaked. Kinny took her to the juice bar. "Try the fitness shake," Kinny said. "I don't recommend the diet shakes." Kinny downed his drinks in three shots. "Squirmy." "Still drinking Lacto?" Linda asked. "Still feeding the baby." "It's your life." "No complaints." She looked surprised. "Okay, wow. One complaint. I had no idea how expensive these fitness shakes were." Kinny tapped his company ID to the cash box. "Should I give it back?" Linda asked. "Nah. Drink it. Two waters, please." Kinny wiped the bar stool he'd been sitting on with the towel that the gym had given him. He tossed the towel into the linens receptacle by the front desk. "Ready to go?" On the drive back home, Kinny explained. "I have a job, I have two girlfriends. I have upgrades to my brain bugs. They actually help now, instead of drugging me out. I never pictured myself doing any of this, but, hey. I, ah, loaded a college-prep course to my specs." "Really." "I'm studying for my SATs." "College." "Maybe. I have to pass the entrance exams." "Gender...." "Renormalization. They used to call it reassignment, but that sounds too much like a court order. The doc says it's common with adults molested as children." "Are you dating? Men?" "Um. No. Not ready for that step. Maybe never? Men are fuck-toads." "You chose a strange path." "No. I drifted into this with my eyes shut. I'm choosing to accept what I can't change. In the meantime, there are boobies." Linda snickered. "Yes, there are. Is that a new bra?" "Yes. I"m a C-cup now. And this bra is getting tight. Next time I'm at the clinic, I'll ask the doc what she gave me." Cookie said, "Hey, a gold coin." "Someone lost a gold piece?" Kinny said. "Ah, probably not." Cookie started to walk towards it. "Hang on," Kinny said. He took control. "Wait. Check for traps. Better yet, check to see if it's cursed." He looked around for cameras. He saw a bird, a crow, hopping around, watching. He also saw a wharf rat. Where there was one wharf rat, there were others. Kinny unslung Cookie's spear. The rat slipped into a storm drain. Kinny searched. He didn't see any other rats. Cookie reached in her bag. She pulled out a wad of eyebright. "You want me to waste a spell point." "Yes. This is the alley that we found the spreader bar in." "I serve to live." Cookie sat. She made a cook-fire from discarded packing crates and dunnage. There was a fire scar on the cobblestones. Kinny said, "Somebody else did a Detect Curse spell here." "Or they cooked a wharf rat." Cookie made tea. She assumed the yoga pose. And waited. "Wabi Sabi," she said. "You were right. It is cursed. Whoa. Look at how that thing shines. It's giving off cursed vapors. I bet I wouldn't even have to pick it up to catch a curse." Cookie said, "Save the game. I want to see what it does." She stamped the fire out and spread the coals. She drank the last of the tea and put cup and teapot back into her bag. "You really want to experience this?" "Sure. What's the harm? If it's bad, you can reload from this moment." Kinny considered reloading the game and telling her lies. Instead, he said, "Pick it up." She did. "I don't feel cursed," she said. "Whoa. Fuck. Wait a touch." Her boobs grew and her armor shrank. Cookie complained. "I just bought this armor." "Now you have bikini armor." He checked. "And D-cup breasts. Happy?" She'd also gained Libido and lost Willpower. "Kill it. Spawn me from the save scrum." "Okay." When Kinny loaded the saved game, he laughed. "What?" Cookie asked. "What happened to my armor?" "Check your inventory. I bet you have a gold coin." "I haven't picked it up yet." "It's not on the path. And you're still a D-cup and wearing bikini armor." "Here it is." She pulled a gold coin from her bag. "Okay. Now we know. Curses can reach back in time." "Or, maybe. When was the previous save?" "This morning." "The only good thing I've done today is buy armor. Kill it. Let's start the day again." "You think that'll work?" "I think it's a local effect. As soon as I stepped in this alley, I was cursed." Kinny quit to the menu. He loaded the game from this morning, in game time. "Nope," he told her. "You're still cursed." "How'd I get cursed?" she asked. "Your future self had a brilliant idea." "Oh. Tell her to stop fucking around." "Tell her yourself. Okay, Cooks, do you want to replay the morning or jump ahead to your future save spot?" "What did I do today?" "Bought some armor. Cleaned out a nest of wharf rats." "Any cool loot?" "Nada." "Let's play. What's the curse?" "Bigger boobs. Micro armor. Some mental changes." "How much did I spend on armor?" "Too much." "Well, then. See how much money I saved you?" She smiled and batted her eyes. She adjusted her rabbit-fur armor. "This rig barely covers my nipples." "I don't mind the view." "Fuck you, sister." "Hey. It was your idea to pick up the cursed object." Lack of armor made a difference. Instead of cleaning out the nest of wharf rats, Cookie ended up servicing the tribe. Her beast-fuck count rose dramatically. "What a fucking mess," she said, as she climbed out of the sewers by the dockyard. "I hope I don't get pregnant." "We gotta get you some better armor." "Two sets, for two, shrank to this useless rig." She pulled at her bra strap. "What do the mages use?" Kinny asked. "Wards. Spells. Charms. Anything with a field effect." "Let's check the mage shop." "I hate that guy. He's creepy. Mind if I take a swim in the harbor? If I show up at the bath house like this, they won't let me in." The mage would not accept Kinny's gold coin for payment. He checked the silver very carefully before accepting it. "Better than a boxed set of sugar nips," Cookie said. She toyed with the necklace. "Cheaper than leather armor. Just as effective." The shopkeeper said, "Actually more effective against melee attacks from the front. It's effectively useless against back-stab, though. Consider it a shield. It recharges with each magical attack. Do you have any attack spells? Do you want them?" "I'm not sure I can afford your prices." "I need a lab rat, erm, an assistant, for my next series of experiments. Also looking for a human sacrifice to the tentacle pit." "Not interested. But thank you." "It's not a blood sacrifice," he said. "More of a lost weekend." "Um. I don't know how to say this. No." He slapped Cookie on the arse. "Your armor recharges during sex." "Hey!" "See? Simple sexual assault - recharged your necklace. It will block one extra hit point now. If you really want to prepare - before combat - have someone spank you." "Fookin' lovely. Welp. I have wharf rats to kill." "Good hunting. I buy pelts, if they are in good condition. A copper each. And skulls! Two coppers. Two silvers, though for each intact rat vagina." "Fookin' creeper. I'm not bringing you detached rat cunts." "Three silvers, then. A silver each for dick and balls. As a set. It's for the tentacle monster. Keeps him from bothering the neighbors." "Never too many rat cunts. How 'bout I just bring you the whole gang- fucking rat?" "One silver per carcass. Five-kilogram minimum size. Gutted, two silvers. Three kilograms, minimum." Cookie eyed him narrowly. "But if I detach the fun bits ... skulls and dicks and whatnot...." "You carry less and you earn more. Or. Sell the rats at the market for a copper per kilogram. Then they sell me the parts I need." "My skinner skill is fair but my butchery skill is corked." "Only one way to improve a skill. Unless you use magic." He smiled. It unnerved Cookie to see his toothless grin. "I'm going to need a bag. Don't want to get blood in my bag of holding." "I have a wide selection of bags and net bags. I also have ceremonial skinning knives. They're good for gutting and general-purpose butchery, too." "How are they in combat?" "One to three." "I'll stick with my combat knives." It was a near thing, but Cookie prevailed. She defeated the king rat at the rat's nest. Cookie used her last healing spell and last potion in case something jumped her while she was looting bodies and checking for hidden treasure. She found a gold piece, fifteen silvers, and a gem in a human skull under the rat king's pallet. She looted the rat bodies. Some of them had a copper piece tucked behind one ear. Cookie skinned and unsexed rats. She severed heads. At the end of it, she had thirteen rat heads, a human skull, six intact rat pelts, three dicks with balls attached and one useable rat vagina. All the others had ruined during butchery or skinning. Achievement unlocked! Butchery skill is 1! Tropic. Cookie put carcasses into one bag, and rat parts in another. She would sell the carcasses for meat at the market. As she went to put the skull into the rat-parts bag, it spoke to her. "There is a hidden room under the king's pallet." "What?" Cookie nearly dropped the skull. It didn't elaborate. "Huh." She put the human skull in her own, personal, bag. "Ready to meet the mini-boss?" she asked Kinny. "I thought the rat king was a mini boss." "Me, too. But there's another room." "Let me save the game." "Good plan. I don't want to keep the memories if we lose. Did you find any of this the last time we were here?" "No. No skull under the bed. A few coppers. A short sword. We made more money selling rats at the market." "Is the game saved?" "Yes." "Let's hit it." She lifted up the mattress, found a latch, and pulled up a hatch cover. "It's dark down there." "Light spell?" "I'm out of mana." "Hmmn." Kinny looked around. He pulled a torch from the wall. Climbed down the ladderway in Cookie's body. He looked around. There, on a table against the wall, was a rucksack, a set of armor and clothes, and the same short sword he'd found the last time he was here. Against the other wall was a female form. Naked. Shackled to the wall. Kinny readied his spear. Spear in one hand, torch in the other. The woman looked up. She looked ratty. Half rat, half human. With a prehensile tail. Kinny checked to see if she was an NPC or a player character. Not enough mana. "Prisoner?" he asked. "Or monster?" She rattled chains attached to her shackles. "If I let you go...." She answered, "I will be ever so grateful." "That your stuff on the table?" "It was." "How long have you been down here?" "Long enough to be bred and bred again." "Oof." Kinny leaned the spear against the wall. He checked the lock on the shackle. "Don't bite me," he said. "I don't have the hunger." Oh, boy. "Were-rat?" "Yes." "Where are the keys?" "The king." She pointed her nose to the open hatchway. "I didn't find any keys." Kinny pulled out his lock picks. "Hold still." He worked the locks. He broke three lock picks before he got the first shackle open. "Give me those," she said. "These are shit lockpicks," she said. But she only broke one as she unlocked three of the remaining four locks. The hatch slammed shut. The rat woman said, "If you could hand me my armor and weapon?" "Sure." Kinny did so. "Do you think you can unlock my collar?" "I can try." "We may not have much time." Kinny broke five iron lock picks in the attempt. "Here," she said, handing him a silvery lock pick. "Use this." The lock opened on his first try. Achievement unlocked! Lock-picking skill, level 4! "Keep it," she said, when Kinny tried to give it back to her. She climbed the ladder. Pushed on the hatch. She smiled. "It's not locked," she said. "They're sitting on it. I'm Grizzlil, by the way. Thanks for setting me free. Even if we lose this fight. Are you ready?" Kinny looked at the torch. It was starting to gutter out. "Now or never." Grizzlil pushed. The hatch gave. She stuck her sword into the gap. A rat squealed. In a moment, she was up and out. Kinny started to follow. Then he dropped the torch and grabbed his spear. When he came up, Grizzlil was fighting three rats. There were two fresh carcasses on the floor. Other rats circled behind her. The rat king started to rise. Cookie stabbed the king. Backstab successful. Critical hit! The king fell again. The other rats fled. Cookie searched the body for loot. This time, she found a key. Useless now, but she stuffed the key behind her barrette. They would take her clothes off, but nobody - so far - had checked her hair when they tried to loot her body. A copper on each rat carcass. "You want 'em?" Cookie asked Grizzlil. "Keep 'em. Have you seen my skull?" "Um. Yeah. Maybe. A talking skull?" "It talked to you?" "Yes." Cookie pulled it from her bag. She handed it to Grizzlil. "You must be a good person. What are you doing?" "More than one way to skin a rat." "Eww. I get that, but.... The dick?" "A silver each at the magic shop." "You're losing alignment points as you do that." "Eh?" "You're turning evil." "What's the difference between this and selling the whole body for sausage?" "The difference is intent. Here. Let me skin the other one for you. You can do ... the other things. Oh, good. This one's a girl." "Worth three silver, she is." "You're fucking kidding me. Who is buying rat parts? And why?" "Ugmad at the magic shop in Diogenes Alley. He has a tentacle monster." "And you're feeding it?" "Better to feed it rat bits than to feed it my bits." She laughed. "Agreed. Are you ready to skip?" Cookie put carcasses in one bag and rat parts in the other. "Sure. Can we stop by the meat market first? I can barely tote this bag." Grizzlil picked it up easily. "I got it. Let's bounce." Cookie earned 21 copper at the meat market. She split it with Grizzlil, ten and eleven. When they got to Diogenes Alley, Liz said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to wait outside." "Fine by me." Cookie went inside. After a bit of haggling, she earned 15 silver. Quest Complete! Naughty Bits for Ugmad. Cookie leveled up. Ugmad waited as she leveled up in his shop. He said, "Want another quest?" "Dunno. I'm told that the last quest turned me a bit evil." "The priestess at Nine-dot's temple would argue with me, but I'd ask her if she eats sausage. Dead is dead. When those rats respawn, they'll respawn whole." "Yeah, I had a similar discussion with a rat girl." "You met a rat girl?" "Yes." "Fifteen silvers for an intact, live, but compliant rat girl. Fifteen gold if she's a player-character." "What would you do with her?" "Experiments. Then I'd breed her with Old Melty." He pointed to the tentacle pit. "How do you keep a PC?" "Roofies." He held up a bag of pills. "That's where you buy those fucking things. How much are they, by the way?" "One silver each." "Mother sister fucker." "I'll give you four of them for free. Bring me that rat girl." "Look. I'm operating in geroy mode. Solo. I'm just as likely to have those used against me as to use them on someone else. Besides. That's just fucking evil." "There will be a day you want to roofie someone. Bring them in for a bounty. Whatever." "Yeah. Maybe. But not today. And never in geroy mode." "You're right," Cookie said to Grizzlil as she left the alley. "He's fucking evil." "Did you accept the quest?" "No." "Good for you." She pat Cookie on the shoulder. "Is that a Paddler's Necklace?" "Don't know." "Armor? Gets better after a spanking?" Cookie laughed. "Yes." "Why?" "I need armor. It's all I could afford." "I'll buy you armor." "I'm cursed. Any armor you put on me? Shrinks to this." Cookie pulled at a bra strap. "You picked up a cursed gold piece." Cookie nodded. "It's hard to get rid of those." "I'm discovering." "Were you a boy before you picked it up?" Cookie laughed. "No. It does that?" Grizzlil nodded. "No wonder I can't unload this coin on anybody." "Can I see the coin?" "You can have it." Cookie handed it over. "I could spend this, but you would still be cursed. To transfer the curse, you have to spend it, let someone steal it, or loot it from your body." She handed it back to Cookie. "Don't throw it away. The curse becomes permanent if you do that." "How come you can just give it back like that?" "Once cursed, never twice." "Are you a PC?" "You don't have that spell?" "I do, but I'm out of mana." "I'm a PC. Grizzlil." "Cookie." Cookie shook Grizzlil's hand. "I'm not a girl in real life. My PC's name was Grizz-Lee but I changed it to Grizzlil after the curse. I'm saving money, though. I'm going to change back. I lost four points of strength with this curse." "All I lost was a bit of armor. And a told-ya-so from my overmind." "You let the AI run your characters? Isn't that dangerous?" "We're a team." "I suppose. I don't even let Grizzlil go home on autoreturn any more. Are you a girl or a guy in real life?" "I just met you." "That means you're a girl. I'm Early Mudyka-Apres, but everyone calls me Lune." "I'm ... Cookie." "What do you do, Cookie? In real life?" "I'm a barista, among other things." "A coffee girl? Where?" "The Western States." Grizzlil nodded. "I'm in Nunavut now. Lumberjacking. But I was on the factory ships out of the Mackenzie. 'Til we ate all the fish in the Arctic." "Noonafoot?" "North Shore, Canada. I'm originally from Massover, on Luna, but I wanted to connect with my ancestors, or some shit. Not much here. I'm going back after college." "Huh." "Your bio calls you Anabelle but it's locked. Let me in?" "You want me to friend you." "Why not. Aren't you tired of geroy mode?" "It suits me. Chaotic schedule. Makes it hard to meet up for raids. Why did you stick around after being captured?" "Oh. Because of this." Grizzlil held up the skull. "It's a rare drop. I've been raiding these rats for a month, hunting for that drop. Load a saved game. Run it through. Nothing. Or, worse, I lose. Reload. Try again." \ "How did you get captured?" "Same way you almost did. While you're mucking around in the secret room, the monsters upstairs are respawning. It's difficult to escape if you're playing solo. Especially once the rat king respawns. He locks the door and starves you out. Then he floods the basement with wharf rats." Grizzlil shuddered. "I never had a chance. But. I decided to wait it out. Some hapless adventurer would rescue me." "What if I'd kept the skull?" "I'd have eaten you, regained my strength, and busted out. But that's an evil act. I don't do evil. Plan B was the gentle way. I saved while I was down there. Some kind person would eventually let me out. And let me keep the skull." "Boring." "Only three things to do, out here in the lumber camps. Eat, fuck, work, sleep, gamble." "That's five things." "I can't afford the working girls. And I don't gamble." "So you play PASsport." "It's the only sex I get. Other than, you know. Me time." Grizzlil smiled. "But there's really no privacy out here, so I don't get much opportunity for that." She smiled again. "I friended you. I don't know how much it will help, though." "You're in a guild." "Some people I play with. Raids, when I have the time." "You're new to this game?" "This is my second character." "Did you beat the game?" "No. You can beat it?" "You can finish the storyline. Zombies. Magic. Alien invasion. The final dispersal, out in the stars." "Who wins?" "The zombies. Even the elves flee the Earth and run for the stars." "Bummer." "But maybe your ending will be different from mine." "How much gold do you need to change your avatar from female to male?" "The basic procedure is twenty gold. Two hundred for original stats or improved ones." "I know how you can earn fifteen gold." "Not interested. Were-rats have excellent hearing." "So you heard me turn down the quest." "I heard you not accept it. Careful with that guy. He'll throw you in there with me." "I got that vibe, too." "And some curses persist, even if you reload a saved game." "I'm starting to notice that." At 9:20 p.m., Kinny heard a noise he hadn't heard before in this context. He heard the baby cry. But instead of a piercing wail, Kinny heard Drake say, "Aba!" "Gotta go," Kinny said, "the baby. Can you walk Cookie home? I'm putting her on auto-return." "We are just about to raid the dungeon." "Sorry. But I told you that I'm sitting. And I can't let him watch me play. He's starting to talk now." "Picking up words?" "Picking up the wrong words. You should hear how he says, 'fire truck.'" "I bet," Grizzlil said. "Okay. I'll walk your avatar home. Are you logging on again tonight?" "Not sure. He slept all evening. He'll probably want to play." "I envy the little brat." "You need a girlfriend, Lune." "Aba!" "You still haven't told me your name." "Oh. Anabelle." "Aba?" Drake started to cry. "Go," Grizzlil said. "I can hear him. Tell him I said hi." Drake wanted to be held. And, while he was hungry, he mostly wanted comfort milk. He also wanted out of his diaper. He kept pulling at it. It was wet. And Kinny was out of diapers. He pulled the wet diaper off of Drake and set him loose in the kitchen. "House," Kinny called out. "I serve to live." "Make six diapers, please. And diaper wipes." "I have enough stock for one diaper." "We're out of stock again? Please reorder maker stock." "On which account?" "Joi's account. It's her baby. She should be paying for diapers." "Insufficient funds." Kinny growled. It still sounded comical with this voice. He smiled, in spite of the situation. "Put it on my account." The maker dinged. House said, "Expected delivery, 10 a.m. tomorrow." "Reschedule. I have to work. 1 p.m." "Delivery at one. Your diaper is ready." "I heard. I'm waiting for it to cool down. Don't want to burn the little monster. Drake, get out of that." Drake had pulled open the cabinet door under the sink. And that is how Kinny found himself at the Truckee 77 'Eat More!' convenience store at 10 p.m. Buying diapers. And make-up wipes - because baby wipes were still out of stock. Kinny eyed the other baby products. He saw child-proof locks for kitchen cabinets and plastic caps to insert in electrical outlets. He bought both. He also bought a coffee. He had to pee. Without overthinking it, Kinny wheeled the stroller to the back. The family room was in use, so Kinny walked into the Women's toilets. It looked just like the Men's room, with pink tile trim instead of blue. The vending machine held feminine hygiene products instead of condoms. "They have diaper wipes," Kinny told Drake. He put his company ID in the vending machine and bought a packet of diaper wipes. Three toilets, the same number of toilets that were available in the Men's room. Kinny didn't think that was fair. No urinals in here. He was about to give up and go to the Men's room when the handicapped stall came available. A woman in a short skirt and tube top walked out. "You might want give it a moment," she said. "I ate crabs for lunch." Kinny shrugged. "I warned you," she said. She washed her hands, pulled at her tube top, and pulled lipstick from her purse. Condoms fell onto the counter, along with a phone. Kinny pulled the stroller into the stall. He shut the door. Made a face at the smell. He considered his options. No real options, really. Not in the women's room. He pulled his shorts down and sat to pee. The woman at the sinks started talking on the phone. It sounded like she was setting up 'dates' with truckers. Kinny felt a stirring of arousal. He ignored it. He finished on the toilet, washed up, paid for his stuff at the counter, and walked out into the parking lot. It was only then that he realized. He had been at the truck stop, at 10 p.m. In the back, next to the bunk rooms. Kinny shook with alarm. He felt his Z-guns fire. He didn't have the energy to keep walking. He sat at a bus stop. Drake noted Kinny's alarm, and wanted to be held. Kinny pulled the baby from the stroller. He pulled his shirt up and fed Drake. He didn't get home again until almost eleven.