City of Fire and Ink

Watermelon Sugar and Honeybees

I woke up several hours later, absolutely ravenous. I fell asleep after barely an hour of Lol, the stress from the Lunar Ball and the Nasibu freeze short circuiting my stamina.

Inez had parked herself on the couch and was reading some true crime book about the Abascals. The title of the book was in Spanish, as was typical for her. Inez loved true crime.

I listened to true crime podcasts occasionally. though it had lost its appeal ever since I joined the Lourdes. Crime is like glitter- it looks sexy, but it's really just messy.

"I'm starving." I sat up from my lying position on the couch.

Inez put her book down. "You think Bluesy's is open. I kinda want noodles."

"They took credit last time. I hope so." Noodles sounded so good right now.

"I'm gonna go put on something that's not covered in clay and then I'll be ready to go."

I followed Inez into my bedroom where she took the liberty of rummaging through my closet. She chose a black leather jacket and an olive green skirt with high thigh slits. I wasn't convinced she wouldn't "forget" to bring that back. She still had one of my sweaters, a lavender hoodie, that I kept forgetting to sneak steal. Was it really stealing though if it's my hoodie?

The night air was warm as we stepped outside. Pardahna had great evening weather in the summer, warm, with a soft breeze. I didn't even need to wear a jacket out. Inez let my leather jacket fall off one shoulder, something that had absolutely no right to be that alluring.

Bluesy's was a short walk from my apartment. The outdoor patio was strung with fairy lights and the wooden pergola arched over the ramshackle mixture of iron, plastic, and wood tables. We left the apartment pretty early, but even still, there was a line. One time, I came around rush hour, and I ended up waiting for three hours.

The line went fast and soon, Priya took us to our table. The waitstaff at Bluesy's was a ramshackle mix of college students, though Priya had been here for a while.

Unfortunately, the table with the hanging seat- Inez's favorite, was taken. Our table was a wooden picnic table with tea lights and a fake grave vine above our heads.

Bluesy's might have been a noodle shop, but it was beloved for far more than just the food. During the last tier three freeze, no one could afford to get groceries. so it was up to restaurants to feed people.

Pardahna was an odd place when tier three freezes happened. Crime went up, but so did people's generosity. I heard stories about people who started baking bread out of their apartments and giving it away for free. My parents made dak gomtang for their neighbors. Artists, musicians, and dancers flocked to the streets, giving free exhibitions . Travel musicians stuck in positive messaging between songs, which was sometimes annoying and sometimes sweet.

Bluesy's had been one of the few local restaurants who operated the credit system during the freeze. As long as you could show them you had money in your account, then you could eat there. Since no one knew how long the freeze would last, it had taken some of the burdens off of us. Even if they money was frozen, the credit system meant we could eat.

Bluesy's was unique in another way in that it was entirely human directed. The AI movement and the faux end of the world made so that a lot of industries began using droids. Some businesses flat out refused to use AI. They claimed it took away from the integrity of the industry. Why focus on creating more jobs if all those jobs could be just as easily done by bots?

Some people claimed it was for better for the economy. Others said it would be the downfall of civilization. Me? I didn't mind bots, but a little squishy part of me needed my human interaction. I don't like how comfortable I get around a droid. Droids don't have feelings. Any conversation you have with them is to some extent scripted.