Page 335 of Light Leech

“Sorry,” I said. “The music was turned up too loud on my neurospace again. I love the Finian beats, you plug?”

The man chuckled. “Yeah, I get that. So you’re the du from Medislavia, huh?”

I took him in, now that I could focus on something other than his incisors. He wore thick-framed glasses and had a silver scalp with a variety of violet illustrations, some of which were classic Nichley characters with a grim twist. He didn’t even attempt realism with his yellow eyes, which had star pupils to match the yellow star-pointed light-fund makeup around his eyes. Stars adorned his tight black tracksuit with another grim rendition on his right pectoral, this one a skeletal Elmer the Eel with a smile despite his decomposing flesh.

I flashed my eyes in my neurospace for show. “Sorry, I turned the Fin+ mod all the way off. Can you say that again?”

“You’re a Medislacian influencer?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t hard to force a smile with the excitement of feeding creeping up on me. “Just as they say.”

“How interesting. I don’t even notice an accent.“ He snagged a drink from a Finian and offered it to me. When I refused, he passed it to another person who glared, then shrugged. I was glad the other person wasn’t standing with us. As far as I could tell, Kell was alone.

“All the Republic media makes it easy to learn Amerikese while you’re young, you plug?”

“Right.” He nodded and sipped his drink. “I’m kinda glad we don’t have to waste our time here with guk like that.”

“Like what? Learning a language?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Don’t you want to travel?”

“Most people know Amerikese. Just look at you! Why waste time?”

“Don’t you ever want to appreciate their culture? That’s why I travel, at least.”

“Yeah, then you settle here in the best country conglomerate known to man. Why waste my time with other cultures when I found what I like? No offense, of course.”

Like that helped ease my frustration. I forgot about my hunger for a moment. I had met too many Republic citizens who thrived on convenience and denied anything new because they thought they had already won the birth lottery. I appreciated the Republic, but people like this made me want to follow that Arabasian dream. I relaxed, knowing that any frustration I bore would just make it easier to feed.”

“Of course not, du!” I clapped him on the shoulder and looked around. “So, who’d you come with?”

“Why tie myself to anyone when people like you come to me!“ He laughed and I joined.

“Zeg ’em!” I said.

He agreed, though I didn’t even know what I had meant in the first place.

Lyler was speaking with Naoma. I patted his shoulder. “See you around!”

His initial response was an awkward glance, but he took the hint and left with two blown kisses.

“So how do you party here?“ I asked Kell.

“Really a first timer?”

“The girl brought me along.”

“Now that you’re here, you can leave with a different one!” He laughed, smacking my shoulder.

Zeg, this guy was a total shac. With her exaggerated breaths and clenching fists, I could tell Naoma was just as done with him. I didn’t plan on enjoying the event but knew that we couldn’t accomplish anything until I satiated my need.

A Finian with a tray full of devices neared us.

“You a fix user?” I asked.

“Do I look like a stuck-up shac?” He reached for one of the devices. I took one as well. It was a small disk about the width of a finger with the diameter of my thumb. I swiped the touchscreen display to see an array of fix options, all highlighted with a different color and font to characterize them. The first option had been a modified socitab–not a surprise for a party where boastful people like Kell might end up alone, despite their best options to force interactions. Worrytabs, amptabs, and all of the other usuals were in the array, but I noticed a near endless among of lesser known fixes, including the illegal options Tevon had told me about from his dealing days.