Fuzzy and Kenji - Sunday, August 19th - Late Evening – Blake Island

A very sleepy Puppy dozed on Fuzzy's bed. There she stood in front of him, hands on her hips.

"Off," she said, "You've got your own bed."

Fuzzy pointed down at the dog bed that Sasha had given as a present before the whole deer hunting, then deer saving, then unexpected kiss incident. The bed was soft and luxurious and Puppy just wasn't interested in it. Instead he cracked open one eye and let out a long, soft whine before closing it again. Puppy was growing, but still small, so the scraps that Marco had fed him, covered in all of that heavy, creamy Alfredo's sauce had all but knocked him out. And though he obeyed almost all of her commands, the one that he wouldn't was to sleep in his own bed instead of hers.

"Fine, stay there," she grumped.

It was late and she should be asleep by now but she figured the sooner she got started on hunting, the better. Not that she was going hunting this late as the birds would be all but impossible to find or spot in the dark. Instead she'd talk to someone who could hopefully find someone to sell to. So she stepped up to the intercom in her cabin, punched in Kenji's number and waited...And waited...And waited. Then he picked up.

"You're calling late," he said, through the comm panel.

"Sorry," said Fuzzy.

She stood a little too close to the comm panel as she'd never used one before.

"I have something I need to talk about and..." she said, and then suddenly stopped.

There was a light giggle, some shushing and then faux outrage at being shushed that came with even more giggles that she could faintly hear through the panel. Odds are she wouldn't have been able to hear it at all if she wasn't so close.

"And?" asked Kenji, as if he didn't have company.

"And I want to talk to you," said Fuzzy.

"Uh huh," said Kenji, "Can it wait until morning?"

Fuzzy thought about it. Part of her wanted to say yes, but no, she really couldn't. She had no idea how bad the damage to the roof was. If it fell apart then her home wouldn't be much of a home anymore as the ash of Puyallup found its way inside and made breathing nearly impossible.

"It can but I'd rather talk to you tonight," said Fuzzy.

She could hear his sigh from the other side of the comm.

"Call you in a bit," said Kenji, his tone short.

He canceled the call then and there and Fuzzy waited again. Puppy began to snore and Fuzzy paced around her cabin room. Minutes later there was a soft chiming sound, but she didn't know what button to push to accept a call, only to call out. She pressed a button at random but nothing happened and apparently the red button declined the call. She swore to herself and dialed his number again where he promptly picked up.

"I'll need half an hour," said Kenji, "Meet you outside your place."

"Thank yo..."

He hung up and Fuzzy swore again. She wasn't used working with tech she didn't know or how short that Kenji could be. And since she had to wait, she decided to use her Azzy program and work on another lesson or two.

It was currently a little after eleven so she donned her AR goggles and started working on the program. Half an hour passed by and she cracked a yawn as she finished up her second lesson. By the time there was a knock on the door another yet another half an hour later, she'd finished two more. It was a bit past midnight now and she was getting tired as she was normally an early riser.

She opened the door to find Kenji outside and he absolutely reeked of some sort of chemical fruit smell. Part of her didn't want to let him in but business was business.

"Come on in," said Fuzzy.

"No," said Kenji.

Fuzzy frowned at him, actually taller than him at the moment since he'd retreated down the steps in front of her cabin. Being a head taller than him had made her feel good but the rejection irked her.

"Why not?" asked Fuzzy.

Kenji shrugged.

"Yeah, a guy going into a girl's cabin?" he asked.

Fuzzy smiled in appreciation.

"Oh, it's no problem," she said, "If you actually touched my ass while we're alone then I'd gouge your eyes out."

"Vicious," said Kenji, approvingly, "But I was more thinking about Sasha. She's into you and I don't want to give her the wrong idea."

This topic was something that Fuzzy was less prepared for and she fidgeted nervously in response. Still, she had to talk business, so she left her cabin, closed the door behind her and descended, once again becoming shorter than Kenji and being ever so slightly annoyed by that fact.

"She's got it real bad for you," said Kenji, "And you're just leaving some corp princess hanging, which is insane."

"Is it?" asked Fuzzy, anxiously.

"Uh, yeah," said Kenji, "And I see the way you look at her and not at someone like, you know, me."

Fuzzy shot him a annoyed look but at the same time felt her heart speed up as she thought about Sasha. Though whether that was because Fuzzy liked her, which she had no idea how to deal with or because she didn't and it was a specific kind of social anxiety, well, she also had no idea how to deal with that either.

"Uh huh," said Fuzzy, testily, "Because you're so pretty."

Kenji nodded in agreement, which Fuzzy hadn't been looking for.

"Yeah, I am and I know it," he said, "Haven't turned your head a single time, which tells me something, because I have that effect on a lot of people. Anyway, just a friendly warning. Advice. Whatever. Most of these corporate noble types aren't used to being kept waiting. Sasha is one of two corporate types willing to help us out, so don't get on her bad side. And if you need to let her down, let me know and I'll...Fuck, I'll help. Just don't fuck this up. You're getting a nice little grace period because all of you spell slingers are exhausted from learning your fancy spells, but that's coming to an end."

Fuzzy looked away and stuck her hands in her pockets, they were fidgeting so hard. Then the wind changed and she got a good whiff of him again.

"What's that smell?" asked Fuzzy, as she changed the subject.

Kenji pursed his lips and decided to drop the subject. For now at least, to Fuzzy's relief.

"Cologne," said Kenji, "Men splash it on to smell good."

"That smells good?" she asked.

Kenji shrugged.

"To who I got it from," he said, "Didn't have time to take a shower. Anyway, what're you dragging me out here for? Thought you woke up ugh...Early."

Fuzzy wondered why Kenji would need to take a shower so late but figured that maybe Kenji just took showers in the evening instead of the morning. Instead, she readied her pitch on how to sell the meat. So she straightened her posture and leaned in. He didn't lean in with her.

"I need to offload my hunting kills," she said, "But all the meat is too fancy for selling at home."

Kenji glared at her.

"This is what couldn't wait?" he asked, coolly, "What the fuck?"

Fuzzy held firm, meeting his gaze without fidgeting. Part of her didn't want to tell him what she needed the money for since it would put her in a weaker bargaining position, but she needed to say something.

"It's what I the money for that needs to start soon," she said, her tone cagey, "Because I need to be up early to hunt. Are you interested or do I need to find someone else?"

Kenji's gaze didn't warm, but it didn't grow any cooler either. Instead he pursed his lips.

"Okay, let's say that you could find someone else," said Kenji, "On the weekend when you'd normally be hunting. What do you have to offer? I assume my cousin will be buying. I'm here now so make it worth my time, so shoot."

Fuzzy twitched. That was a kind of verbal assault and she had to pick what to respond to. If she screwed this up then any time she spent trying to find a buyer on the weekend was time she didn't spend hunting. So she could either argue a point she knew he was right about or answer his question.

"Yeah, that's the idea," said Fuzzy, "And what I have to offer will be fifteen ducks, fifteen geese and two deer sometime in September. Also a lot of pheasants starting now. I can bag up to four a day on weekends and I can get a few more on weekdays since half the students are gone."

Kenji's eyes, which had been cold, suddenly gleamed with greed and warmed up a few degrees. He tilted his head to the side and leaned against the wood of her cabin, his face illuminated by her window.

"That sounds interesting enough," said Kenji, "You got somewhere to put all of that?"

Fuzzy paused and frowned. Normally after a kill she'd store them in a cool, dry and most of all secret place in Puyallup. However, while Blake Island wasn't particularly hot, it was warm and it was very, very wet. And one of the problems she'd had with birds while hunting recently is that she didn't really have a place to put them long term. Julian had given her a cooler so she could store her kills while hunting away from home and there was a mini-fridge in her room, but she had no idea how to store all of those ducks, geese and especially deer.

"Not yet," she said.

Kenji smirked a little.

"You need a chest freezer," said Kenji, "Whatever size you need, I can get it new and cheap. Deliveries would need to be on Sunday mornings when none of the students are on the morning boat because they've already left on Saturday. Don't want to piss them off if they figure out they're riding with dead animals. I'll need to bribe the cops otherwise they'll just steal it all. Then I need to pay some trusted people to guard that meat on its way up. Also I'd need to talk to Clever to do any of this. I can sell him on it because he's always on the lookout for the good stuff, but he knows his meat so he'll want to talk me down by being picky."

Fuzzy was taken aback by how efficient Kenji was. In her experience, which was to say how people generally did business in Puyallup, they took their time. They'd toast with fresh water or maybe some homebrew, asking about their family, how they were, something, anything. One thing that Puyallup had in abundance was time and in business, people took their time and only rushed if there was a legitimate need. Still, Fuzzy was quick on her toes.

"I know meat too," she said, as she began to recover, "My shots are good, my knives are sharp and I'm skilled at using them. Plus all of the animals out here are fat and that makes them slow and tasty. There'll be plenty of good cuts so he'll have to be really, really picky."

"That's what I like to hear," said Kenji, "I need to do some math. Feed me the figures."

His AR contacts lit up in the night and Kenji asked a few more pointed questions about how much meat there was total and the quality of the cuts that Fuzzy was expecting, which she answered honestly. This kept him nodding along until his contacts suddenly dimmed.

"Okay, this is now worth my time," said Kenji, "Between everyone else I have to pay, including myself, I'll give you a quarter cut. If I get the price I want for all this meat and it's the quality you say then it'll be about thirty-five hundred nuyen. You'll need the freezer too. I can get that for a hundo new. So you'll be taking home around thirty-four, maybe less, maybe more, can't say exactly. I'll let you know actual price before committing. Cool?"

Fuzzy felt something in that moment. Something she'd been looking for in all her time she'd been in Seattle. A chance to deal. Kenji was lowballing her, sure and he was already acting like the bargaining was done. That the price was the price, but she felt a little thrill at the prospect of haggling. That and the fact that she needed to get as much as she could for her kills. Rat Man and everyone else at home was depending on her.

"Too low," she said, "If Clever doesn't want the bad cuts then I can hang onto them and sell them elsewhere. But if you don't want to sell them you'll be missing out. Forty-five percent."

Kenji laughed and shook his head.

"Forty what? asked Kenji, dismissvely, "No. I've got people to pay to make this happen. Forty-five means nothing left for me. And odds are I'll be making multiple trips. At least three. That means I have to pay off the cops not to look too hard and some hitters to guard it so it doesn't get stolen on my way up. That happens three times, which ain't cheap. Twenty-eight percent."

Fuzzy remembered the conversation with Sasha's dad about the moronga, or the blood sausage. She wasn't one to let anything go to waste and there'd be plenty of it. The bad cuts that Clever wouldn't touch could serve a purpose.

"So pay your people in blood," said Fuzzy, "Which isn't on the table yet since you didn't ask about blood at all. Blood, organs and other low quality meat and fat, a few onions, oats, some spices and casings will make for some pretty okay sausage. Thirty-eight."

The blood, oats and onions would stretch the meat and she was going to end up with plenty of blood at the end of this. Both onions and oats she could get from the Petrowskis for a good deal, especially if she directed some pheasants their way to transport the raw materials for sausage back home. She was going to do this anyway as a way of helping Rat Man maintain their friendship while times were rough. Also she was going to need Rat Man to actually make the sausages because she didn't have the facilities here. It was a good thing too. Making sausages was messy and it reeked of shit.

Kenji rubbed his chin in thought and nodded to himself, so Fuzzy pressed.

"I think that they'll jump at the chance to get real meat," said Fuzzy, "When do they eat from Clever's table? All those fine cuts?"

"They do," said Kenji, "They don't eat last, but they don't eat first either and only his best get a taste of the good shit. They're not strangers to meat though so they're not going to be impressed just because you wave a sausage under their nose. Thirty-three."

Which was when Fuzzy remembered the smell of the ACHE. It'd lingered on her clothing after visiting. So she figured that she'd need to pump up the flavor.

"These ones they'll actually be able to smell and taste," said Fuzzy, "With a whole bunch extra of spices so they can actually smell and taste it. Can you get me how much you'll need for ACHE tastes?"

Fuzzy felt like she was closing in on a deal when Kenji nodded. She was aiming for thirty-five percent but wanted to go higher if she could.

"I can get them," said Kenji, "So...Thirty-four?"

"And you don't have to find someone to swap for the bad cuts if you pay them in sausage," said Fuzzy, "You swap meat for labor and they can sell it to people they know or in the Red Market or they can just eat them up. Thirty-seven."

Kenji sucked on his teeth.

"How many sausages we talking?" asked Kenji.

Fuzzy shook her head.

"You tell me how many they need to do the job," said Fuzzy, shrewdly, "After that, how many they want to buy if they know people who'll take them off them at the right price. Thirty-six."

Kenji snorted out a laugh and she could see his teeth gleam in the dim light.

"Shit, you want me using gangers selling sausages like Girl Scouts sell cookies?" asked Kenji, in disbelief, "Fuck it, same principle, I guess. Hustle is a hustle. Okay, yeah, just get me numbers and weight so I can see how much they'll want and how much they'll buy. Thirty-six."

Though Fuzzy had no idea what a Girl Scout was, she knew she'd sealed the deal and felt like this was the best she was going to get. So she spat in her hand and offered it to Kenji, who hesitated only for the briefest of moments before he spat in his own hand as well. They shook on the deal and Kenji pushed himself off her cabin and stretched.

"Get me some of those pheasants for tomorrow so I can take some to Clever?" asked Kenji, "Gotta showcase the goods so he'll bite. Don't think he's tried pheasant though so he probably won't be able to talk me down as much. It'll be a big enough deal for him to put on with that he'll be thinking about that, then I'll hit him with the deer, ducks and geese. Lock down those prices early."

"Put on?" asked Fuzzy.

"Uh, show off," said Kenji, "While sharing with your people. Sorry. Still doing ACHE speak. Normally I tone it down for the corporate types but that's fucking exhausting doing it all the time. This dual consciousness shit sucks."

Fuzzy wasn't sure about what he was talking about but it didn't really seem to matter. Instead nodded to Kenji and felt the relief and certainly that came with having a clear path forward. Odds are this wouldn't completely fix the roof and food would still be tight come winter, but it was still significant. Far, far more in creds than she could've raised in a lifetime of hunting in the barrens, earned in a single month. And while she still didn't trust Kenji, but he was useful and so she could work with him. For now.

"I'll have four in the morning for you in a cooler," she said.

She'd be running on basically no sleep for an early morning hunt and she'd need to work fast to get her kills and prep them before the boat left. Though she felt a certainty that she could do it. It'd work because she'd make it work and she'd make it work because she had to.

"Cool," said Kenji, "You got opportunities like these in the future or you need anything, I'm your fixer, yeah?"

Again, Fuzzy had no idea what he meant and this time she didn't ask. She figured she'd just learn that word in her studies. So she just shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," she said.

"But uh...You're not the only opportunity I'm working on here right now," said Kenji, "I appreciate the cash flow, but in future, call during the day. Sometimes I got people over at night, you know?"

Fuzzy didn't really know but she got the message.

"Daytime, right," said Fuzzy, "See you tomorrow. Bring back good news and my freezer."

"Sure," said Kenji, "And you go figure out your shit with Sasha."

That put her right back into that anxious mood that she'd been trying to avoid. When Kenji left and she finally settled down, she tossed and turned for two whole hours as she struggled with what to do. Eventually she did fall asleep and she did get those pheasants, but it was only on three hours of sleep.