Page 22 (1/2)
He spent long days in the city, rebuilding his wardrobe--noold haunts There was no difficulty in resu his old vices Sure, the stuff you could score around here wasn’t as lethal as Panas, but debauchery was one thing you could always count on, nodealers and shady doctors to give hi the day and thehe hadn’t expected was a technological learning curve People often said that if not for the Decline, ress had stalled and even regressed in the chaos of the Decline, especially in other parts of the world In the last decade or so, the RUNA--stabilized by its triumph over Mephistopheles--had rapidly made up for lost tiress in os, and at ti that was second nature to Quentin
Of course, Justin had nowhere near the adjustment that Tessa had She h she was hesitant to travel into the city as much as he did, she became obsessed with the media strea anything she could get her hands on TV, news, instructional videos…she took it all in, trying to beco rooh He hadn’t brought Tessa back to the RUNA so that she could hide away at hoht before SCI finally told hiet to work, Justin sacrificed a debauched send-off for hiood for his relationship with Cynthia too Despite living together, each had been preoccupied with adjusting to his or her new life and they hadn’t had nearly as much contact as they should’ve after a four-year separation
Tessa gazed ide eyes around the restaurant Justin had chosen It served some of the best Thai food in Vancouver but had exploited its popularity by prettyscreens Even Justin, who’d grown up with constant es were a little distracting But after being denied any real Asian cuisine in Pana
"There’s so o cases Do you really need different ones to coordinate with your clothing?"
"Yes," said Justin
"Sometimes," said Cynthia
Justin didn’t pay much attention to Tessa’s dubious look because he decided the particular case she’d just pointed out would work perfectly with a suit he’d picked up yesterday He held up his own ego, snapped a shot of the ad, and had an order placed in seconds
Cynthia frowned in disapproval "That’s so overpriced You could get a cheaper one just like that at that store down on Market Street"
"This one’s a Blooued
She still didn’t approve "Label whore"
He sood for hi He had his life, he had his fa that could’vecitizenship in the National Registry
And the guarantee that you’re not going to get sent away, said Horatio
And Mae not hating you, added Magnus
Why are you guys such buzzkills? Justin asked them
But both were valid points, especially the former As much as he’d enjoyed his mini-vacation, SCI’s bureaucratic delay had eaten up days he really couldn’t afford to waste At least they’d reinstated his database access, so the time hadn’t been completely wasted He’d been able to check current servitor records against what he reht have silver andHe still wasn’t sure whether cracking the case would ensure or har about it tonight
A server delivered several dishes to their table, all of which earned wary looks from Tessa--at least until the rice showed up Her expression brightened at that and then alain when she saw the chopsticks Justin requested a fork for her but warned her that she needed to try everything
"So this is what parenting’s like," he erly jumped in to teach Tessa how to use the chopsticks, just as he’d also volunteered to be her uide With his siood job and seemed to have a crush on her to boot
Cynthia shook her head "You don’t know anything about parenting Thankfully It’s a lot harder than you think Speaking of which…I don’t suppose you’ve told Molass of bourbon arrived Not the greatest co before returning to the grind toone Besides, if she finds out about our living situation, she’ll want in on it too Do you want to risk that?"
Cynthia answered with a gris had becos they were still of oneup froaze to a co a model in a fuchsia party dress "Look at that," he said "You’re a real girl after all You want it?"