Getting litty in the city

The following day Roxanne stood in front of one grave, large hexagono device with a handle in her hand.

It engraved the name and date of birth and death, plus the hexagon shape.

After finishing she gave the graveyard a final checkup, somberness on her expression.

She returned the device to the government office, passing by a familiar room on her way out.

In the room filled with hexagono boards, she swiped her civilian hexagono on one board, the size of a book. Surprisingly, 'Access granted' popped on the board.

She took a peek at other rooms, Natasha and the others were still swamped but not in a drafting status anymore.

She walked to the lonely part of the city, what was slums once. The east shore wasn't cafés and overpriced restaurants rigging tourists. It wasn't swimming zones and relaxing views.

The east shore was filled with fishing and sailors' boats. The violate blue clear water was the same as the brownish red sand but with a different atmosphere.

Some fished with rods, other just dug in the sand for crabs. Some actual fishing boats were visible in the water. Navy and sailors having lunch in a local restaurant.

Roxy connected to the few trees in the area. Getting access to a plethora of chattering, plethora of information.

The jelly sandals were acting like an insulator but she got the gist.

At a pile of trash, she worked on the hexagono board, reporting that with a picture and a zip code.

'Please put a dumpster here. (*╹▽╹*) '

Some stoners were preparing a substance in a dark alley.

Zip code. Reported.

'Zax is being prepared here (〜￣△￣)〜 #Quick.'

Then she walked barefoot, the stones of the streets sucked the sun's heat, redirecting it to the layer of the underground to boost the composting process. So the stone itself wasn't hot on the feet. Plus no one cared if someone walked barefoot.

She remembered school days when some would walk in a barefoot parade to prove that the streets were clean.

After more walking she wore her jelly sandals.

'Street sterilization works properly. ( > ◡ < ) ( ✧Д✧).

@Ma'am stop spamming smiley symbols at the government (#｀皿´)< @ A message popped up.

'It's my right as a citizen to do so (￣□￣」) '

@Ugh fair enough (〃＞目＜)/ , can you check the buildings at this zip code? Since you're close to it（O￣▽￣）O @

'Kay, xoxo ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ '

She smiled walking in the childhood street, the stony ground took a lighter beige color instead of the medium gray. The buildings were all in the standard governmental design, somewhat new in time.

She casually climbed up the emergency staircase of a building. Looking at the neighborhood from above.

'This place came a long way…' She thought.

"Get down, socioeconomic!" A man shouted.

"I'm working, Uncle Theo!" She shouts back, reporting a leaky roof. The man gave her a grilled corn cob after she got down.

'Even Uncle Theo came a long way.'

--

"Do you wanna talk about socioeconomics?" Tiny Roxy asked Theo, a man with hollow cheeks, a thin build, and red, wet eyes that spoke louder than any words he could say.

The streets were wet at corners. Not many buildings outside of a government apartment shelters. Some rubbery material is used as tents for those unfortunate.

"Come on! Let's talk about socioeconomics!"

He stood up from the dirty pavement, snatched the kid and walked away.

"Is he kidnapping the kid?"

"Nah, maybe killing the kid?"

Two seemingly intoxicated people talked before going back to their nap.

Zax wasn't an addictive substance, actually it was a good antibiotic and anti-inflammatory, important after surgeries. It just had the side effect of making people dozy...for days.

Mixed with the scarcity of food, the sweet tasting medicine felt like a nice retreat from reality.

Theo knocked on the door of a shabby, almost collapsing hut and then pushed the slightly open door. A woman and the people around her looked at them.

"Um… This kid wants to learn about something, what was it?" He lifted her up like a bag of groceries.

"Socioeconomics…"

"Yeah, that."

They looked at the woman, she spoke words in a language he didn't understand then some goon came and took her from his hands. Handing her to the woman like an offering.

Theo was about to head out when another goon grabbed him from the shoulder. He froze in fear before he was harshly sat down at a table, a duckweed dish brought to him.

"Eat." It was almost an order, so he did.

"So what do you want to learn?" Babushka asked tiny Roxy.

"I didn't understand the ham-omelet theory."

"...How old are you again?"

"Four and two thirds!"

"Well, that theory is mostly statistics…Math."

"It was math?"

"Everything is math, kiddo."

"Then I'm gonna study math when I grow up!"

"Then you will end up jobless."

"Oh man!"

At sunset, they headed home with their stomachs full. Roxy learned a thing or two too.

"Be careful kid, don't get snatched by a stranger." He walked her to the government shelter.

The situation was bad, but not every part of it.

At the worn out apartment building she opened the door of flat number 21, where two little girls were staying alone. She cooked them some dehydrated duckweed for them. Made them brush their teeth and read them a bedtime story from the socioeconomics textbook.

A young woman entered, sleepy and exhausted, almost sleeping at the door.

"How was the final?" Tiny Roxy asked.

"...Good, hopefully." She managed between yawns. Before murmuring about getting a job and taking her sisters out of here.

Roxy covered her with a blanket, put a pillow under her head and a toothbrush in her hand so she could do it in the morning.

At flat 22 an old man looked at the bedside table, throat dry, glass empty. He closed his eyes again.

Only to open them to a kid pulling the sheets under him.

"Laundry!" Tiny Roxy demanded.

The man ate the duckweed soup on a small table while she was between the bed and wall putting sheets on, apparently.

"Thanks, kid..."

"No prob."

In flat 23 she ate her meal with hot chocolate incabarina, brushed her teeth, read the socioeconomics textbook the previous resident left behind.

She went to bed with disjointed pupils.

'Hmmm, it's tough, but altering this body is going well, things are going well.' She thought, drifting in sleep.

Things went well indeed, on the day of the sisters' moving, the big sister gave her the big Mr. Garlic.

"How did you buy it?"

"...It was on sale…"

"You're too broke."

"I found it on a dumpster." She admitted.

"Who, WHO, would throw Mr. Garlic?"

"I don't know! It was a rich neighborhood."

After the goodbyes, the big sister looked at tiny Roxy behind her, comforting the big plush and hugging it. She looked at the two kids and the worn out bag.

"Come with us."

"I have school next month! I'll be alright."

Not so long after, a young man with a cast on his leg opened the door of flat 22.

"Dad! I found ya!" He moved with his crutch to the old man frozen mid bite.

Tiny Roxy packed his bag, while the young man explained with joy how the family got united.

In their way out the man gave her a deep blue watch after looking at it fondly for the last time.

"Use it if you had to kid, it's gotta worth something."

The injured man and the old one walked away.

That was a busy year. She looked at how the streets got repaved. How the tents got replaced with actual buildings. Zax got replaced with bitter orange milkshake tasting medicine.

The building took time, walking around while the repaving continued was a pain, and the new medicine wasn't a sweet escape from reality, but it was worth it in the end.

--

Roxanne scanned the old building from the inside, reporting needed fixes. Someone was bringing a new chair to flat 23.

"Need help with that?"

At Clover Neighborhood, the door of the shabby flat opened.

"Welcome back, you're a little late." Ryu said from inside the bathtub, scrubbing it while tendrils dusted the ceiling fan.

"Yeah, you know. Got litty in the city."