Waiting at the bus station. There are a few other people besides Adalia and Catrina, most of them busy with their phones in one way or another. The building itself is large and the structure is more akin to a train station. They are sitting on a bench facing dozens of concrete platforms with black cross patterns on the tiles.
It's 6:26 PM. They had finished their shift 26 minutes ago and the buses are going to arrive in about 4 minutes. The field agents have a unique schedule where they would be active for 12 hours, be off duty for 24 hours, and be active again for 12 hours after, then the cycle repeats. It's a nice idea to keep the agents rested, considering their burdens.
The roaring engines of hundreds of tall buses grow and grow as they approach. They all go into their respective lanes, lining up as if they're connected like trains. Loud hiss followed by thousands of footsteps pouring out from the abominations of engineering. In a matter of seconds, the serenity changes into a chaotic sweaty mess of people, all wearing black trousers and white shirts, some with black ties or suspenders too, going home from whatever job they have.
Finding someone in the crowd is hard enough. To find someone in regulated uniform in such a crowd where hundreds of others are wearing the exact same uniform is even more challenging. This is why they always wait for him at the same spot every time.
"Cat! Ada!" He shouts, waving his hand above the crowd as he is pushed by their force.
"Kaiden!" Catrina waves back and open her arms, as much as she can without being an obstacle to the crowd, for her brother.
They meet and hold each other tight, as always. Catrina then violently pats his head and messes his bun, as always. His hair is as long as Catrina's. Kaiden was standing well over Catrina, but his sister has been looking straight at his forehead ever since her mutation, which is the same time the role of who's messing whose hair switched between them. He's not an immediate fan of the reversal. However, after reflecting on himself and speaking with his sister, he's been very fond of the gesture. Still, she gets carried away with her strength quite often.
"Hey, too much, too much! ouch ow ow ow! Wolf strength... wolf strength..."
Catrina releases him. She pinches his cheeks for a bit before actually letting him go. There's a bright mark where her thumbs were. Her hands and her shirt darkened.
"Wow, you are... incredibly dusty," she says, brushing herself off.
"Yeah, a machine blew up just before my shift's done. Had to fix it, but didn't have time to get another shower otherwise I'll miss the bus," he brushes himself off, Catrina is helping with his shoulders and his back.
"You know, you could've told us and we'll come pick you up after another hour," Adalia says.
"Yeah, but then we wouldn't be able to go shopping for dinner. Travis closes his store at 7? I think," Kaiden says.
"I guess so, but having takeouts once in a while won't hurt."
"No, making your own food is a lot cheaper and you can make it however you like!"
Catrina chuckles, "Okay mom, we'll do it your way," Catrina hits Kaiden's shoulder.
Iotha districts. The shopping districts. They look the same as the alpha districts, the offices. Massive white blocks of concrete with black windows connected by bridges. Inside, however, are full of colorful stores. Usually, the stores are set in the premade rectangular rooms, but some businesses have grown so big they can afford an entire block, a section of a building, or even an entire building. The dim neon lighting makes the air-conditioner-packed hallways feel even colder.
Travis owns a convenience store specializing in produce he grows himself in his hydroponic garden. The three have been loyal customers of his since they were kids. Travis' daughter is Adalia's childhood friend, which she introduced, along with the store, to Catrina and her brother on her first date with her fellow agent.
"What do you guys feel like having?" Kaiden asks while putting garlic and onions into the basket.
"I'm down for anything. Maybe steak and salad?" Catrina says, looking at the beverages.
"We had that for breakfast though. Also, I'm feeling like having onion soup for dinner," Adalia says. She puts a jug of soy milk and a carton of eggs into the basket.
"I don't know, that'll take forever to cook with our broken stove. We can do Spanish omelette," Kaiden takes a bottle of soy sauce. "We just have to buy potatoes too."
"Oh yeah, right. Need to remember to take care of that tomorrow. Don't you think Spanish omelette is a little too light for dinner though?" Adalia says.
"I mean we can like, oven fry some drumsticks to go along with it. We still have like half a jar of pickles left if you're still hungry after that," Kaiden says.
"Hmm, Catrina, what do you think? Kitty?" Adalia and Kaiden look around the aisle for the wolf-eared girl.
"Kaiden! Kaiden check this out!" Catrina shouts. She's looking down into one of the ice cream fridges. A wide grin paints across her face.
"What? What is it?" Kaiden looks down into the fridge as well. He can't help but smile and breathe heavily. His arm goes over his sister and he grabs her shoulder. "Oh, yes!" He shakes Catrina to which she responds by doing the same to him.
"What you say, we take the lot?" Catrina asks.
"Oh, we're not leaving a single one behind!"
"What is it?" Adalia leans in.
Kaiden slides the fridge open. Catrina pulls out the whole metal basket full of colorful packs of ice cream sandwiches. One can almost mistake the siblings to be on drugs for giggling so much.
Adalia is baffled. Even for Catrina, this is over the line. That being said, for Kaiden, the one who's always about having a healthy and balanced meal everyday and very meticulous about social situations, to be like this is so ridiculous to the point of surrealism.
"We're not seriously buying all that, right?" Adalia says.
"Oh, we're seriously buying all of this," Kaiden says.
"It's not even gonna last us a week," Catrina added.
"What makes it so special?" Adalia asks.
"You seriously don't know about them?" Kaiden asks back.
"No. I don't usually eat ice creams. Well, at least not until I met a certain someone," Adalia hits the culprit's shoulder, she responds with a giggle.
"We haven't had one of these since junior high. These are literally the best ice cream sandwiches you can ever get. Ice creams don't get any better than this," Catrina explains.
"Every time we're going home from school, we would get one for each other, sit on the side on the last bridge in the gamma district before our house," Kaiden continues. "Sometimes we would have lunch on our way home too with our classmates."
"Oh yeah, Munchin Mansion."
"Yeah! You still remember, awesome! Damn, I really miss their Thai tea."
"Yes! And having them after their spicy wings, just perfect."
"You always get an entire bowl of spicy wings; I do remember that. I usually get the spaghetti or the cat burger."
"Cat burger?"
"The big one with the..."
"The cat ears, yeah," The siblings say together.
"And the UwU face burnt on the bun," Kaiden says.
"Oh my god, yes! That was so cute!"
"You guys were having lunch after school? When did you go out?" Adalia asks.
"Our junior high was divided into morning class and day class. Morning class started at 5 and ends at 12, day class started after and ends at 7, I think? Do you remember?"
"Yeah, it was 7. I would wait for River until night so we can play Omnaloke together."
"Oh yeah, River. I wonder how they're doing. We built a fucking castle together. Shit, the save file is theirs so we'll never see it again."
"Probably for the best. I made a whole lot of cringy stuff there. I was in my Silent Council of The Aurora Witch phase."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah I agree," Kaiden nods. He knows he too had made within the game some rather interesting things he wishes to never see again.
"So, are we gonna pay for these?" Adalia says.
"Oh fuck, yes. Sorry Addy," Catrina hugs Adalia for a moment.
The group brings their basket full of groceries and an entire tray of ice cream sandwiches to the register. Travis looks at the items with a grin and a raised eyebrow.
He's a large gentleman, a bit overweight, in his late 40's or early 50's. He has a full beard hiding his neck and moustache roofing his mouth. His head is the opposite of his chin because not a single strand of hair can be found there.
"Celebrating anything?" Travis starts scanning the products.
"No. Though, it is our anniversary, but that's not what the ice creams are for. I thought they stopped making these, how'd you get them?" Catrina says.
"Apparently someone bought the company and starts making them again."
"Hmm, curious," Kaiden commented.
"Speaking of curious, where's Joanne? Usually, she sits by the entrance," Adalia asks.
"Oh, well, she's accepted in The Origin and just went out to move earlier in the day to her dorm," His voice becomes louder, even his breath is now audible. His smile widens and opens. "Half my age and already achieving things her father can't even dream of. I'm so proud of her."
"No way! The Origin? That's incredible, congratulations!" Adalia whips out her phone and sent her friend congratulations by text and a picture o a puppy in a cup.
"And you know what? Since I'm in a good mood and this is also your anniversary, I'll give you the ice creams at half price!" Travis finished putting everything into bags.
"Oh, my, thank you!" Kaiden counts the money to pay.
"That's cool, but what if you sell it for a quarter price?" Catrina leans on the register.
The owner smiles at her. "Don't push it."
"Worth a shot," Catrina picks and carries the bags.