Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

There were nearly fifty people now, clamoring to eat the same food the Count and Countess of Myszno were raving about. “Dude, this is crazy. And kind of scary. They’re going to sell out of food.”

“That’s what Renown does, hey?” Suri shrugged. “Whether we like it or not… we’re kind of famous.”

“Yeah.” I looked back to the Meewfolk. The pair of father and child were cooking up a storm now. They’d probably spent years living in squalor in Litvy’s International District – aka the Meewfolk ghetto – and now they were going to be rolling in dough because we liked their food. “Hey, if you’ve never tried Meewfolk cuisine before, how come you knew to ask about the cheese?”

“Oh. Well, I knew a bunch of Meewfolk when I was a pit fighter,” Suri replied. “One of them told me once that if I ever met a ki’kira seller, I needed to make sure it was the real thing and not a rip-off. Sometimes it’s made out of ki-fur.”

“What’s ki-fur?” I asked, happily snacking on another piece of cheese.

“Prra’nat told me it’s dolphin jizz.” She laughed. “I shit you not.”

I stopped chewing.

“He said that the dolphin nurseries fob it off because the dolphins make it year-round, they make bucketloads of it, and it has basically the same protein content. They feed it to criminals, apparently.” She waved her hands as she talked, animated and lively.

“You’re joking.”

“Nope. Apparently some Meewfolk tinkers will try and pass ki-fur off as ‘dolphin cheese’ if they’re selling it to humans.

I eyed the beetle shell and remaining cheese with deep suspicion. “Why the fuck would they do that?”

“Have you ever owned, or even like… met a cat before? Cats are jerks. So are dolphins, for that matter. We’ve treated Meewfolk like garbage for thousands of years. They probably think it’s hilarious. They make a kind of prison hooch with the stuff, too. Call it ‘Fin Rum’. The cats in my old syndicate I was in used to troll their recruits with Fin Rum.”

“Dolphin jizz liquor. Now I’ve heard everything.” I suddenly didn’t feel quite as hungry as I had before. “So, can you tell if this is actual dolphin milk? From actual female dolphin tiddies, I mean.”

“No idea, to be honest with you. I never ate the stuff before. Prra’nat said the real thing is really soft, kind of like eating butter with a really mild fish aftertaste. He said if it doesn’t wiggle like jelly, you shouldn’t put it in your mouth.”

I experimentally jiggled the cheese around. It wobbled in a reassuring manner.

“Okay. I think we’re good.” I resumed stuffing my face with it.

Suri wrinkled her nose. “Wait. So you’re okay with eating bugs, but dolphin spunk is where you draw the line?”

“Yes. Yes, it is,” I said. “The thin, gooey white line.”

Suri busted up laughing: a wild rolling belly laugh that ended with a snort and her hand clapped to her face with embarrassment.

We left the stand and the crowd behind, and did a circuit of the market. Suri introduced me to Dakhari food - spicy and rich, like a hybrid of Middle Eastern and Indian food, but with slow-cooked dinosaur meats instead of mutton and chicken. We found kim-chee at a Jeun merchant stall and nearly bought him out of his stock. We drank strong malty beer and even stronger rakija, ate cotton candy and even got our hands on some frozen custard, which was being sold by a trio of robed and hooded Mercurions showcasing one of their best-selling inventions: placeable Artificed sigils that could turn any insulated container or cellar into a walk-in freezer. By the time we waddled out of the other end of the market and into a long street full of busy bars and cafes, we were pleasantly drunk, had round stomachs, a new feat - Adventurous Gourmet - and the Overstuffed debuff on top of her Fatigue and my Exhaustion. But we were happy, walking beneath the ropes of colored lanterns with our fingers linked. We passed a small courtyard below a tall clocktower. There was a party going on there, with people dancing, and I pointed at it as we went by.

“Think they’d let us in?” I asked.

“Don’t see why they wouldn’t.” Suri had the slow grace of someone who was drunk enough to be relaxed, but not drunk enough to be sick. “Come on - I want to show you something.”

“What?” I grinned as she took my hand and began to pull me toward the party.

She chuckled. “You’ll see.”

We slipped in around the revelers into the shadows cast by the apartments to either side. There were pillars holding up the next floor, and when we reached the first one, Suri backed me up against one and bent down to kiss me. In high heels, she was tall enough that her breasts were at face height. The bare skin above her cleavage radiated heat. Before I realized what she was doing, she took my hand and slid my fingers under the links of her dress, pushing them through until they cupped the inside of her thigh. She was hot there, too.

“Are you serious?” I dropped my voice, but I didn’t push her away. “There’s people everywhere!”

“That’s kind of the point,” she whispered back. “Better unequip anything that’s going to get in the way, and keep those eagle eyes of yours peeled.”

My breathing sped as she slid her hand down my belly. She worked her fingers under the edge of my jerkin, and rapped on the leather cup protecting the Three Amigos. Swallowing, I quickly went to my Inventory, and unequipped that one small item of clothing.

“You’re a kinky bitch. You know that, right?” I looked around us as her hand slid lower, and then turned my face back into her chest. My pulse was racing under my tongue, in my fingertips, and in… other extremities.

“Uh huh.” Suri breathed against my ear as her fingers coasted over the tent in my pants. “You have no idea.”

Hesitantly, I reached