1 The Café under 3rd street

Eyes chained his bike to the railing by the stairs and descended the dozen or so stairs to Café brick. The Café was a well hidden gem, nestled under an aging pawn shop, not five minutes from the office where Eyes used to work. "Used to" was the key phrase. The company had been bought out by a competitor a few days ago, and the pink slip that signified the start of Eyes's unemployment was still in his pocket.

It was still early in the afternoon, and the only patrons besides Eyes were a young man on his laptop and a middle aged woman nursing a coffee at the bar. Eyes was never quite sure how to categorize the Café's layout. there was a bar, booths, freestanding tables, even a private room tucked away in the back. According to the proprietor, the bar had once served alchohol, back in the days of bootleggers. It didn't anymore, on account of the owner's personal circumstances, but you could order just about anything else. If the cook couldn't make it, or wouldn't, they'd use doordash or another delivery service to obtain it. Case in point: the box of papa-johns pizza sitting half-eaten by the man with the laptop.

Eyes took a seat at the bar and asked for water. He eyed the daily menu, trying to decide whether to pick with his wallet or his stomach.

"You're here early today," Gerald, the man currently running the counter, said with a practiced eyebrow raise. "Any special occasion?"

"I just got laid off. Company changed hands." Eyes raised his glass and took a long draft.

"Well, at least you came here instead of Willy's"-Willy's was the bar a few blocks away that did serve alcohol.

"You know I don't drink that way."

"you already looking for a new gig?"

"Nah. Food comes first."

"Sure. What'll it be?"

"A burger. two patties, cheese, leruce, ketchup, onions. no pickles, no mustard."

"Copy that."

As Gerald went to prep the burger, Eyes turned to take another look at the guy on the laptop. It was a really nice laptop, the kind with a high-powered GPU and a programmable keyboard. Eyes got up from his stool at the bar and meandered over to the guy's booth.

"hello, neighbor," Eyes said, giving an awkward little wave as the man looked up.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"I hadn't seen you before, and I thought your laptop looked pretty cool. That's the latest ####, isn't it," Eyes said, naming the make of computer.

"yeah. I'm working on a game, and one of my coworkers recommended using it."

"that's cool. I used to have an interest in game design, before Guidance told me to focus on my physics classes instead."

"you want to take a look at some of the levels? It's an RPG of sorts. Working title is Ikasi." The man turned his laptop so that Eyes could see.

"that's some high-level art for the grey-box phase," Eyes remarked.

"it's just procedural texture and lighting generation. I feel like I can get a better sense of it this way than when it's just boxes and text."

"oh, I totally agree, its just that that must be resource intensive on the hardware."

"I'm tied back to my office's render farm."

"Nice. Hey, I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me look the levels over on my own screen?"

"I'm afraid I can't share with devices not on the office network. Proprietary tech and whatnot."

"Nah, I totally get it."

"but i could bring a second laptop, and you could view them on that. I really could use a playtester. Solana says we can just throw the alpha group in and patch it later, but I'd rather do things right on the front end."

"Is this an official invitation?"

The guy creased his forehead as he tought for a moment.

"you just got laid off, right."

"You were listening!"

"not really. I just have a bit of a special memory. Can't forget hearing or seeing something whether I want to or not. I can't pay much."

"Dude, getting paid to test a videogame has been on my bucket list for years. I'll be fine living frugally for a few months. I was going to anyway while I looked for my next job. This will be a fun gig to fill the gap. You got a name, mister game developer?"

"Call me Devon."

"Eyes. yes, it's my actual name, on account of mom liking these baby blues when I was one. A blue baby, not an Eyeball. Umbilical chord got wrapped funny."

"Well met, Eyes," Devon said with a smile, and they shook hands.

###