No, Nucleus's Emergency Services spend about as much on bailing people out for stupid shit as they make from bailing people out for stupid shit. Other cities don't have to do it as often, and thus can eat the loss of not making people pay. And also other cities are more likely to do the thing where they stop you from trying if you won't be able to pay.

Nucleus is on the Pacific coast of northern South America. It's like, a normal sized city—which means more populous than most cities in America, because population centers are pretty concentrated in Eifwen. It's got a pretty standard democratic government. It gets a decent amount of tourism, a good bit of it from people who want to gamble or do extreme sports or try ill-advised drugs without having to deal with as much gatekeeping. Disproportionately many works of fiction are set there. There's links to big tables of data about the city. The temperatures are consistently around 60 to 80 Fahrenheit, and there's rarely much rain. The article goes into detail on many specific areas of knowledge about the city.

Ah yes, a mashup of the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas.

So, more adventurous than most cities, fewer guardrails, just like what Summer said.

Uhhhh she can't really think of any more information she wants.

She'll just get some random information, read a few headlines.

SEARCH: "Economics news"

SEARCH: "Tech news"

Do trans people exist here? Is there a word for transgender? If so she'll look up information about that too, because why not.

Maybe she should search up something like "Guide to Eifwen for alien visitors" or "how to explain eifwen to an alien visitor" but probably Summer would be better at finding that than she would be. That does seem like the type of thing they would make just for fun, though.

Economists analyze pros and cons of throwing flour on the invisible hand

Haptic glove breakthrough brings more realistic touch sensations to VR

Yeah, there are trans people. They aren't seen as very remarkable. Most trans people are sorta nonbinaryish, or at least think of themselves as having a subtly different gender than most cis people of the gender they're close to? She can find information about HRT very easily, and other transition tech if she pokes a little further.

Sorry, what was that about throwing flour on the invisible hand?

Actually, wait, does 'invisible hand' actually point to 'the invisible hand of the market' here? Or is this just a completely unrelated invisible hand?

She clicks on the article.

In a bold and controversial move, a group of economists at the recent North American Economics Conference have proposed a novel economic policy. The 'Flour Faction', as they call themselves, argues that the proverbial invisible hand has remained elusive for far too long. "We've been relying on this invisible force for millennia," argued Dr. Ima, a leading representative of the group. "How can we truly understand and harness its power if we cannot even see it? By making the hand visible, even temporarily, we will be able to gain greater insights into its behavior. Imagine being able to observe each knuckle and fingernail as it moves, intricately guiding supply and demand."

Critics of the plan have raised serious concerns about the consequences of such an action. "What if the invisible hand does not take kindly to being assaulted with flour?" questioned Dr. Brogel. "What if it gets fed up with us, and leaves us to fend for ourselves? Are we prepared to suddenly switch over to a command economy?" Others raised questions about the practicality of the proposal: "Even if we could locate the invisible hand, which is a monumental task in itself, how much flour would be required to make it visible?" asked Dr. Amali. "Are we talking about a few bags, or an industrial-scale operation?"

Despite the criticisms, the Flour Faction remains undeterred, claiming that the potential benefits outweigh the risks. "We're not suggesting we douse the entire global economy in flour," clarified Dr. Ima. "We're proposing a controlled, localized experiment, with appropriate safety measures in place." As the debate rages on, economists worldwide await the outcome with bated breath, some eager to witness the unveiling of the invisible hand, while others fear the potential consequences of tampering with such a fundamental economic force.

What.

Is this like, the Eifwen equivalent to The Onion? Is it a satire piece? It has to be a joke, right?

Like this planet is clearly reasonable so why would this be a thing.

Anyways,

She can't really think of anything else for the moment and she's getting kind of bored. She'll log out of the tablet and check in on Summer.

They're more fun when they're mixed in with real headlines.

...Wait, no, this one is in fact describing real events. But like, probably the Flour Faction was established as a joke. Surely it must've been.

Hi! Summer's here. She's been sitting around texting her friends about Celene and how cute she is.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Celene would be really flustered if she knew about this, but she doesn't.

"Hi!

That was.... quite interesting. Eifwen is very different from Earth- in a good way, to be clear! Honestly this all feels kind of unreal."

Also, she's more than a little hungry right now, and probably it would be a good idea to ask Summer for food.

"Um, also, do you have anything to eat? I'm a bit hungry," Celene asks sheepishly.

It is girldinner* time.

*Eifweni word for a meal, often improvised, where you're optimizing more for exploration and humor than, like, quality.

Summer's apartment contains (or contains Eifweni food items fairly similar to):

• Frozen vegan chicken nuggets, frozen potato puffs, frozen pizza. This would be boring and Celene deserves something more exciting, but maybe something here can be a component of a larger recipe or a side dish or whatever.
• Mixed frozen vegetables
• Ice cream
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Corn
• Carrots
• A Pineapple
• Avocados
• Vegan meat substitute
• Eggs
• Shredded cheese
• Almond milk
• Butter
• Sour Cream
• Yogurt
• Granola
• Blueberries
• Sliced bread
• Peanut butter
• Tortillas
• Tortilla chips
• Salsa
• Hot sauce
• Pasta noodles
• Some meat broth
• A bottle of wine
• Vinegar
• Soy sauce
• Diet soda
• Coffee grounds
• Various spices
• Flour, sugar, baking soda, etc
• Probably some candy and prepackaged snacks

There's an oven, a microwave, and burners (electric.) Celene have any particular meal suggestions or should Summer just improvise something?

Tinya has pizza? And chicken nuggets? And ice cream? 

Truly, these foods are universal.

Ok. 

RECIPE TIME.

Step 1

Wait does Summer actually want her to cook something or does she just want to do what she usually does?

Those are all pretty obvious things to try, in the space of possible foods! The specific kind of pizza with tomato sauce and pepperoni is not remotely as ubiquitous, though.

Does Celene wanna cook something? Summer was mostly looking for suggestions but if Celene wants to try cooking something that sounds fantastic.

If Celene needs her to make a quick store trip for any additional ingredients, she can.

Celene's theory of cooking is that you need a base of cheap calories, and then nutrients and flavor, such as vegetables, seasoning, and protein, on top. She realized this after she discovered her previous philosophy, "only buy food that costs $1 per 200 calories or cheaper," was in fact a bad idea.

So far, this has not failed her.

RECIPE TIME

("It's Showtime!" is now playing in her head. Celene needs to import some Earth music at some point)

For the bases, the options are: Corn, Rice, Bread, Tortillas, and Tortilla Chips.

Since she isn't very familiar with Mexican(? She doesn't know what style of cuisine it would be called on Tinya) cuisine, she'll discard the tortillas, corn, and tortilla chips as options.

That leaves rice and bread. She could make some sandwiches but they aren't really a dinner food, so rice it is.

Alright. So she needs to make some rice, and then a side dish on top.

They have potatoes, eggs, cheese, vegan meat, mixed vegetables, meat broth, soy sauce, spices.

Sure she can come up with something. Uhhh, probably the potatoes go well with cheese, although not necessarily with the mixed vegetables. She should incorporate egg and meat in for protein.

Alright. Time to cook.

STEP 1.

Take the rice and put it in the rice cooker-

Oh. They don't have a rice cooker. Yeah, that does seem like it'd be an Earth-specific appliance.

She's never cooked rice in a pot before. Good thing the bag has instructions!

"Fill a pot with 1 part rice and 2 parts water. Boil until the rice absorbs all the water (should take around half a period)."

Hmm, ok.

Actually, wait. How is she supposed to wash the rice with this? Normally she would just fill up to a line but here she can't do that because the rice retains some water and she can't pour all of it out.

It's probably not necessary to wash the rice, if she remembers correctly it doesn't actually change much. She'll just not do that.

She grabs some scoops which look to be around a cup in size and cook up 2 scoops of rice.

STEP 2.

So her idea is to mix potatoes, cheese, the ground vegan meat, and eggs together in a shakshuka/casserole like dish (she has not ever cooked either, but she has heard of them. Why is she doing this. This is a disaster).

She'll take the potatoes, wash them, and place them on a cutting board.

Now, envision the potatoes as your greatest enemy and pound them to dust with your fists.

She cuts the potatoes into reasonable sized chunks. She could peel them but she does not really want to do that.

STEP 3.

Take a large skillet, turn on the burner, melt some butter in it as cooking oil. Place the potatoes inside.

STEP 4. 

Take the ground vegan meat and disperse it evenly throughout the skillet.

STEP 5.

She should probably add something else besides just pure potato/meat/cheese vibes? (she does not know how to describe it but it feels like they all occupy a similar intersection in foodspace somehow)

She'll take some carrots out of Summer's fridge, wash them as well, slice on the bias, and add them into the skillet as well.

STEP 6.

Oh look, the rice is done. Uhhhhhh.

Turn off the burner?

Actually no she has an idea.

She'll mix vinegar, sugar, and salt together in a bowl (she does not remember the correct proportions but she'll improvise) and then pour them over the rice evenly and wait for that to boil off/be absorbed.

STEP 7.

Stir for a while, turn off the burner on the rice, then stir a bit more. Add some soy sauce onto the pan, enjoy the sizzling sound, add some more soy sauce and meat broth, add some various spices that she recognizes and which suit the dish. In particular she wants garlic powder and onion powder because these are universally good and can always be added. She just realized she never checked if Summer is allergic to any food but why would Summer have food she's allergic to in her apartment.

STEP 8.

uhhh ok time to do the thing. the thing in all the youtube videos. She'll spread out some space on the pan, drop the eggs inside, put a pan over it, and let it steam for a few minutes.

STEP 9.

Alright it's been a few minutes. Take off the lid. uhhhhhhhhh ok now sprinkle cheese all over. more cheese. MORE.

oh gods this is more towards the casserole end of the spectrum than she thought she'll stir some sour cream into the mix to balance the flavor profile.

STEP 10.

Ok. Celene will turn off the heat, put that skillet aside, grab another skillet, put it back on the burner, and cook up some of the mixed vegetables with some meat broth, soy sauce, and spices. Because greens have vitamins and vitamins are important.

Ok! That's all!

Alrrright. And scoop the potato dish and the sauteed vegetables into separate large plates, and serve with two bowls of rice, one for her and one for Summer.

She is very stressed out and has no idea if this will actually taste good or not. Why did she decide to do this.

"Alright, I'm done! I, uh, don't know how good this is."

It's really good, Celene did a fantastic job improvising. Summer loves it. Her girldinners usually do not taste this good.

"Celene oh my gosh this is great thank you so much."

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Celene blushes slightly. She's really uhsdafiweuhsaifxnmnxkmwczkjfsaklhsaoijdfsjfsajofdohdisajfij-

She's really happy that Summer likes it! She'll try some herself.

Wow, this is pretty good, she did not expect to do such a good job. 

Celene should be more sure of herself!

"What did you do with the rice? This is better than the rice I usually make."