Cory Vance
Cory Vance is one of two near-identical Park members; up close, his right cheek twitches roughly every nine seconds from a salvage cheek-augment installed in 2180 from a source he has never named.
World Ties
Overview
Cory Vance is one of two. The other is Trev. The Park has, after six years of shared catwalks, mostly given up on telling them apart at distance. Up close it is easier: Cory's right cheek twitches at a frequency the Park's residents have informally clocked at every nine seconds, the result of a salvage cheek-augment Cory had installed in 2180 from a source he has never named, including to Trev.
He wears mismatched salvage clothing layered without much thought, a baseball cap worn backward at all hours, and a single patched-up sneaker on the left foot paired with a different patched-up sneaker on the right. He defers to Jay-Roc constantly with the consistent phrase "yeh, Jay-Roc" — which Jay-Roc has interpreted as professional crew protocol and stopped commenting on. Cory finishes Trev's sentences without noticing. The two never speak in scenes where Jay-Roc is present. He shares Bunk 14 with Trev and Jay-Roc, sleeping on the salvage-foam pad along the bunk's south wall to the left of the door. The pad has not moved since 2180. Bubz feeds him on the Thursdays Jay-Roc forgets the patty allocation. Cache-Miss the kittenbot has begun sleeping on Cory's foam pad, and Cory has not been informed that this is a status promotion.
The Patty Economy
Cory is paid in Helix WellnessProt vat-grown patties out of the same diverted pallet Randy eats from. The exchange rate is two patties per shift. Jay-Roc has set the rate unilaterally. Cory has not asked Jay-Roc to clarify and has not raised a wage dispute in six years. Cory has never been observed to use credits. The Park's interpretation is that nobody has explained credits to him, and the explanation has not been forthcoming because the patty system functions. Randy has, on one documented Thursday short, offered Cory a quarter-patty. Cory accepted. Trev did not need to be asked.
He is Jay-Roc's permanent gopher, paid two Helix WellnessProt vat-grown patties per shift — a rate Jay-Roc set unilaterally and Cory has never disputed in six years.
Below the Price of Warmth
The Warmth Tax prices human connection as a markup over a transaction — 40% more for the barista who calls you "hon," ¢200–400 for a professional conversationalist, ¢4,200 for the Empathy Mandate's certificate of warmth. The whole instrument assumes a baseline purchase to mark up. Cory has no baseline purchase. He is the Tax's Unbankable Floor: not underpaid for his warmth like Patience Cross, whose voice ships to 340 million companions while she cannot afford the certificate to sell it — unpriced. There is no ledger he appears on, so there is nothing to charge.
And here is the part the Tax's behavioral economists cannot model: Cory is fed in warmth he never buys. Bubz feeds him on the Thursdays Jay-Roc forgets the allocation. Randy gives up a quarter-patty on a short Thursday and Trev does not need to be asked. Cache-Miss the kittenbot has begun sleeping on his foam pad, which the Park considers a status promotion Cory has not been told about. Overseer Lahey Corrin files him as "Resident Sub-Operator Assistant, Pad-Left, Bunk 14" on a compliance schema nobody reads, having met him in the flesh exactly twice — and holds him, on the clipboard, regardless. The corporate tier pays a premium to manufacture the sensation of being recognized by someone with no economic reason to care. Cory is barely recognized and completely held. The Tax has no row for warmth that happens where there is no money in the room. It is what the Deep Dregs means by Tuesday.
He has never been observed to use credits; the Park's read is that nobody has explained credits to him and the explanation hasn't been forthcoming because the patty system functions.
Recovered Historical Material
Randy → /world/characters/randall-deshawn
Bubz → /world/characters/bubz-merrick
Bunk 14 → /world/locations/j-rocs-studio
Jay-Roc → /world/characters/jay-roc
Trev → /world/characters/trev-vance
Pad-Left, Bunk 14 — The Dregs Park Boys
Trev Vance → /world/characters/trev-vance
He wears mismatched salvage clothing layered without much thought, a baseball cap worn backward at all hours, and a single patched-up sneaker on the left foot paired with a different patched-up sneaker on the right foot. He defers to Jay-Roc constantly with the consistent phrase "yeh, Jay-Roc" — which Jay-Roc has interpreted as professional crew protocol and has stopped commenting on. Cory finishes Trev's sentences without noticing. The two never speak in scenes where Jay-Roc is present.
He shares Bunk 14 with Trev and Jay-Roc, sleeping on the salvage-foam pad along the bunk's south wall to the left of the door. The pad has not moved since 2180. Bubz feeds him on the Thursdays Jay-Roc forgets the patty allocation. Cache-Miss the kittenbot has begun sleeping on Cory's foam pad and Cory has not been informed that this is a status promotion.
Cory is paid in Helix WellnessProt vat-grown patties out of the same diverted pallet Randy eats from. The exchange rate is two patties per shift. Jay-Roc has set the rate unilaterally. Cory has not asked Jay-Roc to clarify and has not raised a wage dispute in six years. Cory has never been observed to use credits. The Park's interpretation is that nobody has explained credits to him, and the explanation has not been forthcoming because the patty system functions.
Randy has, on one documented Thursday short, offered Cory a quarter-patty. Cory accepted. Trev did not need to be asked.
- Paired: Trev Vance — they finish each other's sentences without noticing and have functioned as a unit since before either joined the Park.
- Employer: Jay-Roc — defers constantly, applies the sub-label stickers in silence, never speaks in scenes where Jay-Roc is present.
- Quiet Caretaker: Bubz Merrick — feeds them when Jay-Roc forgets the patty allocation.
- Filed-As: Overseer Lahey Corrin classifies him as "Resident Sub-Operator Assistant, Pad-Left, Bunk 14" on the weekly compliance schema. Corrin has met him in person exactly twice.
He finishes his pair's sentences without noticing, and the two never speak in scenes where Jay-Roc is present.
