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sofiadragon · 10 months

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I use this sewing kit.

I inherited this gently used sewing set from my great-gran. She wasn't very crafty, so it didn't see much use until it reached my hands. The set has held up well, though it is clear that some bits have gone.

This is interesting to me because it is an advertisement. This was free, not purchased, for attending some event. I don't know a lot about the history of it aside from "it came from Southern or Central New Jersey" and what is written on it.

It shows how the party has moved, how the values have changed over time. Now big Republican donors are citing the way party funds were (mis)used over the last few years to explain why they aren't donating. Lavish election-night parties for people who lost. Unspecified fees in the millions per state. Vague categories where there used to be line items... and they used to be so down to earth and about the little guy. I look at them now and see them only helping millionaires.

It's just so practical. A tool, a useful (if sexist) gift given to active political women.

Looking at the rest of my blog it might shock people to know I started out Republican. I hated the nanny state, and bluer areas of my home state seemed to have more troubles. Why, Atlantic City had that cheapskate Trump who failed to pay good hard working construction contractors for the work they did on his hotels and those corrupt liberals from up near NYC let him get away with bankrupting working class folks.

They left me behind as they shifted the goal posts. I don't want to ban all guns, I just want them registered like cars because too many people are getting killed by them. The same way I want commercial vehicles driven by people with CDLs I want people carrying in public to have had additional training. Do what you like in your own home, but your freedom stops at the bridge of my nose. That's not removing my rights as a law abiding citizen, that's gatekeeping supply from those who aren't so law abiding. Adding more guns to schools to fix the problem of people shooting up schools missed the entire point, and voting to defund mental health programs makes the current Republican stance on gun control hypocritical as well as too lax.

It was one part libertarian and one part practicality. Like this sewing kit, I want people to have the tools and if they don't use them that's their fault. Democrats wanted to tear down so much and rebuild it to fix systemic inequality, but lots of people would be hurt if it was done all at once and are we going to compensate them? Then as I approached voting age the Republicans started advocating, not for measured responses to problems and slow change over time, but to bring things back to how they were when this sewing kit was made. I was never an Evangelical Christian or a millionare and as the party moved to cater more and more to the former in word and the latter in deed I got left behind.

I don't want my politicians to have punishing sexuality -related sins as a top ten priority. When it was plank number 597 on the platform I ignored it, because when it came time to write laws I knew they would ignore it. That libertarian foundation I had said that what happenes between consenting adults is between them and whatever God they have, and I expect the same courtesy for everything I do in my home that doesn't affect anybody outside it.

But that's not even the main reason I flipped. I'm a history nut, born and raised by a family of Daughters of the American Revolution, Veterans, and teachers, with a pagan/Christian fliwer child turned finacial planner for a mom and a draft-doging conscientious objector nerd for a father. The family voted red down ticket and third-party up ticket through my childhood. When George Bush Jr started talking about Iraq, my father and I looked at each other and called BS. We knew, because we knew our history, that Saddam Hussein and the terrorists who attacked us would rather rip out each other's entrails than work together. We were being lied to.

And they kept lying. Sure, fine, all politicians lie, but historically they promise the moon and deliver a glow in the dark sticker. They say A is their top priority and then mostly work on B and C - and that's lies but it's an acceptable sort of lie. Expected. Less a bold faced falsehood and more a confrontation between ideas and reality. Recall what I said about the anti-gay political adjenda for my home state politicians? Yeah, priority number 597 was only brought up to drive certain people to the polls, but nobody was going to do anything about it on either side of the aisle back then.

There was no way Afghanistan radicals and Iraq were working together. Hussein had been killing them to keep them out of his country for years before 9/11. History nerds knew. Immigrant families from the Middle East knew. Most Americans just believed, because why make a lie so huge? We thought that the truth would out, Bush would look like a nincompoop out to avenge daddy, and we would course correct.

Obama was actually pretty good, too. The ACA wasn't a Medicare buy-in like the poorer parts of my family would have liked to have, and my eyes and teeth are somehow not parts of my body still according to medical insurance, but at least my uterus finally was! The filibusters were out of line - that silent version has to go - and the Republican led Congress passed the fewest number of bill in the history of the institution, to the point of not being able to keep their own lights on, to coddle the racist demographic.

While I was personally shedding the racist framing I grew up with, the Republican party was pulling on extra layers of hate. They didn't talk about their ideas anymore, just all what they didn't want. No this, no that, and when Obama shrugged and started writing executive orders just to keep the wheel turning they hated that too.

Then, Republicans went full ugly. They blocked a Supreme Court nomination, not on the merits of the nominee, but only on the basis of the president's skin color. Just sat on their hands and refused to do their job for the best part of a year. The constitution says they should have a hearing and talk about the merits, they just didn't.

You know how fast anybody would be fired for not handling a project like that in any other context? Just don't make any fries at a fast food job. Just don't file your quarterly reports at an office job. Just don't conduct any interviews for a new CFO as a CEO. This was a major obligation and they just dropped it. Like the constitution was just a suggestion. As if the second election of Obama wasn't legitimate.

And I was out. I was in a different state then, but the people I voted into state and federal office supported this nonsense. I would have liked several people other than Clinton on the ticket- I thought Trump was too old then and wanted someone younger and more willing to call a spade a spade. Clinton was too savvy, too deep into the delicate political dance to be rude about the lies. Trump also lied "bigly" and constantly. Pence was a floorboard - bland and easily stepped on.

I don't see them getting my vote back, even downticket. Biden has salvaged our international relations - I consider the president's primary job to be running the State Department and filling our embassies with competent patriots. Bush and Trump were both international laughing stocks, and in the vein of Republicans not doing anything Trump seemed to have forgotten that appointing people to a lot of necessary positions was his job. Whatever you want to say about Obama's or Biden's relation to the Ukraine, at least they didn't leave an empty chair in the embassy.

I used this sewing kit today. It's a tool, a needful thing that wants use and facilitates productivity. It gets a job done. I think it is ironic.

Republicans, for most of my voting life, have been the party of doing nothing. Filibusters instead of arguing your case. Blocking nominations and then not filling empty posts. Doing less and less of the essential parts of governing the country, while digging more and more into our privacy. It is Republicans who want to know what my genitals look like, who I sleep with, and all the bloody details of my multiple miscarriages. They want to restrict what books I am allowed to read in my local library. They want to pass nanny state laws so restrictive to "protect" the children from seeing two men holding hands that the mention of adultery gets anything with the ten commandments in it banned from all school district funded libraries. Actually, Republicans are really into nanny state laws lately. It's the only thing I hear them talking about on a national stage. Infrastructure? Nope, that's a Democratic issue now because all the big projects are woke green stuff like hydroelectric gravity batteries for wind farms and mass transit.

Democrats want to make it illegal to be a dick for racist or queerphobic reasons. I think we have laws for that already, but there is no harm in clarifying that you should believe people when they introduce themselves as a woman or man and not harm them because you think their genitals might not look 'right' according to your personal standards. We had to clarify that black people and women were also to be treated with respect and decency, so let's make it clear that you don't have the right to assault someone. Democrats want Universal Healthcare, and I'd be happy with a medicare/aid buy-in where I can pay extra taxes voluntarily to get coverage, but I wouldn't be upset if they took it to the next step. Like Bernie said, ask for a whole loaf and negotiate for half. Biden would like to get Putin out of office, and I'm all for that. Our foreign relations are awesome right now. We're trying to claw back component manufacturing for national security reasons because we can't have the military dependent on circuit boards and component parts that are all imported.

What I care about that both sides ignore?

Nationalize the rails (and make it stick this time, codify that under interstate commerce the way we did highways.) It's getting to be a national security issue that freight shipping is so gas-dependant so we need to build nuclear power and modern electrified rail systems.

Right to Repair needs national attention too. There is no reason my phone is constructed in such a way that a handy person like myself can't safely replace the battery.

Recycling in the USA is a joke that stopped being funny around Y2K. Why are we shipping our Recycling overseas? Garbage collection and processing is one of those things I expect my taxes to pay for - stop requiring Recycling plants to pull a profit. That's idiotic hyper- capitalistic nonsense; trash collection does not need to be profitable to be a public good.

Make police academy training require/include a 2 year college degree based on law, history, and conflict resolution/psychology. Many other countries have 4 year programs and we're over here clowning like this is an easy job you can learn by doing after less than 6 months of training in much of the USA. Some state police programs are already at this standard, others need to catch up.

And closer to home? One school district per county in every state. Period. Let the kids mix, let the funding comingle. A more level playing field is beneficial to society as a whole, everyone deserves access to the tools. In fact, bring a lot of small town home rule shenanigans up to the county level. More daylight there to catch corruption and embezzlement because more people show up to watch or stream county meetings than do the same for small town boards. Again, some states already have this on lock, but boy do some others need work. Finally, if you won't forgive loans then let people lose them if they go bankrupt. You tried, you failed, let's cut that dead weight loose so you can try again. It hurts the economy to have so much student loan debt on people who never got a high value 4 year degree - which is where a lot of the people struggling with the loans are. Sometimes random shit happens through no fault of your own, and you bail out into a working class job to avoid something worse. That's where a lot of the old SL debt is sitting, so just let people drop the debt if they fail that hard the way they can for everything else.

#antiques still in use #old political advertising #antique #sewing kit #us politics #story time

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charlie-pippin-faraday · 3 years

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fabina h/cs?

Oh yes I was hoping someone would ask me this. Warning this got very long I have a lot of thoughts and feelings

They are so sweet it makes everyone wanna barf sometimes

In S1 some of them (Mick, Mara, Alfie, Patricia) place bets on when they're gonna get together. Mick wins

During S2 Amber tries to get them together in a multitude of different ways. She tries mistletoe, the old "trapping them in a small dark room together" trick, conspiring with Patricia and Alfie to ensure they just so ~happen~ to find themselves alone together, etc.

Throughout S3, they literally never stopped thinking about each other

After graduation, it's a really turbulent and transitionary period in Fabian's life, and he has to assess what he really wants. And he realizes he never stopped loving Nina, and he wants to be with her again

Amber actively encourages him to go after her, saying he'll regret it for the rest of his life if he doesn't

Nina realizes the past year without him has been miserable. It's been awful not having her best friend by her side to talk to and confide in and do things with, and she's missed him so much. So when he reaches out, all of her feelings come rushing back with an intensity, and she decides she doesn't want to lose him again, and they get back together. For good this time.

They go to college in America together, and Fabian ultimately moves to her hometown of Cleveland to be with her

After college they work at a museum together looking at historical stuff all day long. They get to nerd out and they work together well; it's a dream job

Nina tries her best to introduce Fabian to American culture. Some of it is a bigger culture shock than others. Nina is always incredibly amused when he doesn't get words right or he gets flustered and confused at certain customs

He's not sure how he feels about American fast food

American pie, however, is his new favorite thing. Especially Nina's gran's pies

The Fourth of July scares him. But barbecues are nice

Nina is a fan of Cleveland's baseball team. She takes him to a game, and by god is he confused. He has trouble following. The first game is a lost cause. But once Nina points out how dependent the game is on math, then he starts to get the hang of it. A little bit

American driving, however, is horrifying to Fabian. Nina's a pretty good driver, and Fabian's fairly good (if not a bit stiff and nervous) at driving in the UK, but in America it's a whole different animal. Not only are they on the other side of the road, but the drivers here are fast and aggressive. It's very scary. The ONLY reason he eventually learns to do it the American way is because he wants to be able to take Nina out and be a competent enough man to drive a car around

Speaking of cars: one summer they definitely go on a cross-country road trip, just the two of them. It's meant to bring them closer and be romantic, and it is. They love looking at all the sights together, and Fabian is amazed by the sheer diversity of landscape and how gorgeous parts of the country can be. He TRIES to split the driving 50/50, but America is just so goddam BIG, like intimidatingly huge, and he's not used to driving for that long. The driving ends up being more like 70/30 in Nina's favor, but she doesn't mind. She gives Fabian the responsibility of making a road trip playlist, and he knocks it out of the park

At home, they enjoy cozy nights by the fireside, reading and snuggling under blankets

Sweaters! They are sweater people and I enjoy the image of them snuggling together in sweaters

Handwritten letters! They write each other handwritten letters all the time, especially in the summer between season 1-2 and the period of time between graduation and Fabian making the move to America. They both keep every single letter they receive and each keep them stored in a sentimental little box

They like to frequent old/used bookstores and antique shops. Their place is filled to the brim with odd knickknacks and collectibles that they find, and they have an entire wall with shelves piled high with books

They don't need a lot of fancy stuff, and they don't care about being high-class; they don't care much about appearances, and they don't need a lot. All they care about really is being together.

They learn to get better at communication and not let anyone else's opinion about their relationship impact their relationship. They're the only ones that know what's best for them, and they take things at their own pace

Nina can get overly emotional and stressed sometimes, and Fabian's her rock. That's how it's always been, and that's how it always will be

They love to watch the discovery channel and the national geographic channel, along with netflix documentaries

They fuckin LOVE escape rooms, they use every excuse they can to go to escape rooms

Nina takes Fabian to the rock and roll hall of fame, and he's like a kid in a candy store

They are frequent patrons of their local coffee shop, to the point where all the baristas know who they are

They are very cheesy and sentimental all the time. Most everything they do is very thoughtful and has some kind of meaning

They like to write cute notes to each other and leave them around the house

It takes Fabian forever to actually propose to Nina, to the point where he gets calls from Amber just about every day asking when she's getting an engagement announcement. He just wanted to be careful and deliberate about it and make sure everything was perfect

He makes sure the proposal is simple and romantic. He sets up a candlelit dinner, the lights are low, he talks to her softly and sweetly and tells her he loves her and pops the question

Nina, surprisingly, does not cry. Fabian, however, definitely does when she says yes

He proposes with a family ring; his grandmother's ring. It's very sentimental and has a lot of history behind it, and we all know Nina loves that stuff, and the history and story makes her very emotional

He does what he should have done in S2 instead of writing a poem: he writes her a song and plays it for her on the guitar. It's her favorite thing he's ever done for her.

After the engagement they tell Amber before they tell anyone else, because she'd kill them if they didn't

They surprise her with a video call, and they don't tell her at first, but then Nina surprises her and shows off the ring, and Amber screams so loud they're convinced she's going to break glass.

Amber is even more excited than they are, she talks with them absolutely non-stop about their wedding. She even tries to take control of it at some point

Their wedding is a fairly small wedding; it takes place at an outdoor venue in the spring, at a beautiful location just outside her hometown in America. Mick is the best man and Amber is the maid of honor. Amber gives an incredibly emotional MOH speech and sobs buckets. Gran walks Nina down the aisle

Her wedding dress looks a little something like this; definitely something with long lacy sleeves

They have 3 kids, all girls

The oldest is Evelyn, named after Nina's gran. She's got dark hair, Nina's curls, Nina’s light blue eyes, and she looks like Fabian. She got Nina's courageous leadership side, she's very adventurous

The middle child is Sarah. She looks like someone legit photocopied Nina. Same hair color, same curls, same eyes, same general facial features. She got the intellectual and bookish side of both of them

The youngest is Eloise, kind of a little bit after Sarah's mother but mostly they just liked the name. Often they call her "Lou" and she definitely goes by that when she's older. She somehow got to be strawberry blonde, has less curls than her sisters, she has Fabian's blue-green eyes, and is a mix of them both when it comes to facial features. She got the part of them that liked to sneak around and break the rules; as she gets older she becomes very rebellious, and Nina jokes "are we sure this child came from me and not Patricia?"

All 3 girls are little troublemakers and they're partners in crime

At some points when the girls are a bit much Fabian gets stressed and shouts "we're outnumbered!!!!!"

Amber is their aunt and showers the girls with expensive presents all the time, especially clothes, which all of the girls LOVE. Nina and Fabian accuse her of spoiling them and she says "If I can't spoil them then what's the point of being the rich beloved aunt?"

The girls do indeed love Amber, all three of them adore her

When the girls get older they find the boxes of letters their parents wrote to each other, they think it's very sweet

Even as they get older, the two of them always set aside time to be romantic with each other

And they remain each other's best friend and confidante forever and ever

yo please feel free to keep sending me these! or asking me my opinions on stuff! this is a lot of fun!

#hoa ama #ama #anon #asks #house of anubis #fabina #fabian rutter #nina martin

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bandit-12 · 3 years

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Izuku Midoriya's Journey: Humble Start-Prolouge

It was the Saturday after their final exams and Midoriya and the rest of class 1A were asked to come to the auditorium for a special announcement.

Gee Deku what do you think what to talk to us about "Uraraka said as they walked to the auditorium. I don't know maybe they're gonna talk us through what type of training we'll be doing at the training camp this summer" Midoriya exclaimed as they walked in. Inside they saw Class 1B sitting in the middle row, the U.A staff were sitting in the Right column with top hero Endeavor and veteran hero Gran Torino. Todoroki turned his head away in anger; he couldn't stand to be in the same room with his so-called father. Sitting in their row was Hitoshi Shinso from General studies and Mei Hatsume from the support department; Midoriya and the others took their seats and waited for the announcement to start. Oh hey Hatsume congratulations on your restraints being accepted in the finals I don't we would have stood a chance against the teachers without them"Midoriya said as Hatsume began grinning like crazy.

Thanks my babies were pretty strong weren't they wanna know what makes them so strong" Hatsume went on rambling about what she used in the restraints while Midoriya sat there blushing feeling sorry he asked.

WELL WELL IF IT ISN'T THE FIVE WHO FAILED THE FINALS LOOKS LIKE CLASS A IS LOSING THEIR WINNING STREAK NOW MY CLASS WILL..."Monoma was cut off from his taunting by a head chop from class representative Kendo. Leave them alone Monoma the test was hard for all of us too; sorry he's just mad because he was the only one from our class who failed so he's trying to take his anger out on you guys, don't worry I know you guys will be able to catch up During the training camp" Kendo explained and with that everyone in Class A began laughing at monoma as he cursed Kendo in shame.

KENDO YOU FOOL DON'T YOU SEE WERE STILL VICTORIOUS OVER CLASS A BY FOUR THAT MAKE US BETTER DON'T YOU SEE THIS MEANS THOSE LOSERS WILL BE EATING OUR...Monoma was once again cut off by his homeroom teacher Vlad King.

MONOMA IT'S THAT TAUNTING ATTITUDE THAT CAUSED YOU TO LOSE THE CAVALRY BATTLE AT THE SPORTS FESTIVAL, PICKING RIVALS WITH YOUR FELLOW COLLEAGUES IS NO TRAIT FOR A HERO ,HOPEFULLY YOU'LL LEARN PROPER MANNERS DURING YOUR EXTRA LESSONS AT CAMP" Vlad King reprimanded and with that Monoma sat down and kept his mouth shut.

Settle down everyone I know your all excited about the training camp but that's not why we called you all here we have a special guest here who has a special presentation for us" principal Nezu explained on stage as a man in a black suit and wearing camera like helmet came up. Hello, students, my name is Record I have a quirk that allows me to look at someone and learn their whole history then I can show those memories through my eyes for all to see" the reason I came in today was in order to celebrate you all passing your final exam this weekend the U. A staff has asked me show you the origin of one of you students and watch how you accomplish making it this far, hopefully this will influence you all to GO BEYOND" Record explained as the students excitedly finished his last sentence. PLUS ULTRA the students cheered at getting such an opportunity.

And the one student's journey we will be experiencing will be none other than..." Principal Nezu said as he pointed to present mic

IZUKU MIDORIYA" Present Mic voiced for all to hear while some students were disappointed others cheered because they were proud to see Midoriya's journey.

That damn nerd why is he the main character" bakugou thought with an angry scowl on his face.

Maybe now I'll be able to find out your connection to All Might Todoroki thought Deku this exciting we're gonna be seeing how your life was like before U. A" Uraraka said excitedly Indeed you've come a long way since the entrance exam It would be nice know where you started" Iida exclaimed proudly

Gee... Thanks, guys... Midoriya said nervously

Midoriya you're sweating what's wrong ribbit" asui said as she noticed him nervously sweating

It's just a few of my secrets will be exposed some dark but I don't mind I want everyone to know why I work so hard to become a hero" Midoriya said with a serious look; all of class A looked at him with proud determined smiles on their face. Midoriya nervously looked at All Might in his muscle form knowing the secret of one for all will be exposed but All Might gave him a thumbs up reassuring that everything will be fine. Let's see why that brat is so reckless and what's his relationship with All Might" Eraserhead thought as he spots All Might talking to Gran Torino. Toshinori you do realize what will happen" Gran Torino said concerned.

I've known these students these last few months I trust they'll keep my secret to themselves I'm just worried about how Endeavor will react All Might said as he noticed his rival glaring at him.

Alright students time to enjoy this amazing journey through Izuku's past" Record said as he looked at the screen and the film started.

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b4kuch1n · 4 years

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Dark Bako give us your forbidden Leon/Raihan/Sonia Headcanons. I’ve loved your OG rival friendgroup since your original comic and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since.

Hells Yeah thats the good food anon

1/ sadly I am Not coherent or like. good with words yknow. so this will be laid out in the most chaotic manner; 2/ I dont really ship them romantically? so this will just be like. childhood friends stuff. they have a long history with each other I just love laying in it and feeling it for a moment here and there. I love them so much. and 3/ there are bullet points here that I’ve talked about before in the tags of my art posts or on my twitter. forgive me for being repetitive with them they’re all kinda from the same body of hcs yknow they go with each other like Leon, Raihan, and Sonia haha dyou see what I did there

- Sonia and Leon knew each other since birth basically, and they met Raihan when they started out on their adventure. they were all picked up by Mustard, Raihan has too different a style so Mustard kinda thinks of him as a smartass, Leon still calls him ‘uncle Mustard’, and Sonia still sends him things about swordfighting whenever she can

- oh yeah Sonia fences. she absolutely fences. c’mon she’s a history nerd of course she fences

- Leon used to dabble too but then he got kind of insanely busy? and couldn’t find the time to practice for a long stretch of time (nobody properly taught him how to manage his own time he had to learn by himself) so he’s not good at it anymore. if they fence one on one Sonia can kick his ass

- Raihan’s hitbox is too big so he sat that one out entirely. no thank you

- Leon is Big time a theatre kid. if he were any less into pokemon battling he would have absolutely grown up to be a shakespearean actor. he also just loves capes but that’s a him thing (and a trans thing)

- he also knows enough sewing to fix his own clothes. Sonia wanted to sew too but her eyesight is bad enough that she couldn’t hand sew things so she didn’t pick it up as a kid. she has badgered Leon into customizing her accessories many times

- Raihan’s parents are professors, and his family is a foster family for foreign students, so he’s very good at dealing with kids, but like. in the fun brother way. as in kids fucking love him but do Not expect peace when he babysits

- which is funny because Raihan himself is chill. he’s done acting out now. he was one of those kids that are way too aware of their own youth? so he knew and acknowledged very intimately the kind of joy being chaotic and giving in to your dumbest desires brings, but he also knew since a too young age that you can’t really do that when you start having people depend on you. he fucking loved chaos when he was a baby trainer, and he wants the kids he knows to get to experience that kinda freedom too. so he will Not be the strict brother figure you need when you want an afternoon of peace. godspeed

- (he is also extremely a city kid as opposed to Leon and Sonia being children of the forest)

- this makes him and Leon a lethal combo because they push the exact button in each other to explode all inhibitions and make both of them idiots. Sonia was kind of astonished at the things Leon and Raihan did because Leon has Big Brother Syndrome but in the opposite way of Raihan’s, so in Sonia’s presence he will try to be doubly responsible. sure he was kind of an airhead when nothing’s strictly taking over his attention and he got Very in character for sandbox roleplaying, but he’s very disciplined in his own specific way and he tries very hard to take care of things. but somehow when left alone with Raihan they manage to tie down the top of a tree to the ground like one of those catapults and then almost caused an avalanche

- part of Sonia wanted to participate in the idiot fest, but. for a weirdly long while she didn’t really like Raihan? just because he was so confident and also seemed to always make the right decision. he seemed to know so well what was important and what wasn’t, and he stuck with it so damn well. and Sonia envied that. at the age of nine. life was complicated

- he was horrified when Sonia tried to teach him how to swordfight tho, which is. uhh maybe a bit on Sonia too. she can’t recall very well

- Raihan can

- also maybe Sonia envies Leon’s attention at Raihan just a bit because she was kind of alone in Postwick if she wasn’t hanging out with Leon, and she started battling because Leon’s excitement was contagious, and. yeah. again, life is hard when you’re nine

- Raihan’s nice to her tho. as long as she’s not holding a foil she’s just a kid and he’s good with kids. and she knows a lot about history! which is super cool and he osmosises a lot of trivias from her

- she can suss out the origin of patterns on his clothes and can date the tapestries in the hall. again, super cool

- they’re so damn close by the time of their League that losing to Leon in front of an audience hits ten times as hard.

- Raihan kind of coped by embracing the rival title with all his might. this kinda feeling fades with time, right? so roll with it for now. they were the same, it’s just the situation that changed.

- except the situation seemed to change Sonia too. she exploded at Leon after the match and then just. retreated to her room at the hotel. she was out of the city before they could have a word with each other.

- she didn’t blame Leon or Raihan, but of course Leon kind of panicked, and turns out Raihan was just twelve too, so the best he could do then was to keep himself from freaking out as well by keeping some distance from Leon. he called Sonia to make sure she got home and hasn’t gotten herself in hot waters in the wild area somewhere. she didn’t pick up, but the next morning she texted to say she was with her gran and was being chewed out.

- she called Leon one day before the champion match to wish him luck, and in a sense to let him and Raihan down gently (that’s what they found out that’s called much later, when it’s become mildly funny and not like the world was ending anymore). the actual transcript was just a lot of babbling that didn’t really explain anything, but then they also found out much later that she probably didn’t really know what she was doing either. turns out, y’know, life is extremely fucking hard when you’re ten, and your world is turned upside down, and you’re mad but also you’ve known for a while on some levels that it’d come to this, and you have no goddamn emotional management skills because you’re, yknow, ten, and your gran hasn’t been ten for six decades.

- so Sonia trained by herself for years after that first League, but she never became a challenger again. she also had to learn a lot of things by herself too. she moved in with her gran soon after the League as well, and in the off seasons when Leon could visit home she was never around.

- she still fences. that’s how she beats out the aimlessness for a long time

- Raihan doesn’t stop texting her, but he lives in Hammerlocke and he’s also busy, so they didn’t meet directly again until his match to win the Hammerlocke gym leader title. Sonia was extremely exasperated that he used Sandstorm in a vault full of precious artifacts. Raihan selfishly feels like that out-of-place aggression he’s been feeling can start leaving.

- Leon by that point has kind of settled into being a champion, as in he has stopped processing or projecting any kind of negative emotions, and by the way he greets Sonia it’d seem like nothing bad ever happened. Sonia and Raihan could take that; at least now they have allies in all of this.

- they aren’t each others’ parents. they just try their best to grow up with each others again.

- Sonia also got that sweet, sweet networking with Raihan’s parents that she uses on the daily to get reading materials she needs

- Raihan is okay with this

#ask #pokemon #swsh #champion leon #gym leader raihan #sonia (pokemon)#I should start tagging her as professor sonia tbh #three parts of a whole idiot #headcanons #these are just hcs of them that have to do with all three #yknow. there are a Lot going on with them individually too #but sometimes youre alone in your head #leon especially seems like the kind of sibling who doesnt have blow out fights with his family ever #which would make sonia seemingly cutting him out even more scary #it was. not a good time for sonia. being nine and ten #but kids! it does get better! youll be somewhere else than where you are right now soon #(for real if swsh came out in 2017 sonia would have been my absolute fave)#(I had a lot of issues then that felt intensely similar to hers)#(some of them persist but again. life does get better)#thank you for unleashing this. I need structure and external motivation in my life #and sorry that I just Have to be a downer right there #but!! it!! does!!! get!!! better!!!!!!!!#you have to live on you wont be nine and ten forever!!!!!#have a good day guys!!!!!!!#Anonymous #long post

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kny111 · 5 years

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I know I haven’t really updated on here. Fatherhood can be really tiring and time consuming as it is a blessing and will change who you are for the better, at least for me. I’ve been away from a lot of the subjects I used to normally post about until recently, that’s because I picked up the energy and interest for science journalism again. To say I went off to have a long waited talk with nature is to minimize greatly the kind of transformations I’ve undergone. The mysteries she’s shown me far greater than any cosmic unknown that I could have ever imagined of. I know a lot of the folks who used to follow this blog might be surprised to know that within that journey I’ve seen, experienced and have been in communion with some really influential spirits of old. Nature’s hidden variables. Whatever you want to call it. Something occurred when I decided to take more seriously the religions and spirituality of my ancestors. Something that only reinvigorated my love for science and the unknown, physics, art, and expression of these things for beneficial communal use. I’m from Quisqueya, the first testing grounds for colonialism and subsequently the evolution of neo-colonialism. Not too long after and we become one of the first pit stop for the trans-Atlantic slave trading markets to proliferate and spin the rest of the world off into the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy hell branch of a reality we know of today. Our little island has undergone so many transformations and inclusion of peoples, cultures, so many I only recently found out of like how Haitians took in Jewish refugees during the time of Hitler’s nazism. Because I still deal with mental health issues and depression being one I’ve had since childhood, I sometimes don’t have near enough energy to convey how have things been going since my last big update here. My spiritual and religious journey, finding comfort in myself and closure in ways I no longer adhere to. That said I found it beyond amazing how earlier today on October the 14th ‘Indigenous Peoples Day‘ I was drumming away to Tainx music without realizing what day today was without looking at my social media feeds yet. Here I was normally thinking I’m so tired, down and out of trying to keep these cultures alive and I was already doing so instinctively in the truest way I know how.

Like I mentioned, I decided to take more seriously my Afro-Indigenous roots and what it meant to be a Black Dominican Haitian Taino American. It took me on the wildest ride with the unlikeliest subject ranging from seeing quantum entanglement examples right before my eyes, seeing living breathing afrofuturism through my Vodun, Catholic, Christian roots and the functionality of Vodun to incorporate so many ancient parts of being Black into what intuitively led me down a road of self and outward knowledge on the cosmos around me. To then blend these epigenetically installed formulas of spirituality embededd in me by history and nature, incorporate them into my expression of art and self which is one has been like achieving a life long dream I didn’t even know I had. I did so much intuitive shit that was so clearly linked to my identity as an Afro-Indigenx American immigrant along the way that I had erected an altar without knowing it was an altar. I would section and compartmentalize this prototype altar so beautifully and had no clue I was paying respects to my ancestors and spirits of the world until more recently a few months back. When I realized this, it was like a Cambrian explosion occurred in me. I don’t want to get into the details of the abilities it brought out that I already had in me due to prying eyes (ahem surveillance capitalist patriarchy is still outchea at large) but to simply meditate and think on my folks has given me such a renewed and strengthened sense of intuition and appreciation for the past and future that I never knew existed. Sometimes I’ll legit write and prophesize shit out the ass like it’s a normal day it’s wild, shit I never believed in but the science seems to check out with quantum physics and what not. That’d be an explanation for another time. The altar has now evolved to a place I can really go to and express but at the same time it’s something I’ve learned to keep within my own self so that it’s not the altar that’s important, rather the changes I’ve gone through to get to such a place. I write, dream, visualize, laugh, act, improvise, predict based on science, meditate, heal, rehabilitate myself there. But conversely the world speaks to me there, the spirits of old, new, those to be. I know it sounds type wild but it’s gotten normal for me to experience something my old science nerd ass self woulda made fun of me for. But when you get into a connection with ya ancestors like I have and reach the conclusions and deductions I have on the systems that control the planet it gets clearer to see that the Indigenous were right all along on colonialism, it’s gotto go. There’s no place for it in the future if we’re to survive a planet seemingly becoming another Venus. I’d like to think we not gone be fighting each other while some catastrophe bop our asses one time like they did the dinos. That’s one of the main messages they keep tellin me and it’s hard to refute. I’ll try and continue this update on another day as there’s so much in between and concepts and ideas I wanna share about how to move forward on activism and using art to get our ideas about those movements across. The above images span from months, just small droplets of the cool ass journey I been on just trying to maintain some normalcy while playing my part in not helping oppressors of any kind continue proliferating their systems of domination and subjugation. So this first image is from the week not too long ago when I had 2 honey bees flying in and checking out the altar. Then I left an old jar of honey that still had some and they’d return and eat some for like a good week or so. At one point, this matrix-like moment happens when one of them goes into the jar and makes this cool sound I never heard before. The bee had gone in there before many times and never made that specific sound, it was like a lower frequency conch shell or something. When I checked the time it was like 1:23pm or 1:11pm one of those. I was like..... get Neo!! shit was so cool. This next image is really a culmination of my search to learn more about my Afro-Indigenousness which led me to learn more about my Haitianness and the spirituality and religion. From painting Papa Legba paintings before I even knew him, to giving respects to all types of 21 division spirits and Vodun loa before ever even knowing of them. It was as if each part of these religions was trying to show me how much of them was in me in how intuitively I’d gravitate towards these religions despite being still very devoted to science and scientific literacy worldwide. Idk it’s just been a really cool blending of a lot of things I never thought could come together. I found this moth around the time I was reading and thinking deeply on the creator entity in Vodun and some African religions, Gran Maitrex. I’ve always had an interest in creator stories and beings so when this Golden Moth popped up in the altar (right on the mat I have laid in front of it, facing it, as if it came there to spend its last moments) I was like a little kid. To me it reminds me of those mysteries we’ve yet to discover that can help us in our path to heal ourselves and others if we chose to. The following two are from my walking meditating sessions by the river. They have slightly deeper stories to em about relaxation, overcoming obstacles, predictions I made that day about the sky that I wont get into on here cause it’s exhausting lol. The next image with the wooden branch I brought in from a forest walk is of one of the bees I spoke of flying around the Afro-Indigenx/ Ancient Egypt/ West Africa section of the altar. It did this several times enough for me to note that it liked that particular area. Following non repeating image is of the portrait I did a while back for the Heath Gallery in Harlem on Rein-visioning Brown and Black Bodies in Scifi: Story of 4 Tainx sisters calling for their descendants to help them from the demonic wrath of colonialism. This picture I took when I finally got to take my ass out to jog after a whole day of being a dad. I found a neat tree to try and climb at night and found this beautiful bright green grasshopper right by the branch I picked. Grasshoppers always remind me of giant leaps I could be taking forward. The following image I took during another forest walk when I looked up and saw this cool cross shape juxstapositioned among the trees. Last image I took during the Medieval festival they hold at Fort Tryon every year. It’s where I sold my awesome Medieval chicken paintings (which have now taken place at altar where I give em much love) last year dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi. This year I decided to just enjoy it with bae and did so dressed as Jedi Jesus posing as a Dominican Fryer. More pics on that to come. Just wanted to update yall on the spiritual in case anyone could use these words to benefit em. Yall take care. - Ken

#personal #update #hiatus #dadiatus

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bravemccalll · 5 years

Text

your blood in my veins

| ao3 |

chapter one – a day of birthdays and odd encounters

Hajime wakes up on the morning of his 20th birthday with the heavy sound of a bass thrumming through his apartment.

Now, Hajime may only get paid minimum wage at his part-time job at the small café around the corner from the university he attends, but god damnit if he is not going to write a strongly worded complaint to the owner of his building about his neighbour’s need to blast their club music at 7am.

He gets up and decides that’s just going to get dressed as quickly as possible for his lecture at midday and just find a bench to read on to waste time, but he can feel vibrations rumbling beneath his feet while he’s brushing his teeth and he can’t take it.

He jerks open his front door and knocks on his neighbour’s door, one shoe on and tied, the other still back by his bed, his shirt untucked at the back and unbelievably tired because life has dealt him a shit hand, but he refuses to have ‘inconsiderate neighbours’ be one of his cards, god damnit –

A man opens the door and Hajime opens his mouth to ask him to turn down the music when he realises that there is no music and the landing he’s standing on his silent except for the loud judgement that is emanating from the man in front of him.

“I,” Hajime starts. “Sorry, I thought, uh. Nevermind.”

He turns and goes back into his apartment where only a few minutes ago he could’ve sworn the wooden flooring had a pulse with the way it shook beneath him.

He shakes his head, grabs his other shoe, tucks his shirt in and chalks it up to lack of sleep and heads out for the day.

Not the best start to his birthday but he’s had worse.

(Across the country, Peko exits the club, her pay-check tucked into the pocket of her leather jacket. She checks the time and almost laughs. It’s been her birthday for a whole seven hours and she hadn’t noticed. Figures.

She hums ‘Happy Birthday’ to herself as she walks home, her key tucked between her fingers, just above her knuckles. It’s bright out and she doesn’t think anyone would try anything with the sun’s harsh glare beating down on them, but she doesn’t want to chance it.

She wonders if her mother has anything for her at home and speeds up.)

Chiaki taps her finger on the edge of her laptop and stares at her computer screen. Various windows, all with different codes, stare back at her.

She checks the time. 9:00am. She checks the date. 15th of August. It’s her 20th birthday. And it’s too early to call her grandparents.

She wonders what they’ll do today – her, her grandmother and grandfather. Last year they went to the park and had a picnic while her gran fussed over the bags under her eyes and her grandpa excitedly explained every dish he had made.

They might have a ball this year. She hopes not. The last ball they had for her birthday was when she was eight and she distinctly remembers tripping over the hem of her dress and falling into a punch bowl. Never again.

She sighs and starts to shut down her laptop, saving and double-saving her work before closing the lid. She rises off the cosy armchair she was gifted when she first bought her house and makes a note to get a glass of water before she starts to get ready for the day while she grabs her laptop case.

Just as Chiaki turns to the kitchen, she’s hit with a blind pain, the kind that makes you see white for a moment. She looks down and there are her hands, usually pale with her nails round and smooth, now stained red with her knuckles bust open. One of the bones at the base of her middle finger on her right hand has pierced the skin and she feels the urge to vomit.

She runs to the sink and shoves her hands under the tap, looking around frantically for her phone to get an ambulance over because dear lord bones aren’t meant to do that, are they?

She turns back to the sink just as she remembers her phone is on the armchair and the sink that was once splattered with pink water is now pristine and there are her hands, unblemished if a bit wet.

She blinks and wonders how she could’ve imagined something like that.

Not a great start to her big day. She resolves to not tell her grandparents about this, no matter how much she’d love to get their opinion on it. They’d just worry.

(South of Chiaki’s quiet house, Fuyuhiko on the bed in his dingy hotel room, his belt clenched between his teeth, his right hand a bloody mess but he can’t tell what’s his blood and what’s his associate’s. Associate being a loose term to describe the sneaky asshole who stole fifty grand from his father.

There’s a med kit that’s got bloody finger prints alone the front. A needle and some thread are missing, easily found in Fuyuhiko’s shaky left hand.

The fucker just had to break his right hand, huh.

He takes a deep breath and gets to work. Happy birthday indeed.)

“Hey,” Kazuichi says. “Happy birthday.”

Hajime smiles and lifts a hand to rest on Kazuichi’s shoulder. “Thanks, Kaz. So, did you build a robot to sleep for me?”

“No.”

“You’re a terrible friend and I hate you.”

Kazuichi snorts. “I did buy you a coffee though,” he adds, bringing a hot cup out from where he’d been hiding it behind his back.

“You’re the love of my life,” Hajime replies, very seriously.

Kazuichi wrinkles his nose. “Gross.”

Hajime looks at him, offended. “Excuse you.” He lifts the cup to his mouth and is instantly grateful for the heat. At this point he’s ninety percent sure his bloodstream is entirely made up of caffeine.

“So how was your history lecture?” Kazuichi asks, hopping up to sit on the wall next to him, his legs swinging. Hajime doesn’t know how Kaz is able to make his jeans look as though they’re meant to have those holes in the knees, but he doesn’t question it.

“Fine, I guess. Learned some more about Mary, Queen of Scots but I already knew most of the information.”

“Nerd,” Kazuichi says. Hajime elbows him in the ribs.

“What about you?” Hajime asks in return. He lifts his cup to his mouth as he waits for an answer and almost spits out the liquid because that was definitely not coffee. It tasted like herbal tea which Hajime has sworn off because of an incident involving spilling some of it down his front before his high school prom.

“What?” Kazuichi exclaims, leaning away from Hajime’s disgusted expression.

Hajime forces it down his throat only because there is a nice old lady standing just in front of him, waiting on the same bus as them, and he doesn’t think she’d appreciate being spit on. Besides, they’d need to share a bus together and really, he’s looking out for Future-Hajime who would have to bear the aftermath of that particular action.

“That wasn’t coffee,” Hajime chokes out. “That was herbal tea.”

“What, like from prom?” Kazuichi reaches over and takes the cup from Hajime’s hand and takes a swig himself. “No, that’s coffee. And very strong coffee, just like you need it in order to function.” Kazuichi frowns at him. “Are you ok?”

Hajime takes the cup back and drinks from it again. Coffee. He shakes his head to clear it and forces a smile. “Yeah, I’m just tired. Don’t worry about it.”

(Elsewhere, Fuyuhiko takes a sip of his herbal tea and spit it out a mouthful of what tastes like someone dumped lightly watered coffee beans into his mouth. It goes all over his new book and jolts his broken knuckle.

He is having a lousy fucking day. But now he has a weird urge to re-read his worn book on Scottish History, which is very odd considering he just read it but that’s life he supposes. Broken knuckles, tea that tastes like coffee and re-reading old books.)

Later that night, Peko sits beside her mother’s bed. She has fallen asleep, but she shivers weakly every so often despite the two blankets Peko has laid over her. Her mother is ill, and she feels useless, just as she does every time she comes home, and her mother has been unable to leave her bed on her own the entire time she was gone. It’s bearable when she has night shifts at least, so there are small mercies.

Peko sighs and grinds the heels of her palms into her eyes until there are little black spots in her vision when she pulls them away. She has been up for almost twenty-four hours and her body is starting to feel it. She glances at her mother again. They say it’s a motor neuron disorder, a disorder which leaves her muscles weak and sore. The doctor had told her that there wasn’t a cure and she had put her fist through a wall.

She stands and goes to get another blanket because her mum is cold because the bloody heating is broken, and her piece of shit landlord won’t let it get fixed until Monday when suddenly she isn’t in her small apartment, she’s in a ball room.

There are people milling around her, carrying flutes of champagne, some wearing sweeping gowns that swish and swirl and others are wearing inky black suits with crisp white shirts underneath them.

She looks down and she’s wearing a dress of her own, all baby pink and cute. She feels shorter than usual, even though she lifts the skirt of her dress and she’s wearing high heels.

Someone touches her arm and she jumps but when she turns, she sees a kind face peering down at her. “Are you alright, dear? I did try to tell your grandmother to tone it down a bit, but you know what she’s like,” the old gentleman says, chuckling slightly.

She opens her mouth to reply but she’s back in her mother’s bedroom, all the blankets in her home piled on top of her mother who has stopped shivering. Peko could cry from relief.

(Back at the gala, Chiaki excuses herself and sits on the patio and cries because that sick woman had looked just like her mother had and suddenly she isn’t Chiaki Nanami, 20-year-old coding genius, with her own house and a good career, she’s just nine again, crying under her duvet because her mother is sick and isn’t going to get better, no matter how many stars she wishes on.)

Fuyuhiko lies on his bed and stares at his alarm clock. In two minutes, his birthday will be over, over until next year. He wonders if his father remembers or even cared enough in the first place to make a note of it. Sometimes he likes to think that his mother would have cared but she died too young for him to actually make an informed guess on what their relationship could have been.

He shifts around, trying to find a comfortable position, turns to face away from his clock and comes face to face with a woman.

A very pretty woman. Her eyes are crimson and though he hates the colour, too much of it has stained his skin for him to find a liking for it, he can see the appeal of it now. Her hair is silver and curls lightly over pyjamas which have little Disney logos on them – adorable, he almost snorts.

The woman in his bed is very beautiful. The woman in his bed is cute. There is a woman in his bed.

He jerks back, off his bed and goes to grab the gun under his pillow, wondering if this is some sick joke his uncle is playing on him or if this is going to be the assassination attempt that will finally work because he got distracted by a pretty face but when he aims his gun, he’s pointing it at empty sheets.

He blinks a few times, checks under his bed and in the bathroom but she’s gone. He rubs a hand down his face and begins to pack up all his stuff. He’ll find somewhere else to sleep – someone knew he’s here and already the itch of paranoia ticks inside his skull. Maybe he can steal some of the sheets, the streets would be a lot comfier with them.

(Peko holds her heart and breathes deeply. There had been a man in her bed. A nice-looking man. A dangerous man if the scar above his eye meant anything. And he had been shirtless. Peko feels her face flush and hides the colouring by shoving her face into her pillow. It’s too late at night to be thinking of such things, now is the time for sleep.

(She doesn’t get to sleep for hours, the cold somehow much worse, as though she were outside instead of in her bedroom.))

Hajime climbs into bed after he finally finishes his assessment and submits it, and he checks the time and realises his birthday has been over for a few minutes now.

He rolls out of bed because he forgot to brush his teeth but just as he has the toothpaste on his brush, he sticks it in his mouth and looks into the mirror and a pale girl peers back at him.

She’s very lovely, with blonde hair that brushes the top of her shoulders and pale eyes that blink rapidly if a bit sleepily.

She reaches forward and touches the mirror with her hand. He does the same.

She stares at him and leans forward and mouths, “Who are you?”

Hajime smiles and thinks that this is one of the more entertaining dreams he’s had in a while. “I don’t know,” he mouths back because he doesn’t want to be Hajime right now. He wants to be someone else, someone who looks into his mirror and sees pretty girls instead of his own sorry reflection.

She huffs and looks adorable with her cheeks puffed out. “Shut up,” she says out loud and ducks out of sight just to end their conversation, all because of Hajime’s ability to always be a little shit.

His own reflection returns, and he sighs and finishes brushing his teeth and heads to bed, for real this time.

(Chiaki stands back up, but the boy is gone. He had looked tired but good-looking with olive skin and dark, fluffy hair.

It was as good an end to her birthday that she’s ever gotten, and she falls asleep with a smile on her face that no one sees.)

#hajime hinata #fuyuhiko kuzuryuu #peko pekoyama #chiaki namani #kazuichi souda #sdr2 #danganronpa #sense8 au #your blood in my veins #kuzupeko #hinanami #kuzupeko fic #hinanami fanfiction #hmmmmmmmmmmmm #idk how i feel about this yet #oh well

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jleighwrites · 3 years

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Through the Looking Glass [Unedited]

Quen inspected himself in the glowing mirror, knowing that the reflection was truly his own. He stood at 5 foot 8; a bit short, but he didn't mind. His ochre skin was clear and his hair was cut into a clean blowout. Apparently that was popular back in the 20's. His amber-colored eyes gleamed back at him, tarnished only by the dark circles underneath. Many of his acquaintances had gotten rid of theirs, but he liked how it made him feel human.

When he was finished getting ready for the day, he stepped into the hall and made his way to one of his family's augmented reality chambers, or ARCs for short. When he reached the door, he took out his personal ID and held it in front of a small screen next to the door. It beeped once before flickering to life.

"Quenton Jarod Harris, Junior attending Paulson R. Stewart High. Would you like to begin Classes for the day?" it asked in a robotic voice.

"Yes," he replied.

"Creating Scenario… Connecting to server… Finalizing… Start-up complete. Have a good day, Quenton Harris."

He swung the door open and was met by a bustling school hallway. Dozens of beautiful faces were chatting with each other, walking past each other, and scrambling to finish assignments that should've been done the night before. He let the door creak shut behind him and it disappeared into the wall. He hadn't taken two steps before the robotic voice was back.

"Message received. Sender : Juulia Brewer. Would you like to open the message?" Quen let out a heavy breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He regretted having skipped coffee this morning. The system repeated itself, "Would you like to open the message?"

"Yes."

An opaque, digital, blue message box appeared before him. As he walked, it stayed in the same position, phasing through classmates as he went, but they didn't flinch. To be fair, they couldn't even see it on their side.

Morning!! :DDD

In cafeteria.

Meet there??? uwu

Quen rolled his eyes at the emotes. Juuls had an obsession with "Millennial Texting", as she called it. In fact, she was kind of a nerd for it. She was the only one that had taken an interest in that era. American History classes taught them that the first 30 years of the century were dark times, but somehow Juulia managed to find light in them.

He reached out and pressed the X in the top right corner of the message box, causing it to blink away. "Hey, Google?" he called.

"What can I help with?"

"Teleport me to the Cafeteria."

"Sure. Now teleporting Quenton Harris to the cafeteria."

The noises and sight of the hallway faded into a blue void. Here, it was relaxing. Here, he could breathe easy. And just like that, it was gone. The void transformed into the cafe and the garbled mess of voices was back.

He scanned the faces before him one by one, trying to discern his friend in the sea of Glowing radiance. On the days that he had to use ARC, it was always significantly harder to recognize Juulia. With ever-changing hair colors and styles, vast varieties of makeup, and feature correction, the only way he could tell the difference was when their name appeared in front of them when he met their gaze.

A girl sitting a few tables down stood up and began to wave her arm around; he didn't have to see her to know it was Juuls. Disregarding the built-in recognition program, the greeting was a dead giveaway. She did this almost every morning, whether in person or through ARC.

He made his way through the crowd, literally. Instead of bumping shoulders with people, their holograms simply phased through him. The chamber, however, did produce realistic copies of inanimate objects. He plopped down on the nanobit replica of a bench at his school's lunch table.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Oh. Em. Eff. Gee. You literally took forever, lol," Juulia replied. A couple students around the two of them glanced their direction, giving them odd looks.

"Proximity chat," Quen reminded her. He took a moment to adapt to her new look. He assumed that she had been trying to look like one of those 'E-girls' that she was always on about. With neon pink hair, a beanie, and dark makeup, she looked completely different than she did yesterday.

"Oof. They just don't have good taste. The 20's were so… Lit."

"That's new."

"What? Lit? It just means, like, cool, but better."

"You're so weird."

"Pog."

And with that, the bell rang. Immediately, he was sucked back into the loading void briefly before being spit out into his first class of the day. He took his seat as the teacher appeared in the room. She was beautiful and could pass for 25, though she was actually 20 years older.

"Alright everyone, sit down please. Today, we'll be talking about why we're here. We all know that the early years were just about as bad as they could get. But they had some major influence on how things work in modern day."

Juulia would be bouncing off of the walls if she were here right now. Fortunately, she didn't have this class until after lunch. He was spared of her over-enthusiasm for now.

"Did you know that ARC was developed a few years after the events of the Covid 19 pandemic? It took a while, but when it was released to the public it was an instant success. Can you believe they used to hold classes through video chats on a computer?"

A hand in the back went up. The teacher motioned towards the student, urging her to ask her question. "What's a computer?" It seemed that everyone had been wondering the same thing, Quen included, because they all shifted their vision from the student to the teacher.

The teacher chuckled. "It was a large device that used to be kept on desks before technology was integrated into Glass."

"They only had technology on the 'computer'?" another student asked.

"I mean, they had other forms of technology. They had smart watches, smartphones, smart TVs… But most of their time connected to the internet was spent on a computer or on the smartphone, which is what we now call our Shard."

Quen had to admit, everything about the early 21st century was something else. But where it intrigued Juuls, it brought up a bad taste for him. To him, it was just the beginning of the death of authenticity.

After what felt like hours of droning, the class was finally wrapping up. Google's voice broke him from his thoughts. "Message received. Sender : Crystalinne Harris. Message saved for later."

"I've sent an assignment reminder to all of you. Your homework is a 500 word essay on what 'Facebook' was before it created Glass."

He scoffed at the assignment before the next bell rang, whisking him off to his second class.

When the final bell of the day rang, the low hum enveloping him whirred into silence as ARC powered down. Without the machine running, he stood in a room made up of nanobits. The tiny metal balls made up the walls, floor, ceiling, and even this side of the door. All of them worked to create the illusion of being in an actual school, when in reality, he'd been inside a room no more than 10 feet wide and 10 feet long all day.

He stepped out of the chamber and made his way into the kitchen, where he was met by his mother and father. "How was school today?" She asked. His father pulled a latte from the Keurig and sipped it as he waited for a response.

"It was alright. Just another day," he replied, "Dinner smells good."

"Oh, yeah. They delivered lemon pepper steak and asparagus today. All of our portions are already in the oven."

"That's… Lit," he said, a smug sense of pride flickering within.

"That's funny, son. Haven't heard that since Gran was alive. Get that from, what's her name? Jessica?"

"Juulia. Yeah." His father's beard was getting shaggy, he noticed. Since he had started using Glass, he had been letting it grow out. Seemingly, it didn't bother him much any more. His father had been adamant about leaving Glass alone for most of his life and had taught him to do the same, but when Grey hairs began to appear, he decided to finally give in.

Honestly, he wasn't surprised. Glass was wildly popular internationally. It had originally been bought out by the American government in 2040, probably for facial tracking, and integrated into every single building since then. It was everywhere. He and his dad were two of only six or seven people that he knew of that didn't use it. But now, he couldn't even say that.

After dinner, he had decided to take a hot shower. The water on his skin felt nice and he let the steam relax his muscles. When he finished, he dried off and wrapped his towel around his waist. Stepping in front of the mirror, a pleasant chime sounded.

"Glass activated," a voice with a programmed British accent sounded through the surrounding speakers. The edges of the mirror lit with a white backlight and menus appeared on the screen in glowing, white letters. A box formed around his face, his name appearing above it. "User : Quenton Harris detected. Set nickname : Quen."

He began to comb his hair into place when the voice rang out, "Quen, would you like to use the Autofix function?" A white bar highlighted the "Autofix" option on the menu.

"No," He replied sternly.

He finished with his hair and quickly brushed his teeth. When he smiled so that he could check them, the voice came again, "Light enamel stains detected. Would you like to use the Autofix function?"

"No."

It was irritating to hear it trying to coerce him into using it, knowing that it used that method to get so many people addicted to it. He simply shook his head. That's how it starts. A quick fix here, a minor upgrade there…

He pulled on a sleep shirt and some sweatpants, tossed his towel into the laundry chute, and headed for his room. He needed to write his essay and get some rest for the next day. It would be Tuesday, which meant live classes.

Quen's alarm beeped, rousing him from his slumber. He sat up in bed and stretched, before lowering himself to the floor. "1, 2, 3, 4…" he counted the sit-ups in his head as he started his quick morning workout routine. He had always been physically active. Staying healthy had been a big goal for him. The way things were now, even with the best Healthcare, people hardly ever made it past their 50's. He wouldn't let himself be a victim of the system.

50 sit-ups, crunches, and push ups later, he stood up. Began getting dressed for the day. A white button up and a tie, he wanted to look nice. Of course, Glass attempted to goad him into Autofixing himself, and just like every other day, he had none of it.

Finally, he felt confident. He was ready for the day. He grabbed his backpack from the back of his desk chair after ensuring that his report on Facebook was packed. Since he was heading out of the house, he also snagged his Shard from the charging pad and shoved it into the pocket of his black jeans.

He strode down his driveway and stopped next to his mailbox. After a few minutes, a large, white bus with no windows arrived. He climbed in and heard a chime over the bus' speakers. The British voice spoke, "Quenton Harris has boarded."

He made his way to an empty seat and plopped down. The first thing he noticed, like always, was the smell. An amalgam of body odors swirled around the cramped space, making him sick to his stomach.

Inside the bus, you could see the surroundings on the installed Glass screens, almost like windows. He turned his focus to the passing buildings as he tried to block out the horrendous scent surrounding him. He was one of the last stops, so he wouldn't have to endure it for very long. He slid his Shard out of his pocket and began to read the day's headlines. The war overseas was still raging on, as expected. The weekly universal paycheck rate was 31 dollars more than the last. And another round of the Meta-Vaccine was going to be made available before fall, hopefully to prevent as many infections as possible.

The bus rolled to a stop in front of the real Paulson R. Stewart High. When the doors creaked open, the automated voice announced that it was time to evacuate. He passed by the empty driver's seat and stepped out onto the curb, letting fresh air flow into his lungs. For the first time since last Thursday, he smiled.

Quen enjoyed the few moments he had in the outdoors as he strode to the entrance. Biding his time, he held the door open for other students. Unfortunately, he knew he had to go in.

He stepped into the real hallway, which looked almost exactly the same as it did in the ARC replica. There were three main differences. First, the smell. Just like on the bus, it was everywhere. It absorbed every crevice, every corner. It was disgusting. As much as it bothered him, no one else seemed to mind.

Second, the students he saw today were nothing like the ones that had been in his simulation yesterday. Where beautiful faces surrounded him before, he was now engulfed in a sea of low effort. Hair was frizzy, tangled, and out of place. Clothes were wrinkled and stained. And the worst, it was obvious that most of his classmates didn't take care of themselves. They were supposed to reach the peak of their physicality at ages 16 through 18. If this is what "peak" looked like, he understood why the average life expectancy was decreasing.

Third, Glass was everywhere. It made up all of the windows, all of the mirrors, and even lined the walls in some places. It kept track of each student as they navigated the hallways. The 'Assistant' feature was turned off, which meant no obnoxious voice trying to pressure him into anything, but it still worked it's magic in the reflections. Each user's Autofix settings synced up with every Glass that was linked to the system, which was - legally - all of them.

It disgusted him, the way people walked around, acting all high and mighty. Just because they never had to see their true selves didn't mean that no one would. The problem was, they didn't care. After graduation, They would be assigned a home, a mate, and a job. And after that, the only ones that would have to see them would be their direct family. All other interactions would be carried out in ARC, which had a partnership with Glass.

These moments, here, in Paulson R. Stewart High, were the last bits of his fleeting reality. Someone bumped into his shoulder, causing him to stumble out of the way. A bigger guy wearing a pair of eyeGlass gave him a strange look. "Sorry, man. Hard to tell the days apart," his apology sounded genuine, "Your fix looks nice."

"Don't worry about it. And thanks, but it's not an Autofix," Quen replied. The guy chuckled for a moment before tilting his head down to peek over his eyeGlass.

"No kidding. Well, good for you, man. Between you and me, they really need to get it together," he said, looking over the crowd. He shifted his gaze back to Quen, "Compared to us, they look pretty rough."

The sad thing was, he probably hadn't seen his true self in years. "Yeah, man. Well, see you around." Quen left him behind and began walking towards the cafeteria. There was only one person he wanted to talk to.

An arm linked through his, and through a haze of vanilla scented perfume, a familiar voice chimed, "Bruh, you got here earlier than me today. That's wack." He didn't have to look to know who it was. When he turned to her, he was engulfed by her radiance. She was authentic. She was real.

#short story #sci fi #writing #fiction #technology #future #Spotify

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