《Hustling Through the Dark》Vlog #11
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"Hello, worlds.
"We're now a twentieth of an AU from Earth, and Pumpkin is purring right along.
"I've been spending a lot of the last day talking with both the old and the new Fazzes, and a few other people. Turns out that the organic Faz didn't quite fill out all the proper paperwork, and she's looking at a civil fine or two. The digital Faz is in the clear, after the organic Faz had claimed all the details were taken care of, so her software self had no mens rea of doing anything wrong. We're far enough from Insulo Tri that it's not really possible for the original Faz to remote-control her - though she does want to use up a lot of my bandwidth sending personal updates to her robotic twin. So I've been trying to get to know the new Faz as a distinct person.
"It's... okay, it's downright weird. The original Faz has done the lifelogging thing since before she was born; she's been recording video of what's going on around her her whole life, with various digital gizmos. And all of that went into the new Faz, as memories. And she acts like Faz, has Faz's opinions, and so on... but the original Faz is deeply committed to being a fully-organic being, even if that organicness happens to be shaped like livestock instead of a baseline human; and the new Faz is very excited to explore what life as a digital person can be like. In fact, Faz is currently housed in my tailsnake's computer, and insisted I make today's vlog while she's embodied as said tailsnake."
"Hi, everybody! I always knew, but never really knew, that Dee looked at things differently, with a computer brain and a living body. I'm going to find so many ways to embarrass her - privately. Mostly. And we're going to be private! Nobody else will get to know a single thing we do aboard this ship unless we want them to. Isn't that wild?"
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"So... looks like I'm not going to get out of life being confusing and complicated and interesting. And that's just with the new Faz - I've already had at least three arguments with the original Faz about how much money she dropped on this project. Without getting into details, I'll just say that the two of us have very different conceptions about the marginal value of a given number of euros, I wish she'd spent the money differently, but now that it's been spent we're just going to deal with that spending having been done."
"You won't see me complaining about the purchase. After all, if I hadn't paid for me, I wouldn't exist."
"And I think Faz is being silly with pronouns just to try to get my eye to start twitching."
"Hey, I have to get my fun where I can. Do you want me to start dropping hints that you have an actual secret that you've managed to keep from everyone?"
"I can still turn around and leave you behind, and only lose two days of travel time, you know."
"Ah, we both know you won't do that. Cee would pitch a fit if you didn't at least keep an offline copy of me aboard."
"You know, for a year I planned to spend all by myself, a lot of people are still sticking their oars in."
"It's your own fault. You could have lived in a virtual paradise, and had centuries of hedonism in an instant, but no, you had to stick with the human race and get a job and make friends and all that junk."
"Mm. I suppose if I'm not going to toss you out the airlock, I should at least finish applying all the optional upgrades to your body, for when you want to move around on your own again. And set up the biofabricator for its various realism-enhancing goops. And reprogram the clothes fabber to at least make you a hazmat suit for emergencies, even if you don't need a vaccsuit. And start discussing with you how to split up the hobby space, for whatever you get up to these days besides focusing your attention on me. I mean, with this you being an AI, can you still play the piano?"
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"Pia-? I'm a trombonist, as you very well know."
"Oh, good, you are actually paying attention. You still haven't told me if you still plan on a job programming like the other you does, or you're going to branch out in a different direction, or what. I mean, with your body having been paid for, you don't really need to work hard to cover rent, or any of the other expenses your other you's been covering, so you-you have a lot of options available."
"Well, I always have wanted to be... a lumberjack! Leaping from tree to tree! As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia, with my best girl by my side!"
"You know the two of us are probably the only ones who'll get that reference, right?"
"Yep. But the two of us do get it. And you're underestimating how many people have their assistant AIs throw up context details in AR. Hey, how about we put on Grail? I want to see if watching it as an AI feels like how I remember watching it with meat-for-brains, when you showed it to me the first time, and I made fun of you for being English when the French so obviously won."
"Sounds like a plan to me, though if you derail the show at the Castle Anthrax scene again, I can still build a catapult to launch you back home, even if you're not as big as a cow. And I'm going to pop you back in your body, first; I know you're going to want to clop along with the coconuts, and don't want you to give me a tail-headache by headbanging with my tail. ... And given that that sentence made complete sense to me, I just might have to double-check with Cee that I'm actually still sane. Until next time, world!"
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Touch
Touch is a story about a boy named James, and his friends: a group of young, superpowered people brought together by trauma; all trying, in their own ways, to come to terms with what that trauma means to them and who they want to be in response to it. This is a learning process, and mistakes are made, but they grow, learn, and adapt to these difficulties in ways that some might say only young people can. While it may look it at first, this is not intended as a sad story, merely an honest one. I wanted to make the characters human, and unfortunately, that means that difficulties hit them in very real ways through the story, but then again, they have some equally human moments of warmth between one another as they grow. Triggers: Explores the aftereffects and recovery process of sexual abuse, and some other forms of physical abuse. I like to think I avoided making it edgy, but you deserve to be informed. Some readers have told me that it can feel a bit too real at times. A bit too honest. If you like what you read, feel free to comment or review. I like the feedback. Or you can vote for Touch on TopWebFiction. Touch also now has both a Discord and a Patreon! Updates weekly.
8 310Aeromancer
Seti Tutt, a recent graduate of the university, was too weak as a wind adept to become anything amazing with his abilities. However, his sight was stolen and now has to learn how to see with his wind, ultimately landing him as a student at Prestige Academy where enemies abound.Release Schedule Almost-weekly every Monday.The almost part of it just means I'll skip an update after several releases to catch up on the writing. Story cover was commissioned by me.
8 117Next Life: Awakening
Welcome to Novus! Where the only limit, is that of your imagination! Upon the decimation of the earths surface due to nuclear war. What was left of humanity was forced deep within the Earths crust, far from the deadly radiation. The human life has been reduced to a virtual reality paradise, that is, SO vivid and realistic that it feel as though you are REALLY living! Explore a vast landscape populated with countless species and structures designed by our very own pilots! In Novus, you can find adventure, danger, or even love. So make the best out of your new life in that stasis chamber and try your luck in the world of Novus! Where the only limit is your imagination! Good luck!
8 158Backtoliving
Four years after the breakup, what if Shannon and Cammie were not a dead end story?Will spending holidays together help them to reconect?
8 112oh robin
your Steve's sister and your first day working at family video isn't going so great. Soon after you arrive a girl around your age stumbles in, "late again, really what is that the 3rd time this week?! " your brother jokingly yells as going to hug the girl. you find her interesting and try to get closer soon finding out something even more interesting. female reader tw!! mention of abuse and sa let me know any suggestions/requests this is my first story
8 163Haiku
A collection of haiku.Note 1: all of the haiku posted are mine, please don't share them anywhere else without my permission and proper credits. If you want to share them anywhere else, please DM me about it. Note 2: if you see any mistake, be it a spelling/grammar/syntax/ error or a haiku that isn't 5-7-5, please just let it slide. This book is years old - there is no need to point a mistake out as I do not intend to fix any of them. Note 3: this book was written when I was around 13 or so. Obviously, the haiku will reflect the writing skills of a 13-year-old. So, if you choose to defame me over that, your comments will be deleted or reported when necessary.
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