update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
parent
81072e88a8
commit
0db168dce9
|
|
@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
|
|||
</header>
|
||||
<article class="content">
|
||||
<p>“If you had to boil down this year into a sales pitch, what would it be?”</p>
|
||||
<p>I laughed and bump my shoulder against Hanne’s. “A sales pitch?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yeah,” she said, leaning briefly against me as we walk. “I’m in the market for a new year. Sell me the 2399 model. I’ve got a wide variety to choose from, so tell me why you decided to live through this one.”</p>
|
||||
<p>I laughed and bumped my shoulder against Hanne’s. “A sales pitch?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yeah,” she said, leaning briefly against me as we walked. “I’m in the market for a new year. Sell me the 2399 model. I’ve got a wide variety to choose from, so tell me why you decided to live through this one.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“You’re a nerd. You realize that, right?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Tell me why I should be a nerd in the year 275. Next year we can decide on 276.“</p>
|
||||
<p>I scuffed my heel against the pavement of the street. New Year’s Eve, and everyone was still inside. Bars: full. Restaurants: packed. There were a few scattered couples or groups around, but they were all walking with purpose. Champagne called. Canapes. Crudites.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -34,12 +34,12 @@
|
|||
<p>“How about, uh… Features? Amenities?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Well, it’s got us in it, doesn’t it?”</p>
|
||||
<p>She snorted and shoved me away from her. “Now who’s the nerd? Gross.”</p>
|
||||
<p>I stumbled to the side, laughing. Our own champagne from earlier added a pleasant freedom of movement I only ever notice at two drinks. Any more and I become too loose and have a hard time staying upright. Any less and I don’t notice that any freedom was lacking.</p>
|
||||
<p>I stumbled to the side, laughing. Our own champagne from earlier added a pleasant freedom of movement I only ever notice at two drinks. Any more and I become too loose and have a hard time staying upright. Any less and I don’t notice that any freedom had been lacking.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Is that so bad?” I asked. “Alternatively: am I not allowed to be a bit maudlin? It’s fucking New Year’s, Hanne.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“‘Maudlin’? Is that even the right word?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“What? Uh…” I hunted down a dictionary on the exchange, prowled through it. “Oh. Mawkish, that’s the one. Or saccharine, maybe? I don’t know. Maudlin still kind of works, doesn’t it?”</p>
|
||||
<p>She tilted her head at me.</p>
|
||||
<p>“”Extremely sentimental,” it says. Pretty sure that fits.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“‘Extremely sentimental’, it says. Pretty sure that fits.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Hanne rolled her eyes, grinning. “Okay, yeah, that fits you to a tee.”</p>
|
||||
<p>We walked in silence for a few minutes. I tallied the occupants of the various restaurants along the way, making note of the busiest to check out on some less-busy night. Good date spots, perhaps.</p>
|
||||
<p>“What was it like when you uploaded?”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“I hear you on the hot as hell part. We couldn’t afford moving south when it got too bad, so we moved up into the mountains. It helped a little bit, at least.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“When was that?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“2320 something. I don’t remember. I think I was under ten, at least.”</p>
|
||||
<p>I nodded. “I guess that’s what I mean by sheltered. We were already up in Newfoundland. Summers sucked, winters sucked, but it was alright between them.”</p>
|
||||
<p>I nodded. “I guess that’s what I mean by sheltered. We were already up in Newfoundland. Summers sucked, winters sucked, but it was alright between them. It was worse when we lived in New York.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Autumn or spring?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Huh?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Pick one, dummy,” she said, laughing.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -73,16 +73,18 @@
|
|||
<p>The shadow of her shoulders relaxed again in the dark of the night. “Even after so long?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yeah. Like I said, we internalized it pretty hard, even as they tried to diversify later on. I headed back trans, Lily headed back feminine, and Cress embodies the negation.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Is that why you forked, too?”</p>
|
||||
<p>I grinned. “I forked for fun. Even if it’s still a tender spot, I think I’m still way more relaxed than they are. There may be a bit of that in Tule, I guess. He’s still pretty happy being a guy — he’s the only one out of all of us, come to think of it. Rush is as ve is of ver own choice, though.”</p>
|
||||
<p>I grinned. “I forked for fun. Even if it’s still a tender spot, I think I’m still way more relaxed than they are. There may be a bit of that in Tule, I guess. He’s still pretty happy being a guy — he’s the only one out of all of us, come to think of it. Rush is as ve is of vis own choice, though.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Hanne looped her arm through mine. “Well, I still like you as you are.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“What, trans?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“No, a huge nerd.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Of course.” I bumped my shoulder to hers. “Why’d you upload, then?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“The weather. The money. All the same stuff the government told us. Same as most people, I think. I internalized that as much as Marsh did the whole gender thing.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Was the WF still on its conservative swing?”</p>
|
||||
<!-- Check with Nat -->
|
||||
|
||||
<p>“The Republic of Argentina wasn’t part of the Western Federation.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Oh, right. I guess I knew that.”</p>
|
||||
<p>She shrugged. “Sure. But either way, they were somewhere in the middle, maybe. There was this big push from the liberal side on the climate, and this big push on the conservative side on the financial side. They said they could cut costs on services if there were fewer of us. Dad was with them, mom was with the libs. It was one of the few things they could agree on. They said they’d miss me, but they weren’t exactly sad when I went the Ansible.”</p>
|
||||
<p>She shrugged. “Sure. But either way, they were somewhere in the middle, maybe. There was this big push from the liberal side on the climate, and this big push by the conservatives on the financial side. They said they could cut costs on services if there were fewer of us. Dad was with them, mom was with the libs. It was one of the few things they could agree on. They said they’d miss me, but they weren’t exactly sad when I went the Ansible.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“‘Went the Ansible’? Is that what you called it?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“‘Uploading’ sounds so sterile,” she said, nodding. “‘Went the Ansible’ just made it sound like moving away from home.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Well, I’m glad you went the Ansible, then.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -90,7 +92,7 @@
|
|||
<p>I laughed. “Got it in one.”</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2023-08-11</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2024-03-25</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue