june-maslow

[june-maslow]

June made a face as Zara mentioned her 'selective hearing'. It wasn't surprising to hear her say something like that. They'd been friends long enough for the hacker to know how Zara could tune out stuff from time to time. But at least she'd gotten her attention with the whole Kishan situation, even though June considered it was too late. “I know it's Kishan we're talking about. I know he was our friend, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a threat to us now, even if it's against his will”. Because the problem was, he'd most likely lost any will that was left thanks to GAIA. “We can examine his code, but even that won't be a certainty. We only see what GAIA lets us see. But it's basic computing, Zara. GAIA's influence is like a computer virus, spreading from host to host, infecting the system and continually replicating itself as it goes. We know for sure it controls the whole Grid, so it's theoretically sound to assume it controls Kishan and Sera”. They only reason each of them; June, Bas, Maya, weren't infected as they went in was because their avatars weren't consistently available to GAIA. They all plugged in and out, as users they were shielded in a way.

“I don't want to hurt Kishan, Zara, or what is left of him. But I don't want to be the reason GAIA continues to cause harm. It has already shown us it has a way to reach outside too,” she murmured. And who knew what else it could do out here in the realm world if they didn't work to keep stopping its spreading?

The hacker looked at her friend then, raising her eyebrows. Frankly, she hadn't expected an apology from Zara. Too much time had passed, and June continued to operate with her life's motto. Everyone leaves. She didn't resent Zara for stepping away for as long as she did, though. Surprisingly. June was known for holding grudges, but in Zara's case she didn't. She understood there was a lot of shit her friend had been dealing with in terms of her family and her substance addiction, all of that added to the fact that she'd been putting all her efforts into her career as a musician. So yeah, she hadn't expected an apology because it had been justified in many ways that Zara had left. “I know,” the hacker said, aware that the timing had not been right for her friend to keep committing to the Grid as she once did. “It's okay,” she said, and she really meant it. It had been rough dealing with it mostly on her own. But that was the thing. At least she hadn't been entirely alone.

“I know it's not easy to think about just deleting Kishan's consciousness. But we have to think clearly here, not be sentimental about it,” she began, speaking slowly and serenely, because she knew Zara had been much closer to Kishan than she had been. “If it comes down to preserving him at the expense of GAIA fucking things up, or deleting him because that can help put a break on the damage that AI can do to us all, the choice is obvious, Zara,” she answered, sounding as serious and composed as possible. Saying things like this was why she was often labeled as the cold-hearted bitch of the group. But none of this was said flippantly, she had spent hours thinking about it already, and understood the weight of either choice. It was just a matter of considering the greatest good and the greatest evil of both options.

The expression on June’s face does little to hide her annoyance, which Zara finds amusing. Her brow raises as she chuckles, letting out a puff of smoke from her vape pen in the opposite direction of June. “I pay attention,” Zara counters with a wave of her hand, “I just have what my family likes to call, ‘selective hearing.’” Meaning, Zara could hear everything people told her; she just chose to tune out what she didn’t deem important in the moment. And at least at that moment in time, G.A.I.A. had been of little to no importance to her. Zara stiffens at the mention of G.A.I.A. possibly having control over Kishan. Could that really happen? “I get what you and Sebastian are saying, and I see the logic behind it, I do,” she sighs, shaking her head when their eyes finally meet, “but this is Kishan we’re talking about, June. Programming or not, we have to be sure. Is there any way of knowing for certain he’s been turned?” 

If Zara were honest, she didn’t really grasp the severity of the issue until Javier sat down and explained it to her, the best he could, and told her she should really talk to June. That’s a first…The truth is, Zara’s been the avoidant one with this. She put off understanding the whole thing, and…she put off being there for her friend, because she’s scared. She’s scared things are getting way, way more out of hand than any of them could have imagined; and all of this was just supposed to be some fun side thing they all did that brought them closer together. They all had their initial reasons for entering The Grid, but several years have gone by now. The group has changed; all of them have, in different ways. Hell, Zara’s fucking married to Javier now, and that’s way different from where they began. 

She taps a finger against the straw of her Coke, fiddling with it while she thinks nervously to herself. Yeah…Sebastian has been the only one around, hasn’t he? For some reason that just feels a little too convenient for Zara. She’s distrustful at heart, and protective of her people. She’s also jealous….and just June trusts him, that doesn’t mean she has to. Keeping an eye on him so he doesn’t hurt her friend, or the rest of them, can’t hurt…Besides, it’s not like she and Reyes are ‘best friends,’ or even close, for that matter. Maybe that’s partly on Zara for being so distant, but there’s something about him that just doesn’t sit right with her; like he’s hiding something. She snorts, “yeah well, I don’t know computers like that asshole nerd does, but I do know Kishan. Maybe not in the same way, but still…” Fuck. She owes June an apology for completely disappearing on her, and she knows it. Even if life got in the way, June still found ways to show up for Zara. Hell, she still showed up as a bridesmaid come time for Zara’s wedding, and put up with the planning aspect of things. “Look I’m, uh…sorry, that I basically abandoned you after things got pretty bad with The Grid, and G.A.I.A. I wasn’t trying to, the timing of it just- I…it doesn’t matter. Regardless, I’m sorry, June. I should have been there for you like you were for me, and that’s that,” Zara admits, still looking down at her straw as she speaks. “But I dunno, dude, this…I just…I know I haven’t been there, but I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me to just label him as corrupt, and compromised, and leave it at that. Delete. Like…no,” she shakes her head before continuing. “We already lost him out here, June, and couldn’t do anything about it. Maybe in there, we can do something to help him. Because I’m not losing him again, and this time to fucking computer program. Fuck her. I’ll fight to keep him in any way I can this go around.” No more wasting time. She already did enough of that when she avoided The Grid because of the Kishan copy. That's the last version of her friend in there, and he needs her help now more than ever. “Hell, I’ll make you and Reyes teach me about computers just for this if I have to. Because Kishan is worth saving. Computer program glitch, or humanoid, he’s worth it.”

[june-maslow]

June scrunched her nose and shook her head, scoffing at the idea of finding some lost calling in the realm of weddings. It was so entirely opposite to her personality and any of her interests, which of course, was what made Sebastian's teasing remark amusing. The hacker was so sure he'd have another little joke at her expense, which she could reply to with a light-hearted jab or her own. It was what they often did. Instead, he ended up asking her a rather serious question. Not that the question was necessarily serious per se, but the way in which he asked it.

She looked up at him, taken off guard. Her mouth opened but she didn't say anything, still not quite sure how to respond. Funnily enough, the first thing she thought about saying was to ask him if he was okay, because June got a sense there was something going on. Some underlying worry, maybe, some deeper doubt sinking inside of him. “I haven't really thought about it,” she ended up saying after a moment. She brushed her hands against her upper arms, considering more and more Sebastian's question. Everyone left. June hadn't had a chance to consider marriage before because there had never been anyone to consider marriage with. “I don't know. I don't think so... I mean, I haven't been with- Or, I haven't met anyone that's made me consider that properly”.

June studied Sebastian's expression, trying to find answers in what he wasn't saying outright. “Have you and May considered it?” she asked in a soft tone. She didn't want to be invasive with her question, but she felt that they had this little safe space he'd suddenly built with his question, and that it was okay for her to ask something like that.

Her mind sometimes fixated on certain things. It was a positive trait to have as a hacker, really, because it allowed her to work hours on end of lines and lines of code. With people, however, that meant that sometimes she focused too much on things they said. Sebastian casually told her she cleaned up nice and suddenly June was too aware of the dress she had on, how she wore her hear, how she did her makeup. Beauty wasn't relevant, she'd always told herself, coming from a place of fearing she wasn't beautiful. Did Sebastian think she looked beautiful, though? And for fuck's sake, why did it matter to her? But of course, June knew why it mattered to her. She'd known for a while. “And look at you. Who knew you could rock a suit? No one would suspect you spend your days cooped up writing code with me and fighting off a twisted AI,” she replied with a little smirk, attempting to be a bit light-hearted with him again.

The DJ then began calling for the bridesmaids and the single ladies to the floor, aptly playing that Beyonce's song. June tensed for a moment and groaned softly. “God, I hate weddings,” she half-joked as she nudged by Sebastian. Soon enough Elena found her, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the center of the dance floor with the other group of women. It was ridiculous, and somewhat fun despite how cringey June thought this damn tradition was. Zara teased them all, play-acting that she was throwing her bouquet without actually doing it. Then, she finally did, and the bouquet flew as the women on the dance floor let out laughs and yelps. June had barely moved her arms, and somehow the bouquet ended up right in her hands. There was a lot of clapping and the hacker just raised the bouquet playfully, leaning just a little into the moment, even if she rolled her eyes.

When she turned to look at Sebastian, he was looking in her direction already.

“Ah, you’ve always been good at organizing,” Bas said with a short laugh. “Before you know it, other people in the group will ask you to help organize their weddings. Hey, maybe if the whole computer coding thing doesn’t work out, you can be a bridesmaid for hire.” He glanced down at the thought of someone else asking June to be their bridesmaid. That someone being May. She wasn’t at the wedding today, saying she’d come down with something and didn’t want to pass it on to any of his friends. He knew she probably felt awful, but he knew it wasn’t because of a cold or whatever. They’d left things off on a sour note before he got ready for the wedding. Apparently Javier and Zara brought up a lot of things for May especially since she and Bas were planning on moving in together. But now she didn’t seem so eager after their fight about marriage and the future.

As much as Sebastian loved May, he had begun to feel a distance between them. They both did. She was his first serious relationship and he hated the idea of ruining a good thing. They were the textbook example of a normal couple. Like Javier and Zara. They worked. They were attracted to each other. They were compatible. They knew how to enjoy time together and apart. But Sebastian was feeling a weight on his shoulders as they got closer to their move in date. He turned his head to look at June. Even though she had heels on, he was still taller than her and had to look down slightly. “Have you ever thought about whether you’d get married or not?” He didn’t know why he asked June that. It wasn’t like they had that kind of relationship…talking about marriage. He wasn’t even sure about his own answer and whether he’d actually want to settle down and be legally tied to a person. But he was curious to know June’s answer. Maybe it’d help him sort out his own dilemma with May.

Sebastian cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink. That was a weird question to bring up to June. He shouldn’t have asked it but he couldn’t take it back now. He gave her a smile to show her everything was okay. It was just curiosity. That was why he was asking. Friends asked that sort of thing. It was perfectly normal. Don’t make it weird.“Yeah, I am enjoying myself. It’s always nice to see two people in love and…yeah. What about you? Enjoying yourself? You clean up nice,” he said, motioning towards her dress. And you made it weird. Good job. The music stopped and the DJ spoke with the microphone. “Alright, alright, everyone! Before we do the bouquet toss, let’s get the maid of honor, the bridesmaids, and all the single ladies out on the dance floor with a handsome lad…or pretty lady, whichever you prefer. Let’s get you warmed up so you can all fight each other for this lovely bouquet!”

Sebastian stared at the DJ and then back at June. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “I think that’s your cue,” he told her, nudging her forward.

[june-maslow]

when the slow burn burns too slow

[june-maslow]

Intimacy is about safety. The peace you feel in someone’s presence. The ease in their voice when you disagree. Someone’s attentiveness when you are struggling. Their language when they speak about you, someone’s curiosity to learn you and the surrender when it comes to you.

[june-maslow]

June just tilted her head a bit to the side, giving her friend a deadpan look that gave away a subtle hint of annoyance. “What's the fucking point if you don't pay attention?” she said with an exasperated tone, fingers tapping on the bar counter. Just like her friend, the hacker was only nursing a soda rather than a beer. Zara hadn't asked her or anything, but knowing how she struggled with substances, June tried to not drink alcohol in front of her friend.

June rolled her lips and shook her head. She moved on her stool to be fully facing her friend, her expression both serious and a little annoyed. She never was truly annoyed at Zara, it was just part of who the hacker was and her common demeanor. “It's really not that complicated. We all know Kishan is a program inside the brainchild of Jonas' mom, but even Jonas himself has admitted the Grid was both evolved and corrupted by GAIA beyond anything his mom created,” she said, lowering her voice enough that the music playing would drown out what she said to anyone else who wasn't sitting by her side like Zara was. She didn't want to sound like a lunatic discussing this in public. “The Grid is controlled by GAIA, ergo, everything in it is controlled by it to some extent. We can't trust Kishan or Sera, simple as that. They've been helpful in the past, yes, but can't overlook that it might have been part of GAIA's strategy, that there is something at their core that is a part of that AI”.

June reached for her soda and took a sip, giving Zara a sideways glance. “He's not taking up my time, he's the only one who helped me for a long time,” she countered. Elena and Sal had popped in from time to time, Jonas continued to be their annoyingly diplomatic guy in the chair, and Jack and Maya also made their appearances. None of them actually helped, though. Not for so long. They went in, had their fun, or pretended to care while their schedules allowed it, and then disappeared. “So there isn't much to explain. He's good with code, we can actually work together and not kill each other in the process, and I trust him”. Another sip. “He has some insight into Kishan than none of us had, back from when they were friends and worked together. Part of the corrupted code we found in the Grid was Kishan's, you know? GAIA got it from him somehow, it has access to Kishan's uploaded subconscious because he's in there. Whether we like it or not, he's compromised, Zara”.

“Alright,” Zara starts, swiveling on her barstool with a Coke in hand. She’s been sober almost three full years now, and yet it still feels weird to sit in a bar with her friend, no alcohol in hand, but a soda instead. Crazy, crazy, crazy. But she likes the atmosphere of a bar; they’re good for dancing and having a good time. And somehow, she’s always able to convince June to come out to these things if there’s good live music, drinks, and a back patio for when the inside is too fucking much for her. That’s where they are now, actually. Huddled up in some wooden pillared booth adjacent to the bar, who’s music can be heard every time the door to the inside opens and closes.

“Explain the situation with Sebastian, Kishan, The Grid, and the group to me again? Because I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even really listening the first couple of times you told me last…” Zara admits with a grimace, ducking when it looks like her friend wants to slap her. “Hey, can you blame me?! I got married a year ago, and was on tour with a band for the other half of that year, so, you know…I was busy. My mind wasn’t in it,” she shrugs. Could she be blamed? Not really. Getting married, going on a European honeymoon, and then touring the greater part of North America with a very popular band, definitely qualifies for absentee parent vibes when it comes to Zara’s knowledge of The Grid…and anything else that isn’t music, and Javier...“Also explain Sebastian. Explain to me everything about Sebastian, because that’s all who’s been taking up your time lately.” They have a lot to catch up on tonight.

@june-maslow

[june-maslow]

Members of the Grid group were around, some of whom June hadn't spoken to in a while. Teamwork had never been her strong suit, and when she'd become the last person to still care, she'd handled things her way without asking too many questions. The hacker had only enlisted the help of the one person she seemed to be able to rely on without question and just continued to do her thing. Inevitably, those who gravitated back to the Grid every now and then would disagree with the way she ran things. So yeah, she'd not been on speaking terms with a few. Yet, she had to admit that it was nice to see them here, having a good time. It was so goddamn cheesy that it had been a wedding that brought the scattered members of the group back in one place.

“It was interesting, and sort of ridiculous,” June stated with a half smirk. Zara hadn't gone full bridezilla during the wedding preparations, but specificity was indeed something that mattered in these sorts of events. Getting things right meant something. “Apparently I'm good at organizing,” she mused, because yes, she did have a sort of mind that could plan and execute, “which makes me a good bridesmaid. But I'm shit at communicating things tactfully,” she finished with a shrug, because what was new? “So maybe I wasn't the best person to be in charge of dresses and flower arrangements. But hey, it got all done in time, following Zara's wishes, so I might have found my secret calling”.

Jokes aside, June's expression became softer than it usually was. Seeing Zara get married was like seeing a sister get married. The whole thing was a whole lot more meaningful than her brother's wedding. Zara had chosen her to be someone who mattered in her life and June had chosen her in return. In a way, she had chosen Sebastian too, against all odds, despite all the ways in which the two of them pushed people away as far as they could. And here they were, standing by each other's side, not only in the literal sense. “Are you having a good time?”

june-maslow​:

@elcucuy-reyes​

Well, holy shit, who would have thought that two people who used to hate each other’s guts would really end up together? Though June had to admit she’d been pleasantly surprised when Zara told her Javier had proposed little after their third anniversary. Perhaps the hacker would never truly see to eye with him, but at the very least she knew Javier was totally and irrevocably in love with her dear friend. That was enough. Zara deserved that happiness and that stability after all the shit she went through with her family, especially with her dad… In between the work June kept doing regarding The Grid and her job at Turing, she found some time to help Zara with some of the planning. Luckily neither the groom nor the bride wanted a big wedding, only a small ceremony with close friends and family. And here they were now. 

June watched with a smile as the couple exchanged their vows and Javier’s brother, Ricardo, officiated the ceremony. One of her best friends was a wife now. It was so odd to think about it, especially when she felt so far removed from anything related to that life. Marriage wasn’t even something she considered; she always drove people away, people always left. “This is so weird,” she said, glancing over at Sebastian, “Good weird. But still weird”. Fortunately, a few members of what remained of their little gang were invited, otherwise June’s anxious and taciturn self when it came to big social events would have probably left little after the ‘I do’.

Sebastian didn’t know Zara and Javier nearly as well as he knew June and he was quite frankly surprised that they invited him to their wedding. It took him a minute to process it when he received the invitation. The ceremony was only for close friends and family. It was an incredibly small wedding, probably fewer than fifty people to be honest. To be one of those fifty…well, Sebastian couldn’t believe it. He was considered a close friend. He hadn’t considered Zara and Javier or the rest of the gang as close friends, probably because he kept people at arm’s length, but maybe he could start considering them close friends. He had grown to love them in his own way. He even helped Javier with some wedding things, although that was not Bas’s area of expertise and the best he could really do was help decide on the signature cocktails that were being served. 

He sipped on his drink, the 'Til Daiquiri Do Us Part, and participated in his favorite wedding activity, people watching. For a second, it didn’t even register that June was talking to him. She’d been pretty busy that day and evening dealing with all sorts of wedding day shenanigans. He glanced over at Zara and Javier dancing, their arms entangled and their bodies close together. Certainly no room between them was left for Jesus. It was strange to see since Sebastian had only been to weddings for family members and this was the first time he was seeing friends get married and completely enter a new stage of life. “It is…weird. But yeah. Good weird.” His lips pulled back a little into a small smile. “How is it being a bridesmaid?”

[june-maslow]

FROM SCRATCH Episode 1: First Tastes

[june-maslow]

elcucuy-reyes​:

Sebastian set his food down, pushing it away. Suddenly, he wasn’t hungry anymore. Something about what he was about to tell June and what her reaction could be just made his stomach turn. He pursed his lips, looking away for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. He ran his hand down his face and turned back to June. “I created a program for a Fire Sale. That was what Kishan turned me in for,” he said. He’d never told June what it was exactly that he’d gotten in trouble for, just that Kishan was the one who betrayed him. “Kishan and I came up with the pseudocode when we were drunk and I don’t think he actually thought I’d write it, but I did.” When Bas was arrested, the code was taken away from him, presumably destroyed or taken into the government’s custody for them to sit on until they found a good use. Whether or not the code was no longer written down, Bas had a good memory and he had a good chance of being able to write the code down again. “I think GAIA got a hold of the code in my head or whatever…used them for the Geists. I recognized some parts of their code,” he said, remembering how he wrote certain functions in his code a specific way so he would know if his code was ever stolen. “It was modified for the Geists, but I think it was all a test for GAIA before it’s released into the world. GAIA will use it to completely rewrite the framework for society. All from my code.”

Sebastian had never spoken about what happened between him and Kishan, what had made friend turn against friend. She was caught a little off guard that he was mentioning it now, but she just watched him and listened. Her appetite also waned suddenly and she ended up setting down her food too. “So you don’t think Kishan was actually involved?” she questioned, her voice low. His initial theory had revolved around their friend somehow surrendering the code for GAIA to use, whether it was willingly done or not was still up in the air. “You think GAIA took it from you?” June’s tone was soft but serious, asking him to be honest with her. She’d had his back before, and she would continue to do so, but she needed to know everything. She needed to know where they truly stood.

Fuck. Out of everything they had faced inside The Grid, the Geists had been the worst opponents they had faced. It was frightening to think how the code that shaped them could affect the real world if were released on such a grand scale. “Well, there has to be a loophole of some kind,” the mentioned. It was what they did, creators like them put hidden threats in their own work in case it was ever stolen or used against them. “If this is based on your code, there has to be a way to stop it, right? Please tell me you put something in there that could debilitate or override it if it was ever taken from you”.

[june-maslow]

soft™

[june-maslow]

@elcucuy-reyes​

Well, holy shit, who would have thought that two people who used to hate each other’s guts would really end up together? Though June had to admit she’d been pleasantly surprised when Zara told her Javier had proposed little after their third anniversary. Perhaps the hacker would never truly see to eye with him, but at the very least she knew Javier was totally and irrevocably in love with her dear friend. That was enough. Zara deserved that happiness and that stability after all the shit she went through with her family, especially with her dad... In between the work June kept doing regarding The Grid and her job at Turing, she found some time to help Zara with some of the planning. Luckily neither the groom nor the bride wanted a big wedding, only a small ceremony with close friends and family. And here they were now.

June watched with a smile as the couple exchanged their vows and Javier’s brother, Ricardo, officiated the ceremony. One of her best friends was a wife now. It was so odd to think about it, especially when she felt so far removed from anything related to that life. Marriage wasn’t even something she considered; she always drove people away, people always left. “This is so weird,” she said, glancing over at Sebastian, “Good weird. But still weird”. Fortunately, a few members of what remained of their little gang were invited, otherwise June’s anxious and taciturn self when it came to big social events would have probably left little after the ‘I do’.

[june-maslow]

shadia-abassi:

“Um, yeah, it’s already 6:30,” Shadia said, laughing. “Time flies when you’re hard at work, huh?” She walked over, wrapping her best friend in a huge hug. It had only been a few months, but it felt like it had been years. Finally, she pulled away and draped one arm over June’s shoulders as she sat down next to her. “Oh, what would I do without you,” Shadia replied. She leaned back in her seat as she listened to the summary of everything that had happened since she left. “A civil war? What is this? A Marvel movie?” She furrowed her brow and tilted her head to the side as she contemplated what June told her. Maybe the whole “civil war” thing was why she hadn’t heard or gotten much info from her friends when she would call or text them. Shadia had never been Sebastian’s biggest fan and she was a little hesitant to agree with his suspicions. “Are you all still going in? If it’s been like this for months, how is everyone handling it?” Everything seemed to have gone south when Kishan died. They called him the anarchist, but maybe he was actually the glue that held them all together and kept them levelheaded. “You don’t agree with Sebastian about deleting Kishan’s program, do you?”

June scoffed, all too aware of how she could lose the track of time when sitting before a computer. Thank God for Shadia, pulling her away from it on this occasion before another one of the hacker’s rabbit hole descents. She hugged her friend back, feeling a small sense of relief in having someone else around who was very important in her life. It was an added bonus that she could also get Shadia’s take on the whole maddening issues within the group. “If it was we’d beat the fucking AI in the end,” she sighed, moving a hand to her temple. G.A.I.A. had given her more headaches than she could count; both figuratively by making her try to think to exhaustion about solutions, and literally as the AI’s programs put up so much of a fight within the Grid.

“Yeah, I am at least. Sebastian does too from time to time. Most of the group stepped back because they’re actual sane people with lives outside this thing, or to avoid any fights. So I guess they’re dealing with it by not dealing with it”. The hacker sounded rather indifferent because she was beyond the point of trying to sway anyone into joining every new ‘mission’ into the virtual reality. Jack had been there some times. Elena and Sal as well, though with less frequency than ever before.

When Shadia asked about Kishan’s program, June shrugged and waved her hands. “I don’t know,” she admitted, saying those few words she hated saying. “But I’m clearly not the best person to be making decisions here,” she said somewhat bitterly. “It’s my fault G.A.I.A. is on the loose. I brought a fucking psychopath into our lives because I thought he would be of help”. Fuck Jacob, for real. The fact that she’d gotten a cryptic message from him a few days back only made her worry that she’d be fighting on three damn fronts now: inside the Grid with every twisted thing G.A.I.A. put in there, with the group for every opposing ideas there were, and against Jacob out here in the real world. “I don’t want to see Kishan go. I really don’t, losing one part of him was hard enough, I don’t want to see what’s left of him be gone for good. But I don’t know what the hell to do at this point”.

[june-maslow]

elcucuy-reyes​:

Sebastian snorted and smirked at her. “I’m practically Mother Theresa,” he said. “Obviously I did it to get bonus points with the big guy in the sky.” He took a bite of his food and then set the plate down on the coffee table. June had begun to know him too well and sometimes he resented that he let himself get close enough to have someone again who was able to read him. A part of him feared it would end the same way it did with Kishan. “The code,” he said, “for the Geists….” He clenched his jaw and looked away for a second. What was the best way to tell her? Was he bad for hiding it? Even though a lot of it was his code, he had no idea how to stop them. Plus, he was pretty sure that GAIA was able to take the code to be able to adapt it to whatever it wanted to use it for. “Have you ever heard of a Fire Sale?” 

“I think you might need to get a few more bonus points with him if you actually want to get in there,” the hacker stated back in a teasing way, her lips curving into a playful smile. “Just a few,” she added, sounding even more sarcastic. A little chuckle escaped her in the end before she glanced down at her food and took a bite. The two of them ate in silence for a moment. June couldn’t pinpoint when exactly she began to feel so at ease around Sebastian, either talking to him about things she didn’t trust someone else to talk about, or to exist in serene quietness without feeling uncomfortable— no need at all to either walk away or fill the air with empty words. All June knew was that it had been quite some time already.

The hacker looked up when he brought up the Geists. Those things were gone at least, beaten; they should be looking forward, keeping those horrible things in the past and thinking about passing the next levels. It didn’t puzzle her at all that he would bring up though... The group was still dealing with the fallout of Sebastian’s main theory about Kishan’s corrupted code and its link to the Geists. “I have,” June answered, looking at Reyes with a bit of a puzzled look. Where was he going with this? “Why?”.

[june-maslow]

shadia-abassi​:

Shadia was back in Boston for a work trip and even though her schedule was packed, she did have some time to visit some friends. Facetime calls and online chats were alright, but they didn’t compare to the real thing. She headed over towards the new computer science building that replaced the old one and therefore their old computer room. Shadia smiled as she saw a familiar face and headed towards them. “So I see that once I left that everything went to shit,” she said. “Mind telling me everything that went down?”

June and Shadia had been texting and the hacker gave her friend all the details about the new gathering spot they managed to secure in the new building. Jonas had worked on some new hardware that was portable and much easier to conceal in case any unsuspecting staff member of the academy happened to walk in. “Hey. Oh, it’s 6:30 already?” she glanced down at her computer screen to see the time and saw that time had flown by, with Shadia showing up right on time at the hour they agreed. “I mean, I would have begged for you not to go. But I’m an actual good friend who wanted to see you fly away and do your thing,” June replied with some evident sarcasm. “Well, where to start?”. She gestured towards the chair by her side and began giving a summary to Shadia of the suspicions Sebastian brought forward, how Kishan fit into all of it, the way everyone had wildly different opinions on how to go about the mess... “What’s a mission to take down a tyrannical AI without a bit of civil war to spice things up, you know?” she said with a sigh, a tired expression taking over. It was hard enough to deal with The Grid as it was, even more so with a group divided...

[june-maslow]

elcucuy-reyes​:

“You’re certainly a sight for sore eyes,” Sebastian said, watching as June moved back to her couch. He stepped inside, setting down a box of food from the Japanese restaurant down the block. He’d already been to June’s apartment enough times to know where all the plates and silverware were. It was a familiar routine by now. Bas was laying low in the friend group since tensions were still high, so no one ever really knew that he and June were still hanging around each other. If they did know, they didn’t talk about it to their faces. 

Unfortunately, because of the tensions with the group, Sebastian couldn’t do too much to help June. The best way to keep things somewhat civil between the two sides was to keep Sebastian away from the Grid for now. It seemed to work out since Kishan’s program didn’t spill any beans about the Geists coming from Bas’s old code. Bas himself kept quiet about the code too, but now that June and some other members of the group were able to get through the level, he figured this would be the best time to come clean. Sebastian finished plating the food for June and handed it off to her. He had a little bit of food on a plate for himself and he sat down in the chair across from her. “They were all out of pork, so I just stuck with chicken for you this time. Seemed like a safe bet.”

The hacker was silently grateful that he’d brought some food. She was just regaining her appetite and she hadn’t even bothered to cook something or even order some takeout. Even simple things like that took time to make their way to her mind after particularly harsh experiences at The Grid. She’d practically just been drinking tea, eating some old crackers here and there and the last apple she had in her apartment. Sleeping and checking out mentally to avoid thinking of the horrifying imagery the Geists showed her had taken precedence over anything else.

“Chicken’s fine,” she said as she watched Sebastian move about her kitchen with the same familiarity as if this place was his own. The current situation within the group didn’t really allow for him to show up at their new HQ. June’s meetings with Reyes usually took place here and only occasionally at his apartment. “Thanks,” the girl smiled subtly, reaching out for her plate. She was grateful that Reyes didn’t say anything about her appearance; the dark circles under her eyes, the bruise on her temple, or her general tired aspect. He knew how things were. She’d taken a beating by bizarre, virtual ghosts, and the damage they’d done translated into her actual body. The worst damage was mental, of course, that was the Geists’ target: breaking them down from within, not necessarily harming their avatars. Seeing Sebastian alive and well before her was a nice reminder that everything the Geists showed her was never real. “Damn, I needed this,” June said after a bite, glancing up from her plate to Reyes and taking note of his serious demeanor. “What’s up? I’m sure your priority was coming here to bring me some food out of the kindness of your heart, but what’s the second reason?”.

[june-maslow]

“They looked at each other all night. Hands touched, smiles exchanged, hearts skipped beats. But they were just friends.”

— Leohearts (via juleswriites)

[june-maslow]

@elcucuy-reyes​

It had been an absolute, literal nightmare to pass that goddamn level... June was sure she’d be haunted by what the Geists tormented her with for a while, but progress had been made and that was all the hacker wanted to think about. She’d been so tired that day and basically slipped out of Jonas’ apartment without a word. June slept all weekend and called in sick on Monday. It was a better excuse to say she was sick than to say she was recovering from the physical and mental toll of fighting fucked up ghost-like programs inside a virtual reality.

She was on her couch, only half-paying attention to some stupid video on her phone when the buzzer rang. It had become a sort of unspoken rule between herself and Reyes, to check up on each other -without formally admitting that’s what they were doing- whenever they had a rough go at The Grid. The hacker let him in and by the time he reached her floor June had already opened the door, left it ajar for him, and was back on the couch.

[june-maslow]

baileyfuge:

Bailey let her speak with out interruption. A year ago an apology from June would have brought her to tears, now Bailey could seem to give a shit. Staring out the window she watch the rain pelt against the window pane as she continued to speak explaining herself. “It took you watching me mourn Kishan to see me as a person…I understand not trusting me, but June I can’t help but think this isn’t just about how I got into the grid.” Bailey trailed off sighing. Now turning to face June she looked her dead in the eyes. “Are you apologizing for how you acted or are you apologizing for what you and Sebastian are going to do?”

“I’ve always seen you as a person. Just a person I couldn’t trust,” she stated simply, not sugar coating her perspective. She was offering an apology, sure, but most of all she was trying to be sincere. “I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that you were so willing to blackmail and manipulate your cousin to get your way. If you could act that way towards Wes, what could I expect for the rest of us?”. Jue said in a level voice. That was the truth. Much of her disdain towards the headmistress’ daughter came because of how she’d acted towards a family member. And with June’s history and shitty family members, she couldn’t help but continue to expect the worst from Bailey. “Look, I’m not going to share my life story and why that behavior seemed so problematic to me. Let’s just say it was a big red flag and I stayed on guard because of it. I know I continuously judged you on a past mistake- because I do believe you probably see it as a mistake now, or at least as a less than ideal way to go about things. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt when you did good things for your cousin, for the group. And I’m sorry I didn’t,” she added, being as forthright as she could. Bailey’s next words caused June to frown subtly. “What do you think we’re going to do?” she asked plainly, calmly, very much aware by the other woman’s tone and voice that she was already painting her as a villain. Well, it was only fair wasn’t it? An ironic role reversal.