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kahvilahuhut · 9 days ago

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how are you?

Summary: Klara, returning from a work trip, decides to ask how her spouse is doing after, well, everything. She does get some kind of answers, I guess? Basically something that happens between Cynosure and Periphery :)

warnings for somewhat serious mental health problems, 'vague' mentions of torture/murder attempt

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Klara walked out of the bathroom, bathrobe on, along with some fluffy socks she managed to fish out of the box before leaving for the shower. She decided to skip the bath, despite feeling like it would've made it better. She'd rather take a wuick shower right now and spend time with Tobias as they were waiting for dinner. Klara thought about the snacks she managed to eat during the flight and the road back home, realizing how that most definitely was not enough for her. She turned to the kitchen, carefully looking at the floor to make sure the cats haven't moved their bowls right by the entrance, thinking if it would be a good idea to eat something else, or if she should just wait for the dinner. The feeling of tiredness did tell her that it was probably a good idea to get something.

As she looked around, wondering if she should look into the cupboard or the fridge first, she heard footsteps from behind and turned to see Tobias, standing by the door, standing so still she found it weird - definitely not how it was usually like, like leaning on the doorframe or moving at least some part of its body. "I, um, I made you a yogurt with some fruits and berries while you were showering, in case you needed it. It's in the fridge," it said, hands in its pockets of its cardigan instead of doing the typical hand gestures it'd make while talking.

"Thank you, darling," she smiled at it, and saw it smirk slightly as a reply.

Klara opened the fridge and took out the small bowl, feeling like almost tearing up as she saw the little heart shape it had formed with the fruit pieces and berries. She turned back to the door to say something about it, but noticed that it had already left somewhere, only leaving the scent of its strawberry body cream float around the place it had just been standing at. Klara sighed, lazily took out the spoon and ate her yogurt.

The thoughts about Tobias and its weird behavior filled her mind. It's clear that it's all because of what happened, she thought, but more importantly she was thinking of how to make it feel better, again. When she came home, it slowly appeared from the bedroom, head showing up carefully from the doorway first, as if checking if it's safe to go and see who arrived. It seemed tired, a little bit not there, probably awoken from a nap. At least, based on its outfit - a purple stringbody with a cardigan on, with wooly socks protecting its legs - it wasn't doing anything but chilling.

Klara was just going to apologize for waking it up as it came closer, but decided not to as it just silently hugged her, burying its face in her neck, and just stood there for a moment before letting go and quickly saying that its glad she's home. Klara, then, went to the shower and asked if it wants to join, which it politely declined and went to the kitchen.

Now, when she's thinking of all that again and how that didn't really seem like what it usually is like, she felt worried. It barely talked about how it is doing during their daily calls, dodging the questions whenever she decided to ask about it. Maybe she could ask about it more easily now?

She washed the bowl and walked out of the kitchen. It was sitting on the couch in the middle, head turned towards the window as if looking for something there, or thinking of something. As she approached, Tobias turned to look at her - a slightly confused expression on its face she caught a glimpse of, before it turned into a happy face in a second or two. Klara sat in the corner of the couch, and slightly moved closer, before laying down, placing its head on her lap.

"Hi there, again," it murmured, looking up at her with a small smile on its face.

"Hi there, dear," she replied, "Thanks for the yogurt. And for the little berry art on it."

It smiled at her as a reply. "I thought it would look cute, and cheer you up after a long trip," is said, "It's nice to have you here again."

Klara had just came back from another work trip, the third one in last two months, longer than the others. She hated how she had to be away from home for three weeks, especially after everything that happened. If only she'd be brave enough to say that to Sarah, she thought. "It's nice to be home, at last," she said, "I really missed the cats... and they didn't even appear to say hi."

"They were both sleeping last time I saw them, Melody on the cat tree and Song on the bed."

"Hm. Oh, to be a cat taking a nap right now," she said and leaned back. Her hand reached its, and she gently held it for a moment before rising it to kiss it. "I missed you so much."

It smiled. "I missed you, too. A lot."

Klara looked at it, before asking, "How are you doing?"

"Fine, I guess? "

"That doesn't sound like the truth..."

"I, um, fine, I..." it paused, and Klara watched it stare at the roof as it was looking for a word to use. "I don't know," it mumbled, finally, "Thing is, I feel like I don't feel anything right now? Nothing coherent enough, at least. I'm guessing that's not a normal thing, right?"

"No." Klara realized she might have been too straighforward. "Though, considering everything, I guess it makes sense."

It stayed quiet for a moment, staring at the roof. "I don't want things to make sense 'considering everything,'" it said at last, a frown on its face, "It makes me feel like people specifically act like there's nothing wrong with me, as if admitting that would offend me... I don't need that kind of special treatment."

"I don't think you can call telling someone they need to rest and slowly get better after they nearly died a special treatment, but I do get your point, I guess?"

"Mmh. I do think that the only thing I feel like right now is that I want to sleep..." Tobias turned to its side, face leaning into her stomach, and wrapped its arms around her. "But every time I try I just...can't. It just doesn't work. Or it works, and I am soon awake again due to some nightmare, shaking and all, trying to understand where the fuck am I. I'm in our bedroom and yet it still takes me time to realize that, and that whatever I experienced moment ago doesn't exist - in a way."

Klara sighed, gently placing her hand on its head to stroke its hair, frowning a little as she felt its body tense slightly at the touch, before relaxing again. She was aware that what it had been through could lead to this - getting scared of or flinching away at sudden movements and touches - but boy, had she hoped it would have been free of this. How long would it take for it to feel safe anywhere again, she thought, realizing how stupid the question is. "Why didn't you mention this before?" She asked, as she brushed her fingers through its hair.

"I didn't want to, um, bother you with that. Make you worry. Especially since you were on a work trip, anyway - not like you could have done anything at that moment," it replied, adding quickly, "not that I find that bad or anything, um. I know what your job's like, and I know how one shouldn't go against Sarah. So I don't really mind. You've done so much already, I, um, feel kinda bad about it. That doesn't make sense, I know, I'm - my thought are all over the place, sorry."

Klara bit her lip as it said the last part out loud, thinking how much damage the events have actually made for it to go back to such thoughts she was sure it hadn't had for years. "Don't be ridiculous, that's kinda my responsibility, you fool" she said, trying her best to keep a playful tone as she softly rubbed its cheek with her thumb. "I could have left early. Or asked someone to come over. Like your parents."

It chuckled slightly. "Both of them? God, imagine the drama that would lead to."

"Give them some credit, I'm sure most of your nonconfrontational tendencies were learnt from them, or something," she said and noticed a smile widen on its face, "Okay, fine. Maybe I'd rather opt for friends, instead. Like Leon, who literally lives on the same street."

"He came by at some point during one afternoon, actually. Brought me a few chocolate croissants and a noodle soup from that new restaurant nearby."

"Huh. Speaking of, have you been in any new places lately, like that one new store? Or got something else from that noodle place?" Tobias didn't answer, its eyes closed and the smile gone again. Klara winced, trying to think of what exactly she said that could have led to this. "Or, went for a walk somewhere?" She continued, waiting for some kind of reaction from it.

Finally, as it moved its head even closer to her - for warmth and comfort or to hide its expression, Klara wondered - Tobias mumbled, "I haven't stepped outside. For a week." Klara felt like her whole body turned cold from the revelation, as it stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, "I tried twice, or thrice. Stopped right next to the front door at first, couldn't get my hand to open it. Second time I had just got dressed, went to get out of the bedroom and then stopped right between the rooms. Some vehicle with sirens drove past, made me think of, you know, and I just backed away to get the home clothes back on. Third time - if you can even call it that - was just a simple glance on the clothes rack. Didn't do anything after that. It's, um, what if something happens, you know? Or someone doesn't care about what's happening and wants to finish what they started? At least I can always get some fresh air by opening the windows. And I can finally play with the cats more than before."

Klara sat still, trying to understand everything she had just learned, to piece things together to have something to base her reaction on. "I'm going to be honest right now. That sounds bad. Like, fucked up type of bad."

"I know. Thank you."

"What?"

"Thank you for your honesty. I really need it."

"You can't be serious-" she closed her mouth and sighed. "You need help. Professional kind of one. Have you talked about it with your therapist, at least?"

"I, um. We had one appointment where I basically, well, gave an update on what happened a few weeks ago. And how I'm feeling."

"And?"

"She said she's very sorry to hear that. And that she unfortunately thinks that she has no skills to help me with all that. So I guess I'm looking for a new therapist who, you know, can work with someone who has been tortured by corporate mercenaries and almost died."

Klara stared at it. "And you didn't tell me this because...?"

"I guess I was, um, still processing the whole thing? Could realize that it actually happened? Until you mentioned it now, that is," it stayed quiet for a moment, "Oliver said he knows some guy - works as a therapist, kinda, I guess? - who I could turn to, but, um, he is kinda busy right now so I said I could wait."

"Tobias, for fuck's sake, can you act selfish for at least once in your life, please?" She watched it clumsily shake its head as an answer. "I'm going to talk to Oliver about that." She felt like grabbing the man's collar and shaking him a little before yelling 'how can you be so fucking blind about your child's condition'. Not like he had any reason to take care of a suddenly found long lost child, she thought, but since he gave the idea, might as well take the responsibility for it.

"You don't have to, really, I-"

"Don't you even try to say that you're fine-"

"I'm not. I was saying that I can wait a little more. I think. Besides, I feel better now that you're here..." it said, "I know, that must sound pathetic and, well, maybe a bit unhealthy or something. Probably. I have no psychological knowledge so I couldn't say. But, um, it is what it is. I'm, um, very glad you're here."

Klara felt a lump in her throat, finding it hard to manage to say anything to that, and because it seemed to be in its weird mood it has gets into when it's doing really bad - trying to explain things through logic and things it had heard of before, as if trying to distance itself from how it's doing. And while it probably thought it was logical and sounded like it's aware of its situation, it wasn't really like that. She debated whether she should say something about it, but instead, she moved slightly to be able to lean above it, and softly kissed its head. "You should have asked me to stay."

"No, I shouldn't have. It might've made things different, but how would it have affected you, then? It's hard to take care of people in a situation like mine, and getting you overwhelned about all these things is the last thing I want." Klara tried to say some kind of a reply to that, but it added, "And like I said, I don't mind this, either. I'll, um, I'll get out of this. Somehow. At some point. I just need some time. And help, like you said."

"Sunshine, I-"

"By help I mean an actual professional, don't worry, I- um. You know." It slowly sat up, barely managing to hold itself up with its arms as it was rising, and turned to face her, it's head close to hers. "I know you want to help, I understand, and you have no idea how loved and grateful that makes me feel. But the thing is, that won't be good for you because it just means more stress and tasks and, um, loss of income. Which we really can't afford. And I'm not just parroting what I learned from decades in therapy, I do think that it's not a good idea," Tobias said, nervously laughing at the end.

Klara rolled her eyes. "That doesn't mean you can't tell me how you feel, or if something's bothering you," she said, "Because seeing you not doing well but not knowing why creates stress by itself, you know. You said the same thing to me at some point, too."

It stared at her for a moment, as if slowly realizing her point. "I see. You're, um, you're right, Klara. It is kinda stupid of me," it murmured, "It's just, hard? I think the problem is that I find it hard to understand how I feel, in a way, and somehow think that there's really no point of saying anything about it? Brain is a complicated thing sometimes." Just as Klara was going to reply, it gently placed its hands on her cheeks, "But I'll try to be more open about it, I promise. I, um, appreciate you being here for me. I love you so much," it added and softly kissed her.

Klara smiled against its slightly-dry lips, kissing them back and cupping its face with her hands as if afraid it won't stay there for long - a foolish thought, rooted in her own nightmares and thoughts after the events, but she wanted it to be close, to feel its face, for it to feel her loving hands. She felt Tobias's hands move from her cheeks to her shoulders and her back, its arms slowly moving to wrap around her in some kind of hug.

As its head moved a bit a way to lean its cheek against hers, to have a more comfortable hug position, Klara said quietly, "Just remember to talk to me about this, every now and then, alright?"

It kissed her cheek. "Of course, honey."

"Good. It means a lot, to know how you're doing and you sharing it."

"Good to hear," it laughed and moved to face her again, "Now, how about we finally order food and watch your tv shows."

Klara chuckled. "God, yes, please, that sounds wonderful."

#my writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #oc writing #🔍 ch: tobias #🔍 ch: klara #🔍 cynosure #🔦 periphery #something about tobias trying (and failing badly) to explain rationally what's happening whenever it feels absolutely awful. someone help i #original writing

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kahvilahuhut · 12 days ago

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🔍 cynosure status update

i mean. it's also periphery update too though. teehee. feel free to also check out the drawing here!

🤍 New to the story? Check out the (current) wip intros: Cynosure / Periphery

omg it's been a while, hasn't it? haha. i must admit i might have gotten A Bit too deep into some university assignments (+ my thesis). I do sometimes talk about the story on my main, too, but it's nothing that important for the story itself, mostly just some fun facts about the characters, which means that most of the development I've done is in my brain. Or is nonexistent or something. ANYWAY! Here's a status update to tell what has been happening lately! Might actually make this into something I post every now and then.

In this status update I'm going to talk a little about how it's going with the story, overall thoughts, plot/character changes and some things you can expect during next few weeks (hopefully). I'll put it all under the cut to keep this short on the dashboard 🥰

Like always, if you have any questions about the story, feel free to send an ask - I'll always be happy to answer 🤍

overall thoughts

Right now one of my top thoughts is honestly debating whether i want to, like, actually write this somewhere as a nove, or whether I should do it as a graphic novel or something. That said, if I do go with the latter, you can still expect writing bc I like to write things out to plan them. Or vise versa make some kind of sketches for writing. My brain works in a weird way, I know lol

I have been doing some worldbuilding (specifically for the story AND something for the overall story world that I have). Let me know if you'd love to hear some things I have thought about!

I've also been doing some research about *checks notes* Boston, MA. Because that's where most of the story happens :^) Though it happens in 2200's so I still have lots of room to change things around.

Definitely thinking about adding more dark/horror stuff in the world as a whole bc there's been, like, a climate crisis. AND people do interplanetary traveling. Stuff like that ought to lead to some fucked up stuff. Especially when there's megacorporations involved. Cynosure wise there's going to be something, especially in Periphery, happening to one of the main characters. 👀

plot/character updates

(that have happened lately, at least)

One of the pov characters kind of got a name update! Tobias's first name has been changed to Ripley, and it's what most characters will probably referring to it as. That said, some characters (+ itself) will refer to it as Tobias bc that's its preferred name that's somethings its friends and wife call it

Another pov character (Samuel) got an interesting change of backstory, some tweaks in personality, and its plot-revelant actions have changed a little. Sammy's changes has thus made some already existing things I've posted on here non-canon.

Slowly finally putting together what I mah want to have in Klara's chapters and it's sooooo exciting.

Polished some things about the plots, especially the different parts of the acts <3

Got more thoughts about the project itself (or, well, what it should have). That also means I need to look more into pharma research or something. Very interesting...

Overall, lots to think about and lots to research about.

things to expect in next few weeks

(that is, if I won't drown in university assignments or something)

I've had some ideas for little stories that would be happening before the story, to show more information about the characters and the story itself (like what happened in the original project). Or maybe just some fun parts of characters' backstories. So I may post something if I manage to write it!

Some more character introductions + pov character post. Might make a "tag yourself" meme. Or a powerpoint wip intro

Something else, maybe? If you have an idea, let me know!

taglist (interact with this post if you want to be added or removed!)

@ecofear @fashionablyfyrdraaca @shadowfells @volkihar

@antoncrane @kk7-rbs @void-botanist @the-inkwell-variable @artbyeloquent

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #oc writing #🔍 cynosure #🔦 periphery #writing community #my writing

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kahvilahuhut · 3 months ago

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After another argument about patents and research between the big, crowd-favorite corporations turns into a fight that causes dozens of casulties, the Earth Board has nothing else to do than to force Mackowski Solutions and Glacier Tear to prove they can work together - or else.

Mackie & Glacier are the two collaboration corporations working on a project that could save lives in emergencies. Read more in Cynosure.

image credits, taglist etc.:

image credits:

Mackie intro: 1 2 3 4

Glacier intro: 1 2

Cynosure taglist (dm/reply/refer to this post to be included!)

@antoncrane @kk7-rbs @void-botanist @artbyeloquent @dekarios

@fashionablyfyrdraaca

#writeblr #my writing #writers on tumblr #writing community #worldbuilding #ugh idk how to tag this lmao #original writing #🔍 cynosure #obligatory 'this is a work of fiction and not related to real life corps or ideas' tag #edit: sorry if u get tagged twice i fucked up the tag list

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kahvilahuhut · 3 months ago

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who talks outside while it's raining

full drawing here

another little cynosure scene idea i decided to 'write' to test it out hehe <3

summary: You ever want to be all alone for a moment and go outside during rain, but then some other guy appears and starts talking to you. That's what Toby's going through in this one. At least it got to talk about cats a little.

warnings: negative thoughts, smoking, relapsing back into old habits

Tobias looked down at the street, leaning on the ledge of the balcony.

A woman was carrying a child while crossing the street, holding the child's head as if that would have helped her hide it from the rain. An old man had walked out of the neighboring building, stood for a moment in the doorway, and went back inside, clearly scared off by the wind blowing all the drops in his face.

It closed its eyes for a moment, feeling the drops on its cheeks, with the wind making them feel even colder.

Great weather to mask one's tears.

Was it the stress or the fact that it had to cancel its evening plans, or both?

Another day of storm warnings, this time with officials deeming it unsafe to go out after five. Right when its work day is supposed to end.

Tobias hated having to stay at office for the night. At least they didn't need to do anything work related after work day's over.

It's not like it was completely sure about coming to the dinner. It felt awful, with all the stress slowly bottling up and with Klara being away for few days. Normally going out and hanging out with someone could make it feel better, but when it's Claudia? There's no way you could tell how that dinner would go. Especially now that it's cancelled because of the storm.

So much for starting to talk to your parent again.

It wiped its cheek with its hand and opened its phone to see if the test results have appeared.

Another failure. Nothing in this week seemed to work.

And then there's Samuel and his deadlines. And the steering group begging for a proper update. And supplies running low with arguments over the next order. And the constant feeling of something being off-

"Hey Toby," Abner's voice startled it, "Enjoying the view?"

It nodded slowly, still facing the street. Company was the last thing it expected, or wanted.

Who the hell goes outside during the rain?

Tobias held its breath in hopes of unclogging its nose as it could already see that he's going to be very talkative.

At least he finally stopped calling it boss. And didn't join some others into calling it 'captain' as a substitute to 'boss'.

"Hm, I understand, the buildings look pretty during rain," he said, and Toby heard his footsteps as he was moving behind him towards the other side of the ledge. "Though, I am a bit surprised to see someone else here. The only people I'd imagine coming here at this weather are smokers. Office policy and all," it heard him flick his lighter on, "...as if that stops some people."

"Mmhmm."

Abner went quiet for a moment, probably to take a drag of his cigarette. "So why did you come here?"

"I, um, I like rain," Tobias managed to reply. It wasn't a lie, it does enjoy rain. No matter whether it's inside or outside, it always comforts it, in a way. Not that this was the actual reason, though. "These little rains before the storms arrive? It's as if they're readying us for the awful weather that's to come. As if they're trying to soften the fall, you know?"

"Hm, you are a strange person. No offense."

"Heh, none taken, Abner."

"Though, I must admit that I kinda agree. Rain is fun. I love feeling raindrops on my head.," he paused again, for a moment, clearly thinking of what to say.

Tobias closed its eyes again, this time not even thinking about the rain, but instead smelling the cigarette smoke. Does it miss it? It couldn't answer. The smell of smoke wasn't what it really enjoyed, but didn't mind, either.

"So," he began, "Your evening plans got ruined by storm warning, too?"

Tobias snorted out a laugh and wiped its face from all the raindrops and whatever was left of its tears. "Something like that, I guess," it replied and turned to face Abner.

"Mm, mine too. We were supposed to go to a cafe to meet some of our friends with my partner," he said, staring at the street, the smoke from his cigarette disappearing into the wind. "Well, at least they get to stay with the cats, now. And I finally get to try out this...um, experience of sleeping in the office."

"Do they still scare undergrads with that?"

"Hah, you bet. 'Corporate labs make their workers sleep at work' and shit like that. It's not that I think this is, well, wrong. Being injured during a storm isn't on my bucket list. But, well, it does make you wonder, why have these sleeping facilities in the first place."

"Some places force their workers to overwork very often... Not this time, obviously, but it's not like they built this place for this project only."

"You have an experience with a situation like that?"

"Ah, well. I've mostly worked in public sector. Awful salary and little benefits but at least they're scared of unions and actually watch after their employees' wellbeing."

"What about the original version of this project?"

Tobias opened its mouth, only to realize it doesn't know what to say. "I, um, I'm not sure, actually. I was kind of, um, living on my own schedule," it said, remembering how it would look through data at night, with Jack waking up and asking it to stop and sleep.

And connected the memory right away with the what happened four days ago. The dark kitchen and the cold feel of the counter, with its forgotten meds near the sink. Klara's soft murmurs about how it should get back to bed. Her talent of never sounding worried when she is has always fascinated it. How often has she been doing it lately.

And all during weekend, no less.

The similarity made it feel sick.

"Everything alright there, Toby?" Abner's voice brought it back to the present.

Tobias nodded and closed its eyes for a moment, realizing how it was staring at his cigarette this whole time, which was now laying in the ashtray.

"Okay, good, um. So," he smirked, "what plans did you have to cancel? Romantic dinner with your wife? Or something even more-"

"No, no, Klara's on a work trip on the West Coast."

"Ooooh, fuck, that sounds bad. Hopefully you're not that sad about it, though?"

"No." It was actually very miserable about it.

She never had to somewhere as often as right now. The empty feeling it always felt during her trips, and the fear that something could happen, both mixing in its head with stress and sadness. Definitely not something that made it feel good.

Realizing that Abner was probably waiting for the real reason, it continued, "I was going to have a dinner with my mother. We are, um, trying to reconnect, get to know each other, I guess?"

"I sense a story here."

"Well. I cut all contact when I was 17. Two years ago we accidentally met at the grocery store. We had a small conversation, exchanged contact info and all. Now we're, well, trying to see if we should get back to no contact at all or if we should try to act like a parent and child. Jury's still out there."

"Wow. Knowing you, she probably did something very bad..."

"She tried to force me into med school. Which I didn't want to do."

Abner laughed. "Oh, god, you can't be serious. Let me guess, she's a doctor, too?"

"A surgeon."

"That explains a lot."

"Uh-huh," Tobias chuckled, "Just sent her a message if she could babysit our cats. Melody's fine with other people but Song is a bit shy around strangers, so she needs someone she knows."

"Oooh, cats?" Abner's face lightened up, "Do you have any photos?"

"You bet I do," it said and tapped its wrist, only to remember that it was, in fact, wearing a unitard top with glove-like sleeves, and thus not able to use the hologram. "Ugh, hang on. The problems of wanting to dress something comfy for an evening at office," it muttered and reached for its phone.

"My partner does that all the time. It was wearing these big warm mittens one time, back when we were up north seeing their parents. I wondered out loud when the bus was going to come, and it happily went 'Oh, let me check!' and started to tap its wrist, only to realize that it's not going to work."

Tobias laughed. "I used to do it all the time when I was your age. I was sooooo obsessed w these tops back then. One time I was supposed to get this one call from this very important sponsor, which was supposed to call me late due to time zone differences. So I was wearing one of these, laying in my bed with some guy, when the chip started buzzing to let me know about the call. I started tapping my wrist, panicking why the hell nothing was happening, when this guy leans on me and shakes my phone in front of my face, saying 'Maybe try this one?' or something like that," it told while scrolling through its phone gallery, trying to pick a good photo, "Having the hologram view helps a lot sometimes but you may get too used to it."

"That must have been embarassing."

"Hah, well, not really, it's not like this sponsor could see how I looked at that moment, hehe" it smirked and showed him a picture on its phone. A tabby cat laying on a beanbag, playing with a toy fish, and a russian blue cat calmly sitting next to it. "This is Melody and Song."

Abner leaned to look at the picture, smiling widely. "Oooh, they're absolutely cute! Wait, hang on," he took out his phone and showed a picture of a small abyssimian. "This is Mars, we got him two months ago. Woke me up at 3AM today by jumping on my chest."

Tobias chuckled. "Oh, they do love to do that sometimes."

"I know, right?" He swiped the screen, to show a photo of a tabby norwegian forest cat and a ragdoll. "And this is Saturn and Jupiter."

"Oooh, they're so adorable... By the way, the planet names?"

"Jupiter and Saturn were kind of accidental. We were looking for fun names and these came up. Really fit them, considering how big they are. As for Mars, well, we just decided to go with the theme. And fits his fur color."

"Ha, I see!"

"And yours?"

"Ah, well. Melody came first, we found her in a bush as a stray kitten on our way back home from playing badminton. I had some experience from cat shelter so we took her home, took her to the vet and all. She was soooo cute. We picked the name because she liked to take naps near Klara's soundtrack vinyls. As for Song, well, kind of fits Melody, yeah?"

"That's so cute!" Abner said, and then looked at his phone screen. "Oh, wait, hang on, my partner sent a message and I gotta answer. Um," he looked around, realizing they were standing under the rain this whole time, "probably should do that inside."

"Hah, yeah, um. A little rainy here," Tobias chuckled. Good thing it was going to take a shower after this, anyway.

"Yeah, right!" He smirked. "By the way, need a smoke?

"Huh?"

"You were, um, staring at my cigarette in a weird way."

"Oh, um, that, I..." Tobias didn't know what to say. It hadn't smoked for almost twenty years.

But the thought intrigued it. The feeling smoking had brought it back then. The calm, throwing out the empty feelings that plagued its brain.

It really shouldn't. Is there not enough bad habits already, or feeling bad?

It could just take it to feel the scent of an unlit cigarette. Just to keep it like that.

Is it worth the risk?

"Uh, boss?"

"I'm- sorry, got lost in my head for a moment. Um..." it stared at Abner's hand holding a pack of cigarettes. Surely it won't be bad. It won't let it get bad. "Sure, thank you."

Abner gave it the whole pack. "You look like you need it. Oh, and," he gestured around, "don't stay outside for too long? We need you."

#writeblr #my writing #my art #writers on tumblr #writing community #oc writing #🔍 cynosure #🔍 ch: tobias #🔍 ch: abner

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kahvilahuhut · 3 months ago

Text

diner breakfast

summary: Toby & Klara are going to work together and decide to stop by a diner for a breakfast.

a cynosure scene idea i wanted to write out <3 enjoy!

"This is nice."

"Good. I was hoping you wouldn't hate it because you had to wake up earlier."

Tobias smiled, moving its hand slowly from the coffee cup to touch Klara's. "Please, I'd wake up earlier for you any time you want."

"Uh-huh."

"And wouldn't hate it. Forgot to add that."

Klara snorted out a laugh, making the old lady at the table next to theirs glance at them both chuckling together for a moment, a slightly judging look on her face, before turning back to her companion.

"Okay, okay," Klara said, pausing to take a breath, "How about that one time I woke you up at 6 so you could wait for the mailman while I went for a morning run."

"That doesn't count. You woke me up for a mailman."

They both stared at each other for a moment, before laughing again, making the old lady clear her throat as if trying to make them stop in a somewhat polite way.

"Okay, fine. You're right about that one," Klara murmured and picked up her cup to take a sip. "Hm, wait a moment, I'm going to get some honey."

"Of course, honey," Tobias chuckled and watched her glance at it with a wide smirk as she got up from the chair and began walking towards the counter.

It leaned back on its bench and looked around. The diner was half full, some of the customers sitting alone or getting a take away coffee, some sitting in pairs or groups and chatting with each other.

Glancing at the table next to them, it noticed the old lady hold a newspaper in her hand, while waving the other as she explained something. Her companion, a young looking person, nails painted in dark brown with little white dots, was leaning on their hand and nodding along as the old lady went on. Tobias considered interrupting them to ask about the nail paint they used, but decided to sit still and not to annoy them even more.

The background music that was playing from the little speakers was loud enough despite the noise coming from all the people in the diner. It was the first thing it paid attention to when entering, and wondered if it was planned to be like that so the customers could decide if they want to listen to this kind of music or if they want to look for another diner.

The playlist was playing a third sad country-style song in a row, somehow making it think of the plan of the day, the place where they were both going.

Tobias shook its head to drive those thoughts away and reached for its fried egg sandwich.

Klara returned with two honey packets and one box, stopping for a moment to ruffle its hair a little, leaving two gray strands hanging above its forehead, moved her coffee cup and pancakes next to its plate and sat next to it.

Tobias leaned on her shoulder and watched her empty a honey packet into her coffee cup. "I also ordered two small pieces of cheesecake," she smiled, "As a take away, though, could use them as a meeting snack."

"Sounds lovely."

"Mm, not really into talking about it?"

"I'm- well. I don't know. Kinda?" it mumbled before taking another bite of the sandwich. "Feels weird. Though, I gotta admit, going for a breakfast together definitely made me feel better."

"Think we should do that more often?"

"Haha, definitely. I mean, we do have breakfasts together all the time, but it's been a while since we actually managed to go somewhere on a work day. It's nice."

Klara wrapped her hand around its shoulder. "Glad to hear that, dear."

It smirked and took a sip of its coffee. "Oh, wait. Um, does this mean you'll leave work a bit later? Because you're starting later-"

"Hah, no, technically I'm already working. If you look at the time stamps."

"Breakfast date on company time, incredible."

"Marked this part in my calendar as a 'meeting with an intercorporate person', too. Fitting, concidering you're working for Glacier."

"Ohhhh, so you're, what, working on intercorporate relations here, are you?"

"I mean, I am a specialist in that department."

"Think you can add more meetings like this?"

"I'll send you a calendar invite."

They both laughed.

"Honestly, though," Klara murmured, "it is fun to work together because now we can see each other more during work days."

"Mh, well, I'm not saying that's the only reason I agreed, but..."

"Hmm, good to know, good to know," she smirked and kissed its cheek, making its smile even wider.

They sat quietly together for a moment, finishing their breakfasts. Tobias felt Klara's hand gently rub its shoulders, making it realize how stiff they were, and how it was clenching it's jaw.

"Can I admit something?"

Klara looked at it. "Of course, sunshine."

"I'm...well... A bit scared? Afraid?" It paused and finished its coffee. "I don't know if it's because of what happened before, or if I'm just anxious about the unknown, but, well..."

"Darling... I'm sure everything will be fine. New team, new admins, the Board people watching veeeery closely," she murmured, "And you know I'll always be there for you if something happens."

"Mmhmm..." Tobias smiled, "You have no idea how much that helps."

"Good..." she picked up a honey packet and put it in her pocket, "Now, how about we get back in the car and go to the office? If we get there early we could find a spot to sit next to each other at."

"Ooh, sounds incredible..."

Klara smirked. "Glad you're so excited."

#my writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #oc writing #oc ship #original writing #original character #🔍 ch: tobias #🔍 ch: klara #🔍 cynosure

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kahvilahuhut · 3 months ago

Text

work at night

see the whole drawing here

summary: Someone might have ended up too deep in thought while doing work stuff *checks notes* at night 🙄 In fact, so deep that its wife ended up waking up and wondering where it is.

a little scene idea i've had for cynosure for a while hehe <3 will obviously change a bit once i actually get to it, but, well, here's version one i guess? definitely not written at night noooo why are you looking at me like that

"What's up?"

Tobias turned around at the sudden voice and noticed Klara leaning on the doorway. "I- uh-", it looked around, as if collecting its thoughts to formulate a proper answer.

"Is that my wool shirt?"

"Um. Yes. It's the first thing I found on the floor. It was dark and I didn't feel like switching the lights on to look for something else. Very comfy, especially now that the heating is glitching...again,"it replied, smiling, "Though the best part is that it smells like you."

"Well, it..." Klara's voice was closer this time, her hands gently touching it's shoulders, "...looks good on you..."

"Oh, stop it," it chuckled and leaned its head to kiss her fingers.

"Someone doesn't like compliments..."

"Mmh, or do I... As for the first question, well... I woke up. Realized I forgot my meds. Went here to take them," it started listing its steps, folding a finger on its hand on each step, "And then I- um. I got some kind of an idea, I think? Erin asked me to look at a specific part of the code, which she doesn't remember writing. No one does. So I wanted to see and take a look myself. Then I decided to just go look at the whole thing and. Um." It shrugged with a smile on its face. "I guess... Here I am?"

"Honey, that's- Do you know what time is it?"

Tobias froze for a moment, then glanced at the clock screen on the microwave.

3:37 am.

"Oh, fuck," it muttered.

"Thought so," Klara chuckled and gently wrapped her arms around it while softly kissing the top of it's head. "Aren't you tired, honey?"

"Maybe a little? I swear I didn't notice, I- Fuck, I forgot to switch the clock feature back on," it muttered and brought up the settings panel, "Switched it off at work because it felt like time was going soooo slow during the meeting, it felt a bit annoying. I know that sounds a bit childish, but, well..."

"No, I think that's a fun decision. As long as it makes you feel better..." she murmured in its ear and kissed its neck softly. "Meetings are like that sometimes... Nights are the opposite. You feel like it's taking very little time but in reality time flies so fast..."

It nodded, leaning its head somewhat lazily, smiling as Klara's lips moved down to its shoulder. "But, um, thing is, I found something, and didn't want to leave it for tomorrow. What if I forget about it or miss some specific thought I had tonight if I won't write it down, things like that," Tobias said quietly, gesturing at the hologram, "Really couldn't get up or anything."

"Please tell me you haven't been sitting on a kitchen counter looking through some work data for hours. During night."

"I won't tell. But, well..."

"God, Tobias, I can't even explain with words what I'm thinking right now."

"Mm... Well, um, mind if I finish going through this document? It's the last one, I promise."

"You can't be serious..." she sighed and leaned her head on its shoulder, "Fine. But I'm staying here."

"Ooh, won't hear me objecting or anything."

It scrolled through the file to find the part it was reading before being interrupted, and quickly typed a small note near the paragraph before it continued reading.

"Why do you use a grey highlighter?" Klara murmured.

"Um. I don't know, really. I usually pick whichever color looks nice," it opened the highlighter settings, "Really love using this warm yellow tone, you know, like dandelions. Or this light orange one. Or this one, reminds me of sand or something. Or the sky blue...And this fun matcha green."

"You're adorable..."

"Trying my best..." it said while adding another note, and smiled as she kissed its cheek.

"You know, looking at you doing all this makes me think if I should get the hologram thing too... It's pretty fun, watching you wave your hands around and typing on some not existing keyboard."

"Mmh... do you want the actual device or do you want to watch my hands?"

"Take a guess."

"It gets warm sometimes. A bit weird feeling, you know? Maybe I should've bought the newer model. But it's kinda nice."

"Honey, I meant-"

It stopped reading mid-paragraph and reached with its left hand to gently stroke Klara's cheek. "I know what you meant, dear, I'm just joking," it turned its head a little for a moment and smiled at her, before turning back to the hologram. After a moment of reading a few more paragraphs, it sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Klara, I know it's weird for me to care so much about some work stuff. Man, even saying it out loud feels odd, you know? But I just want to finish this thing, because someone else would have ended up doing this tomorrow. Along with other tasks as well. And, um... I don't know. I thought I should do it myself?"

"Oh, sunshine," she murmured against its shoulder, "You know you should put yourself first, sometimes, right?"

"Mmhmm... but why shouldn't I if I can and want to do it?"

Klara moved a little to kiss its cheek, "You're a good person. Maybe a bit too good. Definitely better than what this project deserves."

Tobias half smirked and half bit its lower lip, thinking about the last sentence, before continuing to read the last paragraph. It felt Klara's hands slowly move off its body, giving its shoulder a pat before she moved next to the sink. Half concentrated on the text, other half listening to the sound of water filling an empty glass, it highlighted a few words and tapped its wrist to close the interface.

It jumped down off the kitchen counter, only to go sit on its other side, facing Klara.

"Honey? You mentioned going to take meds, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Did you take them?"

"Uhhh... um," it sat quietl, trying to remember what it was doing before. After a moment, it answered, "I don't remember," with the last word turning into a yawn.

Klara shook her head and picked up something near the sink. Turning around to face it, she gently handed it two pills and kissed its forehead. "You know, you should get one of those little pill boxes to put them near the bed."

Tobias chuckled and swallowed both pills, quietly refusing the glass of water. "Please, they won't all fit in there."

"I'll get you three of them tomorrow."

"Klara, please, don't be ridiculous," it murmured and leaned towards her, "The packages are somewhat visible here in the kitchen. Most of them. And besides, we don't always sleep on the bed anyway."

She cupped its face and smiled. "Fine, if you say so," she said, though Tobias could see that she was still going to go buy them. As it leaned into her right hand, while smiling as she gently stroked its cheek with her left thumb, Klara continued, "You sure you're okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, um, stress-wise, for example? It's been a while since you've had sleep problems this bad."

It looked at her, getting lost in own thoughts again for a moment, before realizing that it had lost control of its face, that was now showing a small frown. "I'll be fine, don't worry, honey," it smiled and gently kissed her hand, "You know I'll tell you if I'm not doing well."

"You better," she said, then added, "Please."

"I will."

"Mmh," Klara sighed and stroked its hair. "Now, how about we finally go back to sleep?"

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask."

#my writing #my art #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #oc writing #🔍 cynosure #🔍 ch: tobias #🔍 ch: klara #klara while they're going to bed: *I* am the workaholic one in this relationship #toby (probably being carried by her or something): uh huh yea i'll leave it to you i'm tired #oc ship #oc x oc #original character

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kahvilahuhut · 3 months ago

Text

a surprise visit

also find the drawing here :)

A little Cynosure scene I wanted to write out asap because it's been rotating a lot in my head lately :]

Summary: Klara looked at the weather forecast and decided to leave from her work trip two days earlier than she was supposed to, in case the flights will be cancelled because of another storm. Getting home early, she decides to surprise her spouse while it's at work. And instead she finds it has picked up its bad habit again.

Warnings: smoking, implied mental health problems

Klara carefully opened the door and saw Tobias stand next to the ledge. At first, she was going to say hi straight away, or slowly sneak up and hug it from behind.

But then she stopped and leaned at the doorway. Just looking at it for a moment would be fun.

It was looking at the street, slowly stretching its hands. A typical habit it would do when stressed. Klara watched it rotate its wrists, stretch its fingers, slowly move its shoulders...

It took a deep breath, stood still for a moment, and took out a pack of cigarettes.

Klara raised an eyebrow. It's not something she expected to see.

It lit its cigarette quickly, as if its a typical thing for it to do, and put it in its mouth. Klara shifted a little, getting ready to come closer, when Tobias leaned on the ledge and glanced at the doorway, suddenly noticing Klara.

"Uh, hi. Lydia said you'd be here?" Klara said, slightly waving, and raised the brown bag she was holding, "I brought, um, coffee and chocolate croissants..."

It stared at her, mouth half open, trying to still hold the cigarette, brown eyes wide open, with dark eyebags under them. A somewhat frightened look at its face. No, not frightened, something else? Surprised, mixed with exhausted and... ashamed?

Klara placed the bag on the floor and walked closer, gently wrapping her left hand around its shoulders and took its cigarette out with her right. "Oh, honey..." she murmured, kissing its forehead as it blew out the smoke. "How did this happen?"

"I'm- I-," it began, leaning its head on her shoulder, "Had an, um, bad day three weeks ago... Went outside to get some fresh air, while it was raining. Abner came there to have a smoke and I, um," it let out a sob, "I don't know, I... I just stared at it and he asked if I want some, and I just...couldn't say no, I guess? I-" it paused to wipe its cheek and sniff, "I needed something to feel better so bad, to have something else to think instead of... all this," Tobias gestured with its hand towards the building.

Klara brushed its hair with her fingers, "It's fine, honey, it's fine," she said, glancing at the cigarette in her other hand, "I don't remember you smoking two weeks ago when I returned from the first work trip..."

"It wasn't, um, it wasn't that bad back then, I could-" it covered its face with its left hand, "I could, like, take a break, or only smoked like twice or thrice... But then I, um. God, this is so embarassing..." It muttered and buried its face in Klara's neck, sobbing.

She said softly, "No, it's not, that's just how life is sometimes... Everything can happen to all of us," she smiled at it as it started to rise its head again.

"That's- ugh. It's just that it's been, what, 20 years since I stopped," Tobias managed to say, "And now where am I? Back at this shit again. I just..."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," she said and glanced at the cigarette again, flickrd the ash into ashtray and took a drag. "See? We will get through this."

"Käresta, come on..." it murmured between its sobs, as Klara put put the cigarette back into its mouth for a moment, before putting it out in the ashtray. "I, um, fuck-" it sniffed, "when you left to another work trip and I woke up in this, um, empty, cold bed all alone, I just suddenly, um, I felt so awful... As if all the stress and bad feelings just filled my brain and, well, I-"

"Decided that smoking more would help?"

It nodded slowly. "I know, sounds ridiculous, right?"

"No," Klara murmured and gently wiped its tears from its cheek.

"Mmh," Tobias buried its face in her neck again, wrapping its both arms around her in a hug. "I'm just- I'm so fucking tired. I feel so exhausted, I'm so tired of this fucking project, I-" it mumbled, and Klara could swear she heard its voice crack despite it being muffled, "I want out so bad. But the fucking contract doesn't let me. I am so done with all this, I just... I want to leave. Now. I can't do this anymore..."

Klara squeezed it closer in a hug and whispered, "I could see if Sarah could do something about it, if you want?" Not like Sarah would listen to her, after she just up and left from the work trip earlier today instead of sitting through another meeting where she had nothing to do. It's not like she'd let it affect work related stuff, right?

"You don't have to, I can, um, try and ask by myself, um..."

"No, I'll do it. And you take a sick leave for the rest of the week while I try to figure everything out."

"Klara..."

"Shh, you need a break. We can start with the iced coffee and croissants I bought."

"Mmhmm..." it sighed and gently kissed her neck. "By the way, um," it began, "What are you doing here? I mean, um, you said you'll return in two days on our morning call, and I-"

"I checked a weather forecast and noticed the possibility of a storm getting even higher for this week, and realized that they may cancel the flights, just in case," she explained, gently running her fingers through its hair, "And so I decided to, well, go 'fuck it' and booked a flight that would've been in two hours after our call. I just didn't care at that point. I wanted to get here, surprise you with a snack break..." she felt it smile against her neck, "Not like this, though, but hey, it's something."

"I'm so glad you're here, honey."

"I'm glad to be here, too," Klara smiled, "Now go sign out of work and let's go home. I think we should also stop by the cafe again and get their bagels."

#my writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing community #oc writing #🔍 cynosure #🔍 ch: klara #🔍 ch: tobias

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quendiviner · 4 months ago

Note

what's the universe of cynosure like?? the involved corporations etc, what do they do / what are they famous for, what's the level of technology like, how would you describe the universe's aesthetics? 👀

OUGHHH THANK U FOR ASKING HEHE <3

Cynosure happens in late 2200's and obviously the world has. well. changed a lot! But not that much and they even still have like, actual phones and some even still use wire headphones.

I think I said something about it being a soft scifi story with cyberpunk-ish vibes which kinda explains it? Well. The technology isn't that much different than ours due to some big problems Earth had to deal with first before getting back to making consumers suffer fulfilling individuals' needs. They have more cleaner energy now, and space travel, and stuff like that, yay! But the state of society has also started to go in a not-that-good direction, causing inequality to rise again little by little, while the power struggles have also caused the corporations to gain more control over what's happening in society and politics, which also makes them (maybe a bit too violent) rivals.

This turned out very...um...long. So I divided it into parts that are

Technology (+ side tracking to societal reasons)

What to expect if you were to live there

State of society in late 2200's

State of society in late 2200's but this time it's about corporations

Happy reading 🤍

Technology

Since I mentioned phones and all, I should probably start with technology JFBNGBFBFJFN UM. It has developed a lot, but the technical development (especially during mid 2000's - late 2100's period) have largely been concentrating on things that are more community/society related than on individual consumer items like phones and shit like that. One of the biggest breakthroughs was finding a specific mineral in space that functions like an extremely big solar panel and has thus advanced the clean energy sector. No one wants another climate catastrophe hahaha. ough.

The phone network is now everywhere, so there won't be a "oh no there's no signal in these woods" moments. or will there. and why is it so necessary anyway, hm 🤨 Public transport is thriving but so are the cars and bikes for some reason. Bikes and electric scooters have obligatory sound they make so people will get less driven over by them and vehicles will be less prone to not notice them and drive over them. No flying cars for consumers but ppl like paramedics and firefighters have helicopter-car combos that are 1) quick and 2) capable of carrying tons of stuff.

Another thing they've learned is quick space travel. Earth has many colonies in different parts of space, though some are actually ex-colonies (like Mars). This doesn't really show back on Earth in any way other than "hey my friend's friend's uncle's cousin's etc moved to x planet". Many people seem to want to move away bc there's this idea on Earth that the colonies are doing much better (they're not in most cases). People moving back to Earth is very rare and is viewed as, well, very weird.

Now, you may wonder why did I phrase the network part like that. Well! Like I kinda mentioned, there was a climate catastrophe. While people did manage to get to safety (some also just moved to the first colonies on other planets, either bc they wanted to or. well. bc they were chosen to 😬) and survive, what followed was chaos because of all the danger and new things that everything started bubbling over. Tons of crises at different parts of the world, and the inequality going sky high. A united planetary board was created, which then managed to allocate resources in a way that would calm the population and solve the problems. They made sure that from now on the budgets corporations and institutions get for their research will be based on how important their idea/innovation could be for the people, which then led to actually rebuilding the whole Earth society into something more united and more healthy.

One of the other things said board decided on, though, is the surveillance. Every person has a little device in a wrist (of non-dominant hand), containing their personal information, ability to pay, and also working as a small data disk. Peiple can choose what info they want to make public (for example, name and pronouns and stuff line that), and also share files with each other. While most opt to use their phones/tablets/laptops etc to confirm payment or see the data they have, later on people developed a modification that allows a small hologram of "screen view" to appear after a specific finger tap sequence. A small minority even manages to do their work stuff somehow... ANYWAY where was I. Right. That sounds somewhat easy, right? Yeah, well. The thing is, whenever you walk into some public building, the scanners at the door scan the device to identify who's inside or who left. It can also, in some situations (legally) be used to pinpoint a person's location when they, say, break a leg on a forest walk. I say legally bc while that was originally the idea, by the time Cynosure happens things are a bit different. :))

As for individual, consumer use related tech, companies started to pay attention to developing it again starting mid 2100's when things got much better again. Personal devices like computers and phones were made more durable due to the directives the Board had set, and also started to have even more powerful processors/graphics and larger amount pf data storage. Of course, most of these upgrades hit the markets much later after the institutions & corporations had them for years, partly bc solving world problems requires devices more stronger and powerful...

Cybernetics are not popular, but aren't rare either. They're expensive as hell and are mostly available through needs based programs (in which situation the government pays for the most of it). Most are health related, and other popular ones are more like devices that monitor person's health and medicine use etc. Health influencers are also big fans of these.

Later on (~early 2200's) some big corporations started to offer some special cybernetic implants for their workers, like hormone and medicine controllers to be more productive. Or things that will give advantages in *looks at notes* violent work encounters. Those are mostly offered to people who work a lot with other corporations or who have a higher risk of getting assasinated.

Unlike cybernetics, what actually are popular are new solutions to change certain parts of one's looks, like hair color, eye color and height (this one requires expensive cybernetic implants though :/). You can now have pink hair without going to the hairdresser every month.

Other things still seem almost same as nowadays, though there is more "smart" tech available. As in, the "your fridge knows you're running out of eggs and you planned to make an omelet for dinner. it has taken its liberty to order new pack of eggs. the grocery shop bot will be there in a moment."

OH THAT REMINDED ME! there are in fact robots and androids in there, most of them also used as some kind of employees. They're usually used at places with possible danger to humans, but some places have also started to use them as waitresses/baristas/customer service, alongside actual human workers. AI is highly regulated and it is illegal to make an actual, human-like intelligence paired with a very human-like body. G*ner*tive AI (censoring simply bc i don't want this to show up in search 🤪) is mostly forbidden, not counting occassional smarter chatbots.

There's also fun plasma guns and specific non-lethal weapons. People find a way how to make them lethal though.

What to expect if you were to live there

There are some things that are better! All education is now free (unless you want to/your parents make you go to some fancy university that thinks it's hotter than others) to make sure that people will have a lot of knowledge to have better chances at getting by in their life. The Earth Board has also made a directive of universal social security, additionally with some special needs based benefits. Cities/towns are walkable and mostly connected by public transport. Cities also tend to sprawl into big areas to make sure there aren't too many people living in the same area. There's also lots of parks and many trees and plants planted in the middle of the streets.

Despite the social security and knowledge, there's still inequality, and it started growing even more since early 2200's due to the local political power slowly sliding to big corporations. :/ They tend to pay more but also tend to choose people from more prestigious universities and schools, often also having preference on people's earlier careers. That leaves most people to work in smaller corporations or public institutions. While robots or androids do many blue collar jobs, some people also choose to work there, and their salary is very good due to the nature of such jobs.

Farming and overall agriculture has become popular, too, due to tech that makes it even more easier :)

While most of the climate catastrophe problems have been solved, there's no denying that weather has changed and became more extreme. Where Cynosure happens, it is a normal thing to have rainstorms at least twice a month, some very severe and often resulting in people having to stay at home. Summers are hot but quite humid, making them not so bearable. There's no "snowy winter" anymore, and many of those who's lived there since their birth have never seen snow in their life.

Pets are still allowed! But, well. You need to take a course of pet care practices to get a license to do that, mostly to prevent pet abuse, illegal/unethical pet adopting practices and easy spread of animal-borne illnesses.

Schools tend to have additional classes that teach children and teenagers about adult life (to make sure no one ends up not knowing how to do x bc their parents didn't/couldn't teach them etc). Many hobbies are made more accessible, though some parents still find a way to get their children into more expensive ones that require a lot of time and tend to be more professional...

Dealing with officials and bureaucracy has never been easier. Is it the fact that your personal info is always with you or is because customer experience is a number one priority for them? I don't know, man.

Health care is more accessible and doesn't cost a lot, but the "downside" is high progressive taxes. There's still enough money to live well though, most of the times. Big corporations tend to have better health insurances and thus their workers are able to get more higher quality med care than others. Some even have their in-house doctors. Some non-big corporate entities try to fix this by having their union give discounts on those for their members.

People tend to be more liberal about sexual & gender identities, partly because Earth doesn't want people to mass move to Mars bc of its more progressive views. HRT and surgeries are available, some corporate headhunters even try to get some young people come work for them by promising full coverage of those + paid leave for gettting better.

Alcohol and weed are available for sale to people over 18. Nightclubs and bars are popular, some streets being just full of them. Working for a corporation in a stressful environment? They might also prescribe you some other stuff if they think it would help productivity/worker's wellbeing. Public sector workers don't get that due to strong regulations.

Media is a big part of how people spend free time. There's tons of tv shows and movies, comics, books and video games. People also love talking about them. Fast food is also still a thing and all. The food is almost the same too hehe

um nothing more comes to my mind rn so. well. maybe i'll come back or y'all can ask abt something u want to know :]

State of society in late 2200's

Before I go into actual state I need to explain how government works probably? Like I already mentioned there's this United Planetary Board (aka the Board) that's made up of different specialists from different scientific fields who represent their own field for 2 years (chosen by scientists in their field and brings whatever said field comes up with on their own meetings). The Board's idea is to decide on the main points & directions for Earth's development and sometimes make up law directives which is probably the only practical thing they do that ppl should care about.

Then we have national governments that basically function in a night-watchmen state-like way to see that the laws work etc etc. They also make some specific laws sometimes that overrule local governments' decisions.

Local governments are more, well, local, and decide about things of a specific area. Due to their importance and heavy effect on basically whatever is going on in the territory, some big corporations have started getting their own representatives there, and also mayhaps pay the other representatives to support their ideas as well.

Like I mentioned before, despite all the social security/nordic welfare state stuff, inequality is starting to rise again bc some people just want more for themselves and manage to charismatically get into local governments., making social security services poorer and lowering taxes etc etc.

This then shows a bit in the crime rate. Crimes haven't been that visible for a century, but are now resurfacing back to the streets. Gangs and organized crime is also getting more and more foothold and starts to be visible. Some big corporations also tend to (unofficially) support some of them bc they help each other. Homicide rate is still a bit lower, but a somewhat big part of it happens between corporations or in corporations...........

Corporations in 2200's

Remember when in the beginning I said that the Board decided to fund those institutions and corporations that pay attention to Earth problems that need to be solved? Yeah, well. Bad idea in the long run.

This decision led to certain corporations becoming awfully big and power hungry, allowing them to throw their competitors off the market and also become incredible lobbyists.

Most of the big ones specialize in biotechnology, defense, pharma and energy, or a mix of those. There are smaller ones that hang out in such fields, too, but they're not that important. Public institutions also still do research but they're not as popular and often looked down upon as "less important".

Obviously back in mid 2000's the Board also made rules that help people see how exactly does a corporation spend money, but century and a half later most of the transparency has been lost and corporations are back on their secretive path. This also means that things like anonymous whistleblower channels are also often forgotten or not paid attention to in big corporations, or they're just not that anonymous. Lucky ones who manage to contact media to bring something up are often left with ruined career and barely any safety. Corporates have their own "investigations" for a few months if not years, and they mostly end in favor of the corporate or the worker who has more friends there.

I gotta admit I need to work more on corporations bc I only have one (1) planned out a bit. Will probably do some kind of intro for them later hehehe <3

#asks #enrichment for my social scientist brain i love talking about this stuff. feel free to ask for more info if u want!!!!!#i also have to admit my master's thesis is related to environmental policy which is why i also want to tie it in here. to get some #motivation to actually work on it during autumn bc i want to graduate in spring haha. and also why klara is a sustainability major and has #phd in it. anyway. hi.#🔍 cynosure

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quendiviner · 3 months ago

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so what is cynosure about, toby? i would love to hear about it !

"Ah, well, originally? My thesis theory. Read several articles about how hibernation could be used in medicine, or how it functions in space flights for some kind of essay I was writing. Some of these articles were from mid 2000's if not early 2100's, and there was barely anything "new". At some point it made me wonder, considering all the nanotechnology advancement, why is nobody trying it out now? The idea got me so excited that I actually had to ask two times for the professor to give me an extension to the original essay's deadline because I couldn't really think of anything else, haha."

"Ended up presenting this idea on a thesis fair week before graduation and some corporate headhunters really enjoyed the idea. And so I ended up in some kind of a joint program of said corporation and some elite university researching this idea, it's kind of an accelerated doctorate or something. Wasn't that bad in the beginning but got worse and more stressful later on. I think the project got doomed at the point where this important guy from administrative department came to hear about the project and jokingly asked if 'it could be used as a weapon'. I told him that technically, maybe, but that wasn't the point. Months later Jack found out that the steering group was actually thinking about developing it that way and we decided to whistleblow the whole thing. We fucked up, obviously, but they still ended up closing the project."

"As for now? Well. Um. The Earth Board is tired of the corporations fighting each other and those fights bringing casualties every now and then really got them even more annoyed. And so they were like, if they won't make some kind of collab project and prove they can work together, they'll be forced to pay a big fine, or worse. Well, instead of making up something completely new they decided to dig up this project again. And somehow got me to join them, too. Kinda feel bad but hey, maybe this time everything will go better?"

"But, well. If you want my honest opinion on this whole current project, though? An interesting concept that could technically save many lives, and a fucking nightmare if it gets into wrong hands. It's these both things at the same time, partly because it's a corporate project but also because it's got public eyes on it so they can't just decide to make it into something that kills people instead. At least I think so."

#asks #oc: tobias #🔍 cynosure #HEHEHEHEHE <3 #my art

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quendiviner · 3 months ago

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Hiiiiii I have a question about long haired Toby!!! What are the differences (in as much or as little detail as you'd like) between Baltimore Toby and Miami Toby 🤔

JEJFBFBJFJF THANK YOU SM

tw: this has mentions of overworking, mental health problems, unhealthy habits and substance use 🤧

Baltimore Toby is back when it was working on the first project/getting its phd (Baltimore bc I think the university the program belonged to was Johns Hopkins or something. haha. obviously we're talking about 2260's here though.) meanwhile Miami Toby is when Aleena & co. asked him to join the skincare start up as a co founder and head of comms.

Side tracking/additional info that's not so important: Okay so funniest thing is that i was like. basically thinking at first that hey i'm sure toby had lots of free time during the project as well. Then I saw a post abt my uni being on top 100's again in Shanghai ranking and went "hm what r the top universities" which then led me to google tuition fees in different places. I went to see john hopkins tuitions and kind of went 👁️👁️ when I saw that students would basically spend around 100k$ a year during phd (indirect fees included) so i was like. hm!

ANYWAY! While I did mention that in Cynosure worldbuilding most universities are free and all, there are still some private ones some parents like to send their children to and with which some corporations like to do collabs). Now, while Tobias did in fact probably get some scholarships and Mackie was like "oh if you keep working for us we'll pay all of ur uni debt" and Toby, 17 years old, naive and just wanting to show what it can do to help people, went "oh ofc that sounds great!". poor guy.

While he did think he would stay there after the project too, Toby's also "a bit" anxious and like, finds it hard to trust promises like that, so it goes on and does extra work like ta:ing and volunteering and all stuff like that. Which led it to basically have no free time at all hahaha. :/. It did attend a book club and get a game console to play its favorite video games at home but like, that's kinda it. It also liked to do work at home btw. Jack would literally come by sometimes and its just sitting looking through some data or something. lmao.

This also led to the fact that Toby basically had no other human contacts except for, well, it's coworkers, some people from university, the book club and Jack (who is also in the coworker section).

ANYWAY! After it left the project it was basically like, "hm what do i do now," especially after looking at its bank accounts and seeing a debt that would be like, almost one million dollars in our modern currency (bc he also hasn't paid for his bachelor's in MIT either. his mom sent him there. he didn't want to go there). Plus he's "just a bit burnt out" (Toby's words) and, well, trying to ignore all its thoughts and feelings re: Jack.

Week later after leaving Mackie Tobias opens its email and sees Aleena's message asking it to call her or meet up with her. So he goes there and she's like "hey so remember our project at that one cosmetics chemistry course? we were thinking abt turning it into a start up and i was wondering if you'd like to join," to which Toby's all like "uh. yeah. sure." not like it has anything else going on. Aleena makes it the head of communications bc Tobias loves public speaking, presentations and stuff like that. And so he moves to Miami.

NOW, despite having a title like that, it's surprisingly easy and has very little work tasks especially since it has a comms team. Toby has no idea what to do with all that free time. It's the first time in its life when it has so much free time (not counting age 1-5).

So it asks Aleena what she tends to do during her free time bc it kinda finds it hard and she's like "well i go to clubs sometimes. and meet with people. and do some other stuff hmm..." and toby, in its brain, basically went "oh so i gotta go to a club."

Well. He did. Many times. Maybe like five times a week or something. It doesn't drink alcohol but picked up some Other Substances to use and, well, basically got a bit too much into things like one night stands or quickies bc 1) its people pleaser brain somehow thought that would be fun and 2) it needed someone to care about it at least in some way and 3) it helped to not think about Jack. Then Frank also showed up so... 😬.

THAT SAID it's not that he only spent time there, Toby also liked to going to museums and got into playing basketball with Aleena. AAAAND it also started spending lots of time at home doing stuff. Or staring at the wall while being bored.

SO UM. How do I conclude this. Both were very bad to its mental health in different ways and the biggest difference is that Baltimore Toby had no free time and Miami Toby had too much. Another difference is that Baltimore Toby tended to limit its substance use to stimulants only, Miami Toby tended to, well, it was high almost all the time. :/

After it got done with everything it basically sold all of its shares for super cheap, which was enough to pay off most of its debt and have some savings, and then it just Left (tm) and went to start things over. Good for it.

#asks #oc: tobias #🔍 cynosure #OUGHHHHHH poor toby. i want to give it a hug so bad.

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