#sometimes technology makes me embrace being an old person shaking my fist at it all

[turnipatthelibrary]

I’m not super attached to my phone, but after accidentally leaving it at a friend’s house before flying home and needing them to mail it back to me I’m appalled by the amount of things I absolutely need it for. Like, I can’t even do a load of laundry until it arrives because the way I pay for laundry is through an app on my fucking phone. 

[bluegay-redgay]

This Shit Will Linger - “Dennys, Anyone?”

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19379371/chapters/46111951 Word Count: 2,634 Summary: Everyone has made it into NYU!! Of course this calls for a celebration!After a late night of drinking and watching shitty movies, Chrisitne makes an interesting suggestion.(For reference, this is what I picture Michael's PT Cruiser looks like: https://www.autoblog.com/chrysler/pt+cruiser/  ) "We all made it!! We actually got accepted!!" Christine excitedly attempted, and failed, to embrace everyone into a group hug following the very exciting news.

"We better start saying 'hello' to student debt."

"C'mon Jerry! As true as that is, we need to celebrate!!" Brooke smiled as she began to pack her bags.

Yes, that is correct. The SQUIP Squad is officially heading to New York as students of NYU in 6 months!!

Christine followed her passion and decided to major in Musical Theatre with a minor in Asian/Pacific/American Studies, Jenna Rolan wanted to put her curiosity of knowing everything about everyone to use, majoring in Sociology. After a few stressful weeks of going back and forth, Jake settled on Sports Management while Rich went with Chemical Engineering. "It's so badass." He would say in defense, but in reality, Rich just wanted to assure himself a stable job.

To no one's surprise, Michael is going to major in Music Technology while taking a minor in Producing. Chloe went against her parents' demands and chose Individualized Study across the Humanities, "I'm not entirely sure what I want to do yet, but I want to focus on myself. But not by being pretty or whatever, like self-improvement." Brooke was definitely happy to hear that as she happily followed in her mother's footsteps, majoring in Nursing.

Jeremy was the last one to pick a major, continuously procrastinating on his application, but after some advice from Mr. Heere and some reassuring words from his friends, Jeremy decided to stick with his secret dream of Digital Art & Design. Although he typically kept his drawings to himself, Jeremy would occasionally post a drawing/design that he was particularly proud of.

Everyone was happy with their choices, and they were so ecstatic to know that everyone will be attending the same college.

"I think this calls for a chaotic hangout at Dennys! Who's drivin'?" Rich swung his backpack onto his back. "Not Jake, the last time he drove we actually almost ran into a tree." Brooke recalled the group's previous trip, sending Jake a glare.

"In my defense, I was kinda jammin' out so.." Jake didn't have anything else to say, shoving any remaining notebook paper or pens into his bag. "Yeah yeah.. So who can actually drive us there?" Jenna eyed everyone.

It only took a moment before everyone nodded and looked at a certain hoodie-wearing teen. "Michael!!"

The outburst was one thing that unsettled Michael but it was about him. And he wasn't prepared, almost falling off of the desk he was leaning on. Michael pulled down his headphones. "Yes?" Jeremy smiled and wrapped his lanky arm around Michael's shoulders, "Would you be so kind and drive us to Dennys? Pwetty pwease?" as he gave Michael the infamous puppy-dog eyes, Jeremy knew the answer already.

"Fiiiine. But you're paying for my meal." Michael groaned and grabbed his keys from his pocket. It's not like he didn't want to hang out with his friends, he was so happy about being accepted but he wasn't thrilled about moving to a new place, especially New York. It was littered with people. But nonetheless, Michael will try to adjust, if not for him, then for his friends, for Jeremy.

"Sweet! Let's dip!.. Chloe, my love, you're about to- well.." Brooke tried to warn Chloe about her smoothie but it was too late. It practically turned her top pink. "SHIT!! I JUST BOUGHT THIS!!" Chloe immediately dropped anything she was holding trying to wipe off any heavy amounts of strawberry chunks. Unfortunately this included her phone. Luckily, Christine caught it just in time as she was grabbing her book from the floor. "Woah! That was close! You need any napkins, Chlo?" Christine placed the device on a nearby desk. "What does it look like!?- Sorry! I mean, yes. Please." It's still going to take a bit more time, but Chloe has come a long way when improving her anger issues and just her overall attitude towards others.

"Are we done fucking around? I want Dennys!!" Rich lightly punched Jake's shoulder as he waited impatiently.

"Will Michael's car even fit all eight of us?" Jenna recalled the size of Michael's PT Cruiser

"Oh sure, all we have to do is tie like two of us on the roof." Michael chuckled. "But for real, you'll be fine. I think you might have a either sit on the floor or sit in someone's lap. Your choice." Michael headed towards the door, followed by everyone after Chloe decided that she was presentable again.

"Just don't fuck up my car." Michael stated, turning on the engine as they got closer. Jeremy quickly ran over to the passenger seat, it was almost a given that he'd take shotgun. But no one was complaining. Except Jake & Rich.

"C'mon Tall-Ass! At least push up your seat a little! We're crushed back here!!" Rich was basically on Jake's lap at this point. Not that he minded, Jake didn't seem to care either. Their legs had different opinions however.

Jeremy basically liked to lay down while Michael drives, whether it's to catch up on sleep that he's deprived of or to just clear his mind. Either way his seat was totally crushing Jake & Rich's legs, "Fine fine fine... This better?" He moved his seat about two feet, clearing the space immensely.

"Yes sir! Thank ya very much." Rich slid down Jake's legs a bit as he relaxed, pulling out some chips that were stuffed in his backpack.

"Can we go now?! It's hella crowded back here." Jenna complained, trying to not impale Christine's chest with her elbow.

"You guys asked Michael to drive, this is what you get." Jeremy looked at her through the rear-view mirror.

"Honestly, anything's better than Jake's driving." Brooke muttered under her breath.

"Do you wanna fight? I was not tryna get called out like this." Jake placed his hand over his heart as he continued his dramatic monologue, "I thought we were friends Brooke. I cannot believe that you'd betray me in such a way- Holy shit!!!"

His sentence was nearly cut off as Michael slammed the brakes. "What the fuck, Michael?!" Rich held the back of the passenger's seat tightly.

"A damn truck cut me off, nearly hitting me. You're welcome for not getting you hurt." Michael snapped back, continuing the drive, if a bit more cautious.

Jeremy looked at Michael and could tell immediately that he was panicking a bit, "Want someone else to drive on the way home?" Michael stayed silent for a moment, "No. It's fine. Just people being complete dumbasses." Jeremy nodded and scolled through Instagram. He was very aware that Michael can get serious road rage despite being calm almost 24/7.

"It'll be the first entrance to the right after this exit, Michael." He nodded and changed lanes, "Thanks Christine."

"Hey! Lovebirds, might wanna wrap that make-out session up soon. We're pretty much there." Jake called out, and he was right: Chloe & Brooke were practically sucking each other's faces off. "Fuck off, Jake." Chloe eyed him from her periphery vision. "We're having a moment."

"You were at my wedding, Denise." Jake scoffed. He then saw the iconic logo signalling his stomach to growl rather loudly.

"I guess that means that we're here. Let's roll! I can't feel my legs." Jenna practically shoved Rich & Jake out of the car, finally free. "Yes!! Now let me stuff pancakes in my mouth!" She ran off with with everyone to grab a booth and potentially raid the kitchen.

Jeremy was about to join them when he noticed that Michael hadn't even moved from his seat, "Micha? You good, dude?" Michael tensed at the question but slowly nodded, "Y-Yup.. I'm great.." His hands started to shake and his chest was rising faster as the seconds passed, "...N-No.." Tears suddenly flowed down his cheeks, it was as if a dam was just broken down.

Jeremy immediately hugged him, rubbing small circles on his back. He didn't say a word, he learned from personal experience that words of reassurance isn't always the best solution. Sometimes it's just a simple hug and letting the other cry it out, but not alone. Not again.

"I'm.. I'm sorry Jer... I-It's just.. I'm stressed? I-I mean we just.. we just got accepted into f-fucking college!.. We'll.. We'll be moving to a new state, shit to the m-most populated city in fucking America!.. And.. And the d-debt.. I guess it's just... piling up on me.." Michael sniffed as he rubbed his eyes with his hoodie.

Jeremy smiled and only tightened his hug a little. "Dude I get it. I completely understand, I mean it IS fucking stressful but here's the thing: I'll be there with you throughout the entire journey. We made it a two-player game, right? That's gonna continue throughout college and even when we're old geezers with white hair. You have my word." Jeremy ran his fingers through Michael's black locks.

Michael almost started crying again, he was only able to nod, still wanting the hug to last forever, "Yeah, I'll uh.. hold you to it, dude."

"Wanna stuff our faces with syrup-soaked pancakes?" Jeremy asked, pulling away to see his reaction.

Michael smirked, "Always." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone had finished their food a long time ago, now they were just exchanging witty banter or suffering from a food coma.

"I am a firm believer that Walt Disney froze his body and that 'Frozen' was created to hide those google results about the body! You cannot tell me otherwise!!" Brooke slammed her fist against the table as she declared her stance on this very important matter.

"I mean it makes sense, the man was a genius! Why wouldn't he want to live forever?"

"Brooke, honey, I think you're alone on this one."

"Michael agrees with me! He believes in more conspiracies than all of us combined!"

Michael chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, "I mean it's not the stupidest theory I've heard but there are so many other theories that are way more convincing!" He was feeling better after his anxiety attack, it took some food with a couple of dumb jokes and Michael was smiling again. He was calm.

Christine was rather quiet at the moment so anyone would've nearly screamed when she slammed her palms onto the table yelling, "GUYS I JUST HAD AN AMAZING IDEA!!"

After everyone recovered from the small heart attack, Chloe was the only one quick enough to have a response, "Here we go.. What are we gonna reenact "Your Fault" again?" She rolled her eyes at the memory.

"Not this time. So, hear me out: Like it or not, we're going to be Stressed-Out College Students™, so we need an outlet of sorts in order to-"

"Chris, get to the point." Jenna cut him off, sipping her coffee.

"Okay, okay! We can create a YouTube channel! Or multiple, it's your choice."

It was silent for a second until Brooke released a muffled snicker, following by everyone laughing at the idea. Except Christine.

"It'll be fun!!" Christine smiled. Wait is she serious?

"Chris, I know you're one of the most outgoing people on this dying planet but come on. What would we even do?" Michael wiped his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Anything we want! It's like a way to...how do I put this..

"Express ourselves?" Michael added some half-assed jazz hands, obviously joking.

"Yes!! Exactly! C'mon, at least give it a shot! We can each have our own channels and then a conjoint channel for all of us! It'll so much fun and can be something interesting for us to do over the summer and in college!!"

Again, her statement was met with silence... until Jeremy sighed and gave Christine a smile, "I...uh... guess it wouldn't hurt? I'm still uh.. hesitant?"

Jeremy's agreement was all that it took for the rest of the group, even Michael, to start muttering their agreement. Jeremy had a point, it wouldn't hurt them to at least try it out, right?

Brooke tapped her chin as her mind tried to think of an idea, "Maybe... Oh! Chlo & I can do makeup tutorials, random vlogs or shopping hauls! And also have our weekly trips to Pinkberry! Whaddya say, Chloe?" Her face practically shined like a star. So of course Chloe couldn't deny her, "That might be fun.. I'm up for it if you are?" Brooke responded with a peck on Chloe's cheek.

"Barf. I'd totally do prank videos or parkour. Something hella cool. Maybe a few of those cliche internet challenges." Rich chuckled, secretly excited about this potential channel. "Bro, if you think I'm deadass not gonna join, my dude you are wrong, heh!!" Jake bro-fisted with Rich, establishing this collaboration.

Christine excitedly clapped her hands, "Yay!! I'm excited!! I mean obviously I'd do theatre reviews, maybe some covers and costume tutorials!! Oh, I can't wait!! What about you Jenna?"

Jenna didn't even need to think about it. It was almost a given, "Probably gossip & fashion review. Maybe the occasional vlog if I travel. Michael? Jer?"

All attention was on the two of them, "Well if my channel is gonna reflect my life, it'll be a mess so uh.. I guess whatever I want? It may um.. depend on my mood that day, who knows?" Jeremy just shrugged but honestly? He wasn't sure what he wanted to do at all.

"If I must create content for the people of the planet, most of it would likely consist of conspiracies.. random thoughts/realizations I have when I'm high and uh.. I dunno gaming?" Michael still wasn't keen on the idea of starting a channel but that didn't mean he wasn't gonna try it, it did sound pretty dope to him.

The group nodded in agreement, that suited them. "And we'd have a channel for all of us? Sweet. Why not make a video now? Like a launch sorta thing?" Jake suggested.

It didn't sound like a bad to them, why the hell not?

"Cool, cool. Let's create our channels first!" Christine pulled out her phone and started the process. Everyone mimicked her actions and soon enough, the SQUIP Squad had started their YouTube career.

"I think it's pretty obvious that we share our names, yeah? I'll start: My channel is 'Babbling Brookie'! Chloe and I's channel is called 'verypinkberry' Brooke was proud of the names, it obvious who created them.

"Mine is simply 'CooCooChloe', fitting isn't it?" Chloe scoffed, she actually really liked it.

"Those are nice and all but the channel to be at is 'NotSoRichieRich' cause I'm a broke bitch! Haha!" Jake rolled his and prepared his announcement as if it would change the world, "Are you ready for this, ladies & gentlemen? My channel is called.... 'JakeyD' it's fucking original and no one can top that." His toothy grin was just a cherry on top.

"Adorable. 'JamPackJenna' because woooo boy is the tea hot right now!" She was in the middle of taking a selfie that would likely be her icon.

"I wanted to do a bit of wordplay as well so I did it! 'Chrisanthemum'! It has a pretty okay ring to it. Jeremy? What about you? Please tell me it's a pun!!"

Jeremy laughed and nodded, "It's 'HeereHere'.." The first one to burst out laughing was of course Michael, that pun went way back to when the two met in preschool. "Oh-Oh my GOD Jer!! You.. You actually..!" It took Michael a few seconds to calm down as he cleared his throat, "It is purely 'Mellon'. I do not take criticism."

And no one criticized because come on, that's one of the best puns for his name.

"Sweet, now shall film this late night announcement at Dennys?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TheSQUIPSquad™ uploaded a new video.

[theonetheycallsagey]

Howl

Woo, picking up where Home Invasion left off! First off, a happy belated birthday to my boy @gruntnuker-rwby. He’s been such a good friend to me for so long. Second, some new faces enter the fight, thanks to another friend that has supported me so much. Hope you guys like this one!

Dash belongs to me

Sienna belongs to @gruntnuker-rwby

Team WOLF belongs to @bunbun6969 (not her main social media lol)

Far away from the factories and mines of Atlas, the tribes of the Solitas mountain ranges thrived in the harsh conditions. Through peace and war, these villages remained hidden in the mountains as one of the Remnant's best kept secrets. Despite technological and industrial advancements within the kingdom, these areas laid isolated in time. Not many other than the ones who called it home knew of its existence. Even fewer would be crazy enough to brave the ice and the howling winds to live in the beauty of untouched nature.

The sun was just rising on a new day for the village known as Kavik. Some of the townsfolk were awake bright and early, including the chief's daughter. Stepping outside of her cabin, the girl's turquoise jacket was tied around her waist despite the light snowfall that was hitting her pale skin. Silver hair cascaded down her back, almost reaching her wolf tail. She stretched her arms out to embrace the rush of the cold against her body and the smell of pine trees before making her way into town.

"Priestess Wolverina," an elderly lady called out, stopping her morning walk. "You should really be wearing that jacket."

"Ma'am, it's Wolfie, you know that," she said, her carefree smile not fading for even a moment. "And I'll be fiiiiiiine. I've grown up in this all my life. This is my element!" The old woman knew Wolfie was always one to let her addiction to fun get the best of her, and sometimes it took half the village to make sure she stayed out of trouble.

"This is the priestess we're talking about!" a young boy spoke up, his ear lined up next to a radio. "The Battle Angel! The Wild Wolf! She can handle anything!"

"Awooooooo," Wolfie playfully howls before letting out a small giggle. The old lady couldn't help but smile at seeing the silliness in her heterochromatic eyes, but she still remained adamant.

"One of your new friends you brought back with you should make sure you stay warm."

"They do, Fernie especially. But, he can't stop me from being one with the snow!" she said.

"You guys kicked ass at the Vytal Festival! The whole village was listening on the radio cheering for you!" the boy said. Wolfie smiled at him then ruffled his hair, meanwhile the old woman was ready to smack the kid’s head. Through the kid's excited rambling, she caught a snippet of the news report playing on the radio.

"…following the developing story of the White Fang raid on the Ospreay estate…"

"Turn that up! Turn that up NOW!” Wolfie yelled. The serious tone she suddenly carried in her voice caught the boy off guard. He immediately went quiet and fumbled with the dial to turn up the volume.

"Atlas officials report no casualties, but millions of lien worth of property damages. There is still no word on the whereabouts of the two missing persons, the Ospreays' son Dash and daughter Dawn. Investigations report of a scuffle in the garage, where they found collateral damage and a puddle of blood. Both Tone Ospreay and his eldest son Tone Jr declined to comment on the situation. If you have any news on the status of Dash and Dawn Ospreay, call-". Wolfie reached over and shut the radio off. Listening to it any longer wouldn't help her believe it. Her gaze was fixed on the snow beneath her feet. Her mind and heart alike were racing.

"Priestess? Is everything ok?" the old lady asked. Her head snapped back up to see concerned looks from her and the little boy. She couldn't formulate an answer, only able to bolt back toward her cabin. There, the ram faunus Fern Tremblay was waiting in the doorway. Dark-skinned with curly white hair, his leather jacket was buttoned up over a green tank top.

"Wolfie, why even have a jacket if you're not gonna wear it?" Fern said. But Wolfie almost ran past him without even acknowledging him, let alone firing off a snappy comeback. "Wolfie? What's up?" Ignoring him again, she stepped past him and looked into the cabin. Inside, another boy was looking at himself in the mirror, trying to fix his scruffy green hair. A black-haired girl was asleep in the corner, her beautiful body hidden underneath blankets. The green-haired gentleman, Owen Walsh, turned to see his leader's distress.

"Lead? What's wrong?" Owen said, his Irish accent prevalent. "Did Fern and ya have a fight last night?"

"Hey! This isn't my doing," Fern said, walking in behind Wolfie.

"Oh crap, she's still asleep," she murmured in reference to other woman in the room. "What is she gonna say?"

"Babe! What's wrong?" Fern said louder, spinning Wolfie around and holding her by the shoulders. He caressed her chin to make her look into his green eyes as he tried to give off the most comfort he could muster. Owen dropped his comb aside and slowly stepped toward them as well. Wolfie eventually sighed and brought her heart rate back to normal with a deep breath.

"It's the hothead," she said.

"Hothead? Ospreay?" Fern asked.

"What's Red got to do with any of this? Did te lad mouth off too much like usual?" Owen chimed in.

"He's missing. He and his sister were kidnapped by the White Fang," Wolfie said. Both guys shut up on the spot, and could only exchange glances of disbelief as Wolfie struggled through that sentence. Neither one of them could find anything to break the silence, so it was done by someone else.

"What?"

The female voice grabbed everyone's attention as each of them turned to face the dark-haired woman. She was now awake, sitting up in her bed. Her button-up top was ruffled and the blankets were now pushed aside. Her own face of disbelief was mixed with more outrage than the others' expressions.

"Liddy, I…"Wolfie said.

"Sis, take it easy," Owen said softly as he slowly approached her. But, she stomped out of bed before Owen could get to her

"WHAT? Kidnapped?! Please tell me this is a bloody joke, lead!" Lidiette said angrily, her British accent cracking with an overflow of emotion. Wolfie could only shake her head, feeling the tension as Lidiette's face grew dark. She screamed through gritted teeth loud enough for her brother to cringe slightly. Before anyone could think of the right words to tell her, she immediately walked back to her bed. Rummaging through her stuff, she put on her tailcoat, vest, top hat, and laced on her knee high boots. She grabbed her cane that was leaning on the wall and gripped it tight.

"I'm going to find him!" She stormed toward the exit until Fern stood in the doorway with arms up to block her.

"Nope! He could be anywhere in Remnant, and you are never gonna find him by blindly marching around," Fern said. Lidiette knew he was right, and she definitely knew that they weren't going to let her go alone. But, she still wanted to lash out at something, anything. Knowing his sister all too well, Owen stepped in, wrapping her up and lifting her in a hug before she could do anything.

"We have to do something! I will not just let them take my darling from me! I’ll kill them before they lay another hand on him!” she yelled, thrashing around in Owen's arms.

"We will do something," Wolfie said confidently, trying to console her. Her leader prowess was kicking in, the rally cry that united her team so many times before. "I want the hothead back too. He's like a little bro to me. Not to mention how much he means to you, Liddy. We just have to figure out where he is."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Owen asked, setting Lidiette back down on her feet.

"Simple. We get it from the mouth of the White Fang itself. With so many members, one of them has to give us what we want if we force it out of him. We just gotta grab the Fang's attention. Which means…" A crazy and mischievous smirk came across her face as she panned back to her teammates with eyebrows raised.

"Which means we got to piss 'em off!" Owen said with a laugh. "Oh I'm in. That's one hell of a fight!" Wolfie then looked over her shoulder to Fern next.

"Crazy, probably gonna die? Nothing unusual as far as your plans go. I'm in too. Let's go save the idiot and his sister."

Wolfie pumped her fist then walked to Lidiette. Looking down at her cane then back to her leader, Lidiette saw the conviction that made her such a great leader, especially in the biggest of crises. She set the cane down then hugged Wolfie tight. After stepping back and scanning over the rest of her team, she met them with a nod that replicated Wolfie's assurance. Owen shouted excitedly and grabbed his jacket. Wolfie smirked at her team's eagerness, and Fern wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Team WOLF was back in business.

It took Dash several moments to process that he was awake. He couldn't tell where he was, or how much time had passed. The room was dark, barely lit enough to see a sizeable red blot on the bandages that were wrapped around his stomach. In fact, the pain was the only thing confirming to him that he was awake. He tried to reach for the wound, but his hand only made it a few inches before restraints forced him to stop. After a moment of confusion, he pulled harder, but again only heard the rattle of chains.

The lights suddenly came on, blinding Dash temporarily. Once his sight came back to him, he saw Sienna stroll into the room, mask in hand. She was still in her White Fang uniform tights, but only had a black tank top on her torso.

"Not gonna hide yourself behind that mask?" Dash said, his voice shaky compared to the usual confidence it carried.

"I don't need to hide from your bullshit anymore, Ospreay," Sienna said back, dropping her mask on a nearby desk.

"Someone gets in one cheap shot and all of a sudden they can topple an empire?" Dash said. Sienna couldn't contain her laughter.

"You're still so arrogant. You don't get it, do you? A cheap shot is still a shot, and it's the one that got me one of the most powerful families in Remnant in the palm of my hand." Dash's eyes zeroed in on the fox faunus, squinting like it was all a fever dream that he was expecting to dissipate any second now. "What do you expect? You have a very punchable existence."

"I almost beat you in dress shoes. You really think you stand a chance?"

"Your own little world must be one hell of a place, Spicy!" Sienna said, laughing even harder. "You're unable to grasp that none of that matters anymore. For the first time in your pretty little life, you've lost. You're nothing more than my little plaything until I can turn you over for ransom."

"Plaything?! Ransom?!" Dash fired back, fury spilling from his voice.

"What? Didn't think I've got some anger pent up in me? From every time you put me down, insulted me, trashed me, treated me like dirt!" The giggling was gone, and now her voice was matching Dash's in intensity. She slowly stepped forward and knelt down, looking the All-Atlesian shortstop in the eyes. "I've been looking forward to this."

"If you're that fed up with me, why don't you just kill me then? Too scared?"

"Oh, please. You're far too important to let slip through our fingers. I can - and will - get every bit of information I can out of you and use it to burn your precious family business to the ground." She stands tall, looking down upon her prey. "I would've dumped your barely conscious corpse for the Grimm, but my squad doesn't kill faunus and human alike."

"How noble," Dash sarcastically snapped. Sienna's anger flared again, her semblance kicking in with her tail flicking a small spark. "Why would I talk anyways?"

"Don't you want to see your little sister again?" His heart froze. His eyes widened. The last few moments of the party played in his head, a rush of memories overruling all his other senses. Dawn's cries for help. The blood on his fingers. He couldn't get up. He couldn't rescue her.

"Don't worry. She's safe," Sienna said, snapping him back to reality. She turned her scroll for Dash to see, and on the screen was Dawn, either asleep or unconscious. Even not awake, it was clear she looked terrified, and her eyes were still puffy from crying. But, she didn't have many bruises on her. "For now."

"Fuck off, Umberon! You were always a wasteland lowlife! Just some criminal who crawled out of the scrapyard!" He thrashed against his restraints harder, as if he could break free and reach through the screen to pluck Dawn to safety. But, with each enraged yank on the chains, he only exhausted what energy he had left.

"Watch what you say, boy," Sienna said back sternly. "Or I'll make an exception to my rule and send you back to your family too charred to recognize!" She roughly grabbed his face by the jaw and ignited her semblance. Without her gloves, the embers were more uncontrollable, but they were burning his face all the same. Dash winced and pulled on his chains again, not out of anger this time, but just trying to avoid the pain.

"Aw what's the matter?" Sienna said, backing off to admire her handiwork. "Not enough aura for just a tiny little burn?"

"Shit," Dash thought. "It hasn't had time to regenerate yet." With a devilish smirk, Sienna ran a finger across his jaw once again.

"Now. Tell me what you know about your shipments. Gimme locations of your biggest ports." Dash didn't answer though. Fatigue was already setting in once again. The pain from the claw marks and the burns was turning everything into a haze. Sienna grabbed his arm and dug her fingers in, sending a shockwave through Dash's body that was too much to shrug off.

"Kuchinashi, Izolim, Lugine. Weekly shipments for each of the kingdoms. A truck convoy goes directly to the Atlas capital," Dash cried out. Sienna's grip lessened, and Dash sighed at the little sweet relief he could get. Sienna smirked once again before taking a half step back.

"There ya go. Was that so hard?" she teased amidst more cackling. "This could be good for both of us, Ospreay. I get to watch your evil corporation crumble and you get to hug your adorable little sister one day. But, you gotta behave." She glances at her scroll then nods. "Especially while I'm gone."

"Gone?" Dash questioned.

"This kidnapping job got me some notoriety amongst the White Fang ranks. I just got a couple missions in some of the other kingdoms. I'll make sure to stop by those ports along the way." Dash tilted his head in confusion. He didn't know which were the 'other' kingdoms because he didn't know which one he was currently in. Sienna continued, "That's another day though. Today, I get to play more with my new toy." Dash didn't speak back due to a combination of fear and tiredness, but neither stopped him from putting on his best scowl. Sienna met the daggers being glared at her with nothing more than amusement.

"That's adorable. Clinging to the illusion of power still," she said while turning her back. After a long pause, she looked over her shoulder and went on, "Remember when my team and I first came to Beacon? You heard we were from Vacuo and tried to brand us as 'violent anarchists' in front of everyone."

"Yeah. I remember that," he softly said, not exactly feeling proud of that moment.

"I hated that day. I was so worried that was going to ruin us on the first day. On the outside, I was fine. On the inside, I wanted to scream." Her speech was now irate in tone as she approached Ospreay once again. After a brief staredown, she surprised Dash by tightly grabbing his abdominal wound with a hand that was aflame. Tears welled in Dash's eyes as he cried out in agony.

"Well. Now it's your turn to scream for me."

[kjwongsbrain]

I didn't know I wanted 'eugh'.

I find myself writing a lot about technology these days. I think I've aged considerably in the past couple of years. Technologically, I mean. I mean, technologically representative-ly. I mean, technologically metaphorically representative-ly.

Okay. Wait.

You know how there's always a stigmatic depiction of the age difference in people based upon our reaction to technology? As an how young people take new technology and immerse themselves in it and the old people are outside looking in and criticizing them and the new technology in their hands and how it will bring about the end of the world?

Yes. I'm now that old person. And I think I've grown into it way quicker than I'd thought.

But I still like to maintain that I have techno-apathy. I'm 'whatever' about it, and that allows me to still keep using it, but with a skeptical eye. But as technology continues to grow, I find myself being more and more guarded in respect to its involvement in my life. I recently refused to use my social media account to sign into Dominoes Pizza's website to place an order. It might sound ludicrous to some, but I don't want that information given to a pizza place. If you call up the pizza place and order a pizza they don't ask you what your Facebook profile is and go scrolling through it to see what pages you've liked. So why should I just give it to them on the account of the convenience of ordering a pizza online?

Honestly I would've never bothered with online ordering the moment they requested I login with my social media page. The problem was that the phone lines were busy when I called, and I was hungry. But I do get the distinct feeling that they're not putting as many resources into picking up phone orders as they did maybe five years ago. Safe to say I expect no more phoning in pizzas in the next couple of years. Just like how AirAsia doesn't have a number you can call anymore, so too will the pizza place be unreachable by cable.

Cloud pizza. That's what I'll call it.

Another case of my techno-apathy slowly turning into techno-fear (if I don't keep it in check) was a reaction to recent VR related news. As a side note, I do think VR is going to find its place very soon and it isn't going to be the homes of the masses. Nope. VR theme parks are becoming a thing and I really think that's where they belong. Just the same way how 4D cinemas are not a major way in which you expect to consume your entertainment, VR will thrive as a single serving experience.

Coming back to my point, the reaction in question was someone questioning why some people, me included, looked at a picture of a room full of heads strapped into VR goggles - all looking in a single direction and completely oblivious to the physical world around them - and felt shivers down our spines. Some were even poking fun at the 'old people' who were once again shaking their fists at technology.

Well I'm now one of those old people.

Some time ago, when Facebook first introduced it's 'Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening (YourNameHere)' messages right at the top of the feed, I jokingly wrote a response telling Facebook to piss off because I've seen those movies and I know how it ends. And that got me thinking a bit about this entire technological debacle and how science fiction has kind of shaped my techno-apafear. You see, science fiction to me has always been a genre for the thinking man. It's why I didn't care for it when I was a lot younger. But more than just being intellectually stimulating, science fiction also forces its viewers and readers to ask questions. Sometimes these questions help distance us from the shackles of 'what is' and help us continue to live in the 'what will be', pushing our minds to chase after the possibilities of the future. Sometimes these questions serve as examinations of ourselves, bringing us closer to our humanity. And sometimes they even serve as precautionary tales of the pitfalls of the exponential growth of technological advances.

And I feel that the more you educate yourself with science and science fiction, the faster you become an 'old person'. My willingness to embrace new technology has waned significantly and my caution in using what I already have is at alert level 'orange'.

All of this started me on a journey of processing a collection of thoughts on the role of social media in the world of today. I've been struggling with this train of thought for a while because it's never quite come out as one coherent idea, but rather bits and pieces that seem to all fit together in some way. It's like I'm at the stage in a detective movie when Mr Ace Detective has got all the clues already on his desk but has yet to piece it all together to reveal Mr Bad Man.

I've sat down to write this thing thrice already and I've never been satisfied with the way its turned out. So I'm having another go at it and if you are actually reading this, lucky number four then.

When Twitter was first introduced, it was met with some rather harsh criticism. Naturally 'old people' were in an uproar about how communication was being reduced down to 140 characters. Even now with Facebook's stupid large font concept there seems to be this idea that shorter messages are somehow more important. The shorter thought is the one that ought to get more attention, and the shorter thought is all anyone outside of yourself cares about. Naturally some resistance to the concept of short-thought-Twitter was founded. Heck, someone even started a service called 'twitlonger' which allowed people to type 'long tweets' and instantly link them into a twitter post.

The thought of that today is rather ridiculous because it's simply defeating the purpose of Twitter altogether. The idea of Twitter was to convey a genuine message in its most condensed form. It wasn't that short thoughts were more important, it was that deeper thoughts could be condensed. Remove the rambling. Remove the unnecessary flirtation with unimportant details. Get to the heart of the matter or say nothing at all. That was Twitter's power.

But still, to this day, Twitter is filled with whimsy. In fact it started with mostly whimsy. 140 characters tended to attract the whimsy more than it attracted the poetic. But somewhere along the way Twitter also became a platform for the real and necessary. Somewhere along the way, and regrettably in my opinion, Twitter became a legitimate source of information.

I don't know specifically where it started and how it snowballed into what it is today, but I think it had something to do with unsavory events around the world and unsavory news that fewer and fewer wanted to broadcast on national television. What resulted was Twitter becoming a legitimate platform for news. The speed at which a breaking news story could reach trending worldwide was phenomenal and far quicker than any ordinary news portal could achieve. This allowed news to bypass censors, bypass ordinary restrictions that filtered unsavory news before handing it out to the consumer. In a way, Twitter news was more 'real'. And that made it more powerful.

Actual news portals eventually turned to Twitter. Government offices turned to Twitter. World leaders turned to Twitter.

And all the rest of social media followed. Social platforms became the main news portals for a large number of people. I'd worryingly say for most people. People now get news from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and any other heavily populated social media platform.

There's two large problems with this.

One is that the whimsy never went away. With the growth of social media as a legitimate information portal, the odd slurry of widely varying stories only became stranger and more kaleidoscopic. You would be reading one article about the appointment of a new member of cabinet and then scroll down to see a picture of a baby-shaped cake. One moment a story about Syrian refugees, the next a story about how coconuts cure cancer.

The violent mix of whimsy and serious makes the two almost indistinguishable in its presentation - a fact that some even capitalize on. And if whimsy and serious are treated the same because they share the same platform, then one of two things will happen - the whimsy is taken seriously, or the serious is taken whimsically. Both of those things are a problem.

The second problem is the fundamental way in which social media works. In an ordinary news portal, news is curated by people. While this has the unfortunate problem of bias in reporting, it does mean that there is proper care and thought that goes into what news stories get printed, what goes up front, what goes further back, what gets special mention, and what doesn't. There is an active process of weighing information for its importance to the general populace. I've addressed the bias already so let's leave that aside for a second. Journalism is a responsibility.

What happens with social media platforms is news becomes subject to the automatic algorithmic that makes each social media site turn. All news is subjected to popularity rather than factual importance. Worse now is how each and every thing you view on the internet is curated to your personal tastes and history. All of this is done automatically. No human being weighed in and decided what news stories Twitter and Facebook should circulate as its 'top story' for that day or week.

When you combine these two problems, you have a rather catastrophic picture of people and news. And this also explains the new phenomenon known as 'echo chambers' where news gets shared on social media only to the people who already agree with it. That piece of news gets shared over and over and over among the people who agree with it, inflating its importance and significance no matter what the rest of the people think. And so when a story becomes shared sixty million times, no matter what it's about, it's instantly the most important piece of news on social media.

The amalgamation of all these things can be seen in Buzzfeed.

Let's not go two ways about this - Buzzfeed is full of shit. A 'news' site that has a history of targeted advertising, native advertising, and just generally flooding your social media pages with stupid idiotic lists of shit nobody should really care about. Nobody in their right mind should ever care what Buzzfeed has to say, not when they're publishing a quiz to tell what kind of a potato you are. But because Buzzfeed has a tendency to be one of the most shared things on the internet, people get confused about its prominance versus its importance.

And then Buzzfeed started reporting legitimate news. Or rather, articles that it claimed to be news. Once all the circumstances were in place, it was only natural that people were now treating a Buzzfeed article about the corruption of the political sector as a legitimate piece of journalism. This, from the news site that also published an article on a cat with eyebrows.

This is the problem I'm talking about. The impossible mix of whimsy and serious that is now our social media. And as more and more people neglect actual news reporting in their daily lives and consume news and information solely from social media, this problem is only going to get worse.

This is why I'm so guarded about my social media platforms. This is why I don't like any pages, I don't connect my social media account to any other site, I don't bother clicking on any news article on social media unless it's from a news portal that I know that I can trust (btw, if you aren't at least reading the Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, then you're wasting your time), and I don't treat social media as a platform for sharing news stories.

All that being said, here's my real solution. I think we should bring the whimsy back to social media. Let's all return to a time and place when news was found on news sites and you went to social media to see pictures of your friends' cats and that was it. That way, when a Buzzfeed article shows up on there, you'll laugh at it, even it if pretends to be reporting about impending war from North Korea.

All in all I think there has to be newfound vigilance in identifying and segregating what we choose to consume on social media platforms. While Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools for getting the word out there faster and more efficiently than ever before, I feel that those are roles that must continue to be fulfilled by different avenues. The whimsy and serious are at a far too dangerous mix and the shared consumption of the two is not going to be healthy for a generation moving forward in the technological age.

It's like eating milk and fish at the same time. They shouldn't go together at all, but it's all you've been eating. At some point, you're going to have a big shit.

Maybe part of this is my techno-apafear speaking. Maybe my caution towards social media is unfounded. If you riffle through my posts about technology you might consider that I'm getting more and more paranoid as time goes by. But as I said, sometimes science fiction serves as precautionary tales warning us about the damages that our love affair with technology can bring about.

This is one of the reasons why I love the TV show Black Mirror.

(Oh yes, this entire post is really just a Black Mirror review. Now you know why I said that the train of thought was so difficult to put together.)

The name Black Mirror is one of the best titles I've seen in a while. In just two words, it's set the tone for the terrifying and satirical nature of the program. The black mirror of our technological devices reflect our humanity more than anything and each and every story that Black Mirror creates is ultimately a story on human nature more than it is about technology. That's how science fiction has always thrived - not as a technological display, but as a medium for pursuing our deeper humanity.

I was chuffed to bits when I learned that Black Mirror was returning for 12 more episodes thanks to the new gods of television, Netflix. The first seven episodes of Black Mirror have served as some of the best television I've ever seen in my lifetime and so I was more than eager for more.

And with that as a comparison, the new season of Black Mirror fell a lot more than a bit short. Their stories were still structured in the same way - here is a new technology that's somehow become ubiquitous in this world and here's how it's going to ruin the lives of our characters. In a way, I feel that Black Mirror encompasses my techno-apathy more than most other pieces of science fiction. The stories mostly end in a rather unappetizing manner, depicting the dangers and woes of technology, but in order for it to get there, the people must've embraced it at some point.

Take the first episode of the new season for example. In Nosedive, everything and everyone the people are connected with are linked in this social network, giving each other stars. It's painfully obvious where the story ultimately goes, and it's terrifying to think that entire lives are governed by this social rating technology. But in order for that technology to have taken over every aspect of the world, for it to govern the way infrastructure operates, surely the people there had to have accepted the technology and enjoyed it for a period of time before it unraveled. If the technology was evil from the very get go, it would not have pervaded the world as much as it did.

So while most of the storytelling in the new Black Mirror takes the shape of the old episodes, I can't help but feel rather let down by the new six episodes. I struggled for a while to figure out why I didn't like them as much as I did the first and it really came down to this idea of 'eugh'. The first seven episodes of Black Mirror were masters of 'eugh'. The new six are unsatisfyingly satisfying. Allow me to explain.

There's been a word I've used to describe Black Mirror when recommending to friends. While it is truly terrifying from a science fiction perspective and honestly one of the best made television shows of recent years, the word I sell it on is 'insidious'. Black Mirror episodes don't end on any catharsis whatsoever. They don't see it necessary in resolving an issue with a happy or even tragic ending. The endings leave you feeling gross and, well, 'eugh'. That's the insidious nature of Black Mirror. It lulls you into thinking that the story can end either with conflict resolution or tragic acceptance, but then it swings hard into a middle ground where you don't know what to think anymore and you don't know who the bad guys and good guys are and you don't know who you were rooting for anymore.

That's 'eugh'. And that's brilliant. And that's missing from the new episodes. I didn't know that's what I wanted from a TV series, but now that it's missing, I want it back. The new episodes tend to 'finish'. They have conclusive ends that don't really open up for interpretation or questioning the way good science fiction often does. And it's left me feeling that Black Mirror has lost its mojo. It's been unable to give me an 'eugh' punch in the gut for the entire season.

A prime example of 'eugh' was Fifteen Million Credits. The end of that episode was perhaps the most 'eugh' I've ever seen. Compare that with Nosedive and the latter is almost like a fairy tale with a happy ending. That's not what I watch Black Mirror for. I watch Black Mirror to be ruined. I watch it to be challenged. I watch it to question myself.

And so while it remains as good TV, New Black Mirror doesn't quite hold the candle to Old Black Mirror. And as such, I will refer to them as two separate things. NBM which will stand for New Black Mirror or Netflix Black Mirror, and then Black Mirror.

So there you go. If you've reached the end, might I congratulate you on reading something this long and this incoherent. You're more than three thousand words in and if you've somehow managed to get through it without whining, congrats! You're now officially, according to the Dale-Chall readability index, a college graduate reader.

Cheers.