Orange 3: Anode

[bookblather]

Author: Kat
Title: Anode
Story: In the Heart - Cyberpunk AU
Colors: Orange 3 (a clockwork orange)
Supplies and Materials: Eraser, stain (Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen. - John le Carre), stickers (cricket ears), glitter (this picture).
Word Count: 150
Rating: PG.
Summary: Summer gets the surgery.
Warnings: none
Notes: Last orange; a recycled meme fill because I had no idea what to do with this prompt otherwise.
ETA: 200th story!


She wakes up after the operation and it's like a revelation.

The implants sting a bit, as her body adjusts to the electricity, the sparks jumping from node to node. Silver lines under her skin and shimmering plates at her temples, and every new moment is suddenly made new.

Information, everywhere, drop-down menus scrolling across her vision, facts and numbers and so much knowledge. She has only to touch something, and the implants tell her everything-- what it is, where it's made, how much it costs, what it's for. She has only to look at someone and blink twice, and the implants scour the world, looking for facts and figures, things she can use.

She's still not good with people. She's still so awful at interaction. But the world is so much broader, now. So much easier.

With the implants, she won't have to talk to anyone else, ever again.

Comments

[ce_jour_la]

I'm not sure if you've ever read Elizabeth Bear's Jenny Casey series, but this reminds me a bit of that. (Which is very much a compliment.) I love the hope at the end of this, even tinged as it is with something that feels a bit like resignation and bittersweetness. Very nicely done.

[bookblather]

I haven't, no, but I do like Elizabeth Bear so I will accept the compliment. Thank you very much!

[shipwreck_light]

HAPPY 200 POSTS!

I really like the note you chose to end that on. Summer, with cricket ear cybernetics.

She's so happy.

But.

It's just a wee bit sad.

And that, that is the magic of the fact you wrote it.

Thank you for all 200 of your posts. Thank you for Summer and Jack and Joy and Maya and Aaron. Thank you for being...


[wait for it]



....AWESOMESAUCE.

[bookblather]

Yes. She's still very lonely, even if she won't admit it. But now, at least, she feels safe.

THANK YOU FOR READING. For all of this. Thank you. <333333333

[dark_kana]

Yay for post 200 !!

Wow. This is... a bit sad. Somewhere. I mean, she sounds happy. But... I still think there is some sadness as well.
Anyway, well done! ^^

[bookblather]

Post 200 woooooo

Thank you very much! And she is still lonely, but safe. I think that might be what you're reading?

[finch]

Congrats on 200 posts! I love the tons of details you used here, and how tightly you tie it up at the end.

[bookblather]

Thank you very much!

[rustydragonfly]

I actually think it sounds pretty cool. Lonely, yes (where are her boys, in this AU?) and yet... I get where she's coming from. So much. Fascinating AU.

oh you're making me want to do a bunch of random AUs now.

Random: I'm also finding it interesting watching you fill up the base colours, because they look REALLY difficult, at least to me.

[bookblather]

Well, she's only about eighteen here, and she is very lonely. But she is also very happy, because this is exactly what she wants.. she doesn't want to deal with most people, and she does like being able to interpret the world as she chooses. Once she has her boys, everything will be perfect. Thank you! And do the AUs, dooooo themmmmm *enable*

Also, yeah, the base colors are really hard, but rewarding, I think. Mostly. Sometimes I want to punch them though.

[rustydragonfly]

I can definitely grasp that. I like the fact that... how to word it... it's not a bad thing she has the surgery? It's what she wants and even if there's that hint of loneliness it sounds like something she would find helpful.

Believe me, I'll be writing boys in space as soon as I can work out how to justify "casual space travel, but no blindness cure" because I refuse to do a cure narrative with Dhaymin. It's one of the rules I stick to no matter what.

Re the base colours, I keep meaning to PM you. Mind if I do?

[bookblather]

Yeah, that was what I was going for. The surgery didn't make her lonely, other people did that by making her feel outcast and unwanted. If anything, the surgery makes her feel better, because it's a way for her to connect with the world, without risking that public censure.

Also, go ahead! PM me anytime you like, for any reason.

[kay_brooke]

Summer seems happy, but I feel sad for her all the same. It feels like she did this out of giving up hope on the world and herself. Like she thinkgs it's better to just lock herself away from other people.

[bookblather]

Mm. Not giving up hope exactly, just... really desperate to be safe for once. It's not that she won't interact with people ever again, just that she doesn't have to. It's a relief more than anything.

Thank you! That bittersweet tone was exactly what I was going for.

[novel_machinist]

I really like the image this puts in my head. It's amazing how you have two very different concepts, a lack of interaction and pure knowledge, and make them out in one person. I get a very clear, clean picture of a bright sort of scene here for some reason as well.

[bookblather]

Thank you very much! That's all very similar to what I was thinking while writing this, so it's gratifying to hear.