maskormenace | Double Rainbow

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Double Rainbow

Okay, I was gonna pitch this a while ago, but I wasn't sure when the best time was after the protests, and the whole... other thing. Whatever that was. But the fact is that the protests just show how bad we need to be connecting with the uh, native community. [She's not a hundred percent sure how beloved that term is, frankly. Probably a good thing to ask about early on.]

And we should do it on as many fronts as we can. Haen has a program that teaches kids about us, in the five to fifteen range, and I encourage everyone who thinks they could help with that to do it. What I'm trying to put together focuses on the next age group up, though. High school kids and undergrads, let's say fifteen to twenty one.

I'm trying to come up with something that can really get them to consider us, and us to consider them, our peers. So as far as execution goes, I'm looking for volunteers in the target age group.

That's all I've got locked as far as planning, though. I mean, I have some ideas for how to go forward, but if anybody -- in any age group -- has suggestions or advice, I'd love to hear it.

I guess especially I'd love to hear from anybody who was a teenager last week? Because that was a thing. That happened. [Her face twists a little, she's still trying to process all of that. But she smiles again as she finishes her pitch]

Oh, and if you know somebody who you think would be really good for this, feel free to nominate them.

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Well, there's this one girl? Blonde, focused on community involvement, glows and flies, has legs for days, I think she'd be a great fit. [the corner of her mouth quirks up.]

No, but really, Karrie, you know I'm in.

[She laughs, eyes on the ground in mild embarrassment.] I really appreciate it.

Yeah, knew it was too much as soon as I said it. Don't know where it came from. [she shakes her head, laughing. anyway.]

And, really, it's nothing? You do the same for my stuff.

I'm gonna guess it came from you spending a ton of time thinking about my legs?

Which is fine with me.

You're terrible, I take it all back.

[no she doesn't.]

You do not. You love me.

And I love you too.

Yeah, well. [she's a little embarrassed, but she rolls with it.] Guess I can't argue with that.

I've been thinking about this too, lately. It's a good initiative.

I hope so. Any ideas about what kind of structures or activities we could use?

That's - tricky, I think. This whole situation is so complex, so maybe the solution needs to be really simple. [ He ponders on that for a beat. ]

In my experience, people that age - my age - look for a sense of belonging more than anything. A... a group, some kind of shared identity marker that shows that we're in it together. That's why pep rallies work. [ And gangs, but let's not talk about that. ] So maybe it should be about working together for a common goal that isn't necessarily focused on imPorts.

Yeah. That sounds about right. I mean, I was thinking of recreation as the goal, more or less, but maybe we could even go for something a little more concrete.

I think that would help. Recreation can mean a lot of things, so having some options for activities is probably going to see more success.

I, for one, think this is an excellent idea. The more we reach out to the people here, the better our chances are of coming to an understanding with one another. I can offer you funding and a place within Maurtia Falls if you wish to begin in this city.

[ With a rueful sigh. ]

It seems Maurtia Falls is always the one with the greatest tensions between its citizens and imPorts.

A venue would be great. I don't know if we'll really need all that much funding, but at the very least it never hurts to have snacks.

And it's definitely important to do it in Maurtia Falls. I'd like to have something going in each city, ideally, and rotate whoever we have between them. The differences in their cultures might not be as extreme as the ones in ours, but I think it's important for us to learn about them.

I do agree you should focus on the different porter cities as well. Each will have a different temperature in terms of attitudes toward imPorts, but it's no less important to strengthen the bonds in all of them.

What sort of space would you be looking for? Something that would provide a lot of entertainment such as an arcade or a sports venue? Or simply an empty space to do with what you will?

Right now, it feels like big empty space is the way to go. Some games or some sports equipment might come in handy later, but I don't think we'll have too consistent of an activity plan.

I will look into it and see what I can find for you. I also imagine Haen wouldn't mind you utilizing the Endeavor Center in the evenings if you wanted to make use of the gyms, art rooms, or auditorium. Most activities end around 7pm.

I'm 14, could I still help? i've done some volunteering at the endeavor center in maurtia falls over the past few months

Sure, that'd be fine. I don't know how long it will take to get this set up, so you might even be officially old enough by the time we really get going.

awesome!

well, my birthday isn't until next march, so hopefully it won't be that long

but thanks for the chance. i've been feeling more than a little helpless lately

Well, this'll give you a chance to be helpful.

Which isn't actually the opposite of helpless?

But it's a start.

It's definitely something. i never had any superpowers or magic or anything back home, and the powers I got here aren't really combat oriented so I've never been much of a help when it comes to heroing

(is heroing a word?)

so i have to find ways to be useful other than that

I'm kind of doing what I did back at home, with this.

Hopefully though I'm doing better than I did at home.

And you'll have plenty of help and guidance here. I'll talk to my mom, too- she was placed in charge of a charity here and she's very interested in helping kid imPorts out. this seems like a natural extension, if she's not too busy

Getting guidance actually turned out to be my biggest problem, back there.

But yeah, talk to her, see what she thinks. [Okay so that may have dragged up some extra stuff about her own mother, but it only hurts a little.]

Oh. well, i hope it turns out better here. i feel like it will.

will do!!

I think that's a really nice idea. imPorts may come and go all the time, but as a group we're still part of the community here. There's something to be said for acting like it.

Yeah, I mean, the people doing it on our side will change. And the people doing it on their side will change. But not all at once. We can still build something.

Just make sure to set it up so it can continue even if one or two people do disappear—but it sounds like you're already on the right track, if you're looking for more expertise.

I will. I mean, someday, for all I know, we might all end up disappearing at once, but then I guess we wouldn't really need the program anymore anyway...

Maybe, but there could be a whole other group of imPorts after us. You never know.

Listen, I'll reach out to some of my contacts in the native community to see if there's any assistance they can offer. This is a good plan.

I'd like to help, if I can.

Of course! So, if we were gonna do it, what kind of stuff would you want to be there? Assuming we do some kind of activity rotation or whatever.

I think maybe classes on how to handle things like bills/money and living on your own would help the younger people. Maybe some kind of cooking classes? Art and more technical classes for fun? Offer tutoring too. Maybe an entertainment system so there can be movie nights and video game tournaments...

I have some money I could contribute for funding from a project that didn't get off the ground because my partner in it got ported home.

Entertainment seems to be a big one, and it's the sort of thing I was thinking too. I like the tutoring idea, for sure, I'm just not sure about... I mean, classes-classes. It'd be worth something, definitely, but I want this to kind of be us and them on equal footing, you know? But, like, cooking and technical stuff could totally work if we could a few Native volunteers to teach alongside the imPorts.

That's up to you. I'm not officially asking for donations, at least until I have some kind of a concrete plan for what those would go towards.

I think community outreach can be important in helping people trust us imPorts, you know? If we're helping to better the community instead of hurting it, that makes people feel less hostile which is why I thought classes helping to teach would be good. But I think you're right, maybe we can ask some natives to volunteer.

Well, let me know.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think that's wrong? But we should be part of the community. Classes that just we teach might still feel like whether we're helping or hurting their community, we're outside of it. And that, more than anything, is what I'd like to see change.

Uhhhh. Well, I was 16 a while ago, but it was more than a week ago.

And I'm only not 16 anymore 'cause it was my birthday.

...

Okay, so like what I'm trying to say here is that I'm 17 and I wanna help.

Sounds good. [Karolina's tone is decidedly pleased and only the tiniest bit judgmental.] So what do you think we should do? I feel like we could have different activities each time, but maybe like, a part afterword where everyone gets a chance to talk?

Uhhhhh....

Baseball's really cool. How 'bout baseball?

We could do baseball. Not every week, probably, but regularly.

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Double Rainbow

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