…

..

.

Nala is ecstatic in her seat, trying to be a chill cucumber.
She’s sporting an oversized XXL Bander time “just winging it” hoody and a pair of sun-shades Dorothy gifted her through Vic. 
The intent is to cover her equestrian omni ears and mare eyes to blend in on the way over.
The swag makes her feel cool; different; like a jedi-sith agent on a mission.

They have to be low-key before this rendezvous meet, avoiding unnecessary attention, this is the gray-jan way.

Riding shotgun in the buggy on the way to town, Nala can’t wait to finally meet the three new pona jans Vic told her about.
Are they really nice like he says?  Will she like them?  Will they like her?  Will this encounter be a positive and memorable experience?

She quietly noted, confused, that Vic didn’t know much in details about them, hadn’t even met them in person, yet; seemed really confident that they’re nice folks…how?
It doesn’t make sense to take these risks based off from so little information…     …this is against what Vic says about being careful with nice strangers; it’s still part of stranger danger!…     Is this the nuanced power of when faith meets reputation?  Do I have a reputation?  Who or what do i have faith in?

She recalls on her wake up day, she didn’t know much about Vic neither; she almost ran away from home before she even knew how to use her feet…
…but he made it okay to stay, and that made all the difference.

Nala trusts him, totally, because he consistently cares for and respects her = so she sums it all up and calculates she shouldn’t be worried at all.

Be that as it may, her foot soles are shaking in her ghetto farmulous boots, the reality b what it is; it’s unknowns on top of unknowns-
she’s never been outside the general shed area, and it’s her first time meeting new people.
Vic had assured her everything’s going to be okay.  She believes him.  He’s always been there right beside her, inseparable.

So this was exciting for Nala, a big moment in her personal life journey, her stomach was heavy with a triple serving of fish lunchies and angst.

She’s been restless since Vic mentioned the special plan to her a few days ago.

Jan pona Dorothy had invited them to a sleep over.

To talk about, everything and anything in the comfort and shelter of her home.

 Vic shared what he remembered and understood, and explained that there looks to be some money-free sanctuary communities where they take care of each other and solve all their problems together.  They call these overground rail-road groups that formed along the world’s borders and highways a bunch of different names like; Kasitopias, Paradises found, Freedom spaces, Family centers, Topia shelters, etc.  

Ever since the green rain, “furries” and “normies” from all over have been swelling and advancing those places in droves.
People around and abouts are saying everything has been sped up and humanity is finally winning; winning the Last World War.

Dorothy and the kiddos are leaving to explore those places soon, and are offering us to possibly join them.

Given Vic and Nala’s discreet and illegal living situation, where the fear of “being found out” is as much of a daily risk as it was a taxing emotion; this was all a big deal, in so many ways.  They were both very much interested in looking more into these promised lands. 

…As like so many others in bad situations, they were desperate for better options.

Vic accidentally grinds a few gears while shifting up on the buggy, stomaching a trail mix of anxiety and social jitters as they drive towards something completely out of routine…    …He’s never been to a slumber party before either, and things with Dorothy are different now, the world is different now.  He’s old, and knows he’s on borrowed time.  He isn’t afraid of death from a lifetime of regrets, but fears not being alive for others that are counting on him.  This puts a wrench to his iron heart and lefty lucies the bolts holding his tires together; mind racing while the buggy hovers 5mph below the speed limits. 
He mumbles in sincere concern, “Sorry bout that ol’ girl”.

He is worried about being pulled over. 
He’s worried about Nala’s safety and future. 
He worried about making a good impression with Dorothy and not having any panic attacks…

Vic’s ever-present peripheral shadows of victims past loom and scatter and cry in tiny huddled terror at the edges of the passing road, still visible in the rearview mirrors.
He wipes them away again with two blinks and mentally re-re-assuring himself it’s all going to be okay. 
Today is a big day for Nala, Dorothy’s a good soul and said the kiddos are going to love her and be inclusive of her, so everything’s going to be okay.
Vic trusts Dorothy.

Nala smiles to herself looking out the window, taking in the winter scene of rows after rows of frosted trees and weathered houses and wire poles and mail boxes flashing past.  She shifted to thinking how nice Vic smells today; she’s seen enough romantic comedy movies and read enough books to gather that Vic very likely had a kind of special attraction to Dorothy, eros maybe?  She wasn’t sure…    …Nala noted in herself major difficulty in understanding things like that…    …what that kind of attraction felt like…      …She was hoping maybe her new friends knew more and would be able to explain to her the many nuanced different things about herself, and the world she woke up to. 

Normie jan Vic doesn’t know much in details about furrie people jans like her, but the town jans have had radio and internet and cell phones and social media; so the reckoning is they must have access to some answers to her many questions. 

…Nala goes back to worrying if they’ll be nice to her or bad people in disguise, she’s seen enough gen pop movies and read enough books to fear how tricky and cruel people can be.

She concludes she’ll stick close to Vic just in case.  She’s sure if they are mean jans, he’ll notice and they would leave.
Just in case, Vic had promised that if she’d like to go back home at any time they’d leave no questions asked.
Nobody should ever allow others to be badly treated; and, “we should always go where we are treated best.”

When they arrived to a drab green 3 bedroom 2 bathroom suburban house, Dorothy was ready to receive them.
She opened her uninsulated two car garage and Vic slid the buggy in next to a Nissan Leaf; engine rumbling loud and proud in the cramped space as the electric folding-panel gate door creaked and groaned and closed behind them.
A warning smell of dirty CO2 twinged the air as the motor sputtered off.

By the inside garage entry doorway stands Dorothy, shuffled behind her, peeking out slightly, are two shy kiddos.

A boy with puppy eyes, ears and tail; rocking cargo shorts and a polo shirt.

A girl with cat eyes, ears and tail; wearing dressy jeans and a white tank top.

Vic and Nala side-stepped and shimmied around the narrow spaces between the vehicles and wall-clutter, awkwardly presenting in front of them as a grungy contrast.

Dorothy begins a welcoming introductions riff, “Hey Vic, Hi Nala!  Please come in!  Our casa su casa.  And Nala, it’s so nice to finally meet you, Vic’s told me so m-“

Cat girl pops her head and kitty ears out from behind Dorothy and excitedly interrupts, “Nala-chaaaaaan!!!!  It’s so nice to finally meet you!  Dorothy-san could only tell us very little about you.  Can we say hi to you!?  can we show you our room!?  Can we ask you many many questions!?  Have you ever had dorayaki!?  I mades some for you today!”

Puppy boy, tail wagging furiously, also pops out from behind Dorothy on the other side with floppy ears and awe on his face, “Gwow Gwow!  You’re so big!!!  You looks like an action hero!  Horsey jans are famous as second biggest jans…  Oh!  Can you run fast?!  Do you like rocket engines!?  Mi made brownies; and if you like them you can have my recipe.  Dorothy made apple pie as well and she taught us to read and drive and says we should all be true to ourselves. 
Do you already know which topia you would like to go to?!”

Nala is taken back by so much attention and questions, everything is so new and sudden.
A little intimidating even.
She had half a mind of hiding behind Vic, but didn’t, realizing that wouldn’t help the social situation in the leastest,-
and how silly that would look with her being bigger than him and all.

Nala braves up and politely removes the shades and hoodie, her horsey ears pointing towards them full alert, and with a crooked half smile, bucky teeth and the friendliest eye brows she could forehead angle, waves and says,
“toki howdy?”

The kiddos look from her to themselves and squeel, “She’s so CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!”

Puppy boy is staticky behind Dorothy, “My name’s Xavier!  Can we be friends?  Would you like to come inside now?  Pona jan Dorothy gave us a computer we can use for talking, i mean, speaking about stuff.  We’d like to get to know you better and we don’t bite…”, Xavier flashes a wide tight smile with enlarged canines in his attempts to be endearing.

Flattered, Nala folds her hands into themselves and squeezes herself into a shrug, not knowing exactly what to do or say, and in a bashful struggle speaks up, “Thank you thank you, i would like to try a new friendships and talk, i mean, speak about things.  I… I feel welcome to go with you, pona jan Vic told me th-“.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!”  The kiddos eagerly burst from behind Dorothy, their excitement surrounds Nala as they cheer, clap, and celebrate her presence. 

They each extend a kind hand that Nala innocently accepts, to which they hold onto and gently shake and squeeze as they bounce on their tippy toes to Nala’s height; bubbling gleefully at meeting another fellow furrie for the first time.  Nala wanted to jump up and down with them too, but was scared to and still in a bit of shock. 

Concerned Kitty girl helps tone it down a bit and practices comforting Nala as she teams up with Xavier in gingerly removing her from Vic’s side with their human palm palms, “Sorry sorry, we’re usually not so urusai like this.  It’s okay, don’t be nervous Nala Nala-chan, we’re cool, we’ll prove it to you.  By the way, my name is Genosha, it’s like genocide and ocean put together, i chose it myself.  Did you choose your name like us or keep your old one?  Do you already know what it means?  Xavier and I have comic books we can share with you.  Do you have questions for us?  Dorothy-san say Vic-san say you have no radio and no internet your whole life!  That’s so cray-cray!  I totally would’ve lost my marbles!  How can you fast learn with no wiifii!?  We use AI summaries and internet dictionary and wikipedia to translate and define words and expressions we don’t understand, what have you been using to learn?  We just have to know atarashii tomodachi.” 

Dorothy stepped aside from the doorway as the kiddos eased Nala inwards; Xavier corrected Genosha to be careful, not so many questions at once and to try to stick to english and our native toki pona for her as she likely has no idea what japanese words mean yet.  This leads them to energetically argue over how they have to be gentle and not overwhelming with their very first guest if they’re going to have a fun and inclusive slumber party experience.  They agreed that they have to make the environment as welcoming as possible for her to be comfy, because if she is comfy she will feel happy and want to stay.  Moreover, they had to be mindful that she’s afforded plenty of time and space to talk about herself and ask her own questions and give her own input…  They confessed to being inexperienced and quickly looped Nala in to their rapid-fire discourse on how they could be her bestest hosts as they friended her away into warmer rooms.

Nala looks back at a supportive Vic, who’s crooked smirk hides traces of worry and pride as she’s whisked away.
He has his fingers crossed in his pockets that they get along well and can be a positive social support for each other, like Dorothy assured him they would.
That would make him feel whole; knowing she’s with good folks to guide and protect her, before his luck inevitably runs out…

The cat kiddo yells back blindly from somewhere in the house, “hiiii Vic-saaaaan!!!  kili kili to meet youuuuuuu!”

The boy kiddo follows up, “Lon lon!  Nice trucky-truck Jan Vic!!  Please show me later!”

As the giggling fades out, a quiet tension settles between Dorothy and Vic.
A gamble; who would break the ice first?

They didn’t have to wait long.

Dorothy looks to find Vic’s eyes, extends her hand, and jazzily sings, “baby, it’s cold outside”.  Her head tilt, hair bounces, and shoulder swings tug on his heartstrings as she continues the invitation with her other hand over her chest, “We have veggie and vegemite sandwiches and plenty of desserts…and some coffee for two?”  Easily swept up and sold, Vic sheepishly follows her soft hand with his frozen one, unsure how to answer but completely sure in allowing himself to be led inside.

As she helps him ease into his seat at the kitchen table, Dorothy subtly consumes more of Vic’s scent.  All the while, Vic nervously rushes his greetings, appreciations, and fumbles his pre-imagined topics for the evening.  His vulnerabilities and feelings of living on borrowed time slip out, as he tumbles between jumbled questions, concerns and frustrations over…   

…if all this is real, and not a dream:  the green flood, the kiddos, Nala’s future, the proximity of this war…   …Vic was desperate for that shared validation on the madness of it all.

As Dorothy fixes him a vegetable sandwich with a side plate of mixed pastries and hot drink, she says her peace, “I think we’re all going to be okay if we can, you know, somehow find a way to work this out together…     …we scratch your back and you scratch ours kind of thing?   …i know it’s weird that we are rushing to meet and then, maybe, leave like this…    …for crying out loud, it’s all been a nightmare and a blessing and weeks feel like years, and up is down, and every which way kicks, but I… “. 

There’s small wooden clunks and scraping sounds as Dorothy places and sets the warm meal coupled with coffee and desserts in front of him.  She takes a breath as she leans back onto the kitchen counter, fiddling a bit with her nail tips, doing well at keeping her bearings straight, “Don’t know if you noticed yet but, dreams went away for all of us with the rain…   …I’m so glad you’re alive and here, now, with me…    …the whole time after this happened, i had to be even more shut-in than i usually am…   …the kiddos are a handful, and balancing them with work hasn’t exactly been easy but…    ….i love them, i’m here for them, but, we’re so different, and we’re all planning on going our separate ways soon…     and it; yeah…       It feels lonely sometimes, just like before and…    …and i guess i realized I related a lot with you in some ways over the years, i’m glad i met you and…I really missed those once-in-a-while library visits…was thinking if there ever was a time to speak and get to know each other a little more, it would be nowish and not laterish for us right…sugar cube?”  Dorothy shoots him a confident wink blush combo as she pulls out a humble bottle of cranberry wine from her ancient white fridge, “a little something for us a little later tonight maybe?”

Vic nods almost blankly, likely to the wine offer, his untouched meal still in front of him as he warms up to speak, “I guess with dreams being gone and all, we gon’ have to be more in touch with what being awake really means…”,  Vic lightly chuckles in a moment of existential confusion, “chucks, i know how much it hurts to be alone, even when surrounded by good folks so…   i don’t know, i figure i’m just a tired old turtle, in a rabbit race, looking for a quiet pond to forget myself in… ”  He shrugs, offering a meek smile and some eye contact, “….but em, maybe…  …i reckon maybe someday we’ll look back at all this as dreams come true right…?     ….turtle plum?”

They both sit dangerously close to each other, long time acquaintances, secret admirers now becoming more intimate friends, discoursing over their unique experiences in the world before and after the green rain.
Hoping their dreams align.

In the kiddos room, there are double bunk beds;
X-men posters on the wall and a bookshelf full of comic books.
Everything is organized and neat: there’s a 3d printer with a small airbrush kit next to it on an office desk, a chest full of legos and electronic gadgets.
On the other wall is a t.v. on a stand decked out with video games + plenty of controllers, and custom painted Warhammer space Marines figurines.
This used to be Dorothy’s son’s room, he frequently used to have friends over.
It smells like a bakery and sounds like an active reddit chat in there.

In the center floor space, Nala and the kiddos had piled a nest of pillows around a laptop where they made themselves comfy next to each other; talking and snacking over brownies, doryaki and apple pie.  They shared a small pitcher of warm Kanuchi hickory milk.  Nala was particularly fond of the apple pie Dorothy made to welcome them, finding it hard to refrain from extra servings and contain her excessive enjoyment of these never-before-tried mokus, bursting with sticky mouth tickles and washed away with a creamy textured telo.
So much wow, such amazings.
She smiled gleefully to herself at times between stimulating convos and moku samplings.
The kiddos both secretly noted Nala’s preference for apple kili.

The kiddos wanted to know everything about Nala, and Nala wanted to know everything about everything.
They talked at length, quickly and eagerly; trying to balance out each other’s floodgates of information and lived experiences.

Xavier let’s Nala know between doryaki bites and finger licks, “It’s okay, you’re safe-safe and okay with us, we can protect you and maybe you can help us be safe also!  we all share danger and risk to make it safer for all of us, is that a good deal?  Genosha and Dorothy and I are a great team together, and with also you and Vic, we can all be even more better.  Also, we’ve been going at night to our secret woods place and we practice-play hide and seek and tag each other and coordinate CQB attacks.  In the topias, they’ll have more advanced self-defense classes for all of us.” 

Xavier playfully does ninja hands fight with an equally playfull Genosha in a quick energy releasing bout.  He then points to a shelf full of neatly stored training gear: nerf and airsoft guns, rubber knives, helmets and masks, elbow pads, fatigued clothing and safety glasses.  Xavier resumes, “All us furrie jans and pona normie jans help fight for each other, it’s dangerous and together we have bestest chances to survive.  We’re lucky, Dorothy’s super nice to us and she protects us and is helping us find our new tribes…   but we are going to help her first, she wants to be in a Topia where they have a many older jan there so she can fit in better and be happy-full”. 

Genosha supports Xavier on their mutually agreed goals, pausing her brownie nibbling, little brown bits capping her teeth, “She’s so nice nice to us, so we meowed to help her back”,  Xavier yups up, “yup yup, but you mean we bowed to help her?”  Nala looks a little confused and tries to clarify questioningly, “Mean Vowed vowed?”. 

The kiddos all giggle enjoyably at each other, covering their mouthfuls as they pow-wow over funny memories of their furrie-inherited jan jan echolalia, run on convos, insatiable curiosity for shared truths, and how it’s so easy to sometimes forget words that fit perfectly and are the most logical but because they sound a lot alike, like…     …what’s it called again?…  hard to remember…    oh, right!  Lethologica! 

They catch themselves and returned on how they intend to help Dorothy find her place in the ever developing Topia communities, and how Xavier wants to join a rocket club Topia to support outer space exploration in a potential distant future- like Mars.  As a huge plus, it’s in the big Colorado farm and only a couple of hours away from where Dorothy wants to go. 

Genosha, despite hating getting wet and fear of open water, wishes to support massive recycling efforts in the Pacific Ocean with a collection of topias based off of Neko Islands, Japan.

 Xavier suspiciously asks Nala, “Did Vic treat you nice on your wake up day?  Or did you wake up in a cage like many of the others?  Dorothy didn’t have us in cages, but she said she had her gun ready because she was scared.  Is he really nice like Dorothy says he is?  She says he’s cool, but at the same time she admits she didn’t see him too often and doesn’t know him closely that well, so we’re unsure because…     …you know?  Trust is earned, not spoken?” 

Nala nods in agreement and affirms Xavier’s universal truth with one of her many mi’maw lessons, “respect is also earned and not just a given”.  Xavier goes along with her, continuing his concern, “So Vic Vic respect you and us us?  Can we trust him?  Is he really cool, do we like him?  Where does he want to go?”

Nala eagerly speaks up for the reputation of her closest friend and hero, “Vic super pona jan with mi always”, Nala does the math on her fingers, “he give me soft pillows, warm blanket, yellow cloth cloth, teach me wood and metals and monkey paws, and people, and tiny gardens, and share with me food and water and books and laptop and movies and truth advices…”  Having run out of fingers to count on, she looks up in memory and tapping her chin resumes, “Vic says mi’maw says, ‘the greatest rule and test is to treat other’s like you like to be treated’…    …Vic does that with mi…     ….and and… ….he wants to go….     uhmmmm…”  Nala looks down ears down with her, ashamed and disappointed in herself,  “Oh no, I don’t know where Vic wants to go.  Maybe he wants to go with older pona jans people also?  He likes rest and does not like pain, maybe Topia have help there for many bad pains he has?  I would like to be with him to make sure he is happy-full.  He always says, [Nala tries to imitate Vic’s voice] ‘good company is where you know you are safe and supported shuuuuuuug.  We have to find you folks who are nice to you, just like clothing you want to have a good fit for any kinds of weather, and the weather is always changing.  So we all have to be ready to go where we are treated best, you know?'”. 

They all laugh approvingly and swap stories poking fun at how cute and helpful Vic’s and Dorothy’s accents and body language get when they emphasize the things they teach.  They further make quick light of how they each sound and speak different and appreciate each other’s unique accents and knowledge bases; recognizing that the kiddos had the advantages of being able to access all kinds of questions, answers, online social groups, and international apps and media from the internet; while Nala had the advantages of first hand experiences in raising her own roof, growing her own food, making her own furniture, and harvesting her own water and electricity.  The kiddos spent more time online than with Dorothy, who had to work extra hours; while Nala learned plenty from Vic, who made all the time in the world for her.

Nala naturally returns to the topic of what kind of Topia Vic may like, thinking out loud with them “I have to ask him later to be more sure sure…     …but…”, Nala smiles nervously at bringing up romance, “…maybe he like Dorothy and is hoping to go with her also?  They have much in similars..”

The kiddos blush and cover their mouth laughs as they bring up some gossip to their cool horsey jan friend.  Just yesterday, they were whispering to each other about just that while helping Dorothy clean and prepare the house for their visit.  They were thinking that maybe Dorothy and Vic had a high chance of a super harmony relationship if they only got to know each other a little better.

Nala listened in, fascinated, as the kiddos further explained how super harmony relationships are core pursuits for us humans, and how furries and normies everywhere are elevating that truth to finally heal from the never ending cycle of trickery, abuse, and violence.  The secret was to find connections with other’s that shared your personal growth, interests, and social responsibility vibes.  The more earned trust and altruistic problem solving in those relationships, the more bad people are filtered out and the more synergy is created.  Synergy is like, when 2+2 = >6, there’s a magical extra there.  Super harmony relationships were highly respected and admired in this new world.

They spoke on the extreme risks, support, life lessons, and countless unconditional love blessings from their normie jan pona birth friends Dorothy and Vic, and how they are living examples to them on what healthy relationships look like.  The kiddos and Nala reasoned that Vic and Dorothy have been searching a forever long time in securing a place they can peacefully fit in, and it wouldn’t be fair for them to not see them off first.

As their convos continued into the late afternoon and stories are swapped on their diverse exposures to different fields, Xavier is impressed with Nala’s knowledge of welding and metal working and begs Nala to teach him as well.  Nala, smiling, agrees; feeling good about being asked to share and plan on things she’s familiar with and is considered valuable to others.  She asks Xavier to in turn teach her how to take apart the remote control and put it back together like he did.

Genosha was particularly taken by Nala’s rudimentary fishing and beginners aquaponic set up, and how she recently was able to get a few lettuce and cherry tomatoe seedlings to sprout from it.  Nala in turn, wishes to learn more from her about recycling plastics, and how to perform a figure 4 blood choke to crush an enemy’s carotid arteries.

Genosha asks Nala, “If you could go anywhere to do anything, where would you wanna go, and what would you want to do?  There are plenty of Kasitopias out there to try out and visit.  If we can’t find a fit, then we can try different ones or even help you create a new one if we have to!”

Nala was instantly stumped, realizing that, just like there were big things about Vic she didn’t know, there were questions within herself as well that she had no clear answers to.

She felt a deep sense of lacking.  There’s a missing person mystery inside of her she felt uniquely responsible for in finding.
With sincerity in her voice, she shares with her pona kiddo friends that she’s not sure yet, she hasn’t imagined a life outside of more fun and challenging survival adventure lessons with Vic, and is both excited and scared of the prospect of going somewhere new with new people.
With so many unknowns, she feels she needs more exploration out there beyond the snow topped mountain horizons.  She wants to be exposed to more life mysteries, subtract truths, and math together what would be the wisest first steps and winning formulas in building a super harmonious relationship with the unique world she woke up to.

 Recognizing out loud she has only one life, the kiddos listen attentively at Nala’s confessions of wanting to add the most to it.
She want’s the same for herself as she wants with them and Dorothy and Vic and everyone else; to find self actualization.
These are things she grappled with sometimes from her favorite thinking spot atop her nearby kasi.
Confounding things; from what she’s gathered so far, there are hundreds of different Topia flavors out there, creating a baskin-robbins effect on her on not knowing where to start.

The kiddos, ever listening, chipped in how they related despite having a stronger sense of their headings; and how they still feel flexible and open to trying other things; like sailing with the wind, not with the tides…    …and wanted to hear more about Nala’s breathing-space-observation-post tree top platform.

Eventually, without realizing and mid convo, they pause, look around at each other’s snack goatees, and grin brightly at each other’s empty plates with minimal crumbs and residual paste; their pants tight around the waist.

Genosha released her top pants button; Xavier follows suit, Nala, now fully comfortable around her new pona jan friends, loosens up too.
They continue exploring each other’s wants, needs, and beliefs, discussing possible solutions to each other’s problems as they digest their meal of treats.

Cherishable moment achievement unlocked.

Easing back into their talks, they were still starving to prove their mettle.  Patience wasn’t their forte, but they were wise enough to know there’s a time and place for everything.  Discussing opportunities in advance and what it takes to achieve them was as comforting as it was thrilling.
Breaking big cake dreams into recipe steps they can understand, they go over what they can figure out.

Like little warriors, they deliberate that the more they know now, the better prepared they will be for the next chapters in their lives.

Xavier yups again, “yup yup!  and knowing is half the battle!”

Genosha laughingly fills a clueless Nala in on the gi joe inside joke.

Nala rides this topic to then ask the kiddos for more information on what their place was in this war, and what are the dangers and risks involved and how will they navigate it.

The kiddos shift in their pillows on the floor; it’s never an easy topic to approach.
War is everywhere and in everything; one of the hardest topics to broach, understand and see.
The fog of war has been up for centuries upon centuries, consuming lives and earth like a malignant cancer that calls itself benign.

Xavier starts off in a low, almost reverent tone, “it’s been said time and time again that War; War never changes…”, Genosha follows up with abrupt conviction, “until now!”, and accompanies him in sharing with Nala what they know.

They find themselves explaining the war over the stories of the many different individuals and groups of furries, buffalo and normie jans that have displayed distinction, and the archetypes and strategies they represented.  In the shadows of heroes and villains, they discuss those topics head on both excitedly and slightly hushed.

They begin to stiffen more along as they go deeper in their interactions, where they spill over the hidden real life dangers and amorphous violence readily surrounding them.
They used the laptop and paged through illegally labeled but truth revealing underground news videos, pirated internet podcasts, and uncensored wikipedia pages.  The discourses started to lean more towards showing over telling.

Genosha asks Nala, “What do you know about the rain flood we came from?”

Nala replies she only knew what Vic told her; “a green rain came by and turned animals into people and taking care of people is always the right thing to do…   …but things can’t be good out there because not everyone does the right things.  Some people do wrong things and many more people look away, making a big mess everywhere…   …but mi don’t know about flood rain…       …mi don’t know much at all, mi only remembers waking up and fire snapping and popping and cozy quilt…   oh!  Vic said it was very powerful, he couldn’t move inside, and it almost felt peaceful…?”

Genosha, happy to be able to fill in some blanks, sheds some more detail and magic to their green flood birth, “welcome to the club, nobody knows exactly where or why the green rain came; but many are saying it started from a big island normie farm called Cuba, because two giant whale jans were there before the rain went east and around the world in a day”

Nala looks eyes wide, “giant whale jans!?”

The kiddos nod together as Genosha continues, “Yes!  Gozilla size and totally kowaii! i mean monsuta! i mean scary!  Xavier excitedly adds in, “and the godzuki one had angel wings!  like the pigeon jans would!  They have to be real!”

Gensoha rolls her large cat eyes sarcastically and with a side of mischief, “suuuuuuure, there are flying jans out there.  Like flying horsey jans and piggly jans ne ne ne?  You’ve been studying rockets since you were born, you know it’s physically impossible for people to fly with how heavy we are.  Can you imagine, their wing back muscles would have to be bigger than Nala’s power thighs!” 

Nala blushes, taking the thigh comment as a compliment.  She’s always been secretly proud of her leg’s abilities since her first perimeter speed walk turned into a jog and then full on freedom sprints.

Xavier blushes and scratchies the back of his head smiling, undefeatable, “I’m sure sure of it…      …there has to be pigeon jans…if there was a whale giant that had wings, then, pigeon people have to exist.  Them waking up is the only thing that makes sense that they’re all gone…   …i think then… yes! yup yup, maybe they have huge muscley backs for their huge angel wings!” 

Nala see’s on the laptop screen what Genosha was saying; there are photos of footprints around wrecked buildings and trampled barbed wire fences, with the observation of the largest set being at almost 14 meters long with an arch-print indicating these particular impressions belonged to an abnormally large human female 90-100 meters in height.  Translated to American measurements of inches and feet; she was ball-park guesstimated to be roughly “statue of liberty” sized. 

Eye testimony from outside of the guantanamo bay area claimed the atmosphere smelled of and became a jaded green, there was “temblores rrapidos de tierra” from their steps, and witnesses swear the massive blue skinned “piel de mar” woman dived back into the ocean with somebody, and a boy giant with a sword and wings disappeared by evaporating into the sky.  After that, the rain was tracked by military and corporate radar’s as heading east bound.

Genosha continues, “the rain kept going until it looped and reached here in the east coast area of this normie farm called united states;  technically, all of us eastern standard time coast furries and buffalos are the youngest of that rain day.  Before we come, the evil normies we are at war with domesticated many animals and all people of this world.  When the rain came, the rain changes seem to say; ‘no more submission because will to fight is important.  if you were a domesticated animal, you have chance to be a human, a chance to be free.  If you did not want to fight to live anymore, the rain take you away gentle and nice, like dying in your sleep…many of us think that rain had to be an alive thing, because it understood euthanasia and maybe, mercy?  So you see, we are alive and safe right now because good normies like Vic and Dorothy have ‘will to fight’ to protect us against inside and outside fears…”

The room felt slightly darker, early evening looming in.

Xavier looks at Genosha a quick moment before taking a deep breath, “We used to be three Nala…”, the kiddos both look sad with tails down as Xavier continues, “…The other puppy jan was an English bulldog named Jiggz.  He used to be best friends with Dorothy’s son but…     …He was in the Marines and never came back from the esprit de corps war 2 years ago, and Jiggz was always sad after and didn’t eat much and always waited near the door and when the rain came…     …well, we had to help Dorothy bury his human body a few days after in the backyard because she couldn’t do it…”  Genosha carries the topic on, almost growling, as Xavier is having a tough time, “Many many of us had to survive our birthdays from bad evil coward normies…    …many of us woke up in cages.  Many ran away.  many caught.  many turned in.  many many of us had to kill or be killed   …almost all of us know about burying and burning many many dead bodies…”

Nala quietly suffers a new kind of pain, privilege.
The privilege of not having to burry bodies like so many others had to do on wake up day.
She wonder’s if she would have buried a then unknown Vic had the storm been different.
What would have been her fate if Vic had not been there to receive her that day?

Xavier solemnly fiddles with his fingers, “Jiggz story is sad, i wish were able to have met him, we could’ve and would’ve helped…he died alone but he didn’t have to because he wasn’t really really alone…    …Vic was right what he said to you, there are so many normie people who are bad bad…      …Many people kill and hurt and cage us furries because they were afraid of us because we were known unknowns, they have that word…  …what’s it called again?  ah!  xenophobia…     …There is so much xenophobia against us.  We saw news stories where one xenophobia normie hung dog before rain because their dog was tied up outside all the time, they was afraid of maybe doggy jan revenge for being bad people?  Also, another story say another xenophobia normie drown hamster pets because pets see normie with another intimacy partner, and were afraid pets maybe talk secrets out loud…    …but hamsters didn’t turn…”

Genosha brings up, “evil fake tricky jans everywhere, we have to be careful, but there are good jans that help everyone, even if they have no furrie friends they join in war, even small things that super help us, like, they wear hoodies and sunshades and makeup to make it harder to see us furries by bad jans and ai surveillance grabbing when we are on the outside normie side.  This makes us harder to find, this is good things, it will help make our escape to our Topias easier.  They wear what we wear to hide and protect all of us, many many pona jans are protecting furry jans until we are finally in better places and ready to protect others also… …you know people help you are real, when they take real risks to help you…   …and and…  …Dorothy taught us, this’s called; passing it forward!”

Xavier whimpers looking away, profoundly hating the conditions affecting them, “we just want same thing all humans want, to fit in, and have meaningful relationships, and be a big part of the universe experiencing and exploring itself as alive energy things…”

Nala takes this opportunity to nervously ask, as many of the literature and songs and movies she studied showed both the pursuit of happyness and misery and peace and war were strongly tied with the mystery of sex, “Do we furries have intimacy partners like in the books and the movies…?”

They all get blushies and press on shyfully.

Genosha tries her best to sound like a grown up, “Hei hei, ne ne ne, we are asexual, it means we we are not interested in sex and don’t feel any sexual callings.  We are like baby children in young adult normie bodies…furry chatbox say they think that, possibility, that in any time maybe we may have hormone changes and powerful callings like all other alive things.  Nobody knows, because we are new kind of human jans just like every other new generational wave of human is not the same as before because environment always changing, and we are a little bit different than normies…  We don’t know what erotic kind of love feels like, we only know that it’s important, because of the birds and the bees.  We are worried with things like, maybe experience new feelings that may change us and who we are?  Also also, same time; we are worried that maybe we won’t know what that experience will ever feel like.  We don’t know what our natural lifespans will be…we only know that having a tomorrow isn’t promised to anybody, so we have to make the most of the now…”  Genosha concludes, feeling disappointed in not having more to offer here, “lots of maybes, no known knowns, lots of unknowns.”

Xavier chimes in to share his own sexual knowledge, “buffalo people are different though!  They are demisexual and poly lovers and nympho fighters.  They say maybe they can have children, but they won’t try until their work here is finished so they use birth control culture…    ….they say they will try thriving when the world is safe for all babies and children to play and grow with theirs!”  Xavier shows a hint of human pride,  “…the buffalo warriors say they solve big problems buffalo style; to hurry head first into violence storm if have to, to answer for so many lost prayers…”

Xavier goes from an expression of admiration to expressing concern over feelings he imagines but can’t experience, opening up blindly and slightly uncomfortably, “We don’t know what sexy time may be like, or if we ever maybe have baby jans with other jans also…     …i wonder sometimes who will be jans i like and what will i like and learn from them…     …and what they will like and learn from mi….     …and maybe we can have intimate super harmonious relationship and solve big synergy problems together…and if we can have babies, what those babies might look like…?    …yup yup, lots of maybes”

Genosha accompanies Xavier, sharing her own awkward piecing together of unknown emotions, “We were born into war times.  We’re trying to fight this last war and winning soon means better life for all of us…i worry also much about maybe yes and maybe not changes in my body…   …normie shows and books and songs say children are important, but they are being evil coward liar jans, because if children was important, they would fight a long time ago to make world safe for everyone…we did not wake up into a safe world, we have to keep the fighting now and win for all of us to finally be safe…”

Genosha solemly looks at Nala and continues,

“Nala, there are really sick evil violent jans out there…”  Genosha visibly gets angrier, “we may have to kill bad jans for us to be alive and continue to survive, we don’t want to, but we have to protect ourselves, the world’s super scary…    …Sex has monster side, lots of power and abuse history, evil people are everywhere and have too many tricks and they act like they are nice but then they steal us and rpe us and we have to win this war and save all of us, right now they are… “, Genosha struggles with clenched human paw fists, “…people jans, furrie jans, children jans…”, she gets a little teary eyed behind her frustration and her speech slowed significantly.

Xavier is understanding where Genosha is coming from, he explains to Nala with his hands and watery eyes of his own in a serious tone,

“Bad jans, many names, and when they communicate they dog whistle each other and are happy being evil, evil is okay for them, they accept that.  They have names like”, Xavier counts on his hands, “bullies, takers, LLCs, meanies, narcissists, amorals, masters, managers, owners, land lords, tricksters, rpists, investors, enforcers…”, running out of names, he cusps his fingers together nervously,  “…yup yup yup, et cetera et cetera.  They have million names and titles and shapes…  …they all the same though, Jan Nemeny said so; they are all the same and they want to control us and tell us we have to do things for them and join their paper religions and national borders clubs and register with them because they say we are “illegal” and have to be “legal” for them to accept us…and unless we agree to their contract relationships and included terms and conditions and hard to understand “legalease” language they made up then they maybe allow us to be alive if we work for them for “legal tender” papers in their big farm cities and and…   …they don’t want to leave us alone, they want to use us and agree to rules that allow strangers to tell us to do things for them and they take and we give and they win and we lose and we suffer but they do not suffer…” 

Genosha argues into the argument fists shaking on her lap, “that is stupid stupid!  we are not pets, we are not illegal, and we are not other people things; we are people and people are free to fight against villain jans and villain ideas!…   ….fighting to not be other people’s things is what makes us human.  That is easy to see!  bad jans do not think we are people, they will say anything and do anything to use us and not respect our life…    …they don’t care that we are asexual when they force us and make us feel more TRAUMA pain, they don’t care anything, they only care about themselves and using us…     ….they gratify themselves with us…they even celebrate using us like it is sports…”

Xavier hesitantly backs up Genosha’s point by pulling up on the laptop commercially sponsored and easily accessible websites.
“Whitehouse.com”, “pornhub.com”, “xvideos.com”, “tinder-ai.com”, “boo-kake.com”, “2guys1cup.com”, “grab’embythetail.com”,…

…the lists seemed never ending.

Nala can’t understand what she’s seeing right away, fear gripped her.

The prnography industry immediately after the rain had enslaved and trafficked for profit the entire known groups of human furries.
Cats, dogs, horses, sheep, lab mice, chickens, cows, and pigs.

People and furries were tricked, drugged and forced into scenes and roleplays that tied them into dehumanizing positions and narratives, where they struggled helplessly under abusers to a global audience of readily depraved consumers.  The advertisements and click bait captions read; “illegal furrie taught a lesson before lock-up”, “step-pets and master owners”, “farm furries gone wild”, “how to train your furrie”, and “Furry-ass comparison compilation PMV”.

Nala watches in terror how both people and furries that looked like them were being subjugated and exploited for other people’s amusement.

Nala was feeling nauseous.
The images, abuse, and the violence of it; sick and disgusting.
Vic had told her how evil people can be, he said in Vietnam, they did horrible things there, and that it wasn’t much different from everywhere else, just different lens and different tactics.

Xavier warns Nala that horsey jans are considered exotic and perversely valuable to evil people, and that they have higher risk of being disappeared and trafficked to normies that have superior money power in their economy religion.  This means that it’s easy for bad normies to want something evil and get it in secret.

Genosha closes the laptop and asks Nala if she’s okay, if she wanted to take a break.

Nala shakes her head no, she takes a deep breath into the pillow she’s clutching tight into herself, and asks in a determined whimper, “…please keep showing mi more what evil and war looks like…    …i see, the enemy is takers.  Enemy is evil normies that do to others what they do not want done to them…”

Xavier puts a hand over Nala’s hand, consoling her, “The evil normies are scary, but pona jans together strong and will rise above this”, while Genosha opens the laptop back up and resumes, “I won’t show you how evil this goes, they have even darker videos that link sex and torture and blood and feces and children, their evil goes deeper and deeper and has no limits, so it has to be stopped.  We can’t accept a world like this, ne ne ne, if it can happen to others and we don’t help, it can happen to us and no one help us!” 

Genosha tries abruptly, and a little shaken, to shift the topic from the sexual violence side of the war to the political and psychological violence side of the war that allows brutality to exist unchecked, and starts showing Nala other materials and sites.

Sites that showed furries of all kinds in different sized cages, from small improvised fenced areas to controlled sport stadium prisons alongside refugees and other normie people labeled as sub-human.
Sites that showed furries and topians as traitors and terrorists.

Countless sites dedicated to justifying the treating of other’s as less than.

Genosha shows, nala listens, xavier consoles.

they review more war truths.
Particularly, on how the furrie miracle clashed with the status quo.

Articles, influencer short videos, and comments highlight the chaos being experienced everywhere at the same time, yet, disturbingly, was neatly viewable and presented on the wiifii.

Nala summarizes to herself what she’s taking in.

Furries were reported to display some kind of boosted conscience.

Their intelligence was unheard of; they are able to learn, retain, and scrutinize complex human communications, emotions, and social dynamic structures well above the documented average for human beings.
It was quickly discovered they were born with the Toki Pona language, creating the world’s first globally unifying language.

They collectively had a natural and adamant refusal to cooperate with strangers and ideologies that commanded faith instead of earned trust.  They resisted unfair situations, centralized authorities, mandatory wage and debt games, and were always mindful of filtering out lies through truth finding behaviors.

The fact that many former pet “owners” and farmers supported their new furrie friend’s wishes for a different kind of world was a decisive blow that blew out the already surpassed 3.5% rule.

They were, in every way, super charged threats to the already threatened global pecking order hegemony.

The kiddos and Nala discussed out loud at times the content they were consuming; critically nitpicking what was being displayed, easily seeing through an insidious enemy that depends on biased language, strawman angles, and “economies”.

The race was on from the countless diverse talking heads, hellbent on maintaining their authority and buying themselves as much time as possible on an already heavily contested war.

The war machines and information control ai and algorithms were being used to full effect in search and destroy

sweep and clear operations.

Nala noted that a dominant frame that was being commercialized was that furries are property, and thus, they belong to their rightful owners regardless if they consider themselves free, as they are not recognized as “citizens” of the state.  Non citizens can not be free, just like “enemy combatants”.  Thus, furries are a form of “enemy combatants”.  They were not “born” in an established state, they were “woke” in a state.
Since those are the rules, and they do not follow them, furries are automatic “cheaters” and “threats” and thus…      “evil”.

Nala could feel anger and despair, seeing how simple headlines created confusion and fear that resulted in extreme risks and violences against them.

The media echoed the perspectives that even if they were considered to be born, logically then, the furries were born a crime; as they amped up mispresented images and videos of them. 

Other popular declarations were that the furries and buffalo’s carried unacceptable risks of disease, participated in criminal gang activity, were more likely than not summoned by communists or extraterrestrial demons; and overall presented an existential threat to freedoms, rights, our way of life, national security, and national interests with their undemocratic sovereign citizen behaviors.
Evil terrorists and rebels.

It gave abusers and cowards everywhere a justification for their ill will at the social nucleolus level of humanity; feeding an insidious divide and conquer animus.

Nala is starting to look away, Genosha asks again if they should stop here, Nala again brings herself back.

  Nala felt it in her bones.  Fear.  She didn’t want to be caged nor rpd nor killed.

Something inside Nala chastises her for not actively fighting this fear now that she is aware.
She wonders if this is what a conscience is?  Some kind of social ego?
People everywhere are suffering.  If people are suffering, can’t help them if we look away.

Xavier pokes Genosha, “show the video of queens bridge protestors in times square please!  The one with the three bulls”

Genosha smirks, inspired- she likes this clip.  She pulls up a viral video dated 3 days ago.

The content editor had chosen the Sia soundtrack of “unstoppable” to compliment the event.

Two buffalo bulls and a mare are in a tense standoff on one side of a large commercialized plaza area.
They looked intimidating, with horns atop their heads, and bodies that bulged with muscles fashionably covered by handcrafted animal skins.
On the other side is a large force of fully geared and shielded NYPD riot enforcers.

There were limp bodies on the floor between them being rush-removed by courageous crowd members.
The officers had fired into the crowd with non-lethal rounds and tear gas projectiles that killed and severely injured some peaceful protestors and scattered the crowd out and away from ground zero.

It was clear from the buffalo side that a line was crossed.

As the bodies are being cleared out the highly motivated NYPD reloaded and re-adjusted their population control tools.

The female is distinguishable from the rest as she removes a heavy grizzly bearskin coat and argues to her bulls with a discreet sign language.
You can’t hear, but you can see her shouting clear warnings and requests of dispersal to the NYPD squad across the way. 

The NYPD defiantly held it’s ground, stomped their boots and made the street thunder. 
They laughed in the comfort of their superior numbers, and aligned their flashy shields. 
Their leadership gave their own loudspeaker commands and warnings over insults, moto yells and catcalls from the individuals in the unit itself.

The buffalos seemed displeased at how this was about to go down.

The buffalo warrior female brushes off their commotion with a nod, starts elbow stretching and jumps in place in a visible display of hyped up fury and Athenian glee as a courtesy warm up to what was coming next; and in a snap quickly ran full bolt shoulder-forward into the law and order enforcers like a wrecking ball on bowling pins.  

The two massive buffalo bulls had disappeared into the crowd behind them only to somehow immediately reappear in perfect timing with her ahead; bursting in full charge and merciless consumption over the left flank of the constabulary. 

The right flank of the elite unit was being held back by their own pawn-mates caught up in the shock and awe of the juggernaut onslaught.

The content editor took some liberties with the song rhythm pacing and slow motion effects in the video as Nala watched in disbelief at their size, speed, intensity and grace as the buffalos became a force that ripped into a once intimidating but now completely wrecked navy black NYPD unit; their shields, bodies and body parts thrown around in a teargassed whirl of bloody and surreal ultra violence.  To her, this spectacle was what Vic meant about having to fight by the belt buckle…
…and synergy?  is this what super harmonious relationships looks like against overwhelming odds?…

The lethally armed elements of the NYPD guards were simultaneously being surgically sniped by Topia supporters hidden around buildings and rooftops nearby, other NYPD reserve and SWAT units were pinned and unable to re-enforce the rapidly deteriorated RIOT squad.

Despite valiant blows from billy sticks and carbon fiber knuckled gloves from NYPDs finest, the buffalos were relentless and un-phaseable in their overtly generous servings of brutal blunt force trauma and knife work.  Necks were being crushed and snapped sideways under helmets; limbs, ears, tracheas and genitals were being ripped clear from their sockets and flung out like waste, kneecaps were blown into themselves through their kneepads, knives went in and out of arm pits and inner-thighs, and screams of pain reflectively received an instant clubbing or kicks to the teeth.

A little less than a third of the remaining forces huddled into each other in fear, defeat, submission and helplessness.
They laid flat on the ground best they could in complete subordination, relegated to nothing more than street beggers of mercy, medics, or a quick death.

The buffalo woman was even more enraged at their unmasked cowardice and sudden loss of conviction, and started tearing into them despite no one left standing, stomping on hands and flattening helmets before the buffalo bulls dropped everything and intercepted with extreme prejudice on her, themselves struggling in keeping her from further unchecked slaughter.

She had clearly crossed a line.

Topia crews and medics flooded the scene with big guns ready to attend to the dead and wounded as she was forced away by several more heavily armed bull mates.
She was visibly injured, bloody, and angry…kicking and screaming until out of picture.

The video was uploaded by @Long Island Audit, 29 Dec 2026.
The description read:

Queensbridge protestors in times square over release of secret detention center locations met with violence.
Protestors killed and injured by NYPD.
Buffalo trio decimate squad of 60 with bare hands.
Believe the archetype, never cross the buffalos.

The comments section showed a flurry of support, updates and details of the events of that day.

@******:  2 days ago: “That’s a wrap!  Serves them right, the NYPD were guarding international locations of furrie detention camp centers and refusing to give them up, leading to the over run of their offices.”

@******: 2 days ago: “Hey everyone, here are the Links to view the Techy Topian groups that were involved in recovering the deleted files and bring to light some locations; over 200 detentions were found and are being rushed or prepped up right now!  Also, private intelligence companies were also involved and exposed.  Here’s the link to the chatgroups active in that part.  We’re almost there 🤞🤞🤞!”

@******: today: “hey, I know those guys!  They visited us in Queenesbridge!  They helped secure 300 of us in getting bussed out to the Detroit side Topias when the state set up road blocks, their cool folks, i hope Navarro is okay, she looked pretty messed up 😢”

@******: 2 days ago: “who else here 2026!!??  Sia unstoppable all the way to 2027!!!!    woooot wooot, happy new years mfkrs!!!!!!”

@******: 1 day ago: “support our troops and the thin blue line!  Donate today and help us win this war against all these demonic beasts! link here.”

@******: today: Alright guys, i don’t think we are appreciating how sophisticated that crash was.  The Topians had found and replaced most of the sniper spots from the NYPD SWAT support they had RIGHT before the RIOT squad unloaded on the protestors.  If not for that, those buffalos would have been mowed down on the spot.  Also, other topia groups had neutralized the NYPD Strategic Response Group (SRG) that day in a successful hasty ambush op.  Amazing how tight those Topia units are moving, here’s some links to it and crowd captures.  Get this, they used paintball gun volleys from everywhere filled with oil, gasoline and…paint!  That combo wrecked the SRG sht immediately, they couldn’t see, couldn’t move, didn’t dare shoot.  No lives were lost from that approach”

Nala peels her eyes away from the screen, she saw the clip six times, pausing here and there, and read plenty from the comments.

The kiddos give her space, they understand this is all a lot at once for her.
It was evening time and they imagined she must be going through some kind of exposition exhaustion.
They offered her a break, but she didn’t hear them.

Nala is in shock of the world.  So much is happening, she only saw a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of it and appreciates more and more the simplicity of living with Vic.  She feels like she understands him a little better now, all his concerns and warnings and fears and mental state… 

At the same time, her sense of right and wrong are strong, she knows things can’t stay the way they are, she has a part in all of this that she can’t wishy washy away.

Nala feels she has to take a step back, feels emotionally drained from the flood of violence and longs for balance…   

She asks the kiddos to tell her more about the first Topia that Dorothy and the kiddos were planning on to soon.

Genosha slides the laptop over, “Xavier-chan, could you please please show the map where we going?”  Xavier brings up a map app for viewing and interacting with while Gensoha points at the screen and informs, “Naly-chan, this is where we want to go first.  It’s called Charlotte-Topia, it’s near a lake called Norman in a big normie farm area called North Carolina.  It’s lots of topias together where HUMBUG vehicles drop off, pick up, and take different routes to different Topias.”

Nala views it on the map as well as website; it advertises temporary stays for orientation and free transport connections to any topia in the world.
There are pictures of both huge and humungus sized HUGBUG vehicles; it looked like a train on massive metal mesh tires with a plethora of different purpose containers pulled behind it.  Xavier points out that the tires on those things are just like the vehicles they use on the moon and planets in outer-space.

Nala studies the location, is intrigued by all the things it has to offer.  The people there seem welcoming.
She then asks to see the Topias for Xavier, Dorothy and Genosha.

Xavier shows on the computer as he speaks, “We want to take Dorothy to this topia here, South Park, Colorado. She liked that one, and mine is only 2 hours away here in this space camp Topia, look look!”  Xavier shows a Topia that advertises itself as advanced in space rocket engine training and support and other space related technologies.  The people and furries there looked happy and there were plenty of pictures and articles and videos of the people there.  Xavier points excitedly at a small group of furries and normies in the picture and wags his tail, “those are my online buddies, they say that they look forward to receiving me and to keep them updated on my trip over there”.  Nala sees Xavier smiling and feels likewise happy.  Even though she doesn’t know what he knows and hasn’t lived in his soles, she feels his joy of looking forward to something real and personal.
She feels empathy growing bigger inside of her.

As Genosha also merrily shares her Topia online brochure invite and online friends made there, Dorothy in the kitchen is having trouble with Vic.

Dorothy had been going back and forth with a more forthcoming Vic, slowly opening up major aspects of her life she kept in, and was explaining how demotivated she was since the federally mandated retirement age increase. 

Her life’s work towards an unsure social security and now non-existent 401k plan, and dwindling savings that barely kept up with the food, water, electricity, and property tax bills kept her in eternal background stress, “…  and i’m one of ‘lucky ones’ for ‘owning’ this house…i just can’t imagine what it’s like for others out there who don’t have that…privilege?  Vic, they really do want to work us all to death.  I always knew it but i just couldn’t face it, and i can’t do this anymore, i want the little that’s left of me to matter…”

Dorothy moved on into filling Vic in with the current war and how it affected her.

Vic had been slightly aware of the radical changes that were happening since Covid, his hidden hermit lifestyle in a quiet zone made his understanding and details of the war minimal.  Moreover, the people he spoke with were mostly a few store shops acquaintances, whom, always fearfull, never opened up about money, politics, sex and religion. 

To Vic, the current wars and fights felt far away, as he had been there before, and that war still felt very close…   

Detached from war by time and space, but never finding respite from it.

Vic never knew this side of Dorothy, she was very in tune with the culture.  He knew she was a military brat, but she had never shared this side of her before.

Dorothy explained the sprit de corps war like a military scholar.

The challenge was, when it comes to Marines, you can’t claim to have honor, courage and commitment; to then submit to dollar bills from strangers under signed loyalty contracts.

Mina Kunis, Mhia Khalifa, and the underserved warrior Veteran’s from Guam made several invitation videos.  They challenged the Marines to leave it all and help train and sustain communities free of money slavery, protect refugees, recover trafficked children and peoples, and get into real fights with real enemies.

The call was for real warriors.

Within a week of those help request videos, the Marines corps destroyed itself in an internal civil war; forever after memorialized as the last crucible.

“…Can you believe it Vic, the Marines went to literal war with themselves, over being called out as flying monkeys on social media.”

Vic nods in understanding, he was personally familiar with Marines and their legendary warrior egomania.  This was definitely something they would do.

The Marines that stayed loyal to the conservative ideologies they considered real power: god, country, law and order economics, and class privilege structures; were merged into the new UNISFTY forces along with remaining loyalists from all the other branches. 
In that merger, police, soldiers, airmen, space force, Marines, mercenaries, etc were all reformatted under the new UNISFTY flag and streamlined chain of command.

The Marines that survived and joined the new Topia initiatives kept their status of real Marines, and remained true to taking the fight to any time, clime, and place. 
This life, next life, alternate dimension, or even in galaxies far far away, it didn’t matter to the ones who held on to their eagle, globe and anchors.
They were the key reason that the HUMBUG vehicles and Topia initiatives were able to get a foothold into the states before the green flood.

Dorothy smiles and her eyebrows tighten in a cry, weepingly putting the words together, shining through with pride, “first to fight, Vic…    My son was first to fight for those growing Topia spaces out there right now.  It’s almost like, he knew where everything was going and was trying to create a better world i can step into…and we’re finally going to one soon…My son died in that crucible; nothing is going to stop us from enjoying the fruits of his labor Vic…that’s all i have fkn left…    …his gift.”

Dorothy hesitantly kept going, finding herself on that memory lane, about her son.  Her son being a birght eyed and bushy tailed young up and coming Marine in the Motor-Transport MOS 3500 field…    He was killed early on in the Marine’s sprit de corps war; crushed under the wheels of a 7-ton by his own chain of command after he stood up to them over the real meaning of honor…

Dorothy takes a deep breath.  Having had plenty of deliberation in finding closure, and having already cried into her pillow until there was nothing left but draughts and mists, recovers gracefully; wiping her own tears and sniffles away.

“I miss him so much…i see him everyday even though he’s no longer here with me…”

Vic, starting to tremble a little bit, is finding himself going back to his old frontlines.  Little shadows are sneaking in from the corners of the rooms and hiding behind the furniture and huddling in corners, whimpering in fear.

Vic blinks twice and replies, a little winded, “nobody should have to burry their own babies shug…”, Vic starts struggling to breathe, and he tenses up and his eyes are becoming bloodshot as he begins to close into himself in the kitchen chair, re-living another zombies in his head moment, panicky; unable to find his own way out.

Dorothy stands up alarmed, she had an idea Vic was hurt in his service, but not this bad.
She’s seen this before, remembers what she saw from her mother, and does her best to intervene.

Dorothy puts her hand on his cheek, “it’s going to be okay.  You’re okay.  You’re safe here.  Come back, we can talk about it.  or we can talk about other things…”

Vic reacts possitively to this.  Dorothy continues trying to bring Vic back, “There there hun, i got you.  Hey you big lug, guess what, I got a gift for you!  I was in a special farmers market in spring and thought of you, and completely forgot it sitting in my purse the last time you visited, i’ve been waiting to see you again…”  She takes a bag of heirloom apple seeds and shows Vic while she rests a hand on his shoulder near his neck and squeezes gently.  “These seeds are special, you know how most apples are cloned or even genetically modified these days?  Well, not these!  These are supposed to be guaranteed sweet from the get go…   …and “au naturel”, just the way we like it right?    …turtle cube?”

Vics breathing is regulating, Dorothy welcomes him back as she slips the bag of seeds in his overall’s breast pocket “There there now, it’s all going to be okay, i’m here for you hun”  Dorothy gives vic a kiss on his forehead, a tight hug and he responds in kind by unloading tears and snot all over Dorothy’s shoulders for 3 awkward minutes straight.  Dorothy just hugs and squeezes him a little tighter every minute, until it was all over.

Vic apologizes humbly, now detached from Dorothy and face down on the table.  

Dorothy brings up a gummy bear and offers Vic just the leg and explains, “my …my dad, Hugh Thompson Jr., he was also in Vietnam..   …maybe you’ve heard of him?”

…Vic shares that he knows who her dad was…     …he was a personal hero…    …a giant from May lai…Vic then remained quiet and had some chamomile tea to go with his gummy bear leg.

Dorothy catches herself and rushes to change the topic, both for herself and for Vic’s sake, “Can i, show you something hun?”

Vic nods, ashamed of himself, feeling like he is making a terrible impression to a very hospitable friend.

Dorothy goes into her room, passing by a framed, handmade painting of Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy”, reimagined in a terminator-esque heavy metal theme, signed by her son.

She comes back with a fresh shirt and a book made out of light metals with the title, “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

Dorothy explains, “The UNISFTY censors, modifies or destroys books and media, so the Topias are making electronic copies online, and putting usb version in the spines of the physical metal copies and even a paper copy in each one.  A whole set.  oh!  There are recycled plastic versions that get 3d printed there also.  If I go to this Topia designed for blind friends and old farts like us, I get to do this with my favorite books…and be a part of…   …everything…”

  Vic listens, eyes pink and soggy from the waterworks a few moments ago, still ashamed, but intrigued at this kind of book’s existence; and the surreal quality of craftmanship. 

Dorothy further sells him onto it, “you can join me and grow apple trees and work on your buggy, they just happen to have a car library there.  If you want to keep me company while you figure things out, i’m here to help you with that…?”

Vic doesn’t like rushing things, his turtle self struggles with change.
But he reckons, with Nala safe, and Dorothy as a friend, he’s ready to try exploring a new pond to paddle around in.
He just wants peace.  He felt it tonight, and couldn’t remember the last time he felt that way.

The house winds down late in the evening. 
Nala and the kiddos rest away in their little pillow nests on the floor, bellies up. 
Dorothy sleeps in her room, and Vic sleeps ultra comfy on the couch.
Both of them slightly tipsy from the cheap wine.
Best slumber party ever.

Outside the dreamless house the wind howled throughout the night, and went away with the rise of morning.
There’s a united breakfast with everybody. 
It’s full of happyness, and the unlocking of more cherishable moment achievements.
Nobody complained about Nala’s snoring.

They agreed to travel together, to brave next steps together.

Dorothy and the kiddos will delay their going away date until the 6th of January.
They will be picking Vic and Nala up and head to the Charlotte-Topia.

They all excitedly talked about what they were going to do on their risky 6 hour road trip, what games were fitting?

.

..

…

I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with “T” and ends in “a”; and you can find it everywhere.