A quote for Thigh High Thursday: "I knew a woman, lovely in her bones, When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them; Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one: The shapes a bright container can contain!" ~ Theodore Roethke #thighhighthursday #iknewawoman #lovelyinherbones #shemovedmorewaysthanone #theshapes #theodoreroethke #boudoirphotoshoot #glamournude
Repost from @blumhouse • Have you ever wondered who takes care of #TheShapes mask? A little behind-the-scenes look for you here. Tell us which Michael Myers mask is your favorite? Name the film. https://www.instagram.com/p/CVGMJDOpiBJ/?utm_medium=tumblr
The Shapes - Blast Off 7" 1980 Good Vibrations. U.K. El segundo y último single de los Shapes este editado bajo "Good Vibrations" con doble cara A incluyendo el pegadizo "Airline Disaster" #theshapes #shapes #powerpop #modrevival #goodvibrations #punkrock #7" #45rpm #instavinyl #vinylcollection #vinyljunkie #vinylrecords #handmade #indie #vinylcollectionpost #recordcover #recordcollection #vinilo #recordcollector #artwork #design #rocket https://www.instagram.com/p/B3TlH7uIf-9/?igshid=lo7fhd3s6bcj
Chapter Summary: Megan meets Alex and they go get an appointment. It’s more interesting than it sounds.
Warning:Anxiety, references to self harm
Word Count: 1,991
09.55AM Saturday 30th October 2038
The bus reached the stop at five to ten, so Megan still had about ten minutes to wait until Alex got there. That was fine, she just needed to stay out of the way.
So, with hands in her jeans pockets she stepped away from the bus stop to stand under some trees, which were still shedding leaves.
Her mind, just as it was on the way here, was mostly pre-occupied with Paul. She was also freaking out about going to the medical centre, but Paul took up equal space.
He had broken through his programming, which on the surface may not seem like a big deal, but when you thought about it. It was like a human breaking free of their genetic code, like they could suddenly fly or otherwise defy the laws of physics. She was reminded of the old superhero movies her parents watched, X-Men she was sure it was.
It would be great if Paul wasn’t the only one. She could search the internet for other deviant cases, but she wasn’t sure if there would be much there. If there were other cases of deviancy, surely they would have been sent back to CyberLife or shut down for malfunctioning.
Megan shuddered at that thought. It just seemed so, wrong. Just the thought of Paul being shut down for that made her want to cry. Although, she wasn’t sure if that was for selfish reasons, or not.
“Megan! Earth to Megan!”
Megan was jolted from her thoughts as Alex waved a hand in front of her face.
“You in there spaceman?”
“Yeah, sorry. Miles away.”
“I could tell,” Alex smirked, running a hand through their hair. It was still green, although not quite as vibrant as the other week “So, shall we go?”
“Yeah,” Megan took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”
They began walking towards the centre of campus, but had only gone a few steps before Alex noticed something.
“Megan what happened to your arm?”
Megan froze, she’d managed to forget about the pain in her arm, and the fact she was still cradling it against her chest.
“I, er,” she fumbled for an answer. She couldn’t think of a lie, but she really, really didn’t want to say the truth.
“Megan?”
“Can, we not talk about it? Please?”
Alex let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand through their hair.
“Fuck,” they breathed, having put the dots together. “I, I guess it’s a good thing we’re doing this.”
“...Yeah.”
Alex managed a lopsided smile.
“Getting help’s the first step.”
“I know,” Megan raised her eyebrow, and Alex looked a little sheepish.
“That came out rather patronising, didn’t it?”
“Maybe,” Megan shrugged, quickly regretting it as it jostled her arm.
“I’ll have to remember that. C’mon. Let’s go get you sorted out.”
The two continued walking in mostly comfortably silence, still heading for the centre of the campus, where the Medical Centre stood. That way it can be easily accessed no matter where you are on campus.
“Oh, so you know, they’ll ask you if you want to talk to a human or android,” Alex informed.
“Okay,” that wasn’t too surprising, but she was glad Alex told her that. So that she wouldn’t feel quite so on the spot when she was asked.
The two of them walked in to the centre. The walls were medically white, and an android receptionist stood behind the desk.
“Good morning!” she greeted brightly as they walked over. “How may I help you?”
Alex looked at Megan. “Who would you like to handle this?”
“I-I’ll do it,” Megan took a deep breath and addressed the receptionist. “I, I would like to book an appointment, with a counsellor, please.”
“Of course, may I see your Student ID?” the smile on the android hadn’t dropped, which was a little freaky in Megan’s view. She did what she was asked and presented her Student ID, and the android’s LED flickered as she scanned it.
“Thank you. Would you like to see a human or an android counsellor?”
Even with Alex’s preparation, Megan still hadn’t come to a decision.
“Er, wh-who has more appointments, free?”
The LED of the receptionist whirled as she checked.
“The android counsellor is available one day sooner than the human. You are free to switch whenever you like.”
“When is the appointment?”
“The next slot for the android counsellor is this time next week at 12.30PM.”
“I’ll, I’ll take that then.”
“Certainly! One moment,” her LED went yellow for a just a second. “Your appointment is booked. May I help you with anything else?”
“Er,” Megan looked at Alex, who gave her an amused smirk and shook their head. “No, that’s it, thanks.”
“Have a nice day!”
“You handled that quite well,” Alex noted as the two left the Medical Centre.
“Yeah, wasn’t so bad when I started talking,” Megan managed to smile. “Thanks for coming. I-I wasn’t sure you would.”
“Wait, seriously?” Alex stopped in their tracks. “Why did you think I wouldn’t come with you?”
Megan shuffled their feet awkwardly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to say it, but Alex deserved to know.
“Well, I always figured you were just talking to me out of pity. I’m not exactly great at conversation, and you always seemed happier talking to everyone else.”
Alex sighed and shook their head before starting to walk again.
“Look, when you’re not freaking out, you’re pretty chilled out, which is a nice break from some of the other people in the society. And, you asked me for help. What kind of person would I be if I said no?”
“Someone with not much time to spare?”
“I can always re-schedule. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you don’t talk to a lot of people, and, again. You. Asked. Me. For something that I can see is a long time coming and you felt like you needed emotional support. How much clearer do I need to make this?”
“Not much. I get it.” Megan was half smiling. “You’re a nice person. That’s why I asked you. That, and you’re the only person I have on my phone who’s in the State.”
Alex let out a bark of laughter which made Megan jump.
“I knew you had a sense of humour!” Alex grinned, resting their elbow on Megan’s shoulder. “So, whaddya wanna do now?”
“Well, I’d better...” Megan remembered Paul’s plight, and had a thought. “Can I ask you for some advice?”
“Sure.”
“Someone I know, in my apartment block, is, having a difficult time,” Megan struggled to elaborate without outing Paul entirely. “It’s, it’s like, who he thought he is, and who he actually as, is suddenly completely different. His whole world’s been ripped out from under him and he’s freaking out, and I don’t know how to help him. Not really.”
“Hmmm,” Alex nodded, thinking. “I can see why you asked me. You gotta be patient. He might start doing things that he didn’t before to explore this, I guess. Can you go into more detail than that?”
“No, I don’t think he’d like that. He doesn’t know I’m doing this.”
“Right. Well, like I said, patience, don’t push him to do stuff he’s not comfortable with, and just, be there for him. I know you’ve got your own stuff, so do take time for yourself. Help when you can, but don’t break yourself over him. Got it?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“If it gets too much to deal with him, then you can take a step back. Heck, I can talk to him if you want.”
“Maybe, not yet. He trusts me, I think. I’ll have to talk to him about it first.”
“Gotcha.”
The two had managed to wander back to the bus stop, where that blue poster was still hanging.
“Oh, did you see the poster the other night?” Alex asked, and Megan looked at them oddly.
“Yeah. Nice thought piece. A little weirdly worded though.”
“Hmm, maybe you have to look harder at these things,” Alex shrugged. “You do History right? Done Turing and World War 2 ciphers yet?”
“Yeah,” Megan wasn’t particularly enthusiastic, as that was the assignment she’d done badly on.
“Not your favourite bit?”
“I like it, I just, got a C on it,” she half mumbled.
“A C’s not that bad. It’s not a fail.”
“Not good either.”
“That’s what the feedback’s for, so you can improve. You did not great on one essay, big whoop! It’s the first semester, you can still pull it back!”
Megan was a little irritated at her distress over it not being taken seriously, but Alex did have a point. There was plenty of the year to go.
Megan shifted her injured arm unconsciously, drawing Alex’s eye. They froze for a second as something occurred to them.
“Did, did getting a C, make you want to, to do, that? To yourself?”
Megan shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe.”
Alex sighed heavily. “Megan. Look at me,” when Megan didn’t look up, Alex stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. “Megan. Look. At. Me.”
Megan did look up, surprised at how tall Alex actually was. Not as tall as Paul, but still several inches over her.
“Getting a bad grade, no, scrap that. College itself, is not worth destroying yourself over. Okay? You can go to college at any point in your life. You’ve just got to be here for it. Okay?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Megan was a little taken aback by the intensity in Alex’s face. She’d never seen them so serious.
“There’s, there’s advice I heard a while back,” Alex relaxed a little, stepping back and giving Megan some space. “If it’s breaking you, walk away. There’s no shame in it.”
“Okay,” Megan’s breathing had gotten faster, she really hadn’t expected Alex to get, like that.
“Sorry,” Alex’s tone had softened. “It’s, it’s just. Fuck.”
“Sorry,” Megan started, but stopped when Alex shook their head.
“Don’t. You must have felt like utter shit to do something like that. Don’t apologise for how you feel.”
“I was going to apologise for hurting myself,” Megan raised her eyebrow. “I know that was stupid. It always is.”
“Just, didn’t feel stupid at the time,” Alex sounded like they knew what they were talking about, which was worrying.
“You know a lot about this,” Megan intoned. Not necessarily a question, but still could be answered as one.
“Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the Ace/Aro group. Neither has my life.”
Megan nodded. “Everyone has their demons.”
“Exactly,” Alex jerked suddenly and they pulled their phone out of their pocket. “I set the damn thing to vibrate,” they muttered, checking what the message was. They then groaned and their shoulders slumped.
“What is it?” Megan asked.
“Last minute change of plans for a group project. They want to meet in the library in a few minutes,” Alex looked over at Megan, “I can tell them I’m busy.”
“D-don’t worry about it,” Megan waved it off. “I’d better get back anyway. Check on my friend.”
“Of course,” Alex began to walk away. “Oh, and, that poster is well worth a closer look. Maybe take a photo,” they smiled and turned to walk away again.
Megan frowned in confusion, but didn’t verbally respond. Why was Alex so obsessed with this poster?
She went up to it anyway, reading it again. Nothing had changed, still the same, odd message. She squinted and shifted her view, still nothing. She tried to look lazily at it, like you would for an optical illusion. Still nothing.
Actually, wait... She looked closer at the bottom of the poster. Someone had written something there.
“Don’t worry about Ed?” Megan read aloud. “What the hell does that mean?”
She could hear the drone of the bus pulling up, so she pulled out her phone and took a picture of the poster before boarding.
So, this is where Alex starts to become a bit more relevant, and also when I decided to not make them a background character any more when I was writing. They have their own issues as you can gather from what they say. The poster makes a comeback. No one appears to have deciphered it yet, any takers? Other than that, not much to add.
Days off are for catching up with projects! #weaversofinstagram #yarn #fiberart #fibers #myfavoritemedium #ColombianaenNola #CasaStrange #thecolors #theshapes (at Uptown - Carrollton, New Orleans, Louisiana)
Love, love, love this cover. They've truly nailed it. #somuchcolour #symbolism New 5-track EP from @miamihorror__ out today. A perfect accompaniment to their ever expanding back catalogue. These Melbourne lads sure know how to put the shine back into Fridays with their infectious indietronica sound. Definitely a Talking Heads meets a Caribbean-infused 80's kind of vibe happening here which only reinforces how adaptable, adventurous and top notch this band is. They're touring nationally now. ^ #theshapes #signofthetimes #trapeze #leila #azimba #darklove #melbourne #aussie #indietronica #indie #electro #topshelf #hotdubwinemachine @fatcontrollerclub @thezooooo #2017 #fridaytunes #tgif (at Brisbane, Queensland)
