CAE: Text Penmiresho (The Long Road 09)

CAE: Text Penmiresho (The Long Road 09)
By GiaZeries

Penmire and his spouse had been born after the invasion that forced their parents to flee their homeworld to Cruix. Stories of what had happened were like a fairy tale as they grew. While the devourers were still a legit threat and out in space somewhere waiting to be unleashed on new worlds the pair grew up with the threat as more of a boogieman type of tale. To Penmire it was history, but distant and something that could never touch him. To Lucca it was a threat of what could happen if people were not good and cautious in their actions, that a devourer might show up and eat a bad little girl if she didn't follow the rules. That thought had haunted Lucca until she befriended Penmire in her late years of schooling and he laughed the notion off. The two often found themselves in debate about everything under the radiation dome and through that friendly interaction found love for each other. It was several years after graduation when the two shared a promise to be loyal to each other with love being the bond to keep them true.

It was in 2650 that they would move to have a child. A single boy that would be carried to term by Lucca while Penmire worked extra hard to prepare everything. The boy was born without complication and named Text by his parents in connection to his father having pen in his name (Penmire's father being Ink). The baby had Camouflage hair streaks and stripes that neither parent could claim directly. It was likely the a mutation further back in the line from family members the pair had never met. The light pink of his Sclera did suggest that the boy may have a power later in life, but for the moment that was a side note as they would have years before that would happen. For now their only job as parents were to make sure their infants needs were met and that he was well taken care of in all ways they could provide. The pair were extremely attentive parents as both were a bit nervous of not doing enough for their baby and becoming bad parents.

By the time Text was a Kit he was showing some developmental unevenness. Text had taken well to learning even before school started and in classes showed to be above the curve in many areas as compaired to other students. His math and comprehension skills were most of note and classes in those areas (including science and comprehensive reading assignments). Text however struggled with social interaction with other students and while he could read well and easily seek out answers in documents he didn't always seem to understand emotional value. It was not something that was easy for Text or his parents as the boy was very social and his deficiency in skills had not seemed bad before. Both his parents would need some time to be able to come to terms with the fact they had not seen an issue with their awkward child until he went to school, but in the meanwhile would begin working with him on it. Home therapy was where it would start when he was small with plans for actual classes if the issue continued to effect Text.

Text due to his parents treatment of the subject was fully aware something was different about him. He found it hard to keep up with what he was supposed to feel. Was he supposed to laugh at someone getting hurt? Cry? Be mad? He'd seen all the reactions and it made it extremely hard to pick what was right and go with it. What was the best course of action? It made him shy away from others at first as he didn't want to do the wrong thing and doubted his ability to make good choices and other kids in response started leaving him alone. Text would have probably spent his years alone if his parents had not agreed to push him to advanced classes because of his learning speed. It had been a long discussion to decide to do it as pushing him meant Text would be with all new students that were a bit older than him and with him already struggling socially there was a chance he'd have more issues making friends.

That was not the case in the end. Instead Text made his first friend. Glas'glov was a perky type about a year younger then Text. He was also in accelerated classes because of a high IQ and the need to be challenged. The hyper active boy was hard to keep in his seat once work for classes was done for the day and tended to get up and into trouble if a teacher didn't give him more to do. Text's teacher decided to assign Glas'glov and Text as study partners in hopes that Glas'glov would have something to do and keep out of trouble with if he was helping a peer of his own age. Instead the two simply powered through work and ended up playing together at the end of class periods. Text enjoyed the company of his study partner and was happy to sit with him at lunch and would agree to have him over after school or visit him. Glas'glov didn't seem to mind when Text stumbled over reactions to things or behaved oddly in a social situation and would start to teach Text what he called 'the art of cover up'. This was simply a matter of changing the tone when he seemed to pick the wrong emotion. If he laughed when someone got hurt Text could change that to trying to cheer the hurt person up or making a joke about them getting out of a class. Comedy and silliness became the base of how Text would present himself, it just seemed like the best option as happy emotions were easier to fix than negative.

Glas'glov and Text would continue to hop grades together and had a tendency to fall back if the other struggled to make sure they didn't end up separated. Each boy slowly gained more friends from their neighborhoods and school and the two had no issue introducing everyone to each other and trying to share friends. By twelve Text had gotten down how to laugh things off and how to make people laugh by doing ridiculous things. Making faces, jokes, putting his clothes on backwards, and other small actions were all good ways to safely interact. Text still had many self doubts about interacting with other people in other ways and tended to avoid events were people were supposed to be sad or where people were supposed to be angry. His concerns would lead his parents to agree putting him into professional therapy for a while might be a good idea. Text would learn how to read social cues through careful practice and hard work to the point he could reason the right reaction out if given time, but spur of the moment reactions would always be a fight for him.

At sixteen Text began to get his power in. It started as an internal hum when he would work with digital devices and then a pull. The ability would take time to build up and trigger the first time and would send Text across a room from his digital pad to his phone. It immediately was followed by Text running to his parents to report what had happened. The school was informed that Text may need magic classes and the boy was evaluated for such. After a good bit of study they did manage to figure out that Text was teleporting locations through digital devices. As long as any two devices had a clear connection he could do it, though the longer the distance the more it physically took out of him. It was incredibly handy for him and he would push to learn more about it! If he got good enough he could probably safely and quickly visit friends or simply get to school. Text's parents and teachers encouraged him to take things slowly though not wanting the boy to hurt himself.

Like any other Udono the older Text got the more focused Text's classes became centering around his strengths. This did turn out to start seperating him and Glas'glov at school as while Text was showing great skills in math and programing with digital devices and was developing a passion for them, Glas'glov was showing more strength in science related areas and was growing a passion for biology. It was not the end of the friendship of course as the two would always keep in touch, but it meant each had to expand their horizons. Advanced schooling would lead Text into the feild of digital media and working with it to get good enough to be hired at a local news station. It wasn't a great fit for Text though and he felt extremely limited. Seeking bigger and better challenges Text would first get the surgery to install a filter so he could breath oxygen and then start looking at possibilities for work in Cruix. It would mean working continuously in a suit to protect others from his radiation, but it was worth it in his mind to be able to do something different.

As jobs started to trickle in for him Text made the bold choice to apply for citizenship and housing in the Divergent Rift. It was one of the only locations with a Udono settlement and it put him closer to his work as Text could use his teleportation to jump through his home devices and travel to devices at his office with less strain that way. It would take a bit, but his application would be accepted. Text even took a job for the Hartford Mining Corporation for a short time working on promotional materials. This  also became boring with time though and he started job hunting for other things. Could he stop? Sure, after all it was probably safer if he didn't keep jumping around. Text had the ever present fear that he was going to majorly bomb something due to a misunderstanding and get in trouble or fired. He tried to stay light hearted and goofy though always believing that comedy and laughs could win anyone over if he tried.

By 2681 he found a job that was extremely unique. 'The Long Road' was a moderately successful show that made its budget back enough each week that it continued to run. While it had some low points the ongoing story was beloved by many and kept a good sized fan base. Text had found they were looking to hire more people in his field to help with the show grow. It was a good position from the stand point of pay and hours and it was something that he had never tried to do before. The only concern was that with actors running around they might notice the oddness of his interactions and call him out on it. Text would still apply though and see if the position could be snagged feeling excitement at new possible paths before him. He would get hired and soon find the position was much more social then he was used to. Text had to be around the actors a lot and they did poke at him being odd from time to time. It was never to be mean though and often turned out to be a nearly affectionate act. Text realized a bit to late to stop it that he had become a member of the cobbled together family that was the cast and staff. Not that it was a bad thing, but he knew in the future it would make it harder to leave as it was one of the few places he felt safe that his oddness wouldn't get him kicked out.