high achiever, don't you see? baby, nothing comes for free

[skepticgirl_1]

I was going a little out of my mind with ideas and stories and no real outlet for them. So when the posting popped up that someone was asking for writers to work on a new independent publication, I seized on the opportunity. Who knew? Maybe it would end up as a paying job and I could get myself out of the home. I was being picky on that front, I knew, but there were so many choices that I was being denied, just by being in Darrow itself, that I wanted what power I did have to be exercised exactly how I wanted it to be. No burger slinging jobs for me, only something I loved.

There was a light rain drizzling down as I made my way to the coffee shop, so my hair was a bit frizzed despite the now damp hoodie I had on over my shirt. At least my trusty boots were made for walking in the rain and my messenger bag, carrying vital notebooks, was waterproof.

I scanned the crowd of coffee and sugar addicts that had been drawn to the warmth and caffeine through the rain. There in the back I saw an Asian woman surrounded by books and papers. Yup, that pretty much matched the description plus the image I had in my mind. I don't think I would trust any reporter who didn't have a full desk.

I grabbed myself a double chocolate mocha with whipped cream to drown out the taste of coffee, which I was still getting used to, and headed over to the table.

"Hi?" I said. "Cindy?"

Comments

[swingatshadows]

"The whole believing in only the existence of a single city's pretty murky to begin with," Cindy pointed out with a slight wave of her hand. "I would say it's more... avoidance of the topic than anything else. You've been to some of the neighborhoods that closely resemble immigrant neighborhoods in outside worlds, right? Where much of the population don't seem to be native English speakers, and so forth. You can tell that there's culture coming in from elsewhere, and sometimes you'll even catch a native talking about 'the old country,' they just can't seem to be bothered with the details of it."

It really was something to head down to Darrow's tiny equivalent of Koreatown, little more than a block or two, and feel practically like she'd been transported to her grandparents' social circles. Except no one could actually talk about specific towns or cities. So hard to find a good doenjang jjigae, she could remember one old woman lamenting.

But any mention of Seoul or Busan was met with blank stares.

"Anyway, there is a Hydra in my world, probably others. Can't say for sure if it's those same folks who started it here, or if Darrow was inspired to come up with a good knock-off, or what," she added. "Maybe it's a mix of both, with native Darrowians being recruited by someone on the outside. But the methods seem similar enough to the Hydra I knew."