2022-04-19 - Magic Green Cards (And Other Things)

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : So... Della was about as subtle as a log to the face on Saturday, huh.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : (This is Mikaere. Hello.)

(TXT to ) Jules : Like a brick through a glass window. Sorry about that.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : No, it's fine. It was funny, really. This is not me objecting.

(TXT to ) Jules : I think she THINKS she's subtle which is the best part.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Does she really? That's hilarious.

(TXT to ) Jules : I think so! You must get that stuff a lot

(TXT to ) Jules : Because of the videos I mean

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Less than you'd think! Maybe. I don't know. I don't know what counts as a lot. My audience was never that big.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : And if you've been watching any of them, I promise my hits have just doubled for the past week, pretty much inevitably. 😆

(TXT to ) Jules : Hah. Only when you caught us at it. Was trying to figure out if you were doing the whole IG influencer sponsorship thing

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : My vanity is wounded. You didn't go home and watch them all?!

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Joking, I swear.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : It turns out once you arrive in this town, everyone stops paying attention. It's actually kind of nice.

(TXT to ) Jules : Lol. Pretty sure that would make me the creeper here

(TXT to ) Jules : Huh. A GH thing?

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : So people keep telling me. I'm not saying I was famous, but any infamy? Gone. Liberating.

(TXT to ) Jules : That's cool! I mean unless you're worried about losing sponsorships etc and rely on that kind of thing.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : That's definitely a bit of a problem. But. Well. A thing happened this morning.

(TXT to ) Jules : What happened?

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : < A photo arrives, showing a very formal letter on US Government letterhead instructing one Mikaere Joseph Hastings that he has been successful in the 2022 Diversity Visa Programme. >

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I... did not enter the green card lottery.

(TXT to ) Jules : Whoa. People talk about the town reeling you in, but that's crazy.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Right? It's just... sign on the dotted line, here you go. Which... let me tell you, my ma is going to murder me.

(TXT to ) Jules : You gonna do it?

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I mean, it's tempting. It's not like there's anything much to go back to, and at least my time here has been interesting, you know? But I'm going to need a job.

(TXT to ) Jules : It's not like it means you have to stay forever too right? Unless you believe what people say about it being hard to get away

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Yeah, exactly. I needed the time to figure out what's next, and who's to say that I can't do that right here? Because once my boat's back together, there's always a way to leave, if I want it. Lots of ifs. So many things could happen.

(TXT to ) Jules : Right. Congrats I guess? I mean given that it's weird and a little spooky

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : It's all those things. But maybe it's other things, too. I don't know. We'll see.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : So given I'm probably staying a while...

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I guess I'm asking if you want to get dinner or something, sometime.

(TXT to ) Jules : Sure! I can pretty much be free most evenings as long as I know in advance. Taking some classes but no night classes this quarter.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Okay, that was easier than I worried it might be.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I'm a bit out of practice. Friday, maybe?

(TXT to ) Jules : I mean who doesn't like to eat?

(TXT to ) Jules : Works for me!

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : You make a valid point.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : So, nothing fancy, okay? Meet you at the docks, about 7?

(TXT to ) Jules : That sounds good. I’m not a particularly fancy person tbh.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I haven't worn a tie since that video you watched, and I'd rather keep it that way.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Ok, good. Are you going to tell Della? Or make her suffer.

(TXT to ) Jules : This is an excellent question. I'll have to get it some thought!

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I believe she has the best of intentions, of course. She looks out for you, and that's a nice thing. But... will she be smug? Big, important questions here.

(TXT to ) Jules : Pretty sure she's the smug type. But yeah she's good people. Feel like I'm only really getting to know her now - she only started getting the bigger picture a little while ago, not when she first moved in.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Oh really? She's... older, to be coming in to her power. If that's the implication you're making there. That must have been tough, at first. Hiding things from people around you can be rough.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Yeah. I didn't know what to call it...but something sparked? Literally, she burned her hair.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : And yes and no - hard to explain how we have a literal ghost in the house though. Lots of drafts etc.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Oh wow. Is she a healer, then?

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : A ghost! That must've been weird. Who's the ghost?

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Our other housemate's ancestor. She's the one who owns the house.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : I don't think so? Not sure what all she can do tbh. Not all that sure what I can do, while I'm at it.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Fire tends to come with healing, unless it's different here. My ma's a healer, and she says, though I've never seen it, she can throw fireballs too. Me, I can't do any of that. It's all about thoughts and feelings and memories, for me. What do you know you can do?

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Huh, I didn't know that. I can play with fire a little, but I never tried healing anything. And...we were in the other reality -- you know what my grandma would call the spirit world but which I still have trouble saying with a straight face -- and I threw a nurse log at the stuff that was beating us up. But not with my hands.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Try it, sometime. Not yourself. Someone else. I can't do the moving things, either. There's, in my experience, three different paths. Some people tread a ways down each of them, or two of the three. Some just pick the one. And power grows, over time, particularly if you use it.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : I feel like if I actually try to do something, I fail. But sometimes if I'm not thinking about it, stuff happens. Like maybe I'm concentrating on how I'm feeling, not about doing something. Maybe more in touch with myself.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : It's a skill, like any other. Sometimes you can try too much, I think. I don't know. Admittedly, it's been kind of second-nature to me for a while. I grew up with this, you know?

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Yeah. I didn't...but maybe I didn't want to.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Because of your ma?

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Yeah. And maybe because it felt like going about that stuff was people around me trying to compensate? Like it was mostly a form of identity politics. Does that make sense?

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : I mean I think keeping the culture alive is important and all that but I wasn't someone who got into all the beliefs.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I get that, I think. I think it was different for me, because it's so much steeped in who we are. Or who I am, maybe. I can't speak for everyone. It just... was, for me. Part of everything.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Kinda jealous, not gonna lie

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I don't know what to say to that.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I mean: I can understand that feeling.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : It sucks. It fucking sucks.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Sorry. I just mean I wish it hadn't seemed like old people being old people or younger people trying to prove something.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I know. I get what you mean. I was lucky. There's still some of that, of course. I walked away from a lot when I was a teenager, for a while. And then I found my way back, because it turned out it was important.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Yeah I'm at the point where I'm just figuring that out.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : It's hard, sometimes. Admitting your parents, or grandparents, may actually have known something about something.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Yeah. Now it's the opposite and I want my grandparents to tell me everything.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Unfortunately, my Ma still thinks she knows best about everything, not just about this stuff.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : I'm glad you've got them to help, though.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : They're not bad, as grandparents go. Though sometimes bad at giving straight answers.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : That sounds familiar. The enigmatic smile? Infuriating.

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : Seriously.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : But they love us. And we appreciate them, even when we don't.

(TXT to Jules) Mikaere : Okay, I should let you go. But I'll see you Friday. 🙂

(TXT to Mikaere) Jules : See you then!