Something Something Radiance, episode 5

I bet you're wondering how I got into this mess. I bet you're wondering whether this is how every comedy superhero story starts. Well, it is. But we're in episode 5, so it's not an origin story. I mean, we're not really in a mess. We sort of are - arguably the most powerful member of our team, Adam, retroactively rewrote reality. I'm really quite angry about that. But, like I told him, I can understand. Can I come in again? Okay. So we're going to talk about how espresso works, and what the big deal is. Brewing coffee is actually a slow process. You ever find the coffee pot just sitting there, keeping some warm? Ever yell at someone to start brewing a new pot if they drink the last of the old one? Yeah, all of that is because brewing coffee is slow slow slow. People who advertise "fresh brewed coffee" are amazing, but they're basically pouring cold coffee down the drain every so often, grinding new beans, and charging slightly higher prices. Anyway, espresso isn't a different coffee type, it's a different way of preparing coffee. It's basically a violent brute-force coffee prep, so naturally it caught on big in America. The word "espresso" is even related to the English "express" - fast. I really dig it because espresso prep is applied chemistry, which I'm into in a big way (being the product of some pretty advanced chemistry). Espresso is pretty much "steampunk coffee". The nice neat compact espresso machines we use today are highly polished versions of steam boilers, whose purpose was to fire a jet of water at high pressure through tightly-packed coffee grounds. So imagine what a fire truck does, only instead of fire, they're shooting high-pressure water onto beans. Technology was such that steam-driven espresso couldn't do the job without burning the coffee, though. Thanks to the lever-operated machines - like Has Beans has - the barista (a) doesn't get scalded any more and (b) can apply the correct amount of pressure without burning the coffee. I'm also not being a fairy princess for awhile and I've got a new costume going on and we're gonna see how it works out. Anyway! That's it for this moment in time, the future is unwritten. Well, it's kind of written, but we're steadily rewriting it in a better fashion. I hope. Love you all! :mwah:

I guess I wanna write a followup. I dunno if I should send this to Alycia or not. I don't know how she'd take it. My heart says she ought to see it, my brain says she'll probably shy away from it. So! My feelings about our team right now are really complex. I told Adam that I wasn't sure what I'd do if someone had a magic spell that made me flesh and blood. But I sort of do know. If it was permanent, that would be bad. Just, flat out bad. Here's the part about Alycia. She's actually a very sweet, loving, caring girl and that's why we want her as a friend. But she's also a dangerous, intelligent, shrewd fighter and planner, and that's why we want her on the team. It's possible to be both. In fact, we have to be both - tough, effective combat ready types, but also nice, decent people. Imagine a genie granted someone's wish and turned me into a flesh and blood girl. I could date someone much more comfortably. I could do more stuff in school. I would feel more free to make friends, go to the beach, share space, be around strangers. But I could also get hurt or sick. I couldn't fly, lift heavy weights, project barriers, EVERYTHING - I couldn't be a hero. I wouldn't live up to my potential. I'd be a shadow of my true self. I can't do that. Just like I would never tell Alycia to quit the team and date Jason and go to school full time, as a regular girl. I don't want her to be the paranoid shell-shocked soldier all the time either. I want her to feel comfortable being both . But if a genie let me be flesh and blood some of the time, or at will..... I don't know. Geez, I'm glad that temptation is never gonna happen. Adam's not going to rewrite reality for me , and I'd never ever ask him to - and if he offered, I'd say no. And I don't know any genies or have any magic lamps. Still want that god damn espresso machine, though. It looks so cool. Like one of those 50's cars with the fins. Probably handles like shit, just like the cars, but it looks cool oh my god, I could set up a neat retro WW2 Casablanca cafe. "Summer's". I could wear a fedora when I'm not behind the counter slinging coffee to hard-bitten patrons, and Alycia and Jason could be in the corner dressed up in cool period clothes looking tough and seasoned, my god that would be fun.

That's it for this moment in time, the future is unwritten. Well, it's kind of written, but we're steadily rewriting it in a better fashion. I hope.

"Watching Alycia with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The robot would never stop. It would never leave her, would never hurt her, never shout at her, or get drunk and trash the apartment, or say it was too busy to do the chores. It would always be there. And it would never think to not pay a fair share of the rent. Of all the would-be roommates who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice."