Title: Pricks & Thumbs-02
Fandom: Fear Mythos
Characters: Rich Providence
Rating: G- (L1 N0 S0 V0 D0)
Warnings: References to slavery in America. Strange perspectives on religion.
Notes: Still building a world from the perspective of someone who's never seen the one we live in. It's … a little weird, trying to stay away from the kind of exposition that only makes sense if this world still exists.
I've been reading some history, the last few days, and I have to say some of it confused me, at first. I saw some things about enslaving black people, and at first, I was sure they were talking about Patternhanded, and I was totally confused, because why would anyone enslave Patternhanded? You don't even have to pay them. They just… arrange things. Everything. All the time. We pay some taxes to the town, to make sure they have food and shelter, but I don't think they'd stop working, even if we didn't. They're neurotic, like that.
Anyway, after some more reading, I figured out that when the Old World books say 'black people' or 'Negroes', they don't mean black people. They mean really dark brown people. And that was kind of freaky. I mean, sure, people are still a bunch of different colours, but nobody pays any attention to that. I mean, really, the things people notice are like… GILLS. Because, sure, some people want to go to The River, but most people don't.
That's why they call me Fish, you know, it's short for Fish Out of Water. My dad says I went to The River, when I was a baby, but I never got gills. I'm not contagious, either. Nobody's sure why, but not too many people ask, because not too many people younger than my dad even know. Dad thinks it's because I'm outside of time, or something, because of when I was born. I don't know. I seem to keep getting older, so it's not like I'm eternally stuck on the outside, or something.
But, back to those Unmarked weirdos, because WHAT? I guess in the Old World people really hated on each other because of what colour they were, or where they were from, or Who Walked Before Them. I mean, sure, Those Who Walk Before take shots at each other, and sometimes they force the Septs to play along, but nobody would ever just kick somebody's ass in the road, because they're brown or they're a Seraph or something. It's just so strange to me that these things mattered, in the Old World. As much as I wish, sometimes, that we still had some of their technology and stuff, I don't think I would've liked their world.
Well, no, I mean, we do still have some of their technology, obviously, because digital porn. But, like, trains and the telephone. Those things just aren't there any more, and it's weird because like… other things that we do have use almost the same technology, but… I don't know. Maybe nobody's done it yet, because it's only been twenty five years, and the old folks say that if everywhere is like we are, more than three quarters of the people in the world are gone. Just… gone. I think some people probably died, sure. But, gone? And three quarters of them? I don't… I'm going to find something to trade the Librarians, so I can ask them. I know they know, but just like everyone else, they don't talk about it.
