As Autumn Colors Fall

Does anyone else ABSOLUTELY LOVE how the first person that Caine apologizes to is the very first person that he wronged: the blue AI that he assimilated?!

And let me make something absolutely clear, the show isn't using the other program to absolve him of blame by revealing that it was this evil alter ego making him do all these terrible things or anything like that.

The line from Caine above demonstrates that HE HIMSELF corrupted the Blue AI, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. It was saying all of that was because it accumulated all of Caine's own insecurities and egomania, and toxic tendencies, making Caine still fully responsible for all of his actions and the harm he caused the other program.

And so, by setting the other program free from himself, he's also setting it free from all the toxic qualities the program got from him!

So rest easy, my fellow Caine stans!

And then shoot Dr. Frankenstein creating the monster as if it were Gepetto making Pinocchio.

It.... actually makes a sort of sense if you think about it?

Gepetto is kind of forceful and disorderly, but he is PASSIONATE. He is using his whole body to carve up the wood, he isn't going for precision or perfection, he wants a son and he is going to get a son, he doesn't care if the end result doesn't look like what he had in mind. He probably doesn't have any specific appearence in mind other than a son. So when Pinocchio comes out, he has a son! What more to do than accept the son his love created?

But with Victor Frankenstein? There is precision and intent in every move, and with it, expectation. He has a clear plan in his mind for what he wants, and that is the Perfect Human. Much like a helicopter parent raising a child, they are filled with lofty ideas about the future, only to be filled in the end with bitterness and resentment once the child doesn't turn out to be who they wanted. The lighting and music seem to carry forward that feeling of great hope and expectation.

His skill has not changed, But the prize divides him. He cares He thinks more of winning Than of shooting – And the need to win Drains him of power.

Ah, so you want a mind bereft of thought? Let's give this to everyone... Embrace my light!

The detail that Radiance takes mind and will away, granting strength but turning everyone into mindless husks of infection, is cruelly ironic. In a sense, all infected share the Hollow Knight's state...

Your Breakthrough

Curtain call

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE