Thoughts

So I said I'd try to make this about America, given the holiday going on there nowish.

But the more I think about it, the more I worry that a million words wouldn't be enough, let alone a hundred.

Because a people are a nation, but not always are they the nation, at least the most prominent parts of it. There are plenty of good things about America, about Americans.

But I'm sure most of you can understand that's kinda hard to see right now, at least in the grand scheme of things.

So happy 4th of July. To everyone.

Lukewarm Shoulder

She had always tried to get me to open up to her, she offered herself as a source to confide in.

And for a long time, I didn't ignore it, but I didn't really let on anything too much. Call it the gender roles bullshit if you like, but I just didn't feel comfortable opening up. Besides, I was fine, I didn't need a shoulder.

Until I did.

Everything went wrong at once, and with nothing left to lose, I did open up and tell her everything.

She didn't seem to think less of me, but her advice was terrible...

Changing The Rules

Humanity had lasted a few galactic years before it got involved in a war. As Humanity's fleets were approaching a system controlled by the Rinaldians, an observer from the Galactic Alliance sat in on the mission briefing to ensure they didn't break a Galactic Conflict Law.

It went well as they discussed the jamming of sensors and dealing with defence systems.

But as the General was beginning the troop deployment plans, the observer raised a hand.

"Troop deployment? Everyone just blows up planets, that's-"

"Is regime change against the laws?"

"I... No, because no-one-"

Human style warfare proved disastrously popular.

Toast

I poured out a double, then she sat down opposite me.

"Any chance you could pour me one?"

I was about to tell her where to go and what to do when she got there, but then I looked into her eyes and saw... a lot.

I poured her a triple, and she downed it in one long gulp before she gestured for another one.

Against my better judgement, I poured another one, and this time she offered a toast.

"To the wrong decisions, made for the right reasons."

We both made many more wrong decisions that night, I think.

Game Master

He assumed he had won, so he took the opportunity to monologue about how good a manipulator he was, how all my actions had been controlled by him.

So I pulled out my gun and shot him.

He fell to his knees, holding the new hole in his stomach, and I guess he'd rubbed off on me, as I decided to monologue as well.

"You assholes don't get it, real life isn't a game, there aren't rules about how humans have to react, we can-"

He pulled a gun from somewhere and shot me back.

And I mean, fair play.

Sex Appeal

Sally and Gareth had the perfect set-up going. They'd stake out the place they wanted to hit for a few moments, until they were fairly confident as to the sexual orientation of the clerk. Then, whichever way they swung, one of them would be outside and act sexy, before the other would hit the store and escape. There wasn't any good description of either of them, as the clerks would always be too obsessed with the 'unrelated' person outside.

This worked well until, after a scare with a bisexual clerk, they made the mistake of hitting an asexual one instead.

Tough Password

I was watching them through the bug in their glasses. I had it on good authority that they were the best hacker available, but I still didn't trust them. Plus I needed to make sure all the work done to get them in the room was worth it.

So I watched them use the ID card, the keypass, and the doorcode to get into the room. I spoke through the earpiece.

"Remember, the password is 36 symbols long, and is-"

They typed it in perfectly.

"You ARE good!"

A finger tapped the post-it note on the edge of the monitor.