Some Reality Web

It appears I will be remaining 18, though I do have knowledge of the next 11 years of my life. In exasperation, my mother once said 'what I would give to know what I know now at your age'. I am not certain she would actually want this. The foreknowledge feels like choices are set though I have not made them.

The bank will honour my employment as long I wish to continue to work with them. I have my memories of what to do, so they do not seem bothered by the sudden age difference. I suppose I do not need to finish school.


[Dominique]
I have the memory of telling you that I will love my children, no matter what age I am. I can honestly say that I was not lying.

I do not yet love your father, because I do not know him, though I have memories of doing so. But you, your brother, and your sister are still mine.
[end]

I've been here for eight months and four days. When I arrived, I came from a place that I had allowed to become dull and grey. I was settling for what was there because it was easier. Along the way, I had lost drive and ambition. I accepted what was given to me rather than fighting for what I wanted.

I became a bad Slytherin, where ambition is key. I took the easy way because I convinced myself that the path I was on was the right one despite how unhappy I was. My name wasn't on the potions I was making, and I had a hundred different ways to make them better but couldn't because it wasn't on brand. I was prepared to marry someone that I didn't love because it was convenient. I had put myself firmly in a rut, then I showed up here the night before my wedding.

For months, I worried about whether I went through with it, and every time someone left, I thought that I might be next, that I might be pulled out of this world that sometimes sucks and is often hard, but in which I have found so many bright colours. I didn't want to go back and face my mistakes.

A cousin from around my entry date was here briefly, and she told me that I called off the wedding in a spectacularly dramatic fashion that was anticlimactic because of his reaction. I like to think I found my own potions path as well, but she didn't know if I'd officially quit my apprenticeship that'd already lasted five years.

So, eight months and four days and countless pints of ice cream later, I'm marking this birthday with new friends, a world that is all bright colours, and a career path that I am proud of. I know I'm only 23, and I don't have to have things figured out, but try telling that to any of my cousins. We have war hero parents, aunts, and uncles to live up to.

Lately, outside of the time when I was old and gray, I've been trying to visit a lot of the lesser-known museums in the city, and yesterday, I went to the Harry Houdini Museum in mid-town that's located inside Fantasma Magic shop.

As of today, I'm now a clerk slash tour guide in training. I'm pretty sure I've finally found my calling in life.

Does this place ever calm down...? This seems like a lot for people to deal with regularly.

I hope everyone is as alright as they can be.

RENO

Hey...

Still no sign of anyone else, right?

I need a job. I suppose my magical skills don't transfer well here. There should be some sort of job placement agency in Goodland.

Everyone okay?

[FILTER: Peter Parker]

You were a cute wide-eyed shadow, but I'm glad you are back. Now, if you could have anything for your birthday, what would it be?

Did you know that there's a species of ant that exists solely in the Broadway medians at 63rd and 75th? Well...arguably it's a subspecies of Lasius emarginatus. But the point is! Manhattan is such a wonderfully unique place that it has its very own subspecies of ant! Which, of course, is called the ManhattAnt.

This raises the question, for me at least, of how detailed a replica of Manhattan this is. There are differences, obviously, big differences, but what about the details? Are there ManhattAnts in the medians?