This is fantastic. I do get impatient with descriptions of drunkenness or how stoned someone is or how unpleasant it feels to vomit, so I almost bailed, but the two machine encounters are brilliantly done, and there's a beautiful nexus going on all throughout: between people trying to live up to unreachable public standards, disguised as perfectly attainable (a raise, 20 squats, entry into your home) only to be told they're not good enough to hit that "human" achievement -- which prompts them to lash out in a despairing/relatable/ugly human way. I thought the protag would be a punching bag the whole story, or ~shown the error of his ways~. Delightful/surprising effect, in the end, to see that the most human thing is flopping around, resting your weight where it isnt supposed to go, getting kissed by a dog and recieving, from its owner, the hair of same.
Really enjoyed this.
Glad to hear.
Ah, the love of machines! Brilliant story!
Thank you!
This is fantastic. I do get impatient with descriptions of drunkenness or how stoned someone is or how unpleasant it feels to vomit, so I almost bailed, but the two machine encounters are brilliantly done, and there's a beautiful nexus going on all throughout: between people trying to live up to unreachable public standards, disguised as perfectly attainable (a raise, 20 squats, entry into your home) only to be told they're not good enough to hit that "human" achievement -- which prompts them to lash out in a despairing/relatable/ugly human way. I thought the protag would be a punching bag the whole story, or ~shown the error of his ways~. Delightful/surprising effect, in the end, to see that the most human thing is flopping around, resting your weight where it isnt supposed to go, getting kissed by a dog and recieving, from its owner, the hair of same.
Wow. Thank you. This comment made my year.
Your story enhanced my coffee!
Powers I didn't know I had.