Challenge #03447-I159: Milestones and Progress

The adult Bubs speaks to an interviewer for a podcast who wants to know how she came to grow up with the family she had. What happened to her birth family, and what she did now for a career.
@internutter/challenge-02942-h019-a-happy-end-of-a-sad-story -- Anon Guest

I don't really remember my place of origin that much. Just little things. Like how differently it smelled and how unclean it was. I remember being afraid of adult humans for quite a while. I was nonverbal my entire first year in a proper school.

Yeah. I know it's not funny. I laugh so I don't cry. I've been through some [EXCREMENT] and no lie. The nightmares are so rare that they're calendar events, now.

I remember Korprat as like a combination deity and boogeyman. If I was out of line or did something the adults didn't like, Korprat was going to turn me into burgers. Or chop me up for a bawdyhole. It was never explained properly what that was. Not until I reached a certain age.

Deregger worlds do horrible things to anyone AFAB[1]. They let me believe I was lucky to be able to talk, for all that they kept telling me to shut up.

Not exactly the best start, all things considered. I know. It's like saying the Titanic disaster was 'a boating mishap'. Or Pompeii happened because of 'mild magmatic activity'.

I think I learned to use the keycards before I could really walk. I remember getting yelled at because I'd been carrying one in my mouth as I crawled. Drool on the circuits. The rest of the household had their drug allotment clipped because of the damages.

After I learned to be more careful? I don't think they cared where I was or where I went. As long as I was back in the residence before lights-out. So it's no shock they never reported me missing. I was 'just a girl' to them.

Did you know? I spent an entire month post-rescue thinking my full name was Bub Move. Mama Taa'nah found a prettier name for me. Rayhanna Taylonn. That is my name. No matter what some gene test search actually found. Those people back in that gravity well weren't my parents. Not really. They didn't look after me at all.

After the first few bumps on the road and a lot of therapy, I kind'a took off and never looked back. Once it was 'okay' for me to read? I discovered whole worlds where a kid like me could actually win. I wanted to be a big super-powered hero and free all the people who were beat down in Deregger worlds and beat up the mean people.

I was a little savage, sometimes.

I learned better ways. Running a kind of underground railroad for all the people who wanted out of Deregger spaces. They still don't value AFAB people, but they whine a lot more about how they're rare now and executives deserve the first pick.

We can only hope they end up eating themselves that way.

But it's not all Rescue Humans and taking advantage of dumb politics. We have a pretty healthy trading empire that spans a lot of jumps. I pay my taxes like anyone else and help out where and when I can.

It's easy to look at where I am and compare myself to those who have more wealth and less heart. But you know? I'd rather have a heart than money. That's all there is to it.

[1] Assigned Female At Birth. Human genders are more ridiculous and complicated than you might be prepared to believe. Check here for a full explanation.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / jgroup]

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