Page 90 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 5-8
Jun laughed, ruefully. “You’re saying that I was in enough pain?”
Collin nodded and bit his lip. “Sometimes people just slow boil into pain and don’t notice until they’re in too deep and can’t imagine getting out.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because that was me, once.”
“And how’d you get out?”
“Crashed and burned. Spectacularly. But then I was ready. I was either going to change or I was going to be changed.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” Collin dropped his eyes and went back to his food. “It was a good thing. It’s how I came to have Richard and Émeric and Damian and now you.”
“Were you angry?”
Collin blushed. “No. I didn’t trust it, at first, but they wouldn’t stop—the helping—that is.”
“So, how do you do something like that for a neighborhood?”
Collin paused mid-chew, his eyes unfocused. His head tilted to the side. “That’s a thought.”
How do I do that for our fans? Jun ran with the question. How do I convince them to follow us to somewhere new? Or do we just have to move in new people?
How did one survive change?
Or did anyone? Was it just rebirth?
Jun
Yawning, Jun jogged his way down the stairs. Despite being up late the night before, Artemis had woken him early, demanding breakfast. It was strange, but he understood why as soon as he passed the closed door to Richard’s suite. The black cat ran ahead of him down the stairs. He kept his eyes peeled enough to make sure he didn’t trip over the ball of fluff. The sun had not yet fully risen, so she wasn’t very visible.
“Coffee.” He ran his hands through his hair, addressing the cat. “I need coffee.” He wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, not now that he’d jogged down two flights of stairs.
Mi Hi leaned against the kitchen counter, dressed in the same clothes she’d had on the previous day. There were three empty coffee mugs in her vicinity and another in her hand. She had two laptops open in front of her and two phones. Her eyes were red, and her bun had sagged to the base of her neck, half her hair falling out the side.
“Mi Hi?” Jun stepped over Artemis twining between his feet.
She blinked, coming back to the world around her by degrees. “You’re early.” She smothered a yawn and shook herself.
“The cat wants breakfast. Did you even go to sleep?”
She grimaced and slurped at her coffee. “No. I’ve been fighting all night. BBB3 threatened to sue a bunch of social media companies for hosting our accounts, saying we’re all in breach of contract. I’ve been duplicating content on new platforms they haven’t threatened yet. Now they’re going after accounts reposting our content from different platforms back to the old platforms.”
Jun looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, there were files uploading on half a dozen sites, her computer wheezing with effort.
Artemis butted his leg with her head and yowled. Jun leaned down, stroking her. She didn’t want pets, stalking off toward the refrigerator.
Mi Hi scowled at the screens. “It’s not like I didn’t know this could happen. But it’s a pain in the neck.”
Collin stumbled into the kitchen, still in pajama bottoms and a robe. “Can I help?”
Jun filled him in as Mi Hi cursed and clicked away.
Collin squinted over Mi Hi’s other shoulder. “That sucks. Can you self-host the content? They can’t get that taken down, and if you make it downloadable, then fans can keep uploading it for you. I mean, you’ve probably already thought of that.”
Artemis whined and jumped up on the counter, rubbing up against Collin. He grabbed her before she walked over Mi Hi’s keyboard.
