Ix found virself in a hipsterland There are lots of those in the mists and vi was generally pretty happy for that fact. Maybe vi's souls just resonated more strongly with the hipster types and that's why vi found vimself In those kinds of creations. This place was on the capitalist side of things tho. Generally hipsterscapes trended more communist, socialist, anarchist. Often they didn't have money, they embraced the unreality of existance more readily than most. Even in places where physical laws demanded things like equivilence or heaven forbid taxed action They created structures and systems that enjoyed such surplus to action that they effectively destroyed the poverty limit. This place seemed to be trending that way, but was almost caught in a snag. Some kind of mental block in the populace that prevented them from taking that leap all together. A fear perhaps of what people might do with all that dang time on their hands. The fact of the matter was some people had always been the type to use their time to hurt other people. Ix observed. Ix soaked in the data, allowed it to flow into vim. Yes, there was a salient fear of what those people might do if not occupied by tedious bullshit. The structure of this place required stupid amounts of meaningless work. Instead of systems that were able to do most of the heavy lifting, Instead of systems that were designed for robustness, Instead of systems that freed the labor of the weak, There were systems requireing heavy lifting, systems that were designed to break down, systems that specifically created more work. It was an insult to engineering, honestly. But it was a hipsterscape, and the general populace was slowly moving the direction of "Plenty". Vi was wondering then if the acts of violence most feared weren't actually engineered by this niggling doubt, The engineered failings on a technical level also embeeded into the social fabric. Clearly there was a lack of mental health work. There was a dearth of positive male role models. That wasn't quite right. Ix corrected the data. The data spoke to the idea of masculinity and feminity as tied to male and female, as tied to man and woman. These concepts themselves were engineered for obsolecence. Ix was in a position to correct such mistakes, tho from the perspective of those hipsterites This perspective seemed wholey alien. Ix vimself would seem entirely unusual to the majority on this plane. A system of nine souls working in collaboration as a single physical entity? How could such a thing operate, how would it work? Clearly this is some kind of fabrication, a fake. The fact that systems are not uncommon and in fact most "Individuals" Were a minimum of 2 souls intertwined never crossed their minds. This too was a fabricated failing of the system. A lie in time saves nine it seemed. This lie stretched far enough back in the history of this world that it pervaded every major culture. The myth of the male You might call it. It was true Ix might allow that in this current climate that there was a "Derth of male role models" At least ones worthy of emulation. The closest thing vi could find was something closer to "Kill the masculinity within yourself" Not exactly a healthy relationship with the self. Fear of the "Male" Fear of unbridled passion. Fear of physical strength. Those who had it, chose not to cultivate it. Those who cultivated it, made it their identity. There was no balance. Ix being bored got vimself a job at a clothing store. It was a kind of chic place with tweed clothes of simple earth tones Designs evocotive of old times on the plains. It was a higher class place in this hipsterscape. They cultivated an image of arthouse appreciation with some more chaotic designs in cut and seam But the colors tended generally earthy. Perhaps the cultivated image they saught was the more important for them than their success, but that isn't The story their ambition told. They had rented a 5 story building, only the first two of which had any goods. Overhearing the owner on many occasions vi was able to tease out a general mood that franchising And subbranding was the direction this man wanted to go. Crave[] CraveFashion craveHome craveLounge cravePlay etc. He wanted to have smaller mini stores all within the same perview of the crave brand he was building. Most of the people working here got their start because the designs of clothing were made in house. Sometimes there would be contests for new items and Ix's coworkers would become excited over the idea of One of their designs making the cut. Almost all the people she knew had their own stores on the wired. It was a frustrating situation for vim. Perhaps the owner of this place just didn't know How someone could be so disinterested in their workers vi didn't know. But he was hardly around, didn't really ever do any stocking work. He lead tours and did branding and talked up his place to investors. Before Ix decided to work here she had been on one of those tours. Vi saw the untapped potential of this place and what it could be. That man was effective at selling that image. He could convey his ideal his ambition. Vi being bored and not really having much ambition of vir own decided it might be fun to see where this went. But it didn't go anywhere. It just kinda floated along. Ix at one point in frustration collated vir data and voiced a summation to vir manager. There was plenty of space, and many of the people who work here have their own little clothing lines. We could do little popup stores for some of us, or hell even rent out little booths. It didn't even need to be an everyday thing, just like a special "Bazzaar day" kind of thing. It would be great for both Crave and for all the people who do the normal day to day, and Also have their own diy designed clothing and jewlery. The manager loved the idea of course. She knew that most of those working under her had their own online stores. Hell she had her own! Their workplace attire was loose enough that none of the clothes worn by the workers came From factories from other lands, it was all either custom diy designs or Crave. Many of the workers with their own lines built their own brand just by wearing cute clothes and having Customers at crave ask them where they got it "Oh I made this" and they'd give out cute cards with their information. Nothing came of telling the owner of course. It's not that vi suspected she never told, but rather that this owner just "Didn't get it". The business was failing. Ix had been cleaning in one of the basements when she over heard the owner talking to one of the primary investors. Things were looking grim based on the talk. Vi decided to drop some eaves. Something needed to change. Something had to happen. One of these suboutlets needed to open. You can't keep jerking us around. Knowing vir place but completely ignoring it Ix decided to open vir mouth. "If there is one thing you can do to completely shake things up and get buisiness moving ..." vi started "It would be to have pop up stores in the open unoccupied spaces" Clearly not understanding. "You have created an image that is pro artist, and have a ton of competent artists creating their own clothing here working here right now They have their own stores and their own fans. If they had a kind of bazzaar day where they were allowed to bring their own line And sell them here that would increase your brand as one that supported local artist, and it would bring in people to your store who were Not your normal clientel" The owner didn't latch on to the idea, but the investor did. Ix did vir best to explain the data which had been collected over this period of time but was generally frustrated. The fact that the thing that seemed to hook either of them was just that they could exploit the good will of their own workers client base felt gross. The investor and owner showed up in the break room later that day and the owner started "Who here has their own online diy clothing brands? " the owner started. There was a general mood of apprehension. Hesitation. Looking around. "We are thinking of doing.." he signed " I guess a bazzaar day ..." And like a bolt of electricity the apprehension turned into ecstacy. The faces of most of the workers in the room light up. Even the reluctant owner was shocked. "How many of you had talked to Ix about this?" he asked then. "Vi only ever talked to me about it, but, I sent out feelers amoung my staff if they had a desire for doing something like this. " Ix's manager replied "I figured you would want hard numbers instead of just a general idea of something." The bazzaar day had to be limited to just one third of the staff participating. Twice that had their own designs they wanted to show, but the owner wasn't willing to turn the entire place over. His store needed to remained staffed and so one third seemed like the best comprimise. It did however cement in his mind the idea that maybe this would be a thing they could do more regularly as there was such A demand for it within his own staff. Ix was annoyed about the situation. After the talk of finacials for how the day would go Ix was called in and told vi Was going to recieve a 5% commission for the days sales above baseline. It felt like a slap to vir face to suggest it. "What do you want then" "I just want you to not screw over these artists... They love what they do, they want to keep doing it." "Maybe the idea is worth something, but to me its just worth doing and not screwing it up with weird motivations It's a good thing and good will naturally proceed from it if you don't try and twist it." .