Urban Survival - The Uglier Side of City Living, Wednesday, Period 2

[myownface]

"So, squatting," Sparkle said, feeling a little bit like he'd been hit by a bus and mostly just looking like he'd spent a few days drinking under one, "or homesteading - and I learned last night that you have to use both terms in your Google searches if you don't want to learn about cows or how to lift heavy boxes - is, by the most loose definition

Comments

Sign In

[myownface]

With a fixer-upper!

Re: Sign In

[cracksmostly]

Merrill

Re: Sign In

[boneyard_girl]

Ada Miller

Re: Sign In

[intotheout]

Gratuity Tucci

Lecture

[myownface]

Hey, he's not at the top of his game today, but he managed to touch on the important stuff.

Re: Lecture

[intotheout]

Tip's own experiences with squatting had involved some serious Extenuated Circumstances. What with the aliens and all. But it also meant she'd come face to face with both the "oh crap, we need to survive" side of things and the "no seriously you probably shouldn't just walk in and claim land that belongs to other people" side. She took a lot of notes, mostly on things to look up on her own, and looked over the print outs carefully.

She didn't intend to end up ever having to live in, say, a converted casino again, but then she doubted most people intended to need this info. Who ever actually wanted to be homeless?

Discuss

[myownface]

Read the handout if you're feelin' it, or just offer up suggestions to make your homesteading experience as safe and pleasant as long-term trespassing where you're likely not wanted possibly can be.

Re: Discuss

[intotheout]

Tip noticed that all the squatters in the handouts were clean, reputably groomed, and white.

"This thing almost sounds like it's for, like, recreational squatting or something," she noted. "Bet it's real easy to concentrate on learning local property laws when you're freezing and hungry."

Re: Discuss

[myownface]

Yeah, Sparkle hadn't missed that part either, but he'd been too tired/drunk/something to go digging much farther than the first hit that actually mentioned things like 'don't get shot.'

"I can look for something better for next week," Sparkle offered, a little flatly. "Recreational squatting is also a thing, believe it or not, and yeah, thinking too hard on why people would want to do it for kicks makes my head hurt. But since we all have somewhere to live right now, learning the local property laws for wherever you're planning on going back to after grad isn't a luxury you can't currently afford, either."

Re: Discuss

[intotheout]

"White people," Tip grumbled under her breath. Being clean, reputably groomed, and white tended to make a big difference in how laws were enforced, too. "The library does seem to have, like, every law book known to man," she allowed. "So it wouldn't be too hard to look them up here."

Talk to Sparkle

[myownface]

He'll, you know, attempt words. He's all responsible that way.

Re: Talk to Sparkle

[intotheout]

So Sparkle wasn't looking terribly focused today. And the radio had had a few comments earlier in the week about people checking up on him. Tip figured he probably didn't need yet another person asking him stupid questions, so instead of asking if he was okay, she spend some of the quieter time in the class drawing a quick sketch of someone with dark, spikey hair and eyeliner kicking a bunch of people in top hats, monocles, or pearls out of a castle while a bunch of raggedy looking punk kids partied on the ramparts.

She folded it into a little paper football and with the deadly accuracy that could only be learned spending time in public schools, flicked it at Sparkle's forehead as soon as class ended.

Re: Talk to Sparkle

[myownface]

And Sparkle was out of it enough that the paper football hit its mark, and blinked him out of his... well... you had to actually be thinking about something for it to be a reverie, didn't you? It yanked him back to his senses, anyway, and he squinted for a moment before noticing the paper football and unfolding it.

...

"Okay," he said, smiling a little at the picture there, "this is totally going on my fridge."

Re: Talk to Sparkle

[intotheout]

Tip shot a victory text to J.Lo, then came up to show Sparkle the reply.

"J.Lo says he's glad I was able to make you smile."

J.Lo's reply was misspelled and heavily dependent on emojis, but clearly celebratory in nature.

Talk to the TA

[myownface]

If she's around!

Re: Talk to the TA

[intotheout]

When she wasn't grumbling about "recreational squatting", Tip was eyeing the teacher with no small amount of concern.

Sparkle did not look okay.