Plenty. Parents and parental-adjacent figures aside.
When I was a kid, we lived in a... closed settlement. Pretty much everyone I knew was an authority figure, back then. Not a lot of other children around. And when I found the Followers, obviously there were teachers and instructors and lecturers to rule our lives.
Even now, there's Julie, who's technically my boss. Sure, we don't really do the whole command hierarchy thing, around here - it's more like a voluntary organizational position, at the top. But I respect her, and what she says goes. Generally speaking, anyway.
I'm sorry to hear that. About growing up without anyone your age, I mean. I was lucky to have children in my cohort... though most of them were related to me.
I think Vaults are a lot different from what you must think of them. It's not a dictatorship. We're Americans, after all.
I understand not all Vaults are the same. Some of them even seem to have produced some pretty well-adjusted, ordinary folks, somehow. Like 21.
But you'll have to forgive me if I find it hard to trust that any of them were structured with enduring altruism and pure democracy at heart, after what I've seen.
Everyone's rigid in their thinking when it comes to their morals. Almost everyone. I just stick out like a sore thumb up here because I've never wondered what babies taste like.
It's fine. I've had worse said to me for a lot less.
Besides, you have every right to be angry. Frustrated. Exhausted. If I woke up one day, walked outside, and found out I had to relearn pretty much everything I thought I knew about how the world works, well. I don't know if I'd have stuck with it quite as long as you have.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 03:44 am (UTC)When I was a kid, we lived in a... closed settlement. Pretty much everyone I knew was an authority figure, back then. Not a lot of other children around. And when I found the Followers, obviously there were teachers and instructors and lecturers to rule our lives.
Even now, there's Julie, who's technically my boss. Sure, we don't really do the whole command hierarchy thing, around here - it's more like a voluntary organizational position, at the top. But I respect her, and what she says goes. Generally speaking, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 03:49 am (UTC)I think Vaults are a lot different from what you must think of them. It's not a dictatorship. We're Americans, after all.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 03:58 am (UTC)I understand not all Vaults are the same. Some of them even seem to have produced some pretty well-adjusted, ordinary folks, somehow. Like 21.
But you'll have to forgive me if I find it hard to trust that any of them were structured with enduring altruism and pure democracy at heart, after what I've seen.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 04:21 am (UTC)[A significant pause between that text and the next:]
Do you think I always listen to whoever's in charge?
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 04:39 am (UTC)[ naive? ]
rigid, in the way you see things.
You're a good person, and you want to see the best in people. And I'm not suggesting you change all that, because it's exactly what we need more of.
But good intentions alone won't keep you alive out here for long.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-01 04:48 am (UTC)[Maybe his observation cut a little close.]
no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 01:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 01:45 am (UTC)Besides, you have every right to be angry. Frustrated. Exhausted. If I woke up one day, walked outside, and found out I had to relearn pretty much everything I thought I knew about how the world works, well. I don't know if I'd have stuck with it quite as long as you have.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 05:22 am (UTC)I know my vault is... messed up, for the record. But it did provide a good education and moral framework. Maybe accidentally.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-02 05:54 am (UTC)You can be grateful for something and also acknowledge that maybe it wasn't exactly the best thing. Vitiis nemo sine nascitur. Nobody's perfect.