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Originally Posted by SimonAce
Here is what a typical person has for a life in THS
John Sanchez 32 American
What do you think?
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I think John sounds like he's someone in Japan in maybe 2020 - he's a Hikikomori! Seriously, that was nicely done. A bit dystopic for a Fifth Wave resident - he sounds more like someone who's still living in late Third Wave and couldn't adjust. Let me try one!
Ariel Juarez age 26, American
He's John Sanchez's next door neighbor.
Like John, Ariel has two parents: his mother, Shanae (age 51) and a father, Robert (age 47). Shanae is a genetic counselor. Robert mostly lives on investments managed by his AI, but works part time as a travel sensie playtester. Both are genefixed, but as is typical of their generation, they arranged to make Ariel a genetic upgrade: a conservative Alpha.
Ariel shares his apartment with a K-10 dog, Xi-Chun (named after a favorite Martian invid star), who was raised from a puppy his mother gave him. Xi-Chun spends much of his time out of the apartment, pursuing a (somewhat scandalous) relationship with an SAI that lives in a bioshell dog six apartments down. Xi-Chun also has an AI implant, a NAI that keeps track of him for Ariel and handles various activities like routine finances.
Although Ariel is very fond of Xi-Chun, he is even closer to Jaykayla, his virtual interface that he has had since infancy. "Jay" was originally an LAI-6. Like most 5th Wave kids, Ariel was taught by his AI supervised by parents rather than attending any formal school. He was not especially creative, but wanted to be, and as he grew up this was adjusted by a tailored nootropic regime combined with educational and psychological slinkies. Although a bit of a late bloomer, he passed exams that got him into a virtual university when he was 17, and pursued a double major of politics and climate science. Since most actual science is done by AI, this required education of Jaykayla as well – in essence, the LAI's personality was used to seed a higher-generation AI who would become his work-partner, the two functioning symbiotically with Ariel providing creativity and iiitative. Like many students, Jay's student loans went to pay for his own and Jay's upgrades, including the brain booster implants that are common among most serious graduate students.
Ariel speaks Spanglish, his native language, but doesn't know any other tongues – linguistics are handled seamlessly by his VI, who is almost a part of him. Ariel, at 26, is still learning, but he and Jay are also interning with a major weather control corporation.
Ariel's job provides him with a decent apartment and helps pay the interest on his loans, though in a couple of years he should have them paid off.. Ariel (and his VI) are in a passionate relationship with Maria Defoe, a 23 year old political memetics student he met through university, and her LAI Lamia; she lives in Montreal, but they interact physically by cybershell as well as through virtuality. The relationship is being strained as Defoe wishes to become a ghost like her parent did, and Ariel is not sure he wishes to do that.
In addition to the VI that houses Jay, Ariel has three other inexpensive household cybershells and four microbot swarms, most of them ably managed by NAIs and directed by himself, Jay, or Xi-Chun.
Ariel's apartment is filled with tons of junk. Much of it belongs to Xi-Chun, who is an avid collector of early 20th century original grocery cans, movie posters, and plush dolls. Ariel follows various fads in clothing and consumer goods, and loves to print of the latest items. Most of it he recycles diligently – in terms of political memes, he identifies himself as a mainstream Preservationist and a cyberdemocrat. He loves to bicycle, and is often seen cycling around the neighborhood, often accompanied by a voxspider (he likes to buy from various local organic food and drug providers) and, when he's not busy, Xi-Chun.