iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

well… i-i guess we have that in common, then . it’s just… i wouldn't even really know where to start, anyway. it’s been like this for so long that it just… feels normal now, y'know ?

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

[ thinking about dispatch calling him a good boy yesterday ] i think . i hauve Covid.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

why the fuck did he repost this

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Jjjjust co workers. mhm mhm mhm

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

y-you .. you say things to me that aren't exactly in the employee handbook .. pretty often, actually . … n-not that i’m .. you know . complaining,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

[ a hot, betraying flush creeps up the back of his neck, and oh, that little chuckle does terrible, embarrassing things to his heart rate . ] [ unprofessional. right . as if that word even means anything coming from him . ] … you're unprofessional with me all the time.

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Reposted by ⟢　ARNOLD .

📞 @detacheddispatch.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

temp. pinned

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

[ he opens his mouth to object, to say something professional, but the words totally dissolve the second the sound of that voice hums in his ears again . ] i—ah .. i-i'm, just ... i’m doing what i’m supposed to, aren't i .. ?

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

[ blinks . somewhere in his exhausted mind there’s several alarm bells—𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩. ] [ … but it doesn’t land like one at all . ] [ not when it’s delivered in 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 voice—low, smooth, wrapping around the syllables like something tangible and warm . ]

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

… okay, yeah, that’s fair . just kind of … surreal ? my boy’s still barely a teenager. … i guess i’ve been through weirder, at this point.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

… young ? you’re kidding, right ? i look half-dead nowadays.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

they’ll be killing me today unfortunately

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

you ... what ? [ just … staring in mild disbelief. ] you’re... mike? from the—wait. you look—he's—what the fuck is happening right now?

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

… he did . only friend he had for awhile, i think . [ starting to catch on but also a little freaked out . ] how do you…—?

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

… y-yeah, actually. always been his favorite. why ?

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

total front. once you actually get to know him, he’s ... well, he's just really warm. earnest. gets real excited about the stuff he likes. and he’s real loyal. like … “follow you around like a puppy” loyal . … he’s had a rough time, though, lately .

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

o-oh, um, he’s... well, he's a good kid. a real good kid. really smart, even if he doesn't give himself enough credit. he’s pretty shy, though. super quiet around people he doesn't know. though… for a while he tried putting on this whole act like he was this tough, mean teenager, haha .

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

… i appreciate it, b-but there— there’s not really any point to sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

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Reposted by ⟢　ARNOLD .

くるくりかえす @secondhandvanity.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

this is the kind of thing that sticks with a man forever.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

and the relentless, crushing weight of his own memories. It is the only penance he has left.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

He hiccups out a sob, carefully sliding the photo back into his worn wallet, fingers numb and clumsy. He pulls his knees up tight against his chest, curling into his seat. As the wind howls outside the glass, Arnold punishes his own body with the biting cold, the gnawing hunger,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

shoulders shaking so hard the whiskey bottle in the footwell rattles against the floorboards. "I'm sorry," he gasps out into the dark, his voice cracking entirely, thick with a grief that threatens to pull him under for good. "I'm so sorry, Jeremy. I should've protected you. I should've..."

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

He couldn't see his boy. He couldn't check if he was sleeping, or if the nightmares had stopped, or if he was eating. A ragged, choked sob tears its way out of Arnold’s throat in the freezing silence of the van. He presses the worn print against his lips,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

The court papers didn't completely strip away his name, but Dolores didn't need to dissolve his rights on paper; she locked him out just as effectively. Every time he tried to call, the phone would ring out to nothing, or his ex-wife's cold voice would warn him off before slamming the receiver down.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

—a silent, desperate look that tore right through Arnold's chest—before the front door swung shut with a final 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬. The silence that had rushed back into the tiny apartment was suffocating. Weeks bled into months, and the empty weekends stretched out before Arnold like an endless desert.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

the money, or even the fucking 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢 to fight her in family court, and she knew it. He didn't move as she walked over, placed a firm hand on their trembling son's shoulder, and coaxed him up gently. He didn't say a word as the boy cast one last terrified glance back toward him from the doorway—

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

—Consider your weekends suspended until further notice." Arnold had stood frozen in the center of the room, his chest aching with a hollow sense of defeat. The fleeting spark of defiance flickered and died out, leaving behind only the grim reality of his position. He didn't have the legal footing,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"I'm taking him home," Dolores said with a finality that brooked no argument. "And you aren't seeing him, Arnold. Not this weekend, not next weekend, not until I decide you've done something to actually fix this mess, which we both know you 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵. Don't call, and don't show up at the house.—

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"It’s too little, and it’s entirely too late. You spent years teaching him how to cower away from the world, and now he's paying the price for it." She stepped past him, her eyes locking onto the boy as he stirred fitfully on the cushions, mumbling something incoherent into the quilt.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

but with a profound disgust that cut far deeper than any scream ever could. She adjusted the strap of her handbag, her expression hardening back into stone. "You think finding a voice today makes you a father, Arnold?" She whispered, her voice dangerously quiet and devoid of any warmth.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

and I am 𝘯𝘰𝘵 going to let you use his pain to tear him down." The silence that followed was suffocating. For a long moment, the only sound was the distant hum of the traffic outside the apartment windows. Dolores looked at him—𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 looked at him—not with anger,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

—You don't see a terrified kid who needs comfort; you just see a failure you need to scrub clean. He didn't run away because he's weak. He ran here because he was terrified, because he needed someone who won't look at him like a disappointment. He's 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, Dolores,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

"No, 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦," the technician cut her off, refusing to let her bury the reality of what had happened under her contempt. Tears spilled hot and fast down his cheeks, but he didn't bother to wipe them away. "God, you don't have an ounce of maternal instinct in you, do you?—

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

—ANYONE would be wrecked by that! This isn't about me. You're looking at a kid who's terrified out of his mind, and you're acting like it's just some kind of defect." "It is a symptom of—" she'd tried to snap back, her face flushing with cold anger, stepping up to match him.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

He pointed a trembling finger toward the sleeping boy. "He's not a soldier," Arnold snapped, voice cracking. "And he's not some machine you can just tinker with until he acts right. He just watched... Christ, he watched a kid get his 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 in a room full of screaming people.—

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

his voice didn't shake. "Shut up," Arnold snarled, his chest heaving. Dolores blinked, genuinely startled by the sudden, unprecedented friction, her lips parting in quiet disbelief. "He is a 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙, Dolores," he'd pressed on, voice cracking with a raw fury that had been building for over a decade.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

—something inside Arnold simply... snapped. The panic didn't seize his throat this time. It turned into something hot, blinding, sharp. He stepped forward, planting his heavy boots directly between Dolores and the couch, placing his body as a physical barrier. When he spoke,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

shrinking him down until he was invisible, accepting the blame as a deserved punishment. But as he looked from the woman's cold glare back to the dark bruises under his son's eyelids—remembering the warm, copper smell of the blood he had scrubbed from those soft hands only hours ago—

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

-"A complete, hysterical wreck. He watched a child get crushed to death and he couldn't even lift a finger to help because 𝘺𝘰𝘶 taught him how to roll over. You taught him to be completely paralyzed by his own fear."- ...For years, accusations like that would have driven Arnold inward,

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

-"Look what you’ve turned him into,"- she hissed, the venom in her hushed voice so potent it seemed to suck the oxygen right out of the room. She pointed a perfectly manicured finger at the sleeping boy, whose face was still pale and drawn against the worn fabric of the couch.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

She stepped over the threshold, eyes sweeping over the cramped living room, the pile of bloody clothes stuffed into a trash bag by the door, and finally landing on their traumatized son, curled into a shivering ball on the couch. When she turned her gaze back to her ex-husband, her eyes were 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Dolores stood in the hallway, immaculate and fully dressed, looking entirely alien against the peeling paint and stained carpet of his cheap apartment building. She didn't barge in. She didn't scream or raise her voice to wake the neighbors. Her rage was always far more... 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, than that.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

...He didn't ever close his eyes. The morning sun eventually bled through the blinds, casting gray lines across the cramped living room. At 7:00 AM sharp, the stillness was shattered by three sharp, authoritative knocks at the front door. Arnold knew who it was before he even turned the deadbolt.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

worn-out t-shirt to sleep in, and practically carried him to the pull-out couch in the living room. Arnold tucked the heavy quilt under the boy's chin, pulling a chair up right beside the mattress. He sat rigid in the dark, watching his son's chest rise and fall in a fitful, dream-haunted sleep.

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⟢　ARNOLD . @36hours.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

and carefully wiped down his trembling hands, watching the water in the sink turn a faint, sickening pink before washing down the drain. The boy didn't speak. He barely even blinked. When the last of it was gone, Arnold stripped him out of the stained clothes, tossed him an oversized,

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⟢ ARNOLD .

⟢　ARNOLD .