iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

( he doesn't seem to hear him. ) You all still think it's just about getting by, don't you? You want me to let you in on a little secret? I'll tell you, k., and only you, you're the only one who'll get it, see? You dig that, man?

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

( Dusty laughs and turns away, throwing up his hands. ) A legacy continued. What else do you call that? You won't get it yet, but in time... When you see what I have planned for you... ( he stares into the distance, going very still. )

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

( he puts his large hands on k.'s large shoulders. ) You are like a son to me.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

You, my man! You are the fuel that keeps this fire burning. You- ( he seems a little twitchy, possibly under the influence? ) are gonna make us all so proud.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Can't keep up with the slang. Kids say the craziest things.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

See, that's why I don't take you for a topsider.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Great! You want something to eat? I'm starving.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

small. “Hi, you Marco?” said Dusty, reaching for something at his side. 8/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Outside, he found the man whistling a tune, hands in his pockets, carefree as a newborn babe. He was blond and in shape, but next to Marco, whose muscles had muscles, whose arms were a selection of thick and heavy pipes crudely connected with impenetrable tendons, even Riptide looked 7/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

day, late in the evening, when someone knocked on the door of the ACES asking to see him, claiming to be a "fellow visionary." Marco rose to the occasion, smelling an opportunity for violence and not wanting to pass it up. 6/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

had disagreed with his father and mother about bed time, and settled the matter with the family hammer. He spent the next decade or more slipping through every crack the system had, avoiding prison, retribution, and perhaps most astonishingly of all, death by natural causes, until that 5/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

by a particularly large brute named Marco Steppsen. Easily 7 feet tall and half as broad, Marco was *the* reason the RUFFHOWZAS had what little credibility and reputation they had, with a criminal record going right the way back to his childhood, when a young, but still enormous Steppsen 4/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

speak, the ultimate sin in the eyes of the RUFFHOWZAS. The gang, consisting of a dozen or so men with shaved heads, a variety of culturally insensitive tattoos, and a blood alcohol percentage that would make a team of doctors start scratching their heads and checking their notes, was led 3/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

ever sourced a replacement.) known for its rowdy crowds, loud music, and bloody bar fights, after a long day spent keeping the streets safe from any twizzler activity. Be it walking down the street in twizzie fashion, eating twizzie food or, god forbid, talking to a human in twizzie 2/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

It was a quiet night in for the RUFFHOWZAS, a group of like-minded individuals who enjoyed a drink and a laugh down at their local establishment, former casino turned betting shop turned drinking hole, ACES (formerly ACES HIGH but those last four neon lights died years ago and no one 1/8

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Now that's real pretty. ( eyebrows raised, he takes the box and runs his finger along the lid before opening it. )

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

( he looks him over, sizing him up. high or not, he was eerily calm. ) For the big leagues, kid. We're gonna step ourselves up in the world. Starting real soon.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

( he laughs, claps him on the shoulders and gives his biceps a playful squeeze. he never got his hands-on with Kitty, did he? ) Good. You're gonna have to be.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

( he just gives him a look. ) Eat. Get strong.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

You don't get it yet, do ya? Ha. You will. Just wait and see. These next couple days... Gonna be real interestin'.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Me? Am I high? ( he looks scandalized; the very thought...! ) So what if I am?

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Makes it all nutritious and good for you and shit. Then they add the flavor and voilà. Better food than half the mids get.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

It's moss, man. They grow it at the rim, right up against the glass. They grow it and they kinda- theh mill it? They- they work it, somehow? I don't know farming, man. They do somethin' to it.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

PRISTINE. Eat this. It's got real spices in it. Real spices. The flavor's like. Beyond words, man. Pristine.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Oh, you're gonna love this. This shit is *pristine*.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Good. Spot's just opened up at Wallaby's Wheelhouse. Repair shop, there's a bed in the basement. More roomie than Kitty's floor. You'll be expected to work to earn your keep both at the shop and for me, when I ask. Understood?

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Moonbikes. Dust riders. Two stroke internal combustion engines most of the time. It's old fashioned technology but it's cheap and reliable and once you can fix 'em yourself, they last just about forever.

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

( He steps aside to say something to Kitty; they exchange stuffed envelopes, then she goes back to her paperwork. Poor girl, huh? ) You like engines, kid?

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"Dusty" Riptide @howfastcanwego.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

( she's met with the glinting eyes and outstretched hand of Dusty Riptide, towering over her like some kind of fried egg god. his hands were strong and clean. ) Up we get. Got somethin' to show ya.

000