Glitch was born outside the Domes. Like all newborn infants in Norm society, he was tested for the Irregular gene. When these test results came back positive, he was sent to the Domes with his mother and father having never known him.
He was placed in the Infant Dome and was then taken care of by the robots that maintained all the Irregular babies. Glitch’s life didn’t really begin until his time in the child Dome. When he was five he began his schooling in the child Dome. Being naturally curious and having been told about going to school from the robots, he began soaking in all the knowledge being taught to him and the other Irregular children. Glitch learned about the history of the world, how it was a shining utopia for all until the year 2020 when a huge war engulfed the world. He learned the nature of what happened to the world and why everyone had powers.
As time passed, however, Glitch began to notice that certain aspects of Dome life seemed odd. For one, why had there been no adults with them in the Domes? Their lessons had taught them they were kept separate from the adults because the adults couldn’t keep the Domes maintained if they had to look after their kids. As far as Glitch could see, however, robots took care of all the maintenance; never was there an adult to be seen.
Another discrepancy he noticed was that he and the other kids had numbers as opposed to names. His history lessons had taught him that many figures from the past had names - so why didn’t they? He assumed that the robots could not be creative enough to give them names. He was happy to learn, therefore, about the secret nicknaming tradition that had existed in the Children’s Dome for as long as anyone could remember. Children came up with any nickname they liked for themselves, drawing on their powers, talents, or interests as inspiration. Glitch’s name stemmed from his powers. One day, during lunch period Glitch had wanted more to eat, but because the robot had served him his portion, it wouldn’t give Glitch more. Impulsively, Glitch went across the counter to grab more food and his hand touched the robot. A surge of electricity caused the robot to malfunction and start saying the word “glitch” over and over. That’s when Glitch chose his name.
In time, Glitch figured out his superhuman abilities had to do with electricity. Whenever he could he would use it on the robots to get more food. He took care not to get caught, having seen what happened to most kids who were too showy with their powers. Eventually, however, he did get discovered - not by a robot, but by another child. This child, a girl with pyrokinesis named Torch, had noted his abilities as being useful and promised not to go alerting the other kids if he would get her extra helpings as well. Glitch grudgingly held up his end of the deal, not wanting to have every child in the Dome asking him for extra food. Moreover, he did not want the robots catching wind either. Torch honoured her part of the deal as well, even going beyond it by helping Glitch. She would start small fires to distract the robots who oversaw the food distribution while Glitch worked his magic. As time went on in this fashion, Glitch and Torch began to trust each other, and eventually viewed each other as friends.
As the time grew closer for the two of them to go to the Teen Dome, they learned about the careers they’d be put into. Much to Torch’s disdain, she was stuck with manufacturing clothes - the only upside of which was the potential ability to sneak an extra pair of clothes for her and Glitch every now and then. Glitch was stuck on an assembly line for air filters that would be installed in the Domes.
When they finally turned 12, they were moved via the underground tunnels to the Teen Dome. The moment they arrived, they were thrown into 16 hour days of work, with no breaks, with barely edible food and poor living conditions. They didn’t receive daily portions of food like they did back in the child Dome, now having to pay for it with food tickets from their jobs. The food tickets were enough to purchase one meal a day, and the meals themselves were not enough to keep anyone full.
Glitch and Torch stuck closer together, finding an abandoned two-person dwelling to live in. As time passed, they decided to go back to their food-stealing scheme that had worked out so well for them in the Children’s Dome. Unfortunately, food security in the Teen Dome was much tighter. When Glitch tried to make a serving robot malfunction, another caught him, even with Torch’s distractions. He was beaten severely. By some miracle, nothing was broken, but he was so badly bruised that it left him unable to work for a few weeks. In that time, Torch divided her already meager portions between the two of them.
After Glitch recovered, he and Torch began to be targeted by some of the older teens. It was a somewhat common practice for the more established inhabitants to try and take advantage of the newcomers, shaking them down for meal tickets or forcing them to try and steal things for them. Glitch and Torch resisted, earning a few bruises along with having their meal tickets stolen. It wasn’t until Torch seriously burned one of the teen's faces that the older kids finally left the pair alone.
Having them both nearly starve on several occasions and getting robbed was enough to show Glitch how awful living in the Dome was. Cramped and trapped inside the Dome, he had no hope for anything better. He knew the only other option was to leave - but that meant becoming one of the Tweakers.
He had seen firsthand what the Tweakers were like, having worked alongside some of them at his assembly line. He could say for sure that he was never comfortable around the Tweakers. Working with them was unsettling to him because of how lifeless they seemed, and them only made him feel more hopeless about his situation.
It wasn’t until he was fourteen that he heard about the underground fighting club in place in the Teen Dome. The fighting club was located in an old collapsed tunnel in which a small cave had formed among the debris. With the entrance being hidden behind a large loose panel and the robots no longer securing the area, the teens found it easy to use this one spot for their fight club. Each week the teens would host a fighting tournament where admission was a food ticket. Powers could be used in the fights so long as it didn’t result in any fatalities, no shots to the face or pelvic regions, and the fighters had to knock each other out of the ring. The winner for that week would get a portion of the food tickets used for admission.
Glitch and Torch decided that participating in the fights would be their method of getting extra food tickets. For the first few weeks, however, all Glitch and Torch did was watch the fights: seeing who regularly participated, how they fought, who used what power or if they used them at all. When they decided it was time to try and participate, Glitch was first of the pair to fight. Having studied the other contenders before, Glitch knew how they fought and easily managed to beat them all by making his opponents tire themselves out . Having won the fights for that week, Glitch had managed to win enough food tickets for himself and Torch for at least a few weeks.
Torch and Glitch continued this pattern: observing the regular competition, staying out of fights for a couple of weeks and then one of the two fighting when they felt prepared enough.This ended up working well for them, and they managed to keep themselves just as well fed as they had in the Children’s Dome.
When it was the time of year for the newer kids to come to the Teen Dome, Glitch, having experienced starvation, theft, and bullying from the older kids, felt he needed to keep as many of these kids safe as possible. Torch protested against it, saying that they already had a good system going and that taking in strays could ruin everything. Despite her protests, Glitch couldn't knowingly let other kids suffer the same way they both had. After managing to convince Torch, the two of them began taking in the new kids who seemed the most vulnerable.
By the time they were fifteen they already had four new kids they were taking care of; teaching them what to do and what not to do, showing who to stay away from, and teaching them how to hide their food tickets from potential thieves. Other than that they didn't really tell these children how bad things could be. They didn't tell them about the underground fight club, how bad the beatings could get if they stole, or even the stories about the Tweakers. If the kids ever asked questions about these things, Glitch would just say it was a rumour or that someone was trying to scare them. The pair wanted the kids to maintain their innocence as long as possible so they could still remain happy. This made Glitch and even Torch enjoy their self appointed duty of taking care of these kids. It gave them a small comfort seeing this maintained innocence from the children.
Later however, Torch wanted to tell the kids the real truth about the Domes. How the experience was much worse and that the kids would need be ready to defend themselves. After all, once Glitch and herself moved to the adult Dome they could not shelter these kids. Glitch wanted the opposite; he didn't want to crush their hopes and reveal the awful nature of the Domes. Even if he didn't believe it personally, Glitch would often tell the kids stories - stories of the day the world would be better, when they would be able to live outside the Domes. He wanted to give them a bit of hope to get them through the harsh life of the Dome, but was often scolded by Torch for how he was merely setting them up for disappointment.
Regardless, their existence continued as it was: work, taking care of the younger kids, fight club and so on.
2/4
Personal History
Glitch was born outside the Domes. Like all newborn infants in Norm society, he was tested for the Irregular gene. When these test results came back positive, he was sent to the Domes with his mother and father having never known him.
He was placed in the Infant Dome and was then taken care of by the robots that maintained all the Irregular babies. Glitch’s life didn’t really begin until his time in the child Dome. When he was five he began his schooling in the child Dome. Being naturally curious and having been told about going to school from the robots, he began soaking in all the knowledge being taught to him and the other Irregular children. Glitch learned about the history of the world, how it was a shining utopia for all until the year 2020 when a huge war engulfed the world. He learned the nature of what happened to the world and why everyone had powers.
As time passed, however, Glitch began to notice that certain aspects of Dome life seemed odd. For one, why had there been no adults with them in the Domes? Their lessons had taught them they were kept separate from the adults because the adults couldn’t keep the Domes maintained if they had to look after their kids. As far as Glitch could see, however, robots took care of all the maintenance; never was there an adult to be seen.
Another discrepancy he noticed was that he and the other kids had numbers as opposed to names. His history lessons had taught him that many figures from the past had names - so why didn’t they? He assumed that the robots could not be creative enough to give them names. He was happy to learn, therefore, about the secret nicknaming tradition that had existed in the Children’s Dome for as long as anyone could remember. Children came up with any nickname they liked for themselves, drawing on their powers, talents, or interests as inspiration. Glitch’s name stemmed from his powers. One day, during lunch period Glitch had wanted more to eat, but because the robot had served him his portion, it wouldn’t give Glitch more. Impulsively, Glitch went across the counter to grab more food and his hand touched the robot. A surge of electricity caused the robot to malfunction and start saying the word “glitch” over and over. That’s when Glitch chose his name.
In time, Glitch figured out his superhuman abilities had to do with electricity. Whenever he could he would use it on the robots to get more food. He took care not to get caught, having seen what happened to most kids who were too showy with their powers. Eventually, however, he did get discovered - not by a robot, but by another child. This child, a girl with pyrokinesis named Torch, had noted his abilities as being useful and promised not to go alerting the other kids if he would get her extra helpings as well. Glitch grudgingly held up his end of the deal, not wanting to have every child in the Dome asking him for extra food. Moreover, he did not want the robots catching wind either. Torch honoured her part of the deal as well, even going beyond it by helping Glitch. She would start small fires to distract the robots who oversaw the food distribution while Glitch worked his magic. As time went on in this fashion, Glitch and Torch began to trust each other, and eventually viewed each other as friends.
As the time grew closer for the two of them to go to the Teen Dome, they learned about the careers they’d be put into. Much to Torch’s disdain, she was stuck with manufacturing clothes - the only upside of which was the potential ability to sneak an extra pair of clothes for her and Glitch every now and then. Glitch was stuck on an assembly line for air filters that would be installed in the Domes.
When they finally turned 12, they were moved via the underground tunnels to the Teen Dome. The moment they arrived, they were thrown into 16 hour days of work, with no breaks, with barely edible food and poor living conditions. They didn’t receive daily portions of food like they did back in the child Dome, now having to pay for it with food tickets from their jobs. The food tickets were enough to purchase one meal a day, and the meals themselves were not enough to keep anyone full.
Glitch and Torch stuck closer together, finding an abandoned two-person dwelling to live in. As time passed, they decided to go back to their food-stealing scheme that had worked out so well for them in the Children’s Dome. Unfortunately, food security in the Teen Dome was much tighter. When Glitch tried to make a serving robot malfunction, another caught him, even with Torch’s distractions. He was beaten severely. By some miracle, nothing was broken, but he was so badly bruised that it left him unable to work for a few weeks. In that time, Torch divided her already meager portions between the two of them.
After Glitch recovered, he and Torch began to be targeted by some of the older teens. It was a somewhat common practice for the more established inhabitants to try and take advantage of the newcomers, shaking them down for meal tickets or forcing them to try and steal things for them. Glitch and Torch resisted, earning a few bruises along with having their meal tickets stolen. It wasn’t until Torch seriously burned one of the teen's faces that the older kids finally left the pair alone.
Having them both nearly starve on several occasions and getting robbed was enough to show Glitch how awful living in the Dome was. Cramped and trapped inside the Dome, he had no hope for anything better. He knew the only other option was to leave - but that meant becoming one of the Tweakers.
He had seen firsthand what the Tweakers were like, having worked alongside some of them at his assembly line. He could say for sure that he was never comfortable around the Tweakers. Working with them was unsettling to him because of how lifeless they seemed, and them only made him feel more hopeless about his situation.
It wasn’t until he was fourteen that he heard about the underground fighting club in place in the Teen Dome. The fighting club was located in an old collapsed tunnel in which a small cave had formed among the debris. With the entrance being hidden behind a large loose panel and the robots no longer securing the area, the teens found it easy to use this one spot for their fight club. Each week the teens would host a fighting tournament where admission was a food ticket. Powers could be used in the fights so long as it didn’t result in any fatalities, no shots to the face or pelvic regions, and the fighters had to knock each other out of the ring. The winner for that week would get a portion of the food tickets used for admission.
Glitch and Torch decided that participating in the fights would be their method of getting extra food tickets. For the first few weeks, however, all Glitch and Torch did was watch the fights: seeing who regularly participated, how they fought, who used what power or if they used them at all. When they decided it was time to try and participate, Glitch was first of the pair to fight. Having studied the other contenders before, Glitch knew how they fought and easily managed to beat them all by making his opponents tire themselves out . Having won the fights for that week, Glitch had managed to win enough food tickets for himself and Torch for at least a few weeks.
Torch and Glitch continued this pattern: observing the regular competition, staying out of fights for a couple of weeks and then one of the two fighting when they felt prepared enough.This ended up working well for them, and they managed to keep themselves just as well fed as they had in the Children’s Dome.
When it was the time of year for the newer kids to come to the Teen Dome, Glitch, having experienced starvation, theft, and bullying from the older kids, felt he needed to keep as many of these kids safe as possible. Torch protested against it, saying that they already had a good system going and that taking in strays could ruin everything. Despite her protests, Glitch couldn't knowingly let other kids suffer the same way they both had. After managing to convince Torch, the two of them began taking in the new kids who seemed the most vulnerable.
By the time they were fifteen they already had four new kids they were taking care of; teaching them what to do and what not to do, showing who to stay away from, and teaching them how to hide their food tickets from potential thieves. Other than that they didn't really tell these children how bad things could be. They didn't tell them about the underground fight club, how bad the beatings could get if they stole, or even the stories about the Tweakers. If the kids ever asked questions about these things, Glitch would just say it was a rumour or that someone was trying to scare them. The pair wanted the kids to maintain their innocence as long as possible so they could still remain happy. This made Glitch and even Torch enjoy their self appointed duty of taking care of these kids. It gave them a small comfort seeing this maintained innocence from the children.
Later however, Torch wanted to tell the kids the real truth about the Domes. How the experience was much worse and that the kids would need be ready to defend themselves. After all, once Glitch and herself moved to the adult Dome they could not shelter these kids. Glitch wanted the opposite; he didn't want to crush their hopes and reveal the awful nature of the Domes. Even if he didn't believe it personally, Glitch would often tell the kids stories - stories of the day the world would be better, when they would be able to live outside the Domes. He wanted to give them a bit of hope to get them through the harsh life of the Dome, but was often scolded by Torch for how he was merely setting them up for disappointment.
Regardless, their existence continued as it was: work, taking care of the younger kids, fight club and so on.