Editing August Casso (section)

=== Month 1/3 ===
Within the first week, August had secured a job interview at Red Robin (a suggestion of Arenda); as had she. Over the process, which in total took the whole month, only he would secure employment. When inquired, the management gave a rather...dodgy, answer? It was clear someone had had bias toward her, and withheld the opportunity from her because of it. Ominous foreshadowing for how the job would eventually pan out for them as well, but that's yet to occur.

August would run out of drugs quickly, forced to abstain from stimulants once more. This would mark the start of their longest sobriety since picking the awful affliction up, the entire rest of their time in Oshkosh. Arenda would clearly imbibe in downers on occasion, marked with subtle changes in her personality in the days after using, but it was of no real negativity truly and August was not one for such substances, so it was a moot affect to their life. They would be offered some while hanging out with her and her friends early on, and while the most tempting that would ever be to them, still declined in the end. Time was essential and couldn't be wasted on chasing dragons, much less any money be either.

They would also begin the process of applying for food stamps, which would slowly take about a month to get going as well. Until that point, August would fill their time primarily searching the city for food for themself and Arenda, who despite living with a parent was forbade from consuming anything in their kitchen outright. When she would push this rule's patience and steal a Celsius energy drink, her mother brutally beat the hell out of her. Besides being just a harrowing concept alone, it left her bloody with visible bruising and greatly distressed August, powerless to do shit because the fuck would they do fight the mom? It was a lose lose miserable situation. Though Arenda was almost stoic in her apathy toward it, August assumed out of years of similarly disappointing treatment.

The primary way they were able to procure food was donation bins, of which few existed that August knew of in the city initially and all incredibly far from one another. Imagine walking countless miles, days in a row, to only repeatedly find nothing at all. The hunger pangs paired with that exercise to cause August despair often during that first month. Working up even more of an appetite on the hope, the slim possibility of finding something to ward off starvation. A physical and mental torture daily ritual, for a whole month. At least the "re-burns" as Arenda would call them (cigarettes not fully smoked by their prior smoker)were plentiful on many of the routes taken, so that helped make it all not completely in vain when it was shitty pickings.

Also stressful, Arenda was herself a sufferer of Arvid (or just autistic, which seems to be now at time of writing the consensus)and would rather starve herself than eat many foods. So finding ones suitable for her pallette was even more of a challenge. Thank god for how often Mac n Cheese would be donated, truly a divine miracle if there could ever of been. August, without access to cooking equipment, would favor uncooked stovetop ramen and uncooked stuffing mixes primarily - though if especially lucky they would be treated to a cup of peanut butter (about one tablespoon), and even rarer to a box of 1% no-need-for-refrigeration milk. Crazy to think as a youth at their Great Grandmother's they would barely be able to bring themself to consume a few drops, now there were never enough to satiate their thirst. Perspective is a bitch with thicc titties.

August would idle in their excessive free time around the Oshkosh Public Library, due to the decent hours, wifi, outside outlets (at least at the outset of it all), and proximity to Arenda as well as central location to the rest of the city. It would serve as their own personal central hub of sorts during their stay in the city. Grooming via birdbath in the mornings, chilling watching Youtube on their phone or using Duolingo to learn Norwegian in order to begin some kind of foundation for Arenda's dream of their moving there. August still knows some to this day because of this, Ie erg veldig smart, so add that to sober and with only too much time and it made sense. Tiktok creation was once again a useful tool for funneling their whirlwind of emotions and allowed some documentation of their hardship via the platform.

Also nice, during this first month Arenda was able to hide August's cart (stolen from his now re-titled Mother's boyfriend out of spite) on her property, either the side of the home or out back behind the house. Accessing it meant near dead quiet, as it was by Arenda's mother's shittt dude's areas and he was a fan of bitching and moaning. But infinitely better than just lugging the burden around full time.

Also of note - having no income access at all even, much less a bank, blocked their ability to pay dad's storage. John Case covered a single month + fees for it havin been late, with expectation of repayment of course (done upon return to Denver the final time they saw their grandparents.