The Las Vegas Convention Center stretched out in front of him. Massive expo hall. Hundreds of booths. Thousands of people. The noise hit him first. Voices, music, announcements all competing for his attention.

Sean wandered. Past mining companies. Past exchanges. Past wallets and payment processors. Past a giant model-UFO hanging from the ceiling, for some reason. And past every orange logo he’d ever seen on Twitter.

Then he saw couches. High-top tables. Right outside the Open Source Stage.

There was a booth. Maya was helping set it all up. Books, stickers, and QR codes.

“What’s Nostr?”

She didn’t look up. Autopilot.

“Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays.” She straightened a stack of stickers. “Social media you own.”

“Relays?”

“Servers. Anyone can run one. Your posts live on them.”

She moved to the other side of the table. He followed her.

“And—” she reached for another box of shirts. “You can send Bitcoin through it.”

“Show me.”

That got her to stop. She looked up.

He was standing there. Phone out. Waiting. Patiently.

She came around the table. Stood next to him. Closer than she needed to be.

Took his phone. Downloaded a client. “Name?”

“Sean.”

She typed. Handed it back.

On his screen: a profile.

His first note published. “Running Nostr”

“Your identity is a keypair now. Like Bitcoin.” She pulled out her own phone. “Nobody can change that. You own it.”

Maya held up her phone, leaned over, and scanned the QR code on Sean’s screen. A few taps.

“Wait, did you just—” Sean stared at his screen. Looked back at her. “The app has a wallet?”

“Built in.” She smiled. “Check it.”

“You just sent me Bitcoin?”

“You’ve been zapped.” Maya smirked. “Twenty-one sats. Welcome to Nostr.”

Sean checked his screen one more time. “What do I do now?”

“Now you’ll spend the next two days trying to find anything cooler.”

Sean stepped back. “You saying I won’t?”

Maya raised an eyebrow and turned to the crowd now forming.

“What’s Nostr?”

Maya lingered on Sean for a breath. He was still looking at her. Only at her.

Maya faced the crowd. “Social media you own.”

Sean made more room. But he didn’t leave.

She onboarded three more people.

He watched the whole thing.

Maya felt the weight of his attention the entire time.

She resisted. Kept her focus on the crowd.