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[wittingly]

@ian.fowler | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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@kyna.medina

[evocation]

ian, come on

[wittingly]

what?

[evocation]

you know what
i'm not trying to
i don't know
brush it off
i'm just trying not to make things worse

[wittingly]

It's fine
I said you were right
Don't worry about it

[evocation]

it's not fine
you're doing that shut down thing again
tell me what you're thinking

[wittingly]

I'm being stupid
It's alright
Seriously

[evocation]

you're not being stupid
you're upset with me, right?
because of what i said about akechi

[wittingly]

We really don't have to talk about this

[evocation]

why not?
we talk about everything else

[And, okay, the L word is still a little scary, but—]

you're my best friend too
like, my second one ever
i wasn't trying to make it seem like
i don't know
like i was siding with him over you

[wittingly]

Well it really felt that way

I seriously don't think I could stand by and watch someone rip into you that hard that much and not say anything, especially if it was a friend of mine. Hell, I'm not even sure they'd BE a friend of mine after something like that. I get not wanting to add more fuel to the fire. That's a logical reason.

But man if that happened to you and you came to me asking me to get my friend to stop insulting you, the last thing I'd do is defend them to you

But then there's this whole other voice in my head telling me I'm being unreasonable because that's not how it works in real life. So, I don't know. I don't know what the right way to feel is right now.

[evocation]

[Well, that makes her heart break a little at the same time it gives her a rush of relief. She hurt him, but they're talking about it, and this is way more than she would have expected from anyone here six months ago. It just means she's more determined to get this right.]

however you feel is right
right?
wait
i mean i'm starting to think there's not a right way to feel about anything

i told him to lay off and that he was wrong about you
i'm just
i don't know
i'm trying to get better about handling this shit
and nothing anyone else was saying to him was working
plus, i think he's an angry kid who's been through a lot of awful bullshit
i used to do that doubling down thing when people called me out because i was scared

[So yelling at him feels like a waste of time, because it never would have worked on her. She was never that acerbic, but defensive lashing out she gets.]

but i'm sorry it seemed like i was defending him
and i'm sorry i snapped at you

[wittingly]

It's alright
At the end of the day it doesn't matter, I really don't care what he thinks about me
I care about me and you, and how we are to each other
Don't worry about it, don't stress out about it, I'll get over it when I'm not so wound up. I'm just gonna smoke some weed and do some work, chill out.

[evocation]

i don't care what he thinks about you either

[She thinks that's obvious but also feels like she should say it.]

can i come over and hang out?
i mean, i don't have to
just if you want
it might be nice

[wittingly]

You can if you want, but you really don't have to come over if you're doing it because you feel bad. It's seriously fine.

[evocation]

i'm not
maybe i just want to see your pretty face

[Or do something with him that isn't a serious discussion. Same thing.]

[wittingly]

alright
but full disclosure I've been smoking since like half way through the conversation with that kid to keep from losing my mind, so that's in your immediate future.

[evocation]

i'll live
give me like
20 minutes

[wittingly]

sure, man
it's not unlocked, but
you know

[ you can walk through walls and shit. ]

[evocation]

[Yeah yeah, she sure can do that. In fact, she doesn't even bother to knock when she arrives, just walks on through. He had plenty of warning, so any embarrassing shit is on him.]

Hey.

[This is chill and they're Fine. Definitely. She's almost completely convinced herself of it.]

[wittingly]

[ There is indeed no embarrassing shit, just Ian's mp3 player streaming through a speaker he seems to have built — it isn't pretty, but it does well enough to fill his little apartment with music while he works.

He's got a set of goggles on, dark-tinted lenses that screen out the brightness of what seems like some kind of soldering iron in his hand. He pauses when she enters. Offers her a 'sup' nod without taking the goggles off. ]

Hey, man.

[evocation]

[Kyna crosses the room to join him, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. It's starting to become a standard thing from her, but this time it's brief enough that he only gets a little rush of affection from the empathy bond before she pulls away.]

What are you doing?

[wittingly]

[ She probably gets back the equivalent of emotional static, such is the nature of conflicting emotions and marijuana. Too short to really pick up on any one specific feeling. He doesn't shy away from it, though. ]

Reinventing the wheel.

[ He sighs, looking back down at the metal plate of circuits and delicate chips. ]

Trying to recreate the-- you know how the doors and the advertisements and everything react to our implant? I'm trying to recreate that mechanism so I can understand how it works and incorporate it into shit. I wanna build things that are implant-reactive.

[evocation]

Holy shit.

[She could go grab a chair, but she leans her elbow on his shoulder instead. His conflicting emotions aren't really a shock to her, although they make her feel guilty all over again. Maybe she can figure out a way to cheer him up.]

You could use that for so much stupid shit.

[wittingly]

Yeah.

[ He agrees, a faint breath of humor pushed into the word. The shenanigans are endless. ]

Except this is like... so ridiculously intricate, I only half understand how it all interacts.

[evocation]

Fake it 'til you make it.

[That's definitely a solid strategy for engineering, she's sure of it.]

What part don't you understand?