nerdeology | IC Communication

Of course. [He knows Rose totally would have though.] ...I just wonder why he'd do that. Maybe it's just not something I can understand.

That's probably the case. You're only greedy when it comes to ice cream.

I'm not greedy about ice cream! I just like to have my just desserts. [Hopefully Lailah is squealing in pride, wherever she is.]

[d e a d p a n]

I'm hanging up.

[Just get over here, ugh. And don't bring your puns.]

Mikle- awww.

[Sorey swaggers up twenty minutes later with that bag of beads Mikleo requested, setting them on the book Mikleo's perusing and sitting on the edge of the desk, awfully pleased with himself for a guy who had to put his boyfriend on the phone because he doesn't know how to tell a shopkeeper 'no.'] Still trying to figure out what that passage means, huh?

[Mikleo leans back in his seat, tucking a slip of paper into the book and lifting the beads to examine them. Hmm... yeah, they look satisfactory. The shopkeep didn't give them shoddy merchandise in exchange for the argument, apparently.]

It keeps bothering me. I still don't think it's metaphorical, but it can't possibly be entirely literal, either. It's too absurd.

Any hints in the translation notes?

They're mostly vague. I suspect that this book is a companion piece to some sort of educational course of study- it offers questions, various conjectures, and then encourages the reader to draw their own conclusions and discuss.

It's hard when we don't have any of the cultural context, [Sorey agrees, leaning over to peek at the book.] The writing system is a lot like the ancient tongue though. I'm confident you'll get it.

...so. Us.

Edited 2017-03-06 20:25 (UTC)

...Mm. Us.

[Mikleo closes the book, setting aside his work to turn in his chair and face Sorey properly. He hasn't really given it much thought since it became, well, a thing with Allen and Clay that day, but he used to think about the subject in the past plenty of times without voicing them to Sorey. Maybe it's time.]

What are you thinking?

Mm, I dunno. Allen and Clay just seemed so excited when we said we were dating, but it's not like anything changed between us because of it.

Besides the kissing. That I don't dislike.

That you want to "hammer out".

[What are they supposed to do, practice until it feels right?]

Dating is a... courtship ritual, isn't it? A step towards finding and committing to a life partner.

If we go by what's in the books, I guess. It seems like it's supposed to be a big deal, but we're already committed life partners, aren't we? Clay and Allen made it sound like a thing you schedule, go out and do.

It's not as if we never do anything on a schedule. But it's easier to act spontaneously when we've always shared a living space. Elysia, traveling together, and even here- you didn't take very long to transfer to the Huntress after we arrived. It might be different for them because they're on separate ships.

That's true. Plus, they had to have met here, right? I think they're from different worlds, right? [There's probably a lot to catch up on when you haven't literally grown up beside the person you're dating.]

Yeah, there's that as well. So in one sense we're ahead of the game, but... they seem a lot more comfortable with the physical stuff than we are.

[The way they kissed and held hands with ease and no embarrassment had been pretty telling, especially when compared to Sorey's flustered reaction. Which reminds him, actually... time to check something. He lifts himself up out of his chair just enough to give Sorey's cheek an experimental kiss- soft and quick, but completely without warning.]

[G
oes red but valiantly resists the urge to cover his face!! Just. Kind of tucks his chin into the collar of his cloak, looking away nervously.]

Wh- what was that for?

[Hmmm... interesting, interesting. Mikleo files that away as he withdraws, fingers ghosting thoughtfully over his own lips.]

Nothing in particular... just testing something.

[So the act itself, and the audience, plays a part in Sorey's reaction. Interesting indeed.]