vision

[calescent]

Kiri's up early the next morning, restless with various low-level simmering concerns, and wanders out of her room.

Comments

[salt_of_the]

"That... sounds weird. It's really handy to be able to sort people who you're going to interact with more than a little but less than a lot."

[free_flowing]

"I got out of the habit when I was in Thiyec. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. I mean - in Welce it matters what element you are; in other countries it's not a thing." He shrugs. "But maybe I'm the one who's weird. Wouldn't be the first time."

[salt_of_the]

"Maybe. I'm not sure what I'd be like if I didn't have this core of - I am torz, I am so torz that I am probably gonna be the Queen Of Being Torz one day, torz torz torz. It's big in my head."

[free_flowing]

"Huh," he says. "I'm not coru that way. Well, I'm the Queen Of Being Coru, but I mean - there's not a part of me that's the coru part going around being really coru all the time. It's just that what I am and what coru is are a lot of the same things."

[salt_of_the]

"King of being coru," corrects Patience.

[free_flowing]

"Says who?"

[salt_of_the]

"...What'm I missing?"

[free_flowing]

He shrugs.

"Nothing that important, I guess. Just - in terms of... thoughts, feelings, identity, I'm not any more of a king than a queen."

[salt_of_the]

Patience thinks about this.

"Okay. Queen of being coru," she shrugs. "But anyway the torz that is big in my head is not a separate critter, it isn't like I have a hamster made of rocks running around in there. It's more - pervasive."

[free_flowing]

"Yeah. I think I'm still different," he says. "Because - it wasn't a thing, in Thiyec. I wasn't going around being coru. I was just me. I'm the same person either way, but in Thiyec nobody thinks about elements, so I didn't either. It'd be different for you, right? If you went and lived in Thiyec for a few years you'd still be torz torz torz, you might have less reason to think about it but it'd still be a thing that you'd think, wouldn't it? Being in a different country where nobody cared wouldn't be enough to make it stop mattering to you."

[salt_of_the]

"Yeah. I dunno, though, I haven't tried it."

[free_flowing]

Loel shrugs again. "Yeah. Anyway, I already knew I was all kinds of weird."

[salt_of_the]

"I don't think you're literally all kinds of weird. You'd have to be... green, and have an extra arm, and stuff."

[free_flowing]

"I'm many kinds of weird. I'm weird in the head."

[salt_of_the]

"But you can still talk and recognize that chairs are not muffins and stuff."

Are they proceeding towards other primes yet?

[free_flowing]

They are! They are indeed thusly proceeding.

"Yep! I am totally clear on the difference between chairs and muffins. Muffins are tastier."

[salt_of_the]

"So much tastier! Do you still cook? I mean, um," she coughs, "so, do you cook? Oh, this is gonna be hard, I'm sorry in advance if I screw it up."

[free_flowing]

"Yeah, I cook. I forgive you in advance, but please try not to screw it up too often."

[salt_of_the]

"Yeah. You gonna make me food while I'm here?"

[free_flowing]

"Absolutely!"

[salt_of_the]

"Yaaaay you are the best."

[free_flowing]

He beams and hugs her.

[salt_of_the]

Hugs!

[free_flowing]

Hugs.

[salt_of_the]

Nuzzles.

"I'm getting used to the thing faster than I expected. Not, like, instantly, but fast."