identitypolitics | monster prom bingo 2k21;

Well, let's do science and find out. At least you're small and I'm in good shape. C'mere.

[There's a brief hesitation as they rub their head one last time, but they'll move closer.]

Here goes nothing.

[ and she'll squat so they can climb on her shoulders. mostly solid. slightly precarious. a little floaty ]

[Clambering up, but unconsciously gripping tighter when they notice she's still not entirely, 100% solid.]

[ she tries not to yelp, anyway. success. ]

All right, hang on. I guess I can... float, or something, too, so... that's another new experience, huh.

[ she's just going to bob lightly upwards and forward. ]

You'd think if the laws of gravity didn't apply to me it would also make everything only weigh a trivial amount. The physics of this don't make any sense at all.

It might be easier if you don't think too hard about it.

[A beat. And then:]

You can do this. I trust in you.

[ she nearly just like fucking drops them??? ]

Wh—

—where did that come from?

Well... I am trusting you to carry me. Although one of my squares is also to "encourage someone."

Ah—ahaha.

[ she tries to heft them up a little bit more on her shoulders. ]

Sorry, for some reason it just felt very sudden.

It was pretty sudden. But it wasn't a lie, either.

[ ...

we don't have time or emotional bandwidth to unpack whatever the fuck we're feeling here ]

Well, I'll do my best. Where to, then?

I don't really have a preference. Is there a place you would find it easier to complete your tasks in?

You're pretty easygoing... honestly, I'm not sure. Probably where there's a lot of people, so I could carry you back towards the dorms.

Feeling like you're back on the open road yet?

Not quite... either it would be silent except for the engine motor, or Hermes would be talking to me the whole way, and you're much more pleasant to speak to by a longshot.

...somehow I didn't expect to compare favorably as a conversation partner to the companion you already had.

Hermes can be very, very annoying.

[Though they don't actually sound too bitter or anything, just exasperated.]

...somehow I thought you traveled alone, though?

Hermes is my motorrad partner.

Oh, I see... or—that sounds like a local term for an astromech? I know they can get erratic if you let them develop a personality.

All motorrads have a personality.

...maybe it's not what I'm thinking of, then.

Though, I know a lot of people get superstitious about machines developing a self, I've just never believed in it.

I couldn't believe it at first either, but it was a man repairing a motorrad who told me about it. When you travel with a motorrad, you make a pact - a motorrad can move quickly, but it can't go anywhere without balance. So as the rider, you provide balance, and the motorrad provides speed, and both of you get to enjoy traveling more.

It would be hard to make a pact like that if the motorrad couldn't talk.

...I guess in a way it's like what happens everywhere with vehicles, except you say it out loud.

It would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

Well, I guess, er—if something can talk. That's mostly an academic question when it's just a machine, though.

monster prom bingo 2k21;

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