[b]Ares:[/b]

“Hey, calm down. You got me out, let’s deal with that first, right? Before we lose the mood. I want to [i]feel[/i] like this was a win while we still can.” She grins. Some of her teeth are chipped at the corners, it gives her a slightly serrated smile. Like a baby shark. “You do drink tea, right? When you’re not throwing it on yourself?”

York disappears into his phone. He’s not just pretending to be busy, but he would be pretending if he had to. 

[b]Pope:[/b]

Let this end like a Buddhist parable; And so, Pope experienced enlightenment. 

There’s click of his tongue, and then his fingers, and a short nod. Then it’s like his attention turns entirely inward as his bulging eyes blankly look out. Whatever he finds there, he likes.

“You’re a [i]forum[/i].” He suggests. “The sum of the conversations that take place - that culture even as the individual members swap in and out like the planks on the Ship of Theseus. I can’t just take the best poster out of the forum, because it’s the forum that makes them a good poster. You live through the conversation - I’m asking for the sound of one hand clapping.” He chuckles, and rocks in his chair. “That’s why the illusion’s so damning for folks, isn’t it? It’s easy to try and relate to the people on a bulletin board. It’s a harder ask to relate to the bulletin board itself - that invisible thing behind the visible pieces, they have no idea how to do it. Just because they’re told it’s there doesn’t mean we know how to see it. If I’m wrong, I’ll not embarass myself any further with wild speculation, this must be hideous for you to sit through, but if I’m right… Well.” He offers a hand out to shake. “Then nothing would make me happier than knowing I might finally get it, even if it’s the smallest bit.”

[b]Fiona:[/b]

On the one hand, Fiona has come here as a respectful emissary of her girlfriend collective and doesn’t want to risk offending blah blah blah blah look being a hacker was a personality disorder she can’t resist. She’s drawn to the reeking promise of QA tests like a woman to a guy in an Axe bodyspray commercial.

She summons an asset from her library. This is a very simple asset, in that it is a bag of sand. This is a monstrous asset, because it is a bag of sand where every grain of sand was individually rendered with no optimization.

Fiona holds the neck of the bag loose as she flies in a corkscrew.