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[mothmansplaining]

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"Stanford Pines. Leave a message."

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[tetractys]

"IT SOUNDS WEIRD WHEN YOU SAY IT LIKE THAT!"

That's because its weird.

"OH RIGHT! I GOT OFF TRACK. WE AREN'T. BUuuUUT..."

In the mindscape they are!

[mothmansplaining]

"Are you saying the mindscape would....change that?"

[tetractys]

"YEAH, I CAN SHAPESHIFT THERE!"

Everybody can, technically.

Hm.

"SO CAN YOU, IF YOU WANT TO TRY BEING A TRIANGLE! EXCEPT DON'T DO THAT, I DON'T RECOMMEND IT."

[mothmansplaining]

"What's so bad about it?" Ford asks. "I've always wanted to try out the whole being-of-pure-math-and-energy thing."

[tetractys]

"MOSTLY IN THIS CASE BECAUSE SHACKING UP ISN'T WORTH THE TIME IT'D TAKE TO DESCRIBE IT."

[mothmansplaining]

You see this look? It's cuuuuriosity. He doesn't ask. He just lets his eyebrows arch, and he looks at Bill, very curiously.

[tetractys]

"YOU'RE INTERESTED, BUT I'M ORIGINALLY FROM THE SECOND DIMENSION, WHERE NOTHING IS FUN! IT'S BASICALLY A CONTRACT BETWEEN YOUR FAMILIES WHERE THEY SELL THEIR KIDS TO EACH OTHER TO TRADE SPAWN PROTEINS AT A POLITE DISTANCE."

Bill pours himself more champagne.

"GIMME THIS."

[mothmansplaining]

"Oh. So, it's just species preservation and social expectations, then."

That is Victorian.

[tetractys]

brxu prp'v ylfwruldq

"UH HUH."

Bill drinks.

"I DIDN'T LIKE IT THERE!"

who could have guessed

[mothmansplaining]

Huh. This is actually....getting a lot from Bill. Of course Ford knows about Flatland, but only in the abstract, and in vague memories of reading the story in high school.

No kidding Bill didn't like it there. He destroyed it. Awkward.

"Yes, I...figured as much."

[tetractys]

In summary, "BACKSTORY STUFF IS A MOOD-KILLER, I LIKE BEING A TRIANGLE BUT I WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO BE ONE. I LIKE YOU THE WAY YOU ARE!"

[mothmansplaining]

"Except when you have improvements in mind," Ford adds dryly, because he's drunk and can't help it. "Like moth anatomy."

But backstory talk is absolutely a mood killer, and Ford is having trouble stopping thinking about it.

"Was there anything you liked about your world at all?"

Ford had hated Backupsmore, but at least there had been Fiddleford. He'd chafed in his hometown, but there had been Stan, and the beach, and the woods.

[tetractys]

"YOUR REGULAR TONGUE PROVED ITSELF! THAT'S MY DEFENSE! ALTHOUGH I BET THERE ARE OTHER WAYS YOU COULD HAVE IT WIN ME OVER IF YOU'RE STILL CONCERNED.

AND THE WINGS ARE JUST COOL.

AND I LIKE YOU BEING DRAWN TO ME!"

More candid than he'd usually be there, too.

"EVERYTHING I LIKED FAILED ME WHEN REALLY PUT TO THE TEST. TOO SCARED. COULDN'T HACK IT. I DON'T NEED ANY OF IT."

Less a fresh wound and more one he never let heal, made sure left a scar so he'd learn and remember.

"I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT THIS. WE DID IT. AND YOU STAYED WITH ME AND LISTENED. THIS IS GOOD, IT'S A GOOD DAY!"

Floating up, aggressively trying to up the mood again. He goes to kiss Ford on the forehead, which will probably give the human a bonk on the nose via the general tie area. Oops. Bill's not too coordinated right now.

[mothmansplaining]

Ford's feelings about being compared to Flatlanders who hadn't been willing to do what Bill demanded of them, willing to break a world, are muddled and confused by the alcohol-buzz. He barely knows how he feels at the best of times, when he's completely sober and his moral scruples aren't at odds with the way being important to Bill makes him feel. Ford's quiet a moment, trying (and failing) to process it.

And then he's bonked on the nose, which alone is enough to pull him most of the way back to the present.

"Mmf!" He reaches up to straighten Bill out. "Careful, you're swerving," says Ford.

[tetractys]

"IT'S THE ANGLE OF THE ROOM," Bill says, with perfect confidence.

It is not.

[mothmansplaining]

"The angle of the room is fine," Ford insists. The don't-try-to-pull-one-over-on-me! is playful, and so is the finger jab at Bill's bricks.

[tetractys]

"OH NO, I FELL AGAIN."

Bill kisses Ford on the side of the mouth.

[mothmansplaining]

That gets Ford to laugh.

"That was a terrible line," he says, his shoulders starting to relax again, his tone starting to warm up.

[tetractys]

"I'M FULL OF TERRIBLE LINES! A TRIANGLE -" Wait, hang on, wait, he's got this -"A TRIANGLE'S A POLYGON FORMED WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TERRIBLE LINES."

There we go. Geometry.

[mothmansplaining]

That cracks him right up. The laughter's broad and unrestrained, thank you bubbly, and Ford can't tell if he slapped the piano in his mirth or if he's using it to hold himself up. It's both.

"You're a polygon made of terrible lines!" Ford gasps through the laughing fit's aftershocks.

He loves geometry, okay.

[tetractys]

Oh, that much is clear.

Bill is just clinging to him like a koala by the time he's done, and snuggling into his sweater.

"I'M HILARIOUS."

[mothmansplaining]

"Aha--ha--you're very funny when you want to be." Ford takes a deep breath. Whew.

He looks down at Bill, and feels very confused about why Bill's decided to faceplant into his sweater.

"What're you doing down there?"

[tetractys]

"I JUST REALLY WANTED TO BE HERE."

Best qualities: warm and fuzz.

It was important. Fortunately, he can still talk just fine with his whole face smushed.

[mothmansplaining]

"Oh."

Ford looks down at his own chest. Wow, that champagne is really hitting, isn't it?

"You're really small," he comments, downwards. "It's weird!"

[tetractys]

"I KNOoOoOW."

He hates it, FOrd.

"WE SHOULD GO TO THE MINDSCAPE WHERE I CAN BE AS TALL AS YOU! OR TALLER. THIS SPELL IS GOING TO BE SO GREAT, IT'S GOING TO BE ALL THE FUN STUFF FROM THE MINDSCAPE WITHOUT HAVING TO BE INVISIBLE. I THINK PEOPLE ARE REALLY GOING TO LIKE IT ONCE THEY GIVE IT A CHANCE."