[ closed ] out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field

[fussiest]

WHO: (fussiest) & (justscribing)
WHAT: roommates gonna roommate
WHERE: in the lobby of some apartment building of alhaitham's choice! kaveh doesn't have a choice in this.
WHEN: sometime during the arrivals...? july!
WARNINGS: n/A

Comments

[fussiest]

[ alhaitham laughs. kaveh allows the egregious roll of his eyes to punctuate his words. ]

Says you. At least none of my trouble has ever involved having to break our god of out proverbial jail. You really have no right in calling anything I do trouble anymore in comparison. And before you say anything - yes, Alhaitham. It's always a matter of comparison and scale.

[justscribing]

That's only because you were gallivanting in the desert. [He sets down his fork, propping his chin on his hand as he leans forward.] Had it not been for that, you would have certainly found yourself at the center of it.

[Because this is Kaveh, who is incapable of minding his own business.] And frequency is still an important metric.

[fussiest]

[ there's nothing to say for that. kaveh knows his own measure. he knows that the building would've needed demolition if it the cage hadn't been opened on its own. he, too, props his hand on his chin, and leans. the distance between them is as it ever was: enough, just enough. ]

It is. As is severity. Or will you debate me on that as well?

[justscribing]

Of course. [Fondness grips his smile, and he purses his lips to reel it in only a second later.]

To start, are we judging severity based on total consequences or personal risk?

[fussiest]

Total consequences, obviously, because your sense of personal risk is broken. [ says kaveh, with the kind of droll you ought to reserve for someone who doesn't have a track record of changing the trajectory of your society as you know it. ]

Prepare your argument as I do the dishes. Did you get any of the liquid soap that they have here? The stuff is marvelous; it seems to strip the oils from whatever surface it ends up on.

[justscribing]

Pot, kettle. [That phrase Kaveh does like to use.

Alhaitham gathers his plate to take it to the sink, but that's as much assistance as he's offering.] I did, but I also brought bar soap in case the efficacy was overstated. You're free to try it.

[It's lemon scent.]

[fussiest]

Kettle, pot.

[ the scent of lemon overpowers. kaveh brings his own plate to the sink, and adds it to the insubstantial pile there. steel wool, it seems, is still used to scrub pans, though there's also this yellow and green thing that objectively falls under the category of 'sponge', but is made of material that kaveh has never seen or felt before. it's elastic under his touch, and provides a surprisingly good grip on the green side.

fascinating, this world. fascinating, that there exists a civilisation that lives like this. if this is a true civilisation. ]

Hm. I'll use the liquid soap today, then, and have the bar soap tomorrow. It's only a miniature experiment, but it'll do for an impromptu test.

[justscribing]

[Kaveh is in the honeymoon phase of plastics, but wait until he learns about the ecologic damage.

Alhaitham makes a mental note to put one of the bars by the kitchen sink for Kaveh's little comparison. And some blank books and pens for notes that they can both use. They'll need it.

In the meantime, though, he leans against the counter with crossed arms and takes a moment to collect his thoughts.]

All right, here's my argument: you surpass me both in frequency and severity of getting into trouble and are using my part in stopping Azar's corrupt plan to skew your data. In measuring for an average you have to adjust your results to prevent such outliers from disrupting your results.

[And so the argument goes again, to the rhythm of Kaveh washing the dishes and Alhaitham, after letting them pile up enough, grabbing a towel to dry them off and put them away.

And when that's done it continues back into the sparse living room, conversation winding through the debate of what level of severity Alhaitham bullying a bunch of Eremites is until Alhaitham looks up at the singular analog clock on the wall and realizes--] Oh. It's almost midnight.

[That's a bit later than he'd usually sleep, but it has been an odd day.] We should turn in.

[fussiest]

[ and so the argument goes again. the rhythm is set by the weight of kaveh's scrubs. alhaitham, half-way through kaveh's diatribe on the inherent problematic nature of merely eliminating outliers from social science datasets, steps in to dry. it goes like this, kaveh thinks, kaveh and alhaitham, shoulder-to-shoulder as they always were. alhaitham's house had been much like this. they had done this hundreds of times between them on days where their schedules aligned, when kaveh isn't off running to port ormos and back for a client revision, and alhaitham isn't caught up in the personal experimentations that is the hallmark of his true interests - they were like this, weren't they. even in an unfamiliar environment caged in stark lines of gray and solid, unassuming white, it's all too easy to fall back into a rhythm like this, as if nothing has shifted, or, indeed, changed.

it hadn't always been this way. it had always been this way. both can be true.

at the tailend of the argument, alhaitham notes the hour. kaveh looks. the clock itself, kaveh thinks, is a marvel. a little boring to look at, but the mere lightweight function of its hands mean that it's less likely to drift in time than other clocks. he ought to take it apart sometime soon, just to see if clockwork has evolved in a society like this. and then, kaveh's brain catches up to him. ]

Oh. [ he says. ] ... I suppose we ought to.

[ a leaden beat. and then: ] I will be staying in your guest room, then. There wouldn't be time to clean out another apartment at this hour.

[justscribing]

[... Ah. Perhaps Alhaitham has taken for granted, in the familiarity, that the only thing that would change would be the scenery around them.

He is still, for a moment, statuesque in his apparent focus on the clock. And then his eyes shift sideways to Kaveh without the hint of disappointment.] I believe you're normally supposed to ask to stay guest in someone else's house. You could show some politeness and start with 'please'.

[Says the least polite man in Sumeru.]

[fussiest]

[ the guilt settles, and then wars - kaveh's expression falters. the distraction carves through him and remains. ]

You- [ !!! ] did you forget who made you dinner today? If I were a proper guest, you should have been waiting on me hand and foot!

[justscribing]

Hm, I recall you making that decision on your own. [Tact, who is they.

Amusement cracks his face for a second as he stands up.] And I'll be using the bathroom first.

[With that, he turns to go down the hallway. Bathe, sleep, and in the morning while there's still coffee and Kaveh he'll make sure to press the spare key into his hand on the excuse for if he ever needs Kaveh to get into his apartment when he's not there. Thereis no good place to hide it along an empty corridor.]