It's only eight, right?

[sovay]

Tonight in the basement of the Harvard Book Store where the part of the HVAC which replaced the original location of mysteries and crime makes enough industrial noise for me to wear earplugs while browsing, I gestured a choice of directions at a T-junction of shelves to a woman laden with bags in both hands who responded in an immediate tone of cheerful accusation, "You're half a man," and then before I could say anything and see which way she reacted, "Half and half. Cream. I'm just kidding," on which she turned around and left the way she came. Happy Saturday before Christmas?

Comments

[selkie]

I came to leave you good wishes, Gentlethem, as we cross toward the longest night;
I left saying “Bzuh?”
(If she meant you cut a dapper figure, well, yeah.)

[sovay]

I came to leave you good wishes, Gentlethem, as we cross toward the longest night;
I left saying “Bzuh?”

It was like six seconds out of the fiction of M. John Harrison! The part where passing conversations seem to have beamed in from the next planet over!

(If she meant you cut a dapper figure, well, yeah.)

I was dressed normally! Scarf! Hat! Gloves! It's not that warm in the basement of the Harvard Book Store!

(It is not being the best approach to winter. Thank you. Light, same.)

*hugs*

[genarti]

BAFFLING. Happy... encounters with the vastness of the tapestry that is humanity? I guess??

[sovay]

BAFFLING. Happy... encounters with the vastness of the tapestry that is humanity? I guess??

I guess it was kind of solstitial?

[gwynnega]

That is just odd.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

on which she turned around and left the way she came.

I think you might have possibly encountered an Element?

[sovay]

That is just odd.

It was the first time I'd been non-medically out of the house since Sunday, too. So much for interacting with the public.

[sovay]

I think you might have possibly encountered an Element?

I prefer this interpretation to others available!

[radiantfracture]

.....

what even are people

[sovay]

what even are people

I'm not sure!

[mrissa]

It is a VALID QUESTION particularly UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES

[cmcmck]

Does she really not know how painful a comment like that would be to some people?

[asakiyume]

W-what did she mean?

[sartorias]

Maybe someone has had a nip too many of the holiday eggnog . . .

[thomasyan]

Huh?

I've recently watched and read The Girl with all The Gifts, watched Station Eleven, watched the first season of The Last of Us, and watched the (first and) second season of Halo. Maybe she's been infected with some mind-altering pathogen and you're lucky to have escaped both infection and mindless violence....

Or maybe she'd been researching the Cream in the Coffee rule for Roth IRA versions and tried to make a joke about it and it came out all jumbled.

[sovay]

It is a VALID QUESTION particularly UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES

I STILL COULDN'T TELL YOU.

[sovay]

Does she really not know how painful a comment like that would be to some people?

I have no reason to believe it crossed her mind.

[sovay]

W-what did she mean?

spatch thinks she couldn't read my presentation and may not have had her mental radio entirely tuned in to begin with. I couldn't read which way she was reading me and my mental radio shorted a bit.

[sovay]

Maybe someone has had a nip too many of the holiday eggnog . . .

I have encountered better free associations this week!

[sovay]

Huh?

Basically!

I've recently watched and read The Girl with all The Gifts, watched Station Eleven, watched the first season of The Last of Us, and watched the (first and) second season of Halo.

That's a lot. (How was the film of The Girl with All the Gifts? I enjoyed both the short story and the novel.)

Maybe she's been infected with some mind-altering pathogen and you're lucky to have escaped both infection and mindless violence....

Or just the ability not to be completely weird at strangers.

[thistleingrey]

I have no reason to believe it crossed her mind.

It sounds to me a bit as though her mouth opened without her mind behind it, and kept going a bit while she tried mending its initial offering; then she left. But it had occurred to me as well, her remarks could've landed badly (rather than a bit bafflingly) in several distinct directions.

[movingfinger]

Gosh, the HBS basement used to be soundtracked by the Red Line. Hard to believe they found something louder.

[sovay]

But it had occurred to me as well, her remarks could've landed badly (rather than a bit bafflingly) in several distinct directions.

I couldn't tell if the interaction was an insult when it started. Then it seemed not to have been meant as one, but I couldn't tell what it had been meant as, and you may be right that it makes the most sense without intention.

[sovay]

Gosh, the HBS basement used to be soundtracked by the Red Line. Hard to believe they found something louder.

It's quite loud! The organization of the basement is otherwise mostly unchanged, though.

[moon_custafer]

Humans are very confusing

[sovay]

Humans are very confusing

My entire life. Probably all of human history.

[kathmandu]

It's a mystery to me.

[sovay]

It's a mystery to me.

I still got nothing.