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writing/post-self/mitzvot/013.md

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+The next few days felt careful. They weren't walking on eggshells around each other, but they all seemed to be hyper-aware of each others' presence in the house.
+
+Ioan and May called out from their performances and, when A Finger Pointing asked why, May had spent half an hour locked in the bedroom on a silenced sensorium conversation. Ioan received a very sincere note soon after wishing both em and True Name well. While she'd never spent much time worrying about the things True Name did, A Finger Pointing's ceaseless desire to be friends with everyone did not exclude her cross-tree instance.
+
+For her part, True Name spent much of the first day silent in her room, though whether that was to sleep or salvage the situation, ey couldn't tell. She poked her head out around dinner and said that she was too tired to join and that she would see them in the morning. 
+
+Ey couldn't blame her. Even with the two hour nap before lunch, Ioan felt groggy and disoriented for the remainder of the day. *I'm becoming like May,* ey thought. *I don't sleep well alone, or even separated by camp bed frames.*
+
+All three of them slept in late the next morning, only rising at nine or so when Ioan received the gentlest possible sensorium ping from True Name.
+
+Ey found her in the kitchen, standing in front of the coffee machine, looking baffled.
+
+"I am sorry if I woke you, my dear. There are more buttons on this than I know what to do with."
+
+"It's alright. I went through a coffee phase years ago and wound up with this. I usually just tap here...then here...and then this last one for three cups."
+
+She bowed. "Thank you. I would complain, but it does make good coffee."
+
+The skunk looked so much like eir partner that ey had to stop emself from reaching out to ruffle her ears. Ey disguised the motion as leaning back against the counter and rubbing the sleep from eir eyes. "Good coffee's a necessity. Sleep alright?"
+
+"Well enough, yes. It has been a few days since this instance has had the chance, so it was starting to build up."
+
+"Days? Good Lord. I don't know how you can do that."
+
+"Anxiety, coffee, and 263 years of practice."
+
+Ey laughed. "I don't know, I think it might be a you thing. May seems pretty fond of it."
+
+"An improvement, then," she said, grinning. "Mugs?"
+
+Ey showed her where they kept the mugs, then the cream and sugar for doctoring coffee and spoons for stirring. Once the pot finished brewing and all three cups had been poured, ey excused emself back to the bedroom with eirs and May's coffee to finish waking up with eir partner.
+
+And so it continued. They would speak in the morning and over dinner, perhaps a few times throughout the day, but otherwise, they worked on their own projects. They'd say good morning to each other, say good night to each other, say polite things in passing. Little of it felt like it was done out of kindness, but rather out of a need to remain aware of each others' presence.
+
+The snow first melted and then was replaced when a new storm lay down a delicate few inches; even the weather felt careful.