“Sorry all the same.”
She made a setting aside gesture, dismissing the topic easily. “Another topic to discuss another time. Cress and Tule are grabbing coffee now, and will meet us in a few minutes.”
We stood in silence, then, saying nothing and letting the sun warm the backs of our necks. A few people poked their heads out of various shops, looked around sullenly, and then disappeared. Everyone who passed us did so in a cone of silence, and most of those opaqued from the outside, hard-edged cones of darkened and blurred background gliding down the sidewalk, hiding faces and silencing words.
+“Why do you think they’re out?” I asked, nodding towards one such cone.
+Dry Grass clutched her coffee to her chest, both hands wrapped around it as though to draw warmth through the paper cup. “Why are we out, Reed?”
+I blinked, then shrugged. “You asked to meet up in person, didn’t you?”
((they meet up and talk while sim hopping))
((After Dry Grass leaves, Reed goes to talk with Lily))