update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<h1 id="codrin-balanpollux-2325">Codrin Balan#Pollux — 2325</h1>
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<p>As happened about once every six weeks or so, that boundless energy within Dear became too much for the fox to control, and it would go tearing through the house, working on several projects, forking here to clean, there to make a mess, now to request affection and then to holler about how badly it wanted to be alone.</p>
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<p>The first time that this happened. Codrin had been quite startled, opting to lock emself in the office that ey still kept out around the back of the house. One of the many instances of Dear quickly fell into a sulk, and sent em carefully spaced out sensorium messages to make sure that ey hadn’t left.</p>
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<p>Eventually, Dear’s partner had knocked on the door to eir glass-walled office, and Codrin let them in, where they leaned back against the edge of eir desk.</p>
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<p>“Do you know of any wild restaurants?” they had asked.</p>
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<p>“Wild?”</p>
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<p>“Yeah. You know, crazy experiences, or maybe they’re really busy, or kind of raucous. Some sort of theme. Anything like that.”</p>
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<p>Codrin had searched through eir memory, then shrugged. “Does a back-alley food court work?”</p>
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<p>They laughed. “How in the world to ‘back-alley’ and ‘food court’ work together?”</p>
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<p>“I have no idea. You walk down this street, and there’s just this awning sticking out over a narrow alley. Smells like hell, but when you get through it, there’s this courtyard, and all of the walls are various stalls of different food. Most of it’s dumplings and buns and stuff like that, but I found it because there’s a place there that serves, of all things, really good tacos.”</p>
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<p>“Sounds about right. Come on.”</p>
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<p>They had walked back around the patio and into the main house and Dear’s partner surveyed the scene, of various foxes in various states of activity or various moods, then walked up to one scribbling on a notepad at its desk, grabbed a fistful of fur and loose skin at the name of its neck in their hand, lifted the fox to its feet, and shook it gently. All of the forks that had been littering the house quit in an instant.</p>
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<p><em>“Oh, is it dinner time?”</em> It had looked bedraggled, limp, unsteady, and a glint of some intensity hid in its eyes that Codrin had never seen before.</p>
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<p>“Yeah. Come on. Codrin knows a place.”</p>
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<p>There had never been a full explanation of what it was that happened, but as they dined on plates of dumplings, steamed buns, noodles, and tacos, the fox’s heckles began to lay flat, and the erratic twitching of its tail slowed to a more familiar calm. It had spent most of the dinner peering around curiously and talking their ears off.</p>
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<p><em>“Sometimes I overflow,”</em> is all the fox had said when pressed.</p>
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<p>Even after nearly twenty years, though, Codrin had yet to gain the knack of telling the original instance of Dear when that many were running around, and so when the fox began to ‘overflow’ once more, ey sought out its partner in their own workshop and waited until they reached a stopping point before saying, “I think it’s time for dinner.”</p>
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<p>As usual, they were able to hunt down the root instance and shake it back to reality. Whenever the fox was grabbed by the scruff, it went limp, and the shake was usually something of a rag doll affair. At first, Codrin had worried that its partner was hurting it, but as ey was welcomed into their relationship, ey learned that the fox counted it as a pleasure.</p>
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<p>Today, they found themselves at what Dear promised them was a pitch-perfect simulacrum of a late 2000s diner. While ey could not speak to the accuracy, nor even the quality, something about the sheen of lingering sanitizer on the counters that left streaks, the smell of truly terrible coffee, and the sizzle of grease all seemed to add up to a cohesive whole.</p>
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<p>Codrin ordered a large plate of fries, Dear a vanilla milkshake, and its partner a slice of pie. They shared all three, and Codrin learned the delight of dipping fries into milkshakes.</p>
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<p><em>“Thank you, my loves, as always,”</em> Dear said, once it calmed down. <em>“I am honestly surprised that it took this long after launch for the mania to hit.”</em></p>
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<p>“Maybe you were less focused on one thing?” Codrin said around a mouthful of melting shake.</p>
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<p><em>“Perhaps. I do not have a single project to dump my attention into, so perhaps that singular energy does not build up in the same way.”</em></p>
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<p>“The news from Castor and Ioan isn’t enough to keep you focused?”</p>
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<p><em>“Not particularly, no.”</em> It grinned and poked a fry at Codrin. <em>“You are the historian, my dear. That is your job, not mine.”</em></p>
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<p>Ey rolled eir eyes.</p>
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<p><em>“Still, I really must find one soon. I am aware that it is not pleasant for you two when I overflow, but it is also unpleasant for me when I do not have direction.”</em></p>
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<p>Dear’s partner shrugged. “We just need to get one of those loose clamps for holding bags shut or hair back in a bun so we can just put it on your scruff when you start getting out of hand.”</p>
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<p><em>“Do you promise? I promise that I will do all in my power to deserve it,”</em> it said, grinning wickedly.</p>
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<p>“Dear, I swear to god.</p>
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<p><em>“If you threaten me with a good time, you will win precisely the prize that you deserve.”</em></p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-05</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-09-10</p>
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