Douglas Hadje — 2325

Douglas found it strange that, over the next several days, the conversations that he had with May Then My Name and Ioan had amounted to little more than chitchat.

It wasn’t that it was unpleasant in any way. May Then My Name had a delightfully weird sense of humor and, though he originally found it difficult to understand, given the text-only nature of the medium, an undeniable sense of empathy that made him immediately feel comfortable around her.

Ioan, too, had proven to be fascinating to talk to. Ey was, as May Then My Name had suggested, the type who spent much of eir time up in eir head, the result of which were statements that were as insightful as they were easy to understand. He liked the writer immediately. The two together could be hilarious, informative, somber, and comforting all in one conversation.

They were also very clearly in love with each other, which Douglas found odd, for some reason, given how often they referred to each other simply as coworkers. Ioan, especially, seemed either completely unwilling to acknowledgement or simply had not internalized it on eir side.

Ah well. It was an interesting fact, at least, in that when Douglas had interacted with couples before, he had often felt like…well, not a third wheel, particularly, so much as someone who simply did not understand the social dynamic at hand.

As enjoyable as all of the conversations were, however, and as much as he was beginning to understand sys-side life, he seemed to gain little in the way of actual knowledge.

At this point, however, his duties had diminished almost to almost nil, and he had little else to do. Within the year, he suspected that he’d be off looking for another job, hopefully still station-side.

So here he was, sitting on his bed, reading until either May Then My Name or Ioan pinged him.

Tonight, it was Ioan.

Ioan Balan: Good evening, Douglas. Let me know when you’re around.

Douglas Hadje: I’m around! How are you, Ioan?

Ioan: I’m doing well. And yourself?

Ioan: And by the way, it’s just me, tonight. May has fallen asleep.

Ioan: All of her, actually. It’s like the planets aligning sometimes. A bit of blessed quiet.

Douglas: I’m alright. Was actually just waiting up to hear from you. Things are pretty boring with no further launch stuff to do.

Douglas: Is May Then My Name loud in person?

Ioan: Oh, not really, actually. She’s just very

Ioan: Hmm.

Ioan: Intense, is maybe the right word? She doesn’t chatter all of the time or run around or anything. Usually, she’s just working, come to think of it, and she does all of her work up in her head. She’ll have good conversations with me or with you, walk around, clean or cook, which I realize makes her sound very domestic, which isn’t really the case.

Ioan: But the whole time that she’s doing those things, she’s intense. Her expression, her personality, her words, her smile, her laugh, her eyes.

Ioan: That’s one of those things that always strikes me as funny. You know, the whole thing about how eyes are just spheres, not actually emotive.

Ioan: But hers are intense.