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"Curious," he says, very much like both of them.

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"This conversation is very strange," says Ivan. "Also I can't help but feel that Miles would make a very erratic sort of conscience."

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"Hey!" says—well, briefly Miles.

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"That is weird," says Kiri.

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Now it's Mark again. "Is it? What's it like?"

(It is very much like the Miles-model expanding to fill Mark's mind almost completely, acting and reacting directly on the surface instead of internally at one remove. But Mark was still there, under it all, inhabiting the role.)
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"You let your - not-so-miniature Pocket Miles - blow up like a balloon, and you sort of hung out in a corner of your own head! It was weird!"

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"I can tell them apart," volunteers Ivan. "Miles doesn't like me as much."

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Which is fucking mystifying. Who doesn't like Ivan?

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Kiri giggles. "Oh my word, are you unable to model not liking Ivan?"

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"Ivan is fucking delightful!" says Mark.

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"It is clear that this is very core to your thought process. It's cute."

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"I can sort of tell that Miles doesn't like Ivan as much as I do, I just can't seem to actually pull it off," says Mark.

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"Well, I never heroically rescued Miles."

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"That is definitely not the disconnect here."

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"Well, not that I'm not grateful for the heroic rescue."

But Ivan would still be Ivan even if he had failed, or never been warned in the first place. (He would not still be Ivan if he had not tried at all. That is not a conceivable Ivan-action. Mark knows he is very, very bad at understanding and predicting non-Miles people, but he's pretty damn confident on this one point.)
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"What is it you're reacting to over there?"

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"Putting it into words is effortful and he could do it at least as well as I can."

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"I find you delightful because of things inherent to you, not because you rescued me."

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"That's very gratifying." Headpat.

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"Aww."

Mark exits Kiri's range again so he can hug Ivan.
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Kiri awwwwws too.

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And a Mark-like individual wearing black shorts and a black T-shirt comes bolting in the door, moving a little awkwardly but very fast with his right arm cradled against his chest and an old-fashioned pistol in his right hand, glancing fearfully over his shoulder as he clears the threshold.

He utters a stifled shriek when he looks forward again and sees his unexpected surroundings. He manages to stop in time to avoid actually colliding with Kiri, but only barely.

He thinks very much like Mark's internal model of Miles. His right shoulder is broken, spiking with pain every time he moves, and he is rapidly recontextualizing from 'immediate combat situation' to—

"Ivan! Mark! Is this your bloody time-travelling bar?"
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