"Can you elaborate on that?"

"I know lots about his head works, I know quite a bit about how mine works, I can see all the differences and it seems like there are a lot. I then look at how mine works and how I think yours works and it again seems to be a lot of differences. So it seems like we are very different. I expect that if I saw how I acted outwardly and saw more of how he acted outwardly and compared those and compared how I act to how you act, he and I would act a lot more similarly than you and me."

"Hmm... What exactly are the internal differences you see between your head and his, then, and why do they not translate to external ones?"

"I don't know what the inside of your head is like but I'm expecting it's even more different than his is and I just don't have a good guideline, is my point, but anyway – he seems less focused on his surroundings, he seems like he looks at people's faces a bit more, he seems far more charitable in how he talks about people in his head and doesn't seem to expect that over half the population is going to get themselves killed if not looked after properly and also he thinks about sex way more than I do."

Theo raises an eyebrow.

"I like charity, charity's good, tends to be more accurate. I also like the sex part."

"Uh-huh."

"You could stand to be more charitable, too, probably," he suggests. "Anyway, if the differences are of that... kind... I'm not sure there will exactly be many situations where you'd actually do anything different than him, and your intuitions seem like they won't be getting out of hand anytime soon."

"I'm not sure what you mean about my intuitions."

"I mean that you were worried about having instinctive reactions to things that you hadn't thought through and that weren't how you'd want to react but that's apparently not the case."

He shrugs. "Currently I am mainly suppressing them. They are somewhat frequently off-base."

Tyler sure seems to act differently from Theo, thinks Theo! He will pointedly refuse to remark about how Tyler apparently considers him wrong in lots of ways, well done him.

"Frequently? Like what?"

"To use a lot more words in my sentences, unnecessarily. Things like 'like' or – 'Well there are a few things actually but the main one was just that I use a lot of words to say the same thing and it doesn't really convey anything extra?'"

"Ha. I see. Well, I don't have anything against 'like,' these thought pauses are useful, but Theo is quite verbose, isn't he," he says fondly.

"'Like' is a useful word, if you're saying something such as: So I was like 'it's not my fault' and he was like 'you're grounded'." Pause. "Or, y'know, something more in character."

Theo smiles at Sadde.

He giggles. "But pauses like 'like' or 'um' or 'uh' or 'ah' are actually pretty useful signals in communication and don't really detract from communication, I think. I'm pretty sure I read some paper or other about that."

"Fillers, and no, I wouldn't want to get rid of them, but I'd still prefer not to use them."

"Fair, I guess. Okay, so Sword."

"Makes me want to try it out. I think I'd look great with a sword. – The actual fight, I think Theo was the real-world equivalent of genre-savvy by trying to appeal to the side of you still within, and after that failed he actually attempted to assess the situation properly, so, gonna have to say he did okay that time."

"Aw, thanks."

Snort. "You're a very serious sixteen-year-old," Sadde remarks. "I agree you'd look great with a sword, for the record."

"Maybe I should also take up martial arts."

"Desire to exercise shirtless?"