"You're in luck, there's one in Cascadia in six weeks."

"I'll look forward to it!"

"--You think a lot of things are frivolous."

"I imagine there are cultural differences there as anywhere."

"There's-- obviously a lot of disagreement about the topic but one popular theory is that the entire point of society is that all the important stuff is taken care of so people can do frivolous things."

"I'm... not familiar with that theory."

"Well, frivolous things are things that people do for no reason other than wanting to do them, right? That's what the word means. So if it's good for people to do things they want to do then... the whole point is to let people do things that have no point other than that the people want to do them."

"My understanding is that it is not a sign of good character to be very drawn to activities with no point. Common, but in much quantity a vice."

"There is also widespread disagreement in Cascadia about what makes a person have good character."

"I suppose that does not surprise me."

The conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Lev calls. 

"Francis."

Lev looks around the office, quickly closes two tabs on his computer, then says, "you can come in."

Who might Francis be?

Francis is a black teenager wearing a leather jacket and boots which are covered in mud. (He does not step on the papers.) He has three piercings in his left ear and he's wearing brightly colored eyeshadow. 

"Didn't know you were coming to visit today."

"Dad said I could. --Who's that?"

"It's secret."

"You and Dad always say it's secret like you're James Bond or some shit and then it turns out that you're trying to figure out the effect of a hundred-dollar increase in the child allowance on the work incentives of single moms with two years of high school education."

"How do you know that if it's secret?"

"I eavesdrop."

Is Kyeo meant to not introduce himself, if he's a secret? He looks uncertainly between the others.

"This is Kyeo and he can't tell you anything else about himself," Lev says, for Kyeo's benefit as much as Francis's. "How was JROTC today?"

"We learned to build IEDs," Francis says, in the bored manner of teenagers being questioned by adults everywhere. "What's for dinner?"

"You'll have to scrounge for yourself but Juanita made cookies."

"Nice!" Francis says, distracted by cookies.

"Save some for everyone else!" Lev calls to Francis's retreating back. "--He won't," Lev says to Kyeo as the door slams.