Defrag: Manor of Speaking

Previously...


There was a faint creaking sound from somewhere on the second floor. They paused, listened, but it did not repeat. They continued up the spiraling staircase. Max slipped Joy and Pain out of the shoulder holsters under his jacket. 

“When will I get a signature weapon?” Angst asked quietly. Max had his pistols, Maggie had her sword, Suki had her weird gun (and Dexter had his bat, Wraith her nunchakus and Darius his bible, but Angst hadn't met them yet [and Aqua had her gauntlets and Akimoto his sword, but Max hadn't met them yet]). 

Max paused again, turned to face her and sat down on the stairs. He seemed thoughtful. Angst wasn't sure exactly how long she had known Max – time had gotten very strange ever since she had met Maggie and the others – but she recognized this look. 

“Max,” she said. “Now's not the time to get all theoretical. If you don't know just say so.” 

...the variables that transfer between variations in the performance of or possibly confinement to Continuity become the triggers for us to recognize and remember our relationships to each other and to ourselves as primary externalized factors of our intentions and reactions towards the prevalence of hostile interactions with plureality as manifested by the recurrence of weaponry throughout versions as we become in effect distribution systems for directed violence and become weapons ourselves except that i'm also usually wearing a t-shirt with some kind of tagline, and suki often retains her school uniform, dexleatherjacket, dariustrenchcoat andnowangstthecheerleader maybeourfashionisanothermediumanothermessagewecarryaswebecome...
 
“Max...” Angst repeated, mimicking a stern tone she had heard Maggie use before. 

“I don't know,” he said. “Do you want one?” 

Angst shrugged, looked at the pistol she carried. “I'm not sure...” 

Max asked, “Do you want to go shopping for new clothes, next time we have a chance?” 

Angst looked down at her outfit. She had been wearing it, or a version of it, almost the entire time that she had been traveling with Maggie and the others. It always re-set whenever they shifted, stayed clean and whole. Same went for her pom-poms, tucked away in her satchel. 

“I'm not sure...” she said again. 

“That's okay, you don't have to be.” 

Angst looked back to Max. “And you don't always have to know the answers. I'm not saying that you're a know-it-all, I just mean that... If you're unsure about stuff, or worried, or scared, you can let me know. You can always be honest with me.” 

Max smiled. “Thank you.” 

Angst nodded. “Alright, let's go find out if this place is really infested with ghosts.”