Timaeus

I’m… not doing too great, no. It’s kinda bad, actually. I’m trying to keep it together, um, so people don’t worry, I guess, b-but…

Salvatore set his notebook in his lap and leaned forward with a concerned frown.

Salvatore

Now I’m no therapist, Tim, but bottling things up like that won’t do anybody any good, least of all you. If we’re going to survive up here, we need to be honest with each other.

Salvatore

People keeping secrets and putting up facades is the reason I have a job, you know, and it’s not always a pleasant one.

Timaeus

…I guess so, huh.

Salvatore

You don’t have to talk to me, though, if you don’t want to. But you are talking to someone? Maybe Ishi? You two seem really close.

Timaeus

Yeah… we go way back, ahaha.

Salvatore

I don’t suppose I could ask for the deets? That’s just the kind of emotional angle I need to work for this story!

Timaeus

What do you mean…?

Salvatore

An appeal to pathos is what it is! The readers need a hook to draw them in and get them to care about what’s happening to us, and what better story than an unlikely friendship in the face of adversity?

So it’s not too different from writing fiction, huh…

Timaeus

I guess I see where you’re coming from… But I’m not sure how much there is to tell? Um, we met online a long time ago, ‘cause we played the same MMO… And we became penpals from that, talking about our favorite books and games and comics…

Salvatore

Uh huh, uh huh…

Timaeus

And then Dad got a job teaching at Hope’s Peak– reserve course, mostly– so we moved to Japan a few years ago, and I got to meet her in person! It was, um, a– a bit of a shock to find out what she actually looked like, ahaha. But you don’t judge a book by its cover!

Sal grinned and re-crossed his legs, left over right this time.

Salvatore

Ain’t that the truth! But there’s more to it than bonding over video games, right? Why do you like her so much?

Timaeus

Well… It’s kinda hard to put into words, right? Yeah, she’s pretty rowdy, and I wish she’d stop and think things through for a change sometimes! But she also cares so much about everyone…

Timaeus

And when I get lost in my head with um, the anxiety and stuff, she’s always there for me and kinda drags me back down to earth, y’know? But I guess that sounds kinda cheesy…

Salvatore

No, not at all! It sounds nice, to be that close to someone…

Timaeus

…Oh no, not you too!! We’re not dating that’d be weird–

Salvatore

What? That wasn’t what I meant.

Timaeus

Oh.

As if that weird little blip in the conversation had never happened, Sal flipped over a page in his notebook and resumed his casual interrogation.

Salvatore

So where did you live before you moved to Japan? I mean, I assume you’re American, but where from?

Timaeus

Oh! Um, Oregon, kinda on the outskirts of Portland…?

Salvatore

Hey, I lived in San Fran for a little while! Not that long, my folks move around a lot, but still! West coast buddies!~

Salvatore

And you said your father was a professor at Hope’s Peak? What subject? I thought I saw a Woodworth in the faculty directory when I was snooping around…

Timaeus

Yeah, he teaches English and Latin and Western literature, I think he was homeroom for class 75-C…

The questioning went on for quite a while longer, until I was pretty sure he’d extracted my entire life story. I didn’t even know I knew that much about myself, but something about the way Salvatore pokes and prods with his questions makes it surprisingly easy to talk. Almost like gossiping about yourself…?

I could’ve done without the literal poking and prodding, though.

Eventually, he decided he had enough information to work with for now (for now?!) and he sashayed off to find another unwitting interviewee. So much for learning about him, huh? He’d dodged every question I’d tried to ask!

Maybe I should try talking to him on a day when he has less of an agenda.