"Do you want me to go into more detail about how they're locked up or do you want to not talk about the contents of the garage any more."

"The latter."

"Okay. Mom, how long till dinner?"

"Maybe twenty minutes."

"Thank you!"

"No problem. Haru, I got bacon bits for ours."

The soup is pretty good when it's ready, with or without bacon bits, and then it's back to the couch for the espers.

You know what; he'll have a go at some of Julien's homework.  And check over the existing progress, which looks good to him.  And then - what does he want to spend what might be his last few hours on....  More ice cream, actually, more ice cream and - what's the most indulgent thing he can think of.  Not music and not a brainless podcast - maybe an audiobook?  No, poetry.  He has an ebook of a Les Fleurs du Mal with side-by-side-by-side text in French and literal English and rhyming English.

More than an hour and less than two before bedtime, he reads:

Ah, when thou shalt slumber, my darkling love,
Beneath a black marble-made statuette,
And when thou'lt have nought for thy house or alcove,
But a cavernous den and a damp oubliette.

When the tomb-stone, oppressing thy timorous breast,
And thy hips drooping sweetly with listless decay,
The pulse and desires of mine heart shall arrest,
And thy feet from pursuing their adventurous way,

Then the grave, that dark friend of my limitless dreams
(For the grave ever readeth the poet aright),
Amid those long nights, which no slumber redeems

'Twill query—"What use to thee, incomplete spright
That thou ne'er hast unfathomed the tears of the dead"?—
Then the worms will gnaw deep at thy body, like Dread.

Well, that's enough of that, maybe.  And he wants to give Julien some time to process things before he tries to sleep.  Mostly for Haru's sake.

Taptap, and waiting for his attention, and - "I'm ready.  If you want to... hover again or something.  I'm not really sure if it'll work while I'm talking but I think it makes sense to try."

"Yeah, okay. Do you maybe want to pre-decide a conversation topic or two?"

"Seems smart and I will think about it.  ...Do you think it will be a tragedy if I never come back?"

"In the, like, narrative genre sense?"

"No.  Just as like, is it sad.  Would you be sad about it."

"I would be a little sad about it."

"I guess that's all I can ask for."

"I assume that wasn't a conversation topic proposal."

"No, I'm still thinking.  I don't know whether to go for - no, I guess we should keep it pretty light.  There's always a lot of oneself, in any discussion of something weighty or philosophical, isn't there."

"Kinda, yeah."

"What music do you like; what... I don't know, other basic icebreakers like that.  Favorite food, best esper stories?  .....Or.  Hm.  If you wanted to take me flying it would be very scary but it might - work.  Faster than anything else.  And we could get a lot of distance out of talking about the flying, probably."

"Julien's been pretty consistent about not wanting to go flying so it might be a pretty rude... I'm not sure if surprise is the right word."

"He would do it if there was a harness.  You know, willingly."

"Right, but I still don't have one of those and I would trust something jury-rigged way less than my arms."

"I feel like there have to be internet tutorials that would satisfy both of us - me and him - and then also you do whatever you normally would with your arms.  ...Unless you don't have climbing rope to hand; I've been vaguely assuming you do for dungeon reasons?"

"...no, I can fly."