Pry-Boak was watching this, they were talking to him/about him, occasionally, indirectly - he was in the conversation - but he wished they would say whatever it was they were going to say, because existing here in this fashion, it was starting to be more physically demanding than he could for very much longer sustain, pre-death.

“What is it - I'm supposed to, know it or not, say this thing upon which everyone's – I hate that word dreamunit as if people aren't, people - that they're only of any use, of any value,” she regarded him with sentimental tolerance – she'd already done the obligatory premise, but -

“This is a self-imposed – it's a kind of mental-trick you force upon yourself in order to respect these people enough so you can tell them stories.”

Ignoring her, same train, “- to the extent to which they believe, they enjoy, they dream on, even involuntarily, even if they think they're operating against, actively living against, even against it; it's how they see everything. Living in active opposition to the story is actually more valuable, because it requires more energy. I'm saying things obvious to us both that we both know for reasons of my having, like, hardly any blood in me anymore at this point but... I can't finish a thought... this is not the time to experiment - I can't run anything by you!” shouting these words, “I'm to present a groundbreaking new approach to sculpting – I'm pretentious – Old Works reality, the structure that unites three planet-civs - in the form of added verisimilitude without a – also/also/also/also - p52?” They called it a p52.

This was the form, or the document, Pry had picked up in earlier conversations like this, even though it wasn't strictly his department, that indicated the percentage probability it would work, the story, in the opinion of this combination Cyclops, in this case Clua - in fact only in this case in the case of Clua – there were - combination Cyclops' were as rare as unicorns - maybe three.

It was by means of her talent they judged if a story would hold together long enough - produce the measurable units of energy long enough – in fantasy weight: the unit; not that it – that would keep the – long enough - whole structure together with the necessary internal story nudging, not just in terms of plot – that was the quest – but characters, what it revealed about reality; all of it.

It only had any hope - keeping the whole structure together that was - if the original conception, the story itself, which was a feeling, could only be a feeling - which was exactly why what Pheel did/had was a talent; was art, and not... anything... else... the combination of all these things: the hero, the quest; the plot; its relationship to reality; how closely it resembled it - his particular supernatural attributes; the rest.

“Brey-BreLoak [cL^YoP***], if you would be so kind, can you show us the screen?”