Prior to now, his need for a script with Ingo had been nonexistent, which… left him at something of a loss.

For the first time, he was forced to chart out in advance what to say, what to do. It would make sense to introduce himself, wouldn’t it? To do so would hurt, undoubtedly– that [potentiality], the thought of being looked upon without comprehension, of being addressed as a stranger. He was afraid of it– so afraid of it– but he’d weather the unfamiliarity. He just had to choose his words carefully, to pick out what would ring a distant bell and prove his [idk] as truth, his ideals [well intentioned].

[…]

There was a roar from the direction of the Floaro gate, and it took a moment for Emmet’s brain to catch up and recognize that it had been his name.

He was only able to grasp at it for several seconds before the sense was knocked back out of him. For a heartbeat, Emmet had enough wherewithal to think that, if one was hit by a train and lived to tell the tale, it might feel something like this, and then the passage of time kicked back in and he went tumbling,

Somehow, he found himself not flat on his back in the tamped dirt road, but sprawled out atop something else– something warm and living, and rumbling with words he had yet to heed. It didn’t matter. He didn’t need to hear the exact words. Half of a script, after all, was the delivery, and this was a cadence he’d been haunted by in phantom reprisals.

Unthinkingly, unable to update his [script] so abruptly, he ground out its opening line and was promptly interrupted by a joyful, “You are!”

The presence below him turned, heaving them both to their sides, and a hand found his chin, leading him up to meet a beaming frown.

Yes, he wanted to say, but there was no room in the precisely planned monologue for just two words– no matter, though, when his partner in this routine was so accustomed to reading between his lines.

Yes, and…

“You’re Emmet.” Ingo said, and Emmet would have held still even if not for the hand [idk] against his cheek, frozen beneath the spotlight of his brother’s gaze,