[ something about Elliot's reaction seems to take the fight out of him, just a little; like a fire without enough fuel to keep it going. Juno knows from experience that he's good at pissing people off, and he usually uses that because he knows he can. people will snap at him just for trying to goad them into it. and he's not even sure why he does it, it just— it feels like it's the only way to know someone's being honest with him.

but Elliot doesn't take the bait, and nobody does that, refuses to give when he pushes. not Mick, not Sasha. nobody other than Peter Nureyev. so he's a little wrong-footed now, a weird feeling of momentum lost, the dissatisfaction of it. the waiting, because if it didn't come when he tried to force it out, he has no way of knowing when it is going to come, inevitably. ]

Well, we're stuck here for the foreseeable future. Guess there's still plenty of time for that to change. [ it's not even bitter. purely a statement of fact. everyone changes their opinion of Juno Steel for the worse, sooner or later. ] Are we trading names now, or do they skip that part in a hivemind?