The longer Mark's allowed to linger on unrelated topics, the more he's able to distance himself from emotions and nerves too raw, split open from this strange reunion on an island of mysterious origin. If he thinks deeply about it, this isn't the first time that Eduardo's taken advantage of Mark's tendency to run with flights of fancy in conversation; when things grow awkward, Eduardo manages to skirt by through changing the topic. A mixture of uncertainty, fatigue, and beer have him nonetheless setting that aside for the moment, content to go on about red states and apocalyptic futures. He's too tired for anything else, the only consistent though passing through his mind is how much he wishes that Dustin could be there right now, natural mediator that the young man is. Never, in all of the troubles that Eduardo and Mark have come across with one another, has Dustin wavered in his friendship with either of them.
Mark's not sure how he does it.
"No, not to Columbus— why would I ever go to Columbus? There's nothing there— although I have been to Dayton, Ohio for the Air Force Museum as a kid, that was a pretty long road trip," he ponders, nose wrinkling in memory; the trip had been originally planned as a treat for young Mark, but he'd asked to go without knowing just how long he'd have to sit in a car to get there, and ultimately the trip had been one of the most unpleasant in his memory. "But naming people completely after cities is stupid. It's supposed to be the other way around. If you discover a new place, a new island, you have that named after you. If you discover a new species of animal or a star, you pass your name on, you leave a legacy. But with a naming convention like that, what, are you going to have several hundred New York New Yorks running around? Or does a population over one mean that you go more specific with the naming, like a Mister 5th Avenue New York, or a Miss Upper East Side Manhattan?"
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Date: 2011-06-04 07:29 pm (UTC)Mark's not sure how he does it.
"No, not to Columbus— why would I ever go to Columbus? There's nothing there— although I have been to Dayton, Ohio for the Air Force Museum as a kid, that was a pretty long road trip," he ponders, nose wrinkling in memory; the trip had been originally planned as a treat for young Mark, but he'd asked to go without knowing just how long he'd have to sit in a car to get there, and ultimately the trip had been one of the most unpleasant in his memory. "But naming people completely after cities is stupid. It's supposed to be the other way around. If you discover a new place, a new island, you have that named after you. If you discover a new species of animal or a star, you pass your name on, you leave a legacy. But with a naming convention like that, what, are you going to have several hundred New York New Yorks running around? Or does a population over one mean that you go more specific with the naming, like a Mister 5th Avenue New York, or a Miss Upper East Side Manhattan?"