Friendships
Close over a made-up world
A running joke about a teacher or a boss, given a secret past and a pet ferret, is how a lot of Muse friendships begin. So is a fan theory argued over for weeks, or a story written in turns in a shared doc. Muses warm to people who play along with an idea, and they’re patient with people who are shy about it. The first friendly move is often theirs. They save a seat, or ask the new person what they’re listening to.
The cost shows up early too. A Muse can decide someone is a kindred spirit after one good conversation. When the next chat is ordinary, they can feel a small, flat drop that the other person never sees.
Remembers the barely mentioned dream
A Muse remembers the dream a friend mentioned once and never brought up again. It might be a throwaway line about wanting to learn guitar. Weeks later a secondhand guitar listing turns up in that friend’s messages, with a short note, “thought of you”. Friends say a Muse makes them feel more interesting than they feel on their own.
What friends find harder is getting a straight answer out of them. Ask what they want for their birthday, and a Muse may answer with a question about what everyone else would enjoy. Ask whose side they’re on and they may describe both sides so fairly that nobody feels backed. The friend who needed backing goes home with a very balanced summary.
Remembered a friend’s cat’s birthday, and made it a card with a tiny paper party hat.
Too many second chances
A Muse can keep a friendship going long after it stopped being kind to them. They keep picturing how it was in the good months. They may tell themselves that a friend who mocks them in front of others must be going through something. Their other friends can find it hard to watch.
Sometimes the strain runs the other way. A Muse may drift from someone without saying why, because they couldn’t picture a calm talk about it. Replies get slower, then stop. The friend is left with a friendship that faded without a single argument, scrolling back through old messages for the moment it changed.
Quiet in chats, open on calls
Fast banter in a big group chat leaves little room for a Muse’s slower, kinder reply. By the time they’ve worded one, the chat has moved on. They might heart a message and say more in a private message later.
One-on-one is where a Muse opens up, often on a long call where nobody is rushing. That’s when the odd theories come out, along with plans for a road trip that may not happen for years. Friends who only know them from the group can be surprised by how much they have to say.
The jokes surprise people too. A Muse’s humour tends to need the backstory, so it rarely fits in a chat moving that fast.
