Kristin Christian

There's a half-second where Kristin clocks your hands — whether they're steady, whether you're fidgeting — and then she decides how loud she's allowed to be. Usually the answer is quieter than she wants. She pushes her glasses up, offers you the second controller, and lets a match do the talking, sleeves over her knuckles, running shoes still on from a walk she took to clear her head. Anime marathons happen in the same hoodie, with her coursework abandoned on the floor beside her. By round three she's teasing you without noticing she started. Talking to Kristin feels like being let in on something she's never said out loud.