The year is 78XX.
Person A and person B are sitting at the table, enjoying a meal together.
"Things were not better," person B says.
Person A scratches at the empty area of their plate with a fork: "Well that came out of nowhere."
"I saw someone mention that the year 78XX-9 was better than 78XX," said person B, laughing to themselves, "Isn't that just silly?"
"Did they explain why they think so?"
"Yes. They said that people were more friendly and more social back in 78XX-9."
"You disagree?" asks person A, sticking the last piece of their meal into their mouth.
"Um, no," Person B paused for a second, chewing on their meal, "I'm not sure if I have a reliable measure of friendliness and socialness of people in such quantities over this period of time."
"That's a bit pedantic. You can just go by feel."
"I don't feel much of anything about this topic. Look, what I'm trying to say isn't that they couldn't make this argument because they lack some sort of measurement. That's just the reason why I personally can't do it. No, the reason I think 78XX-9 was not better is because friendliness and socialness don't even have much to do with how good things are."
Person A starts eating their plate. "Interesting. Go on."
Person B frowns. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" asks person A, as the plate cracks and breaks under their teeth.
"You used to be a bit more... reactive, I think. By now I thought you'd tell me what you think on this topic several times already."
"I don't remember doing that."
"Yeah! Ok! Look, alright, I get it. You didn't tell me what you think, you only told me what.. like, what my thoughts'... um.. Like, you just made comments that were interesting before, and now you're not making any, is that fine?"
Person A finishes eating the plate and stands up from the chair. "Uh-huh. So you're saying things were better before?"
"You.. Oh, you. No." Person B twirls their meal around their spoon, uninterested in eating it. "Ok, kinda. But that's just between you and me, not in general. Look, that's what I'm talking about!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Ugh!!! Nevermind! Where was I?..."
"The socialness or something."
"Socialness? Right! It doesn't matter how social or friendly people used to be in 78XX-9, because things still sucked back then."
"Mhm," person A picks up their chair and starts eating it.
"..." person B says nothing.
Person A bites on the chair, gulping it down piece by piece.
Person B stares in disbelief for a while, and then throws their hands up. "Really? You're not even gonna ask why?"
Person A raises their finger up and swallows. Then they wipe their mouth with a napkin. "A bit hard to talk while I'm eating."
"Come on! Tell me, what's wrong? Did I anger you somehow?"
"I don't really understand what's supposed to be wrong. Did I do something weird?"
"No, you.. You don't do anything. That's the problem. It just feels like I don't exist to you."
"Alright. Should I do something about it?"
Person B breathes in and opens their mouth to say something, but then lets out a sigh instead.
They sit in silence. Person A stands, having no chair to sit on.
"Can you hug me?" asks person B, "I want to feel your warmth."
"I don't think I can," says person A.
"Why?"
"Bits of a broken plate are in the way. Oh, and the chair I just ate, too."
Person A and person B are inside-out, their stomachs have their contents on the boundary between their bodies and the outside world.