[Well, this didn't quite go in the direction he was expecting. Fomicry... replicating items and people— Oh, Klados is just mean. Poor Dist, no wonder he's really not fond of his power here.

Anyway, that's not the point. This is a lot to take in and it shows on Iago's face, but after a moment he settles a bit and reaches out to pat Dist's arm. He... doesn't do physical affection very often, is it obvious...]

I can't understand why he would want to give up. After so much time and effort put into it, how could you give up on the thing that drives you?

[It isn't necessarily an insult to Jade; he doesn't know Jade, and for all he knows Jade found a perfectly good reason to ban Fomicry. Maybe it truly is just that dangerous and a lot of their experiments resulted in people dying. But it's not like Iago cares about that, so it's much easier to side with Dist here.

After all, giving up on the one thing that drives you forward is inconceivable.]

I can see just how hurt you've been by all of this. I can only imagine just how painful it is to even tell me about this much. Thank you, Dist.

[There's more he wants to say and more he wants to ask, but now isn't the time for that. He's sure Dist will be happy to talk about Fomicry and the Seventh Fonon later, but right now isn't really the time.]