And upon realization of this fact, I became scared. I know all too well the dangers and potential pitfalls of CMC. What if, I worried, she was actually nothing like her net.self? I began to get frightened at the possibility that I was falling for a phantom. In my fear, I pulled back from her. Around this time I was promoted to a leadership position at the talker on which we had met and I used this event as an excuse for my emotional retreat from her, telling her that since I was on the council I could no longer spend all of my time with her as I had been doing. (Ironic, since it was due to the fact that I was online so much, because of Clio, that I was promoted to the position in the first place.) Clio took my words much more drastically than I had intended, feeling as though I was saying that I never wanted to speak with her again. She became very upset and the ensuing scene left me feeling like the lowest scum of the earth for having hurt her. Thinking that she must surely hate me after that, I didn't attempt to initiate conversation with her for some time. >>  chapter 176  >>