diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 04eda39..8639de5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2,26 +2,6 @@
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
 version = 4
 
-[[package]]
-name = "bytemuck"
-version = "1.24.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1fbdf580320f38b612e485521afda1ee26d10cc9884efaaa750d383e13e3c5f4"
-dependencies = [
- "bytemuck_derive",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "bytemuck_derive"
-version = "1.10.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "f9abbd1bc6865053c427f7198e6af43bfdedc55ab791faed4fbd361d789575ff"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-queue"
 version = "0.3.12"
@@ -37,45 +17,9 @@ version = "0.8.21"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d0a5c400df2834b80a4c3327b3aad3a4c4cd4de0629063962b03235697506a28"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "proc-macro2"
-version = "1.0.103"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5ee95bc4ef87b8d5ba32e8b7714ccc834865276eab0aed5c9958d00ec45f49e8"
-dependencies = [
- "unicode-ident",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "quote"
-version = "1.0.42"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a338cc41d27e6cc6dce6cefc13a0729dfbb81c262b1f519331575dd80ef3067f"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "swactor"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
- "bytemuck",
  "crossbeam-queue",
 ]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "syn"
-version = "2.0.111"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "390cc9a294ab71bdb1aa2e99d13be9c753cd2d7bd6560c77118597410c4d2e87"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "unicode-ident",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "unicode-ident"
-version = "1.0.22"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9312f7c4f6ff9069b165498234ce8be658059c6728633667c526e27dc2cf1df5"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 95b6f23..b1d9fb1 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,5 +7,4 @@ edition = "2024"
 crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"]
 
 [dependencies]
-bytemuck = { version = "1.24.0", features = ["derive"] }
 crossbeam-queue = "0.3.12"
diff --git a/examples/hello.rs b/examples/hello.rs
index 8ac6d71..d7d0b77 100644
--- a/examples/hello.rs
+++ b/examples/hello.rs
@@ -1,25 +1,30 @@
-use bytemuck::{Pod, Zeroable};
 use swactor::{ActorAddress, ActorInterface, Message, Runtime};
 
 #[repr(C)]
-#[derive(Pod, Zeroable)]
 struct Greeter {
     pub num_greeted: usize,
 }
 
-#[derive(Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, Default, Clone)]
 struct GreetMessage {
-    name: String,
-    addr: ActorAddress,
+    /// who do we greet?
+    who: String,
+
+    /// who do we send out greeting back to?
+    return_addr: ActorAddress,
 }
 impl Message for GreetMessage {}
 
+impl ActorInterface for Greeter {
+    type Message = GreetMessage;
+    type Response = GreetResponse;
 
-impl ActorInterface<GreetMessage> for Greeter {
     fn handle(&mut self, ctx: &Runtime, msg: GreetMessage) {
-        let res = GreetResponse(format!("Hello, {}!", msg.name));
-        if let Err(_) = ctx.send(res, msg.addr) {
+        let res = GreetResponse(format!("Hello, {}!", msg.who));
+        self.num_greeted += 1;
+        if let Err(_) = ctx.send(msg.return_addr, res) {
             // no error handling
+            self.num_greeted -= 1;
         }
     }
 }
@@ -30,5 +35,21 @@ impl Message for GreetResponse {}
 
 fn main() {
     let rt = Runtime::new();
+    let addr = rt.spawn::<Greeter>();
+    let inbox = rt.new_inbox::<GreetResponse>();
 
+    rt.send(
+        addr,
+        GreetMessage {
+            who: "world".into(),
+            return_addr: *inbox.addr(),
+        },
+    ).unwrap();
+    for _ in 0..3 {
+        rt.tick();
+    }
+
+    let resp = inbox.try_recv().expect("greeter should have said hello");
+
+    println!("{}", resp.0);
 }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 83a600c..3a8cbe4 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,26 +1,40 @@
 mod ring_buffer;
-use bytemuck::{Pod, Zeroable};
 use ring_buffer::{Receiver, Sender};
 
 pub mod error;
 
 pub trait Message: 'static + Sized + Clone {}
 
-pub trait ActorInterface<M: Message>: Pod + Zeroable {
-    fn handle(&mut self, ctx: &Runtime, msg: M);
+pub trait ActorInterface {
+    type Message: Message;
+    type Response: Message;
+    fn handle(&mut self, ctx: &Runtime, msg: Self::Message);
 }
 
 pub type ActorAddress = u64;
 
-pub struct Actor<S, M, N>
+pub struct Actor<A>
 where
-    M: Message,
-    N: Message,
-    S: ActorInterface<M>,
+    A: ActorInterface,
 {
-    inbox: Receiver<M>,
-    outbox: Sender<N>,
-    state: S,
+    inbox: Receiver<A::Message>,
+    outbox: Sender<A::Response>,
+    inner: A,
+}
+
+pub struct Inbox<M: Message> {
+    addr: ActorAddress,
+    inner: Receiver<M>,
+}
+
+impl<M: Message> Inbox<M> {
+    pub fn addr(&self) -> &ActorAddress {
+        &self.addr
+    }
+
+    pub fn try_recv(&self) -> Option<M> {
+        self.inner.try_recv()
+    }
 }
 
 pub struct Runtime {
@@ -36,9 +50,19 @@ impl Runtime {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn send<M>(&self, msg: M, addr: ActorAddress) -> Result<(), M> {
+    pub fn spawn<A: ActorInterface>(&self) -> ActorAddress {
+        todo!()
+    }
+
+    pub fn tick(&self) {}
+
+    pub fn send<M>(&self, addr: ActorAddress, msg: M) -> Result<(), M> {
         Err(msg)
     }
+
+    pub fn new_inbox<M: Message>(&self) -> Inbox<M> {
+        todo!()
+    }
 }
 
 pub struct MessageRouter<M> {