update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/mitzvot/033.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ It was just another part of the routine. A rocky routine, and an exciting one, b
 
 It wasn't all bad, of course. For every talk they had about meeting with Jonas or what role Zacharias played or some boundary one of them had crossed, there were still the pleasant meals, the shared quiet, and, ey had to admit, ey rather liked who True Name had shaped herself into.
 
-Ey had certainly liked who she used to be, of course, though in a vastly different way: three years of coffee dates stood as testament to that. A large part of this, ey'd realized, came with just how much more settled in herself she was. Even that drive she cherished about herself had been tempered into something smoother, less laser-sharp. She was more well-rounded, more able to relax, more able to work without it occupying the whole of her. 
+Ey had certainly liked who she used to be, of course, though in a vastly different way --- three years of coffee dates stood as testament to that. A large part of this, ey'd realized, came with just how much more settled in herself she was. Even that drive she cherished about herself had been tempered into something smoother, less laser-sharp. She was more well-rounded, more able to relax, more able to work without it occupying the whole of her. 
 
 The weirdest part, though, had to be sleep. They spent two nights staying with True Name while she processed first the memories and then the conflicts before trying to go back to sleeping separately.
 
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Still, through it all ey was genuinely pleased to see them happy, or at least on
 
 Ey just needed boredom and ey needed out.
 
-It took some convincing --- on all three of their parts; ey needed to convince emself as much as True Name and May --- but eventually, Ioan worked up the courage to leave the house, seeking out some much needed solitude, even if it was only in the anonymity of public spaces.
+It took some convincing --- on all three of their parts, since ey needed to convince emself as much as True Name and May --- but eventually, Ioan worked up the courage to leave the house, seeking out some much needed solitude, even if it was only in the anonymity of public spaces.
 
 The coffee shop ey'd frequented for so long may have been safe, but given that eir last visit had included an attempt on a friend's life, ey stayed away, opting instead for an afternoon in a library. The one ey frequented also felt fraught, given its association with all of those meetings with Jonas and so many others during the research for the *History*, so ey chose one ey'd never been to before from the directory. Besides, the information was technically available anywhere, libraries just provided a familiar physical location to access it, a social place for gathering around the topic of information, and some physical tools used for manipulating that information that individuals rarely had room for.
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Ey quickly stepped into another courtyard --- this one full of actual greenery,
 
 "I...well, give me a moment, and I will make sure of that."
 
-Ey stepped home quickly, stopping in the entryway to sweep emself. No spies. *Thank God,* he thought. *Wouldn't have put it past them to bug me at the library.*
+Ey stepped home quickly, stopping in the entryway to sweep emself. No spies. *Thank God,* ey thought. *Wouldn't have put it past them to bug me at the library.*
 
 Blinking a visually secured cone of silence into being, ey spoke into the sensorium message. "Okay, secure now."
 
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ But it was all still very cautious. Those nights felt like a necessity borne out
 
 She yawned and levered herself up to a sitting position again, rubbing her eyes. She certainly looked like she'd dozed off. "Awkward how?"
 
-"Well, I mean, we spent all that time talking about May and I's relationship beforehand, and how that would impact you." Ey pushed emself up to sitting on the beanbag, as well, adding, "Which I have no clue how to feel about, to be clear. Just asking."
+"Well, I mean, we spent all that time talking about May and I's relationship beforehand, and how that would impact you." Ey pushed emself up to sitting on the beanbag as well, adding, "Which I have no clue how to feel about, to be clear. Just asking."
 
 "Well, we are of one mind on that front, at least," she said, smiling. "I have no idea, dear. I am...I remain confused about the conflicting memories. Something about the base of my experience of you from the point of view of me *qua* True Name over the last few years feels more...real, perhaps. May I tell you something in confidence?"
 
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ Or try to, at least. One does not simply sit next to someone else on a beanbag.
 
 Ey leaned away from her as best ey could to give her some space. "Sorry, True Name."
 
-After a few slow breaths, she shook her head and slumped over to the side, draping herself across eir lap, face buried her arms on in the beanbag on the other side of eir legs, a jumble of skunk. "This is stupid, Ioan. This is stupid and it is awkward and it is confusing, just as expected," she grumbled. "Pet my ears, please."
+After a few slow breaths, she shook her head and slumped over to the side, draping herself across eir lap, face buried in her arms on in the beanbag on the other side of eir legs, a jumble of skunk. "This is stupid, Ioan. This is stupid and it is awkward and it is confusing, just as expected," she grumbled. "Pet my ears, please."
 
 "What? Oh." Ey hesitantly brushed fingers over her ears as ey'd done countless times before with May. Her fur felt exactly the same, her voice was very similar, and were it not for the difference in clothes, the slight changes in body shape, and the benefit of two and half decades of time spent living with May, ey could probably have confused one for the other. "Too awkward?"