update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/neviim/ioan/008.md

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2346
 
-Depression, Ioan had long known but never internalized, was fundamentally different from sadness. It was just as different from May's overwhelming waves of emotions.
+    Convergence T-0 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes
+
+Depression, Ioan had long known but struggled to internalize, was fundamentally different from sadness. It was just as different from May's overwhelming waves of emotions.
 
 Ey was confronted with it now, forced to see the way the emotion --- or non-emotion, as May put it --- affected one on a more fundamental level than anything so simple as sadness could hope to. Those overwhelming waves, as the one she'd just recovered from, were fundamental in their own way, but far, far less existential.
 
@@ -16,9 +18,9 @@ Some dark look must have crossed eir face at which the director had shaken her h
 
 When presented with this along with eir anxious expression, the skunk had laughed and tousled eir hair. "She is right, my dear. It feels uncomfortable at best, bad at worst, but only ever bad. I am simply a bit crashy after a little too much all at once."
 
-So for the last few days, they'd strategized in the mornings and then done what they could in the evenings. Scenes in plays were reworked, dinner menus shifted towards comfort foods, temperatures and weather adjusted, old comfort-hobbies dredged up from the past --- the skunk had been littering the house with origami cranes. Ey'd even tried reading aloud to her, her with her head parked on eir chest and em with a book held above them. This had gone over well, and ey had that on the menu for later in the evening after dinner.
+So for the last few days, they'd strategized in the mornings and then done what they could in the evenings. Scenes in plays were reworked for understudies, dinner menus shifted towards comfort foods, temperatures and weather adjusted, old comfort-hobbies dredged up from the past --- the skunk had been littering the house with origami figures. Ey'd even tried reading aloud to her, her with her head parked on eir chest and em with a book held above them. This had gone over well, and ey had that on the menu for later in the evening after dinner.
 
-Today still contained the first meeting with Sarah Genet, however, so ey focused on making a good breakfast, and spending a bit of time relaxing on the porch swing with May, giving her pets and quiet company.
+Today still held the first meeting with Sarah Genet, however, so ey focused on making a good breakfast, and spending a bit of time relaxing on the porch swing with May, giving her pets and quiet company.
 
 "How are you feeling about this?" ey asked, voice muffled. May had requested a brushing of her tail, which meant a face full of fluff.
 
@@ -40,7 +42,7 @@ This did not seem to be an open conversation, so ey nodded, settling into silenc
 
 Sarah arrived an hour later, a quiet knock at the door accompanying the sensorium ping of her arrival.
 
-May had melted into a beanbag when they'd come back inside and was folding paper crane after paper crane from a bottomless stack of origami paper, so Ioan capped eir pen and slid eir project into a drawer of eir desk. The skunk studiously avoided eir gaze, the tightness of her expression showing anxiety and tears at hand.
+May had melted into a beanbag when they'd come back inside and was folding paper crane after paper crane from a bottomless stack of origami paper, so Ioan capped eir pen and slid eir project into a drawer of eir desk. The skunk studiously avoided eir gaze, the tightness of her expression showing anxiety and tears near at hand.
 
 "Mx. Bălan?" the psychologist said, bowing. "Nice to meet you."
 
@@ -68,9 +70,11 @@ May smiled weakly. "Lots of work. We share jobs from start to finish. There are
 
 At the word 'sound', a stricken look washed over the skunk's face. She sat, rigid, in her chair for a moment before shaking her head, the movement jerky and uneven. "I...I will leave...I will leave Ioan to answer that."
 
-Alarmed at the sudden change in her demeanor, Ioan looked between May and Sarah, the latter's face set in an expression of concern. "May?" ey asked quietly
+Alarmed at the sudden change in her demeanor, Ioan looked between May and Sarah, the latter's face set in an expression of concern.
 
-She swallowed compulsively several times in a row, as she always seemed to do when tamping down a wave of emotion. "You must...you must forgive me. I have to...lay down or something."
+"May?" ey asked quietly
+
+She swallowed several times in a row, as she always seemed to do when tamping down a wave of emotion. "You must...you must forgive me. I have to...lay down or something."
 
 The skunk stood and swayed, clutching at the edge of the table hard enough for claws to dent the wood.
 
@@ -94,7 +98,7 @@ Sarah nodded. "Alright, that makes sense, at least. 'Trigger' is probably the ri
 
 "There's been quite a bit of trauma of late, with her cocladists quitting."
 
-"Very much so, yeah."
+"Very much so, yes."
 
 Ey rubbed at eir eyes. They were burning, though whether from exhaustion or eir own emotions, ey couldn't tell. "I have no clue what was the trigger there, though."
 

writing/post-self/neviim/ioan/009.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2346
 
-    Convergence T-1 day, 0 hours, 11 minutes (transmission delay: 7.23 days)
+    Convergence T-4 days, 0 hours, 11 minutes (transmission delay: 7.23 days)
 
 Ioan#98ae38dc arrived at the appointed coffee shop a good hour in advance. The meeting had been eir idea, but it had also been eir primary source of stress during the day prior to it.
 

writing/post-self/neviim/ioan/010.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2346
 
-    Convergence T-2 days, 16 hours, 21 minutes (transmission delay: 7.23 days)
+    Convergence T-6 days, 16 hours, 21 minutes (transmission delay: 7.23 days)
 
 The dinner that Do I Know God After The End Waking had prepared for them was...rustic. That was the first term that ey had come up with to describe it, and no matter how else Ioan tried to nail it down further, ey was left with little else that fit.
 

writing/post-self/neviim/ioan/011.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2346
 
-    Convergence T-2 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes
+    Convergence T-5 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes
 
 Ioan,
 

writing/post-self/neviim/local/codrin/011.md

@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ Flipping through the pages at the rate of about one per second, Turun Ko said, "
 
 Ey stared at the firstracer. "You mean--"
 
-"A step in the process of convergence is assessing the willingness of non-leaders to act other than their leaders might, or even the stated structure of the discussions, in order to forward what they believe the good common to all races," Artante said. "It allows us to assess the strength of individuality and self-sacrifice."
+"A step in the process of convergence is assessing the willingness of non-leaders to act other than their leaders might, or even the stated structure of the discussions, in order to forward what they believe the good common to all races," Artante said. "It allows us to assess the strength of individuality and self-sacrifice for the betterment of all."
 
 "Opportunities were provided," Turun Ko said simply.
 
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ That feeling of being in way over eir head that ey had felt so often during the
 
 This must've been a signal of some sort, as the other firstracer held up a hand to stop the conversation it was having with True Name, gesturing her back to the table.
 
-The skunk was halfway through the act of pulling out her chair before she noticed the books that the other Artemisians held, the titles in bold on their covers. Her gaze whipped toward Codrin so quickly and with such intensity that ey shied away from her. "Codrin, what--"
+The skunk was halfway through the act of pulling out her chair before she noticed the books that the other Artemisians held, the titles in bold on their covers. Her gaze whipped toward Codrin so quickly and with such fiery intensity that ey shied away from her. "Codrin, what--"
 
 "Leader True Name," Turun Ka said, interrupting her gently, but with enough authority that she stopped immediately. "This is the penultimate item on the checklist of convergence that we were just discussing. All that remains is the point of decision."