update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/mitzvot/035.md

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ But no, there was something about the Ode clade that just happened to click with
 
 Ey didn't know what it was that they saw in em in turn. There was the unspoken matter of the pronouns of the owner of the Name, and, as May had once whispered to em late one night, eir tendency to lean on rumination, on quietness and exactitude, that reminded her of someone she refused to name. Were they so alike, em and whoever had touched Michelle Hadje so long ago? Had ey and Michelle been contemporaries phys-side, would they have wound up in a relationship? Ey had no clue how to ask such a thing of them.
 
-All ey knew is that, as Codrin had put it, "The Odists loved hard and they loved deep and they loved fast, and it was hard not to become intoxicated beneath all that love."
+All ey knew is that, as Codrin had put it in a letter, "The Odists loved hard and they loved deep and they loved fast, and it was hard not to become intoxicated beneath all that love."
 
 So, what was ey to do when that of eir partner, of the one ey loved most in the world, shone through in someone else? When that of May rose to prominence in True Name's expression, she was not May. She wasn't May at all. She was of three minds, and none of them were wholly absent whenever one asserted primacy.
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ That ey didn't know, that ey hadn't the language, kept em from speaking of it wi
 
 The one time ey'd brought it up with May, the idea still as yet unseasoned, she had done as she ever would, and teased em gently about 'falling in love with her' and then settled into a series of gently probing questions, trying to tease out things that ey already knew but did not yet have the words for.
 
-It hadn't gone anywhere. Ey'd eventually had to put the conversation on hold out of a combination of stress and the feeling that ey ought to keep True Name's discussion on her multiplicity in the face of May's desire for some more complete unity to emself.
+It hadn't gone anywhere. Ey'd eventually had to put the conversation on hold out of a combination of stress and the feeling that ey ought to keep True Name's discussion on her newfound multiplicity in the face of May's desire for some more complete unity to emself.
 
 So they did what they could to prepare or relax the rest of that last day. True name walked her prairie several times over, then came in and sat close by, then busied herself up in her head. May clung to em. Ey sorted notes.
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ There was no discussion whether or not she would be staying with them that night
 
 Surprising all three of them, they did manage to get at least some sleep that night. It wasn't *good* sleep, as, at one point or another, each of them woke with a start, but they managed a few hours of dozing.
 
-Once the sky began to lighten, though, they pulled themselves blearily out of bed, Ioan making four mugs of coffee --- two black, two sweet and milky --- so that they could troop back out onto the plain and wake End Waking up, or at least greet him at the small fire he'd started, and offer him a cup of coffee.
+Once the sky began to lighten, though, they pulled themselves blearily out of bed, Ioan making four mugs of coffee --- two black, two sweet and milky --- so that they could troop back out onto the plain and wake End Waking up, or, as it turned out, greet him at the small fire he'd started, and offer him a cup of coffee.
 
 "There is no more rehearsing to be done," he said, once they'd shed some of their grogginess. "We risk practice making permanent, at this point. All we can do is hope to remain as centered as possible throughout."
 
@@ -52,17 +52,19 @@ Both of the other skunks nodded, and Ioan had to quell eir instinct to disagree.
 
 Eventually, however, coffee long gone, they forked. End Waking and True Name's down-tree instances each went to their tents to sit and meditate as best they could, while May and Ioan's down-tree instances returned home to try baking a cake --- something demanding enough while still remaining relatively mindless.
 
+The only words they spoke to each other was May saying, "Good luck, have fun, and do not die."
+
 The four forks held hands and paws and with nothing other than a shared shaky breath, stepped from the sim.
 
-End Waking immediately flinched, crouched. They found themselves in a boardroom. A large plain of a table, notepads and pens, a second table against the wall with a pitcher of water and a stack of too-small glasses.
+End Waking immediately flinched, crouched. They found themselves in a boardroom. A large plain of a table, notepads and pens, a second table huddling against the wall with a pitcher of water and a stack of too-small glasses.
 
-And yet it still felt too small --- even to Ioan, who spent more of eir life inside than unbound in a forest, the ceiling was just a few inches too low, the chairs just a few inches too close to the walls. Too small, and yet too long. There was room for a table half again as long, and yet the table was huddled in one end of the room, leaving the other end empty and unbalanced other than a wheeled whiteboard.. End Waking, who hadn't been indoors, never mind in a room too small, in nigh on a century, looked on the verge of panic. His eyes were wide, tail hiked and bristled, paws clenched in a way that reminded em of May.
+And yet it still felt too small --- even to Ioan, who spent more of eir life inside than unbound in a forest, the ceiling was just a few inches too low, the chairs just a few inches too close to the walls. Too small, and yet too long. There was room for a table half again as long, and yet the table was set in one end of the room, leaving the other end empty and unbalanced other than a wheeled whiteboard.. End Waking, who hadn't been indoors, never mind in a room too small, in nigh on a century, looked on the verge of panic. His eyes were wide, tail hiked and bristled, paws clenched in a way that reminded em of May.
 
 "I do not know if I can--"
 
 May squeezed his paw tightly. "You do not need to keep these memories, skunk, but you cannot leave." She added in a near whisper, "Please do not leave me."
 
-His nod was jerky, distracted, but was still a nod.
+His nod was jerky, distracted, but still a nod.
 
 And yet, the room was empty. *Perfect time to pull the late-to-the-meeting power move.*
 
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@ There was some other conversation going on here, ey realized. It wasn't just tha
 
 With that in mind, ey could at least do eir best to focus on the subtler forms of language around the room.
 
-True Name had talked em through the stanza and their roles beforehand, at least. She had been focused on the politics, of course, but also acted as consensus builder among the members of her stanza.
+True Name had talked em through the stanza and their roles beforehand, at least. She herself had been focused on the politics, of course, but also acted as consensus builder among the members of her stanza.
 
 Ey knew well that May had been focused on swaying individual hearts and minds toward a cause that initially had been True Name's, and then later simply shaped by her as best as could be managed.
 
@@ -108,15 +110,15 @@ At last, the parade of bows and greetings out of the way, each of the thirteen -
 
 "Aaalright," Jonas said, plopping his hands, palm down, on the table. "To business. I'm pleased to see you're alive, but can't say that I'm pleased to see you're about."
 
-"I imagine not, no," True Name replied, folding her paws on the table before her. "From what Ioan says, you know the general facts of what I know. There has been a long-running plan, perhaps mostly operating as a back-up plan, to shift one or more of me to the side depending on the status of the System. This revolved around the use of Zacharias as a tool to shape my responses while the incomplete information kept me from recognizing this. Tell me, though. Are you leaning on the multiple-Systems-multiple-governments strategy?"
+"I imagine not, no," True Name replied, folding her paws on the table before her. "From what Ioan says, you know the general facts of what I know. There has been a long-running plan, perhaps mostly operating as a back-up plan, to shift one or more of me to the side depending on the status of the System. This revolved around the use of Zacharias as a tool to shape my responses while incomplete information kept me from recognizing this. Tell me, though. Are you still leaning on the multiple-Systems-multiple-governments strategy?"
 
 Jonas nodded. "Yes. Oligarchy on Pollux, *status quo* on Castor, and invisible monarchy here on Lagrange."
 
-"You still believe that this tripod will be the most stable political structure?"
+"You believe that this tripod will be the most stable political structure?"
 
 "I know you don't agree, but it's not a tripod, True Name. By this point, the three Systems are so far apart that they are no longer three branches of the same government. They're three countries, and three countries with identical governments yet divergent societies are unstable."
 
-True Name made that setting-aside gesture, as though tabling the topic for the moment. "And you," she said, nodding to Zacharias. Her expression was calm, curious, interested. "You have been working with Jonas since around 2180?"
+True Name made that setting-aside gesture, as though tabling the topic for the moment. "And you," she said, nodding to Zacharias. Her expression was calm, curious, interested. "You have been working with Jonas since around systime 36?"
 
 "Oh, thereabouts," he said, grinning. "Though if I am honest, I have always been working with the two of you. It is not that your own goals had no effect on me, my little stink-bug. I played Jonas as much as I played you, and I played my own game when I could."
 
@@ -152,9 +154,9 @@ There was a loud thump beneath the table, though this time, Zacharias appeared t
 
 There was a no signal --- or if there was, Ioan missed it --- for Guōweī to step into the sim, hand already raised as if for a slap, a short blade held between his fingers. Unassuming, easy to carry, symbolic, and certainly crowded with whatever it was that induced a crash in one's instance.
 
-What happened next happened almost too quickly for em to comprehend. Zacharias shouted, but the cry was cut off in a muffled *oomf* as an instance of May appeared near him, almost totally overlapping the space that he'd occupied, collision algos knocking him backwards with enough force to slam him against the door, leaving him to crumple to the floor.
+What happened next happened almost too quickly for em to comprehend. Zacharias shouted, but the cry was cut off in a muffled *oomf* as an instance of May appeared near him, almost totally overlapping the space that he'd occupied. The collision algos knocked him backwards with enough force to slam him against the door, leaving him to crumple to the floor.
 
-Guōweī's palm came down flat against May's shoulder, but there was no time to see whether or not the virus would affect an instance so far diverged, as that instance of her quit and was immediately replaced with another, this overlapping the assassin's space, knocking him back nearly a meter, only for another instance of the skunk to fork again. With the momentum already in play, this practically sent the man flying, his head cracking against the wall hard enough to leave a sizeable dent in the drywall.
+Guōweī's palm came down flat against May's shoulder, but there was no time to see whether or not the virus would affect an instance so far diverged, as that instance of her quit and was immediately replaced with another, this overlapping the assassin's space, knocking him back nearly a meter, only for the skunk to fork again. With the momentum already in play, this practically sent the man flying, his head cracking against the wall hard enough to leave a sizeable dent in the drywall.
 
 And then it was over. Zacharias's yell faltered, and he stared up, wide eyed, with his gaze darting between the remaining instance of May and Jonas. The latter had lurched away, looking more disgusted than startled.
 
@@ -208,7 +210,7 @@ She shook her head, but whether at his words or his audacity, ey couldn't tell.
 
 "Yep," he said, grin tight and false.
 
-"I have already begun," she said, and with a brief pause, ey saw her face and shoulders relax, a sudden shift towards an expression ey knew intimately from eir partner falling across her features. She continued in a voice softer than what it had been. Lilting, less space between the syllables. "Because I already am May Then My Name Die With Me--" Another pause, another shift, one more towards stony and stoic, voice suddenly dry and simple, almost cerebral. "--and I am already Do I Know God After The End Waking."  Finally, she fell back into that first register. "And I remain True Name, and yet I am none of these. I could not go back to that which I was even if I wished to. Tell me what it is that you want. Lay your terms on the table plainly, and we will come to an agreement."
+"I have already begun," she said, and with a brief pause, ey saw her face and shoulders relax, a sudden shift towards an expression ey knew intimately from eir partner falling across her features. She continued in a voice softer than what it had been. Lilting, less space between the syllables. "Because I already am May Then My Name Die With Me--" Another pause, another shift, one more towards stony and stoic, voice suddenly dry and simple, almost weary. "--and I am already Do I Know God After The End Waking."  Finally, she fell back into that first register. "And I remain True Name, and yet I am none of these. I could not go back to that which I was even if I wished to. Tell me what it is that you want. Lay your terms on the table plainly, and we will come to an agreement."
 
 Jonas raised his eyebrows at the shifts in expression and voice. The frowns around the table on the faces of the other Odists only deepened.
 
@@ -236,13 +238,15 @@ She frowned. "Doubtless you had other cards to play that did not involve Guōwe
 
 Ioan watched Jonas's smile fall back into that uncaring cruelty, increasingly ungrounded.
 
-He waved his hand imperiously. "And I'm getting bored now. I'm surprised you're still hung up on this, True Name. You're the theatre geek."
+He waved his hand imperiously. "And I'm getting bored now. I'm surprised you're still hung up on this, True Name. You're the theatre geek--"
+
+"Jonas," When I Do Not Remember murmured, her voice a low warning. He only grinned.
 
 She sighed. "Right. So now you...what, want me to look different? Sound different? I am ready to commit to staying out of the business. You want me to act the part or something? Your terms."
 
 "You need to go away, True Name. I don't fucking care how. You make it happen or I will."
 
-There was a moment's thoughtful silence from the skunk, her paws gripping the edge of the table, before she stood, pushed her chair back in, and turned away from the table. Then in the most stunning display of forking ey'd ever seen, True Name began to change.
+There was a moment's thoughtful silence from the skunk, her paws gripping the edge of the table, before she stood, pushed her chair back in, and turned away. Then in the most stunning display of forking ey'd ever seen, True Name began to change.
 
 Ioan had seen eir share of Dear's exhibitions, not to mention those of other instance artists the fox had introduced em to along the way, and the forking involved in all of them had been perfect. They were well rehearsed dances of duplication that told a story.
 
@@ -254,9 +258,9 @@ The Odists as a whole were more familiar and comfortable with forking than anyon
 
 This, though, went beyond that.
 
-As they watched, True Name began to change. She worked with a singular sense of purpose that left no doubt as to what she was doing. An instance flickered into being before herself and watched with a critical eye as skunk after skunk blinked into existence. Each one bore some slight change from their immediate down-tree instance. Sometimes an array of skunks would wind up in a line before that observing instance, which would nod at one or the other in approval to leave the other to quit. And when a change was accepted, the down-tree instance would quit.
+As they watched, True Name began to change. She worked with a singular sense of purpose that left no doubt as to what she was doing. An instance flickered into being before herself and watched with a critical eye as skunk after skunk blinked into existence. Each one bore some slight change from their immediate down-tree instance. Sometimes an array of skunks would wind up in a line before that observing instance, which would nod at one or the other in approval to leave the others to quit. And when a change was accepted, the down-tree instance would quit.
 
-This smooth modification of form was in and of itself impressive for how naturally she began to change --- not only did the instance watching have to keep track of what change was happening and what would come next, but so did those doing the actual changing; they all had to be on the same page --- but what left em truly impressed was the speed. She began her work with about one fork per second, but before long the changes ramped up to four a second. Five. Nearly ten changes per second of forks flickering into and out of existence, all while the orchestrating instance watched, her eyes flicking this way and that across them.
+This smooth modification of form was in and of itself impressive for how naturally she began to change --- not only did the instance watching have to keep track of what change was happening and what would come next, but so did those doing the actual changing; they all had to be on the same page --- but what left em truly impressed was the speed. She began her work with about one fork per second, but before long the changes ramped up to two a second. Three. Nearly four changes per second of forks flickering into and out of existence, all while the orchestrating instance watched, her eyes flicking this way and that across them.
 
 And then, it was over.
 
@@ -264,7 +268,7 @@ The result was a skunk slightly shorter than True Name had stood, though still a
 
 Her face had shifted as well, becoming plainer in ways ey couldn't quite explain. Where True Name had always had some aspect of larger-than-life about her, she now just looked...normal. Still a furry, still living in that form that was more comfortable to her than humanity, but normal.
 
-Most striking, though was the pattern of fur. While much of it was covered now, ey'd seen the way it had shifted during the process. Gone were the two parallel stripes, the ones ey had grown to love on May, replaced with a set of white splotches in the black of her fur. The white atop her head remained, disconnected from patch between her eyes and two others high on her temples. The pattern was eye-catching: the patches seemed to travel in a few uneven lines down over her back and sides, one of them showing a hint of a whorl, another a slight zigzag as it ran from her spine to her side, and others that were almost round spots. This pattern seemed to be mirrored along her spine, leading to a pleasant symmetry. A quick query of the perisystem infrastructure told em that there was indeed a spotted variety of skunk, described much as ey had seen: spotted fur, shorter tail, a shorter snout that fit somewhere between that of a skunk and that of a weasel like Debarre.
+Most striking, though was the pattern of fur. While much of it was covered now, ey'd seen the way it had shifted during the process. Gone were the two parallel stripes, the ones ey had grown to love on May, replaced with a set of white splotches in the black of her fur. The white atop her head remained, disconnected from patch between her eyes and two others high on her temples. The pattern was eye-catching: the patches seemed to travel in a few uneven lines down over her back and sides, one of them showing a hint of a whorl, another a slight zigzag, and others that were almost round spots. This pattern seemed to be mirrored along her spine, leading to a pleasant symmetry. A quick query of the perisystem infrastructure told em that there was indeed a spotted variety of skunk, described much as ey had seen: spotted fur, shorter tail, a shorter snout that fit somewhere between that of a skunk and that of a weasel like Debarre.
 
 Gone were the stripes. Gone, also, were the slacks and blouse, traded in for a linen tunic and a pair of loose-fitting Thai fisherman pants.
 
@@ -274,7 +278,7 @@ When ey was finally able to tear eir eyes away, ey saw that every Odist in the r
 
 "One moment, my dear," she said, then turned to face this new True Name with a grin. "Will there be a change of name?"
 
-The words sounded rehearsed to eir trained ear, and ey realized this must be their plan, hers and True Name's and End Waking's, the one they'd been working on for days.
+There was a vanishingly faint hint of rehearsal to the words, well masked to anyone who didn't know her as intimately as ey did. Ey realized this must be their plan. Hers and True Name's and End Waking's, the one they'd been working on for days.
 
 "There has to be," When I Do Not Remember said, and a brief tense from May confirmed that the trap had been sprung.
 
@@ -290,7 +294,7 @@ Jonas had simply burst out laughing, and ey couldn't miss the bitterness in it.
 
 All of the rest of the Odists, however, were shouting. None of them looked pleased.
 
-"Not Sasha of the Ode clade, just Sasha," she said. "I will not relinquish the form, just as I will not relinquish the past, but if you want me out this badly, so be it. I rescind my membership in the clade."
+"Not Sasha of the Ode clade, just Sasha," she said calmly but loud enough to be heard. "I will not relinquish the form, just as I will not relinquish the past, but if you want me out this badly, so be it. I rescind my membership in the clade."
 
 "As do I," End Waking said, getting a smile from Sasha.
 
@@ -298,15 +302,15 @@ All of the rest of the Odists, however, were shouting. None of them looked pleas
 
 "No, I will not."
 
-"Shut the fuck up, When I Dream," Jonas said mildly. "All of you, shut the fuck up." He turned to Sasha and grinned icily. "You always were a little snot. You want to be Sasha? You want to dive back into mediocrity and wear your weakness like a badge? Please, by all means, be my guest. Beg for pity again. Hunt down all your little friends who kept you feeling just bad enough that they could baby you without letting you think you were their plaything."
+"Shut the fuck up, When I Dream," Jonas shouted. "All of you, shut the fuck up." He turned to Sasha and grinned icily. "You always were a little snot. You want to be Sasha? You want to dive back into mediocrity and wear your weakness like a badge? Please, by all means, be my guest. Beg for pity again. Hunt down all your little friends who kept you feeling just bad enough that they could baby you without letting you think you were their plaything."
 
-At this, most of the stanza bridled, and there were a few louder mumblings.
+At this, most of the stanza bridled, and there were a few louder murmurings.
 
 Jonas waved it away. "Crawl back to Debarre and...fuck, what was his name? user11824? Crawl into their arms and let them prop you up long after you should've died."
 
-Mumblings grew to mutterings.
+Murmurings grew to mutterings.
 
-Jonas only laughed, and that bitterness was all the more evident. "Go. Be Sasha. Live your silly little life. And you," he growled, jabbing a finger toward Ioan. "Write your little story. That's what you're here for, isn't it? Write your little romance and fuck your little girlfriends and put on your little plays."
+Jonas only laughed, and that bitterness was all the more evident. "Go. Be Sasha. Live your silly little life. And you," he said through clenched teeth, jabbing a finger toward Ioan. "Write your little story. That's what you're here for, isn't it? Write your little romance and fuck your little girlfriends and put on your little plays."
 
 May rolled her eyes.
 
@@ -314,7 +318,7 @@ May rolled her eyes.
 
 The rest of the stanza left, quit, or were swept --- the sim didn't seem to render them any different. Ioan guessed swept, given that Guōweī's unconscious form also disappeared.
 
-All through Jonas's tirade, Sasha wore a half smile. It wasn't beatific, wasn't enlightened. She simply looked present. She looked confident in herself in some more earnest way than she had in years. When it was clear that he was finished, she bowed politely.
+All through Jonas's tirade, Sasha wore a half smile. It wasn't rehearsed, wasn't self-satisfied. She simply looked present. She looked confident in herself in some more earnest way than she had in years. When it was clear that he was finished, she bowed politely.
 
 "See you around?"
 
@@ -326,27 +330,27 @@ Once back on the plain, End Waking groaned and fell to his knees, paws digging i
 
 When their down-tree instances returned to the field from inside, they were just in time to see True Name bow to Sasha and quit. It was the last change, ey supposed, the true relinquishing of her name.
 
-There was a long moment of silence in the living room, then Ioan let out a ragged, pent-up breath, eir shoulders sagging. "Can someone tell me what the fuck just happened?"
+There was a long moment of silence on the plain, then Ioan let out a ragged, pent-up breath, eir shoulders sagging. "Can someone tell me what the fuck just happened?"
 
-"Sasha found the one thing she could have done to piss off Jonas," May said, grinning. "He went in thinking he'd take everything from her and left with no wind in his sails. Well done, my dear."
+"Sasha did the one thing she could have done to piss Jonas off most," May said, grinning. "He went in thinking he'd take everything from her and left with no wind in his sails. Well done, my dear."
 
 Sasha beamed and bowed with a flourish
 
 "And you knew this?" ey asked.
 
-She nodded. "To an extent. WE had discussed several options, but many of the changes were new. I saw her unwind all of the changes from the last centuries--"
+She nodded. "To an extent. We had discussed several options, but many of the changes were new. I saw her unwind all of the changes from the last centuries--"
 
 "All the way back to Praiseworthy's suggestions before Secession," the other skunk said proudly.
 
 "--and other than the spotted skunk thing, she looks just like...well, Sasha. Nice touch, by the way."
 
-"I do not think I could have gotten away with staying that similar, but yes, I am back to the me of... Shit, when did I make Sasha like this? 2112?"
+"I do not think I could have gotten away with staying the same skunk, even if I look similar enough while clothed. But yes, I am back to the me of... Shit, when did I make Sasha like this? 2112?"
 
 Ioan shook eir head, dizzy. "This is what you looked like before uploading?"
 
 "What my --- *our* --- av looked like, yes, all except the change to a spotted skunk. They always felt too flashy, back then, and I just wanted to look like myself offline except a furry. Completely unremarkable and a species no one likes."
 
-"It was the outfit that did it for me," End Waking said. "It always was our favorite, but for some reason, we never brought it with us to the System."
+"The outfit was my suggestion," End Waking said. "It always was our favorite, but for some reason, we never brought it with us to the System, and I knew the rest of the stanza would pick up on that."
 
 Sasha nodded.
 
@@ -368,13 +372,13 @@ The three skunks laughed.
 
 Sasha knelt across from Ioan, followed shortly by May and End Waking to either side of em. It was strange to see so many smiles, still strange to see May so happy around her down-tree instance and stranger still to see End Waking even near her.
 
-"What Jonas was suspecting was for me to remain True Name in everything except form and name," she said. "He was expecting someone deeply cowed by his political genius. And do not underestimate him, he *is* still a genius. He felt that he had won his spot as rightful leader of Lagrange, if such a thing can even be said to exist. He had beaten me down and left me either unable to continue or unwilling to try."
+"What Jonas was expecting was for me to remain True Name in everything except form and name," she said. "He was expecting someone deeply cowed by his political genius. And do not underestimate him, he *is* still a genius. He felt that he had won his spot as rightful leader of Lagrange, if such a thing can even be said to exist. He thought that he had beaten me down and left me either unable to continue or unwilling to try."
 
 May added, "I suspect that he is starting to crack."
 
 Ioan nodded.
 
-"Perhaps," Sasha said. "He has not been grounded in years, but again, do not underestimate him."
+"Perhaps," Sasha said. "He has not felt seemed in many years, but again, do not underestimate him."
 
 Ioan jumped at a brief sensorium ping, a request to enter, followed shortly by Debarre popping into existence behind May, who had apparently admitted him. "What was so urgent that you pulled me away from lunch and..." he trailed off, squinting at this new skunk. "Who...but you're...what?"
 
@@ -426,7 +430,7 @@ She nodded. "And May."
 
 "So tell me how this gets you anything."
 
-Ioan sat up straight once more, nodding. "You were saying that Jonas thought he'd beaten you."
+Ioan sat up straight once more, unpinning eir question. "You were saying that Jonas thought he'd beaten you."
 
 "Right, yes. He thought that he had left so me broken that I might fade away or even quit of my own accord. Instead, I became the one thing he could not control."
 
@@ -466,7 +470,7 @@ May nodded slowly. "You are not wrong. I would not have used such words, but you
 
 Ioan watched Debarre stiffen, making note of his response. It didn't feel like the type of thing to include in the story, but it did make rather a lot of the weasel's words and actions make more sense.
 
-"You're nuts," Debarre said, rubbing his paws over his face to cover his physical response. "You're all fucking nuts."
+"You're nuts," Debarre said, rubbing his paws over his face to cover that response. "You're all fucking nuts."
 
 Ioan gestured wildly toward the weasel. "Confirmation! Fucking nuts!"