update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/mitzvot/035.md

@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ The four forks linked hands and paws and with nothing other than a shared shaky
 
 End Waking immediately flinched. They found themselves in a boardroom. A large plain of a table, notepads and pens, a table 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. 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 even 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 huddled in one end of the room, leaving the other end empty and unbalanced. 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 even 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."
+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.
 
@@ -68,7 +68,19 @@ And yet, the room was empty. *Perfect time to pull the late-to-the-meeting power
 
 Sure enough, 11:00 rolled around, no Jonas.
 
+It wasn't until nearly ten minutes later that the door swung lazily open and Jonas strolled in, followed by Zacharias and the rest of the eighth stanza strolled in --- *no, Zacharias is part of that, too,* ey thought. *There's only Odists, Jonas, and me here.*
 
+"True Name! Delighted to see you, delighted," Jonas said, grinning widely and giving the barest hint of a bow.
+
+The skunk had apparently amped up all that she could of her old self, as her smile was earnest and wide, and her bow the perfect mix of polite and friendly. "Glad you could make it, my dear. I trust you have been well?"
+
+He shifted smoothly to accommodate this response. "Quite well, quite well. Feels like it's been a bit of a vacation for the both of us, eh? You enjoy a bit of time off at the lake?"
+
+That grin of hers widened, and she nodded. "Quite a bit, actually. We never quite got to roasting marshmallows, but it is really hard to go wrong with potatoes roasted in the embers. They get a little smoky, even the insides."
+
+End Waking stared at True Name as though she was an Artemisian, suddenly having made their way across the light-days back to Lagrange. Hell, Ioan was staring at her like she was an alien. So quickly and smoothly had her anxiety been transmuted into this calm, friendly social efficiency that it was as though the last months had been erased from her features.
+
+There was some other conversation going on here, too, ey realized. It wasn't just that they were talking pleasantries before a meeting, but that there was some exchange of information that took place on some higher plane of existence. They were feeling each other out, listening to tone of voice more than the content of words, watching features and postures rather than seeing an old friend. There was some deeper level of communication that ey simply couldn't latch onto.
 
 ((...))