update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/mitzvot/034.md

@@ -128,13 +128,15 @@ Ioan rolled eir eyes.
 
 Jonas laughed. "Oh?"
 
-"Yeah. A few reasons." Ey started ticking off points on eir fingers as ey spoke. "First, True Name didn't start down this path in the last few years that we've been learning from Artemis; she was a mess when she first got in touch with us around the convergence, so things were already in motion then. Second, The Guiding Council on Pollux is nearly a decade old now, predating the arrival of the Artemisians, and I think that's because third, you--" Ey nodded to Zacharias. "--apparently dropped everything on her across all three systems at the same time not that long after the launch. You got more openly together on Pollux, and as far as Codrin#Castor can find in the perisystem, you quit shortly after telling her, there. End Waking thinks --- and I agree --- you're trying to push each of the Systems in a different direction, politically. Maybe you think different political environments is more stable across societies separated by time. Maybe it's some giant experiment. Who knows."
+"Yeah. A few reasons." Ey started ticking off points on eir fingers as ey spoke. "First, True Name didn't start down this path in the last few years that we've been learning from Artemis; she was a mess when she first got in touch with us with Codrin#Artemis's first letter around the convergence, so things were already in motion then. Second, The Guiding Council on Pollux is more than a decade old now, predating the arrival of the Artemisians by nearly ten years, and I think that's because third, you--" Ey nodded to Zacharias. "--apparently dropped everything on her across all three systems at the same time not that long after the launch. You two got more openly together on Pollux, and as far as Codrin#Castor can find in the perisystem, you quit shortly after telling her there. End Waking thinks --- and I agree --- you're trying to push each of the Systems in a different direction politically. Maybe you think having different political environments is more stable across societies separated by distance and time. Maybe it's some giant experiment. Who knows. It's your long game."
 
-((It's kind of as EW suspected, but in the sense that the culture of each System had already started to diverge; that's where he and TN differed. TN truly believed that they should just kinda keep being super gentle with each just to ensure continuity, but Jonas disagrees, thinks that he can see ways in which each System needs more or less active politics))
+The longer ey spoke, the more serious Jonas's expression grew, and by the time ey finished, he'd finished his drink and leaned back in his seat. "Well then," he said. "I suppose I don't have much more to add, then, do I? I have my conversation with True Name cut out for me, don't I?"
 
-((But also he's a snarky shit about it and won't say much more))
+"And what conversation is that?"
 
-"It's settled, then, right? Two days, 11:00?"
+Jonas was back to grinning. "Oh, fuck off, Ioan. I'm not going to tell you all of my secrets! We have our shit to work through and you have to be a good little clerk and take all of your notes so that you can come back to me with a story. That'll seal the deal, and we'll be ready to go our separate ways."
+
+Ey gave a hint of a bow. "As you say. It's settled, then, right? Two days, 11:00?"
 
 "That it is. Bring your pen and paper," Jonas said, lifting his glass in another toast before downing his drink in one go.
 
@@ -142,6 +144,18 @@ Jonas laughed. "Oh?"
 
 Ey didn't hear if there was a reply or not. Ey simply quit. #Tracker could take care of the rest.
 
+Ioan#Tracker set eir pen down with exaggerated care, closing eir notebook, then eir eyes. This was anger in so many ways, though it differed from that hot, spiky shape spinning within em that came with Zacharias's bullshit. It was a pressure within eir chest, a tension in eir shoulders, a pounding in eir head. 
+
+"*Fuck,*" ey shouted. Ey fell back into the paced breathing exercises that Sarah had showed em years ago. It had been in the context to help May, at the time, but ey needed anything ey could get, now.
+
+"*I take it you are back, then?*" May's words over the sensorium message were tentative, anxious. Clearly everyone's tension was still lingering.
+
+"*Yes. I'm coming outside,*" ey replied.
+
+Ey didn't wait for the ping of acknowledgement. Even if they weren't ready for em to be out there, ey needed to pass at least something on. Ey needed to be around eir partner and friends. Ey needed to be out of that context, away from pens and paper and books and work.
+
+
+
 ((Heads back all upset because they're good at that, EW is over and the three skunks are on the prairie))
 
 ((They talk about the meeting))