update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/toledot/index.md

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Nearing the 200th anniversary of System secession from humanity, the System and
     * [X] [Launch: phys-side: Douglas](launch/phys/Douglas/008) - Sabotage attempts, hinting that there are those phys-side who have also picked up patterns and really don't like System - 2802
     * [X] [Secession: phys-side: Yared](secession/phys/Yared/008) - Sure enough, support rapidly swings sys-side, long conversation with TN/Jonas about what it means, starting to see how having his name on the amendment is diving people not just on the subject, but on him, starting to think about death, showing fear that he had at beginning - 2839
     * [X] [Launch: sys-side: Ioan](launch/sys/Ioan/010) - Ioan, getting really pissed at how Odists won't just answer eir fucking questions all the way and keep demurring at the last minute, interviews Jonas Prime, who has grown pessimistic, life wants to spread and multiply to make itself stronger, this is the root of the launch: offsite backups; thus why dreamer module was frowned upon: has broadcast w/ information about system, earth, interfacing, etc - 3375
-    * [O] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux](launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/007) - Interviews Ne Jonas, humanity best viewed as a resource to be used or a crop to be tended by System - 2752
+    * [X] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux](launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/007) - Interviews Ne Jonas, humanity best viewed as a resource to be used or a crop to be tended by System - 2752
     * [O] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor](launch/launch/Codrin-castor/007) - Interviews True Name for second time w/ more info, confronts for truth about the Odists' role in post-secession, confirms, laughs down concerns. - 1717
 * [O] Part IV - Arrival (all stories reach present, all discuss irreversibility)
     * [O] [Secession: phys-side: Yared](secession/phys/Yared/010) - Vote passes with both secession and L5 amendments intact, those who know him are torn on whether he's a hero or villain; zero compensation/recognition from Demma, who derides the system, why don't you marry it if you love it so much. (secession = irreversibility) - 2192

writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/007.md

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ The kitchen that Codrin had been led into was of a style that felt old even to e
 
 "Sure, I'll take it." Codrin laughed, watching the older man putter around the kitchen. Meanwhile, ey pulled out eir pen and paper to take notes. "You know, you're not at all what I expected, I have to say. I was all geared up to be talking to some hot-shot politician in front of some sleek desk or whatever, not sharing tea around a table."
 
-Ne turned a dial on the stove to start the kettle, frowned, and then pulled a lighter out of a drawer in order to light the gas when the igniter didn't. "Not all Jonases are alike, Codrin." He grinned over his shoulder. "Most of them are, of course. You would've gotten the politician treatment from just about any other Jonas, but some of this got tired of that snazzy life and opted for something a little simpler."
+Ne turned a dial on the stove to start the kettle, frowned, and then pulled a lighter out of a drawer in order to light the gas when the igniter did not. "Not all Jonases are alike, Codrin." He grinned over his shoulder. "Most of them are, of course. You would've gotten the politician treatment from just about any other Jonas, but some of us got tired of that snazzy life and opted for something a little simpler."
 
 "What led you to do so?"
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ While the kettle crawled to a boil, Ne turned, leaning back against the counter
 
 Codrin nodded. "Dear's very...well. It's very itself. Not sure how else to put it. But it's also been good at getting me out of the comfort zone that I'd found myself in up until then. It was a good zone, and I'm glad that Ioan still has that, but I also like what I'm doing now."
 
-They were interrupted by the rising whine of the kettle, which Ne quickly pulled off the burner. He turned off the stove and filled two mugs, which he brought to the table before grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge.
+They were interrupted by the rising whine of the kettle, which Ne pulled off the burner. He turned off the stove and filled two mugs, which he brought to the table before grabbing a carton of milk from the fridge.
 
 The tea was a perfectly acceptable Earl Grey. The milk was unremarkable. The mugs were mismatched and stained with a dark patina from decades of use. It was comfortable and charming in all its imperfections.
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Codrin forced emself to take a sip of the tea. It was thin, with the skim milk i
 
 "Have you come up with any new ones?"
 
-"I guess. The first is why are you letting us even continue with the history project if you're aiming to keep stability within the system? Won't all of this coming to light impact that at all?"
+"Uh...some. The first is: why are you letting us even continue with the history project if you're aiming to keep stability within the system? Won't all of this coming to light impact that at all?"
 
 Ne brightened. "Oh, that's a good one! The answer is twofold. Part one relates to something the No Jonas said to the other Codrin: stability is a thing that needs to be gardened and maintained, that there is no true stasis, but stability approaches that point like the man in Zeno's Paradox. This is a form of that gardening. When you have a rose garden or topiary, you know, you must cut away bits of it, but when you do, the whole becomes all the healthier and can last for years and years in the state you like it best. It may seem like a traumatic event to trim back roses. After all, you are cutting away good growth, aren't you? But that's how you get beautiful roses, year after year.
 
@@ -100,9 +100,9 @@ Ne brightened. "Oh, that's a good one! The answer is twofold. Part one relates t
 
 Ey blinked, sitting  up straighter. "You mean you need some trauma like this sys-side in order to give people more bliss to aim for?"
 
-"Precisely that." Ne sipped at his tea now that it had cooled and nodded approvingly. "There is much madness in the Ode Clade, but that's what we suspect nudged Qoheleth over the edge. If you can't forget anything and all that you can remember is bliss, then bliss begins to feel like torture. His role was to think long term. He was working on the timescale of decades and centuries on shaping the perceived history of both of our clades, so he was already up to his ears in memory. This project of yours will instill a little bit of terror in the hearts of everyone. Not enough that they will rebel, of course. In well over ninety percent of cases, they won't do anything at all with the information, but it will tick up their anxiety a notch. It will put a dent in that bliss and make it less appealing. Does that make sense, too?"
+"Precisely that." Ne sipped his tea now that it had cooled and nodded approvingly. "There is much madness in the Ode Clade, but that's what we suspect nudged Qoheleth over the edge. If you can't forget anything and all that you can remember is bliss, then bliss begins to feel like torture. His role was to think long term. He was working on the timescale of decades and centuries on shaping the perceived history of both of our clades, so he was already up to his ears in memory. This project of yours will instill a little bit of terror in the hearts of everyone. Not enough that they will rebel, of course. In well over ninety percent of cases, they won't do anything at all with the information, but it will tick up their anxiety a notch. It will put a dent in that bliss and make it less appealing. Does that make sense, too?"
 
-Codrin finished taking down eir notes and sipped on eir tea, mulling it over. Eventually, ey nodded. "It does, yeah. We could thwart you by not publishing this project, but I guess you've already done the analysis on that and know that we won't."
+Codrin finished taking down eir notes and sipped eir tea, mulling it over. Eventually, ey nodded. "It does, yeah. We could thwart you by not publishing this project, but I guess you've already done the analysis on that and know that we won't."
 
 "You guess correctly, yes. 'Thwart', though, is an interesting choice of words. Do you feel like these are some evil plans that we hold?"
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ Ne laughed. "There are core problems with the world, Codrin. I've just enumerate
 
 Codrin sat, silent, and stared at the man across from em. The man who had just admitted to subtly influencing billions of lives over hundreds of years through an organization made up entirely, ey assumed, of two clades. Hundreds or thousands of instances of two individuals.
 
-"I suspect we're about done with the interview, but you must understand, Mx Bălan, that we are the end product of phys-side life. Stability demands that we think that way. It demands that we think of all those billions of people back on Earth as part of our garden. Not the rose bushes, but the vegetables. They are the crop that we harvest to stay alive, and therefor they must be tended with as much love and care as the roses."
+"I suspect we're about done with the interview, but you must understand, Mx Bălan, that we are the end product of phys-side life. Stability demands that we think that way. It demands that we think of all those billions of people back on Earth as part of our garden. Not the rose bushes, but the vegetables. They are the crop that we harvest to stay alive, and therefore they must be tended with as much love and care as the roses."
 
 The room felt like it was elongating, stretching away from em as Ne spoke, as ey capped eir pen and got to eir feet, as ey gathered eir papers. The room was elongating and eir vision dimming around the edges.