update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/toledot/index.md

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ Nearing the 200th anniversary of System secession from humanity, the System and
     * [X] [Launch: sys-side: Ioan](launch/sys/Ioan/009) - Ioan, already worried, interviews Do I Know God After The *End Waking* (skunk male, druid type) at eir home, who was tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with phys-side finance late 2100s to increase sys-side population by paying for uploads (as Ioan was), liberal now, regrets his actions; points em to Jonas still on system; conversation with both End Waking and May about what she meant about system being more subtle viz dandelions (even after all this time, it's still a dream, May's been dreaming with em, not uncommon for emotionally entangled people) - 3217
     * [X] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux](launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/006) - Has Yared, Debarre, and user11824 over, who talk about how the council was undermined, then overridden by Jonas/Odists after secession, Yared talks about Toledot Yeshu, Demma as Paul (left unsaid whether or not Demma was influenced by anyone sys-side, implied no; phys-side still had its own politics, then) - 2856
     * [X] [Secession: sys-side: True Name](secession/sys/True-Name/006) - Meets with Debarre, who says he understands better now, thanks her for all her work; after he leaves, meets up with *Life Breeds Life,* But Death Must Now Be Chosen (human male, scholar type) to help keep up appearances during secession work that the clade isn't growing, minimize actions in history so that the clade doesn't appear to have done anything, that Michelle was on the Council and the clade just helped. - 2317
-    * [O] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor](launch/launch/Codrin-castor/006) - Interviews No Jonas, hints at how big an influence he and Odists (not just TN!) had on both phys/sys side after secession, anything to keep System growing - 2471
+    * [X] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor](launch/launch/Codrin-castor/006) - Interviews No Jonas, hints at how big an influence he and Odists (not just TN!) had on both phys/sys side after secession, anything to keep System growing - 2471
     * [O] [Secession: sys-side: True Name](secession/sys/True-Name/007) - walks sims, thinking about what the System will look like after secession (doesn't share Yared's pessimism), how to keep it running, remembers conversation about birth laws in S-R Bloc, forks End Waking to investigate that, revealing that at some point, Jonas showed her how to manipulate reputation markets to make sure she could always fork. - 1378 Expand?
     * [O] [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
     * [o] [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

writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/006.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 While he didn't quite have the singular ability to immediately make em like him as many of the Odists seemed to, Codrin found emself immensely charmed by No Jonas.
 
-"I got the short end of the stick." He laughed, gesturing Ioan into what appeared to be a living room of an apartment quite similar to the one ey had interviewed True Name in. "Jonas Prime decided to name all of his instances with a syllable, I got stuck with No, of all things. I'm sure there are sillier ones, at least. We Jonas? Oi Jonas? Just call me Jonas so we don't get confused."
+"I got the short end of the stick." He laughed, gesturing Ioan into what appeared to be a living room of an apartment quite similar to the one ey had interviewed True Name in. A little less perfect, a little more lived-in. "Jonas Prime decided to name all of his instances with a syllable, I got stuck with No, of all things. I'm sure there are sillier ones, at least. We Jonas? Oi Jonas? Just call me Jonas so we don't get confused."
 
 Codrin grinned and sat on a reasonably comfy --- if slightly ratty --- chair  across the table from the couch that Jonas flopped down onto. "I suppose there has to be some scheme for dispersionistas to use to keep track of each other that isn't just the default random string of letters and number."
 
@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ Jonas laughed.
 
 "And Ioan is getting hounded by strange historians while also doing eir best to keep up with interviewing the Odists." Ey hesitated, considering whether to pass on the warning that Ioan had received from End Waking, then decided to plow ahead. "One of them told em to be careful interviewing you, that you'd control the whole thing."
 
-"Did he now? Well, I suppose I will. It's one of those second nature things, you know. I apologize if that sounds sinister, I promise it isn't. I do as Jonases do, just as you do as Bălans do."
+"Did he now? Well, I suppose I will. It's one of those second nature things, you know. I apologize if that sounds sinister, I promise it isn't. I do as Jonases do, just as you do as Bălans do, and that is to speak to the things that interest me. I'm just better than others at ensuring that that happens."
 
 Codrin nodded as ey wrote. "Alright. Are you okay if I start asking questions, then?"
 
 "Of course, ask away."
 
-"First of all, and I'm not sure how well this applies to a dispersionista such as yourself, but did you yourself leave an instance back on the L<sub>5</sub> System?"
+"First of all, and I'm not sure how well this applies to a dispersionista such as yourself, but did you --- No Jonas --- leave an instance back on the L<sub>5</sub> System?"
 
 "Oh, sure. There didn't seem to be any reason not to, you know? I figure there's enough of us Jonases up here to have our fun, and plenty back down down on the System to keep things interesting."
 
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ Jonas waved a hand vaguely. "Basically just who was specializing in what."
 
 Codrin nodded as ey jotted down the answer. "I suppose it's the same as with me and Ioan. At least to an extent, the Odists also infected us with their hopeless romanticism."
 
-"Of course they did. That's what they're built for. A life in theater primes one to keep a tight focus on manipulating emotions. They're all incredibly focused on stories, aren't they? All of the interesting ones, at least."
+"Of course they did. That's what they're built for. A life in theatre primes one to keep a tight focus on manipulating emotions. They're all incredibly focused on stories, aren't they? All of the interesting ones, at least."
 
 "There are boring Odists?"
 
@@ -102,11 +102,11 @@ Jonas leaned back against the couch, toying with a loose thread at one end of it
 
 Codrin nodded and made a note to that effect.
 
-"You have to understand though, Codrin, none of this was some shadowy conspiracy, like you may be thinking. We did what politicians do: we represented our constituents and duked it out --- metaphorically, of course --- with other politicians."
+"You have to understand though, Codrin, none of this was like some sort of shadowy conspiracy, like you may be thinking. We did what politicians do: we represented our constituents and duked it out --- metaphorically, of course --- with other politicians."
 
 "Are we your constituents?" ey asked. The words were out of eir mouth before ey had time to consider it.
 
-Jonas laughed, shaking his head and tugging that fiber on the couch all the looser. "In a way, yeah. We may be a separate legal entity, but we don't work the same. We're not a government. There are no representatives. We don't vote. You are our constituents only in the sense that there are still some who have to work on keeping the System going. We're the ones who organize with the phys-side engineers to keep everything ticking along. We're the ones who ensure that new uploads are smoothly integrated. We're the ones who ensure that the System keeps growing."
+Jonas laughed, shaking his head and tugging that fiber on the couch all the looser. "In a way, yes. We may be a separate legal entity, but we don't work the same. We're not a government. There are no representatives. We don't vote. Better to say that the System is our singular constituent. You are our constituents only in the sense that there are still some who have to work on keeping the System going. We're the ones who organize with the phys-side engineers to keep everything ticking along. We're the ones who ensure that new uploads are smoothly integrated. We're the ones who ensure that the System keeps growing."
 
 "Keeps growing? Can you expand on that?"
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ Jonas laughed, shaking his head and tugging that fiber on the couch all the loos
 
 Codrin waggled eir pen at Jonas. "I'm the writer out of the two of us, you're the politician. What do you mean by stasis, though?"
 
-"If we were phys-side, conservatism would probably be the word one would reach for, if only because the sheer burden of legislation grows exponentially complex with the size of the system that all of the other aspects of the system start to fall under its branch.
+"If we were phys-side, conservatism would probably be the word one would reach for, if only because the sheer burden of legislation grows exponentially complex with the size of the small-s system that all of the other aspects of the system start to fall under its branch.
 
 "Here, though, we tend towards stasis. It's a type of stability that implies a cessation of change. It's not a bad thing. Boring, maybe, but boring is safe. Still, it's only a tendency, and it approaches that point asymptotically. The bigger the system, the smoother things run because the rough spots and sharp edges are harder to feel. It needs to be gardened and nourished. That's all we do."
 
@@ -160,6 +160,6 @@ So ey sat at eir desk and wrote a footnote for eir transcript that ey'd send bac
 >
 > I don't think I messed up the transcription, and you know as well as anyone that our memories are all there for our perusal. I've thought and thought and thought on it. I shouldn't doubt, and yet I do, so check my work.
 >
-> I said "one of them", and Jonas said "did he now". I asked Dear, and it said that there were relatively few male Odists in the clade (*"one less, now"*).
+> I said "one of them", and Jonas said "did he now". I asked Dear, and it said that there were relatively few male Odists in the clade (*"one fewer, now"*).
 >
 > Did you tell anyone that you were interviewing End Waking other than May Then My Name? I don't mean to cast doubt on either of you. I think you feel just as bound up in this as I do, but I need some clarification as to how Jonas knew that you had interviewed one of those relative few. I need that clarity. I think we're beyond wants, now.