update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/marsh/004.md

@@ -202,6 +202,24 @@ She nodded.
 
 "It is, is it not?"
 
+"Is she talking your ear off, Reed?" came a familiar voice from behind us.
+
+"Oh, absolutely," Dry Grass replied, turning and leaning up to give Cress a kiss on its cheek. "How are you feeling, loves?"
+
+"Terrible," Tule said cheerfully. "All my emotions are wrong. I'm jittery and tired and I want to get another few hours of sleep but feel guilty every time I lay down."
+
+I laughed. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I keep feeling like I'm having the wrong sort of reaction to all of this."
+
+"When was the last true trauma that befell the Marshans?" Dry Grass asked, smiling. "I imagine it was before you uploaded, yes?"
+
+A moment of silence followed.
+
+"We have fallen out of the habit of dealing with crises," she continued when we all averted our gazes. "Do not be hard on yourselves. We — the Ode clade — have more experience with crises than the vast, vast majority of the System, and even we are reeling. We are struggling to internalize something this big."
+
+"Have you lost any?" Cress asked, and I thanked it silently for getting to the question before I worked up the courage to do so myself.
+
+Hesitating, Dry Grass's confident mien fell. Eventually, she reached out to take each of her partners by the hand, then nodded to me. "Come. Let us walk, yes? We will talk as we hop sims. I have more places full of comforting memories to show you."
+
 ((they meet up and talk while sim hopping))
 
 ((After Dry Grass leaves, Reed goes to talk with Lily))