update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/marsh/017.md

@@ -12,19 +12,19 @@ We'd gathered in my home once more, all standing out in the back yard where the
 
 Cress shrugged. "We have a spare bedroom, too, and Dry Grass can stick around in case we need any help."
 
-Tule nodded. "She back up to speed really quickly, but I guess that's how it goes when you're three hundred something years old."
+Tule nodded. "She got back up to speed really quickly, but I guess that's how it goes when you're three hundred something years old."
 
 "Alright. That's a good idea, too."
 
-"You like that pagoda, don't you?" Rush asked, a faint grin on vis face.
+"You like that pagoda, don't you?" Rush asked, a sly grin on vis face.
 
 I laughed. "It's a nice sim."
 
-"It is! Don't get me wrong. Do you think Jonas being so old is what made it so painful for him."
+"It is! Don't get me wrong. Do you think Jonas being so old is what made it so painful for him?"
 
 "Oh, almost certainly," Sedge said. "A founder who has been slowly going nuts. Jonas Ko forked during Secession and Fa forked a few decades later."
 
-"So before systime compared to Marsh uploading in 178," I added. "And forking dates of 1 and 25, while us oldest forks are less than a hundred. We were, what, systime 180?"
+"So before systime 1 compared to Marsh uploading in 178," I added. "And forking dates of 1 and 25, while us oldest forks are less than a hundred. We were, what, systime 180?"
 
 Lily, who had been silent and sullen up until that point, nodded. "systime 180+11. Individuated, but not to the same extent." She looked away, mumbling, "Enough for some differences in opinion."
 
@@ -78,9 +78,9 @@ Lily snorted. "I mean, so did I, but yeah, apology accepted. We'll work on it."
 
 Cress grinned, shook its head. "Well, I guess come on. We'll set up the spare room and do the merge, and this new instance will be both slapper and victim."
 
-We stepped away, me holding Rush's hand, Sedge holding Tule's, and Lily holding Cress's, to arrive on the stoop in front of the brownstone that was slowly becoming familiar.
+We stepped away, me holding Rush's hand, Sedge holding Tule's, and Lily holding Cress's, to arrive on the stoop in front of the brownstone that was slowly becoming familiar, and yet which already lived in my memories.
 
-The building was in a neighborhood in the New York sim that Dry Grass and I had gone to lunch a few days before. An actual neighborhood, too, with cladists grouped up in little knots, talking on the verge or on other stoops. The mood remained tense and anxious, but there were at least a few laughs to be heard. More than there had been, at least.
+The building was in a neighborhood in the New York sim that Dry Grass and I had gone to lunch a few days before. An actual neighborhood, too, with cladists grouped up in little knots, talking on the verge or on other stoops. The mood remained tense and anxious, but there were at least a few laughs to be heard. More than there had been before, at least.
 
 Dry Grass, as it turned out, was already out of the house. Once we stepped inside, Lily looked around, frowning. "Weird taste in art, but okay."
 
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ Another thoughtful look, another quitting instance.
 
 New Marsh let out a groan. "Okay okay okay! This'll work, but fuck, you guys, hurry!"
 
-The rest of the clade rushed forward to clasp hands with New Marsh, quitting one by one. By the time Rush got in place, they'd collapsed to their knees and were struggling to breathe.
+The rest of the clade's forks rushed forward to clasp hands with New Marsh, quitting one by one. By the time Rush got in place, they'd collapsed to their knees and were struggling to breathe.
 
 "Bed!" they gasped. "Please...ugh, turning off...sensorium..."
 
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ Two hours later, they said. "Rush...oh! And Sedge...and Tule!"
 
 Tule frowned, leaning closer. "What happened?"
 
-"Reed just merged you all down. The memories were already there." They laughed. "He already took care of the conflicts for me. Thanks, I guess."
+"Reed just merged you all down a few days ago. The memories were already there." They laughed. "He already took care of a lot of the conflicts for me. Thanks, I guess."
 
 "Uh...you're welcome?" I said, then laughed. "Are you all done, then? That was faster than expected."
 
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ While Cress ducked out of the room to fetch them water, we all did our best to r
 
 They shrugged, then winced at their own apparent soreness, nodding to Cress as it handed over the glass. "I guess for now, yeah. It's not...uncomfortable, just weird. Like having a strange taste in your mouth or wearing a new shirt or something. The conflicts are kind of itchy, but I'm already working on them a little bit."
 
-We talked for a while longer, though descriptions were slim, repetitions of what we'd already heard. It felt weird. It felt itchy. It felt weird. It felt strange. It felt weird. Even having experienced one such merge before, it didn't wholly make sense, and I was left intensely curious. My experience had been so mild, with only a week's worth of memories, rather than dozens of years from five different instances.
+We talked for a while longer, though descriptions were slim, repetitions of what we'd already heard. It felt weird. It felt itchy. It felt weird. It felt strange. It felt weird. Even having experienced one such merge before, it didn't wholly make sense, and I was left intensely curious. My experience had been so mild, with only a week's worth of memories, rather than dozens of years from five different instances. I had no idea if five hours was good or bad for managing all of that, but we'd always been adept at merging.
 
 "Hey," they said at last, once the line of questions had died down. "What do you say about inviting Vos and Pierre over. Maybe they'd like to meet me."
 
@@ -202,13 +202,17 @@ There was a long silence that followed as we all seemed to digest the ramificati
 
 "Yeah, I guess," Sedge said warily. "I don't know how it'll go, but yeah."
 
+<!-- Note says 'argument' -->
+
 A few minutes later, we sat staggered on the stairs before the front door, New Marsh sitting up front, waiting. A knock, hesitant, sounded, and Cress called out from beside Tule, "Come in."
 
+<!-- more -->
+
 Vos and Pierre stood frozen, both with their hands raised in a wave, their eyes locked on this new version of their partner, slowly pushing themself to their feet to stand front and center before them.
 
 "Marsh?" Vos croaked?
 
-Pierre only darted forward, nearly taking New Marsh down as he collided with them arms cinched firmly around their middle with his face buried against their shoulder, sobbing.
+Pierre only darted forward, nearly taking New Marsh down as he collided with them, arms cinched firmly around their middle with his face buried against their shoulder, sobbing.
 
 Stunned, New Marsh patted awkwardly at his shoulder before slowly enveloping them in a hug.
 
@@ -224,6 +228,8 @@ She swayed on her feet, eventually reaching out a hand to prop herself up agains
 
 Pierre quickly unwound his arms from them, staggering backwards with such hurriedness that he nearly tripped were it not for Vos, there to catch him. "What the fuck..."
 
+<!-- more? -->
+
 "All of..." Vos, realizing she was all but out of air, gasped for breath. "All of you? *All* of you?"
 
 New Marsh nodded.
@@ -238,7 +244,7 @@ They blanched.
 
 Looking over to me nervously, they began to shake.
 
-"What did you say to me? Tell me," she said, voice growing louder, higher in pitch, until she was nearly screaming. Pierre quit unceremoniously, and she stomped forward a few paces. "What did you fucking say?! What did you say? What did you say, whoever you are? You said it every fucking year! *What did you fucking say?!*"
+"What did you say to me? Tell me," she said, voice growing louder, higher in pitch, until she was nearly screaming. Pierre quit unceremoniously, and she stomped forward a few paces. "What did you fucking say? What did you say? What did you say, whoever you are?! You said it every fucking year! *What did you fucking say?!*"
 
 New Marsh quailed at her advance, ducking around to hide behind my arm. I could read the way that Cress moved in them, could see that warring with the need to be understood that I felt in myself, the need for my little bargain to work.
 
@@ -254,7 +260,7 @@ She finished her advance in two long strides, hand already winding back, and str
 
 I didn't get the chance to finish. She had already stepped away.
 
-About thirty seconds later, a sensorium message hit me with such force, with so much adrenaline, that I slumped over to the side. Regardless of the strength of the message, her words were dangerously calm. *"No contact."*
+About ten seconds later, a sensorium message hit me with such force, with so much adrenaline, that I slumped over to the side. Regardless of the strength of the message, her words were eerily calm. *"No contact."*
 
 It took nearly a minute of silence before the shock wore off enough for New Marsh to creep back into view, carefully helping me to my feet once more. My lip was split with blood trickling down my chin, and my nose felt broken, though it still looked straight. All the same, I forked as soon as I was calm enough to, letting my still bleeding down-tree quit.
 
@@ -270,7 +276,8 @@ We stepped first to Infinite Café, an enormous sim that allowed any coffee shop
 
 I upped my estimate to tens of thousands.
 
-We numbly followed Lily as she led us through the incredibly crowded thoroughfare to an unassuming brick building with a glass door. Inside we found a sparklingly white interior, with the bar and tables being looping and curving slabs of marble.
+<!-- expand -->
+We numbly followed Lily as she led us through the incredibly crowded thoroughfare to an unassuming brick building with a glass door. Inside we found a sparklingly white interior, with the bar and tables made of looping and curving slabs of marble.
 
 Pausing just inside the door, shielding our eyes against the brightness of so much white, Rush laughed. "Goddamn, what a look."
 
@@ -294,11 +301,11 @@ We laughed.
 
 "Yeah." Anubias turned their martini by the stem of the glass between their fingers. "We probably should have asked."
 
-In an attempt to head off further conversation, I agreed quickly. "We really should have. I'm not sorry that we went through with the merge, but I *am* sorry that we brought them into it. Vos cut all contact with me. I'm sorry that we thought of this whole thing as rebuilding Marsh. I knew it wouldn't be that on some level, but..." I trailed off, shrugged.
+I agreed quickly. "We really should have. I'm not sorry that we went through with the merge, but I *am* sorry that we brought them into it. Vos cut all contact with me. I'm sorry that we thought of this whole thing as rebuilding Marsh. I knew it wouldn't be that on some level, but..." I trailed off, shrugged.
 
 Sedge nodded. "I kind of figured it wouldn't be, too, not after seeing the new Jonas stumbling like that."
 
-"Yeah. I'm sorry, all."
+"Yeah. I'm sorry, you all."
 
 Lily shrugged. "We knew what we were getting into, at least mostly. We all agreed."
 
@@ -308,7 +315,7 @@ Lily shrugged. "We knew what we were getting into, at least mostly. We all agree
 
 I rolled my eyes.
 
-"Really, though, I feel a lot...I don't know. Lighter, maybe? Like I got a lot off my chest in the process. I'll want to talk with you, Anubias, at some point to keep thinking about this whole Odist thing."
+"Really, though, I feel a lot...I don't know. Lighter, maybe? Like I got a lot off my chest in the process. I'll want to talk with you, Anubias, at some point to keep thinking about this whole Odist thing. Maybe this can be a part of that reconciliation."
 
 They nodded. "Sure."