diff --git a/writing/post-self/mitzvot/001.md b/writing/post-self/mitzvot/001.md index 6eb169ef..44e4667a 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/mitzvot/001.md +++ b/writing/post-self/mitzvot/001.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Their standard greeting would be for Ioan to stand and bow --- ey was always the Then, as ever, one or the other of them would call an end to the meeting, if meeting it was, and they'd stand once more, bow, and each would step back home. -Or, at least, ey would always step back home, where May would --- as she always did --- congratulate em on not dying. +Or, at least, ey would always step back home, where May would --- as she always did --- congratulate em on not dying. Ey didn't know where True Name left to. The only thing that seemed to change was the topics they talked about --- the this-or-thats of life --- and True Name herself. @@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ Ioan had leaned back in eir chair and stared up at the ceiling. "That certainly "She is the type of person who will always take more upon herself, more and more and more until she cracks," May had murmured, quiet enough that Ioan had to strain to hear. "That she has been at this for more than two and a quarter centuries and the strain is only now showing is, if anything, a testament to her perseverance. Or obstinance, perhaps." -Ever since that day, that conversation would rise to the fore of eir memory whenever ey met up with True Name for coffee. They would have their conversation, sip their drinks, and then get to whatever projects they were working on --- but there would always be a small portion of eir mind dedicated to squaring what ey knew of her and just how old she was. +Ever since that day, that conversation would rise to the fore of eir memory whenever ey met up with True Name for coffee. They would have their conversation, sip their drinks, and then get to whatever projects they were working on --- but there would always be a small portion of eir mind dedicated to squaring what ey knew of her with just how old she was. -What ey'd strategically left out of that conversation with May, however, was that ey seemed plagued with a pathological need to help. Somehow. Ey wanted to find what it was that was wearing so much on True Name and find a way to ease it. There was a problem there, and problems were made for solving, yes? +What ey'd strategically left out of that conversation with May, however, was that eir fascination seemed to be driven by an almost pathological need to help. Somehow. Ey wanted to find what it was that was wearing so much on True Name and find a way to ease it. There was a problem there, and problems were made for solving, yes? It was something about em that May knew, ey was sure, but which ey'd never shared with her, as ey knew that her response would either be the gentle teasing that she was so good at heaping on em or the gentle inquisition that she was equally adept at conducting. She'd ask em where the feeling stemmed from: was it from within eir mind, or within eir heart? Was it related to *all* problems? Was it because True Name looked so much like her, eir partner? When had it started? Launch? Convergence? Never mind if it were a problem that ey could not solve, as was almost certainly the case, what would ey do if it was a problem she did not *want* solved? @@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ The skunk laughed. "It depends on what she said, does it not? Though I am flatte "That you're the type of person to take on whatever's in front of you, even if your docket's already full. I was trying to piece together how much of that applies to the rest of the clade, too." After a moment, ey shrugged and added, "And myself, for that matter." -True Name looked up to the ceiling, head tilted thoughtfully. "I do not think there is any disputing that I will load myself up with responsibility, often to the point of overloading. I remember some of that from before I was forked, though I do not think Michelle was of quite the same temperament. She took on more than she could handle more out of a sense of social obligation than...whatever it is that drives me." +True Name looked up to the ceiling, head tilted thoughtfully. "I do not think there is any disputing that I will load myself up with responsibilities, often to the point of overloading. I remember some of that from before I was forked, though I do not think Michelle was of quite the same temperament. She took on more than she could handle more out of a sense of social obligation than...whatever it is that drives me." "Determination? Persistence?" @@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ She nodded. "I am, yes." "Is there--" Ey caught emself up short, forcibly tamped down the urge to offer to help, and instead said, "I mean, what all are you working on? I can never tell with you and May. It just looks like thinking." -"It is perhaps a problem with doing all of one's work in one's head." she said, laughing. "We are not blessed with your affinity for paper." +"It is perhaps a problem with doing all of one's work in one's head." she said. "We are not blessed with your affinity for paper." "Or cursed." @@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ Ey nodded. "A Finger Pointing certainly holds to it like a ritual, yeah. It's a "I suppose not. At least, not back phys-side." -"I noticed that seems to be unevenly distributed," ey said. "May and I rarely drink unless it's with someone else, but Dear and its partners seem to drink quite a bit." +"I noticed that seems to be unevenly distributed," ey observed. "May and I rarely drink unless it's with someone else, but Dear and its partners seem to drink quite a bit." "So I have heard. There are a few aspects of our past life that were only picked up by a few of us, beyond the obvious interests. Drinking, theatre and art, furry, that sort of thing. I have never figured out whether there is any rhyme or reason to it." @@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ Ey nodded. "Right. Then I suppose it is just nice to have a friend, for lack of a better term." -A conversation from years back wafted up through eir memory. ""We will never be close, you and I," you said back during the convergence. Has that changed?" +A conversation from years back wafted up through eir memory. "You said back during convergence, 'We will never be close, you and I.' Has that changed?" "I do not know. Has it?" @@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ Ey kicked off eir shoes and set down eir own notebook on eir desk before walking She set her pen down and stretched before leaning up to dot her nose against eirs, arms draped up around eir shoulders. "Good, I am not finished wringing all I can out of you. One day, you will be left a broken husk of a Bălan and I will move on to my next victim." -Shaking eir head, ey returned that nosepress before straightening up. "You're doing a crap job of it, May. You keep adding to my life rather than taking away from it." +Shaking eir head, ey returned that nose-press before straightening up. "You're doing a crap job of it, May. You keep adding to my life rather than taking away from it." She laughed. "Even when you are joking, you are adorable. Love you too, my dear. How was True Name?" @@ -220,13 +220,13 @@ She shrugged, doodling a dull claw lazily over eir stomach through eir shirt and May tilted her head up, enough to bump her nose against the underside of eir chin. "Are you? Friends, I mean." -"That's what we talked about. Neither of us could really decide on anything beyond 'friends for lack of a better term'." Ey hesitated, feeling incredibly conscious of eir partner resting against em, her stated resentment of her down-tree instance, how that had veered for so long into hatred. Ey continued, speaking carefully, "I like having interesting people to talk to and she's been pretty good company. She likes having someone to just be around and talk with that isn't herself or Jonas." +"That's what we talked about. Neither of us could really decide on anything beyond 'friends for lack of a better term'." Ey hesitated, feeling incredibly conscious of eir partner resting against em, her stated resentment of her down-tree instance, how that had veered for so long into hatred over all that she had done. Ey continued, speaking carefully, "I like having interesting people to talk to and she's been pretty good company. She likes having someone to just be around and talk with that isn't herself or Jonas." "Are they still not getting along?" "Worse, maybe. That's where she requested that I drop the topic. She said that they made good coworkers, but not necessarily friends, and I asked if that was always the case, and she said she wasn't comfortable having that conversation. Very politely, of course, but it looked like it took a lot of effort." -"Mm." The skunk lowered her muzzle, letting em peek down at her again. "I have been working on how I define myself in relation to True Name. I do not like that I spent so long hating her. I do not want that to be a part of who I am. I am May, who loves. I hold no such compunctions about Jonas, though, and I am sorry that she still feels she must engage with him. He was a piece of shit then and I imagine that he is far worse now." +"Mm." The skunk lowered her muzzle, letting em peek down at her again. "I have been working on how I define myself in relation to True Name. I do not like that I spent so long hating her. I do not want that to be a part of who I am. I am May, who loves, yes? I hold no such compunctions about Jonas, though, and I am sorry that she still feels she must engage with him. He was a piece of shit then and I imagine that he is far worse now." "Huh?" Ey shook eir head as ey pieced together what she meant. "Oh right, sorry. I guess you were forked off after he and True Name started working together." @@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ She laughed and poked em in the belly. "Mx. Ioan Bălan, you watch your language The skunk sat up and gave em an exaggerated frown. "I am warning you, young man." -Ey rolled eir eyes. "'Young man?'" +Ey rolled eir eyes. "'Young man'?" "Little miss?" @@ -262,6 +262,6 @@ Ey laughed. "I don't know what your hang-up is, you nut. I learned it from you." "She has once or twice, yeah. You two still sound similar enough in terms of your voices, so I feel like I'm used to it." -May nodded, leaned down, and licked em squarely across the nose before settling down on eir front again. "Yes, I suppose we do. Here is where we drop the topic, however." +May nodded, leaned down, and licked em squarely across the nose before settling down against eir front again. "Yes, I suppose we do. Here is where we drop the topic, however." "Alright," ey said, wiping eir face. "What should we do for dinner?"