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update from sparkleup

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Madison Scott-Clary 2021-10-13 17:35:04 -07:00
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6
writing/post-self/toledot/index.md
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@ -74,9 +74,9 @@ Nearing the 200th anniversary of System secession from humanity, the System and
* [O] [Secession: phys-side: Yared](secession/phys/Yared/004) - another change from Yosef, Yared starts to actually kind of believe that this is a good idea, considers L5 option - 2196
* [O] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux](launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/002) - Makes up with Dear, who gives suggestions on some names to interview and how to go about them - 1373
* [O] [Secession: sys-side: True Name](secession/sys/True-Name/002) - Meets with Jonas to discuss latest post from Yared, picking up on secession undertones, Jonas admits to own clade standing in for him (explain that reputation doesn't exactly go down, but is spread among instances (changed later)). - 2587
* [o] [Launch: phys-side: Douglas](launch/phys/Douglas/005) - Douglas walks the station, processing news of Michelle's death, then talks with May - 3969
* [o] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor](launch/launch/Codrin-castor/003) - Author who wrote an outline for a book, has been writing them independently on launches and sending back to editor sys-side, who is compiling them; mentions as postscript for Ioan only that given what ey learned about early clade, should maybe pass on communications between LVs encrypted - 2963
* [o] [Secession: sys-side: Michelle](secession/sys/Michelle/003) - Debarre meets with Michelle to talk about AwDae, Ode Clade, losing control of herself, why keep the name secret (AwDae wasn't supposed to defect to S-R Bloc, even if ey helped form the System - total lie, though), reiterates promise that her new clade won't overtake the Council of Eight - 1754 - Expand?
* [O] [Launch: phys-side: Douglas](launch/phys/Douglas/005) - Douglas walks the station, processing news of Michelle's death, then talks with May - 3969
* [O] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Castor](launch/launch/Codrin-castor/003) - Author who wrote an outline for a book, has been writing them independently on launches and sending back to editor sys-side, who is compiling them; mentions as postscript for Ioan only that given what ey learned about early clade, should maybe pass on communications between LVs encrypted - 2963
* [O] [Secession: sys-side: Michelle](secession/sys/Michelle/003) - Debarre meets with Michelle to talk about AwDae, Ode Clade, losing control of herself, why keep the name secret (AwDae wasn't supposed to defect to S-R Bloc, even if ey helped form the System - total lie, though), reiterates promise that her new clade won't overtake the Council of Eight - 1754 - Expand?
* [o] [Launch: sys-side: Ioan](launch/sys/Ioan/005) - Musician who set up transmission of music between sys/phys, gets #Castor's note, discusses with May - 1740 - Expand?
* [o] Part III - Acceleration (Conspiracies start to pick up)
* [o] [Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux](launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/003) - interviews Zeke/Ezekiel, who has gone a bit sideways, now a prophet, having a hard time reconciling two launches/diverging futures, points Codrin towards True Name as something sinister - 2212 - Expand?

16
writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/002.md
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@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ It wasn't that the fox was hurting em. It was a delightful partner, kind and con
It was just a lot.
The first time that Codrin had stepped away from the house when Dear was being a lot, the fox had gone into a small sulk, sending Codrin a curt apology via sensorium message and not responding when Codrin said that ey'd be back in a bit. They had soothed ruffled fur over dinner now, when Codrin stepped out to take a break from a very intense fennec, ey would leave with a reassurance and still take comfort in the loneliness of the prairie.
The first time that Codrin had stepped away from the house when Dear was being a lot, the fox had gone into a small sulk, sending Codrin a curt apology via sensorium message and not responding when Codrin said that ey'd be back in a bit. They had soothed ruffled fur over dinner now. When Codrin stepped out to take a break from a very intense fennec, ey would leave with a reassurance and still take comfort in the loneliness of the prairie.
Dear had been a lot today. Codrin had suggested that they do an interview together after Ioan had sent both launches --- Castor and Pollux --- a note asking that Codrin include the trio's reasons for leaving as well as those ey would be interviewing.
@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Codrin had laughed, sipping eir own coffee. "I understand the impulse, believe m
*"That is by design, Codrin."*
Ey could not place why that had bugged em so at the moment, but as it continued to snowball in eir mind over the next hour, picking up emotions as it went until it was an outsized lump tumbling around within em, ey had walked over to where the fox was blocking out stage diagrams of some sort, kissed the fox between the ears, and said that ey would be back soon.
Ey could not place why that had bugged em so at the moment, but as it continued to snowball in eir mind over the next hour, picking up emotions as it went until it was an outsized lump tumbling around within em, ey had walked over to where the fox was blocking out stage diagrams of some sort, kissed it between the ears, and said that ey would be back soon.
During eir previous expeditions, ey had placed cairns at regularly spaced intervals with rocks pointing directions where ey had split off this way or that, so as ey walked from cairn to cairn, looking for new ways to explore, ey thought about the conversation.
@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Ey frowned and pushed emself up to standing again. "Or maybe not."
As ey continued to walk out into the prairie, a small portion of eir mind kept an eye out for a break in the scenery, anything other than that endless, rolling sea of grass.
The rest of eir mind, though, continued to prowl through conversations that ey had had with Dear over the last few years as the prospect of the launch became more and more real. The fox had often talked about irreversibility, about how some things that one thought of as irreversible weren't, and many that one thought weren't could be turned back in one way or another. It had talked about having a drive to leave, and how there were some decisions that came from the head and some that came from the heart, but never what drove that drive, those decisions.
The rest of eir mind, though, continued to prowl through conversations that ey had had with Dear over the last few years as the prospect of the launch became more and more real. The fox had often talked about irreversibility, about how some things that one thought of as irreversible weren't. It had talked about having a drive to leave, and how there were some decisions that came from the head and some that came from the heart, but never what drove that drive, those decisions.
"Does it feel guilt? Or regret or something?"
@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Ey blinked, startled at the change of its demeanor. "No. You said the 2130s, and
*"No, of course not."*
Its partner had a strange look on their face, somewhere between dread and anxiety.
Its partner had a strange look on their face, somewhere between anxiety and dread.
"Isn't that what you said?"
@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ Codrin nodded dumbly.
*"No, no. Not at first, at least. The deal she struck with the other members of the Council was that her responsibility would be split evenly among the ten. At first, The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream was the only one to sit council, then as her responsibilities to the secession process began to grow, more of Michelle's ongoing projects were given to further first lines."*
"You said not at first. Is that how she --- the Odists --- wound up with more than an equal share of power?"
"You said not at first. Is that how she --- the Odists --- wound up with more than an equal share of responsibility?"
Dear nodded. *"It was slow and subtle, and, at first, unintentional. She was--"*
@ -190,13 +190,13 @@ Codrin shook eir head. "At least, I don't know the acronym."
*"Some who uploaded agreed, at least after a fashion. They suspected that they would be brains-in-a-jar who would be able to devote themselves entirely to their science or art. Those phys-side wished to use uploads to drive factories or fly planes or what have you. Menial labor. Capitalism is ever the opportunist, and we were seen as tools, as was any employee."*
"That sounds frankly disgusting." Ey thought a moment, then shook eir head. "Or impossible."
"That sounds disgusting." Ey thought a moment, then shook eir head. "Or impossible."
"Capitalism was never one to let impossibility stand in its way," Dear's partner laughed.
*"Yes, well, there were at least still those phys-side who wished to help. Dreamers to the last."* It smiled fondly, lifting its glass to swirl the wine within. *"Many of them uploaded. You have doubtless talked to a few without knowing. I don't believe Yared --- he was our biggest champion --- decided on joining the Launch. Or perhaps he did. If he did not, I will nudge Ioan to him if May Then My Name does not do so first."*
*"Yes, well, there were at least still those phys-side who wished to help. Dreamers to the last."* It smiled fondly, lifting its glass to swirl the wine within. *"Many of them uploaded. You have doubtless talked to a few without knowing. I don't believe Yared --- he was our biggest champion --- decided on joining the Launch. Or perhaps he did. If he did not, I will nudge Ioan to him if May Then My Name does not do so first. If he did, you may yet meet him."*
"Dear," Codrin began, softening eir tone. "You don't have to answer this, but do you have regrets about this period?"
"Dear," Codrin began, softening eir tone. "You don't have to answer this, but do you have regrets about this period in your life?"
This time, the exaggerated care when setting down its glass was missing, as it nearly slammed it on the table. *"I will not answer that."*

228
writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/001.md
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@ -3,120 +3,120 @@
Interview with Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled#Pollux
On the reasons for vesting entirely in the launch
Codrin Bălan#Pollux
Systime (relative to Pollux LV): 200+22 1014
Systime: 200+22 1014
**Codrin Bălan#Pollux:** Before we get into the heavy stuff, how are you feeling?
**Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled#Pollux:** [laughter] You are going to have to be more specific, my dear. Do you mean my general disposition?
**Codrin:** Yes. I just want to see how you're feeling before all these discussions, then afterwards, I'll ask the same thing and we can see how the topic influences you.
**Dear:** Clever, clever. Well, I am feeling fine. It has been a good day, and it was a good night last night. For the record, I hosted a get-together of those interested in instance-art, so it was bound to tickle my fancy.
**Codrin:** Good. Have you noticed any difference in that realm of late?
**Dear:** No.
**Codrin:** Alr--
**Dear:** I take that back. Sorry for interrupting. I take that back. I have noticed that about the same number of people showed up to the gathering as used to on the old System.
**Codrin:** How do you mean?
**Dear:** Well, only a portion of us transferred, yes? I would have thought that this would have lowered the attendance at such events. I have also noticed, in looking around, that the majority of our fellow travellers are dispersionistas.
**Codrin:** I know that May Then My Name has some stats on that. It might be interesting to see.
**Dear:** [nodding] That would be interesting, yes. You had a goal for this interview, though, so shall we get to that?
**Codrin:** Yes, might as well. I am curious, first, why you decided to travel on the launch. Was there anything in particular that drew you to the idea?
**Dear:** Other than the fact that I am a hopeless romantic? [laughs] There were a few, I think. I am a hopeless romantic, yes. I will not actually be able to see them, but I want to see the stars. I want to be one of the lucky few, or few billion, who get to travel between them. Another is that, when one is functionally immortal, boredom is a very real problem. I do not like being bored, and after more than two hundred years sys-side, I was getting perilously close.
**Codrin:** So it's a sense of adventure?
**Dear:** I suppose, thought that brings to mind something more active than this is, to me. I hear adventure and I think sneaking behind enemy lines or guns at dawn. It is a desire for the new and interesting. Not just that there be new and interesting things going on around me, but that those new and interesting things change me in some deep way. I like stasis even less than boredom, and uploads are at risk of falling into patterns familiar enough to be considered stasis.
**Codrin:** Is there an aspect of being the first to do something involved?
**Dear:** Perhaps. I am not against being something other than the first, but I do like it when I am.
**Codrin:** Did you have other reasons for transferring?
**Dear:** A few, though they are less easily put to words. If you remember the Qoheleth business, there is some aspect of that involved. I been unable to forget what he said, and beyond the very literal sense that it was couched in. If we are doomed to forever remember everything, then the only way --- or perhaps one of the only ways --- to relegate something completely to memory is through inaccessibility. If I-- if all instances of Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled were to quit, then there would be no more objective instance of myself for others to remember.
**Codrin:** I would prefer that you not.
**Dear:** [laughs] I have no plans on it. If exploring this strange mystery were a project, then I would not be served by not being around to complete it. The launch gives me a chance to do that very thing.
**Codrin:** Perhaps you could say that you would go from being someone who is remembered to someone who is missed? Does that sound like a fair assessment?
**Dear:** [excited] Yes. Yes! That is it precisely. If we are doomed to forever remember everything, than the closest we can get to being forgotten is to turn memory into longing.
**Codrin:** You mentioned a few more reasons. Do you have others?
**Dear:** Even less easily put to words. I like the idea of relativity. The faster we go, the more our perception of time will drift. I like the idea of the ever-increasing transmission times. Already, we are losing seconds and minutes to distance. I am interested to see what will happen to the population of a system that will no longer be receiving new uploads. Will we relax the taboos on finding ways to merge separate personalities into children? That would mean that we would be even closer to a new species, as the tired rationalizations go. Would the taboo of incest remain, and we will continue to frown on generating new minds from in-clade personalities? There are many questions to ask during this journey.
**Codrin:** And we will have time to do so.
**Dear:** [laughter] Yes, we will.
**Codrin:** Can you speak to your decision to invest your instance solely into the launches? You left no immediate forks back on the L<sub>5</sub> System, correct?
**Dear:** [tense, sober] Correct, I left no forks behind. I have two main reasons for doing so, one more personal than the other.
**Codrin:** Perhaps we can stick to the less personal one for now.
**Dear:** I will tell you both, as long as I am able to add one condition.
**Codrin:** Of course. I'll honor that as best I'm able, and if I'm not able to, we can pass on that reason.
**Dear:** Thank you, dear. You may transfer this interview in its entirety, but you and Ioan may not use the second reason in your histories. May Then My Name Die With Me may use it in her mythology, as long as it is not associated with my name or clade.
**Codrin:** Certainly. I can honor that. Would you like me to get confirmation from Ioan?
**Dear:** [laughter] You are not so different from em yet. I trust that if you agree that ey will as well. Though Ioan, when you read this, please imagine a sly smirk or quippy saying or well-placed 'fuck' when I see your face fall at the request that your history be incomplete.
**Codrin:** [laughter] Even I'm feeling disappointed now.
**Dear:** You historians, tsk. Anyhow, the first, less personal reason is this: I mentioned that it would be interesting to explore what it means to be missed as an analog to forgetting. I want someone to miss me.
**Codrin:** Do you worry that you won't be missed, on some level?
**Dear:** [long pause] I am not comfortable answering that question.
**Codrin:** I understand. Let me ask this instead--
**Dear:** I have changed my mind, but Codrin, I love you dearly, but fuck you for making me cry.
**Codrin:** I'm sorry, Dear. Do you want to stop?
**Dear:** No, no. That is my choice usage of 'fuck' for the interview. [laughter, short break in interview] Okay. Early on in the system, some wag, when pressed to bring along books, uploaded every single book they could get their hands on, legally or otherwise, into the perisystem architecture, going all the way back to the Epic of Gilgamesh, if not earlier. When I was forked and still trying to figure out ways to play with instances, I went on a tear of reading biographical works, going through dozens of books at a time, hunting for little moments that could be used, somehow, in an exhibition.
**Dear:** I came across a book of essays from goodness knows how long ago, and I was so taken aback by one part in particular that I snipped it out and stored it in an exo. Ah, let me find the correct part [pause] Okay. "Should you happen to be possessed of a certain verbal acuity coupled with a relentless, hair-trigger humor and surface cheer spackling over a chronic melancholia and loneliness ---- a grotesquely caricatured version of your deepest self, which you trot out at the slightest provocation to endearing and glib comic effect, thus rendering you the kind of fellow who is beloved by all yet loved by none, all of it to distract, however fleetingly, from the cold and dead-faced truth that with each passing year you face the unavoidable certainty of a solitary future in which you will perish one day".
**Dear:** I suppose I worry sometimes that, as a public personality, first as Michelle Hadje, then as an Odist, and now as an artist with an ebullient personality and the aforementioned "verbal acuity coupled with a relentless, hair-trigger humor and surface cheer" *et cetera, et cetera,* that I... [pause] Okay. [pause] Okay. I sometimes worry that I, as those things, fall into the category of "beloved by all yet loved by none".
**Codrin:** *I* love you, Dear.
**Dear:** [waving paw, tears] This was not supposed to be the personal part of the interview. Codrin, Ioan, please just say that I want someone to miss me, that I want to haunt the L<sub>5</sub> system as some quiet ghost who communicates in words from light-years away and memories that you will never forget. I want to haunt you because that is one thing I cannot do without merging into oblivion. I want to be missed.
**Codrin:** Perhaps here is a good place to stop.
**Dear:** The second reason is short.
**Codrin:** Okay.
**Dear:** And this is for the myth only.
**Codrin:** Right.
**Dear:** I want to die.
**Codrin:** Dear, I--
**Dear:** I am sorry, my dear. I should have prefaced that. I want to die eventually. I do not want to quit, I do not want to be killed. But you must understand, by the whims of gravity, both Castor and Pollux will eventually be captured by a sun or a black hole or whatever the fuck is out there, and they will be destroyed. And even if not, the power source will die, or the factories will not be able to manufacture replacements or some other technobabble bullshit. There is no suicide in me, nor any desire to be murdered, but I want to experience-- Ah, Codrin, I am sorry. I love you. I am so sorry. I will stop.
**Codrin:** Let's go inside, please.
> **Codrin Bălan#Pollux:** Before we get into the heavy stuff, how are you feeling?
>
> **Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled#Pollux:** [laughter] You are going to have to be more specific, my dear. Do you mean my general disposition?
>
> **Codrin:** Yes. I just want to see how you're feeling before all these discussions, then afterwards, I'll ask the same thing and we can see how the topic influences you.
>
> **Dear:** Clever, clever. Well, I am feeling fine. It has been a good day, and it was a good night last night. For the record, I hosted a get-together of those interested in instance-art, so it was bound to tickle my fancy.
>
> **Codrin:** Good. Have you noticed any difference in that realm of late?
>
> **Dear:** No.
>
> **Codrin:** Alr--
>
> **Dear:** I take that back. Sorry for interrupting. I take that back. I have noticed that about the same number of people showed up to the gathering as used to on the old System.
>
> **Codrin:** How do you mean?
>
> **Dear:** Well, only a portion of us transferred, yes? I would have thought that this would have lowered the attendance at such events. I have also noticed, in looking around, that the majority of our fellow travellers are dispersionistas.
>
> **Codrin:** I know that May Then My Name has some stats on that. It might be interesting to see.
>
> **Dear:** [nodding] That would be interesting, yes. You had a goal for this interview, though, so shall we get to that?
>
> **Codrin:** Yes, might as well. I am curious, first, why you decided to travel on the launch. Was there anything in particular that drew you to the idea?
>
> **Dear:** Other than the fact that I am a hopeless romantic? [laughter] There were a few, I think. I am a hopeless romantic, yes, and --- I will not actually be able to see them --- I want to see the stars. I want to be one of the lucky few, or few billion, who get to travel between them. Another is that, when one is functionally immortal, boredom is a very real problem. I do not like being bored, and after more than two hundred years sys-side, I was getting perilously close.
>
> **Codrin:** So it's a sense of adventure?
>
> **Dear:** I suppose, thought that brings to mind something more active than this is, to me. I hear adventure and I think sneaking behind enemy lines or guns at dawn. It is a desire for the new and interesting. Not just that there be new and interesting things going on around me, but that those new and interesting things change me in some deep way. I like stasis even less than boredom, and uploads are at risk of falling into patterns familiar enough to be considered stasis.
>
> **Codrin:** Is there an aspect of being the first to do something involved?
>
> **Dear:** Perhaps. I am not against being something other than the first, but I do like it when I am.
>
> **Codrin:** Did you have other reasons for transferring?
>
> **Dear:** A few, though they are less easily put to words. If you remember the Qoheleth business, there is some of that involved. I been unable to forget what he said, and beyond the very literal sense that it was couched in. If we are doomed to forever remember everything, then the only way --- or perhaps one of the only ways --- to relegate something completely to memory is through inaccessibility. If I-- if all instances of Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled were to quit, then there would be no more objective instance of myself for others to remember.
>
> **Codrin:** I would prefer that you not.
>
> **Dear:** [laughter] I have no plans on it. If exploring this strange mystery were a project, then I would not be served by not being around to complete it. The launch gives me a chance to do that very thing.
>
> **Codrin:** Perhaps you could say that you would go from being someone who is remembered to someone who is missed? Does that sound like a fair assessment?
>
> **Dear:** [excited] Yes. Yes! That is it precisely. If we are doomed to forever remember everything, than the closest we can get to being forgotten is to turn memory into longing.
>
> **Codrin:** You mentioned a few more reasons. Do you have others?
>
> **Dear:** Even less easily put to words. I like the idea of relativity. The faster we go, the more our perception of time will drift. I like the idea of the ever-increasing transmission times. Already, we are losing seconds and minutes to distance. I am interested to see what will happen to the population of a system that will no longer be receiving new uploads. Will we relax the taboos on finding ways to merge separate personalities into children? That would mean that we would be even closer to a new species, as the tired rationalizations go. Would the taboo of incest remain, and we will continue to frown on generating new minds from in-clade personalities? There are many questions to ask during this journey.
>
> **Codrin:** And we will have time to do so.
>
> **Dear:** [laughter] Yes, we will.
>
> **Codrin:** Can you speak to your decision to invest your instance solely into the launches? You left no immediate forks back on the L<sub>5</sub> System, correct?
>
> **Dear:** [tense, sober] Correct, I left no forks behind. I have two main reasons for doing so, one more personal than the other.
>
> **Codrin:** Perhaps we can stick to the less personal one for now.
>
> **Dear:** I will tell you both, as long as I am able to add one condition.
>
> **Codrin:** Of course. I'll honor that as best I'm able, and if I'm not able to, we can pass on that reason.
>
> **Dear:** Thank you, dear. You may transfer this interview in its entirety, but you and Ioan may not use the second reason in your histories. May Then My Name Die With Me may use it in her mythology, as long as it is not associated with my name or clade.
>
> **Codrin:** Certainly. I can honor that. Would you like me to get confirmation from Ioan?
>
> **Dear:** [laughter] You are not so different from em yet. I trust that if you agree that ey will as well. Though Ioan, when you read this, please imagine a sly smirk or quippy saying or well-placed 'fuck' when I see your face fall at the request that your history be incomplete.
>
> **Codrin:** [laughter] Even I'm feeling disappointed now.
>
> **Dear:** You historians, tsk. Anyhow, the first, less personal reason is this: I mentioned that it would be interesting to explore what it means to be missed as an analog to forgetting. I want someone to miss me.
>
> **Codrin:** Do you worry that you won't be missed, on some level?
>
> **Dear:** [long pause] I am not comfortable answering that question.
>
> **Codrin:** I understand. Let me ask this instead--
>
> **Dear:** I have changed my mind, but Codrin, I love you dearly, but fuck you for making me cry.
>
> **Codrin:** I'm sorry, Dear. Do you want to stop?
>
> **Dear:** No, no. That is my choice usage of 'fuck' for the interview. [laughter, short break in interview] Okay. Early on in the system, some wag, when pressed to build a library, uploaded every single book they could get their hands on, legally or otherwise, into the perisystem architecture, going all the way back to the Epic of Gilgamesh. When I was forked and still trying to figure out ways to play with instances, I went on a tear of reading biographical works, going through dozens of books at a time, hunting for little moments that could be used, somehow, in an exhibition.
>
> **Dear:** I came across a book of essays from goodness knows how long ago, and I was so taken aback by one part in particular that I snipped it out and stored it in an exo. Ah, let me find the correct part [pause] Okay. "Should you happen to be possessed of a certain verbal acuity coupled with a relentless, hair-trigger humor and surface cheer spackling over a chronic melancholia and loneliness ---- a grotesquely caricatured version of your deepest self, which you trot out at the slightest provocation to endearing and glib comic effect, thus rendering you the kind of fellow who is beloved by all yet loved by none, all of it to distract, however fleetingly, from the cold and dead-faced truth that with each passing year you face the unavoidable certainty of a solitary future in which you will perish one day".
>
> **Dear:** I suppose I worry sometimes that, as a public personality, first as Michelle Hadje, then as an Odist, and now as an artist with an ebullient personality and the aforementioned "verbal acuity coupled with a relentless, hair-trigger humor and surface cheer" *et cetera, et cetera,* that I... [pause] Okay. [pause] Okay. I sometimes worry that I, as those things, fall into the category of "beloved by all yet loved by none".
>
> **Codrin:** *I* love you, Dear.
>
> **Dear:** [waving paw, tears] This was not supposed to be the personal part of the interview. Codrin, Ioan, please just say that I want someone to miss me, that I want to haunt the L<sub>5</sub> system as some quiet ghost who communicates in words from light-years away and memories that you will never forget. I want to haunt you because that is one thing I cannot do without merging into oblivion. I want to be missed.
>
> **Codrin:** Perhaps here is a good place to stop.
>
> **Dear:** The second reason is short.
>
> **Codrin:** Okay.
>
> **Dear:** And this is for the myth only.
>
> **Codrin:** Right.
>
> **Dear:** I want to die.
>
> **Codrin:** Dear, I--
>
> **Dear:** I am sorry, my dear. I should have prefaced that. I want to die eventually. I do not want to quit, I do not want to be killed. But you must understand, by the whims of gravity, both Castor and Pollux will eventually be captured by a sun or a black hole or whatever the fuck is out there, and they will be destroyed. And even if not, the power source will die, or the factories will not be able to manufacture replacements or some other technobabble bullshit. There is no suicide in me, nor any desire to be murdered, but I want to experience-- Ah, Codrin, I am sorry. I love you. I am so sorry. I will stop.
>
> **Codrin:** Let's go inside, please.
**Transcript ends, no closing remarks**

2
writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/002.md
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@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ They stood for a while, there in the prairie, silent, thinking, until by some un
Codrin laughed, shrugged, and knelt down to begin building the next pile of stones. "You got any better ideas, fox?"
It knelt beside them, digging up stones of its own and handing them to em. *"Of course I do. Do ask our friends, as I think they will have much to say, but also, while poking around, I saw that several of the founders have made the launch. I am not surprised that this is the case.."*
It knelt beside them, digging up stones of its own and handing them to em. *"Of course I do. Do ask our friends, as I think they will have much to say, but also, while poking around, I saw that several of the founders have made the launch. I am not surprised that this is the case."*
"Oh? That makes sense, I suppose" Ey plopped a root-tangled rock on top of the growing pile, laughing. "Something exciting after all those years, back to being at the heart of something important"

12
writing/post-self/toledot/launch/phys/Douglas/004.md
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@ -142,11 +142,11 @@ Mom, the day I launched. It came with an implicit "...and I hate you for leaving
> What are your opinions on sex?
It seems fine? I don't know. I don't have much (or any) experience with it. Again, it's low enough on the priority list that I just forget that it's even a thing most of the time. I imagine it feels good, of course, and I can see how it'd deepen an emotional connection. Those are good things, so it's probably a good thing, but I can also see it being used as an emotional weapon because of that intimacy. It seems fine.
It seems fine? I don't know. I don't have much (or any) experience with it. Again, it's low enough on the priority list that I just forget that it's even a thing most of the time. I imagine it feels good, of course, and I can see how it'd deepen an emotional connection. Those are good things, so it's probably a good thing, too, but I can also see it being used as an emotional weapon because of that intimacy. It seems fine.
> Have you had sex before?
No. It's been offered, but in such a subtle manner that the woman I was with at the time used my missing those cues as reason for leaving me. My social awareness is minimal, though, so I don't really know what she expected. I was left mostly baffled after the whole relationship. It was my last before leaving for the station, and I haven't tried dating since for previously mentioned reasons.
No. It's been offered, but in such a strange manner that the woman I was with at the time used my missing those cues as reason for leaving me. My social awareness is minimal, though, so I don't really know what she expected. I was left mostly baffled after the whole relationship. It was my last before leaving for the station, and I haven't tried dating since for previously mentioned reasons.
> Will you have sex (again) before you upload?
@ -154,12 +154,14 @@ No, see above.
> Do you masturbate?
This is generally an insensitive thing to ask someone phys-side. I don't know how it works sys-side. I'll say yes and leave it at that.
I don't know how it works sys-side, but this is generally an insensitive thing to ask someone phys-side I'll say yes and leave it at that.
> Assuming you have one, where is your favorite place to be touched? Least favorite?
When I *was* dating, the type of physical contact I enjoyed most was having my hair played with. I assumed most others did as well, so I would often offer an equal exchange, brushing my girlfriends hair for them and letting them play with mine in turn. My favorite spot was probably at the back of my neck, which I suspect is due to some ancient inhibition against letting people touch dangerous spots on the body, so if you are intimate enough with someone to let them do that, they must be a safe person to be around.
No idea about least favorite. I guess I don't have that much experience with being touched.
> What is your favorite texture?
Fur, I think? Grandpa Hadje on the east coast had a cat, and one of my fondest memories from those trips was when she'd fall asleep on my lap or on my chest with me petting her. One of the girls I dated long-distance (I know that this makes it sound like I dated around a lot, but I only had three relationships: two local, and that long-distance one in the middle) had a feline av, and I was always happy when we would just relax in sim together and she'd let me pet her.
@ -185,7 +187,7 @@ This took a few readings before I was really able to understand it. It sounds li
> Like a tree
> In which there are three blackbirds.
This one felt impenetrable until I realized that it might be about forking. Is it a contemporary thing? I can see that being the three minds portion, and I can see the tree as a metaphor of the same root personality, but blackbirds haven't existed in any of the place I lived for decades, so if there's specific symbolism behind that, I'm missing it.
This one felt impenetrable until I realized that it might be about forking. Is it a contemporary thing? I can see that being the three minds portion, and I can see the tree as a metaphor of the same root personality, but blackbirds haven't existed in any of the places I've lived for decades, so if there's specific symbolism behind that, I'm missing it.
Birds = flight and freedom, maybe? Black = death? Or maybe eternity? Three minds, each of which is bound up with those things? The freedom of eternity? I can see why this would appeal to one sys-side.
@ -216,7 +218,7 @@ Does this have to do with the launch? It certainly feels like! It feels like how
You never answered me about your name. This is another one of those snippets from the work you sent earlier, isn't it? It has the same feel as your name, so I can't help but wonder if that is related to you in some way.
There is something feverish about these words that I don't quite understand. I don't know what they mean, can't even begin to give you an interpretation, other than it makes it sound like that feeling of insignificance that comes with looking at the stars and buffeted about by forces we can't understand.
There is something feverish about these words that I don't quite understand. I don't know what they mean, can't even begin to give you an interpretation, other than it makes it sound like that feeling of insignificance that comes with looking at the stars and being buffeted about by forces we can't understand.
I'm trying to hold back on replying to you in the same emotionally inundated state that I ended my last letter, so I'll just say that this left me feeling things that I can't even name. Loneliness? Insignificance? I don't know, even those don't feel right. Can you send me the whole work? I'll block out some time to cry over it or something.

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writing/post-self/toledot/launch/phys/Douglas/005.md
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@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ This, at least, was something pleasant to distract himself from his unearned gri
>
> **Ioan:** Don't listen to her. Are you doing well?
>
> **Douglas:** As well as I can. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my time. I've gone on a few not-super-necessary EVAs to just look at the stars or the System or whatever. I should take up knitting. Oh! And nice to meet you as well.
> **Douglas:** As well as I can. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my time. I've gone on a few not-super-necessary EVAs to just look at the stars or the System or whatever. I really should take up knitting. Oh! And nice to meet you as well.
>
> **Douglas:** How are you two?
>
@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ This, at least, was something pleasant to distract himself from his unearned gri
>
> **Ioan:** She's been working, too. She's probably got the larger project ahead of her than I do.
>
> **Douglas:** You sound like you're having fun, so I'll take that as a good sign. What'd want to talk about?"
> **Douglas:** You sound like you're having fun, so I'll take that as a good sign. What did you want to talk about?"
>
> **May Then My Name:** Your questions. I thought that it would be more comfortable to do so as a conversation rather than over mail. Certainly more organic.
>
@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ This, at least, was something pleasant to distract himself from his unearned gri
>
> **May Then My Name:** We have flipped a coin, and it was decided that I will go first.
>
> **May Then My Name:** I uploaded back in the early 2100s, back when the system was small and full of dreamers, weirdos, and people like you and Ioan who spend all their time thinking. Before that, I was a teacher, though towards the end of my phys-side tenure and for some time after, I became involved in politics. I grew up in the central corridor in North America, in the Western Federation. As with everyone, I do not think that I have an accent, though after some trouble with my implants before I uploaded, I found that some speech patterns (and thought patterns) had changed, and since then, language and I have had a unique relationship. We could have worked to change it, my cocladists and I, but why bother?
> **May Then My Name:** I uploaded back in the early 2100s, back when the system was small and full of dreamers, weirdos, and people like you and Ioan who spend all their time thinking. Before that, I was a teacher, though towards the end of my phys-side tenure and for some time after, I became involved in politics. I grew up in the central corridor in North America, in the Western Federation. As with everyone, I do not think that I have an accent, though after some trouble with my implants before I uploaded, I found that some speech patterns (and thought patterns) had changed, and since then, language and I have had a complicated relationship. We could have worked to change it, my cocladists and I, but why bother?
>
> **May Then My Name:** You ask about dissolution strategies (tasker, tracker, dispersionista): you are correct that they apply to the ways in which an individual forks. They are not hard and fast categories, but rather a set of patterns that we have noticed over the years and applied names and numbers to. Taskers will fork only very rarely, and then for a specific task, merging back into the root instance immediately afterward. Trackers fork more frequently, and may maintain forks over a longer period of time. The reasons for forking may vary --- Ioan is a tracker, and ey will explain more --- but the forks almost always follow a single line of thought or relationship or what have you to its logical end before merging back. Dispersionistas are those who fork for fun, spinning off new personalities and maybe merging them back, maybe not. My clade, the Ode clade, falls somewhere between tracker and dispersionista: we fork frequently for many temporary purposes, but maintain a relatively small permanent clade of around 100 instances.
> **May Then My Name:** You ask about dissolution strategies (tasker, tracker, dispersionista): you are correct that they apply to the ways in which an individual forks. They are not hard and fast categories, but rather a set of patterns that we have noticed over the years and applied names and numbers to. Taskers will fork only very rarely, and then for a specific task, merging back into the root instance immediately afterward. Trackers fork more frequently, and may maintain forks over a longer period of time. The reasons for forking may vary --- Ioan is a tracker, and ey will explain more --- but the forks almost always follow a single line of thought --- or relationship or what have you --- to its logical end before merging back. Dispersionistas are those who fork for fun, spinning off new personalities and maybe merging them back, maybe not. My clade, the Ode clade, falls somewhere between tracker and dispersionista: we fork frequently for many temporary purposes, but maintain a relatively small permanent clade of around 100 instances.
>
> **May Then My Name:** Is that clear? I can answer questions about this until the cows upload.
>
@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ This, at least, was something pleasant to distract himself from his unearned gri
>
> **Douglas:** Would it be too personal of me to just call you May, by the way?
>
> **May Then My Name:** 'May' is a pet name reserved for a select few. I would ask you to please stick with May Then My Name.
> **May Then My Name:** 'May' is a pet name reserved those with whom I am closest. I would ask you to please stick with May Then My Name.
>
> **Douglas:** Alright. Apologies if I overstepped.
>
> **May Then My Name:** Accepted. Thank you for asking! But yes, it is common that I will spin off a bunch of instances for this or that. I have a tendency to fork when I get excited. That is not terribly relevant, though.
> **May Then My Name:** Accepted! Thank you for asking. But yes, it is common that I will spin off a bunch of instances for this or that. I have a tendency to fork when I get excited. That is not terribly relevant, though.
>
> **Ioan:** You asked about what it's like being a historian on the System. It's not quite the information haven that I think you're imagining. All of that vast wealth of data is technically there, but it exists in the perisystem architecture, and finding one's way around there can be something of a pain. Our role becomes one of researcher and librarian as much as historian. Besides, the goal of a historian isn't always to dig up long lost artifacts or writing or whatever, but rather to make sense of what is there. Take all that info and make a story out of it.
>
@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ This, at least, was something pleasant to distract himself from his unearned gri
>
> **Ioan:** You ask about universities here. There are quite a few organizations that fill that role, most of which are hyper-focused on specific fields. I worked with a history and anthropology institute for a while, and actually missed one of May's cocladists while working with an institute for art and design.
Douglas frowned at his terminal. That was the second time Ioan had referred to May Then My Name as 'May', but he couldn't think of a polite way to ask what that meant.
Douglas frowned at his terminal. That was the second time Ioan had referred to May Then My Name as that pet name 'May', but he couldn't think of a polite way to ask what that meant about how close they were.
> **Douglas:** That makes sense. I imagine there has to be some structure in place. I know that you can't upload before you turn 18, but I imagine a lot of people still want to learn things that interest them after.
>
@ -144,7 +144,9 @@ Douglas frowned at his terminal. That was the second time Ioan had referred to M
>
> **May Then My Name:** Douglas, Ioan could have fun organizing eir pen collection.
>
> **Ioan:** Can and do. You'll have to forgive the silliness, Douglas. It's been a long day for us.
> **Ioan:** Can and do.
>
> **Ioan:** You'll have to forgive the silliness, Douglas. It's been a long day for us.
>
> **Douglas:** It's okay. I'm glad that there's still fun to be had sys-side.
>
@ -154,13 +156,15 @@ Douglas frowned at his terminal. That was the second time Ioan had referred to M
His stomach sank. He considered what to type back, but decided instead on waiting for May Then My Name to continue, lest he get too emotional again.
> **May Then My Name:** First of all, you asked if I ever met her. I had the chance to meet her a handful of times. I would not call her famous, *per se*, but many do remember her as one of the founders. She was, well.
> **May Then My Name:** First of all, you asked if I ever met her. I had the chance to meet her a handful of times. I would not call her famous, *per se*, but many do remember her as one of the founders. She was
>
> **May Then My Name:** Well.
>
> **May Then My Name:** I want to say that she was old. I am only a little bit younger than she was, in the grand scheme of things, but some of her experiences prior to uploading left a mark on her, and time was not kind to her in that regard. Though aging is not really something that we need to worry about, sys-side, she seemed to have aged every one of those two centuries.
>
> **Douglas:** What did she look like, at that age?
>
> **May Then My Name:** You misunderstand, or I misspeak. She looked much as she did when she uploaded, but that pre-upload trauma meant that she felt all two hundred of those years. If you go through something that makes 80% of your days bad days, then that means that you wind up with 58400 bad days. That will wear on one.
> **May Then My Name:** You misunderstand, or I misspeak. She looked much as she did when she uploaded, but that pre-upload trauma meant that she felt all two hundred of those years. If you go through an event that makes 80% of your days bad days, then that means that you wind up with 58400 bad days through the years. That will wear on one.
>
> **Douglas:** I don't know what to say.
>
@ -168,7 +172,9 @@ His stomach sank. He considered what to type back, but decided instead on waitin
>
> **Douglas:** Is that a common experience sys-side?
>
> **May Then My Name:** Not that common, no. Every now and then, one of us will get tired of functional immortality and decide to just quit their instance --- that is what she did --- and disappear off the system. I do not begrudge her that.
> **May Then My Name:** Not that common, no, and hers was unique.
>
> **May Then My Name:** Every now and then, one of us will get tired of functional immortality and decide to just quit their instance --- that is what she did --- and disappear off the system. I do not begrudge her that.
>
> **Ioan:** I'm sorry for your loss, Douglas.
@ -180,9 +186,11 @@ He had to blink away tears in order to reply, and then did so quickly, hitting s
>
> **Douglas:** That just all came at once, sorry.
>
> **Douglas:** I'm sorry.
>
> **May Then My Name:** Douglas, let me tell you a story.
>
> **May Then My Name:** One of the times I had the chance to meet Michelle, I visited her sim with her. She had not built herself a house or anything, like most do, but instead built for herself an endless green field of rolling hills. Except, that, instead of letting that field be perfect, it was absolutely covered with dandelions. Weeds, basically. It was not that it was some weeded lot, but that it was a field of very obviously well-kept grass, dotted every few feet with these clusters of perfectly imperfect flowers, little suns peeking up out of their spray of leaves.
> **May Then My Name:** One of the times I had the chance to meet Michelle, I visited her sim with her. She had not built herself a house or anything, like most do, but instead built for herself an endless green field of rolling hills. Except, that, rather than letting that field be perfect, it was absolutely covered with dandelions. Weeds, basically. It was not that it was some weeded lot, but that it was a field of very obviously well-kept grass, dotted every few feet with these clusters of perfectly imperfect flowers, little suns peeking up out of their spray of leaves.
>
> **May Then My Name:** From what you say of Earth, a field of well-kept grass would be incredibly rare, and so I imagine that you understand what it would mean for something so pristine to to become filled with these flowers that everyone considered a nuisance.
>
@ -190,7 +198,7 @@ He had to blink away tears in order to reply, and then did so quickly, hitting s
>
> **May Then My Name:** Her sim was intentional in its imperfections. It was a dialectic. It was a koan, a contradiction in which sat a kernel of universal truth, understood only when one realized that both sides of that contradiction could be true at the same time.
>
> **May Then My Name:** I did not know why she invited me over to her sim to meet with me, rather than meet up at some cafe or park or office, but when I arrived, I saw that she seemed to be having a bad day, as so many of hers were. When she had a bad day, it was visible in her very body. She would flicker between two different forms, like one might flicker between two different avatars on the 'net. I am still not sure how that worked, as it was generally a violation of the norms, but no one ever called her on it, no system process ever made her stop.
> **May Then My Name:** I did not know why she invited me over to her sim to meet with me, rather than meet up at some cafe or park or office, but when I arrived, I saw that she seemed to be having a bad day, as so many of hers were. When she had a bad day, it was visible in her very body. She would flicker between two different forms, like one might flicker between two different avatars on the 'net. I am still not sure how that worked, as it was generally a violation of the norms, but no one ever called her on it, no System process ever made her stop.
>
> **May Then My Name:** I asked her about the field as we sat down on the side of a low hill, and she picked one of those dandelions. It was perfect. They have hollow stems, and the walls ooze a sticky, white latex when the stem is broken, and even that was there in the sim. She picked the flower and smelled it, then handed it to me. "When I was in school," she told me. "My friends and I would go sit in the grass above the football field and talk, and at least once a year when we did that, I would pick a dandelion and tell them that I always thought they smelled like muffins. They would always laugh."
>
@ -198,7 +206,7 @@ He had to blink away tears in order to reply, and then did so quickly, hitting s
>
> **May Then My Name:** Scent, I have been told, bears the strongest ties to memory, and this defined her in some undefinable way. We got to our business after that, but I remember smelling that flower and thinking, "Well, what do you know, it does smell like muffins."
>
> **May Then My Name:** I do not know if Michelle would have liked you or you would have liked her. I do not know if you would have felt any connection for each other, or felt like family. What I do know is that she was every bit the person you imagine her to be. Fully realized and with every bit of story that you must have imagined for her over the years. She was real. She was complex. She thought about her friends, two hundred years gone, and how they laughed.
> **May Then My Name:** I do not know if Michelle would have liked you or if you would have liked her. I do not know if you would have felt any connection for each other, or felt like family. What I do know is that she was every bit the person you imagine her to be. Fully realized and with every bit of story that you must have imagined for her over the years. She was real. She was complex. She thought about her friends, two hundred years gone, and how they laughed.
>
> **May Then My Name:** You may not have had the chance to meet her, to talk to her, but you very much knew her, in your own way.

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writing/post-self/toledot/launch/sys/Ioan/003.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Ioan Bălan - 2325
There was a rhythm to research, Ioan had found. The ideas and information did not always flow smoothly, of course. Ey would go days without breaking through the current blockage, or perhaps ey would rush forward in leaps and bounds, the periods of sleep and waking growing longer and longer until ey was out of sync from the world around em.
There was a rhythm to research, Ioan had found. The ideas and information did not always flow smoothly, of course. Sometimes, ey would go days without breaking through the current blockage, or perhaps ey would rush forward in leaps and bounds, the periods of sleep and waking growing longer and longer until ey was out of sync from the world around em.
But despite these crests and troughs, there was a rhythm. Ey would find a pace at which the project would bloom, fits and starts or a smooth progression, and would slowly be able to predict the ways in which it would move.
@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ She nodded. "Well, come here, then. Let us plan instead of read or write or what
"Woolgathering, apparently," ey mumbled, but gathered up a notebook and a pen to go plop down next to the skunk all the same.
When May had moved in with Ioan, she had quickly requested several changes to the house. A desk for her to work at, of course, as well as a private room --- a cube with all grey walls --- in which to do whatever it that she did when composing her mythos. She had also requested a few items that would work with her physiology. A stool for the desk that would let her tail drape down and curl around her feet, that sort of thing
When May had moved in with Ioan, she had quickly requested several changes to the house. A desk for her to work at as well as a private room --- a cube with all grey walls --- in which to do whatever it that she did when composing her mythos. She had also requested a few items that would work with her physiology. A stool for the desk that would let her tail drape down and curl around her feet, that sort of thing
She had not, notably, requested another room or bed, which had initially staggered em.
She had declined, however, another room or bed, which had initially staggered em.
"Are you going back home to sleep?" ey had asked. "I thought you were moving in here."
She had laughed and poked em in the stomach with a finger. "You have a bed, Ioan, yes? It fits two, yes? If not, just make it fit two."
Ey had formed few attachments, and certainly none which required sleeping in the same bed as someone. Eir confusion must have shown on eir face, as May had rolled her eyes and laughed.
Ey had formed few attachments over the years, and certainly none which required sleeping in the same bed as someone. Eir confusion must have shown on eir face, as May had rolled her eyes and laughed.
"I do not mean anything untoward by it," she had said.
@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ So now ey slept beside a skunk.
She had also requested a few beanbags that she could curl on, more comfortable than a couch for one with a (frankly enormous) tail. Each of these was larger than Ioan had felt was strictly necessary, and it had required that ey expand the bounds of the rooms to fit them, but ey had quickly gotten used to them, as ey could stretch out on them just as well as May. They were a little too amorphous to sleep on, but still plenty comfortable.
Ey sunk into a slouch on one now, feeling the way it molded around em. Ey knew well enough now to lift up the arm on the side where the skunk was curled, and she predictably scootched up by eir side to rest her head against eir chest at the shoulder, arm around eir middle. Ey let eir arm drop again, curling it around her shoulders.
Ey sunk into a slouch on one, feeling the way it molded around em. Ey knew well enough by now to lift up the arm on the side where the skunk was curled, and she predictably scootched up by eir side to rest her head against eir chest at the shoulder, arm around eir middle. Ey let eir arm drop again, curling it around her shoulders.
"Alright, planning," ey said, reaching eir free right arm down beside the beanbag for the lap desk which had proved so useful for times such as these. "What should we plan?"
@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ Ey lay back against the beanbag and May made herself comfortable against em once
More woolgathering. That's what the evening called for, more than work. More woolgathering for the both of them.
Lovers, huh? Ey let a tape run forward in eir mind. Ey watched the friendship ey had formed with May progress into some form of romantic relationship. How would it start? Would it start with em making a formal decision to let that happen? Or would it happen by accident? Would ey some day wake up and realize, *Holy shit, I think we're dating. Are we dating? I think we are.*
Lovers? Ey let a tape run forward in eir mind. Ey watched the friendship ey had formed with May progress into some form of romantic relationship. How would it start? Would it start with em making a formal decision to let that happen? Or would it happen by accident? Would ey some day wake up and realize, *Holy shit, I think we're dating. Are we dating? I think we are.*
And ey set a different tape to playing. A tape wherein ey set firmer boundaries, prohibited the friendship from progressing further than it already had. Or, worse --- strange to already be placing value judgements! --- a world in which ey pushed the skunk away, backed off from the physical affection, from the talk that bordered on flirty, from even the affectionate name 'May'. If ey let that tape play beyond that point, ey knew ey would find all of the ways in which that would hurt May and how, knowing her, seeing her express that would hurt em in turn.
@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ Ey jolted, blinking rapidly as her words registered. "Wait, what? What isn't?"
She shook her head and ey could hear the smile in her voice. "You mumble when you think really hard."
"Shit, right. Sorry. I trust you on that. I'm not mad or anything, I like where we've wound up, and don't have any plans from rolling that back. You mentioned a pattern, though, and got me thinking about it."
"Shit, right. Sorry. I trust you on that. I'm not mad or anything, I like, uh...this, and don't have any plans from rolling that back. You mentioned a pattern, though, and got me thinking about it."
"This is what I like about you, Ioan. What the whole clade likes about you, if history is anything to go by. You spend enough time up in your head that you start thinking about what you are thinking about and what you are feeling. You get surprised, and then you think about your surprise and break it down to make meaning of it. What you lack in self-awareness you make up in easy self-analysis."

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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Ioan Bălan --- 2325
"I uploaded as soon as I could. I think it was the 40s?"
"I uploaded as soon as I could. I think it was the forties?"
"Which forties?"
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Ioan smiled and jotted down the date. "Thanks. What led you to upload?"
"Sometimes I think it must've been early onset Alzheimer's." She laughed. "I just get a little spacey, is all."
"It's easy enough to do. I get stuck thinking about whatever and can't think of anything else, sometimes," ey said.
"It's easy enough to do. I get stuck thinking about this or that and can't think of anything else, sometimes," ey said.
"Oh! Yes, that's it precisely. I get stuck writing stuff in my head, and then I forget what it was that I was doing."
@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ She nodded. "Composer, conductor, violinist. Have you heard any of my stuff?"
"I listened to some while I was preparing for our meeting." Ioan smiled sheepishly. "I'll admit that much of it was over my head, but I can certainly see the skill behind it, and you play beautifully."
"Thank you for saying so," she said, giving a hint of a bow. "For both of them, I mean. I sometimes enjoy writing stuff that's hard to grasp. It makes for an experience of its own. Bafflement, confusion, lack of understanding, those are all feelings, and music is supposed to toy with feelings."
"Thank you for saying so," she said, giving a hint of a bow. "For saying all that, I mean. I sometimes enjoy writing stuff that's hard to grasp. It makes for an experience of its own. Bafflement, confusion, lack of understanding, those are all feelings, and music is supposed to toy with feelings."
"That's something I can appreciate, as well."
@ -50,13 +50,13 @@ Renee smiled gratefully. "There really was nothing in my life, otherwise. Writin
"Weird, weird. No, it was not expensive, but I did have to pay. Couple thousand francs CFA, I think?"
"I don't have much reference point for that amount. I was compensated --- well, my family was --- to upload. In terms of what the average person made where you lived, was that a lot?"
"I don't have a reference point for that amount. I was compensated --- well, my family was --- to upload, coming to about two years tuition at the university. In terms of what the average person made where you lived, was that a lot?"
She shrugged. "Not sure about an average person. It was about six months' saving for me, and musicians didn't make a ton of money."
"There wasn't much money in history, either," ey said. "Now, the reason I sought you out was two-fold. First of all, one of the things you're known for is that you found a way to send your compositions phys-side pretty early on, correct?"
"Yes. Yes! I had nearly forgotten that they pinned that on me." She laughed, leaning back in her chair. "I didn't really figure it out, so much as use something a publisher pointed out to me as a curiosity. It's nigh impossible to send images and sound back through phys-side. I guess they came through all garbled, with little bits in focus and the rest a total mess."
"Yes. Yes! I had nearly forgotten that they pinned that on me." She laughed, leaning back in her chair. "I didn't really figure it out, so much as use something a publisher pointed out to me as a curiosity. It's nigh impossible to send images and sound back through phys-side. I guess they came through all garbled, with little bits in focus and the rest a total mess. I have no clue as to the details."
"As I've heard, too. Text appears to work okay, as something more concrete."
@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Ioan laughed. "Of course. That makes sense. Did your music change after you uplo
"What happened to music phys-side that didn't here?"
"They swung back towards some older styles. Minimalism was already on the rise again, when I was leaving, and I loved the stuff. All those long notes, chords that held forever or used rhythm to add variety. Phasing." She chopped her hands unevenly in the air before herself, emphasizing the latter in a way that Ioan didn't quite understand. "Outside the System, though, it swung back toward more romantic stuff. It was all very Mahler, very Antoniewicz, very Liu. The problem with living forever, though, is that you can keep refining your craft in whatever ways you want. I stuck around with minimalism, for the most part. People keep uploading, though, and bring their ideas with them, so I've tried to diversify my works a little bit, but I write what sounds good to me."
"They swung back towards some older styles. Minimalism was already on the rise again, when I was leaving, and I loved the stuff. All those long notes, chords that held forever or used rhythm to add variety. Phasing." She chopped her hands unevenly in the air before herself, emphasizing the latter in a way that Ioan didn't understand at all. "Outside the System, though, it swung back toward more romantic stuff. It was all very Mahler, very Antoniewicz, very Liu. The problem with living forever, though, is that you can keep refining your craft in whatever ways you want. I stuck around with minimalism, for the most part. People keep uploading, though, and bring their ideas with them, so I've tried to diversify my works a little bit, but I write what sounds good to me."
"Is there a steady stream of composers joining? Enough to shift styles sys-side?"
@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ That evening, back at eir house, after ey had merged eir work-forks, after ey ha
"Sounds fun enough," May said. "But, if I am thinking of the same author, it will be quite boring."
Ioan laughed, finished chewing on the asparagus. "Fair enough. Codrin suggested that we specifically not do that, though, that it might be better to coordinate between the two launches a little better. Figure out who to interview and in what order, while the transmission time isn't too bad."
Ioan laughed, finished chewing on the asparagus. "Codrin suggested that we specifically not do that, though, that it might be better to coordinate between the two launches a little better. Figure out who to interview and in what order, while the transmission time isn't too bad."
May shrugged. "I am up for it, if all three of our groups agree."
@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ May shrugged. "I am up for it, if all three of our groups agree."
"Nothing in particular," Ioan said around a bite of fish. "Sorry. I figure stuff like why one invested in one or the other is a project that could go on forever, based on the numbers. Sure, there are only two hundred or so clades that totally invested in the launches, but the numbers are much higher on our end."
"You are thinking about Secession, are you not?" May smiled. "Clever, clever."
"You are thinking about Secession, are you not? Looking for founders to interview" May grinned. "Clever, clever."
"Am I that transparent?"
@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ Ey laughed. "Well, how much of the Council of Eight remains?"
"That she was instrumental to Secession, yeah. I was thinking of hunting down some Odists."
"A good bet, that." She looked down at her plate and said, more quietly, "Ask the first lines."
"A good bet, that." She paused, looked down at her plate and said, more quietly, "Will you ask the first lines?"
"That was my plan. I figure they were the first forked."

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@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
> The discussion of speciation continues, I see.
>
> And you know what. You all begin to convince me of this fact. If you have been following the System feeds, you will have doubtless seen the ways in which the System differs from life phys-side in levels completely so completely fundamental that they strain the imagination. We (by virtue of the fact that you are even reading this) have all used the 'net. To greater or lesser extents, we have all felt the ways in which it is different than 'real life'. I myself have often found the ways in which tactility differs here from out in the world: there is touch, yes, and there is something akin to the sensation of hot and cold (thermoception, the dictionary tells me), and it obviously could not function without a fairly accurate simulacrum of proprioception. If you don't know where you end and the rest of the sim begins, it is nigh useless as a shared space.
> And you know what? You all begin to convince me of this fact. If you have been following the System feeds, you will have doubtless seen the ways in which the System differs from life phys-side in levels completely so completely fundamental that they strain the imagination. We (by virtue of the fact that you are even reading this) have all used the 'net. To greater or lesser extents, we have all felt the ways in which it is different than 'real life'. I myself have often found the ways in which tactility differs here from out in the world: there is touch, yes, and there is something akin to the sensation of hot and cold (thermoception, the dictionary tells me), and it obviously could not function without a fairly accurate simulacrum of proprioception. If you don't know where you end and the rest of the sim begins, it is nigh useless as a shared space.
>
> But touch? Touch is subtly different in so many ways. I remarked on this to a friend who is far, far more into the tech side than I am, and he immediately mentioned that he had felt similar. The reason, he explained, is that no matter how hard the implants try, they can only approximate the sensation of touch. Hearing? Fine. We have decoded the phenomenon of sound well enough that we are able to toss sense in there just fine. Smell? Well, that's a bit more difficult, as I've read that there is some funny quantum aspects to that sensation. In the end, however, it is just a matter of simulating chemical interactions well enough.
> But touch? Touch is subtly different in so many ways. I remarked on this to a friend who is far, far more into the tech side than I am, and he immediately mentioned that he had felt similar. The reason, he explained, is that no matter how hard the implants try, they can only approximate the sensation of touch. Hearing? Fine. We have decoded the phenomenon of sound well enough that we are able to toss that sense in there just fine. Smell? Well, that's a bit more difficult, as I've read that there is some funny quantum aspects to that sensation. In the end, however, it is just a matter of simulating chemical interactions well enough.
>
> Touch is so inexact, though. For each person it is different, and for each location on the body, the reaction is different. If you touch me on the shoulder, I might turn around to look at you. If you stick your finger in my ear (please don't) I will likely react much more violently. However, if *I* stick my finger in my ear, it elicits no such reaction, and can even feel pleasant.
>
@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
> And what a small one, too! Consider the larger ones:
>
> * *Forking:* Those who upload can create copies of themselves. Complete and total copies that live and experience completely separate lives. Not only that, but when a fork wants (*if* a fork wants!) it can merge back with the original copy or persona or whatever you want to call it, and then that persona has the memories of *both* copies. This beggars the imagination: we simply have no way to *actually* understand this, bound as we are by the laws of physics.
> * *Reputation markets:* Well, I say we're bound by the laws of physics, but on a subtler level, they are as well. The System only has so much capacity (though it is growing every few months, I hear), so in order to limit this potentially boundless expansion, there needs to be some factor which places limits on them, whether it's strictly for keeping bad actors at bay or simply to conserve space for new arrivals.
> * *Reputation markets:* Well, I say we're bound by the laws of physics, but on a subtler level, they are as well. The System only has so much capacity (though it is growing every few months), so in order to limit this potentially boundless expansion, there needs to be some factor which places limits on them, whether it's strictly for keeping bad actors at bay or simply to conserve space for new arrivals.
>
> But of what use is money to them? They don't *need* to eat. They don't *need* to pay for travel. There is nothing for them to buy except this capacity to create, which means there is no money changing hands. Instead, they have decided on a currency of reputation. The more you do and interact and contribute, whether it is from being on the Council of Eight or simply having a really good conversation with a friend, you accrue reputation, and it is through this mechanism that one pays for expansion. Create more? Interact more? Gain the *ability* to create more, the *ability* to interact more.
> * *Creative potential:* This is what happens when you combine the first point with the second. Say you are a mathematician. It can be frustrating to work on a complex problem one step at a time, and managing a team comes with its own problems. What if you had more brain power to throw at the problem, and that brain power had *exactly the same knowledge* going into it? Obviously, there are plenty more situations that require collaboration with other unique individuals, but this alone makes it worthwhile. Already, there have been great contributions to the fields of math, theoretical physics, literature, and sociology/psychology. Hell, some of these are already being used to earn money which is being put to use in the day-to-day demands of the System. For them, though, this is the basis of an economy that cherishes such pursuits. Already, we are seeing more individuals in those fields uploading than any other.
@ -38,17 +38,17 @@
As soon as he received confirmation that his post was visible on the DDR forums, Yared backed out from his rig and headed for the door, stretching a crick out of his spine as he went.
This had become routine. The action of posting a particularly frustrating essay to the forums had often been followed by going out for coffee, but now, as soon as he posted, he knew that Councilor Demma would arrive for a debriefing. This had turned into coffee together every two days. Yared would always go to the shop at the end of his street and wait for Demma's tireless driver to show up, buy three coffees and three pieces of himbasha, and lead him to the car. Sometimes, they drove out past the edge of the city to the fields of low-moisture corn and beans. Sometimes, they drove into the city center by Government House and walk the perimeter.
This had become routine. The action of posting a particularly frustrating essay to the forums had often been followed by going out for coffee, but now, as soon as he posted, he knew that Councilor Demma would arrive for a debriefing. This had turned into coffee together every two days. Yared would always go to the shop at the end of his street and wait for Demma's tireless driver to show up, buy three coffees and three pieces of himbasha, and lead him to the car. Sometimes, they drove out past the edge of the city to the fields of low-moisture corn and beans. Sometimes, they drove into the city center by Government House and walked the perimeter.
Or, as today, they simply sat in Demma's car, sipping on coffees and nibbling sweet bread while they talked.
"Mr Zerezghi," the well-dressed driver said, enough acknowledgement for the day.
"Mr. Zerezghi," the well-dressed driver said, enough acknowledgement for the day.
The owner of the coffee shop had already made their order as soon as Yared showed his face, so they collected their tray of drinks and food and walked through the late morning heat to the black car that stood idly by.
As always, it took Yared a moment to acclimatize to the blast of conditioned air that greeted him when he slipped into the car, so Yosef Demma sipped his coffee and waited until Yared could speak once more.
"Mr Zerezghi, a pleasure to see you as always. How are you? Have you had a good day?"
"Mr. Zerezghi, a pleasure to see you as always. How are you? Have you had a good day?"
"Yes, Councilor," Yared said, sipping at his coffee to stave off the chill of the air. "I trust that you have as well?"
@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ The formalities, those were also rote by now.
Yared nodded. "Thank you, sir."
The man leaned back against his seat, switching his coffee for a slice of the himbasha. "You know, originally, my constituents and I were nervous about the idea of letting you craft your own posts. Many thought it unwise to let you choose your own words, thinking it best that we write your arguments for you and simply post them. I disagreed, as I think that something of your style would be lost in the process. You rely on a lot of imagery and word choices that are good at swaying readers, and I think this isn't a thing that my speech writers would be able to accomplish. You have recently changed their minds."
The councilor leaned back against his seat, switching his coffee for a slice of the himbasha. "You know, originally, my constituents and I were nervous about the idea of letting you craft your own posts. Many thought it unwise to let you choose your own words, thinking it best that we write your arguments for you and have you simply post them. I disagreed, as I think that something of your style would be lost in the process. You rely on a lot of imagery and word choices that are good at swaying readers, and I think this isn't necessarily a thing that my speech writers would be able to accomplish. You have recently changed their minds."
"I'm happy to hear that. I like to think I'm a good writer."
@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Leaning back into his seat and holding his empty coffee cup in his hands to leac
The note had come late the night before, delivered via courier, along with an apology that he had been given so little time to work it into his next post. *Begin to agree with speciation,* it had read, and a tang of distaste tickled at his senses. *Not quickly, just hint that you're being swayed. Say you're starting to be convinced, but that this only strengthens your arguments.*
Demma reached out a hand for Yared's cup, as he always did, and crumpled it together with his to dispose of in a waste basket hidden in the back of one of the seats of the car. "Mr Zerezghi," he said, bowing slightly in his seat. "Thank you once more. I won't take up any more of your time. You should have your next suggestion in the next day or two."
Demma reached out a hand for Yared's cup, as he always did, and crumpled it together with his to dispose of in a waste basket hidden in the back of one of the seats of the car. "Mr. Zerezghi," he said, bowing slightly in his seat. "Thank you once more. I won't take up any more of your time. You should have your next suggestion in the next day or two."
Yared returned the bow and, as if that were the command he was waiting for, the driver opened the door to let him out into the growing heat of the day. He swayed once more at the shock of the temperature difference.
@ -90,80 +90,80 @@ A sudden wave of exhaustion crashed over him, but all the same, he settled back
A message was already waiting for him at his desk, so, in the sim, he sat down before it, smiling inwardly at the oddly duplicated action.
**Jonas:** Yared! Beautifully done. Ping when you're back around.
> **Jonas Prime:** Yared! Beautifully done. Ping when you're back around.
He swiped a keyboard into view and instructed his desk to do just that.
**Jonas:** Welcome back. How goes?
**Yared:** Well enough. Hot as ever. Thanks, by the way. Think the post will help?
> **Jonas:** Welcome back. How goes?
>
> **Yared Zerezghi:** Well enough. Hot as ever. Thanks, by the way. Think the post will help?
Inwardly, he fretted, worrying that his counterparts in the System had picked up on the sudden change in direction.
**The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream:** Probably! I am pleased that you enjoyed my description of brushing and petting.
**Yared:** I felt it got the point across quite nicely.
**True Name**: That it did.
**Jonas:** We've been tracking the speciation argument, as far as we can see, and it's an interesting idea. I go back and forth on it. Sometimes, it feels like a distinction without a difference, and sometimes, phys-side ideas just leave me completely baffled. I've forgotten how strange the System sounded when I was outside of it.
**True Name:** Yes. It is a good talking point, but also a line that you should walk carefully. I worry that it will lead the discussion back to the "sub-human" arguments that pop up here and there.
> **The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream:** Probably! I am pleased that you enjoyed my description of brushing and petting.
>
> **Yared:** I felt it got the point across quite nicely.
>
> **True Name**: That it did.
>
> **Jonas:** We've been tracking the speciation argument, as far as we can see, and it's an interesting idea. I go back and forth on it. Sometimes, it feels like a distinction without a difference, and sometimes, phys-side ideas just leave me completely baffled. I've forgotten how strange the System sounded when I was outside of it.
>
> **True Name:** Yes. It is a good talking point, but also a line that you should walk carefully. I worry that it will lead the discussion back to the "sub-human" arguments that pop up here and there.
His heart dropped. So they had picked up on the change.
**Yared:** I'm worried about that as well. Still, when I've argued on the forums in the past, I've found that building a strong argument and then slipping a little bit of empathy for the other side nudges them to do the same.
> **Yared:** I'm worried about that as well. Still, when I've argued on the forums in the past, I've found that building a strong argument and then slipping a little bit of empathy for the other side nudges them to do the same.
A lie, but hopefully a helpful one.
**True Name:** I had not thought of that, but I was never big into the DDR. Calling it both "Direct Democracy" and a "Representative" made it sound disingenuous.
**Jonas:** I mean, it makes sense. If they start feeling empathy in the equation, maybe they'll start feeling empathy towards us.
**Yared:** That's the hope! Some of these people though...
**Jonas:** Numbskulls.
**True Name:** Dipshits.
**Yared:** Both accurate.
**True Name:** Just do not generate too much empathy in them. I do not want them latching onto anything that they can then use against you.
**True Name:** Against us, in the end.
**Yared:** Of course! I'll keep monitoring the forums and chatter, and it looks like some governments are waking up to it.
**True Name:** Whoopee.
**Jonas:** I'll have you know that she just rolled her eyes at me.
**True Name:** Jerk.
**Yared:** Haha. Still, I think it'll help. It means that this is is going to be taken into consideration and not just turn into a DDR-only referendum. If we get them discussing it, then we have a smaller target to influence. DDR votes carry less weight when gov'ts weigh in. They read the forums as much as any DDR junkie, so the arguments carry more weight.
**True Name:** As much as it pains me to admit, you have a point.
**Jonas:** When you get a chance, you and I can go into it more in depth, Yared.
**Yared:** Have some thoughts?
**Jonas:** I was a politician phys-side, so, yeah.
**True Name:** WHAT
**True Name:** You are kidding.
**Jonas:** I'll have you know that she just punched me in the shoulder.
**True Name:** And I will do it again. Fucking gross.
**Jonas:** I'll have you know that she did, indeed, do it again.
> **True Name:** I had not thought of that, but I was never big into the DDR. Calling it both "Direct Democracy" and a "Representative" made it sound disingenuous.
>
> **Jonas:** I mean, it makes sense. If they start feeling empathy in the equation, maybe they'll start feeling empathy towards us.
>
> **Yared:** That's the hope! Some of these people though...
>
> **Jonas:** Numbskulls.
>
> **True Name:** Dipshits.
>
> **Yared:** Both accurate.
>
> **True Name:** Just do not generate too much empathy in them. I do not want them latching onto anything that they can then use against you.
>
> **True Name:** Against us, in the end.
>
> **Yared:** Of course! I'll keep monitoring the forums and chatter, and it looks like some governments are waking up to it.
>
> **True Name:** Whoopee.
>
> **Jonas:** I'll have you know that she just rolled her eyes at me.
>
> **True Name:** Jerk.
>
> **Yared:** Haha. Still, I think it'll help. It means that this is is going to be taken into consideration and not just turn into a DDR-only referendum. If we get them discussing it, then we have a smaller target to influence. DDR votes carry less weight when gov'ts weigh in. They read the forums as much as any DDR junkie, so the arguments carry more weight.
>
> **True Name:** As much as it pains me to admit, you have a point.
>
> **Jonas:** When you get a chance, you and I can go into it more in depth, Yared.
>
> **Yared:** Have some thoughts?
>
> **Jonas:** I was a politician phys-side, so, yeah.
>
> **True Name:** WHAT
>
> **True Name:** You are kidding.
>
> **Jonas:** I'll have you know that she just punched me in the shoulder.
>
> **True Name:** And I will do it again. Fucking gross.
>
> **Jonas:** I'll have you know that she did, indeed, do it again.
Yared laughed. He was pleased to see them in good spirits.
**Yared:** Don't beat him up too bad, True Name. He probably does have some good info, even if it is a few years old.
**True Name:** ...
**True Name:** I GUESS
> **Yared:** Don't beat him up too bad, True Name. He probably does have some good info, even if it is a few years old.
>
> **True Name:** ...
>
> **True Name:** I GUESS

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@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
# True Name --- 2124
The next meeting spot for the Council of Eight was in a rooftop bar. However, given that that rooftop bar was in the midst of a block of apartment buildings and vertical malls that had simply built with shared walls, such that there was a cubic half-mile of stair-climbing, elevator rides --- down as well as up --- and trestles that bridged buildings of lower height than higher ones, it was more adventure getting to the venue than the meeting itself promised.
The next meeting spot for the Council of Eight was in a rooftop bar. However, given that that rooftop bar was in the midst of a block of apartment buildings and vertical malls that had built with shared walls, such that there was a cubic half-mile of stair-climbing, elevator rides --- down as well as up --- and trestles that bridged buildings of lower height than higher ones, it was more adventure getting to the venue than the meeting itself promised.
Still, The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream climbed.
The apartment buildings ranged from serviceable to gutted, and more than one time, she had to step carefully through a path cleared in rubble. She could not decipher whether this was due to abandoned renovations, some unknown battle, or the simple degradations of time.
The apartment buildings ranged from serviceable to gutted, and more than one time, she had to step carefully through a path covered in rubble. She could not decipher whether this was due to abandoned renovations, some unknown battle, or the simple degradations of time.
The malls offered different dichotomies. Some of them were sparkling new with speakers that whispered to her in Mandarin and lights that shouted in her face, while others played placid muzak through halls lit only by emergency lights, darkened storefronts yawning onto scuffed and over-waxed parquet floors.
@ -12,11 +12,13 @@ She wondered who it was that had owned this sim, what collective it was that had
And then, the rooftop bar. Despite no vehicle entrance to the complex, this was situated on the top level of what appeared to be a car park straight out of a mid-western American airport, complete with one or two of those vehicles that seemed perpetually parked, ones that had lingered for months or years, accruing a parking debt of thousands, tens of thousands of dollars.
The bar itself was something of a pop-up, with walls and ceiling of corrugated plastic held together with rivets and tape, a bar-top that was a few two-by-eights set across a trestle, fronted with further corrugated plastic to keep the patrons from kicking fridges or sinks out of alignment.
The bar itself was a pop-up affair, with walls and ceiling of corrugated plastic held together with rivets and tape, a bar-top that was a few two-by-eights set across a trestle, fronted with further corrugated plastic to keep the patrons from kicking fridges or sinks out of alignment.
The drinks: early 2100s hipster bullshit, all intensely sweet or riddled with smoke-scented fizzy water or long strips of seaweed or clams within the ice cubes, steadily making the drink more and more savory over time.
True Name found it all confusing and jarring. She liked it immediately.
True Name found it all confusing and jarring.
She liked it immediately.
Debarre was already at one of the tables --- similarly cobbled together --- sipping something that seemed to be all foam. He waved to her as she entered, and she waved back, heading to the bar to pick up one of those seaweed concoctions before joining him.
@ -40,13 +42,13 @@ He shrugged, still staring down into his drink. "I can't speak to that, I guess.
True Name slammed her glass down on the table a bit harder than intended, some of the drink spilling over her hand. "Do not say that fucking name."
The weasel jumped at the sudden intensity, and when he recovered, he finally met her gaze. His expression softened from anger to a tired sadness. That moment drew out for a long few seconds, quiet and seething, sad. He reached for a napkin from the dispenser at the end of the table and handed it to her. "Here."
The weasel jumped at the sudden intensity, and when he recovered, he finally met her gaze. His expression softened from fear and anger to a tired sadness. That moment drew out for a long few seconds, quiet and seething, sad. He reached for a napkin from the dispenser at the end of the table and handed it to her. "Here."
She hesitated, mastered a surge of unnamed emotion, and accepted the napkin to wipe the sticky drink from her paw and then, realizing that she was crying, the tears from her face. "Sorry, I am just..."
She hesitated, mastered a surge of unnamed emotion, and accepted the napkin to wipe the sticky drink from her paw and then, on realizing that she was crying, the tears from her face. "Sorry, I am just..."
"We'll talk." He reached over and gave her dry paw a squeeze in his own. "Michelle and I will. There's something I'm missing here is all, and I want to figure out why more than what."
True Name hid her muzzle in her drink and pretended to take a sip until she was sure she wouldn't slur her words when she spoke. "Thank you. She is open to messages still, I will let you two work it out. For now, I need to focus on the meeting, because Jonas and Zeke are here."
True Name hid her muzzle in her drink and pretended to take a sip until she was sure she wouldn't slur her words when she spoke. "Thank you. She is open to messages still, I will let you two work it out. For now, I need to focus on the meeting. Jonas and Zeke are here."
Looking over his shoulder, Debarre nodded and turned to sit on the bench to face her again, leaving room for the other two. Jonas settled next to True Name so that they could give their speech together when the time came, and Zeke, that shifting bundle of rags and grime slid onto the bench beside Debarre.
@ -62,7 +64,7 @@ There was a low rattle from the rags, and True Name imagined that must be Zeke's
"Why *did* you make it so expensive?" Jonas elbowed True Name in the side.
She held up her paws defensively and laughed. "I did not! The price is tied to system capacity."
She held up her paws defensively and laughed. "I did not. The price is tied to system capacity."
"The laws of physics were a mistake and reputation is a lie."
@ -76,7 +78,7 @@ And so on, until the table was full and the cone of silence fell.
"Right," Jonas said, setting his drink down. "The bill. Things are progressing slowly, as they always do, but it sounds like they might start picking up steam shortly. Our main contact on the DDR side, one Yared Zerezghi based out of the Northeast African Coalition, says that some of the governments are starting to take interest in the bill, which could work to our advantage. Having it just be a direct vote would mean that we would have far, far more representatives to convince, since that'd mean essentially everyone on the DDR. The more governments in play, the more the role of the DDR shrinks."
"How does that even begin to help? Aren't they super stodgy?"
"How does that even begin to help? Aren't they super stodgy?" Debarre asked.
"They can be," Jonas hedged. "But if we can form contacts with each of them, we can argue our case directly. Yared might be the one to give us a good in for the NEAC, and I still have some Western Fed contacts."
@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ He shrugged again.
Zeke nodded to True Name. "What's your take on the situation?"
She sipped at her drink to buy herself some time to think. "I think it is leaning our way. One of the big arguments remains speciation, but Yared's turning that into a pro-rights argument instead of a neutral- or anti-rights one. His voice is getting louder, too. It sounds like he is getting a lot more upvotes on his posts than before."
She stirred her drink to buy herself some time to think. "I think it is leaning our way. One of the big arguments remains speciation, but Yared's turning that into a pro-rights argument instead of a neutral- or anti-rights one. His voice is getting louder, too. It sounds like he is getting a lot more upvotes on his posts than before."
"That's good."
@ -108,7 +110,7 @@ True Name nodded. "I think so. He is not the biggest voice on the issue, but it
"You said he's NEAC, right?"
"Yeah, Addis Ababa," Jonas said. "Not exactly the seat of power, but not I guess not everything has to be Cairo. Sounds like we have a good mix, at least. No one from South America?"
"Yeah, Addis Ababa," Jonas said. "Not exactly the seat of power, but I guess not everything has to be Cairo. Sounds like we have a good mix, at least. No one from South America?"
Everyone shook their heads.
@ -126,13 +128,13 @@ One of the suits laughed, and Debarre looked blank.
After a moment's silence, Zeke rasped, "So what are our next steps?"
"Let's all talk to our respective interests --- Zeke too --- and we'll meet again soon. True Name and I will keep working with Yared and steer as best we can from our side. Speaking of, though, any thoughts on the speciation topic?"
"Let's all talk to our respective interests --- Zeke too --- and we'll meet again soon. True Name and I will keep working with Yared and guide as best we can from our side. Speaking of, though, any thoughts on the speciation topic?"
Six sets of eyes flitted between Debarre and True Name, between weasel and skunk, then the whole council laughed.
"I don't give a shit," user11824 said. "But if your Yared guy can twist that argument against the opposition, then that's just one more tool, isn't it?"
"We aren't seeing that," the man in the suit spoke up. "Two thirds of our power structure still thinks child restrictions are a good enough idea that those laws have bled into Russia, too. I'm pretty sure they see speciation as a positive. What better way to help in population control?"
"We aren't seeing that," the man in the suit spoke up. "Two thirds of our power structure still think child restrictions are a good enough idea that those laws have bled into Russia. I'm pretty sure they see speciation as a positive. What better way to help in population control?"
One of his companions shrugged, "I wouldn't be surprised if they started putting limitations on uploading by gender, but that is a separate topic."

6
writing/post-self/toledot/secession/sys/True-Name/002.md
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@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ True Name set her empty glass aside and slid out to follow him.
The next sim they traveled to was an apartment. Something high up, somewhere over a city she didn't recognize. It was well furnished and quite spacious, but could hardly be called upscale.
As soon as they arrived, two other members of the Jonas clade appeared from a room that appeared to lead to an office. There was no doubt about their identity as Jonases: they were identical.
As soon as they arrived, two other members of the Jonas clade appeared from a door that appeared to lead to an office. There was no doubt about their identity as Jonases: they were identical.
"Skillfully done," she said, laughing. "Who was I speaking to today? Not Jonas Prime, I imagine."
@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ He and the other Jonas left to go pick up where the work had been left off in th
"How often do you show up at council as Prime?" she asked, once they were seated.
"Used to be every time," he said. "Then one day, I nearly missed it and was in the middle of a discussion, so I sent Ar. I was nervous that someone would see through it, but no one did. I tried to keep going myself for a while, but after there were no repercussions, I gave up on it, and alternate between the other six."
"Used to be every time," he said. "Then one day, I nearly missed it and was in the middle of a...discussion, so I sent Ar. I was nervous that someone would see through it, but no one did. I tried to keep going myself for a while, but after there were no repercussions, I gave up on it, and alternate between the other six."
"Six?"
@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ He and the other Jonas left to go pick up where the work had been left off in th
"I trust you'll keep quiet about it."
True Name grinned, putting her finger to her snout in the near universal hush sign. "It is a neat enough trick. I think that the Ode clade already differs too much to send one of them in my place, so perhaps not for me."
True Name grinned, putting her finger to her snout in the universal hush sign. "It is a neat enough trick. I think that the Ode clade already differs too much to send one of them in my place, so perhaps not for me."
"It's up to you, yeah." Jonas sat back against the couch, one arm draped casually along the back. "I honestly was surprised when no one noticed my reputation drop, but then I figured out that most people just look at the clade's reputation, rather than the instances. I have a feeling that'll change eventually, but for now, no one seems to pay all that much attention."