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Madison Scott-Clary 2021-12-18 18:15:05 -08:00
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writing/post-self/neviim/remote/codrin/006.md
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@ -48,28 +48,82 @@ Her shoulders sagged. "Would you like information specifically relating to our a
"This is a good place to begin."
...
The skunk looked as though she hadn't the faintest idea of where to begin, as though too many thoughts clouded her mind for her to decide.
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The next note that came from Artemis included a block of clade-eyes-only text for Turun Ka. When Codrin#Assist handed it to #Artemis, ey shrugged, saying only, "It appears Codrin#Emissary has instructed them on how to relay such. I guess ey did a while back, actually, but this is the first time they've taken advantage of it. Or, well..." Ey trailed off.
Codrin nodded toward her, "By your leave, True Name?"
"Hard to tell how much time has passed up there?" Codrin#Artemis asked?
"Please, Mx. Bălan." She sounded quite relieved.
\#Assist nodded, smiling wryly. "Haven't the faintest. Anyway, I'm not sure how you want to pass it over. I figured a separate sheet would be easiest and you can decide from there. The news from #Emissary seems mostly to be about the Odists, so perhaps that's what Turun Ka is getting."
"Prior to the founding of the System two hundred thirty-one years ago, long distance communication and interaction took place over a global network. It worked much as it does here, in that there are areas --- sims, a name which has stuck with us --- and we interacted through forms such as these. The origin of our System came about shortly after a brief period of political unrest wherein some political organizations released a type of virus into the implanted hardware we used to connect to the 'net. Those who came across too much information relating to this unrest had the virus triggered and were trapped in a vegetative state, locked within their minds." Ey paused and looked to True Name, who nodded. Answers Will Not Help just hugged her arms to her front, looking pale as she silently mouthed some litany ey couldn't guess. "Michelle Hadje, the root instance of the Ode clade, to which True Name and Why Ask Questions belong, was one of these individuals. The lost, they called them. Dear, my partner, is an Odist as well, and mentioned to me beforehand that a malleable sense of time sounded much like what it experienced during that period."
Ey frowned, nodded, and skimmed quickly over the letter addressed to em. Eir frown deepened. "Thanks. Here, hold on--" Ey quickly jotted *Message received, will ask* on a slip of foolscap and handed it to the other Codrin. "Send this for now, just so we're on the same page at as close to the same time as we can manage."
"You are not normally like this," Turun Ka said. A statement rather than a question. "My counterpart on Castor describes you as solely in the form you primarily occupy here, and Why Ask Questions solely in, *lu*...a human form. You are both described as calm, confident, and politically adroit."
"Whatever that means," ey said, laughing and pocketing the slip. Ey prodded em in the shoulder and added, "Dear threatened to beat me up because of you, so thanks for that."
True Name winced as though the words beat at her. "It is uncomfortable for me to be in this state. I am not up to my usual standards."
Codrin#Artemis laughed. "Well, did it?"
"This has led-turned-into a situation of unequality-power-dynamic," Turun Ko said, picking up where the leader had left off. "For this we express-offer concern-well-wishes-condolences."
"No, of course not."
"We are unable, at this point in the convergence, to accept other delegates, or we would offer you greater respite than we have already," Turun Ka finished.
"Just have to pull harder, then." Ey sighed and shook eir head. "Self-deprecating humor aside, tell them I miss them."
"Thank you for your concern," the skunk said. "I understand your reasoning, and would not wish to miss these discussions. I have trust in Mx. Bălan, Mr. Brahe, and Ms. Genet, however, to share our load."
Ey nodded. "Of course. I'd fork and merge back down if I could."
Both Turun Ka and Turun Ko bowed their heads in assent, the leader adding, "As always, we will strive to make your stay as comfortable as possible."
True Name nodded her thanks.
At a glance from Artante, the Artemisians slid up to fast time for a brief conversation before returning. "We of fourthrace experienced similar prior to the creation of our embedding system. This was the result of a war, a virus targeting a nation that led large sections of the population being affected."
"Were they able to free those who were?"
"Only approximately a quarter. Some three million of my race died from various causes while...lost."
Codrin blinked, leaning back in eir chair. "Three *million?* Good Lord..."
Artante nodded. "Of those who returned, all suffered what representative Sarah Genet has called post-traumatic stress disorder. None were affected such as you, leader True Name and representative Why Ask Questions, but many also experienced chronic episodes of psychosis combined with logorrhea, glossolalia, and graphomania, if I am understanding the terms properly."
Codrin's eyes darted over to Answers Will Not Help --- as, ey noticed, did the rest of the emissaries. She averted her gaze, lips still mouthing countless words. Ey hastened to catch up on the notes ey'd been taking to cover for emself.
"Did any of those affected upload? Or...embed?" True Name asked.
"Of those who did not take their own lives, all--"
"I cannot feel em!" Answers Will Not Help interrupted, nearly shouting. Tears were streaming down her face, now. "I cannot...here...b-beside whom..."
Something akin to anger or fear tore through True Name's exhaustion and she sat bolt upright, glaring down the row of emissaries to Answers Will Not Help. "Why Ask Questions, my dear, please do try to remain present," she said, voice eerily calm, soothing.
The silence at the table was absolute. All delegates on both sides held still, and Codrin suspected that all of the emissaries from Castor were holding their breath. All had experienced the laser-focused wrath of at least one of the Odists in the weeks leading up to the conference.
Answers Will Not Help hunched her shoulders, cowed. Every ounce of control she had remaining seemed to be dedicated to keeping her crying as quiet as possible.
"Leader True Name," Artante asked, voice just as soothing. "You do not need to answer, but may I ask what just happened?"
"I will not answer, representative Artante Diria," she said, voice once more slipping into exhaustion as a wave of human form washed over her features. "It is a private matter between me and her. My apologies."
The fourthracer bowed her head. "I understand. Would you like to take a break?"
"Perhaps a brief break would be nice," Sarah said, nodding. "We can collect ourselves and perhaps move onto a separate aspect of the history of the System."
True Name nodded.
"Your break-respite need not be brief-short," Turun Ko said. "We are able-to-permitted skew the unison room to allow for longer rests."
"No!" This time, Answers Will Not Help did shout. "Sorry. No, please do not --- motes in the stage-lights --- please do not modify time. No, no no no, please..."
Iska's expression had steadily grown more and more alarmed, at Codrin's guess, throughout the proceedings. "I do not--"
"We will reconvene in fifteen minutes," Turun Ka said. Nothing in its voice changed from how it normally spoke, though it having spoke was enough to quell Iska to silence. "Representative Artante, representative Iska, please convene to address this issue moving forward from a technical and psychological standpoint. When we return, we will indeed move on to another subject."
Iska bowed their head in assent.
Answers Will Not Help was sobbing in earnest now, stifling it as best she can with her face hidden behind the notebook she had before her but had yet to touch.
*"I cannot feel em"? Feel who?* Codrin thought, frowning.
Ey leaned forward again to write notes on what had just happened, but before eir pen could touch paper, True Name pulled it slowly but insistently from eir hand.
"Nothing of these happenings is to wind up in writing except that it be sent as a clade-eyes-only letter to the Odists," she said, the words softened by a shaky smile. "I would like to discuss these events with my cocladists, first."
Ey nodded numbly, accepting eir now-capped pen back.
"Now, I would like to lie down during this break. Please accompany me so that I may dictate this letter."
"I'll see them soon enough, I guess. A few weeks, tops."
-->
Discusses openly about news from Artemis and some of the problems the Systems have had in the past, Artemisians describe some of their own. AWNH and TN are both struggling now, each getting occasional flickers of Sasha/Michelle. They call a brief break, Turun Ko says take as long as you need b/c time is maleable, AWNH cries, refuses.