update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/mitzvot/036.md

@@ -246,9 +246,11 @@ Ioan wasn't sure why ey kept feeling surprised at the number of loose threads fr
 
 The same was true here, as well. Many members of the clade --- some of whom ey'd not yet met --- visited and requested time with Sasha or with the three of them. Still, ey realized, this culmination came after two and a quarter centuries for some, so perhaps it made sense.
 
-Not all of these interactions went nearly so smoothly.
+Not all of these interactions went smoothly.
 
-A scant few weeks later, May stumbled in the middle of a rehearsal, falling to her knees, panting, before pushing herself to her feet. She managed to make it through the rest of the scene before forking off so that she could continue as best she could while her root instance ducked back home.
+Barely a month after that dinner with Debarre and Douglas on the field, two of the most dramatic happened within the span of a week.
+
+May stumbled in the middle of a Wednesday morning rehearsal rehearsal, falling to her knees, panting, before pushing herself to her feet. She managed to make it through the rest of the scene before forking off so that she could continue as best she could while her root instance ducked back home.
 
 Once there, she darted over towards where Ioan sat at eir desk, working through the process of writing Jonas's book. She knelt beside em, clutched a pawful of eir shirt and set up a cone of silence. Ey felt the ACL-scape of the cone shift several times until it was just about as secure as could be made.
 
@@ -272,37 +274,37 @@ Ey stepped from the cone, where May had clearly blocked sensorium messages from
 
 "A neutral place?"
 
-Ey thought quickly, sent a message to Douglas. "Do you need May there?" ey finally replied to the fox.
+"Do you need May there?"
 
 "Yes!"
 
 Ey sighed. "I'll ask. No guarantees."
 
-"No, I...no," the skunk mumbled once ey stepped back into the cone. She'd managed to sit up and while the panicked look on her face had calmed, the beginnings of rage had taken its place. "Or...well, I can, but he cannot come here."
+"No, I...no," the skunk mumbled once ey stepped back into the cone. She'd managed to sit up and while the panicked look on her face had calmed, the beginnings of rage had taken its place. "He cannot come here."
 
-"Maybe Douglas's to keep him from being too much? I figure if Sasha's reaction was anything to go by, it might quell him, or at least keep him distracted."
+"Maybe Douglas's to keep him from being too much? If Sasha's reaction was anything to go by, it might quell him, or at least keep him distracted."
 
-The skunk sat, silent, for a moment, holding onto one of eir hands tightly. "Alright. Will Douglas be around to sweep if needed?"
+The skunk sat, silent, for a moment, holding onto one of eir hands tightly. "Will Douglas be around to sweep if needed?"
 
 Ey nodded.
 
 "Now?"
 
-"Yeah, I think so. Do you need anything before we go?"
+"Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure I trust that he'll leave you alone if we put him off."
 
 "I--"
 
 They were interrupted by a rapidly crescendoing thudding sound followed by the scrabble of claws on the glass of the sliding door, Sasha finally finding purchase and whipping it open. May dropped the cone of silence.
 
-"What the fuck is happening?!" she shouted.
+"What the fuck is happening?!" Sasha shouted.
 
-"You too, then?" May said bitterly.
+"You too, then?"
 
-Sasha frowned, straightened up, and brushed out her tunic. "Yes. He just about knocked me out with the amount of adrenaline he sent my way. You look ready to go. Do you have a plan?"
+Sasha frowned, straightened up, and brushed out her tunic. "Yes. He just about knocked me out with the amount of adrenaline he sent my way. You look ready to go, though. Do you have a plan?"
 
 "We're going to meet him at Douglas's field. That's about the start and end of it, though." Ioan took a deep breath and tried to tamp down the urge to pace. "Do you want to come?"
 
-Ey watched the heat of anger rise to her features as well. Both skunks were quickly heading towards fury. "Yes. Let us get this the fuck over with."
+Ey watched a complex set of emotions play out over her features. She stood still for nearly a minute, working to master them, before nodding. "Yes. Let us get this the fuck over with."
 
 Ioan sent a message to Zacharias spoken aloud for the skunks' benefit. "The Field#002a0b1."
 
@@ -320,23 +322,23 @@ Douglas stood at the top of his stoop, arms crossed, frowning. "Ioan, what is th
 
 Douglas's frown deepened. "So you're bringing him here? The ACLs are pretty locked down right now."
 
-"Yes. We need somewhere where someone can sweep him if need be." She grinned humorlessly, adding, "And if this place freaks him out, all the better.
+"Yes. I do not want to meet him at all, but I do not imagine he will simply leave me alone." She spent a moment composing herself, plastering a mask of confidence over her anxiety. "We need somewhere where someone can sweep him if need be."
 
 "If you say so," he said, paused, then continued, "Alright, he should be able to enter."
 
-Ioan nodded and sent a brief ping to Zacharias.
+Ioan nodded and sent a ping to Zacharias.
 
 He arrived within a fraction of a second, yelped, and fell backwards, paws balled up into fists and pressed tight against his eyes.
 
-"How long has it been for you, my dear? Since you were forked?" May said, kneeling down before the fox. Her voice had grown cloyingly sweet, that 'my dear' carrying nothing but spite.
+"How long has it been for you, my dear? Since you were forked?" May said, kneeling down before the fox. Her voice had grown cloyingly sweet, that 'my dear' taking on a spiteful tone.
 
 "Y-yes," he gasped. "Did...did we have to meet here?"
 
-"Where better?"
+"Where better?" Sasha said. She stood nearby, arms crossed, impassive, looking almost bored, though Ioan could see the energy it was taking for her to keep that up.
 
 Zacharias moaned. He forced himself to lower his paws to the ground, gripping at clumps of grass and dandelions. Finally, he opened his eyes and stared out toward the horizon of the field. "I--"
 
-"What did you want, my dear Zack? You sounded on the verge of panic."
+"What did you want, my dear Zack? You sounded nearly on the verge of panic," May said.
 
 "It is Jonas!" he said, finally snapping out of his daze. "Jonas! He has gone crazy! He killed all of my instances!"
 
@@ -368,21 +370,33 @@ She extracted one of her paws from his and slapped him firmly across the snout.
 
 Yelping, he fell back onto an elbow. He opened his mouth to respond, but May had already nodded towards Douglas, who swept him from the sim.
 
-"I've never seen you like that before," he said, once they'd made their way inside, the four of them clutching glasses of water. "I knew he was a shitbag, but god damn."
+She remained kneeling, then started to shake, crumpling down onto the grass, panting heavily. Ioan knelt beside her until she'd cried herself dry while Douglas and Sasha sat on the steps leading up to his house, watching in silence.
+
+"I've never seen you like that before," he said, once they'd made their way inside, the four of them clutching glasses of water. "I knew he was a shitbag, but goddamn."
 
 "I am...not okay," she said, whispering down to her glass. "I am not okay."
 
+"It is not a mode either of us are comfortable with," Sasha said quietly, "but it is the only mode that would have gained us peace. Any weakness would be taken as an opening. Even so, I do not expect that is the last we will hear from him."
+
+Douglas nodded. He didn't look convinced.
+
+"I am sorry. After 226 years, one learns to use contempt with precision, however dear the cost." She reached out to take one of May's paws in her own. Both of them looked exhausted.
+
 They didn't stay long after. Ioan eventually promised Douglas that they'd catch up another time and then gently nudged the skunks to quit and merge back down.
 
-They didn't speak for the rest of the day. Ioan and May collapsed onto the beanbag and stayed there through much of it, each processing in their own way, while Sasha disappeared outside to lose herself in the wilderness, not returning until late that evening, bearing a lanky hare and double-pawful of chantarelles, which she cooked down into a simple stew. They ate on the balcony to enjoy the late summer's evening as best they could.
+The rest of the day was silent. Ioan and May collapsed onto the beanbag and stayed there through much of it, each processing in their own way, while Sasha disappeared outside to lose herself in the wilderness, not returning until late that evening, bearing a lanky hare and double-pawful of chantarelles, which she cooked down into a simple stew. They ate on the balcony to enjoy the late summer's evening as best they could.
 
 Sasha joined them in bed that night, and they took what comfort they could from each other's company.
 
 -----
 
-The most dramatic of meetings came as Autumn began creeping over the edge of the hills. Quieter, perhaps, but bearing the most weight, the most finality.
+The more dramatic of the meetings, however, came that weekend. It was quieter, perhaps, but bearing more weight, more finality.
 
-If I Am To Bathe In Dreams, an elegant, if severe-looking skunk, arrived late on a Saturday afternoon on a few minutes' notice and bowed formally to Sasha.
+The rest of the week had remained tense, with Sasha wafting in and out of the house to follow her unsettled moods while May remained quiet, nearly silent, as she stuck by Ioan's side. Ey knew ey should probably start laying in supplies for her overflowing, but ey was still distracted trying to pick apart the events with Zacharias. In light of eir desire to keep both of them safe and close, much of the fury that had come with eir first meeting with the fox threatened to reappear every time ey thought about the two skunks.
+
+Which, naturally, was quite often.
+
+It was not exactly the best of timing, then, when If I Am To Bathe In Dreams, an elegant, if severe-looking skunk, arrived late on a Saturday afternoon on a few minutes' notice and bowed formally to the three of them.
 
 "Ioan, I believe Jonas hired you as an amanuensis?" she said.
 
@@ -416,7 +430,7 @@ It took the skunk a moment to swallow back a rising wave of emotions before she
 
 Sasha stood still for a long minute, head bowed, then stepped outside without a word, at which point May burst into tears.
 
-Ioan did eir best to comfort the skunk, but after an hour, she gently pushed em away. "I need...I need the house to myself, please."
+Ioan did eir best to comfort her, but after an hour, she gently pushed em away. "I need...I need the house to myself, please."
 
 "Should I head to Douglas's?"
 
@@ -432,7 +446,7 @@ She nodded once more, relinquished her grip on em, and nudged em out toward the
 
 Sasha had set up a tent similar to E.W.'s, though she had skipped the process of building it herself, instead creating from similar materials off the exchange. She'd set it up nearly on the other side of the lake from their house, so that she could have the solitude that she needed without having to create some new sim of her own. When the need for space struck her, it never quite got to the point that it did with E.W. She would need away from their presences, she would say. They felt like a constant weight on her shoulders. Light, yes, but continually present.
 
-Ah well. This was the first time that May had overflowed in this living situation --- and so dramatically, too; she'd never given em so little notice --- so perhaps it would be helpful after all.
+Ah well. This was the first time that May had overflowed in this living situation --- and so dramatically, too --- so perhaps it would be helpful after all.
 
 Ey took eir time walking around the shore of the lake, using it to vent the emotions that had built up over the last few hours through tears, through shouting into a cone of silence, cursing.