update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
parent
e653454bff
commit
00573f0246
|
|
@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
|
|||
<p>Ey waited.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Alright, then, a bit of a preview.” He finished half of his drink in a few swallows. “There’s a bunch of changes coming in the pipeline–“</p>
|
||||
<p>“This AVEC?”</p>
|
||||
<p>Zacharias frowned, but Jonas was already nodding, “Got it in one. That’s right at the top of the list. See, the LVs are too far away to communicate effectively with phys-side and getting further every day, and that puts us in a unique position, here. Suddenly, we differ from the LVs in a fundamental way. I really can’t overstate how big of a deal this is, Ioan.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Zacharias frowned, but Jonas was already nodding, “Got it in one. That’s right at the top of the list. See, the LVs are too far away to communicate effectively with phys-side, getting further every day, and that puts us in a unique position, here. Suddenly, we differ from the LVs in a fundamental way. I really can’t overstate how big of a deal this is, Ioan.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Suddenly we have to prove our greener grass to those phys-side.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Right. The direction that we need to take with Lagrange can’t just be the same old one we’ve been taking before. In this, True Name and I differ.” He shrugged, rocking his glass gently back and forth on the table before taking another sip. “She wanted to continue on her path of subtlety, I disagreed.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Ey snorted. “Disagreed? You tried to assassinate her, Jonas.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
|
|||
<p>After bowing to End Waking and getting eir hug and skunk-kiss from both May and True Name, ey sat cross-legged between them. Once ey’d gathered emself, ey said, “That was a whole lot of bullshit. How far off is food?”</p>
|
||||
<p>End Waking used the tip of his knife to nudge at a few of the sausages, turning them over on the grill cantilevered over the fire. “Not long. Would you prefer to wait to share, then?”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yeah. Maybe if I have food in me, I won’t shout.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“That was quite loud, my dear,” May said, claiming one of eir hands to hold in her paw. “I am glad you did not die.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“That was quite loud, my dear,” May said, claiming one of eir hands to hold. “I am glad you did not die.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Dinner was quiet, but not unpleasant. Gentle wind through the grass, the crackling of the fire and the spit of grease from the sausages, the gamy tang of ground venison tempered with barley and herbs. </p>
|
||||
<p>“Did he wind you up that badly?” May asked once they’d finished.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Well, yes and no. He and Zacharias were both there.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“And hopefully still a good one, in the end,” May added.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Yes. If I am honest, a less than ideal but still good life is far more than I had in front of me even before all of this nonsense.” She smiled wryly. “Perhaps I ought to thank him for that. I am not unhappy with what I have now, even.”</p>
|
||||
<p>The conversation wound down from there, and as evening dimmed into night, they fell into silence. The fire was kept low, only enough light and warmth to keep the dark at bay.</p>
|
||||
<p>Eventually, with eir lower back hurting and May starting to nod off, they made their goodnights. True Name gave em and May a hug around the shoulders and a nose-dot to the cheek in turn and padded off to her tent. End Waking stated that he was going to watch the fire for a while longer and then head to bed himself — he’d set up a tent of his own a ways off from True Name’s for this fork to sleep in — leaving May and Ioan to walk back to the house together in the dark.</p>
|
||||
<p>Eventually, with eir lower back hurting and May starting to nod off, they made their goodnights. True Name gave em and May each a hug around the shoulders and a nose-dot to the cheek — something they’d all grown more comfortable with over the last few weeks — and padded off to her tent. End Waking stated that he was going to watch the fire for a while longer and then head to bed himself — he’d set up a tent of his own a ways off from True Name’s for this fork to sleep in — leaving May and Ioan to walk back to the house together in the dark.</p>
|
||||
<p>“I’m happy to hear her talking about a future,” Ioan said, once they’d cleaned up and made their way to bed, em slouched against the headboard and May in eir lap, slouched against eir front in turn.</p>
|
||||
<p>“I am too, yes. I am pleased that other than a few short fits, she has been at worst determined, and at best hopeful.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Ey nodded and tucked eir chin up over the skunk’s head. “I think that’s where I am, yeah. I want this over with, and sometimes it even feels like this might even be the best outcome for everyone.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -164,7 +164,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“Another time,” ey mumbled, pushing eir face into her soft fur, coarser guard hairs tickling eir cheeks. “I can’t imagine I’m going to be able to sleep tomorrow night, so we might as well get some tonight.”</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-10-07</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-10-15</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
|
|||
<p>So they did what they could to prepare or relax for the rest of that last day. True Name walked her prairie several times over, then came in and sat close by, then busied herself up in her head. May clung to em. Ey sorted notes.</p>
|
||||
<p>There was no discussion whether or not she would be staying with them that night. The three of them simply wound up in eir and May’s bed, sitting or kneeling on the soft mattress while they did their best to talk about little nothings. Ioan tried to explain Romanian curses to them. May and True Name spoke earnestly about a movie ey’d never heard of. And under it all, an ever-rising current of stress lay, slowly taking over their words until they couldn’t speak any longer, could only curl beneath the covers, sharing some more fundamental comfort.</p>
|
||||
<p>Surprising all three of them, they did manage to get at least some sleep that night. It wasn’t <em>good</em> sleep, as, at one point or another, each of them woke with a start, but they managed a few hours of dozing.</p>
|
||||
<p>Once the sky began to lighten, though, they pulled themselves blearily out of bed, Ioan making four mugs of coffee — two black, two sweet and milky — so that they could troop back out onto the plain and wake End Waking up — or, as it turned out, greet him at the small fire he’d started — and offer him a cup of coffee.</p>
|
||||
<p>Once the sky began to lighten, though, they pulled themselves blearily out of bed, Ioan making four mugs of coffee — two black, two sweet and milky — so that they could troop back out onto the plain and wake End Waking up — or, as it turned out, greet him at the small fire he’d started — and offer him a cup.</p>
|
||||
<p>“There is no more rehearsing to be done,” he said, once they’d shed some of their grogginess. “We risk practice making permanent, at this point. All we can do is hope to remain as centered as possible throughout.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Both of the other skunks nodded, and Ioan had to quell eir instinct to disagree. They were too tired, too keyed up, too quick to overanalyse to get anything out of forking across the prairie to wargame however many countless scenarios. Better for the four of them to sit around the low fire, sip their coffee, and watch the sun rise, May slouched against eir side and True Name and End Waking sitting apart, silent.</p>
|
||||
<p>Eventually, however, coffee long gone, they forked. End Waking and True Name’s down-tree instances each went to their tents to sit and meditate as best they could, while May and Ioan’s down-tree instances returned home to try baking a cake — something demanding enough while still remaining relatively mindless.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -256,7 +256,7 @@
|
|||
<p>The three skunks laughed while ey and Debarre leaned across the circle to shake hands.</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-10-07</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-10-15</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue