From 44e199506e440fec886ef1a9fd8b64270126ae96 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Madison Scott-Clary Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2021 22:40:12 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] update from sparkleup --- .../post-self/toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/004.html | 9 +++++++++ 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+) diff --git a/writing/post-self/toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/004.html b/writing/post-self/toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/004.html index 342aa9c36..721752470 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/004.html +++ b/writing/post-self/toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/004.html @@ -19,6 +19,15 @@

The two were alike in so many ways. The softness evident between the two disparate species was the same softness. The roundness to the cheeks, despite the fur, was the same roundness. The eyes bore the same expressive empathy.

And before them sat one who was not like any of the others, and yet was completely like all of them. When she focused, she was able to look like skunk or like human, and her eyes were able to share in some of that softness, but when she lost focus, waves of both crashed against her in a violent tempest, splashing fur up over cheeks, or skin down over paws.

“I am sorry,” she said through a dry throat, then laughed. “I am having a bad day.”

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Among the four in front of her, there were two expressions. The two sitting at the ends of the rows looked as though they were struggling to keep from crying, and two in the middle frowned, as though tamping down some emotion that wavered between fear and disappointment.

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“Anyway,” Michelle/Sasha said. “I guess I just wanted to get a few of us together to confirm some thoughts that I have been having of late.”

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“Is this about the Council?” the woman sitting on the inside, To Pray For The End Of Endings, asked.

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“Well, yes and no. My thoughts on the council were the root of it. It is just…did I fuck up?”

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At this, the skunk sitting on the end, May Then My Name Die With Me, burst into tears.

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“Fuck up how?” To Pray asked.

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Michelle/Sasha sighed, shrugged, and hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin/snout on them. “I did not think things through very well when I created the clade. I thought that it might give me a vacation. A chance to figure out what was wrong, maybe fork my way out of this…well, this.” She gestured at herself, smiling tiredly. “But now I feel like I have fucked up. Half of the clade dissolved the Council and the other half has spun off to do its own thing. If I had taken a week off and figured out that I could fork myself into one shape or the other and just done that, perhaps there would still be a Council.”

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The skunk beside To Pray, If I Am To Bathe In Dreams, shrugged. “You may have fucked up, yes, but there is no going back. What was the phrase? There is no going and there is no back? The Council is dissolved and nothing really changed. Jonas is doing Jonas things. Odists are doing Odist things, whatever those are. This is where you are. I mean this as an earnest question, but would you be able to choose between Michelle and Sasha?”

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“No, I don’t think I could,” she sighed. She just wished she could be Sasha for a little bit, just so that she could get the comfort of being petted by Hammered Silver/she just wished she could be Michelle for a little bit so that May Then My Name could brush her hair