update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<p>Having instructed the Artemisians on how to use cones of silence, there were far fewer breaks throughout the last two days, limited to one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and a longer lunch in the middle. That did not stop them from settling into private conversation every few minutes to discuss whatever answer they might give.</p>
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<p>Ey initially found it strange that added downtime would make the their party more tired rather than less, but after some consideration — and a brief talk with Sarah — ey’d come to the realization that those periods of quiet between question and answer were still spent in expectation. They were still working during those pauses. They were still in conversation, if only by way of watching and waiting, trying to guess what might have led to the need to have that discussion. Ey could not read expressions beyond eir limited notes so far, could not speak the language well enough, and certainly could not read lips, so ey was left only with guesses and suppositions.</p>
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<p>And through it all, True Name seemed to be trying to match the firstracers for patient expressions.</p>
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<p>It wasn’t until that second lunch that the skunk showed any cracks. She picked up a plate piled high with salad, brought it over to the table in the center of their rest area then stepped back a few paces, where she activated a cone of silence. She brought her tail around toward her front, held in both paws, and buried her face in it. Ey could only assume by the sudden way that she bent at the waist and pinned her ears back that this was done to muffle a scream or some violent obscenity.</p>
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<p>It wasn’t until that second lunch that the skunk showed any breaks in that patience. She picked up a plate piled high with salad, brought it over to the table in the center of their rest area then stepped back a few paces, where she activated a cone of silence. She brought her tail around toward her front, held in both paws, and buried her face in it. Ey could only assume by the sudden way that she bent at the waist and pinned her ears back that this was done to muffle a scream or some violent obscenity.</p>
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<p>Lunch after that had been filled with laughter and truly terrible jokes. Sarah, it turned out, collected them, and the delegates unanimously voted hers the worst.</p>
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<p>All throughout, though, Codrin couldn’t shake the image of True Name throwing a very short, very tightly controlled tantrum. The sight of her letting loose so strong an emotion had immediately knocked em back to an interview decades ago, now, where she’d wound em up enough that ey’d started shouting at her in her own office, then bounced em from her sim.</p>
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<p>That, ey’d later understood, had been intentional on her part. It had been a way for her to spin her story in a very carefully crafted way. It set it to a level that sat just on the other side of the line between plausible and absurd. It’d wrapped em up in a story that was just a little too much to be believe, and the end result was a softening of the impact of the <em>History</em>.</p>
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<p>Sarah leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and ey did the same. The added secrecy of talking quieter was a difficult habit to break, and eir mind was still on the topic of lip-reading from earlier.</p>
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<p>“#Artemis hinted at something and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. That ey’s even hinting at it rather than just saying it outright is telling in and of itself, of course, but I can see why, given the context. The messages are clade-eyes-only, so others can’t read them unless one of us grants permission, anyway. It’s only a hint, but I think ey’s suggesting that it’s not Why Ask Questions on Artemis, but Answers Will Not Help.”</p>
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<p>The psychologist frowned down toward the floor. “What form did this hint take?”</p>
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<p>Ey dredged up the memory of the postscript, saying, “Ey asked Dear to check eir work. I remember that, during Secession, Why Ask Questions managed sentiment sys-side and Answers Will Not Help did the same phys-side. The hint was asking, “Is this correct? I’ve only met the two of them recently, so I’m unsure how that plays out in their social interactions.” I remember that, of course, so the hint is in the question.”</p>
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<p>Ey dredged up the memory of the postscript. “Ey asked Dear to check eir work. I remember that, during Secession, Why Ask Questions managed sentiment sys-side and Answers Will Not Help did the same phys-side. The hint was asking, “Is this correct? I’ve only met the two of them recently, so I’m unsure how that plays out in their social interactions.” I remember that, of course, so the hint is in the question.”</p>
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<p>“Anything in subsequent letters?”</p>
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<p>“Well, Codrin#Assist confirmed it, saying, “Dear says that’s correct. Why Ask Questions worked sys-side, Answers Will Not Help worked phys-side”. Neither #Artemis nor I have brought it up again since.”</p>
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<p>“You obviously know your communication style better than anyone else, but do you think ey’s hinting at the fact that they were switched specifically for their roles? Intra- and extra-system sentiment?”</p>
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<p>“Think you’ll ask in a hint, too?”</p>
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<p>Ey nodded. “There’s some subtext there that I’m not totally picking up on, and it seems best to be safer than not.”</p>
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<p>“Any guesses as to that subtext?” she asked.</p>
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<p>“Only incomplete ones. I wonder if it’s to keep Codrin#Assist from reading too much into it since ey’s not experiencing any of this other than the briefest glimpses at Why Ask Questions when ey brings the mail.”</p>
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<p>“Only incomplete ones. I wonder if it’s to keep Codrin#Assist from reading too much into it since ey’s not experiencing any of this.”</p>
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<p>“And you’re worried ey might bring it up with the Odists?”</p>
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<p>Ey laughed, shaking eir head. “Nothing so grand. It’s just hard for us to leave well enough alone. Ey’d probably start cataloging the differences between them. Well, ey probably already is, given the hint, but without the context that we’re seeing here, it’ll be somewhat less pointed.”</p>
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<p>“Right, that makes sense. That still seems a little flimsy for a reason to be this vague of a hint.”</p>
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<p>“Agreed,” ey said, then shrugged. “Could be that ey just doesn’t trust that clade-eyes-only works on Artemis. All the same, I’ll hint back and see what comes of it, just to be safe.”</p>
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<p>She grinned. “Alright. Keep me up to date, I guess.”</p>
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<p>Codrin dropped the cone of silence and stretched eir arms up over eir head, “I’ll see you in there in a few, then. Thanks for chatting.”</p>
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<p>Sarah stood, waved, and wandered back into the room, leaving em to brush out eir tunic and straighten the apron that rested over eir skirt before starting the note.</p>
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<p>Sarah stood, waved, and wandered back into the room, leaving em to brush out eir blouse and straighten the apron that rested over eir skirt before starting the note.</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>Codrin#Artemis</p>
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<p>Not a whole lot to add here on my part, and I need to get back to it momentarily, so just a quick note for now. There’s been some talk on biology and a bit more on astronomy. This always gets Tycho super excited, of course, so we have to space the topic out so that he and Stolon don’t completely monopolize the meeting.</p>
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