update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<p>Both of the Odists, having claimed the other table in order to have their own hushed conversation quickly moved over to rejoin the other three. They all watched as ey frowned, nodded, and skimmed quickly over the letter addressed to em.</p>
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<p>Eir frown deepened. “Thanks. Here, hold on–” Ey quickly jotted <em>Message received, passed on, more soon</em> 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.”</p>
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<p>“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.”</p>
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<p>Codrin#Artemis laughed. “Well, did it?”</p>
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<p>Codrin#Artemis smirked. “Well, did it?”</p>
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<p>“No, of course not.”</p>
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<p>“Just have to pull harder, then.” Ey sighed and shook eir head. “Self-deprecating humor aside, tell them I miss them.”</p>
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<p>Ey nodded. “Of course. I’d fork and merge back down if I could.”</p>
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<p>“I’ll see them soon enough, I guess. A few weeks, tops, though at this rate, I’m guessing only a matter of days. Tell–“</p>
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<p>“Codrin,” True Name said, nodding to the writer. “Please come with us. We have only a few minutes to sort this out before we start, and if you are correct about Turun Ka receiving similar information, I would like to plan.”</p>
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<p>Ey shrugged to Tycho and Sarah and stood to follow the two Odists to True Name’s partitioned rest area.</p>
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<p>Ey shrugged to Tycho and Sarah and stood to follow the two Odists to True Name’s partitioned rest area. Codrin#Assist stepped from the sim and back to Castor proper.</p>
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<p>“What do you suppose that was about?” Tycho asked, setting up a cone of silence around himself and Sarah.</p>
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<p>“Best guess? More about how they’re struggling with the time skew over there. Maybe something specific happened, and that’s why everybody’s gotten messages all at once.”</p>
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<p>He nodded, sighed, and rubbed over his face with a hand. For as little as was actually happening, he was incredibly tired. Conferences were always like this, felt like.</p>
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@ -54,8 +54,8 @@
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<p>Sarah nodded. “They’re not for everyone, especially here, where you have the problem of perpetuity.”</p>
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<p>“Precisely,” Tycho said. “I can’t imagine being around one person or group of people for forty years and still expect to do so for a hundred more.”</p>
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<p>“To be fair, neither can I,” she said, laughing.</p>
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<p>After a suitable pause, he nudged the subject back toward a previous topic. “Has your opinion of the <em>History</em> changed at all?”</p>
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<p>“A little, I suppose. A lot of the dramatic interactions felt like just that: drama. It’s the type of thing that I’m attuned to, though, based on my work. The Odists have a flair for that, though, which I guess makes sense, given where they come from.” She paused, gaze drifting off towards nothing. “I guess if my opinion has changed, it’s been to understand just how deep it all goes. Not the behind the scenes stuff, but their control over themselves. True Name especially.”</p>
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<p>After a suitable pause, he nudged the subject back toward the previous topic. “Has your opinion of the <em>History</em> changed at all?”</p>
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<p>“A little, I suppose. A lot of the dramatic interactions felt like just that: drama. It’s the type of thing that I’m attuned to, though, based on my work. The Odists have a flair for that, though, which I guess makes sense, given where they come from.” She paused, gaze drifting off towards nothing. “I guess if my opinion has changed, it’s been to understand just how deep it all goes. Not the behind the scenes stuff, that’s whatever, but their control over themselves. True Name especially.”</p>
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<p>“It kind of makes me wonder–“</p>
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<p>Tycho was cut off from the rest of his sentence by Codrin stepping into his field of view outside the cone and waving. He dropped the silence.</p>
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<p>“Sorry, you two. Time to head back.”</p>
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@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
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<p>“I’m sorry, Tycho, I really do want to answer your questions, but we really don’t have time.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-12-18</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-01-11</p>
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</footer>
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@ -26,10 +26,10 @@
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<p>Ey spent the time sneaking glances at True Name and Answers Will Not Help, catching Tycho and Sarah doing the same.</p>
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<p>True Name, despite maintaining careful control of her expression, still appeared to be beyond tired. The flickers of her human form came more regularly, now, and, while her appearance as a skunk remained polite, attentive, and receptive, that human face showed only exhaustion.</p>
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<p>Answers Will Not Help, however, was a mess.</p>
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<p>Her form rippled between species, and with it, so to did her expression. She would veer wildly between barely constrained laughter and agony, all while tears coursed down her cheeks or left tracks in fur. She managed to keep quiet for the most part, though occasionally a snippet of poetry would escape her: here a line of the Ode, there a bit of Dickinson. She had even startled Tycho at one point by quoting something ey didn’t quite recognize: “I have sown, like Tycho Brahé, that a greater man may reap…”</p>
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<p>Her form rippled between species, and with it, so too did her expression. She would veer wildly between barely constrained laughter and agony, all while tears coursed down her cheeks or left tracks in fur. She managed to keep quiet for the most part, though occasionally a snippet of poetry would escape her: here a line of the Ode, there a bit of Dickinson. She had even startled Tycho at one point by quoting something ey didn’t quite recognize: “I have sown, like Tycho Brahé, that a greater man may reap…”</p>
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<p>This wild dissociation from the world around her was made all the more unnerving by the fact that ey could tell that she was having a difficult time staying within common time. </p>
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<p>She never veered far from it, only within a range of 0.1 to either side, but even that carried with it a sense of wrongness. They were in a unison room, which ey’d been told meant that she specifically <em>shouldn’t</em> be able to do that — something that she had specifically requested.</p>
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<p>Iska had hardly taken their eyes off her since they’d noticed, as well, as though they were trying to puzzle out just how it was that this was happening.</p>
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<p>Iska had hardly taken their eyes off her since they’d noticed as well, as though they were trying to puzzle out just how it was that this was happening.</p>
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<p>They were only two and a half days into the conference and, while both sides had learned much about the other, ey wondered if they’d even be able to make it to a week.</p>
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<p><em>Or even the end of today,</em> ey thought. <em>Answers Will Not Help looks like she’s about to explode.</em></p>
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<p>“Leader True Name,” Turun Ka began, once the delegates had returned to common time. “While I am not able to divulge the contents of the note I have received, it has led to a discussion amongst us, and we would like to ask about your history.”</p>
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<p>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.</p>
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<p>Codrin nodded toward her, “By your leave, True Name?”</p>
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<p>“Please, Mx. Bălan.” She sounded quite relieved.</p>
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<p>“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.”</p>
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<p>“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 entities 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.”</p>
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<p>“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, <em>lu</em>…a human form. You are both described as calm, confident, and politically adroit.”</p>
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<p>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.”</p>
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<p>True Name winced as though the words physically buffeted her. “It is uncomfortable for me to be in this state. I am not up to my usual standards.”</p>
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<p>“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.”</p>
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<p>“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.</p>
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<p>“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.”</p>
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<p>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.”</p>
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<p>“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, Dr. Brahe, and Ms. Genet, however, to share our load.”</p>
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<p>Both Turun Ka and Turun Ko lifted their heads in assent, the leader adding, “As always, we will strive to make your stay as comfortable as possible.”</p>
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<p>True Name nodded her thanks.</p>
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<p>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.”</p>
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<p>“Were they able to free those who were?”</p>
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<p>“Now, I would like to lie down during this break. Please accompany me so that I may dictate this letter.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-12-18</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-01-11</p>
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</footer>
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</main>
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