update from sparkleup
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<p>“Good. I had it all perfectly organized.” Ey plucked a dandelion from the field and tucked it behind her ear. “Now, do you want to talk about it? Or should we do that later? That was longer than the last few times.”</p>
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<p>“Later, please. I want to say hi to Douglas and wash my face and just be normal for a bit.”</p>
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<p>Douglas Hadje met them on the stoop of his house and, as had become their ritual over the years, hugged the skunk, lifted, and twirled her around. Her bushy tail streamed along behind her. </p>
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<p>“Hey May,” he said, setting her back down again. “Glad you made it through.”</p>
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<p>“Hey May,” he said, setting her back down again and kissing her cheek. “Glad you made it through.”</p>
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<p>“Of course I made it through. You still have at least seventy nine years of me haunting you before I can do something else.” She grinned. “And even then, the contract is renewable.”</p>
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<p>“Ornery as ever. Well, want to come in?”</p>
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<p>“Ornery as ever.” He laughed. “Well, want to come in?”</p>
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<p>“For a bit, and then I want to come back out here and lay in the grass and bake in the sun.”</p>
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<p>After May had cleaned up and Ioan had helped Douglas prepare coffee and some sandwiches, they sat around the table to catch up.</p>
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<p>“So, what news of the aliens?” Douglas asked.</p>
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<p>Ioan nodded. “The transmission delay throws a wrench in things, doesn’t it? I was just thinking about that on Secession day. We were celebrating and it sounds like they were, too, but we didn’t learn about their party until a week later.”</p>
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<p>“The thing that always catches me off guard is that our days do not seem to line up any longer,” May said around a bite of sandwich. “I mean, they do, but when the delay is off by half a day, we start getting messages at shit o’clock in the morning. It is a strange feeling.”</p>
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<p>“Exactly.”</p>
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<p>“I hope they’re still in the talks, too. Codrin sounded hopeful, at least. The messages that they’d been getting from the Artemisians were interesting. I’m guessing the powers that be made em promise not to send the full message text yet, but what they have learned is fascinating. Four races on one ship must be a hell of an experience. The DMZ sim sounds pleasant, though, and all of the work they’ve done to prepare is really kind of impressive.” Ey sipped eir coffee to buy a moment’s time to think before saying, “There was a bunch of stuff in there for you, too, May. We can go over that later, though.”</p>
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<p>“I hope they’re still in the talks, too. Codrin sounded hopeful, at least. The messages that they’d been getting from the Artemisians were interesting, especially the language snippets. I’m guessing the powers that be made em promise not to send the full message text yet, but what they have learned is fascinating. Four races on one ship must be a hell of an experience. The DMZ sim sounds pleasant, though, and all of the work they’ve done to prepare is really kind of impressive.” Ey sipped eir coffee to buy a moment’s time to think before saying, “There was a bunch of stuff in there for you, too, May. We can go over that later, though.”</p>
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<p>The skunk frowned, finished the last of her sandwich, and then settled back in the chair with her coffee. “You cannot leave me hanging, my dear. May I at least have a preview?”</p>
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<p>“Well, Codrin’s worried about you. As is Dear.”</p>
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<p>“The memory thing?” Douglas asked.</p>
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<p>Ioan and Douglas remained quiet as they walked. The skunk didn’t seem to be quite done saying the things that she needed to.</p>
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<p>She continued after a few minutes of mastering emotions, voice clear once more. “In Dreams and I talked quite a bit. She said that there have been fewer instances of instability in older clades than expected, given <em>On the Perils of Memory</em>. Fewer uploads are susceptible to the long-term effects of unceasing memory than expected, I guess. I was pleased to see that Debarre seems to be doing well.”</p>
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<p>“That’s heartening,” Douglas said. “At least in a way.”</p>
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<p>The skunk nodded. “I am happy that the System is more stable than feared, but I am unhappy that we seem so strongly affected. In Dreams said that she is going to do some research and see if there are ways that we can at least improve on the way we deal with the effects. I do not know that there is a way to get rid of them entirely, at least not without further individuation, but the least we can do is help keep ourselves sane for longer.”</p>
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<p>The skunk nodded. “I am pleased that the System is more stable than feared, but I am unhappy that we seem so strongly affected. In Dreams said that she is going to do some research and see if there are ways that we can at least improve on the way we deal with the effects. I do not know that there is a way to get rid of them entirely, at least not without further individuation, but the least we can do is help keep ourselves sane for longer.”</p>
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<p>Ioan took her paw in eir hand and lifted it to kiss the back. “Please, yeah. If you lose it, I’ll be furious.”</p>
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<p>She laughed and gave em a pitying look. “Mx. Ioan Bălan, you are pretty good at acting furious on stage, but I do not believe for a second that you could actually feel that way. Even Codrin was able to have a normal meeting with True Name after she did as she does with em.”</p>
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<p>Ey did not laugh. Neither, ey noted, did Douglas.</p>
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