update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
parent
ffc9ee1de1
commit
571e859b80
|
|
@ -46,13 +46,13 @@
|
|||
<p>“Please, just May Then My Name.” She returned the bow, cleared her throat. “Thank you for going along with it. It will be a large one, and I– <em>we</em> appreciate all the help we can get.”</p>
|
||||
<p>They sat down around three sides of the dining table. The skunk surprised em by ensuring that ey, rather than her, sat across from the woman.</p>
|
||||
<p>“So, there’s no real agenda today other than to just get to know each other. No hard topics or anything, just chatting. Stuff like that helps me get used to how you communicate.” Sarah nodded toward May. “Though I would like to know how you’re feeling.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Tired.” The skunk looked down at the table where her claw-tips traced wood-grain. “Quite tired. I am not feeling my self currently, forgive me.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Tired.” The skunk looked down at the table where her claw-tips traced wood-grain. “Quite tired. I am not feeling myself currently, forgive me.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“That’s alright. There’s been an awful lot going on, from the sounds of it.” Sarah shifted gears smoothly away from the topic of current events, asking instead, “I know you two are in theatre, from what you’ve said. What all does that entail, though? I haven’t been to a play or anything since university before uploading.”</p>
|
||||
<p>May smiled weakly. “Lots of work. We share jobs from start to finish. There are more of us working as stage hands and crew than there are working as actors. Ioan even writes many of our plays.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“I guess that means you both know your way around the craft better than most, since you have to keep all of that in your heads. I’m curious, though; what all goes into the crew side? Are you also…what’s the term. Stage managers? Techs?” Sarah shrugged, looking almost embarrassed at her lack of knowledge. “Lights? Sound?”</p>
|
||||
<p>At the word ‘sound’, a stricken look washed over the skunk’s face. She sat, rigid, in her chair for a moment before shaking her head, the movement jerky and uneven. “I…I will leave…I will leave Ioan to answer that.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Alarmed at the sudden change in her demeanor, Ioan looked between May and Sarah, the latter’s face set in an expression of concern.</p>
|
||||
<p>“May?” ey asked quietly</p>
|
||||
<p>“May?” ey asked quietly.</p>
|
||||
<p>“You must…you must forgive me. I have to…lay down. Or something.” She swallowed several times in a row, as she always seemed to do when holding back tears.</p>
|
||||
<p>The skunk stood and swayed, clutching at the edge of the table hard enough for claws to dent the wood.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Of course, May Then My Name. Would you like to meet another–“</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“Shush, you’re fine. I think she, of all people, understands a reaction like that.” Ey picked up another square of paper from the stack and began trying to fold again. “But that’s enough talk of that for now. If you want dinner, you have to help me get at least one of these made.”</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-04-08</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-05-13</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -23,13 +23,13 @@
|
|||
<p>Sleep brought little relief.</p>
|
||||
<p>The beds were comfortable, but empty. There was no wind against glass, no crickets stilled to silence with the passing of some imagined bat. There was no fox to curl around, no soft sounds of breathing.</p>
|
||||
<p>Ey plowed through two cups of (thankfully quite good) coffee on the morning of the fourth day, and brought a third with em to the conference table. </p>
|
||||
<p>The talks were slow to resume. There were a few halting attempts at starting up conversations about astrochemistry, but neither Tycho nor Stolon were well-versed on it enough to have the conversation without additional research first</p>
|
||||
<p>The talks were slow to resume. There were a few halting attempts at starting up conversations about astrochemistry, but neither Tycho nor Stolon were well-versed on it enough to have the conversation without additional research first.</p>
|
||||
<p><em>Why had they divided the subjects between the locations?</em> ey wondered for the dozenth time. <em>I’m sure that every one of us wants nothing more than to ask about the history of their trip, just as I’m sure that there are topics surrounding science that those on Artemis would love to ask about.</em></p>
|
||||
<p>It seemed such a strange limitation to put on talks such as these. Why divide them by subject when the participants were identical? Were there deeper reasons beneath this? Was there a logic to having the discussions of science on Castor as opposed to on Artemis? Was it so that the less-advanced Castor would still benefit from the science and Artemis from culture if the talks went pear-shaped?</p>
|
||||
<p>Questions such as these littered the verso pages of eir notebook, the recto pages reserved for notes about the topic at hand. Ey’d sent dozens of those questions over to Artemis already; it certainly didn’t seem as though this was the place to ask them.</p>
|
||||
<p>Answers had been sparse. The responses had invariably been “it is not the time for that conversation”. At least the most recent note from Codrin#Artemis — running at nearly three pages — had explained the use of that sentence, as well as so much else. Checklists and goals, indeed.</p>
|
||||
<p>It had also contained a more detailed account of Answers Will Not Help’s breakdown and quitting, as well as the extended interactions with True Name that Codrin#Artemis had been having.</p>
|
||||
<p>“I hate to do this to you,” ey had written, individual-eyes only. “But I simply cannot overstate just how dramatic and anxiety-inducing the whole event was, and I mean this in the most literal way possible. There are things that I cannot tell you. I cannot put them into words, and I certainly cannot set them to paper. It is overwhelming. The import is crushing. I feel like I’m going to burst and there’s nothing I can do or say about it, and the only reason I’m describing it like this is that I <em>can’t</em> be the only one who knows this, even if only at one layer of remove. You will remember soon enough, I think, but until then, I just need to offload some of the pressure.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“I hate to do this to you,” ey had written, individual-eyes only. “But I simply cannot overstate just how dramatic and anxiety-inducing the whole event was, and I mean this in the most literal way possible. There are things that I cannot tell you. I cannot put them into words, and I certainly cannot set them to paper. It is overwhelming. The import is crushing. I feel like I’m going to burst and there’s nothing I can do or say about it, and the only reason I’m describing it like this is that I <em>can’t</em> be the only one who knows this, even if only at one layer removed. You will remember soon enough, I think, but until then, I just need to offload some of the pressure.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Ey had no idea what to do with this information, other than to accept a share in that load.</p>
|
||||
<p>With questions running thin and the table plagued by awkward silences, it was almost a relief when Turun Ka requested that it and True Name discuss sentiment shaping surrounding the arrival of Artemis, leaving the others to have a conversation of their own or not as they wished. There was no explicit communication suggesting such, but it seemed implied whenever this happened that Codrin and Turun Ko would be left ‘in charge’ of their respective delegations, if there was such a thing.</p>
|
||||
<p>The skunk and firstracer stood and walked to the far side of the fountain where True Name could sit on the rim and Turun Ka could settle onto its haunches before her. They set up a cone of silence, and once more begin discussing what seemed to go beyond simply the fallout of deception.</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -96,7 +96,7 @@
|
|||
<p>Ey watched as the skunk’s eyes widened, gaze darting between em, Turun Ka, and the book in Turun Ko’s hands, now about half-finished. She sat down heavily on the chair and sagged against the back. “Well, fuck me.”</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-03-28</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-05-13</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“Either could be true, but that’s not the correct conversation to have right now,” ey guessed.</p>
|
||||
<p>At this Artante laughed. “You learn quickly, recorder Codrin Bălan.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Ey smiled, shrugged. “It’s my job to pay attention.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Stolon bobbed their head. “<em>Anem,</em> recorder Codrin Bălan. We find patterns and say ‘yes yes’ or ‘no no’ and do next thing. You hear, “this is not time to have that conversation.” We say because we use checklist.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Stolon bobbed their head. “<em>Anem,</em> recorder Codrin Bălan. We find patterns and say ‘yes yes’ or ‘no no’ and do next thing. You hear, ‘this is not time to have that conversation.’ We say because we use checklist.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Alright. You can just call me Codrin, by the way.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“And you can just call me Sarah.”</p>
|
||||
<p>“Tycho.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
|
|||
<p>Artante shook her head. “They are having a different discussion. It is not the time for them to have the conversation of steps and checklists.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Sarah frowned. “Should we tell her about this discussion?”</p>
|
||||
<p>After a hesitation, the fourtracer replied, “There are steps on the checklist for if you do and if you do not.”</p>
|
||||
<p><em>Sounds like a no, then,</em> Codrin thought, working to maintain a neutral expression. For all their talk about staying away from manipulation and subtlety, there sure seemed to be plenty going. It was as Tycho said: they seemed to be working on some higher level, less comprehensible to em as a mere mortal. Ey supposed five thousand years of flying around through space would change how one engages with the world no matter what.</p>
|
||||
<p><em>Sounds like a no, then,</em> Codrin thought, working to maintain a neutral expression. For all their talk about staying away from manipulation and subtlety, there sure seemed to be plenty going on. It was as Tycho said: they seemed to be working on some higher level, less comprehensible to em as a mere mortal. Ey supposed five thousand years of flying around through space would change how one engages with the world no matter what.</p>
|
||||
<p>“And how about you two?” ey said.</p>
|
||||
<p>Turun Ko tilted its head far to the side. “<em>Lubaenåtam?</em>“</p>
|
||||
<p>“Do you two have steps of your own? Desired outcomes?”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
|
|||
<p>“<em>Anem!</em> Of course I will.”</p>
|
||||
</article>
|
||||
<footer>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-03-28</p>
|
||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-05-13</p>
|
||||
</footer>
|
||||
</main>
|
||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue