update from sparkleup
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<p>So, rustic stew it was.</p>
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<p>Very, <em>very</em> good rustic stew. End Waking had explained that, as he had no way to store leftovers, they would need to finish the entire pot that night. It turned out to be no stretch for the small gathering — Ioan and May, Debarre, Time Is A Finger Pointing At Itself, Douglas, and End Waking himself — as they all went back for seconds. The ranger skunk even swirled in a little extra water once the pot was empty, using a fingerpad to wipe what stew remained down into that to make himself a thin soup to finish out of the battered mug he’d been using as a bowl for the night.</p>
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<p>They’d each brought their own contribution for the night, as well. After dinner, A finger Pointing pulled out a bottle of over-proof white whiskey that they passed around the circle, taking burning sips. Ioan and May brought with them a short, two-person play that they put on for the other three, full of crude jokes and self-deprecating humor. Douglas, having picked up music as a hobby since uploading, performed a trio with three instances, one on flute, one on a mandolin, and one on a cajón.</p>
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<p>For his part, Debarre had brought fireworks. Or <em>a</em> firework, at least. The weasel removed a double fist-sized sphere of <em>papier mache</em>, and set it atop a small cylinder right next to the fire. With End Waking watching, hawklike, he directed everyone to stand back a few feet and lit the fuse with a small punk from the fire, explaining, “I’ve been working on this for the last seventy years or so. It’s only about fifty percent possible outside the System, but my excuse is that I never saw fireworks out there so I can do whatever the fuck I want.”</p>
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<p>The firework lifted off the cylinder it had been set on top of with surprising grace. Rather than rocketing into the air, it rose slowly, splitting in half a few inches into the air and rising in a tight helix, the weasel explaining that the propellant was tightly controlled to allow such, until it was hovering about three meters above the fire on a column of sparks as orange as those of the fire itself. From there, small spheres of cool-blue sparks popped free and danced around it in slow whorls. Finally, in a fountain green fire, billowing into the shape of a tree, it fell back into the campfire with a hissing sigh to be consumed by the flames.</p>
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<p>For his part, Debarre had brought fireworks. Or <em>a</em> firework, at least. The weasel produced a double fist-sized sphere of <em>papier mache</em>, and set it atop a small cylinder right next to the fire. With End Waking watching, hawklike, he directed everyone to stand back a few feet and lit the fuse with a small punk from the fire, explaining, “I’ve been working on this for the last seventy years or so. It’s only about fifty percent possible outside the System, but my excuse is that I never saw fireworks out there so I can do whatever the fuck I want.”</p>
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<p>The firework lifted off the cylinder it had been set on top of with surprising grace. Rather than rocketing into the air, it rose slowly, splitting in half a few inches into the air and rising in a tight helix, the weasel explaining that the propellant was tightly controlled to allow such, until it was hovering about three meters above the fire on a column of sparks as orange as those of the fire itself. From there, small spheres of cool-blue sparks popped free and danced around it in slow, hypnotic whorls. Finally, in a fountain green fire, billowing into the shape of a tree, it fell back into the campfire with a hissing sigh to be consumed by the flames.</p>
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<p>“Out-fucking-classed,” A Finger Pointing grumbled. “You said ‘bring something’, my dear, so I brought a bottle to drink, and you all bring plays and music and fireworks.”</p>
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<p>“You will hear no complaints from me,” End Waking said, grinning toothily. “Do you know how long it has been since I have had whiskey?”</p>
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<p>She laughed and shook her head. “I will bring you a case next time.”</p>
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<p>“Sap.”</p>
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<p>He rolled his eyes and made a rude gesture at her.</p>
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<p>The other Odist fit neatly into the pattern of a human Michelle, though over the centuries, she had opted for a form that was a little taller, a little slimmer, and bore more heavily styled hair. More chic, perhaps. She was prone to grand gestures and grand outfits in all black or all gray or all red. She had also leaned into hedonism more so than any of the other Odists Ioan had met. She ate heartily, drank more than all of them — though this mostly manifested as a ruddy glint to her cheeks and a more wicked grin than usual — and brought with her a very comfortable-looking camp chair.</p>
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<p>Even having worked with her for nearly a decade as a playwright and under her direction as an actor, ey continually found emself surprised by her simple desire to enjoy life, put on good plays, and be friends with everyone she could. It was a simplicity that was lacking from so many of her cocladists that ey’d had a chance to meet.</p>
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<p>Even having worked with her for nearly a decade as a playwright and under her direction as an actor for the last few years, ey continually found emself surprised by her simple desire to enjoy life, put on good plays, and be friends with everyone she could. It was a simplicity that was lacking from so many of her cocladists that ey’d had a chance to meet.</p>
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<p>“Do you wish that you had the chance to meet them?” End Waking said, once the fire had been stoked back up to stave off the deepening darkness.</p>
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<p>“The Artemisians?”</p>
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<p>He nodded.</p>
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@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
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<p>“This is what we fear,” May said.</p>
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<p>“With Time? I saw through your eyes,” Debarre said, so quiet as to be almost a whisper. End Waking rested a paw on his knee. “I was so happy to see you, and so terrified to be there. Two and a half minutes was enough for a lifetime.”</p>
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<p>“Or memory?” Douglas added.</p>
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<p>She nodded, tugging Ioan’s arm tighter around her middle. “A madness born of eternities. Memory upon memory upon memory. Our memories, our whole subconscious, lie too close to the surface, and that barrier between the conscious and subconscious cannot bear the weight of an eternity, and so the cracks widen.”</p>
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<p>May nodded, tugging Ioan’s arm tighter around her middle. “A madness born of eternities. Memory upon memory upon memory. Our memories, our whole subconscious, lie too close to the surface, and that barrier between the conscious and subconscious cannot bear the weight of an eternity. And so the cracks widen.”</p>
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<p>“Do you think that’s what happened with Death Itself and I Do Not Know? To Michelle?” Ioan asked.</p>
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<p>End Waking dipped his snout and drew his hood up over his head once more. Debarre looked away into the dark of the forest. A Finger Pointing took a long drink from the bottle of whiskey.</p>
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<p>“I do not know, my dear. I will never know. It is very hard to quit when one is at the root of a clade, or even a larger subtree. Like pushing through a barrier or wading through mud. Death Itself may have been struggling to do so for a long time. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for Michelle. The System is not built for death.”</p>
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<p>“How heavy must that madness be, then,” May continued. “To crash through so many failsafes and allow someone who has been within the system for more than two centuries such a death? This is what we fear.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-11</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-16</p>
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@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
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<p>“We would like to ask you about the history of your species.”</p>
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<p>There was a brief pause as the Artemisians once more blurred into discussion. Iska had set up the sim such that the Artemisians remained in skew while the emissaries sat in a unison room, the table spanning an entrance arch. It had certainly helped with the True Name and, as he was now convinced, Answers Will Not Help. Neither seemed particularly back to baseline, and Answers Will Not Help continued to fluctuate between forms unless she focused on one at a time, but neither looked as though that took quite as much effort as it had originally.</p>
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<p>“Are you able to narrow the scope of your question?”</p>
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<p>The skunk frowned, tilted her head, and appeared to think for a few long seconds. “I would like to learn about how it is that each of your species arrived at the point where you uploaded. I would also like to know if this is how a convergence has occurred in the past.”</p>
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<p>The skunk frowned, tilted her head, and thought for a few long seconds. “I would like to learn about how it is that each of your species arrived at the point where you uploaded. I would also like to know if this is how a convergence has occurred in the past.”</p>
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<p>Yet another blur.</p>
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<p>Tycho watched Codrin add a tick mark to a growing list on his notebook then dash off a few marks next to it in some sort of shorthand. “Keeping track of private discussions?”</p>
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<p>The recorder nodded. “And what the general topic was that spurred it.”</p>
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<p>Turun Ka and Iska blurred into fast time. Codrin added another tick mark.</p>
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<p>“–And eighteen thousand consciousness bearing entities from firstrace remained in our system.”</p>
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<p>“Over the next seventy-eight years,” Turun Ka continued. “We resumed our voyage, utilizing the star and outer planets for further gravity assists to achieve an acceptable velocity. For third- and fourthraces, we approached the convergences much as we approach this one, and in both cases, we were able to do so with a similar vehicle moving out-system.”</p>
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<p>“And in each case, the other race agreed to join?” True Name asked.</p>
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<p>“And in each case, the decision to join was mutual?” True Name asked.</p>
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<p>“Yes.”</p>
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<p>“Will you allow us to join you should we ask?”</p>
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<p>Silence greeted the question. Codrin frowned and scribbled an extensive note.</p>
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<p>“Would it be uncomfortable for us to explain how we as a species moved from physical to embedded?”</p>
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<p>“Now is not the time for the exchange of that information,” Turun Ka said. “There will be time for this discussion once prerequisite discussions are held. To explain this to us now is confusing.”</p>
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<p>“Can you expand on ‘confusing’?”</p>
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<p>“We do not know why you would tell us such a thing,” Artante said. “This is not the time to discuss this.”</p>
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<p>“We do not know why you would tell us such a thing at this moment,” Artante said. “This is not the time to discuss this.”</p>
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<p>True Name sat back as she digested this.</p>
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<p>“Without explaining how we came to be as we are,” Answers Will Not Help said, voice shifting between registers as her species shifted in turn. “May we explain why we are interested in an exchange of this knowledge?”</p>
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<p>A blurred discussion, another tick mark.</p>
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<p>“Why does everyone seem stressed?” he said, once they’d made a lap around the plaza. “We have as much time as we want up here, basically. Shouldn’t we just go slower and accept that it might take a while.”</p>
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<p>The writer yawned, rubbing a hand over eir face. “I don’t know if it’s a time thing. I think True Name is stressed because we haven’t figured out how to have conversations correctly. It’s a sort of mutual misunderstanding. We don’t know why they won’t answer <em>x</em> while they have no clue why we’d even ask it in the first place, and then the script gets flipped for the next question.”</p>
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<p>“Didn’t we know that going in, though?”</p>
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<p>Ey shrugged. “Knowing and experiencing are not the same thing, I guess. Also, I think we were lulled into a false sense of security by how easily the first conversations went. It felt like there was more mutual understanding there than there really was.”</p>
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<p>Ey shrugged. “Knowing and experiencing are not the same thing. Also, I think we were lulled into a false sense of security by how easily the first conversations went. It felt like there was more mutual understanding there than there really was.”</p>
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<p>Tycho laughed, brushing fingertips against one of the columns as they walked past. “On one hand, I feel incredibly out of place with all that we’re talking about, since I’m just the scientist. On the other, though, I guess I feel lucky that I’m not faced with the same problems.”</p>
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<p>“I imagine that Tycho#Castor is having a bit of an easier time of it,” Codrin said. “Still enjoying yourself here, at least?”</p>
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<p>“I guess. Or, rather, I’m not sure if ‘enjoying’ is the right word. I’m still fascinated by everything, and there’s so much I want to do and ask. I just feel like everyone else is working on another level from me. True Name and Turun Ka are clicks above me in terms of how subtly they interact. Even you seem to operate on a different wavelength from me.”</p>
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<p>Codrin shrugged. “Too much time around Odists, perhaps.”</p>
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<p>Tycho grinned and shook his head. “Maybe, but I was thinking more that you are here to witness and be an amanuensis. You told me that I’d be doing the same weeks ago, and I still feel like that’s way out of my league.”</p>
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<p>Ey looked thoughtful at this as they made their way back to the meeting room. “I was going to say “all you need to do is watch”, but that’s not totally accurate, I guess. I’m trained in this, and there’s a way of thinking that goes along with that training.”</p>
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<p>Ey looked thoughtful at this as they made their way back to the meeting room. “I was going to say “all you need to do is watch”, but that’s not totally accurate. I’m trained in this, and there’s a way of thinking that goes along with that training.”</p>
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<p>He nodded.</p>
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<p>“Either way, don’t worry about it, Tycho. You’ll get time to talk about the things you want, I’m sure of it. Just make some, even. Catch Stolon to talk about nerdy stuff in fast time.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-02-13</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2022-03-16</p>
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