update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<p>The skunk leapt at him and, before he could react, nearly tackled him to the ground, her arms tight around his middle. “If you are not Douglas Hadje, master of spaceflight and doctor of something boring, I will be quite embarrassed. Please tell me you are.”</p>
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<p>“I am, I am,” he said, laughing and returning the hug. She was short enough that the top of her head barely came up to his chin. “It’s nice to meet you at last.”</p>
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<p>The skunk, without letting go of the hug, forked off a copy of herself to hurl at Ioan, who was laughing openly now. This time, she did manage to tackle em to the ground, and the two wrestled around for a moment, shoving at each other, before that instance of May Then My Name quit.</p>
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<p>Eventually, she released her grip on him and stepped back, looked him up and down, then nodded approvingly. “Every inch a Hadje. Sort of. You have lost the round face.”</p>
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<p>Eventually, she released her grip on him and stepped back, looked him up and down, then nodded approvingly. “Every inch a Hadje. Sort of. You are very tall, and you have lost the round face.”</p>
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<p>“I have? I mean, I guess that makes sense. Michelle lived two centuries ago. I’ve seen a few pictures from the news archives, but they took a while to dig up, so I can only guess.”</p>
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<p>Her expression grew wicked. She forked, and this fork was completely human. Shoulder-length black hair, round of face, short, the splitting image…</p>
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<p>“Wait,” he stammered. “You can just look like her? I thought…I thought that’d be frowned on.”</p>
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<p>“Oh, it is,” the woman said. “Come on, Dr Hadje. Do keep up.”</p>
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<p>All of his blood was completely replaced with ice water, a hatch in the field opened beneath him, and his voice completely failed. Or, at least that’s what his mind told him was happening. When the world finally stopped spinning and he finally reconnected with his body, he found that he was sitting on the grass.</p>
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<p>All of his blood was completely replaced with ice water, a hatch in the field opened beneath him, he began to fall, and his voice completely failed. Or, at least that’s what his mind told him was happening. When the world finally stopped spinning and he finally reconnected with his body, he found that he was sitting on the grass.</p>
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<p>“You’re…”</p>
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<p>The woman — Michelle came and sat on the grass next to him to hug an arm around his shoulders, her expression softening. “I am May Then My Name Die With Me of the Ode clade. <em>Michelle’s</em> clade. It has been a long time since I was actually Michelle, but I once was, yes.”</p>
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<p>“So…”</p>
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<p>He gulped for air, shaking. “You lied to me, then?”</p>
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<p>“A small untruth,” she said, voice calm and soothing. “Michelle herself did quit some time ago, but I am of her clade.”</p>
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<p>“Why didn’t you tell me?”</p>
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<p>May Then My Name shrugged. “You are new here, but you will learn about individuation before long. That I look like her and originated from her, I am no more closely related to her than you are. We are both distant cousins of Michelle Hadje.”</p>
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<p>May Then My Name shrugged. “I did not want to. I was going to have fun with the reveal, but I see now that I hurt you instead, for which I apologize. You are new here, but you will learn about individuation before long. That I look like her and originated from her, I am no more closely related to her than you are. We are both distant cousins of Michelle Hadje.”</p>
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<p>He nodded. All that she was saying was swirling around in his mind, wrapped up in the strange, fluent-yet-stilted language that he’d gotten used to over text but now had to get used to in person. He couldn’t tell if he was mad at her or happy that he knew or just confused.</p>
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<p>“Uh, can we talk about something else?” he asked.</p>
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<p>May Then My Name — the one that looked like Michelle — quit, and the skunk dragged Ioan over with her so that she could sit next to him, tasking the historian with setting up the picnic. </p>
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<p>May Then My Name — the one that looked like Michelle — quit, and the skunk helped Douglas up, pulling him over with her so that she could sit next to him. She tasked the still-grinning historian with setting up the picnic while they talked.</p>
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<p>“What are you most excited about, now that you have uploaded?” she asked.</p>
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<p>“Well, I was going to say meeting you two, but now that that’s over, I guess getting to know you. Getting to know the System, too. I spent years imagining how it worked in here, and now that I’m here, I’m a little overwhelmed with how little of that feels accurate.”</p>
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<p>“It is difficult to explain in words how it all works, so many phys-side do not know.”</p>
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<p>“And anything you regret?”</p>
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<p>“I sort of regret not being on the launches, too, but there’s no helping that, if I was also to be the phys-side coordinator. It’s one of those things where I couldn’t do both, and I certainly can’t go back and change it.”</p>
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<p>“There is no going and there is no back,” May Then My Name said. “You are here and that is that. It is a decision you cannot reverse.”</p>
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<p>Ioan, fishing plates and containers of food and a bottle of the champagne out of the picnic basket, said, “He and her cocladist are very fixated on irreversibility these days. You’ll hear a lot of it.”</p>
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<p>Ioan, fishing plates and containers of food and a bottle of the champagne out of the picnic basket, said, “She and her cocladist are very fixated on irreversibility these days. You’ll hear a lot of it.”</p>
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<p>The skunk nodded. “Yes. It is fascinating, though, and we are helpless before fascination. Is there anything else you regret about leaving? Not uploading sooner?”</p>
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<p>He shrugged. “Not really. It’s like you say, there’s no changing the past.”</p>
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<p>“May’s interviewing you for me,” Ioan said, laughing. “Those are all my usual questions. She’s getting the hang of it, but needs to work on drawing more out of you.”</p>
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