update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
parent
28ea43eedc
commit
702b69dde4
|
|
@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
|
||||||
<p><em>“No, it’s alright. Just no sleeping out there, okay?”</em></p>
|
<p><em>“No, it’s alright. Just no sleeping out there, okay?”</em></p>
|
||||||
<p><em>“Of course. We will return soon.”</em></p>
|
<p><em>“Of course. We will return soon.”</em></p>
|
||||||
<p>It was nearly two hours later when the skunks had returned as promised. Two hours of tossing and turning in bed, fretting and fretting and fretting. Eventually, they had fallen into their usual positions, though despite the added rest that this usually brought True Name, none of them had slept well.</p>
|
<p>It was nearly two hours later when the skunks had returned as promised. Two hours of tossing and turning in bed, fretting and fretting and fretting. Eventually, they had fallen into their usual positions, though despite the added rest that this usually brought True Name, none of them had slept well.</p>
|
||||||
<p>When there was no wink and smile from Jonas, ey let eir shoulders sag and nodded. “Tired, yeah. We’re all tired. Just want this shit over with.”</p>
|
<p>When there was no wink and smile from Jonas, ey let eir shoulders sag and nodded. “Tired, yeah. We’re all tired. Just want this over with.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“And True Name? How’s she?” he asked, still apparently sincere.</p>
|
<p>“And True Name? How’s she?” he asked, still apparently sincere.</p>
|
||||||
<p>“Look, Jonas, what are you after? We’re tired. She’s upset. We just want to get on with our lives, and it’s all on you.”</p>
|
<p>“Look, Jonas, what are you after? We’re tired. She’s upset. We just want to get on with our lives, and it’s all on you.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“Well, sure, but now my workload’s doubled,” he said, and there at last was the wink. “Though in all seriousness, I’m just trying to gauge what to expect. May Then My Name and End Waking will be there, too, right?”</p>
|
<p>“Well, sure, but now my workload’s doubled,” he said, and there at last was the wink. “Though in all seriousness, I’m just trying to gauge what to expect. May Then My Name and End Waking will be there, too, right?”</p>
|
||||||
|
|
@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
|
||||||
<p>“You and I disagree, then. It’s like I said, though, sometimes mommies and daddies fight, Ioan. We’ve spent the past few years trying to hash it out. For all her focus on subtlety in guiding the System, she can be a real bitch when it comes to trying to get her point across.”</p>
|
<p>“You and I disagree, then. It’s like I said, though, sometimes mommies and daddies fight, Ioan. We’ve spent the past few years trying to hash it out. For all her focus on subtlety in guiding the System, she can be a real bitch when it comes to trying to get her point across.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“Bullshit,” ey said flatly.</p>
|
<p>“Bullshit,” ey said flatly.</p>
|
||||||
<p>Jonas laughed. “Oh?”</p>
|
<p>Jonas laughed. “Oh?”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“Yeah. A few reasons.” Ey started ticking off points on eir fingers as ey spoke. “First, True Name didn’t start down this path in the last few years that we’ve been learning from Artemis; she was a mess when she first got in touch with us with Codrin#Artemis’s first letter during convergence, so things were already in motion then. Second, The Guiding Council on Pollux is more than a decade old now, predating the arrival of the Artemisians by nearly ten years, and I think that’s because third, you–” Ey nodded to Zacharias. “–apparently dropped everything on her across all three systems at the same time not that long after the launch. You two got more openly together on Pollux, and as far as Codrin#Castor can find in the perisystem, you quit shortly after telling her there. End Waking thinks — and I agree — you’re trying to push each of the Systems in a different direction politically. Maybe you think having different political environments is more stable across societies separated by distance and time. Maybe it’s some giant experiment. Who knows. It’s your long game.”</p>
|
<p>“Yeah. A few reasons.” Ey started ticking off points on eir fingers as ey spoke. “First, True Name didn’t start down this path in the last few years that we’ve been learning from Artemis; she was a mess when she first got in touch with us with Codrin#Artemis’s first letter during convergence, so things were already in motion then. Second, The Guiding Council on Pollux is almost twenty years old now, predating the arrival of the Artemisians by nearly ten years, and I think that’s because third, you–” Ey nodded to Zacharias. “–apparently dropped everything on her across all three systems at the same time not that long after the launch. You two got more openly together on Pollux, and as far as Codrin#Castor can find in the perisystem, you quit shortly after telling her there. End Waking thinks — and I agree — you’re trying to push each of the Systems in a different direction politically. Maybe you think having different political environments is more stable across societies separated by distance and time. Maybe it’s some giant experiment. Who knows. It’s your long game.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>The longer ey spoke, the more serious Jonas’s expression grew, and by the time ey finished, he’d leaned back in his seat. “Well then,” he said. “I suppose I don’t have much more to add, then, do I? I have my conversation with True Name cut out for me.”</p>
|
<p>The longer ey spoke, the more serious Jonas’s expression grew, and by the time ey finished, he’d leaned back in his seat. “Well then,” he said. “I suppose I don’t have much more to add, then, do I? I have my conversation with True Name cut out for me.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“And what conversation is that?”</p>
|
<p>“And what conversation is that?”</p>
|
||||||
<p>Jonas was back to grinning. “Oh, fuck off, Ioan. I’m not going to tell you all of my secrets! We have our shit to work through and you have to be a good little clerk and take all of your notes so that you can come back to me with a story. That’ll seal the deal, and we’ll be ready to go our separate ways.”</p>
|
<p>Jonas was back to grinning. “Oh, fuck off, Ioan. I’m not going to tell you all of my secrets! We have our shit to work through and you have to be a good little clerk and take all of your notes so that you can come back to me with a story. That’ll seal the deal, and we’ll be ready to go our separate ways.”</p>
|
||||||
|
|
@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
|
||||||
<p>“I am too, yes. I am pleased that other than a few short fits, she has been at worst determined, and at best hopeful.”</p>
|
<p>“I am too, yes. I am pleased that other than a few short fits, she has been at worst determined, and at best hopeful.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>Ey nodded and tucked eir chin up over the skunk’s head. “I think that’s where I am, yeah. I want this over with, and sometimes it even feels like this might even be the best outcome for everyone.”</p>
|
<p>Ey nodded and tucked eir chin up over the skunk’s head. “I think that’s where I am, yeah. I want this over with, and sometimes it even feels like this might even be the best outcome for everyone.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“For everyone?”</p>
|
<p>“For everyone?”</p>
|
||||||
<p>“Well, Jonas gets what he wants and he can go play his games elsewhere, and True Name gets to go live a life doing whatever it is she wants, right?”</p>
|
<p>“Well, Jonas gets what he wants and he can go play his games elsewhere, End Waking gets his feelings understood, and True Name gets to go live a life doing whatever it is she wants, right?”</p>
|
||||||
<p>She nodded. “And what of us?”</p>
|
<p>She nodded. “And what of us?”</p>
|
||||||
<p>Ey chuckled, the sound somewhat muffled by the position. “Well, I’ll be happy for her, and you and I will continue being disgustingly adorable or whatever it is she accuses us of being.”</p>
|
<p>Ey chuckled, the sound somewhat muffled by the position. “Well, I’ll be happy for her, and you and I will continue being disgustingly adorable or whatever it is she accuses us of being.”</p>
|
||||||
<p>May laughed. “Well, yes. I will be happy for her and will continue loving you.”</p>
|
<p>May laughed. “Well, yes. I will be happy for her and will continue loving you.”</p>
|
||||||
|
|
@ -163,7 +163,7 @@
|
||||||
<p>“Another time,” ey mumbled, pushing eir face into her soft fur, coarser guard hairs tickling eir cheeks. “I can’t imagine I’m going to be able to sleep tomorrow night, so we might as well get some tonight.”</p>
|
<p>“Another time,” ey mumbled, pushing eir face into her soft fur, coarser guard hairs tickling eir cheeks. “I can’t imagine I’m going to be able to sleep tomorrow night, so we might as well get some tonight.”</p>
|
||||||
</article>
|
</article>
|
||||||
<footer>
|
<footer>
|
||||||
<p>Page generated on 2022-07-29</p>
|
<p>Page generated on 2022-08-14</p>
|
||||||
</footer>
|
</footer>
|
||||||
</main>
|
</main>
|
||||||
<script type="text/javascript">
|
<script type="text/javascript">
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue