From 76063190f88eb3eeb60f6f153fc654fd898ab3d2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Madison Scott-Clary Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2021 00:20:10 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] update from sparkleup --- .../launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html | 15 ++-- .../toledot/launch/phys/Douglas/001.html | 31 ++++---- .../toledot/launch/phys/Douglas/003.html | 34 +++++---- .../toledot/launch/sys/Ioan/001.html | 71 ++++++++++--------- .../toledot/secession/phys/Yared/001.html | 14 ++-- .../toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/001.html | 15 ++-- .../toledot/secession/sys/Michelle/002.html | 48 ++++++------- 7 files changed, 118 insertions(+), 110 deletions(-) diff --git a/writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html b/writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html index 7e8e6ab6f..a9ee81745 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html +++ b/writing/post-self/toledot/launch/launch/Codrin-castor/001.html @@ -13,12 +13,13 @@

Codrin Bălan#Castor — 2325

-

After their “deaths”, such as they were, Dear cackled madly and ran about the still roaring bonfire, prancing and leaping, forking dozens of copies as it went. Its sim had been set up in the Launch Systems, both Castor and Pollux precisely as it had in the L5 System, down to all of the decorations and flames. As soon as they had transferred themselves over to those systems — something which they had been told would take several minutes across the micro-Ansibles connecting the three systems, but which was as subjectively instantaneous as any normal transit — they were alone. The crowd was gone, the singing was gone, and any chance of reversibility had gone with. There was no way that Codrin or Dear or Dear’s partner could ever go back, as the transit was one-way. “There is no going and there is no back,” Dear had been saying for months now.

+

After their “deaths”, such as they were, Dear cackled madly and ran about the still roaring bonfire, prancing and leaping, forking dozens of copies as it went. Its sim had been set up in the Launch Systems, both Castor and Pollux, precisely as it had in the L5 System, down to all of the decorations and flames. As soon as they had transferred themselves over to those systems — something which they had been told would take several minutes across the micro-Ansibles connecting the three systems, but which was as subjectively instantaneous as any normal transit — they were alone. The crowd was gone, the singing was gone, and any chance of reversibility had gone with. There was no way that Codrin or Dear or Dear’s partner could ever go back, as the transit was one-way. “There is no going and there is no back,” Dear had been saying for months now.

“It is done! It is done! the fox hollered. “It is done and those poor saps did not even get to finish their song! Oh, to see their faces! Crumbling sim, friends forever cut off!”

Dear’s partner also laughed, hopping to their feet and chasing after the fox in a mad dash, leaving Codrin to sit and smile and watch and think.

-

There was no more Codrin in the L5 System. Had ey ever existed there? Ey was only memories, and perhaps that is all ey had ever been. Navel gazing and existential crises mixed with the glee of having actually done something. No longer just the passive amanuensis, but now the active participant, to whatever extent.

+

There was no more Codrin in the L5 System. Ey couldn’t remember being there, for were the sims not the same? And if ey had never been there, had ey ever really existed there? Ey was only memories, and perhaps that is all ey had ever been. Navel gazing and existential crises mixed with the glee of having actually done something. No longer just the passive amanuensis, but now the active participant, to whatever extent.

+

Or, well, nearly so, for it was Dear who talked em into this.

When Dear and its partner finally collapsed into a laughing heap amid the dandelions and shortgrass, Codrin stood, raised eir hands to the fire-dimmed sky, and addressed fox and human and flames. “Hwæt! We great three have made it! We have made it to safety and sanctuary!”

-

Dear rolled up and focused on Codrin with a singular intensity that ey had seen countless times before and yet never gotten used to.

+

Dear rolled up and immediately focused on Codrin with a singular intensity that ey had seen countless times before and yet never gotten used to.

“We three, the heroes, the shield-bearers of Elf Hive had long since sought the beast. It lived in the caves, they said. It dwelt in the fields and disguised itself as tall grass, ready to ensnare the traveler. It was as large as a mountain and crouched beside the valley, unseen, traversed, summited, and still it claimed lives in its hunger. Who knows the truth, now, but us three? None who met its gaze had ever lived to tell the tale, and none now will ever hear, for we are the only ones who have seen it face to face and lived, and yet we escaped only by jumping from the world up to the heavens.

“We sought it by night until we realized that it was not there–“

“We sought it!” Dear shouted, hoisting a tankard that had appeared in its paw.

@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@

“The jaws that bite, the claws that catch.” Dear’s partner chimed in, lifting their own tankard.

“And we braved them. We braved, but though we tried, we could not best them. There was no fight to be had–“

“No swords could cut it!”

-

“No spears could pierce it.”

+

“No spears could pierce it!”

“–and all we could do was hold off its attack to run away until true darkness fell and we could finally rest. The next morning we would take off running, and hope to gain some distance, but always the beast was there, ready and waiting–“

“Ready to pounce!”

“So we grew weary, for nothing we did could not be undone by the beast. It was the mountain! It did dwell in the grass! It did live in caves! It was all these things and more.”

@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@

“And then, of course, it was her who grabbed my hand and thrust it up into the air, proclaiming me as the next prophet. It was unanimous. I was to be the one in charge.

“And you can surely guess my fate. You can surely see that it had come much sooner too, as all of those little luxuries that Dear had accumulated were now mine, and I succumbed as I knew I must to temptation.

“Weird though. They skipped the fire and went straight to beheading!” They finished with a bow and sat down grinning at the hearty applause. Both Dear and Codrin leaned in to give them a kiss on the cheek.

-

There was silence for a while as the three of them sat and drank their ale and looked at the fire or looked at each other or looked at nothing. Perhaps they left for the prairie. Perhaps they huddled by the fire in shared warmth. Who knows? It did not matter in that moment. They were home, and they were together.

+

There was silence for a while as the three of them sat and drank their ale and looked at the fire or looked at each other or looked at nothing. Perhaps they left to walk the prairie. Perhaps they huddled by the fire in shared warmth. Who knows? It did not matter in that moment. They were home, and they were together.

It was only later, when Dear and Codrin had curled together in bed — Dear’s partner having fallen asleep on the couch — that the fox elbowed Codrin in the side, and ey could hear the grin in its voice. “Beowulf? You are such a nerd.”

Codrin laughed and buried eir face in the fox’s scruff. “Did you doubt that I knew of Beowulf? Tsk tsk.”

“Oh! I did not doubt, but the fact that you pulled that out to start a story time makes me giddy. How long had you been planning on doing that?”

@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@

Codrin poked a finger against the fox’s stomach, getting a yip in return. “Did you doubt that, too?”

“It is always nice to have confirmation.”

“Happy to oblige.”

-

There was silence for a bit. Codrin had begun to nod off.

+

There was silence for a bit. Codrin began to nod off.

“Codrin?”

“Mm?”

“When you write back to Ioan and May Then My Name, will you send those stories instead of what our actual reasons were?”

@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@

They slept.