update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<h1 id="ioan-balan-2346">Ioan Bălan — 2346</h1>
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<p>May made it through dinner — Ioan was heartened to see that she’d actually eaten all of the chicken soup ey’d made — before padding off to a beanbag to curl up. She kept up a sleepy conversation for a few minutes while Ioan cleaned, but even that tapered off to silence. When next ey looked back, the skunk was asleep.</p>
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<p>Every time ey’d left her to sleep out on the beanbag in the past, though, she’d spent the next day disoriented and moody (ey suspected this is what she’d meant when she said she slept better next to someone all those years ago), so, once ey finished cleaning, ey knelt beside the beanbag, wormed eir arms beneath her, and scooped her up.</p>
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<p>Every time ey’d left her to sleep out on the beanbag in the past, though, she’d spent the next day disoriented and moody (ey suspected this is what she’d meant when she said she slept better next to someone all those years ago), so, once ey finished the unnecessary but meditative task of cleaning, ey knelt beside the beanbag, wormed eir arms beneath her, and scooped her up.</p>
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<p>May made a sort of drowsy chirping noise as ey lifted her, hugging her arms around eir shoulders for the short journey to the bedroom. Long as her tail was, ey still had to be careful not to step on any of her fur with it hanging limply, almost to the ground.</p>
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<p>Once there, ey helped her out of her clothes, unsteady as she seemed, and then tucked her in, leaning down to put a kiss on her cheek.</p>
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<p>Once there, ey helped her out of her clothes, unsteady as she was, and then tucked her in, leaning down to put a kiss on her cheek.</p>
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<p>“Ioan?”</p>
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<p>“Yes?”</p>
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<p>“Can you stay?”</p>
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@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
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<p>“Poetic.”</p>
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<p>“There are Odists involved, it’s going to be poetic through and through.”</p>
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<p>She laughed and poked em in the belly with a claw. “Jerk.”</p>
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<p>“That’s me, yes,” ey said, grinning and nudging her muzzle about with eir chin. “The Odists are learning how to manipulate new species. Tycho’s learning about the stars. I can’t speak to Sarah, but Codrin is along for the ride.”</p>
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<p>“That’s me, yes,” ey said, grinning and nudging her muzzle this way and that with eir chin. “The Odists are learning how to manipulate new species. Tycho’s learning about the stars. I can’t speak to Sarah, but Codrin is along for the ride.”</p>
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<p>“Did ey have much more to say about eir doubts?”</p>
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<p>“A little. Ey’s still feeling more caught up in the events than an actual participant, but I think ey’s also starting to look for ways out of the cycle. I don’t know if ey’s picked up any specific ideas on how to take charge, but that ey’s decided that that’s something ey’d like to do is change enough.”</p>
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<p>The skunk nodded. “You are a careful lot, but it is nice to see when you do become more assertive.”</p>
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@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
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<p>A moment’s hesitation, and then May nodded. “I let In Dreams know.”</p>
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<p>“Good. The more minds working on this, the better.”</p>
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<p>“Are you really that worried, my dear?”</p>
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<p>Ey frowned, shrugged. “That’s part of it. More, I just feel helpless. I’m not worried about you going sideways any time soon, really, and certainly hope you don’t at all, but should that happen, watching helplessly would be…well, it’s a big fear of mine.”</p>
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<p>Ey frowned, shrugged. “That’s part of it. More, I just feel helpless. I’m not worried about you going sideways any time soon, honestly, and certainly hope you don’t at all, but should that happen, watching helplessly would be…well, it’s a big fear of mine.”</p>
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<p>May hugged herself closer to em, snout once again ducking beneath eir chin. “I understand. I am stuck with the related fear of losing control. I do not like the feeling of not being in control of my emotions, even for these brief periods, but if that were to just become my life…”</p>
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<p>After she trailed off, ey tightened eir arms around her, brushing fingertips through fur.</p>
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<p>They lay like that in the quiet and the dark. Eir fork apparently finished up with eir notes and quit, but given the topics of conversation, ey declined to accept the merge. Ey did not want to be distracted from the simple task of petting May, of enjoying the feeling of having her back.</p>
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<p>“Ioan Bălan, if you make me cry again, I will smother you in your sleep.”</p>
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<p>Ey laughed. “It sounds like it’s already too late.”</p>
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<p>“Thin fucking ice, buddy.” May sniffled and squirmed around until she could tuck back against eir front. “I love you too, my dear, top to bottom and front to back.”</p>
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<p>As ey settled in for sleep, kissing the backs of the skunk’s ears, ey marveled that ey could only remember the Ioan who never thought to form attachments, who could never remember to ask May if they were in a relationship, who continually wondered how she wound up in eir life as some other person. That Ioan was gone. Ey had slipped out while the Ioan ey was now wasn’t looking, and had never come back. Ey wished em luck, this younger version of emself. Ey wished em happiness and fulfillment. And, should that Ioan ever find emself struck by the wonder of love, ey wished em courage in the face of it.</p>
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<p>As ey settled in for sleep, kissing the backs of the skunk’s ears, ey marveled that ey could only remember the Ioan who never thought to form attachments, who could never remember to ask May if they were in a relationship, who continually wondered how she wound up in eir life as some other person. Ey could only remember em as though from a distance. That Ioan was gone. Ey had slipped out while the Ioan ey was now wasn’t looking, and had never come back. Ey wished em luck, this younger version of emself. Ey wished em happiness and fulfillment. And, should that Ioan ever find emself struck by the wonder of love, ey wished em courage in the face of it.</p>
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<p>This Ioan, the one ey was now, understood the value in attachments, and yet ey could still marvel, twenty years on, at just how much more complete ey was with May in eir life, and for that, ey’d be forever thankful.</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-12-09</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-12-19</p>
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</footer>
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</header>
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<article class="content">
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<h1 id="tycho-braheemissary-2346">Tycho Brahe#Emissary — 2346</h1>
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<p>Tycho found himself focusing most on True Name during and after the long spate of introductions.</p>
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<p>Tycho found himself focusing most on True Name after the long spate of introductions.</p>
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<p>A small part of him wondered at this. All four races of Artemisians sitting around the table with them were fascinating in their own way. Part of him wanted to get lost in exploring the intricacies of Turun Ka and Turun Ko. Another desperately wanted to learn as much as he could from Stolon despite the stated goal of focusing on social interactions for this instance of the meeting.</p>
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<p>And yet, it was all so overwhelming. So much was happening all at once. So many things demanded his attention that the part of himself tasked with observing all but shut down, and instead he focused on True Name.</p>
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<p>Why Ask Questions — or perhaps Answers Will Not Help — had calmed down, at least to the point where she was able to sit still and look down at the table. Her introduction had been stammered and, after that, she had remained quiet. It seemed as though she was spending every joule of energy she had on remaining still, remaining herself. Even then, a wave of skunk would occasionally wash over her form and she would clench her eyes shut</p>
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<p>True Name nodded. “Yes.”</p>
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<p>There was a brief blur around the Artemisians as, Tycho guessed, they shifted to fast time to discuss this.</p>
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<p>When they dropped back down to common time, Turun Ka tilted its snout up. “We are amenable to this. By role, then. I act as leader for this delegation as well as a member of the Council of Eight, which serves in a leadership role for the collected societies here on what you call Artemis. My specialization is on interspecies communication.”</p>
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<p>The skunk’s ears flitted briefly as it spoke. “Thank you, Turun Ka. For my part, I act as leader for this delegation. There is no central leadership for our System, but I am a member of a group of individuals and clades keenly interested in the stability and continuity of our society.” She smiled, strain showing around her eyes. “This was not always the case, as the System was originally guided by a group of individuals also known as the Council of Eight. This was disbanded two hundred years ago once the society reached equilibrium, but I was a member from start to end.”</p>
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<p>The skunk’s ears flitted briefly as it spoke. “Thank you, leader Turun Ka. For my part, I act as leader for this delegation. There is no central leadership for our System, but I am a member of a group of individuals and clades keenly interested in the stability and continuity of our society.” She smiled, strain showing around her eyes. “This was not always the case, as the System was originally guided by a group of individuals also known as the Council of Eight. This was disbanded two hundred years ago once the society reached equilibrium, but I was a member from start to end.”</p>
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<p>The firstracer rocked its head from side to side in a gesture that Tycho supposed must be amusement of a sort. “We share a commonality.”</p>
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<p>True Name nodded.</p>
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<p>“I serve as recorder here,” Codrin said when no one else spoke up. “As well as in general. I am a historian and writer, and have often found myself taking part in large-scale events as a recorder so that I might witness and then write a coherent story after.”</p>
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<p>“We are alike, Codrin Bălan,” Turun Ko said. “I serve and have served as observer-recorder since creation and launch of our vehicle-system. I specialize in creating stories-accounts-retellings of events so that others may listen-understand. I am pleased to meet you.”</p>
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<p>“We are alike, recorder Codrin Bălan,” Turun Ko said. “I serve and have served as observer-recorder since creation and launch of our vehicle-system. I specialize in creating stories-accounts-retellings of events so that others may listen-understand. I am pleased to meet you.”</p>
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<p>Codrin nodded to it, smiling. “As am I.”</p>
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<p>“I am named Stolon of thirdrace, of–” The lizard made a sort of hissing, chittering noise. Their name for their own race, perhaps? “I am specializing in astronomy and spaceflight. I dream of stars.”</p>
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<p>Tycho sat up straight. Another astronomer! He couldn’t have asked for better luck. “Really? I’m an astronomer, too,” he said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. “That’s the whole reason I came along on these launches in the first place. I wanted to see the stars. Where do you come from? How did you wind up out here?”</p>
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<p><em>That they needed to do that is probably telling,</em> he thought.</p>
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<p>“Not in the same fashion, but some had trouble, yes.” Artante hesitated, glanced at Turun Ka, and then continued. “We have decided that it would be best to revisit this topic later on in our meeting, however, as we do not want to distract from other topics we must cover during our time together.”</p>
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<p>Why Ask Questions/Answers Will Not Help nodded. “Would appreciate that,” she said, the words coming out slurred and elongated. She seemed to be having an increasingly hard time remaining in common time, not to mention remaining in one form. “Can we take a break for a few?”</p>
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<p>Turun Ka stood from where it had crouched. “Yes. Please feel free to head back to your rest area or a unison room for the next fifteen minutes, and then we shall reconvene.”</p>
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<p>Turun Ka stood from where it had crouched. “Yes. Please feel free to head back to your rest area or a unison room for the next fifteen minutes common time, and then we shall reconvene.”</p>
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<p>“Can we do so in a unison room?”</p>
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<p>“Yes. Iska will see to the arrangements. One of us will fetch the other emissaries to guide you back to the new meeting location.”</p>
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<p>“Yes. Representative Iska will see to the arrangements. One of us will fetch the other emissaries to guide you back to the new meeting location.”</p>
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<p>The soft-furred secondracer stood still for a moment, squinted. “You should be locked to common time for the time being. It is very difficult to synchronize skew with you, though. I don’t know why. I will contact a system technician during our break.”</p>
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<p>“If I walk backward, time moves forward. If I walk forward, time rushes on,” she gasped out, then laughed hoarsely. “If I stand still, the world moves around me.”</p>
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<p>True Name jolted at the brief recitation, standing quickly and taking her cocladist by the elbow. “Come on, my dear. Let us get to the unison room.”</p>
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<p>Tycho looked to Codrin, who only frowned.</p>
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<p>Something had happened, just then. Something of import. He had no clue as to what it had been. Neither did he understand how, he realized, but he knew that it was something distressing. Something wrong.</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-11-27</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-12-19</p>
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