update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/qoheleth/Ioan/006.html

@@ -13,27 +13,26 @@
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                 <p><span class="tag">writing</span> <span class="tag">novel</span> <span class="tag">chapter</span> <span class="tag">fiction</span> <span class="tag">scifi</span> <span class="tag">post-self</span> <span class="tag">qoheleth</span></p>
-<p>Dear's partner cooked that evening. Ioan sat with the two around the table and tried not to feel like a third wheel.</p>
+<p>Eating was not a necessity in the system by any stretch. While it was easy to go for months or years without eating, it was something that remained a habit for many who chose to upload. Remnants of biology. Ioan suspected that there was no small amount of hedonism involved in killing one's body to decamp to a world beyond scarcity.</p>
-<p>Eating was not a necessity in the system, of course. Not by any stretch. While it was easy to go for months or years without eating, it was something that remained a habit for many who chose to upload. Ioan suspected that there was no small amount of hedonism involved in killing one's body to decamp to a world beyond scarcity.</p>
+<p>All the same, dinner was a muted affair. Dear's partner cooked that evening. Ioan sat with the two around the table and tried not to feel like a third wheel.</p>
-<p>All the same, it was a muted affair.</p>
 <p>Dear and Ioan made it back to the house just as the first cold sprinkles had started to fall. Once they'd reached the patio, they took a moment to stand and watch just out of reach of the rain. The weather went from cloudy, through sprinkles and drizzles, to stormy. Ioan focused primarily on the sound. The way ey was able to pick out the individual sounds of droplets striking dry grass during the sprinkles. The static of the drizzles. The rush and roar of the storm itself.</p>
 <p>Ey could not guess what Dear was thinking. It stood, watching the rain and shivering. It looked contemplative, pensive. Somewhere north of sad, south of simply thoughtful. Ioan sifted for the word, gave up, and guided the fox back into its house.</p>
-<p>Ioan felt some energy return with the mix of curry and lentils and rice. Calories an empty term, that is nonetheless what it felt like: like eating a hearty meal, regaining strength. Perhaps it was just the act of being. Of existing. Engaging with one's sensorium. Perhaps that was why the idea of food had been included in the system, after all.</p>
+<p>Ioan felt some energy return with the mix of curry and lentils and rice. Calories an empty term, that is nonetheless what it felt like: like eating a hearty meal, regaining strength. Perhaps it was just the act of being present. Of existing. Engaging with one's sensorium. Perhaps that was why so many within the system still engaged with food after all.</p>
 <p>Dear picked up somewhat with the food. Not as much Ioan had, nor, it seemed, as much as its partner had hoped, judging by their own apparent anxiety. Dinner was good, necessary, but plagued with silences. Even after, as the three sat talking, their conversation was full of nothings.</p>
 <p>It wasn't until they poured wine and moved to the couch that Dear began to open up.</p>
-<p><em>"I script a lot of my conversations. Perhaps most,"</em> it said, staring into it's 'glass', wide-rimmed to make way for a fox muzzle to lap. It had little in the way of lips. Ioan felt strange drinking wine from something akin to a bowl</p>
+<p><em>"I script a lot of my conversations. Perhaps most,"</em> it said, staring into it's 'glass', wide-rimmed to make way for a fox muzzle to lap. Ioan felt strange drinking wine from something more akin to a bowl</p>
 <p>Ioan looked up. "Mm?"</p>
 <p><em>"I was just thinking."</em> It shrugged, swirling its wine. It took a few laps. <em>"Earlier, when I was sharing that bit about the Name with you, I had that all scripted. It was all pulled together in my head. The whole thing. I'd make a few jokes. Lead you on. Tell you the name, and then we'd bask in the wonder and truth of it."</em></p>
 <p>Ioan nodded, silent.</p>
 <p><em>"Just like I spent dinner scripting this conversation."</em></p>
 <p>Dear's partner gave its shin a playful kick. The fox grinned.</p>
-<p><em>"It's thoroughly ingrained. I'm pretty sure most people do it, of course. It's just,"</em> it frowned, sighed. <em>"I had the whole thing scripted and planned, and then you asked questions --- as you are meant to, of course --- and my script collapsed."</em></p>
+<p><em>"It's thoroughly ingrained. I'm pretty sure most people do it, it's just--"</em> It frowned, sighed. <em>"I had the whole thing scripted and planned, and then you asked questions --- as you are meant to, of course --- and my script collapsed."</em></p>
 <p>"I "went off script", you mean?"</p>
 <p><em>"Mmhm."</em></p>
 <p>"Sorry about that, I--"</p>
 <p><em>"Oh goodness, no!"</em> Dear laughed, shaking its head, <em>"I'm trying to apologize here. Don't steal my thunder. I just meant to say that you asked good questions and got me thinking, and I wasn't expecting that."</em></p>
 <p>"It likes to proclaim," teased Dear's partner.</p>
-<p><em>"It's not <strong>not</strong> true."</em> Dear smirked. <em>"But anyway, I'm sorry I got all quiet, I didn't mean to put a damper on things."</em></p>
+<p><em>"It's not </em><em>not</em><em> true."</em> Dear smirked. <em>"But anyway, I'm sorry I got all quiet, I didn't mean to put a damper on things."</em></p>
 <p>"You didn't, I--"</p>
 <p><em>"I did, though. Dinner was like some depressing silent movie."</em></p>
 <p>"Don't sulk, fox," its partner said. "Dinner was fine. And let poor Ioan finish."</p>
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-                <p>Page generated on 2020-04-17</p>
+                <p>Page generated on 2020-04-20</p>
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