update from sparkleup
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Madison Scott-Clary
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<li class="done4"> <a href="launch/phys/Douglas/006.html">Launch: phys-side: Douglas</a> - Talks with May about launch-era political machinations from phys-side - 2140</li>
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<li class="done4"> <a href="secession/sys/True-Name/003.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Starts to think of phys/sys dichotomy in political terms, forks on the sly (only Jonas knows), so that forks can handle both, leaving her as figurehead who appears to know all - 2765</li>
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<li class="done4"> <a href="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/004.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - talks with Dear about secession and the mood before and after in general, but also w/in clade, Dear hints that Praiseworthy started shaping the history even before secession and the art of propaganda - 2265</li>
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<li class="done3"> <a href="launch/sys/Ioan/006.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan and May share growing concerns from LV messages - 2034 (probably needs work)</li>
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<li class="done4"> <a href="launch/sys/Ioan/006.html">Launch: sys-side: Ioan</a> - Ioan and May share growing concerns from LV messages - 2034 (probably needs work)</li>
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<li class="done3"> <a href="secession/phys/Yared/006.html">Secession: phys-side: Yared</a> - Demma is a bit grumpy that Yared talked to sys-side, but mostly pleased that they seem to be on board with it; presses Yared for more information, hints at distates for System; told to ignore latest update, team will get him a new one. - 2939</li>
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<li class="done3"> <a href="secession/sys/True-Name/004.html">Secession: sys-side: True Name</a> - Meets with Praiseworthy (skunk female, studious and charismatic) to discuss propaganda angle, thus getting more on sys-side to support political acts. He suggests softening her features to be more approachable, cute, meek, etc. - 2128</li>
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<li class="done3"> <a href="launch/launch/Codrin-pollux/005.html">Launch: launch-side: Codrin#Pollux</a> - interviews <em>Why Ask Questions</em> Here At The End Of All Things (Michelle, casual type), who was tasked by True Name and Jonas to meddle with sys-side politics and increase support for secession - 2819</li>
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@ -34,10 +34,10 @@
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<p>“It is not a feeling I share, but I can see how one might,” May said, carefully shifting the backpack from between them to the other side of her so that she could lean against em. “It is the feeling one gets when one asks “is that all there is?” and the answer comes back “yes, of course”.”</p>
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<p>“Yeah,” ey murmured. As May rested her head against eir shoulder, ey turned eir head to place a kiss between her ears. Ey did not remember when ey had first started doing that, but it had long since become habit. Every time ey remembered that it had been an act that was out of character for em until May moved in, some part of em raced around in circles to try and find out what had changed and why.</p>
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<p><em>It’s just…May. That’s just how she is,</em> ey kept reminding emself. <em>There is no explaining an Odist.</em></p>
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<p>“It’s been happening more and more since the idea of the launches first started to take off. It happened before, too, but I think coming to the understanding that this isn’t exactly all there is, that there’s also stuff outside the System and far away from the Sun…well, it just kind of rubbed my face in it. “You’re stuck here, Ioan Bălan,” it says. “You’re not going to be on the launch, and even if you were, that wouldn’t be you. There’d be no merging of experiences”.”</p>
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<p>“It’s been happening more and more since the idea of the launches first started to take off. It happened before, too, but I think coming to the understanding that this <em>isn’t</em> all there is, that there’s also stuff outside the System and far away from the Sun…well, it just kind of rubbed my face in it. “You’re stuck here, Ioan Bălan,” it says. “You’re not going to be on the launch, and even if you were, that wouldn’t be you. There’d be no merging of experiences”.”</p>
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<p>May laughed. “I find freedom in that. Not only will I not have to do any of that work, but I will also get to be one of the shitheads that stays behind.”</p>
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<p>“And that’s a bonus?”</p>
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<p>“Of course it is, dear. When was the last time you had the luxury of staying behind? Of that being a one-way decision?”</p>
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<p>“Of course it is, my dear. When was the last time you had the luxury of staying behind? Of that being a one-way decision?”</p>
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<p>Ey frowned.</p>
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<p>“Do not think too hard, Ioan. I can tell you now that it was before you uploaded.” She sounded as though speaking from a dream. “That was the last time that you could have made the choice to stay behind. It is some of Dear’s beloved irreversibility. You cannot un-upload. You cannot upload part of the way. There is no going and there is no back, remember? Now, though, you are here. If you are busy working and a friend is throwing a party, why, just fork! You do not need to worry about whether or not you need stay behind or join them. You can do both.”</p>
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<p>“But with the launch, you had the decision to stay behind.”</p>
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@ -47,16 +47,16 @@
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<p>“Mm, true. I’m happy for them, at least.”</p>
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<p>“As am I. Their communications are not quite as happy as I suspect they wish, but I am still happy for them.”</p>
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<p>Ioan knit eir brow. “There is that, yeah. Do you remember Ezekiel?”</p>
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<p>“Of course,” May said, sitting up and swinging her legs up onto the rock so that she could sit cross-legged, facing em. “Though I knew him as Zeke. He was brilliant. Intensely, incredibly brilliant. I am sure that he still is, but that brilliance is now coiled all around itself in the way that happens with prophets throughout the ages.”</p>
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<p>“Of course,” May said, sitting up and swinging her legs up onto the rock so that she could sit cross-legged, facing em. “He was brilliant. Intensely, incredibly brilliant. I am sure that he still is, but that brilliance is now coiled all around itself in the way that happens with prophets throughout the ages.”</p>
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<p>Ey turned to face May in turn. “Who do you think that weighed more on, though? Dear or Codrin?”</p>
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<p>The skunk dipped her muzzle. “That is difficult to say. They are each sensitive in their own ways. Dear, I imagine, is feeling a lot of old fears confirmed, and old memories come to roost. I worry that, some day, that fox will spin itself into a whirlwind and dissipate into the atmosphere.”</p>
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<p>“I’m sure it’d enjoy that.”</p>
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<p>“It would make it a whole production. Invite everyone on the launch.”</p>
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<p>“It would make it a whole production. Invite everyone on the LV.”</p>
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<p>Ioan laughed.</p>
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<p>“And Codrin?” she said.</p>
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<p>“I expect ey’s struggling, in eir own way. Were I confronted with something like that, I’d be able to keep it together throughout the interview, but afterwards, I’d have to spend a lot of time just decompressing.”</p>
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<p>“Why is that?”</p>
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<p>“You spend all your time up here–” Ey tapped at eir temple. “–and being confronted by the ways in which that can go wrong to someone who was, as you say, brilliant, and it can really mess with you. I bet ey holed himself up in that office for a while and paced a ring into the floor.”</p>
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<p>“You spend all your time up here–” Ey tapped at eir temple. “–and being confronted by the ways in which that can go wrong to someone who was, as you say, brilliant, can really mess with you. I bet ey holed himself up in that office for a while and paced a ring into the floor.”</p>
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<p>If ey had been expecting a laugh or a smile from the skunk, ey was disappointed. She simply nodded and looked off into the water again. “There is nothing wrong with that, Ioan. We have known that disconnect. We have known the feeling of a mind coiled in on itself. That is frightening to all of us. It <em>should</em> be frightening.”</p>
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<p>Suspecting that May would appreciate it and not knowing what to say to that, ey simply reached out and took one of her paws in eir hands.</p>
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<p>Ey didn’t know how long they sat there like that. Ey didn’t remember what ey was thinking, or where ey looked. All ey remembered was the satiny feeling of May’s pawpads against eir skin, and the sound of a quiet lake.</p>
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@ -68,9 +68,9 @@
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<p>“Walk? You don’t want to just leave?”</p>
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<p>“If you are going to drag me out on a hike, then so help me God, take me on the hike, Ioan.”</p>
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<p>They walked back along the deer trail, back the way they came. The water was now to their left, and where their eyes had been drawn to it before, they were now drawn to the pine forest that rimmed the lake. Trees reached straight for the sky from their brown bed of needles.</p>
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<p>And as they walked, faster than before, May talked. “I worry about them. Both launches, both families. I worry about me and you. The interview with Ezekiel, yes, but both of them, both Castor and Pollux, are starting to get closer to the center of it all.”</p>
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<p>And as they walked, faster than before, May talked. “I worry about them. Both launches, both families. I worry about me and you. The interview with Ezekiel, yes, but both of them, both Castor and Pollux, are starting to circle around the center of it all.”</p>
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<p>“The center?”</p>
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<p>“All three of us — Dear#Castor, Dear#Pollux, and I — have warned all three of you Bălans that there is a lot behind this.” She was panting now as she walked. She had taken the lead, and was drawing em along behind her as she spoke. “We couch it in humor and jokey language as though they are riddles for you to solve, but Ioan, I worry that all it will do in the end is sow distrust between our two clades.”</p>
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<p>“All three of us — Dear#Castor, Dear#Pollux, and I — have warned all three of you Bălans that there is a lot behind this.” She was panting now as she walked, faster and faster. She had taken the lead, and was drawing em along behind her as she spoke. “We couch it in humor and jokey language as though they are riddles for you to solve, but Ioan, I worry that all it will do in the end is sow distrust between our two clades.”</p>
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<p>Ioan worked to keep up with May as she nearly jogged around the last bend in the path. “We can stop, May. If you don’t think it’ll lead to anything good, then we can just stop. We can look elsewhere. We can go back to interviewing musicians and astronomers and shitty authors. There are still stories to tell, and I’m sure that they will lead to just as many myths.”</p>
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<p>She shook her head. Or at least Ioan thought she did. It was hard to tell, with the two of them jouncing along down the path.</p>
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<p>“May, please, at least slow down! You’re going to pull me over.”</p>
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<p>Ey frowned at the stricken expression on her face, the tear-tracks in cheekfur. “Do you want us to stop? Stop talking to Odists? If you want to help guide us to better places to look, we can take a break from it.”</p>
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<p>She was already shaking her head. “You are not going to be able to avoid it, Ioan. I am worried, and I will not stop being worried, but you will not be able to avoid the inevitable end of this line of thought. You did not know it, but you were not even able to avoid the beginning of it.”</p>
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<p>“There’s no way to stay behind, you mean.”</p>
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<p>She laughed, and the laugh was choked. “You are a brat. But yes. There is no way to stay behind, there is no going and there is no back.”</p>
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<p>She laughed, and the laugh was haky with tears. “You are a brat. But yes. There is no way to stay behind.”</p>
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<p>“You’re just worried?”</p>
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<p>“I am just worried. You are at serious risk of learning the truth, and that has me worried.”</p>
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<p>“Alright.” Ey drew May in for a hug. “I don’t understand you Odists. I never have. You seem to have all these countless dramatic events spiraling around you.”</p>
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<p>“Alright.” Ey drew May in for a hug. “I don’t understand you Odists. I never have. You seem to have all these dramatic events spiraling around you.”</p>
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<p>She laughed as she rested her head against eir shoulder. “We do, yes, and you love it.”</p>
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<p>“It keeps life interesting, no denying. I just worry about you in turn.”</p>
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<p>“I am glad you do, dear.”</p>
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<p>“Good,” ey said.</p>
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<p>“Now, take me home and talk about literally anything else for the rest of the night.”</p>
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<p>“Now, take me home and talk about something — anything — else for the rest of the night.”</p>
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</article>
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<footer>
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<p>Page generated on 2021-10-17</p>
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