“No, I mean, maybe it’s you in that you’re the first person I’ve gotten close enough to to wind up feeling like that, at least since I uploaded.”
The skunk paused in the act of picking another plate from the river, letting it drift on. “Did you feel that way about your brother? Was you uploading your fix?”
Ey felt eir muscles go rigid, eir jaw clench, eir hands start to shake. “Uh…well, huh.”
-Ears splayed and eyes wide with alarm, the skunk reached out to take one of eir hands in her own. “I am sorry, my dear. If I overstepped, I apologize.”
+Ears splayed and eyes wide with alarm, the skunk reached out to take one of eir hands in her own. “I am sorry, Ioan. If I overstepped, I apologize.”
Letting the skunk lace her fingers with eirs, ey shook eir head as though to dislodge the slight dizziness that had come with the realization. “Maybe?” Ey forced a smile. “I mean, maybe uploading was my fix for that situation? I don’t know.”
She nodded, gave eir hand a gentle squeeze.
“I think you’re the only person I’ve really loved other than Dragoș,” ey said, nudging the conversation back on track to avoid settling into that particular rumination. “That’s what I meant. I want to make things good for you, whether it’s you overflowing, stuff with True Name, or any other number of things that aren’t my responsibility or even under my control.”
-May smiled, the expression veering perilously close to a smirk. “You have said that you want to fix things for True Name at times, too, my dear. Are you sure you are not in love?”
+May smiled, the expression veering perilously close to a smirk. “You have said that you want to fix things for True Name at times, too. Are you sure you are not in love?”
“I’ve also talked about how often I’ll wind up getting caught off guard by how much you two still look and sound alike,” ey said, smirking right back. “She’s nice and I do want to help her, but I think I’m a ways off from that.”
She laughed. “I know, I know. You just leave yourself so open, sometimes, a girl cannot help herself. You are also allowed to want to help friends and acquaintances as well as me.”
“Skunks, I swear…” Ey laughed when she pinched at eir fingers, tugging eir hand back so ey could grab another plate of yellowtail. “That’s kind of what I was thinking about on the walk, though. I feel weirdly obligated to fix things. It’s not my place to, I don’t think either of you would be comfortable with that, and that’s not even counting whether or not it’s something either of you want.”
diff --git a/writing/post-self/mitzvot/016.html b/writing/post-self/mitzvot/016.html index b52423cab..33485f17a 100644 --- a/writing/post-self/mitzvot/016.html +++ b/writing/post-self/mitzvot/016.html @@ -88,12 +88,10 @@“I won’t bring it up, then.”
“Good.” She poked em in the belly, then went back to her hug. “Though as to the greeting, I mean it when I said I got a lot off of my chest. I spent a lot of time thinking and a lot of time talking to End Waking and Debarre, and I have some ideas for moving forward.”
“Oh?”
-She shook her head beneath eir hand and tightened her grip around em. “I do not want to discuss them now, my dear. I am tired and cried out and you are comfortable and good to me.”
-“That’s my job, yeah,” ey said, combing fingers through fur. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, then.”
-“Mmhm. Dote on skunks time.”
+She shook her head beneath eir hand and tightened her grip around em. “I do not want to discuss them now. I am tired and cried out and you are comfortable and good to me.”