Toledot minus epilogue

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/003.tex

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ She nodded. ``Well, come here, then. Let us plan instead of read or write or wha
 
 ``Woolgathering, apparently,'' ey mumbled, but gathered up a notebook and a pen to go plop down next to the skunk all the same.
 
-When May had moved in with Ioan the year before the launch, she had quickly requested several changes to the house. A desk for her to work at as well as a private room---a cube with all grey walls---in which to do whatever it was that she did when composing her mythos. She had also requested a few items that would work with her physiology. A stool for the desk that would let her tail drape down and curl around her feet, that sort of thing
+When May had moved in with Ioan the year before the launch, she had quickly requested several changes to the house. A desk for her to work at as well as a private room—a cube with all grey walls—in which to do whatever it was that she did when composing her mythos. She had also requested a few items that would work with her physiology. A stool for the desk that would let her tail drape down and curl around her feet, that sort of thing
 
 She had declined, however, another room or bed, which had initially staggered em.
 
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ She poked the tip of her tongue out of her muzzle. ``Are you complaining?''
 
 ``No, no, I'm sure it'll be fine. That's three forks. A fourth as needed for interviews for those who stayed behind.'' Ey tapped eir pen against eir lower lip. ``How often should we merge?''
 
-``I would suggest once a day to start with, perhaps an hour before you---your \#Tracker instance---plan on stopping work for the day. You can use that hour to do your collating. You are less used to frivolous forking than the Odists, and much as I might enjoy multiple Ioans to canoodle with, I would prefer that you not get overwhelmed.''
+``I would suggest once a day to start with, perhaps an hour before you—your \#Tracker instance—plan on stopping work for the day. You can use that hour to do your collating. You are less used to frivolous forking than the Odists, and much as I might enjoy multiple Ioans to canoodle with, I would prefer that you not get overwhelmed.''
 
 Ey laughed and shook eir head, jotting down notes on the paper as ey talked. ``You're probably right. Besides, I'd have to make the house even bigger to have enough bedrooms.''
 
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ More woolgathering. That's what the evening called for, more than work. More woo
 
 Lovers? Ey let a tape run forward in eir mind. Ey watched the friendship ey had formed with May progress into some form of romantic relationship. How would it start? Would it start with em making a formal decision to let that happen? Or would it happen by accident? Would ey some day wake up and realize, \emph{Holy shit, I think we're dating. Are we dating? I think we are.}
 
-And ey set a different tape to playing. A tape wherein ey set firmer boundaries, prohibited the friendship from progressing further than it already had. Or, worse---strange to already be placing value judgements!---a world in which ey pushed the skunk away, backed off from the physical affection, from the talk that bordered on flirty, from even the hypocorism `May'. If ey let that tape play beyond that point, ey knew ey would find all of the ways in which that would hurt May and how, knowing her, seeing her express that pain would hurt em in turn.
+And ey set a different tape to playing. A tape wherein ey set firmer boundaries, prohibited the friendship from progressing further than it already had. Or, worse—strange to already be placing value judgements!—a world in which ey pushed the skunk away, backed off from the physical affection, from the talk that bordered on flirty, from even the hypocorism `May'. If ey let that tape play beyond that point, ey knew ey would find all of the ways in which that would hurt May and how, knowing her, seeing her express that pain would hurt em in turn.
 
 \emph{How do they do this?} ey thought. \emph{How do the Odists just worm their way into your life and make themselves comfortable, letting you think it was your idea? That's what she'd said, and now I'm in exactly the same position as Codrin twenty years ago.}
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/004-illust.tex

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ She nodded approvingly. ``Good. There may be hope for you yet.''
 
 ``Wrapping me around your little finger, indeed.'' Ey finished eir current line of scratchy notes. ``You say that it tickled you to remain behind. Can you talk more about that?''
 
-``Of course. Many of the clade---many of the liberal side, at least---enjoy using our functional immortality as a plaything. If we are to live forever, then, it is worthwhile to find as many things to keep it interesting as we can along the way. It is interesting to me that I have acted in a very intentional way such that I will not get to experience our three societies begin to diverge that directly. There is no going back to change that, because there is no going and there is no back. It is already fun to see the differences between Castor and Pollux through the eyes of both Codrins, and to realize that the L\textsubscript{5} System contains neither, and then realize in a flash of insight that there is no May Then My Name Die With Me to witness directly. Do you experience the same?''
+``Of course. Many of the clade—many of the liberal side, at least—enjoy using our functional immortality as a plaything. If we are to live forever, then, it is worthwhile to find as many things to keep it interesting as we can along the way. It is interesting to me that I have acted in a very intentional way such that I will not get to experience our three societies begin to diverge that directly. There is no going back to change that, because there is no going and there is no back. It is already fun to see the differences between Castor and Pollux through the eyes of both Codrins, and to realize that the L\textsubscript{5} System contains neither, and then realize in a flash of insight that there is no May Then My Name Die With Me to witness directly. Do you experience the same?''
 
 ``Maybe a little bit,'' Ioan hedged. ``But if what you tell me is true, I'm not nearly old enough yet to be so concerned in finding fun in the little nooks and crannies of experience.''
 
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ May's features fell and she averted her eyes. ``She could not do but what she di
 
 ``\,`Die'? Not quit?''
 
-``In her mind, I think that it was death, yes. She quoted her---our---favorite line of poetry at us, and the death thoughts proceeded apace. We are no longer branches of a unified whole, but trees of our own.'' There was a long pause before she added, ``I think that had been true perhaps from shortly after Secession, and that she was already dead, in her own way. Reality just caught up with her.''
+``In her mind, I think that it was death, yes. She quoted her—our—favorite line of poetry at us, and the death thoughts proceeded apace. We are no longer branches of a unified whole, but trees of our own.'' There was a long pause before she added, ``I think that had been true perhaps from shortly after Secession, and that she was already dead, in her own way. Reality just caught up with her.''
 
 Ey nodded. Something in the skunk's expression told em that the topic was closed, that while she might answer another question, she would resent it. Instead, ey let a moment of quiet fall between them, a silent acknowledgement of that ending.
 
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Her laugh was musical and expression almost giddy. ``We already talked about hav
 
 Ioan smirked, but waited for her to continue.
 
-``Alright, have it your way. First of all, I am not Michelle, though I am of her. All the same, I am doing my best to build up the suspense with him. I know that it would mean a lot for him if I were to simply drop the bomb on him now---though I realize, having said that, that that is perhaps a poor choice of words, given his admitted fear. But how much more an impact it will have if I build it up like this! I cannot wait to see what emotions play across his face.''
+``Alright, have it your way. First of all, I am not Michelle, though I am of her. All the same, I am doing my best to build up the suspense with him. I know that it would mean a lot for him if I were to simply drop the bomb on him now—though I realize, having said that, that that is perhaps a poor choice of words, given his admitted fear. But how much more an impact it will have if I build it up like this! I cannot wait to see what emotions play across his face.''
 
 ``\,`See'? You intend to wait until he uploads?''
 
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ She grinned and shook her head. ``He will. He has already made up his mind, he j
 
 ``How will you tell him, then?''
 
-``I will continue to drop hints for another few months, and when he does---I think he will do it within the year---I will bring him home. There, we will talk, and you will observe as, over the course of a few minutes, I reveal the truth.''
+``I will continue to drop hints for another few months, and when he does—I think he will do it within the year—I will bring him home. There, we will talk, and you will observe as, over the course of a few minutes, I reveal the truth.''
 
 Ioan straightened up. ``Me?''
 
@@ -161,11 +161,11 @@ The skunk grinned at em toothily.
 
 Ey knit eir brow. ``Talked me into\ldots how do you mean?''
 
-``Do not worry, Ioan, you are the only one who has ACLs over your property. I do not. I just made a few suggestions, mostly when you were asleep---or at least very sleepy---or head-in-the-clouds at work.''
+``Do not worry, Ioan, you are the only one who has ACLs over your property. I do not. I just made a few suggestions, mostly when you were asleep—or at least very sleepy—or head-in-the-clouds at work.''
 
 ``You're saying I made these?'' ey asked, stepping out into the grass and bending down to inspect the flower, yellow, a myriad of petals, grand-toothed leaves radiating from the base.
 
-``I am saying that \emph{we} made these.'' She bent down beside em and plucked the flower from near the ground, lifting it with a dream-clouded smile. ``I am saying that you trust me---\emph{really} trust me---and that life in the System is more subtle than I think you know. You trust me. You let me into your life as a coworker, then cohabitant and cosleeper. You let me into your dreams, my dear, and your dreams influence this place as much as, if not more than, your waking mind.''
+``I am saying that \emph{we} made these.'' She bent down beside em and plucked the flower from near the ground, lifting it with a dream-clouded smile. ``I am saying that you trust me—\emph{really} trust me—and that life in the System is more subtle than I think you know. You trust me. You let me into your life as a coworker, then cohabitant and cosleeper. You let me into your dreams, my dear, and your dreams influence this place as much as, if not more than, your waking mind.''
 
 That waking mind was now whirling with the ramifications of what she was saying. ``I did this on your suggestion?''
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/005.tex

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ She nodded. ``Composer, conductor, violinist. Have you heard any of my stuff?''
 
 Ey waved the comment away. ``I'm here to listen. Please, obsess all you like.''
 
-Renee smiled gratefully. ``There really was nothing in my life, otherwise. Writing, playing, conducting. Concert after concert after concert. No friends, no family, no other hobbies, no other addictions. What would I even do with myself without the few things in my life I loved? Really, truly loved, too. I loved my parents, but it was more of a theoretical love. I told myself I loved my husband, but when he left---I was too distracted, he said---I was actually sort of relieved.''\pagebreak
+Renee smiled gratefully. ``There really was nothing in my life, otherwise. Writing, playing, conducting. Concert after concert after concert. No friends, no family, no other hobbies, no other addictions. What would I even do with myself without the few things in my life I loved? Really, truly loved, too. I loved my parents, but it was more of a theoretical love. I told myself I loved my husband, but when he left—I was too distracted, he said—I was actually sort of relieved.''\pagebreak
 
 ``That's a plenty good reason to upload, I'd say. 2140s, hmm.'' Ey hunted through eir memory, back to interviews with Douglas. ``That was before governments were paying people to upload. Was it expensive for you to upload?''
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Renee smiled gratefully. ``There really was nothing in my life, otherwise. Writi
 
 ``Weird, weird. No, it was not expensive, but I did have to pay. Couple thousand francs CFA, I think?''
 
-``I don't have a reference point for that amount. I was compensated---well, my family was---to upload, coming to about two years tuition at the university. In terms of what the average person made where you lived, was that a lot?''
+``I don't have a reference point for that amount. I was compensated—well, my family was—to upload, coming to about two years tuition at the university. In terms of what the average person made where you lived, was that a lot?''
 
 She shrugged. ``Not sure about an average person. It was about six months' saving for me, and musicians didn't make a ton of money.''
 
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ She shrugged. ``Not sure about an average person. It was about six months' savin
 
 Ioan laughed. ``Of course. That makes sense. Did your music change after you uploaded?''
 
-``I wrote a lot more string works,'' she said, grinning. ``After all, I could fork and play as many parts as I wanted. Or could afford, at least. It still cost a bit to fork back then. I also made a few instruments up here that I could only describe in order to let phys-side know how to make. Concerts were much easier to have, because schedules are easier to coordinate when you're not restricted to just one version of yourself. Music started to drift between sys-side and phys-side---stylistically, I mean. I got some iffy reviews of stuff offline that went over pretty well here.''
+``I wrote a lot more string works,'' she said, grinning. ``After all, I could fork and play as many parts as I wanted. Or could afford, at least. It still cost a bit to fork back then. I also made a few instruments up here that I could only describe in order to let phys-side know how to make. Concerts were much easier to have, because schedules are easier to coordinate when you're not restricted to just one version of yourself. Music started to drift between sys-side and phys-side—stylistically, I mean. I got some iffy reviews of stuff offline that went over pretty well here.''
 
 ``What happened to music phys-side that didn't here?''
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/006.tex

@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ And as they walked, faster than before, May talked. ``I worry about them. Both l
 
 ``The center?''
 
-``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.''
+``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.''
 
 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.''
 
@@ -151,4 +151,4 @@ She giggled as she rested her head against eir shoulder. ``We do, yes, and you l
 
 ``Good,'' ey said.
 
-``Now, take me home and talk about something---anything---else for the rest of the night.''
+``Now, take me home and talk about something—anything—else for the rest of the night.''

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/007.tex

@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@
 
 \textbf{Ioan:} Where you sit and wait for animals to go by while hunting?
 
-\textbf{Jinzai:} Yes! A hunting blind. And then I miss---and this is really silly---I miss logging. It's horrible, right? {[}laughter{]} I know that it's horrible. Some people put in logging trails on their mountains, but they don't put those big swaths of woody trash that the loggers leave behind. I kind of miss that, you know? I miss looking out to the next mountain over and seeing this big rectangular patch of brown. I miss hearing chainsaws running miles away across the valley, but it sounds like, I don't know, like a dream, because it's echoing around the hills.
+\textbf{Jinzai:} Yes! A hunting blind. And then I miss—and this is really silly—I miss logging. It's horrible, right? {[}laughter{]} I know that it's horrible. Some people put in logging trails on their mountains, but they don't put those big swaths of woody trash that the loggers leave behind. I kind of miss that, you know? I miss looking out to the next mountain over and seeing this big rectangular patch of brown. I miss hearing chainsaws running miles away across the valley, but it sounds like, I don't know, like a dream, because it's echoing around the hills.
 
 \textbf{Ioan:} It sounds a little like the mountains you've found here are too perfect, perhaps. Is that sort of what you're saying?
 
-\textbf{Jinzai:} Yeah, I think so. It's too perfect. I don't mind perfection, of course, it's a damn sight better than living a terrible life, but---oh man, I'm gonna sound like my grandpa when I say this---it lacks that kind of toughness that makes you build character. Not, like, the character that he meant, in the trash sense of, like, being a big tough guy, but like, I think if you could grow up here around all this perfection, you wouldn't have much character. You'd be pretty boring. {[}laughter{]} I guess I'm glad that you can't upload until you're 18, so you at least have a chance to have some comparison to perfect mountains with the shitty ones phys-side.
+\textbf{Jinzai:} Yeah, I think so. It's too perfect. I don't mind perfection, of course, it's a damn sight better than living a terrible life, but—oh man, I'm gonna sound like my grandpa when I say this—it lacks that kind of toughness that makes you build character. Not, like, the character that he meant, in the trash sense of, like, being a big tough guy, but like, I think if you could grow up here around all this perfection, you wouldn't have much character. You'd be pretty boring. {[}laughter{]} I guess I'm glad that you can't upload until you're 18, so you at least have a chance to have some comparison to perfect mountains with the shitty ones phys-side.
 
 \textbf{Ioan:} What's the first thing that you did after uploading?
 
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ It just felt an awful lot like those who had helped the most with Secession used
 
 \textbf{Ioan:} Can you expand on that?
 
-\textbf{Rosemary:} I mean, when you first upload, you're kinda dumped into a set of common areas until you figure out where you're going to stay or whatever. You can meet up with family members if you have them---I didn't---or you can meet up with those of a similar culture or religion---I'm from the middle of the blandest town on the planet and don't hold to any religion---or maybe you can meet up with others based around a similar interest. Thing is, I'm really interested in just cooking and chatting and reading.
+\textbf{Rosemary:} I mean, when you first upload, you're kinda dumped into a set of common areas until you figure out where you're going to stay or whatever. You can meet up with family members if you have them—I didn't—or you can meet up with those of a similar culture or religion—I'm from the middle of the blandest town on the planet and don't hold to any religion—or maybe you can meet up with others based around a similar interest. Thing is, I'm really interested in just cooking and chatting and reading.
 
 \textbf{Ioan:} Were you able to find any groups for cooking or reading?
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ It just felt an awful lot like those who had helped the most with Secession used
 
 \noindent And so here ey was, hunting down those who had uploaded specifically for the money that it would leave their families and friends back phys-side. Their stories were, ey figured, just as valid as anyone's. They were just as valid as eir own, for had ey not done the same? Here ey was, interviewing those like emself.
 
-These were the people who had moved to the System out of some sense of not just a better life for themselves, but one for those they had left behind. Ioan had had few enough ties back to eir family phys-side after uploading---only enough to ensure that the payments had gone through and that eir kid brother was alright---and then none since then. If any of eir family had uploaded since then, none had gotten in touch and ey'd been too much of a coward to go looking for Rareș.
+These were the people who had moved to the System out of some sense of not just a better life for themselves, but one for those they had left behind. Ioan had had few enough ties back to eir family phys-side after uploading—only enough to ensure that the payments had gone through and that eir kid brother was alright—and then none since then. If any of eir family had uploaded since then, none had gotten in touch and ey'd been too much of a coward to go looking for Rareș.
 
 Eir hope in undertaking this exercise had been to learn a bit more about the time between Secession and Launch, about what had lead to the demographics of a System that had decided to hurl large portions of itself out into space. Was it something perhaps borne of the sentiment of the population that had grown in the intervening years? Was it something that had always been there?
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/008.tex

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ They wound their way through a small crowd, an array of low couches and tables,
 
 Ioan shrugged, ``A tea, perhaps. Too late in the day for coffee, too early for alcohol.''
 
-Sadiah nodded. Within a minute, a server brought them two steaming cups of a milky tea---chai, it turned out, and quite good, at that.
+Sadiah nodded. Within a minute, a server brought them two steaming cups of a milky tea—chai, it turned out, and quite good, at that.
 
 Once they'd gotten the obligatory how-are-yous and good-teas and nice-libraries out of the way, Ioan retrieved eir notebook and a pen.
 
@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ Sadiah sat up straighter in the booth, setting her nearly untouched tea to the s
 
 Ey nodded. The whole encounter was so outside eir experience that ey could think of nothing better to do.
 
-``Stop me when I get to something that you haven't heard or realized yet. Two hundred years ago, the System seceded from the rest of the institutions on Earth. This happened in conjunction with one of the launches for the L\textsubscript{5} station. Secession was organized by the Council of Eight, one of whom was Michelle Hadje, the progenitor of the Ode clade---this is why I was so interested in your work, I'll note. The Ode clade is made up of, nominally, one hundred individual instances, though they occasionally spin off long-running instances and pretend they haven't. The first ten of these instances were created shortly before Secession in order to help handle the workload as Michelle grew tired of her position. With me, so far?''
+``Stop me when I get to something that you haven't heard or realized yet. Two hundred years ago, the System seceded from the rest of the institutions on Earth. This happened in conjunction with one of the launches for the L\textsubscript{5} station. Secession was organized by the Council of Eight, one of whom was Michelle Hadje, the progenitor of the Ode clade—this is why I was so interested in your work, I'll note. The Ode clade is made up of, nominally, one hundred individual instances, though they occasionally spin off long-running instances and pretend they haven't. The first ten of these instances were created shortly before Secession in order to help handle the workload as Michelle grew tired of her position. With me, so far?''
 
 ``Yes, that sounds correct,'' ey said. Ey figured it was not worth correcting her on the reality of Michelle, of what ey'd seen and heard from May and Dear.
 
 ``Okay.'' Sadiah continued her speech smoothly, sitting almost completely still, as though reciting something from memory. ``The Odists were integral to both Secession and Launch, and may have orchestrated both, each in their own way. I see you frowning, which I'll take to mean that I'm getting close to the limits of where our knowledge agrees.''
 
-``I suppose, yes. Some of the discussions I've had---my clade has had, I mean---with Odists have brought much of this to light over the past few days.''
+``I suppose, yes. Some of the discussions I've had—my clade has had, I mean—with Odists have brought much of this to light over the past few days.''
 
 ``Excellent. Please stop me when I reach the place when our knowledge diverges. The Ode clade, through managing Secession and Launch, has influenced the politics of the System, such as they are, as well as those on Earth, which--''
 
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ She laughed breathlessly, finally letting her shoulders sag and her chin droop.
 
 ``The bit about influencing politics phys-side.'' Ey shook eir head, ``Which I'm a little confused about. I suppose I can see how that might work, given the communication between sys- and phys-side during both of those occurrences, but--''
 
-``I'll note that we're nearing the extent of my knowledge as well. Sorry, I interrupted.'' Despite the acknowledgement, she continued, unfazed. ``All I can say is that I've noticed patterns. I think you have, too, as mentioned when you frowned, but I am starting to piece together patterns that go beyond that. Yes, they helped with Secession, yes they helped with Launch---more than helped, organized---but that, I think, includes subtle manipulation of politics planet-side in order to ensure that both happened precisely as they wanted.''
+``I'll note that we're nearing the extent of my knowledge as well. Sorry, I interrupted.'' Despite the acknowledgement, she continued, unfazed. ``All I can say is that I've noticed patterns. I think you have, too, as mentioned when you frowned, but I am starting to piece together patterns that go beyond that. Yes, they helped with Secession, yes they helped with Launch—more than helped, organized—but that, I think, includes subtle manipulation of politics planet-side in order to ensure that both happened precisely as they wanted.''
 
 ``Where are you seeing that?''
 
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ Sadiah sat back suddenly as though slapped, blinking rapidly and tapping at the
 
 ``Alright. I feel like I've touched a nerve, for which I apologize. What do you miss most about living phys-side, and what excited you most about moving sys-side?''
 
-At this, the historian---if that's what she was---relaxed. ``I was fundamentally unhappy with the limitation of time and just how much research I could do at once, so I came to where I could fork.''
+At this, the historian—if that's what she was—relaxed. ``I was fundamentally unhappy with the limitation of time and just how much research I could do at once, so I came to where I could fork.''
 
 Ey nodded and jotted down the answer. ``And, last one, what's the first thing that you did after uploading?''
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/009.tex

@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 \hypertarget{ioan-bux103lan-2325}{%
 \chapter{Ioan Bălan — 2325}\label{ioan-bux103lan-2325}}
 
-If, Ioan thought, there was a version of Dear's sim---that sprawling, unending shortgrass prairie---that had existed to perfect trees instead of grass, it was this place.
+If, Ioan thought, there was a version of Dear's sim—that sprawling, unending shortgrass prairie—that had existed to perfect trees instead of grass, it was this place.
 
 May had told em that Serene had designed this sim, just as she had Dear's prairie. In that sense, it felt much the same; if Serene had any hallmarks of design, it seemed to be a focus on wind and weather, an unerring attention to plant life, and a fondness for the fractal textures of the ground. It was easy enough to design with right angles, flat planes, level ground. As building was something more akin to daydreaming, it was natural landscapes that were the hard ones to get the tiny details correct.
 
 It was no surprise that this sim had been designed for another Odist. Where Dear had fallen in love with the endless prairie and Michelle the flowing fields of dandelion dotted grass, Do I Know God After The End Waking had fallen in love with trees.
 
-When ey first arrived, ey had done so outside of a smallish A-frame building, more tent than anything, for it was built of rough-hewn planks set into the classical shape with an oiled canvas draped over it to create the walls. Even the floor was made of those rough planks, though much of it appeared to have been worn smooth after countless years of foot---or paw---traffic.
+When ey first arrived, ey had done so outside of a smallish A-frame building, more tent than anything, for it was built of rough-hewn planks set into the classical shape with an oiled canvas draped over it to create the walls. Even the floor was made of those rough planks, though much of it appeared to have been worn smooth after countless years of foot—or paw—traffic.
 
 Peeking inside revealed a simple cot made of more canvas stretched over a frame and a pillow of some sort of bundle, a battered roll-top desk with a low stool in front of it (Ioan found emself desperately wanting something similar upon seeing them), and a small wood-burning stove in the back where the far wall had been created using rammed earth instead of more canvas.
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ The skunk's arrival was something of a surprise, as what ey had initially taken
 
 Ioan stood and bowed politely. ``No problem. Exploring, though? I would've thought that you'd know the area around your home fairly well by now.''
 
-The skunk smiled. His features were undeniably those of an Odist---at least those of the skunk variety---while still being unique. They were more masculine in a way that ey could not place. More rugged. Dirtier. Certainly more exhausted. ``One never truly finishes exploring a forest. I was climbing the trees.''
+The skunk smiled. His features were undeniably those of an Odist—at least those of the skunk variety—while still being unique. They were more masculine in a way that ey could not place. More rugged. Dirtier. Certainly more exhausted. ``One never truly finishes exploring a forest. I was climbing the trees.''
 
 ``That sounds enjoyable, at least.''
 
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ The skunk winced. ``Yes, it came from me.''
 
 Ioan sighed and, seeing nowhere else to put it, set eir mug on the floor by the bed.
 
-``I feel compelled to repeat that I am not at all proud of what I did. This--'' He gestured around. ``This is my penance. I live my life in solitude in a place that does not know money, does not know the subtle machinations of politics, and should either of those enter, would not care one bit about them. People think of forests as fragile areas of land, and while this is true, they are also giant---truly enormous---singular entities that do not give a single, solitary fuck about you and your schemes, your thoughts, or your emotions. I have stumbled into ravines. I have had dead branches fall on me. I have gotten caught in land-slides, mud-slides, and flash-floods. I have learned the hard way which plants are safe to eat. I have bled on the land.'' There was a long pause before he continued, ``I hesitate to say that the forest hates me, but it comes perilously close. This is my penance.''
+``I feel compelled to repeat that I am not at all proud of what I did. This--'' He gestured around. ``This is my penance. I live my life in solitude in a place that does not know money, does not know the subtle machinations of politics, and should either of those enter, would not care one bit about them. People think of forests as fragile areas of land, and while this is true, they are also giant—truly enormous—singular entities that do not give a single, solitary fuck about you and your schemes, your thoughts, or your emotions. I have stumbled into ravines. I have had dead branches fall on me. I have gotten caught in land-slides, mud-slides, and flash-floods. I have learned the hard way which plants are safe to eat. I have bled on the land.'' There was a long pause before he continued, ``I hesitate to say that the forest hates me, but it comes perilously close. This is my penance.''
 
 They sat in silence for several long minutes while Ioan digested this and End Waking did whatever it was that the penitent architect of eir entire existence here on the System did. Repent, perhaps, but what did that mean in the face of such enormity?
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/010.tex

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ The same thing was happening now. Ey understood the technical reasons for no one
 
 Ey was half tempted to push one of them past that point, but then ey wouldn't know what bit was true or not.
 
-And these Jonases! Ey was going to see one today, after eir walk. They seemed so slippery. It was not just that they controlled the interview, though ey did not doubt that---the transcript from Codrin\#Castor contained a new twist every time ey reread it. It was that they knew so thoroughly that they were doing so that they did it all with a wink and a smile. That little hint that ey was to know that all they'd done was so clearly calculated yet held so much plausible deniability that there really was no arguing with it.
+And these Jonases! Ey was going to see one today, after eir walk. They seemed so slippery. It was not just that they controlled the interview, though ey did not doubt that—the transcript from Codrin\#Castor contained a new twist every time ey reread it. It was that they knew so thoroughly that they were doing so that they did it all with a wink and a smile. That little hint that ey was to know that all they'd done was so clearly calculated yet held so much plausible deniability that there really was no arguing with it.
 
 Ey was not looking forward to eir interview with Jonas Prime today.
 
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Once ey'd had eir sulk, ey headed to the meeting with Jonas.
 
 Unexpectedly, this turned out to be at the same library at which ey had interviewed Sadiah. Not only that, but Jonas Prime was standing in exactly the same spot that she had been standing in, greeted em with much the same bow that the other historian had, and led em to the exact same booth in the cafe-\emph{cum}-bar beneath the stacks. It was uncanny to such a degree as to immediately put em on the defensive, guarding against some threat, real or imagined.
 
-Once again, the drinks were ordered---cocktails, this time---and the cone of silence fell. Jonas rested his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. It was an incredibly charming look. ``Mx. Bălan, so nice to meet you at last.''
+Once again, the drinks were ordered—cocktails, this time—and the cone of silence fell. Jonas rested his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. It was an incredibly charming look. ``Mx. Bălan, so nice to meet you at last.''
 
 ``Have you heard that much about me, then?'' Ey did eir best to keep eir smile as earnest as possible.
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Ey scribbled quickly in eir shorthand, doing eir best to take down verbatim what
 
 Ioan nodded. ``One of our interviewees phys-side said much the same thing.''
 
-``A dreamer, then,'' Jonas said, grinning. ``But yes, life down there is horrible and no one---or essentially no one---wants to do a single damn thing about it. They're all so caught up in their little political games that they have no interest on doing anything to make their lives better, to live stronger.''
+``A dreamer, then,'' Jonas said, grinning. ``But yes, life down there is horrible and no one—or essentially no one—wants to do a single damn thing about it. They're all so caught up in their little political games that they have no interest on doing anything to make their lives better, to live stronger.''
 
 ``You don't sound very fond of them.''
 
@@ -117,13 +117,13 @@ Jonas shook his head, swallowing the last sip of his drink before saying, ``Ther
 
 ``And the Dreamer Modules?''
 
-For the first time in the interview, for the first time since ey'd met Jonas---the first time any Bălan had met any Jonas, if Codrin\#Castor was correct---he frowned. ``You've been asking plenty of interesting questions, Ioan, but this is the first you've asked that is actively uncomfortable.''
+For the first time in the interview, for the first time since ey'd met Jonas—the first time any Bălan had met any Jonas, if Codrin\#Castor was correct—he frowned. ``You've been asking plenty of interesting questions, Ioan, but this is the first you've asked that is actively uncomfortable.''
 
 Ioan waited.
 
 The grin returned, playful this time. ``Alright, have it your way! You historians, I'll never get it. Do you know what's on the Modules?''
 
-Ey thought back. ``Research stuff. Telescopes, measurement devices, that sort of thing. Codrin said that ey got to lay in a field and look up at the stars as they really were outside the LV---or at least as close as the sim would let them be.''
+Ey thought back. ``Research stuff. Telescopes, measurement devices, that sort of thing. Codrin said that ey got to lay in a field and look up at the stars as they really were outside the LV—or at least as close as the sim would let them be.''
 
 ``And?''
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/011.tex

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Ioan shrugged, waited for her to continue.
 
 ``And the liberals think too small?'' Ey shook eir head, adding, ``I guess that's a value judgement. The liberals think smaller? Like on the individual scale?''
 
-``Oh, you had it right the first time. The liberals think too small. They are completely welcome to, of course. Take Dear and Serene, for instance. It is in no way wrong for them to think about the work that they do. They consider the ways in which sims and instances affect those that interact with them, and then they play on those effects like a finely tuned instrument. It speaks to a level of\ldots how should I put this? It bespeaks a showmanship that I---that Michelle, for that matter---could not hope to achieve. They are the consummate performers.
+``Oh, you had it right the first time. The liberals think too small. They are completely welcome to, of course. Take Dear and Serene, for instance. It is in no way wrong for them to think about the work that they do. They consider the ways in which sims and instances affect those that interact with them, and then they play on those effects like a finely tuned instrument. It speaks to a level of\ldots how should I put this? It bespeaks a showmanship that I—that Michelle, for that matter—could not hope to achieve. They are the consummate performers.
 
 ``But what can they do with that? What use do they believe they are to the System? I do not mean that in a simple utilitarian sense, or at least not only in that sense, but I wonder if they, as artists, consider the end goals of their work. Do not let Dear tell you otherwise, it is an artist, and a very fine one, but all its art accomplishes is all any art accomplishes. It is transgressive without being subversive. It does not move the population to greater goals.''
 

toledot/content/launch/sys/Ioan/012.tex

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ May smiled cautiously. ``Did she seem like the kind of person who puts stock in
 
 Ey shook eir head.
 
-``Right. Well, it is not so difficult to imagine that, after a while, she began to notice that I kept getting much closer to those that I was supposed to engage with than was strictly required. I was supposed to watch them, influence them, shift their attention. I was supposed to use the System to my full advantage to get them to do what I---what we---wanted.''
+``Right. Well, it is not so difficult to imagine that, after a while, she began to notice that I kept getting much closer to those that I was supposed to engage with than was strictly required. I was supposed to watch them, influence them, shift their attention. I was supposed to use the System to my full advantage to get them to do what I—what we—wanted.''
 
 ``You were supposed to get them to grow dandelions.''