Edits

content/read/003.md

@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ She chuckled. "Your words, not mine. But, well...with the understanding that I c
 
 "It seems to have gone over well, at least."
 
-"It did, yes." Then, with a tilt of her head, ey felt the ACL-scape of the cone they were within shift, and there was a subtle blurring to the world around them as she opaqued the cone from the outside. "Now consider the effects of audio/visual transmission between sys- and phys-side."
+"It has, yes." Then, with a tilt of her head, ey felt the ACL-scape of the cone they were within shift, and there was a subtle blurring to the world around them as she opaqued the cone from the outside. "Now consider the effects of audio/visual transmission between sys- and phys-side."
 
 Ey blinked and sat up straighter. "Wait, what?"
 
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ The cone of silence dropped, letting in a jolt of noise, and the skunk stepped f
 
 "I am pleased to see that you did not die," May said, looking up from her notebook.
 
-Ey kicked off eir shoes and set down eir own notebook on eir desk before walking over to give the skunk a kiss between the ears. "Nope, not this time. Stuck with me for a while yet."
+Ey kicked off eir shoes and set down eir own notebook on eir desk before walking over to give her a kiss between the ears. "Nope, not this time. Stuck with me for a while yet."
 
 She set her pen down and stretched before leaning up to dot her nose against eirs, arms draped up around eir shoulders. "Good, I am not finished wringing all I can out of you. One day, you will be left a broken husk of a Bălan and I will move on to my next victim."
 

content/read/006.md

@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ She looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Solid competition."
 
 "Or it is to you."
 
-She laughed.
+She snorted, rolled her eyes.
 
 "You know, I've always wondered," ey said, getting an arm around her. "Why did the most political stanza of the clade stay skunks? Wouldn't it be more effective to be humans? It's not like the majority of folks on the Systems are furries."
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ Ey nodded. "It was pretty weird."
 
 She rolled her eyes. "Thank you, I think? But yes, even bumbling is a calculated gesture to be inoffensive."
 
-"End Waking said similar." Ey dug through eir exocortices until ey came up with the memory of the conversation, "He said it was a matter of intent."
+"End Waking said similar." Ey dug through eir exocortices until ey came up with the memory of the conversation. "He said it was a matter of intent."
 
 "It is, yes. I am sure that some of the wider clade who remain skunks do so without a second thought, but that is not how True Name worked, and so it is not how we work."
 

content/read/008.md

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ She sighed, smiling weakly at End Waking. "I am glad you are okay, skunk. I woul
 
 When all that greeted this was silence, he sighed and let his shoulders slump. "I am sorry. I have set up the new camp in a location with sturdier trees. I will endeavor to remain cautious."
 
-May Then My Name crawled around the fire to dot her nose against the skunk's cheek. He looked uncomfortable, but tolerated the touch.
+May Then My Name crawled around the fire to dot her nose against End Waking's cheek. He looked uncomfortable, but tolerated the touch.
 
 "Thank you, my dear," she said. "I do not mean to lecture. I am just...well, if the coffee is ready, please pour yourself a cup, Debarre, and we will talk."
 
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ He and End Waking both tilted their heads.
 
 "Is that a thing that even needs to be done?" Debarre said. "Wasn't she just leaving you alone before?"
 
-"Yes, thankfully. It is just..." She frowned, poking at the packed earth with a claw. "That has been necessary to prevent anger, but it has still not been comfortable. There are plenty of people who I no longer see and do not miss, or do miss and think about with some frequency. It was such an uneasy silence."
+"Yes, thankfully. It is just..." She frowned, poking at the packed earth with a claw. "That silence has been necessary to prevent anger, but it has still not been comfortable. There are plenty of people who I no longer see and do not miss, or do miss and think about with some frequency. It was such an uneasy silence."
 
 "And you think Ioan's doing the right thing?"
 

content/read/009.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Through some stroke of luck or perhaps some forgetful nature, it was perpetually early summer at Arrowhead Lake, that abandoned mountain sim Ioan and May had long ago adopted. Whether or not winter had socked them in at home, they could at least take a summer walk somewhere.
 
-"Winter has its place," ey'd explained to May when she'd gotten particularly whiny about the snow. "I like the snow so long as I'm inside."
+"Winter has its place," ey'd explained to May once when she'd gotten particularly whiny about the snow. "I like the snow so long as I'm inside."
 
 "Did you ever even see snow, my dear?"
 
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ Ey nodded. "I just want things to remain smooth between everyone, is all. Maybe
 
 "Perhaps, but that does not mean it does not have its own utility."
 
-They ate in silence for a moment, Ioan eventually giving up after finishing eir plate. It was no less easy to eat too much, even in an embedded world.
+They ate in silence for a few minutes, Ioan eventually giving up after finishing eir plate. It was no less easy to eat too much, even in an embedded world.
 
 "Are you okay with it?"
 

content/read/010.md

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Lapping at the whipped cream atop her drink, she once again scanned the crowd, w
 
 They fell into work after that. True Name focused on her messages or dealt with merges while ey dedicated a token amount of effort to eir writing. The rest of em observed the skunk out of the corner of eir eye and thought about just how much must be happening for her to admit that she was struggling. 225 years since the System seceded from the rest of Earth's governments doubtless came with a lot of celebrations and announcements to make, speeches to write, hands to shake, or whatever it was that the non-leaders of Lagrange did in such an event.
 
-Add in the twenty-fifth anniversary since Launch and certainly there would be an added note of joy for many across all three Systems. Ioan was particularly looking forward to the letters from Castor and Pollux in a month and change to hear how things had gone on each of the LVs. Perhaps ey'd even hear from Sorina from Artemis.
+Add in the twenty-fifth anniversary since Launch and certainly there would be an added note of joy for many across all three Systems. Ioan was particularly looking forward to the letters from Castor and Pollux in a month and change to hear how things had gone on each of the LVs. Perhaps ey'd even hear from Sorina on Artemis.
 
 Still, True Name's mussed appearance and anxious expression seemed to go beyond that. Ey couldn't think of a reason related to the day that would have her in such a state. Things would be intense, but not so much so as to force her to drop her carefully constructed veneer of confidence.
 
@@ -110,15 +110,15 @@ Guōweī. The assassin. The reputation analyst who had killed Qoheleth in the mi
 
 A quick prowl through eir memories lined up face with name.
 
-Eventually, True Name's shoulders sagged and she stumbled down from the trees, Ioan and May both watching her, wide-eyed. She kept walking past them, past the trail, down onto muddy beach, then out into the water. The short waves lapped up against her legs, soaking her slacks, and still she kept walking. She walked until the lake had made its way nearly up to her waist.
+Eventually, True Name's shoulders sagged and she stumbled down from the trees, Ioan and May both watching her, wide-eyed. She kept walking past them, past the trail, down onto muddy shore, then out into the water. The short waves lapped up against her legs, soaking her slacks, and still she kept walking. She walked until the lake had made its way nearly up to her waist.
 
 And then she screamed.
 
 It wasn't a shout, no words were behind it. It was a scream of pure, unrestrained emotion, though whether anger, fear, frustration, or something else, ey could not guess.
 
-Then she turned around and waded back toward the shore, stumbling once or twice, until she gave up and fell to her knees, water up to her waist once more. She beat at the surface of the lake with balled-up fists, growling and crying. Finally, she stopped, slouching over until she had to catch herself on her hands.
+Then she turned around and waded back toward the shore, stumbling once or twice, until she gave up and fell to her knees, water up to her waist once more. She beat at the surface of the lake with balled-up fists, growling and crying. Finally, she stopped, slouching over until she had to catch herself on her paws.
 
-May's fury, which until that point had been burning hot in her expression, was replaced by something more complicated. Anger, yes, but anxiety and fear as well. "True Name," she said, voice more under control than it had been. "What happened?"
+May's fury, which until that point had been burning hot in her expression, was replaced by something more complicated. Anger, yes, but anxiety and fear as well. "True Name," she said, voice now more under control than it had been. "What happened?"
 
 "They are gone. They are all gone. Someone is trying to take me out," she said between heaving breaths. "Trying to get rid of me."
 

content/read/012.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2350
 
-True Name, having gathered her wits about her at least enough to trudge out of the lake and fork herself dry, requested directions to somewhere she could think alone. Ioan gestured down the path toward the rock, explaining that it'd be far enough away that they wouldn't hear each other if she didn't want a cone of silence, but that she'd still be able to see them at the entry point if anything happened.
+True Name, having gathered her wits about her at least enough to trudge out of the lake and fork herself dry, requested directions to somewhere she could think alone. Ioan gestured down the path toward the rock, explaining that it'd be far enough away that they wouldn't hear each other if she didn't want a cone of silence, which would dull the sounds of the sim, but that she'd still be able to see them at the entry point if anything happened.
 
 "I need to think. No one from the stanza is replying, I am not sure which friends I can trust, and I definitely do not want to speak to Jonas," she explained, then rubbed her paws over her face. "Or perhaps I just need to sulk. I will return in an hour."
 
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ There was a long pause before the skunk gave in and slipped both of her arms aro
 
 Ey rested eir chin atop her head. "Well, I don't think I'll be gone all that long --- five minutes, maybe --- but if you need, just send a ping and I'll be right back."
 
-"I am not expecting anything so dramatic. I will stay here and try to de-stress. True Name still has about half an hour left of...well, whatever it is that she is doing."
+"I am not expecting anything so dramatic. I will stay here and try to de-stress. True Name still has about forty-five minutes left of...well, whatever it is that she is doing."
 
 Ey tightened eir arms around the skunk for a squeeze, kissed her atop the head, then stepped back. "All the same, just stay safe, alright?"
 

content/read/013.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Jonas lifted his hands, palms up. "Hey, it's okay. I'm just here to talk. Mr. Qi
 
 "Only to tidy up loose ends," he said, leaning back in the chair again and using the well-shined toe of his shoe to knock a bit of snow off the railing of the balcony. "I trust you've stashed your skunks away somewhere safe?"
 
-"'My skunks'?" All of the stress of the last forty-five minutes that ey'd been holding back around May, all that had been obscured by eir need to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, all of it came crashing down on em at once. "*'My skunks'?*" ey shouted. "Jonas, what the fuck? You sent a fucking assassin after True Name, sent him over to our house so he could hound May. What the hell are you even talking about? Of course I'm going to keep my fucking partner and friend safe if you're going to try killing them! Fucking...*'my skunks'*. Good Lord."
+"'My skunks'?" All of the stress of the last half hour that ey'd been holding back around May, all that had been obscured by eir need to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, all of it came crashing down on em at once. "*'My skunks'?*" ey shouted. "Jonas, what the fuck? You sent a fucking assassin after True Name, sent him over to our house so he could hound May. What the hell are you even talking about? Of course I'm going to keep my fucking partner and friend safe if you're going to try killing them! Fucking...*'my skunks'*. Good Lord."
 
 Once ey'd finished and was left panting, Jonas sat up in the chair and grinned widely, clapping his hands. "Mx. Ioan Bălan, such language! I didn't know you had it in you! Bravo."
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Focusing on the set of steps required, ey triggered the sweep, then checked the
 
 Now wasn't the time to be thinking about it, though.
 
-Ey spent the next five minutes locking down and fine-tuning the ACLs for the house. By the time it was done, the house would only let em and May in as owners along with anyone they intentionally brought with them by hand. It was also now marked as invisible to all but a short list of allowed individuals. Debarre, End Waking, True Name, A Finger Pointing, Douglas, and a dozen or so others ey could think of who might conceivably want to know when they were home.
+Ey spent the next five minutes locking down and fine-tuning the ACLs for the house. By the time it was done, the house would only let em and May in as owners along with anyone they intentionally brought with them by hand. It was also now marked as invisible to all but a short list of allowed individuals. Debarre, End Waking, True Name, A Finger Pointing, Douglas, and a handful of others ey could think of who might conceivably want to know when they were home.
 
 At last, ey stepped away from home and back to Arrowhead Lake.
 

content/read/017.md

@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ She nodded. "Well, yes, but I had hoped that...well, I am sorry, Debarre. I imag
 
 "A little. I miss him when I'm gone, but I usually merge back down and get to focusing on whatever #Tracker is up to, then re-fork when he's up to having me around again."
 
-"We are different in that respect, I guess. If Ioan requested six months of time away from me I think I would have a pretty rough time of it."
+"We are different in that respect, I guess. If Ioan requested six months away from me I think I would have a pretty rough time of it."
 
 He laughed and ruffled a paw over her ears. "I think you'd fucking explode. Thankfully, ey doesn't seem like the type."
 

content/read/018.md

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Debarre nodded.
 
 End Waking looked at him sharply, then subsided. "Also a possibility. Had you suggested that a decade ago, I would have been quite upset, because I do not think that who May Then My Name used to be could possibly have been so vengeful, but I am not sure that that is the case anymore."
 
-"Is that such a bad thing, though?" Debarre frowned, hunting for words. "I mean, I love her, I think she's one of the best people I've ever met, but she was almost a caricature with how sweet she was. If she can be anything other than head-over-heels in love with everyone she meets, wouldn't that mean that she's a more complete person, too?"
+"Is that such a bad thing, though?" Debarre frowned, considering his next words carefully. "I mean, I love her, I think she's one of the best people I've ever met, but she was almost a caricature with how sweet she was. If she can be anything other than head-over-heels in love with everyone she meets, wouldn't that mean that she's a more complete person, too?"
 
 The skunk tensed and carefully scooted an inch or two away from Debarre, gently nudging the weasel's arm from around his waist.
 

content/read/020.md

@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ And then there was emself, as powerless as Codrin#Castor had felt almost four ye
 
 The next morning saw both of the skunks more relaxed than ey'd seen them yet. They talked pleasantly over breakfast, and True Name even stuck around, sitting on the couch and watching the snow melt off the balcony while May and Ioan worked, her on her monologue and em reading back through the volume of *An Expanded History of Our World* that focused on the Council of Eight --- and the Ode and Jonas clades --- in the centuries after its dissolution.
 
-After lunch, True Name returned to the couch with a glass of water and, after a moment's hesitation, May had joined her.
+After lunch, True Name returned to the couch with a glass of water and, after a moment's hesitation, May joined her.
 
 "Why are you spending today out here?" she asked, finally voicing a question ey'd kept to emself until now.
 

content/read/026.md

@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ Douglas nodded. "Well, that bit I believe. Think that contributed to her overflo
 
 "Almost certainly, yeah. Correct me if I'm wrong, End Waking, but while I don't think it's solely tied to external events, they can have an effect on it."
 
-The skunk nodded. He'd started panting in the heat of the sun, so it took him a moment to reply. "It comes over us like a wave. Some of us more quickly than others. It is slower in onset for me than for either of them, I believe."
+The skunk nodded. He'd started panting in the heat of the sun, so it took him a moment to reply. "It comes over us like a wave. Some of us more quickly than others. It is slower in onset for me than for either of them, I suspect."
 
 Debarre chimed in. "I usually have a few days warning. I've gotten mine already and was planning on heading out today, but we both wanted to come, anyway."
 

content/read/029.md

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ Finally, she said, "I have been thinking about that quite a bit since the topic
 
 Ey shook eir head. "You've had a lot going on. What thoughts did you have on it, though?"
 
-"I have also been trying to pick apart my jealousy. I have said in the past that I am not opposed to you finding companionship with others, whether romantic or sexual or whatever. I am starting to think, though, that that would only apply to a type of companionship that does not overlap with what you and I have. I want nothing more than for you to feel fulfilled, my dear, and if that means finding fulfillment for the areas that I do not cover, I would only ever be pleased." She sighed, thought for a moment longer, and then continued more quietly, "For someone to feel about you precisely what I do, even if it is tempered by other memories, is too close to the devotion that I am most protective of."
+"I have also been trying to pick apart my jealousy. I have said in the past that I am not opposed to you finding companionship with others, whether romantic or sexual or whatever. I am starting to think, though, that that would only apply to a type of companionship that does not overlap with what you and I have. I want nothing more than for you to feel fulfilled, my dear, and if that means finding fulfillment for the areas that I do not cover, I would only ever be pleased." She sighed, thought for a moment longer, and then continued more quietly, "For someone to feel about you *precisely* what I do, even if it is tempered by other memories, is too close to the devotion that I am most protective of."
 
 "Have you changed your mind on merging?"
 

content/read/030.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ It wasn't so bad being hooked on touch and affection, though. Ey'd grown to cher
 
 With neither of them feeling all that keen on talking further, they simply lounged on the beanbag together, reveling in the spring-tinted sunlight. A little napping, a little petting on skunks, but mostly just calm and quiet.
 
-It wasn't until nearly dinner that they stirred again, Ioan squirming until ey could sit up on the beanbag cross-legged, letting May lounge draped across eir lap.
+It wasn't until nearly dinner that they stirred again, Ioan squirming until ey could sit up on the beanbag cross-legged, letting May lounge, draped across eir lap.
 
 "I have been thinking," May began, sounding more dozy than anything. "But I would like to ensure you are willing to talk about this whole merger business before I shove us into a conversation."
 
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ While ey didn't mind May's ideas of comfort food, they were not especially well
 
 "But yes," the skunk continued once she'd cleaned her plate. "There was some aspect of vengeance to my and End Waking's plan, but now I just want her away from Jonas. I do not know yet whether or not I like her or want her to stay in our lives in any way, shape, or form, but I do know that I want her away from him. I want her to live and to--"
 
-Both Ioan and May jolted in their seats as a flash of adrenaline ran through them. A view of a forest, a lake shore, pile of wood not yet lit, and, sitting on a log across from that, another furry. His facial structure was very similar to Dear's but where the fennec had wound up with that pristine white fur, he had ruddy orange except for the white on the underside of his chin and a dark apostrophe of fur on either side of his snout. Where Dear had wound up with almost absurdly large ears, his felt far more in proportion, along the lines of May's and True Names, though far pointier.
+Both Ioan and May jolted in their seats as a flash of adrenaline ran through them. A view of a forest, a lake shore, pile of wood not yet lit, and, sitting on a log across from that, another furry. His facial structure was very similar to Dear's but where the fennec had wound up with that pristine white fur, he had ruddy orange except for the white on the underside of his chin and a dark apostrophe of fur on either side of his snout. Where Dear had wound up with almost absurdly large ears, his felt far more in proportion, along the lines of May's and True Names, though much pointier.
 
 One thing Dear and this new fox did share in common was the snappy dress. Where Dear had wound up in a sharp androgyny, though, the red fox had turned it into a prim masculinity that was, ey had to admit, quite effective. Black trousers, a white shirt and charcoal waistcoat, and a suit jacket. It was topped off with a simple tie and affected cane, currently being twirled lazily between black-furred paws.
 
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ She rolled her eyes.
 
 May laughed humorlessly. "Right, and poor Zack just had to sit by and--"
 
-The fox was up in a flash and, with a back-handed swipe, slapped the skunk across the muzzle, getting a yelp out of her and a shout out of Ioan. "You do not have permission to use that name," he hissed.
+The fox was up in a flash and, with a back-handed swipe, slapped May across the muzzle, getting a yelp out of her and a shout out of Ioan. "You do not have permission to use that name," he hissed.
 
 It took Ioan a few seconds to process what had just happened, but then fury welled up within em faster than any other emotion ey'd felt before. Had ey ever even felt fury before? A small part of em marveled at the unfamiliar feeling.
 
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ And with that, he stepped out of the sim.
 
 May's shoulders slumped. She let go of eir hand, padded over to kneel beside True Name, and hugged around her shoulders. "I am sorry, my dear."
 
-True Name did not return the gesture. No surprise, perhaps; neither she nor End Waking were all that big on touch. Instead she said, "I apologize, you two. I do not know how they got the address to the sim."
+True Name did not return the gesture. No surprise, perhaps; neither she nor End Waking seemed all that big on touch. Instead she said, "I apologize, you two. I do not know how they got the address to the sim."
 
 Ioan cursed. "Guess that does mean it's compromised."
 

content/read/031.md

@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 
 Ioan could have sworn that ey and May had gotten enough sleep the night before. Even with her waking em up before dawn, they'd then gone on to sleep until nearly nine. Rather late for them.
 
-Still, that night, they slept for more than ten hours. It had taken May a while to calm down by the time they did make it into bed, the skunk tossing and turning, first leaning in against em, then shifting away, as though the last bits of her overflowing spell kept her oscillating between wanting to be touched and not. Ey stayed quiet and still throughout, letting her decide what it was that she needed; ey was just happy to be back home.
+Still, that night, they spent more than ten hours in bed. It had taken May a while to calm down by the time they did make it into bed, the skunk tossing and turning, first leaning in against em, then shifting away, as though the last bits of her overflowing spell kept her oscillating between wanting to be touched and not. Ey stayed quiet and still throughout, letting her decide what it was that she needed; ey was just happy to be back home.
 
 Eventually, though, they settled down into their usual spots and made it to sleep. 
 
-It was almost certainly the stress from the day before, ey reasoned. So much had happened in so short a time. Even the time spent relaxing on the beanbag with May felt at least productive, even if it was just resting. So much had been packed into those last few hours, though, and so much emotion overall through the day, that sleep became an imperative.
+It was almost certainly the stress from the day before, ey reasoned. So much had happened in so short a time. Even the time spent relaxing on the beanbag with May felt somehow productive, even if it was just resting. So much had been packed into those last few hours, though, and so much emotion overall through the day, that sleep became an imperative.
 
 True Name had spent most of the rest of the evening outside, dragging one of eir chairs from beneath the balcony to park herself in the yard. Despite the lingering vestiges of snow and the chill of the evening, she spent hours out there, either staring up into the sky or grooming bits of forest litter out of her fur.
 
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ Ey nodded and made the grant.
 
 May, who had been quiet up until then, said, "Thank you for coming back."
 
-True Name tilted her head. "It was not safe there, May Then My Name. This will be better."
+True Name tilted her head. "It was not safe there, May Then My Name. Your point about your proximity discouraging further contact is well proven. This will be better."
 
 "Yes, but thank you all the same." She laughed and waved a paw. "I am sorry, disregard me. I am still not yet at baseline and it has me feeling emotional."
 
@@ -103,5 +103,5 @@ She nodded.
 
 Asking how she was feeling felt counter to simply providing what she'd requested --- something ey enjoyed plenty, as well --- so they made themselves comfortable on the amorphous cushion. It didn't seem to be time for talking at all, so they settled on soft music instead.
 
-Ey wasn't sure what May was doing, whether it was simply soaking up the affection and close proximity or some more thoughtful task. For eir part, though, ey went back to work on organizing events as they'd happened. Who knew what would come next.
+Ey wasn't sure what May was doing, whether it was simply soaking up the affection and close proximity or some more thoughtful task. For eir part, though, ey went back to work on organizing events as they'd happened. Who knew what would come next?
 

content/read/032.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2350
 
-The next few days passed in relative peace, with both Odists slowly leveling back out to their baseline moods.
+The next following passed in relative peace, with both Odists slowly leveling back out to their baseline moods.
 
 Or, at least, May leveled out to her baseline mood. There still seemed to be some internal struggle within True Name. It wasn't that she was having to step away to sulk or getting caught in anger as she had been when she had begun to overflow, but that the conflicts were still showing in long silences that would sometimes take her in the middle of conversations, especially when the topic of meeting with Jonas came up.
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ A silence stretched out once more.
 
 Eventually, Ioan reached up to tug at one of her ears gently. "Skunks are so complicated."
 
-She let out a pent up breath as a laugh. "I know. I am sorry. I am sorry to both of you. I believed it to be a small untruth. I wanted my relationship with True Name to seem simpler than it was to keep you feeling comfortable. I hoped that that would keep you from digging into my past. Fat load of good that did."
+She let out a pent up breath as a laugh. "I know. I am sorry. I am sorry to both of you. I believed it to be a small untruth that would never come up, much less be challenged. I wanted my relationship with True Name to seem simpler than it was to keep you feeling comfortable. I hoped that that would keep you from digging into my past. Fat load of good that did."
 
 "When was the last time you merged down, then?"
 
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Ioan realized ey'd settled back into observing mode, simply watching silently. N
 
 True Name nodded.
 
-Ey took a deep breath, trying to bolster eir courage with it. "This last month has made me realize how much I care about you and your well-being. I like you, True Name, but I'm really hesitant about you having memories of loving me, if that makes sense."
+Ey took a deep breath, trying to bolster eir courage with it. "This last month has made me realize how much I care about you and your well-being. I like you, True Name, but I'm really hesitant about what you having memories of loving me would mean, if that makes sense."
 
 "And you, May Then My Name? We do not need to go too far into them, but if it is to be a discussion, I would like to at least have these thoughts laid out for perusal."
 

content/read/033.md

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ She shrugged. "I do not think that that is a requirement here, though that quest
 
 Ioan sat back in eir chair, arms crossed as ey mulled it over. If she was right --- and ey suspected that she was --- then there would likely need to be a change in form and a change in name to go along with the change in attitude. After all, that's how Zacharias had gotten as far as he had, right?
 
-Ey couldn't picture her as anything other than a skunk or perhaps whatever version of Michelle she remembered, though, and certainly couldn't picture her named anything other than True Name. Would she also have to change her speech patterns? They weren't totally identifiable, but now that ey thought about it, even Zacharias had shared many of them. She was an Odist through and through --- more so than any other ey'd met --- and all of the forking and reinforcing that May had done to cement behavior and thought patterns didn't seem like something that she'd willingly undergo, either.
+Ey couldn't picture her as anything other than a skunk or perhaps whatever version of Michelle she remembered, though, and certainly couldn't picture her named anything other than True Name. Would she also have to change her speech patterns? They weren't totally identifiable, but now that ey thought about it, even Zacharias had shared many of them. She was an Odist through and through --- more so than any other ey'd met, if such a thing was possible --- and all of the forking and reinforcing that May had done to cement behavior and thought patterns didn't seem like something that she'd willingly undergo, either.
 
 But perhaps that's what she'd meant by a sliver of a plan. They still had plenty of time to sort that out, at least, and perhaps she'd come up with a way that would actually work without changing herself so much that she'd cease being who she was.
 
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ Ey watched her think. Watched her and thought about how much ey loved her, watch
 
 "Do you want to?"
 
-May started from her own reverie. "Hmm?"
+May started from her reverie. "Hmm?"
 
 "Regardless of the mechanics or how comfortable you are with it, is this something you'd even want to do?"
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ Shortly after they went back inside to pull together a snacky sort of lunch, Tru
 
 The skunk nodded for her to continue.
 
-"You have mentioned in the past that you forked to cement emotional patterns that led to your divergence. I think that I have wound up doing that to some extent, but only ever subconsciously. With how much specificity were you able to pick what it was that you were modifying?"
+"You have mentioned in the past that you forked to cement emotional patterns that led to your divergence. I think that I have wound up doing that, myself, to some extent, but only ever subconsciously. With how much specificity were you able to pick what it was that you were modifying?"
 
 May glanced to Ioan, then shrugged. "I worked in very small steps. I forked dozens of times to change very small things. Being deliberate about it made it essentially as fine-grained as I needed."
 
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ May glanced to Ioan, then shrugged. "I worked in very small steps. I forked doze
 
 "That's actually what we had been talking about," Ioan said, looking to May for confirmation that it was alright to continue.
 
-"A deliberate merge," she said, picking up from where ey'd left off. "One that will keep us comfortable in our privacy while also giving you the opportunity to build upon what you are."
+"A deliberate, selective merge," she said, picking up from where ey'd left off. "One that will keep us comfortable in our privacy while also giving you the opportunity to build upon what you are."
 
 "Really? That is not what I was expecting to hear."
 

content/read/035.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ And she certainly didn't. In fact, she drew the negotiations that followed that
 
 At first, ey'd felt left out. After all, didn't ey also have boundaries to negotiate and concerns that needed addressing?
 
-After bringing this up with May, however, she had laughed and poked em in the belly, explaining, "I do not mean to leave you out of anything, my dear. We are discussing elements of the past that kept me from merging down, and elements of the future of the relationship between me and her. You are not missing anything so important, but if you would like, I am happy to keep you apprised of the general content."
+After bringing this up with May, however, she had laughed and poked em in the belly, explaining, "I do not mean to leave you out of anything, my dear. We are discussing elements of the past that kept me from merging down, and elements of the future of the relationship between me and her. We are building trust between us that she will respect those boundaries. You are not missing anything so important, but if you would like, I am happy to keep you apprised of the general content."
 
 "Given how anxious I've been, I'd appreciate that," ey had said. "But no need to share anything private."
 

content/read/036.md

@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ She glanced sharply at May, then said to Ioan, "Ey did not tell you the Name? No
 
 Ey nodded, swept the sim of everyone but the three of them, and instructed the perisystem architecture to print out the *0 individuals swept* receipt onto a slip of foolscap, which ey handed over.
 
-"Move back, May Then My Name," she instructed, quieter this time. When May obliged, the skunk crawled closer to em and set up a cone of silence with secure visual ACLs. She was panting and shaking, though ey was pleased to see that at least the anger that had swelled briefly had subsided once more into something more manageable. Ey didn't think any of them were up for a shouting match. Once she'd knelt beside em, whispered, "Show me."
+"Move back, May Then My Name," she instructed, quieter this time. When May obliged, the skunk crawled closer to em and set up a cone of silence with secure visual ACLs. She was panting and shaking, though ey was pleased to see that at least the anger that had swelled briefly had subsided once more into something more manageable. Ey didn't think any of them were up for a shouting match. Once she'd knelt beside em, she whispered, "Show me."
 
 Ey drew the sheet out of the air, holding it up for True Name to see the fully redacted text, then unlocked it for her eyes only and handed it over.
 
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ The last thing ey remembered before falling asleep was watching the way True Nam
 
 -----
 
-Waking brought confusion. Something about the inversion from their normal bed, of having fallen asleep on eir other side than ey usually did, induced a subtle sense of vertigo at first. The pajamas were also bunched up around em strangely, adding a subtle sense of constriction. As sleep slowly seeped away, though, the feeling lessened and ey was able to relax in the warmth beneath the covers.
+Waking brought confusion. Something about the inversion from their normal bed, of having fallen asleep on eir other side than ey usually did, induced a sense of vertigo at first. The pajamas were also bunched up around em strangely, adding a subtle sense of constriction. As sleep slowly seeped away, though, the feeling lessened and ey was able to relax in the warmth beneath the covers.
 
 Warmer than expected, perhaps. May was still in eir arms, as usual, but the position felt off with the addition of a second warm bulk.
 

content/read/039.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Ey just wanted to be bored.
 
 At least they'd settled into a routine once more, and it was far more comfortable than either of the previous ones --- when True Name had first moved in, and then after End Waking's merge --- so ey couldn't complain too much.
 
-True Name managed May's merge much more easily than she had End Waking's, and ey could see now the benefits of that week of negotiation beforehand. May had whispered to em one night about the final merge with Michelle and Sasha, about memories crashing down in a cascade of centuries and just how mad that final instance of True Name must have been in those final moments. Even with just one merge, she still occasionally mentioned a pressing memory or two from End Waking demanding attention nearly two months later.
+True Name managed May's merge much more easily than she had End Waking's, and ey could see now the benefits of that week of negotiation beforehand. May had whispered to em one night about the final merge with Michelle and Sasha, about memories crashing down in a cascade of centuries and just how mad that final instance of True Name must have been in those final moments. Even with just one merge, she still occasionally mentioned a pressing memory or two from End Waking demanding attention two months later.
 
 It was just another part of the routine. A rocky routine, and an exciting one, but still a routine.
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Ey just needed boredom and ey needed out.
 
 It took some convincing --- on all three of their parts, since ey needed to convince emself as much as True Name and May --- but eventually, Ioan worked up the courage to leave the house, seeking out some much needed solitude, even if it was only in the anonymity of public spaces.
 
-The coffee shop ey'd frequented for so long may have been safe, but given that eir last visit had included an attempt on a friend's life, ey opted instead for an afternoon in a library. The one ey frequented also felt fraught, given its association with all of those meetings with Jonas and so many others during the research for the *History*, so ey chose one ey'd never been to before from the directory. Besides, the information was technically available anywhere, libraries just provided a familiar physical location to access it, a social place for gathering around the topic of information, and some physical tools used for manipulating that information that individuals rarely had room for.
+The coffee shop ey'd frequented for so long may have been safe, but given that eir last visit had included an attempt on a friend's life, ey opted instead for an afternoon in a library. System Central Library, eir usual haunt, also felt fraught, given its association with all of those meetings with Jonas and so many others during the research for the *History*, so ey chose one ey'd never been to before from the directory. Besides, the information was technically available anywhere, libraries just provided a familiar physical location to access it, a social place for gathering around the topic of information, and some physical tools used for manipulating that information that individuals rarely had room for.
 
 Beyond that, though, it was the very idea of the space that appealed to em and so many others. Ey'd long ago let go of eir desire to be a librarian. Codrin#Pollux had that covered, and ey'd made eir choice, influenced as it was by eir life with May, to settle into theatre.
 
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ But it was all still very cautious. Those nights felt like a necessity borne out
 
 "Have things been awkward since the merge?"
 
-She yawned and levered herself up to a sitting position again, rubbing her eyes. She certainly looked like she'd dozed off. "Awkward how?"
+She yawned and levered herself up to a sitting position again, rubbing her eyes. She looked like she'd dozed off. "Awkward how?"
 
 "Well, I mean, we spent all that time talking about May and I's relationship beforehand, and how that would impact you." Ey pushed emself up to sitting on the beanbag as well, adding, "Which I have no clue how to feel about, to be clear. Just asking."
 
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ After a few slow breaths, she shook her head and slumped over to the side, drapi
 
 "What? Oh." Ey hesitantly brushed fingers over her ears as ey'd done countless times before with May. Her fur felt exactly the same, her voice was very similar, and were it not for the difference in clothes, the slight changes in body shape, and the benefit of almost three decades of time spent living with May, ey could probably have confused one for the other. "Too awkward?"
 
-"I do not know. The closer to another I get, even in just simple proximity, the more May I become, so the greater part of me is simply pleased to be touched now that we are close, and by none other than you," she mumbled against the beanbag. "But I am not her, so the rest of me is unsure of what to make of it. Completely baffled, even. Do I feel like her to you? We are cut from the same cloth, are we not? This ought to feel the same, yes? Does it?"
+"I do not know. The closer to another I get, even in just simple proximity, the more...May I become, so the greater part of me is simply pleased to be touched now that we are close, and by none other than you," she mumbled against the beanbag. "But I am not her, so the rest of me is unsure of what to make of it. Completely baffled, even. Do I feel like her to you? We are cut from the same cloth, are we not? This ought to feel the same, yes? Does it?"
 
 "Almost exactly," ey said, then laughed. "And not at all." 
 

content/read/040.md

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Ey'd shown up, notebook in hand, half an hour early and was half expecting Jonas
 
 "Of course," ey said through gritted teeth. "The more the merrier."
 
-"Precisely, precisely." Jonas raised his martini glass in a toast and gestured back to the booth and Ioan's half-finished drink. "Shall we?"
+"Precisely, precisely." Jonas raised his martini glass in a toast and gestured back to the table and Ioan's half-finished drink. "Shall we?"
 
 Ey nodded and slid back into the booth while Jonas scooted in on the other side of the table, leaving room for Zacharias.
 
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ There was a hint of a whine to her reply. *"I am sorry, Ioan, I did not realize
 
 *"Of course. We will return soon."*
 
-It was nearly two hours later when the skunks had returned as promised. Two hours of tossing and turning in bed, fretting and fretting and fretting. Eventually, they had fallen into their usual positions, though despite the added rest that this usually brought True Name, none of them had slept well.
+It was nearly two hours later when the skunks had returned as promised. Two hours of tossing and turning in bed, fretting and fretting and fretting. Eventually, the three of them had fallen into their usual positions, though despite the added rest that this usually brought True Name, none of them had slept well.
 
 When there was no wink and smile from Jonas, ey let eir shoulders sag and nodded. "Tired, yeah. We're all tired. Just want this over with."
 
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ Ioan#Tracker set eir pen down with exaggerated care, closing eir notebook, then
 
 "*I take it you are back, then?*" May's words over the sensorium message were tentative, anxious. Clearly tension was still high.
 
-"*Yes. I'm coming outside,*" ey replied.
+"*Yes,"* ey replied. *"I'm coming outside.*"
 
 Ey didn't wait for the ping of acknowledgement. Even if they weren't ready for em to be out there, ey needed to talk at least a little, get some of the weight of the conversation off eir shoulders. Ey needed to be around eir partner and friends. Ey needed to be out of that context, away from pens and paper and books and work.
 
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ Ey snorted, shaking eir head. "Neither was I, you nut. I just meant Rareș and m
 
 Ey laughed and poked at her side a few times, hunting for that ticklish spot. "Who's rude now, hmm?"
 
-Giggling helplessly, May squirmed until she tipped off eir lap, curling protectively into a ball. "It is just so easy, Ionuț, do not blame me!"
+Giggling helplessly, May squirmed until she tipped off eir lap, curling protectively into a ball. "It is just so easy, Ionuț! Do not blame me!"
 
 "I know, I know, and it's your job as an Odist to fuck with me, *et cetera, et cetera*," ey said, slipping down into bed alongside the skunk, getting eir arms around her. "I like her, but...well, whatever. It's complicated."
 

content/read/041.md

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ End Waking immediately flinched, crouched. They found themselves in a boardroom.
 
 And yet it still felt too small --- even to Ioan, who spent more of eir life inside than unbound in a forest, the ceiling was just a few inches too low, the chairs just a few inches too close to the walls. Too small, and yet too long. There was room for a table half again as long, and yet the table was set in one end of the room, leaving the other end unbalanced, empty other than a wheeled whiteboard. End Waking, who hadn't been indoors, never mind in a room too small, in nigh on a century, looked on the verge of panic. His eyes were wide, tail hiked and bristled, paws clenched in a way that reminded em of May.
 
-"I do not know if I can--"
+"I do not know if I am able--"
 
 May squeezed his paw tightly. "You do not need to keep these memories, skunk, but you cannot leave." She added in a near whisper, "Please do not leave me."
 
@@ -100,9 +100,9 @@ To Know One's True Name Is To Know God had settled comfortably into data analysi
 
 To Know God Is To Answer Unasked Questions had done her best to specialize in the fields of information and game theory, but this had more often come down to simple information security and hygiene. She decided where and how far information traveled.
 
-Do I Know God When I Do Not Remember Myself and Do I Know God When I Do Not Dream worked as a mismatched pair. When I Do Not Remember worked as a propagandist while When I Do Not Dream worked almost entirely on the perisystem, translating back and forth for her cocladists and finding the best way to worm her way through the inter- and intrasystem text channels.
+Do I Know God When I Do Not Remember Myself and Do I Know God When I Dream worked as a mismatched pair. When I Do Not Remember worked as a propagandist while When I Dream worked almost entirely on the perisystem, translating back and forth for her cocladists and finding the best way to worm eir way through the inter- and intrasystem text channels.
 
-Were ey pressed to name each of them without knowing this information, ey didn't think ey'd be able to. Ey knew the three skunks of the stanza and could readily tell them apart, but the rest simply looked like a gaggle of the very same woman: short, soft, round face and curly black hair. However, there were indeed differences there to be seen. Why Ask Questions was just a centimeter or two taller and more open of expression. When I Do Not Remember and When I Do Not Dream both had a hunch to their shoulders that ey could not quite explain; perhaps a posture that stuck after too much writing.
+Were ey pressed to name each of them without knowing this information, ey didn't think ey'd be able to. Ey knew the three skunks of the stanza and could readily tell them apart, but the rest simply looked like a gaggle of the very same woman: short, soft, round face and curly black hair. However, there were indeed differences there to be seen. Why Ask Questions was just a centimeter or two taller and more open of expression. When I Do Not Remember and When I Dream both had a fixedness to their expression that ey could not quite explain; perhaps something that lingered from decades and centuries spent interacting with the abstract.
 
 As it was, ey did eir best to guess, and when introductions made their way around the table, ey found eir guesses to be correct in each case. 
 
@@ -298,11 +298,11 @@ All of the rest of the Odists, however, were shouting. None of them looked pleas
 
 "As do I," End Waking said, getting a smile from Sasha.
 
-"*That* name is unacceptable!" When I Do Not Dream hollered. "No. You will pick something else."
+"*That* name is unacceptable!" When I Do Not Remember hollered. "No. You will pick something else!"
 
 "No, I will not."
 
-"Shut the fuck up, When I Do Not Dream," Jonas shouted. "All of you, shut the fuck up." He turned to Sasha and grinned icily, eyes now burning overbright. "You always were a little snot. You want to be Sasha? You want to dive back into mediocrity and wear your weakness like a badge? Please, by all means, be my guest. Beg for pity again. Hunt down all your little friends who kept you feeling just bad enough that they could baby you without letting you think you were their plaything."
+"Shut the fuck up, When I Do Not Remember," Jonas shouted. "All of you, shut the fuck up." He turned to Sasha and grinned icily, eyes now burning overbright. "You always were a little snot. You want to be Sasha? You want to dive back into mediocrity and wear your weakness like a badge? Please, by all means, be my guest. Beg for pity again. Hunt down all your little friends who kept you feeling just bad enough that they could baby you without letting you think you were their plaything."
 
 At this, most of the stanza bridled, and there were a few louder murmurings.
 
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ Ioan shook eir head, dizzy. "This is what you looked like before uploading?"
 
 "What my --- *our* --- av looked like, yes, all except the change to a spotted skunk. They always felt too flashy, back then, and I just wanted to look like myself offline except a furry. Completely unremarkable and a species no one likes."
 
-"The outfit was my suggestion," End Waking said. "It always was our favorite, but for some reason, we never brought it with us to the System, and I knew the rest of the stanza would pick up on that quite easily."
+"The outfit was my suggestion," End Waking said. "It always was our favorite, but for some reason, we never brought it with us to the System, and I knew the rest of the stanza would pick up on that quite easily. I suspect they are driving Jonas as much as he believes he is driving them."
 
 Sasha nodded.
 
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ The three skunks laughed.
 
 "Why didn't you tell me?"
 
-"For your story," Sasha said. "You had to go in there with an untainted view in order to write a more earnest story at the end."
+"For your story," Sasha said. "You had to go in there with an untainted view in order to write a more earnest story at the end. That is how you work, dear."
 
 "So," ey said, organizing eir thoughts out loud. "May and End Waking--"
 
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ She nodded.
 
 "I...well, yeah. Not from you." He hesitated, eyes averted, and added, "Please."
 
-"Of course.
+"Of course."
 
 "So tell me how this gets you anything."
 

content/read/042.md

@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ May grinned. "And all will be as it should."
 
 There was a long silence as Sasha finished brushing out her tail and spent a few minutes simply staring across the lake, perhaps mapping the opposite shore and marking spots for future exploration.
 
-Finally, she said, "I think that I will be. I am of three minds and will ever be such. I will have moments of happiness, moments of sadness and terror and regret, but they will ever be in thirds."
+Finally, she said, "I think that I will be. I am of three minds and will ever be such. I will hate myself, sometimes, and I will love myself, too. I will have moments of happiness, moments of sadness and terror and regret, but they will ever be in thirds."
 
 "Are you okay with that?"
 
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ She laughed. "Of course. So many threats to hunt me down, these days. But yes, t
 
 "And if you do not watch me perform my monologue, I will trim your claws too short in your sleep," May said. "There is a monologue night coming up soon."
 
-"Far worse than being hunted down, that. I will be there."
+"Jesus, May. That is far worse than being hunted down. I will be there."
 
 May preened.
 
@@ -196,9 +196,9 @@ Ioan, Debarre, E.W., and Douglas took the time to set up the picnic, a rickety t
 
 "Are you feeling better now?" Douglas asked.
 
-She nodded. "I am leaning on the other portions of myself now. I will have much processing to do yet, but tonight is for dinner with friends, or at least with those I hope will be friends."
+She sniffled and nodded. "I am leaning on the other portions of myself now. I will have much processing to do yet, but tonight is for dinner with friends, or at least with those I hope will be friends."
 
-"I certainly hope we can be friends." Douglas laughed. "I mean, those are the first words we've ever really spoken to each other, but I'm happy to have the chance to meet you."
+"I certainly hope we'll be friends." Douglas laughed. "I mean, those are the first words we've ever really spoken to each other, but I'm happy to have the chance to meet you."
 
 "Or at least meet a third of me."
 
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ Barely a month after that dinner with Debarre and Douglas on the field, two of t
 
 May stumbled in the middle of a Wednesday morning rehearsal, falling to her knees, panting, before pushing herself to her feet. She managed to make it through the rest of the scene before forking off so that she could continue as best she could while her root instance ducked back home.
 
-Once there, she darted over towards where Ioan sat at eir desk, working through the process of writing Jonas's book. She knelt beside em, clutched a pawful of eir shirt and set up a cone of silence. Ey felt the ACL-scape of the cone shift several times until it was just about as secure as could be made.
+Once there, she darted over towards where Ioan#Trackers sat at eir desk, working through the process of writing Jonas's book. She knelt beside em, clutched a pawful of eir shirt and set up a cone of silence. Ey felt the ACL-scape of the cone shift several times until it was just about as secure as could be made.
 
 "May? What--"
 
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ Sasha nodded. "I understand."
 
 "Wait, what?" Ioan said. May edged around a little ways behind em, clutching at eir arm.
 
-"You are too entangled in the matter. No contact with this situation means no contact from you, May Then My Name Die With Me, or E.W. *né* Do I Know God After The End Waking. This request is in effect until further notice, and applies to our stanzas on Castor and Pollux as well, where Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled will be presented with the same request. None of us are on Artemis, but I will also be passing this on to Sorina Bălan. This includes general intraclade communication; we will add visibility exceptions to our messages and request that you do the same."
+"You are too entangled in the matter. No contact with this situation means no contact from you, May Then My Name Die With Me, or E.W. *né* Do I Know God After The End Waking. This request is in effect until further notice, and applies to our stanzas on Castor and Pollux as well, where Dear, Also, The Tree That Was Felled will be presented with the same notice. None of us are on Artemis, but I will also be passing this on to Sorina Bălan. This includes general intraclade communication; we will add visibility exceptions to our messages and request that you do the same."
 
 "I understand, accept, and offer you my best," Sasha said, bowing once more.
 
@@ -486,4 +486,4 @@ She chuckled and elbowed em in the side. "This may be a True Name thing."
 
 "I don't even know what to think about that," ey said, shaking eir head. "It's kind of a lot."
 
-"That it is. You are a good person, though. You love your partner. She knows this. I know this. You are good to her and it will all be okay. We may hope for neat endings but all we get are more beginnings." She smiled, adding, "And yes, you may stay until she is feeling better."
+"That it is. You are a good person, though. You love your partner. She knows this. *I* know this. You are good to her and it will all be okay. We may hope for neat endings but all we get are more beginnings." She smiled, adding, "And yes, you may stay until she is feeling better."

content/read/043.md

@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ She poked at eir side with a claw. "You do not need to ask stupid questions, Ioa
 
 Her tone wasn't upset or dismissive, but was assertive enough that ey dropped the point. "Well, writing sounds like a good career shift, then."
 
-"Says the writer." She slouched against eir side.
+"Says the writer," she said, slouching against eir side.
 
 "I liked what you've gotten down so far, and I have a few notes. We'll talk about it when we're back at a desk, though."
 

content/selected-letters/001.md

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ But for some reason, that isn't what happened.
 
 Let me start over.
 
-After all that happened, after all the decisions that had already been made, it felt like there was one more that needed to happen. I needed to figure out what I was going to do about myself with regards to Artemis. I asked surprisingly few people for advice on this. I mentioned it briefly to my partners, and Dear thought it was an okay idea, though I could tell that neither of them were totally sold on the idea.
+After all that happened, after all the decisions that had already been made, it felt like there was one more that needed to happen. I needed to figure out what I was going to do about myself with regards to Artemis. I asked surprisingly few people for advice on this. I mentioned it briefly to my partners, and Dear thought it was an okay idea, though I could tell that neither of them were totally sold on it.
 
 On looking back, it's weird how little agency we attribute to our forks at first. The biggest complaint against the idea that they had was that they didn't want to see how much the fork I sent would miss me. █████ was the one who wound up selling Dear on the idea, oddly enough, by reminding it just how much individuation can happen. It's been stuck in instance artistry too long, not letting itself deviate because its instances simply don't last long enough.
 

content/selected-letters/002.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ I think part of why this came when it did is due to the convergence. I know that
 
 Finally and perhaps most impactful for me, I had the chance to meet one-on-one with True Name during convergence. Even after a month of thinking about the meeting, I'm still unsure what to make of it.
 
-I, like you two, had the chance to interview her a few times during the process of pulling together the *History*, so I had been expecting the same frightful competence that I saw twenty-odd years ago.
+I, like you two, had the chance to interview her a few times during the process of pulling together the *History*, so I had been expecting to see the same frightful competence that I saw twenty-odd years ago.
 
 I did not.
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ It's difficult for me to describe the ways in which she's changed. She's...overw
 
 And yet from what you two have said, other than her experience on Artemis, she's still going strong on both the LVs.
 
-I don't really know what to do with this information, honestly. I keep thinking about things I could have said or questions I could have asked, but it always gets muddled up in my head given her similarities to May. I've spent so long with May that seeing someone as similar to her as True Name in distress yet be unable to comfort in the same ways I might has me rudderless.
+I don't really know what to do with this information, honestly. I keep thinking about things I could have said or questions I could have asked, but it always gets muddled up in my head given her similarities to May. I've spent so long with May that seeing someone as similar to her as True Name in distress, yet be unable to comfort in the same ways I might, has me rudderless.
 
 Either way, I've set up another meeting with her now that convergence news has settled into a more steady stream, so I guess we'll see where that leads.
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ I'm also worried about you. Your last letter led to a few conversations between
 
 I know that when you became Codrin, that was not something that I'd foreseen, and despite the surface similarities, this feels fundamentally different. It's a new thing for us, I think. You two were borne out of the changes that the Odists wrought on us, but Sorina was borne out of changes coming from within.
 
-I know that I risk our messages passing each other through the great big nothing between us, so perhaps there's more already on the way, but perhaps you can tell me more about her, or about the both of you?
+I know that I risk our messages passing each other through the great big nothing between us, so perhaps there's more already on the way, but perhaps you can tell me more about that first day?
 
 To be clear, none of this is for the play. I spent some time talking with Sarah about it and she had some suggestions for what my role in this matter is. Doubtless you've been speaking with her about your role, and perhaps you and Sorina are still talking things through, but maybe Sarah has some suggestions? Maybe you can tell me more about her, too --- the good things you remember, in particular. What do you like best about her? What are your hopes for her? What wishes do you have?
 

content/selected-letters/003.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Along each spoke are all sorts of shops, restaurants, entertainment venues, and
 
 The actual population of Convergence isn't all that large. There are a few million humans, about a million each of secondrace (who call themselves Dehoudevav, which is just 'second people') and thirdrace (whose name I'll never be able to pronounce, much less write, but who the Artemisians, predictably enough, call Dehoudeves, or 'third people'). Nearly every member of fourthrace (Dehoudever, natch) elected to join after learning about how our System is based around forking rather than skew, though this only totals a million or so.
 
-Firstrace, then, is the outlier. Only about a thousand of them have joined us. None have provided anything more than a vague answer as to why, too. Our best guess is that only one from each 'clade' (or whatever structure is implied by their names) joined us with the exception of Turun Ka and Turun Ko due to their role in the discussions. They sound like they like us alright, they just didn't sound very interested in joining us beyond that scope. No one seems to be able to make heads or tails of their actions.
+Firstrace — Dehoudevans — then, is the outlier. Only about a thousand of them have joined us. None have provided anything more than a vague answer as to why, too. Our best guess is that only one from each 'clade' (or whatever structure is implied by their names) joined us with the exception of Turun Ka and Turun Ko due to their role in the discussions. They sound like they like us alright, they just didn't sound very interested in joining us beyond that scope. No one seems to be able to make heads or tails of their actions.
 
 That said, they've all been incredibly polite, even kind. One of them, Anin Li has teamed up with Sarah and I as we work on knowledge share around therapeutic practices between races. As I'm also learning that for the first time, I've got a mountain of work ahead of me.
 

content/selected-letters/008.md

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Things have been a bit shaky throughout the clade, haven't they? I'm unsure of h
 
 Please feel free to take your time with it, but we really would like to hear your thoughts on both the project and the events. Releasing something on any one system is essentially equivalent to releasing it on all three Systems, so we can't simply release it here and see what happens before sending it over to the LVs. Do you have any expectations as to the reception given the general mood of the various societies? I will note that this has already been given to Jonas here, which means it has doubtless been sent out to Castor and Pollux for them to prepare for its arrival. The events were not quite what the Jonas here on Lagrange was expecting, so I doubt that his expectations on the LVs were all that different.
 
-I will note that this is in spite of the apparent differences between the societies themselves. I know I wasn't able to properly articulate it in my letters at the time, as writing letters and writing a book are quite different activities, but it'll soon become clear that the Jonas lives within these three different societies has diverged little, that all three of them share the same goals they began with perhaps even centuries back and the launches have become yet one more tool.
+I will note that this is in spite of the apparent differences between the societies themselves. I know I wasn't able to properly articulate it in my letters at the time, as writing letters and writing a book are quite different activities, but it'll soon become clear that the Jonas living within these three different societies has diverged little, that all three of them share the same goals they began with perhaps even centuries back and the launches have become yet one more tool.
 
 And what of the Odists?
 

content/selected-letters/009.md

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Still, there is no small part of me that remains worried and cautious. The last
 
 How cynical must one be to set up a situation where one's own fork is left so beaten down? Even if True Name on the LVs was manipulated into doing so, that still requires a certain level of buy-in to go along with, right? I'm inclined to agree with E.W.'s assessment that Jonas is treating politics as a plaything, and would add on that the same is apparently true of many of the Odists.
 
-Be careful, Ioan and Aurel. Keep May and Sasha safe. Even if their lives aren't at risk, this is quite a lot. Clearly a sizable chunk of the clade is quite upset with them, and that can't be easy.
+Be careful, Ioan and Aurel. Keep May and Sasha safe. Even if their lives aren't at risk, this is quite a lot. Clearly a sizable chunk of the clade is quite upset with them, if Hammered Silver and In Dreams's reactions are anything to go by, and that can't be easy.
 
 **IOAN BĂLAN AND AUREL BĂLAN INDIVIDUAL-EYES-ONLY MATERIAL**