Edits for v2

content/read/036.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Ioan Bălan --- 2305
 
-Eating was not a necessity in the system. While it was easy to go for months or years without eating, it was something that remained a habit for many who chose to upload. Remnants of biology. Ioan suspected that there was no small amount of hedonism involved in killing one's body to decamp to a world beyond scarcity. Eating became a purely sensory affair, one focused on taste and scent and company.
+Eating was not a necessity in the System. While it was easy to go for months or years without eating, it was something that remained a habit for many who chose to upload. Remnants of biology. Ioan suspected that there was no small amount of hedonism involved in killing one's body to decamp to a world beyond scarcity. Eating became a purely sensory affair, one focused on taste and scent and company.
 
 All the same, dinner was a muted affair. Dear's partner cooked that evening. Ioan sat with the two around the table and tried not to feel like a third wheel.
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Dear's partner gave its shin a playful kick. The fox grinned.
 
 "I 'went off script', you mean?"
 
-*"Mmhm."*
+*"Yes."*
 
 "Sorry about that, I--"
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Dear's partner gave its shin a playful kick. The fox grinned.
 
 "It likes to proclaim," teased Dear's partner.
 
-*"It is not **not** true."* Dear smirked. *"But anyway, I am sorry I got all quiet, I did not mean to put a damper on things."*
+*"It is not* not *true."* Dear smirked. *"But anyway, I am sorry I got all quiet, I did not mean to put a damper on things."*
 
 "You didn't, I--"
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Ioan grinned, letting the banter play out before continuing. "All I meant to say
 
 Ioan looked down into eir wine, taken aback.
 
-*"Doubly unfair of me, and for that I apologize."* Dear raised its glass in a salute. *"So you asked a really good question because it made me question my own role in this hunt. It made me think of what others would think. Me bringing along an amanuensis and historian. It made me think of why I am doing so. Something I had not considered as well as I thought.*
+*"Doubly unfair of me, and for that I apologize."* Dear raised its glass in a salute. *"So you asked a very good question because it made me question my own role in this hunt. It made me think of what others would think. Me bringing along an amanuensis and historian. It made me think of why I am doing so. Something I had not considered as well as I thought.*
 
 *"And I think the reason for me doing so goes further than even I had planned. I think I have you along as a means of keeping me grounded. A means of keeping the clade from just doing what the clade has always done yet again, of--"*
 
@@ -64,13 +64,13 @@ Sensorium message. That was it.
 
 The message lasted less than a minute before the fox leapt off the couch and dashed off to another room, forking almost as an afterthought along the way.
 
-The fork turned quickly and padded back to the couch. It didn't seem to be able to sit, and instead kept pacing in front of the couch, in front of Ioan and its partner.
+The fork turned quickly and padded back to the couch. It didn't seem to be able to sit, and instead kept pacing in front of Ioan and its partner.
 
 After a few tense laps of wine, it said, *"Qoheleth just sent me a message."*
 
 "What?" Ioan rushed to place eir glass on the table with Dear's. "You mean Life?"
 
-*"He asked me to call him Qoheleth, but yes. He sent me a message. Can I pass it on?"*
+*"He asked me to call him Qoheleth, but yes. He sent me a message. May I pass it on?"*
 
 Dear didn't wait.
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ The contrast made Ioan's teeth ache.
 
 "Hi Dear, this is Qoheleth. Not Life Breeds Life, But Death Must Now Be Chosen, but Qoheleth. I am glad to see that you have kept at it and gotten so close. I am not sending this to deter you, but to cheer you on. I am going to send you a bit more information --- just you, mind! --- but I want you to get the rest of the clade in on this. I want to see if you can get them working with the same delightful fervor you and Ioan have.
 
-"So anyway, here's the bone I am gonna toss. You should be looking at Node: [32c5a64b66d0338be4373d796cf1eae5343f1077]. That will get you right to my door. May need Gist Node: [0fedcbbb5e9839936ce799ece39fcd49] to help, too. You already have the key, I think. I expect most, if not all of you, though, you understand? You are lovely, Dear, and I cannot wait to see you and your friend, but I would like to host as much of the clade as I can.
+"So anyway, here's the bone I am gonna toss. You should be looking at the node ending in 343f1077. That will get you right to my door. May need the gist node ending in e39fcd49 to help, too. You already have the key, I think. I expect most, if not all of you, though, you understand? You are lovely, Dear, and I cannot wait to see you and your friend, but I would like to host as much of the clade as I can.
 
 "I am quite excited for this, and I am totally looking forward to see you all, yes?"
 
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ Ioan nodded again, "That's fair."
 
 There was an uneasy silence for a few minutes. The two sat on the couch, sipping their wine and mulling over the message.
 
-For eir part, Ioan was considering the strange dichotomy of the familiarity with which Qoheleth had addressed Dear --- "see you soon, fox" --- as well as *why* the fact that this seemed incongruous to em. It was difficult to think of Qoheleth as a member of the same clade as Dear after so long of striving to believe the opposite. Hard to think of him as someone with whom Dear shared a root identity after so long of thinking of this person as someone entirely different.
+For eir part, Ioan was considering the strange sense of the familiarity with which Qoheleth had addressed Dear --- "see you soon, fox" --- as well as *why* the fact that this seemed incongruous to em. It was difficult to think of Qoheleth as a member of the same clade as Dear after so long of striving to believe the opposite. Hard to think of him as someone with whom Dear shared a root identity after so long of thinking of this person as someone entirely different.
 
 Silences have their own rhythms, Ioan knew, so ey waited until there came a point at which ey could ask, "About all this, do you know much more about the whole Name business?"