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content/read/047.md

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ She walked from sim to sim, finding intricate ways to build up a sign, a sigil f
 
 Perhaps there was more to the sims that she walked, but she did not notice. As soon as she felt herself drawn to any one particular place, any one particular feature of any one particular sim, as soon as she began to feel anchored, she left. All of the things that people --- her people --- built passed beneath her feet, passed before her eyes.
 
+Some part of her was overflowing in some indefinable way, and so she walked.
+
 And all the time, her thoughts soared above her, watching her path, the steps she took. They watched all of her left turns. They viewed the sigil that her walking drew and imbued in it new meaning.
 
 A thought: *What dire emotional need caused one to build an office building in a place of no corporations?*
@@ -22,11 +24,11 @@ A thought: *Why do we drag our memories around with us like luggage?*
 
 So, she walked, and as she walked, she strove to draw her thoughts in the other direction. She strove to draw them forward, away from the past, so that she could consider the future.
 
-What would this place look like, after seceding from the rest of the world? What would a land --- if such could be said of the System --- of those who had already seceded from the rest of humanity look like? How many would notice and rejoice? How many would notice and hate every second of it? How many would notice and not care, and how many would not even know that it had happened? That it had even been on the table?
+What would this place look like after seceding from the rest of the world? What would a land --- if such could be said of the System --- of those who had already seceded from the rest of humanity look like? How many would notice and rejoice? How many would notice and hate every second of it? How many would notice and not care, and how many would not even know that it had happened? That it had even been on the table?
 
 Would they build differently? Perhaps they would stop bringing along with them the structures of their pasts. Perhaps there would be fewer office buildings and more cabins in the woods. More idyllic houses. More mountain landscapes and main streets of cute towns with hole-in-the-wall restaurants that no one knew about and yet which served the best curry, the best hot dog, the best cupcakes that one could possibly imagine.
 
-Would they live differently, love differently? Perhaps they would still pair up as always they had. Maybe, when they picked up feelings for someone, they would fork to have a separate relationship with them as well. Maybe collectives of families would live together as they always had, finding comfort as much in each other as in their chosen relatives. Maybe a taboo would grow around having a relationship with oneself, of forked instances living together and loving each other. Would that be narcissism forever, or only before individuation? Would it be incest?
+Would they live differently, love differently? Perhaps they would still pair up as always they had. Maybe, when they picked up feelings for someone, they would fork to have a separate relationship with them as well. Maybe collectives of families would live together as they always had, finding comfort as much in each other as in their chosen relatives. Maybe a taboo would grow around having a relationship with oneself, of forked instances living together and loving each other. Would that be narcissism forever, or only before individuation? Would it be incest? Masturbation? She did not know, she did not know.
 
 Would they choose life? Choose death? Would they pray?
 
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ A memory: *"Two thirds of our power structure still thinks child restrictions ar
 
 Who had said that? One of the three, doubtless. They were so interchangeable.
 
-She stepped into her apartment from wherever her thoughts had taken her, and she forked off a new instance, relying on that subtle trick that Jonas had taught her, letting her reputation stay pinned to where it was.
+She stepped into her apartment from wherever her thoughts had taken her, and she forked off a new instance, relying on that subtle trick that Jonas had taught her, letting her reputation stay close to where it had been.
 
 "I suppose that makes me Do I Know God After The End Waking."
 
@@ -74,9 +76,9 @@ End Waking nodded. "Probably best to begin as early as possible, yes, at least i
 
 "Alright, that sounds good. I will leave you to it, for the most part. I do not expect that there will be any news for another few years."
 
-The other skunk laughed. "Of course."
+The other skunk bowed. "Of course."
 
-"And, End Waking, a favor." When he nodded, she continued, "There are inquisitive minds. Always are. We already have Life Breeds Life helping on that front, but while you were talking through the timeline, I realized that it would be best if this conversation, these plans, didn't start, as far as anyone but you and me are concerned, until perhaps the 2150s."
+"And, End Waking, a favor." When he nodded, she continued, "There are inquisitive minds. Always are. We already have Life Breeds Life helping on that front, but while you were talking through the timeline, I realized that it would be best if this conversation, these plans, did not start, as far as anyone but you and me are concerned, until perhaps the 2150s."
 
 He tilted his head. "How come?"