further edits

content/read/002.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 >
 > First and foremost among these facts, almost to the point where one might consider all other facts as following logically from it, surrounding it, existing only to support it, is that Launch Day takes place exactly two hundred years after Secession Day.
 >
-> On the surface of it, especially for those who have had some connection with the event itself, this may seem like backwards. After all, so much happened around Launch. So much *had* to happen around Launch, yes? Sending off two multi-ton blocks of computronium and raw materials, solar sails and Dreamer Modules, out into unknown space takes rather a lot of work.
+> On the surface of it, especially for those who have had some connection with the event itself, this may seem backwards. After all, so much happened around Launch. So much *had* to happen around Launch, yes? Sending off two multi-ton blocks of computronium and raw materials, solar sails and Dreamer Modules, out into unknown space takes rather a lot of work.
 >
 > But in all ways, that falls out of the simple fact that Launch Day occurred on the bicentennial Secession Day.
 

content/read/029.md

@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Eir frown grew. "Do you remember any names?"
 
 "The Jonas clade was pretty vocally against it. I think they even had compunctions about the launch, for that matter. There were some of the Odists, though I never took much interest in who. Their names are always so impenetrable. Let's see...there was Àsgeir Hrafnson, who has always seemed like he's against everything. Such a sour man..."
 
-Tycho's continued to list off a few names, and Codrin continued to nod dutifully, but eir mind was elsewhere. The Odists' opinion on the launch seemed to range from, at best, utterly ecstatic, as Dear's had been, to, at worst, simply uninterested, to go by what Dear and May Then My Name had said.
+Tycho continued to list off a few names, and Codrin continued to nod dutifully, but eir mind was elsewhere. The Odists' opinion on the launch seemed to range from, at best, utterly ecstatic, as Dear's had been, to, at worst, simply uninterested, to go by what Dear and May Then My Name had said.
 
 Was this another lie from Dear, or had the fox simply not gone looking for names in the debate?
 

content/read/030.md

@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@
 > :   It does not help that many of us --- not just me --- are obtuse on purpose.
 > 
 > Douglas
-> :   You said there was some grumbling sys-side, as well, right?"
+> :   You said there was some grumbling sys-side, as well, right?
 > 
 > Ioan
 > :   Yes, though I don't totally understand it. Some of it sounds like that like, "Why bother? We've got a good life here, and there's no reason to be putting that in any kind of danger just to throw copies of us out at the stars." The bits that I mentioned earlier, however, have more to do with the Dreamer Modules than the launch itself, though.

content/read/031.md

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Once it was clear that she had reached a pause, Jonas spoke up. "Tell me about y
 
 He sat up straighter, nodding for her to continue.
 
-"I think that it is a matter of aspirations. We who have uploaded have different goals in life than those who remain behind. Perhaps it is worth approaching them in different ways.
+"I think that it is a matter of aspirations. We who have uploaded have different goals in life than those who remain behind. Perhaps it is worth approaching them in different ways."
 
 "That's true." He looked thoughtful. "We've already been doing that, to an extent."
 
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ He kept throwing her all these little comments that seemed to tempt her to respo
 
 Not the best tactic for someone who taught theatre to teenagers.
 
-"I think we have got the council mostly locked down when it comes to the idea of independence," she said, setting down her stick.
+"I think we have the council mostly locked down when it comes to the idea of independence," she said, setting down her stick.
 
 "And your clade?"
 

content/read/033.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Ey shrugged.
 
 "Right, sorry. It's a little bit cabin fever, I guess. I've spent an awful lot of time cooped up in the house and just sending forks out to run the interviews. It's one thing to remember being outside, but another still to have to make that memory align with not having left the house in days."
 
-The skunk nodded, picking a pebble from near her paw and tossing it into the lake. "I understand. I think that I am perhaps more comfortable inside than you are, but I am still happy that you brought me here.
+The skunk nodded, picking a pebble from near her paw and tossing it into the lake. "I understand. I think that I am perhaps more comfortable inside than you are, but I am still happy that you brought me here."
 
 "Glad you like it. It's an abandoned sim that I visited decades back and still had the coordinates to. It reminded me of how my grandfather described his time in Slovenia." Ey crumpled the wrapper to eir sandwich and returned it to the backpack that ey'd brought with em. "It's just good to get out and change contexts, I guess."
 

content/read/034.md

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ He tilted his head. "What? Why?"
 
 Demma sighed and set aside his own coffee. "I have a suspicion that I know who one of them is, and I would like confirmation of that. I would appreciate if you would tell me, so that I do not need to tip my hand and send you hunting him down. You understand."
 
-"I suppose." Yared bit his lip and considered the possible consequences of sharing the names of his contacts, deciding that if he shared just one, that perhaps that would be enough without compromising the identity of both. "You say him. The man that I'm in discussions with is named Jonas. Is that the one you're thinking of?"
+"I suppose." Yared bit his lip and considered the possible consequences of sharing the names of his contacts, deciding that if he shared just one, that perhaps that would be enough without compromising the identity of both. "You say 'him'. The man that I'm in discussions with is named Jonas. Is that the one you're thinking of?"
 
 The councilor groaned and slouched back into the cushy microfiber seat. "Yes. I was afraid of that."
 

content/read/045.md

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ She hid a sudden surge of emotion behind a sip of her flat beer, nodding. "It wa
 
 Debarre nodded. After the reference to both losses, he seemed on guard, or ready to jump out of the booth at a moment's notice.
 
-"I am sorry that I snapped at you a while back," she said, reaching out to pat at the paw that had been poking absently at the grime on the tabletop. "That is a name that I would like to keep close to my heart and prefer not to say out loud. Also, given the political implications of em to the S-R Bloc, it still feels risky. The spooks *definitely* should not hear it."
+"I am sorry that I snapped at you a while back," she said, reaching out to pat at the paw that had been poking absently at the grime on the tabletop. "That is a name that I would like to keep close to my heart and prefer not to say out loud. Also, given the political implications of em fleeing to the S-R Bloc, it still feels risky. The spooks *definitely* should not hear it."
 
 "I get that," the weasel said. He had relaxed, but not all the way.
 

content/read/051.md

@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Codrin forced emself to take a sip of the tea. It was thin, with the skim milk i
 
 "Have you come up with any new ones?"
 
-"Uh...some. The first is: why are you letting us even continue with the history project if you're aiming to keep stability within the system? Won't all of this coming to light impact that at all?"
+"Uh...some. The first is: why are you letting us even continue with the history project if you're aiming to keep stability within the System? Won't all of this coming to light impact that at all?"
 
 Ne brightened. "Oh, that's a good one! The answer is twofold. Part one relates to something that No Jonas said to the other Codrin: stability is a thing that needs to be gardened and maintained, that there is no true stasis, but stability approaches that point like the man in Zeno's Paradox. This is a form of that gardening. When you have a rose garden or topiary, you know, you must cut away bits of it, but when you do, the whole becomes all the healthier and can last for years and years in the state you like it best. It may seem like a traumatic event to trim back roses. After all, you are cutting away good growth, aren't you? But that's how you get beautiful roses, year after year.
 

content/read/057.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 "Of course," True Name said, smiling. "I have read over the summary that you sent me, and it looks fairly complete, but I will answer any question you ask."
 
-Ioan collected eir thoughts for a moment, testing eir pen's nib against the paper. "Right. Okay. The first thing I'd like to ask is that you've given us a good bit of information about your why, how, and when for many of the things that you did around Secession and Launch. I think we've got an idea of what, too, but it seems almost too big to grasp at a glance, so I'd like to know who all was involved.
+Ioan collected eir thoughts for a moment, testing eir pen's nib against the paper. "Right. Okay. The first thing I'd like to ask is that you've given us a good bit of information about your why, how, and when for many of the things that you did around Secession and Launch. I think we've got an idea of what, too, but it seems almost too big to grasp at a glance, so I'd like to know who all was involved."
 
 "I am assuming you mean in more detail than just us and the Jonas clade, yes?" She tilted her head when Ioan nodded, apparently considering the best way to answer. "I, like Jonas Prime did for his clade, acted as the point of contact for the Ode clade in this endeavor. However, Jonas's methods tended toward that of a hydra: he coordinated with all of his instances working on various aspects only as much as was required to keep them from stepping on each other's toes.
 

content/read/059.md

@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ Ioan let out a breath, realizing partway through that it was coming out as a lau
 
 Her words were unsteady, clouded by tears, but she continued, "The gods built the world because they desired to shape it to their will. They wanted to bend the world into something that they could direct this way and that, because after all, could they not do that with their atoms and molecules? A world that is orderly! Imagine the wonders they could create! The wills they could work!
 
-"So the gods set the world to spinning and watched and waited as it began to blossom and bloom. When the time was ripe, they reached down their hands to touch the world, and instead found that they had become the wind and the tides and the rain and the snow and the sunlight and the moonlight. They reached down to touch the world and shape it to their will, and found that they become impersonal forces in the face of absolute independence. The world they created could not be controlled, because there is no such thing as a world that can be controlled. They reached down, became impersonal forces, and the lives within the world bundled their coats up tighter at the North Wind or took their hats off when the Sun shone bright, but never could they change a single mind."
+"So the gods set the world to spinning and watched and waited as it began to blossom and bloom. When the time was ripe, they reached down their hands to touch the world, and instead found that they had become the wind and the tides and the rain and the snow and the sunlight and the moonlight. They reached down to touch the world and shape it to their will, and found that they had become impersonal forces in the face of absolute independence. The world they created could not be controlled, because there is no such thing as a world that can be controlled. They reached down, became impersonal forces, and the lives within the world bundled their coats up tighter at the North Wind or took their hats off when the Sun shone bright, but never could they change a single mind."
 
 A long silence followed May's myth, broken only by the soft sounds of her crying.
 

content/read/061.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Douglas Hadje --- 2326
 
-The arrangements required for this surprise for May Then My Name quickly began to feel overly complicated to Douglas, but, as Ioan kept reminding him, she was a very complicated person. She was also very perceptive, so there was apparently much secrecy required to pull it off
+The arrangements required for this surprise for May Then My Name quickly began to feel overly complicated to Douglas, but, as Ioan kept reminding him, she was a very complicated person. She was also very perceptive, so there was apparently much secrecy required to pull it off.
 
 The lead-up to uploading, however, was easy. He supposed that much of it was that so much excitement combined with so much anxiety eventually left him feeling more numb than anything, some protective emotional reaction that kept him from simply exploding on one of his many, many walks.