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content/read/048.md

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-# Yared Zerezghi --- 2124
+# Douglas Hadje --- 2325
 
-Yared was not sure how he felt that the politicians --- true politicians, at least --- had been right. Demma had said so, Jonas and True Name had said so, and yet something about the whole process felt slippery to him. It was a feeling beyond even that, for while that implied that it was simply politics as usual, this was something more visceral. It was slimy, like the algae that had clung to his skin after he'd gone swimming in a small pond during a visit west: something that made him, specifically, feel disgusting.
+> **May Then My Name Die With Me:** Douglas
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas Douglas
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Mister Douglas Hadje, Master of Spaceflight and Doctor of whatever the hell your degree is in, call on line one.
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Oh, whatever. Just let me know when you get this!
 
-Because they *had* been right, hadn't they? They'd been right that there were strings to be pulled. They'd been right that politics was a game that was played by the bigger players, that the bigger players used the smaller ones as pawns, that the goal was some non-zero-sum game of pushing the populace around like a fungible good.
+It took a moment for Douglas to compose himself when he returned to his terminal after yet another evening of sitting in the Pollux control tower, now largely remade into an observation bubble, despite the increased gravity. It was quiet, it was dark, it was calm, and there was nothing to see except the same Earth-rise-moon-rise cycle every thirty seconds or so.
 
-He had been the tool, and his belief had been his utility. He was the knight moving three spaces up, one space over to outwit some other politician's bishop.
+So, when he returned back to his room to a series of messages that felt loud, bright, raucous, it took a moment for his mind to adjust.
 
-They'd been right, both Demma and the sys-side pair, because support for secession had swung his way with surprising rapidity, and there had suddenly been other strident voices that had once been on the other side of the equation agreeing with him, arguing alongside him for the right of the System to become a political entity of its own.
-
-There had been a logical procession to their thought process within their posts. It wasn't some sudden coin-flip, but over the course of the week, debates on the DDR-adjacent channels, where it didn't cost credits to post, suddenly swelled, and he'd seen the light dawning in their eyes, such as they were, as they realized that the System's political landscape fundamentally differed from that phys-side, that it couldn't but differ, given the root functionality of the populous, of the reality that sims were the only way to live. It was a true anarchy. There was no ruling class because of what utility would there be for a ruling class when one could just split off and create one's own sim or set of sims, such that any attempt to rule from some central sim could simply be ignored as though it had never happened.
-
-True Name and Jonas, now openly named, had been integral in helping convince him originally, and their words had played an enormous role through him to convince others. "There are sims in which a strict monarchy rules," True Name had said. "There are places governed by a theocracy. The Catholic church remains, albeit in reduced form without a bishopric, relying solely on adherents phys-side uploading all papal pronouncements, a near exact copy of the Vatican, where the phys-side popes and cardinals are represented by scrolling fields of text. Yet what influence could they hold on any other sim? What possible sway could they hold over anyone who did not subscribe anyway?"
-
-And so he dutifully passed these on under the tutelage of Jonas and True Name and Demma, and they, too, influenced the voices on the DDR.
-
-But for the voices to swing so quickly bespoke influence beyond just him. It showed that he was not the only pawn, that many of these other strident voices that quickly changed their voices were under the control of the big players phys-side, and perhaps sys-side as well; after all, why wouldn't True Name and Jonas be talking to other DDR junkies like himself?
-
-He was too afraid of them, now, to ask.
-
-All he could do was sit by and watch, and pray that the secession amendment wasn't altered to include some equally slimy additions that would limit the total freedom granted by the secession.
-
-Even there, he was lucky. The clauses about declaring war had been strengthened, the clauses about asylum seekers hardened with wording surrounding the impossibility of extradition and the acknowledgement that any such seeker would no longer have a tangible effect phys-side. In fact, the only provision that had felt sour was one to cut off communication with the System from suspected terrorist cells, but it had done little to dampen the feeling of success from the overall amendment, the overall referendum.
-
-The only issue, in fact, was a personal one. All of these changes of the amendment had been made under his name. Others had convinced him to add them. Even when the sour change had been suggested, Demma had strongly suggested that it be included.
-
-The end result was that his name was inextricably linked with the amendment. He was the sole author, meaning that those who hated it --- indeed, those who hated the entire referendum --- began to hate him, too. They hated Yared Zerezghi specifically.
-
-And they hated with a passion.
-
-His name had become a curse in their circles. He wasn't just the man who had introduced the amendment, he was the man who poisoned any hope of control over the System, that very System that they had declared a danger or a source of labor or a host to terrorism. He, Yared Zerezghi, was personally responsible for all that was wrong with the System.
-
-When he mentioned how much he felt like a scapegoat to Demma and the pair sys-side, both had reassured him that that fervor would soon die down, and both had assured him that, as their names were also inextricably linked with the bill, they were feeling some of the same heat.
-
-He wasn't sure that he believed them, though. Politics phys-side at the governmental level did not have the same level of personal hatred. At best, Councilor Demma might have some sort of parasocial relationship with his supporters and detractors, but at that point, he was still just a figurehead, an abstract concept of a person, and that concept was a stand-in for a power so far beyond the quotidian masses that it hardly mattered. At best, True Name and Jonas were as intricately linked to the very same anarchy that ruled the rest of the System. Their role --- indeed the role of the entire Council of Eight --- was one of guiding the System in the form of its core functionality, interfacing with phys-side on behalf of those sys-side, rather than interfacing solely with those sys-side.
-
-And so Yared kept taking his walks, kept eating spicy food and getting drunk on tej, to shed what he could of that slippery, slimy feeling that still clung to him whenever he thought too hard about his position in all of this.
-
-He had become a hero and a villain for this, though, and there was no shaking that off.
-
-> **The Only Time I Know My True Name Is When I Dream:** What can we do to soothe your worries, Yared, except tell you that your vision is becoming reality?
+> **Douglas Hadje:** My doctorate is also in space flight. I did my thesis on booster stress in reusable launch vehicles.
 > 
-> **Yared Zerezghi:** I don't know, really. Probably nothing. There's nothing really to be done when no one else will put their name on the amendment. I feel like it might be an intentional move by Demma and others to ensure that there is someone they can put the blame on who has an actual human face.
+> **Douglas:** Now, how may I help you?
 > 
-> **Ar Jonas:** That may well be true, actually. If I were still working phys-side and needed to influence a referendum from the DDR, I'd probably do the same.
+> **May Then My Name:** That is just *fantastically* boring, my dear.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Is there anything I can do about it?
+> **Douglas:** Oh, it was boring as hell. I'll send it to you sometime.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Nope! You're stuck with it, my friend, and for that I'm sorry. The best you can hope is that everyone will forget about you, and the best you can do to ensure that is to become a loud voice on other issues, hopefully ones that a lot of people agree with, so that you simply become "the loud voice" instead of "the secession guy". This is turning into the largest issue the DDR has ever voted on, though, so it's going to take a lot of that hollering to drown your voice out.
+> **May Then My Name:** If you would like.
 > 
-> **True Name:** And even then, because your name is on it, that is likely what you will go down in the history books for.
+> **May Then My Name:** I will not read it.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Uuugh. I've been thinking about that, too. It makes the concept of dying terrifying. As long as I'm alive, I at least have some hope of trying to become a less divisive figure.
+> **May Then My Name:** Also, hi. Good evening. Have you had a good day?
 > 
-> **True Name:** You could upload. There is no death here, after all.
+> **Douglas:** That was also boring as hell. I keep going for walks or trying to read or whatever, but there's only so much here to keep myself interested when I based most of my life on my job.
 > 
-> **Yared:** I'm seriously considering it, after this. At least that way, they'll know that I really meant what I said, and then I'll become someone they don't have to worry about.
+> **May Then My Name:** That does not sound healthy.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** And you can help us keep fighting the good fight by whispering in everyone's ears.
+> **Douglas:** Can confirm: not healthy.
 > 
-> **Yared:** That's *precisely* why I want out, Jonas, and you know it. If feeling like some sneaky little political figure is what's making me feel bad, why on earth would I keep doing that?
+> **May Then My Name:** Well, fucking upload already.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Jonas is an asshole, do not listen to him.
+> **May Then My Name:** We can go out for drinks and build up your tolerance again, or you can go walk some place that has a horizon. Ioan took me on a hike a while back, we can take you there.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** I am, yeah, and I'll have you know that True Name just punched me in the shoulder, if that's any consolation.
+> **Douglas:** Before long. A few months, probably, so that I can finish things up here.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Do it again, and maybe I'll feel better.
+> **May Then My Name:** !!!
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Confirmed, she did it again.
+> **May Then My Name:** Good! Excellent! I will look forward to the day.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Ahhh, such relief!
+> **Douglas:** I'll keep you apprised, then. Where's Ioan today?
 > 
-> **True Name:** In all seriousness, Yared, do think more about uploading. We would welcome you here, and I am sure that, should anyone step down from the council (the Russians might when there is no need for their representation), you would be welcome to take their place. That would not be slimy politicking, just helping the System out.
+> **May Then My Name:** Ey is here, but in heads-down mode. It can get frustrating sometimes, because when ey gets in that mindset, ey will not be able to fork effectively. If ey tries, the fork will just spend all of eir time whining about not being at work.
 > 
-> **Yared:** You two are on the Council, how would that not mean slimy politicking?
+> **Douglas:** Like me, huh?
 > 
-> **True Name:** I will let the insinuation that I am in any way a politician slide this time, but you are on thin fucking ice, buddy.
+> **May Then My Name:** You said it, not me.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** True Name's an asshole, don't listen to her.
+> **May Then My Name:** Anyway, I messaged you to ask you about something that you have mentioned a few times so far. Do you have it in you to answer some questions?
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Third punch to the shoulder confirmed.
+> **Douglas:** Sure, why not. My first meeting is in the afternoon, tomorrow, and it's just a weekly safety briefing. Talk my ear off, I could use the distraction.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** But really, no need to worry. This is 1000% the slimiest politicking that the Council has ever done. Hell, most of the rest of the council doesn't know or care how True Name and I have been handling this. Most of the rest has been, like..."how do we keep forking from getting out of hand?" or "let's set systime to start when the reputation market begins" or "what if we could create telepathy". It's bullshit
+> **May Then My Name:** Yes, you certainly could.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Fun bullshit, but it's bullshit. You'd like it. It's more like volunteering to be a crossing guard than anything.
+> **May Then My Name:** You mentioned that there had been sabotage attempts. We were surprised when we heard that initially, but it had been in the middle of some other conversations that we did not want to derail, so we have been holding onto it until a time when there was not much else going on. Can you tell us about those?
 > 
-> **Yared:** I might, at that, yeah. I'll think about it.
+> **Douglas:** Oh, sure.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Please do, we would welcome you.
+> **Douglas:** There were two big ones and one small one. You heard the small one, which was that tech knocking me off the edge of the torus. The other techs out there with us tackled him and tied him up in his own tether to bring him back into the station. One of them suggested just ripping off his suit then and there, but that was a reaction out of anger, and it's hard to stay angry out in space when you're all terrified of dying anyway, so they did the right thing.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Lighter topic: what most excites you about the prospect of uploading? Beyond getting away from ignominy and beholding True Name's indescribably beautiful countenance, I mean.
+> **Douglas:** He was brought inside, taped to a chair (there used to be a security station with a cell for when the torus was a hotel, but it was repurposed at some point), and then confined to quarters until the next shuttle could come pick him up.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Isn't she a skunk-person?
+> **May Then My Name:** How did he even get in there to begin with?
 > 
-> **True Name:** An indescribably beautiful skunk-person, thank you very much.
+> **Douglas:** As far as I could tell, just lying really well, or perhaps it really was just a spur of the moment act as he argued in court. It was his second EVA, so there wasn't exactly much time to suss out if there was anything up with him.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Uh, I don't know. Honestly probably meeting you two in person is the biggest draw. You seem really fun to be around.
+> **Douglas:** It's weird, though. You have to have an MSf to even do EVAs here, and even just getting into that program, not to mention getting a job out here, requires a lot of psychological testing and the like. He must have been pretty good at lying.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Hopefully this isn't insensitive, but are you two a couple?
+> **May Then My Name:** You said that he was sent back to Earth and charged. What were the charges? How did that work?
 > 
-> **True Name:** God no.
+> **Douglas:** I don't know too much about it, honestly. I know he was charged with attempted murder and there was a whole flurry of articles about how the case was groundbreaking as the first attempted murder in the vacuum of space. He was convicted, then probably sentenced to jail.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Jonas may be pretty, but he drives me up the wall. I would murder him in his sleep two nights in.
+> **May Then My Name:** What does jail look like?
 > 
-> **Jonas:** If I didn't get to you, first. We're good friends, but not on that level.
+> **Douglas:** Depends on where you are and what you did. I think for something like attempted murder, he was just put in sim for a while, unable to back out.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Okay. Thanks for clearing that up. Was just wondering.
+> **May Then My Name:** Really? What a nightmare.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Wait, *can* you murder other people?
+> **Douglas:** It's not like he's just put in a sim of a jail cell to rot or anything. As far as I know, it's just a tightly regimented day, most of it in a solitary sim, the rest in a shared sim with other prisoners.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Yes. Some enterprising individual found a way to disrupt the concept of self so quickly and so thoroughly that one basically disintegrates and, just like an avatar crash on the 'net, all you are left with is a core dump, and no one has figured out how to deal with those in a place that is a consensual dream.
+> **May Then My Name:** Not able to back out, though. Even the thought of that makes me feel ill.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Seriously???
+> **Douglas:** Why? Aren't you kind of in that state right now?
 > 
-> **Yared:** What the fuck.
+> **May Then My Name:** When you upload, you will see how the comparison fails. But it is terrifying because I am old enough to remember the lost.
 > 
-> **Yared:** How often does that happen?
+> **Douglas:** That virus or whatever that was getting people stuck in the 'net? Didn't that hit Michelle?
 > 
-> **Yared:** Fucking terrifying.
+> **May Then My Name:** Yes. Remember when I talked about how 80% her days were bad days? That is why.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Oh, not often at all! Three times that we know of. It is pretty hard to actually make the virus, as it does require tailoring to the specific individual, though it is equally doubtless that same enterprising individual is working on a way to make it universal. If, that is, they have not already been murdered, themselves.
+> **Douglas:** Oh, shit. Yeah, I can see how that'd be terrifying, then.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** And before you ask, no, there's no way to prosecute them, even if we found them. They could just fork and keep on living somewhere else, changing themselves to look like someone else.
+> **May Then My Name:** On to brighter subjects, then. You mentioned bigger sabotage attempts.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Ugh.
+> **Douglas:** Much brighter.
 > 
-> **Yared:** I'll just have to trust you, I guess.
+> **Douglas:** Well, one of them was here station-side, and one was back planet-side. The one up here was when one of the mechanics (who don't need an MSf) had smuggled up some type of plastic explosive in their luggage. I think it was actually the fabric lining of the case, something where thin strands of explosive were coated in plastic and woven just like one normally would. It was powerful enough and its target small enough, that even just that suitcase lining would have been enough to do the trick.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Do you not?
+> **Douglas:** They tore out the lining, rolled it into a rope, and wrapped it around a portion of the launch strut extrusion factory. It was about six years back, and the arms were already about 2800km long, so if the explosion had wound up actually causing enough damage, the stress of the arm would have torn the station apart, and likely taken the System with it.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Slimy politician, remember?
+> **May Then My Name:** WHAT
 > 
-> **True Name:** There is a punch on the shoulder waiting for you as soon as you upload, my friend.
+> **May Then My Name:** That seems like an awfully important thing to not know as the sys-side launch director, Douglas.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Tiny little skunk fists. Don't worry, they don't hurt.
+> **Douglas:** It was all hushed up by security (brought back up after my little incident on EVA). I wasn't allowed to tell you after the NDA. Sorry, May Then My Name.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** OW
+> **May Then My Name:** Did they give you a reason for keeping it from us?
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Unless she punches you in the kidney.
+> **Douglas:** They said it had political undertones because of the articles of secession. "No other governmental entity shall declare war on or attempt to destroy the System."
 > 
-> **Yared:** Hahaha. I stand by my assessment that you two sound fun to hang out with.
+> **May Then My Name:** They worried it might be considered it an act of war?
 > 
-> **Yared:** Skunk, though. You can change how you look that drastically up there?
+> **Douglas:** I guess so. If it was an act of war, then the System could retaliate. I'm sure they told someone over there who needed to know
 > 
-> **True Name:** In theory. I know of few who have actually managed to do so, though that is rapidly changing with forking.
+> **May Then My Name:** Then why are you telling me now?
 > 
-> **True Name:** I am a special case due to some psychological/neurological damage from getting lost. Those up here who are furries and look it are those who so strongly identified with their furry selves on the 'net that they began to think of their human selves as as the avatars and their furry selves as the real versions.
+> **Douglas:** Well, our conversations are off the record, now. Besides, if I'm going to upload soon, it's also relevant to me in the same way it is to you.
 > 
-> **True Name:** The reason I got around it is that Michelle's neurological issues meant that she oscillated between her human self and furry self, and I just happened to be forked during a wave of her furry self. That also meant that I (and each of her forks) lack the effects of that damage.
+> **May Then My Name:** It is, at that. How were they caught?
 > 
-> **True Name:** Or most of it, at least. You have mentioned the speech patterns before.
+> **Douglas:** That's the weird thing. They turned themselves in. The cloth bomb had been in place for about a month, I guess, and they grew a conscience in that time, so they defused the bomb, brought security over, admitted to what they'd done, and let themselves be sent back planet-side.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Yikes, that sounds kind of horrifying.
+> **Douglas:** Which actually brings me to the other big sabotage attempt. Apparently, they were working with a collective who were really unhappy with the launch overall, so there was also a suicide bombing at a launch facility during a tour which was intended to take out the control room before it could be used for the next supply run.
 > 
-> **True Name:** It was. I still remember it. I remember how terrible I felt due to the constant oscillation that only settled down when I focused completely or utterly relaxed. Were I able to choose at will, I do not think that this would have been a problem, and you would likely have been talking to me as Michelle Hadje, not as True Name.
+> **Douglas:** Cloth bomber struck a deal with the government for a lighter sentence (probably like my attacker received) for acting as an informant and ratting out the organization before the rest of the planned bombings could take place.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Well, I'm happy for you, even if that makes me sad for Michelle.
+> **May Then My Name:** Less immediately threatening to us, but still, that is terrible. Do you know why this collective (is this like an interest group, or is there a deeper meaning?) felt so strongly against Launch?
 > 
-> **True Name:** She is spending her retirement relaxing, so there is little need to feel sorry.
+> **Douglas:** Yes, a collective is a group of people who have decided to lose as much of their unique identity as they can to live as singular facets of a shared identity.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Is there anything else you're looking forward to, Yared?
+> **May Then My Name:** Ioan will be fascinated to hear. Why is that?
 > 
-> **Yared:** I suppose just getting away from the DDR. I don't think I could manage to just drop it out here, as there's not really anything else I'm interested in enough to replace it.
+> **Douglas:** It actually started around a fictionalized account of forking. They sometimes called themselves clades, but the name never stuck in the wider world. It's kind of a weird love/hate relationship with the System that they have. They love it enough to try and emulate it in their social groups, but they also loathe the idea of uploading and a lot of other things that go along with the System.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Up there, though, I'd be forced to do something else, and that'd really keep me from getting so anxious about everything.
+> **Douglas:** de, on the launch commission, is a member of a much more liberal collective. Still will never upload, but really seems to take pride in their job.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Makes sense. What sorts of things do you think you'd go for?
+> **Douglas:** So I think it was some of that hatred that was at play. They hated the lack of control that is inherent in the System. They hated all that went into Secession, how it made the System a political entity. They hated Launch because, by phys-side collaborating with sys-side, it was a sign that we were equals. They felt that the System has been interfering with phys-side politics ever since Secession. They hated the System for lots of reasons.
 > 
-> **Yared:** I like food, I guess. I like walking. When I'm not really around here, I'm sleeping, eating, or walking. I've never had the chance to really go for a hike anywhere that isn't still in Ethiopia, but I imagine there's places like the Alps or Himalayas that are delightfully cool.
+> **May Then My Name:** Do a lot of people phys-side think that the System is interfering with politics?
 > 
-> **True Name:** There are, yes. Plenty.
+> **Douglas:** Not really, no. We learned in grad school that there was a kerfuffle around it when uploading was incentivized that essentially no one remembers except for boring people like me who had to study it. There have been a few gripes here and there as other large political changes happened, like when governments merged or recessions hit. When things like that happen, I think a lot of people instinctively look for a boogeyman to pin it on, and the System is pretty convenient because it's not like you all can fight back, so you all turn into shadowy figures behind the politicians.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** A lot of the earliest sims were based around nature. It's as if people immediately wanted to reach for places that they loved phys-side.
+> **May Then My Name:** Oh, that bit is definitely true.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Or to counteract the thought that they now live in a computer.
+> **Douglas:** Yeah, figured as much. You all up there steepling your fingers and talking in hushed tones about how you're going to do everything from crash the economy to hire Michelle Hadje's distant ancestor specifically to work on your nefarious plot.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** True Name, naturally, takes the pessimistic approach.
+> **May Then My Name:** Yep, got it in one.
 > 
-> **Yared:** To turn it around, what do you both like best up there?
+> **May Then My Name:** I am glad that none of these were successful on the scale that they had hoped. We do not know what happens to us if the System breaks. There have been a few instances of discontinuity over the centuries, but we don't see them except that systime jumps ahead. Were the System to explode in some fiery spectacle, we would just stop. Probably. Maybe.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Oh shit. You can't do this to me. I'm not ready!
+> **May Then My Name:** Theologians and mystics have been disappointed to find no answers in what comes after death when one quits, so we are as in the dark as you are.
 > 
-> **True Name:** He loves that he can still be a slimy politician without any of the actual hard work.
+> **Douglas:** Maybe a bit less, because at least one possibility of what comes after death for us is living sys-side.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** The problem is, you're not wrong. I loved what I did phys-side, and I have to admit that I still love it here.
+> **May Then My Name:** This is true! We are ghosts up here, haunting silicon and whatever else makes up the physical elements of the System these days.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** I also really like coffee. Coffee and food. I get to have all of those that I want without worrying.
+> **Douglas:** You may as well be ghosts, as far as people think planet-side. There have been various groups casting uploads in the light of ancestor worship in some places. I have no idea how those who are worshipped sys-side feel about being asked for courage or a healthy crop or whatever.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Oh! And alcohol. No liver disease, and also you can choose when to sober up.
+> **May Then My Name:** I would be honored, personally. I have no one to haunt after two centuries but you. I am afraid that you are stuck with me.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Oh damn, that's awesome. I like wine well enough, but being drunk is mostly escapism. If I could find that fun balance with friends, that'd be nice.
+> **May Then My Name:** All I can do is bother you on a terminal, though, so I suppose that I am not that bad of a ghost.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** You can't phys-side?
+> **Douglas:** You're a pretty good ghost, I'd say. I'm looking forward to meeting you in person some day.
 > 
-> **Yared:** If I had any local friends, maybe.
+> **May Then My Name:** I will beg you once more: please come join us soon. I know you said you would, but if you do not live up to that promise, so help me God, I will move into your implants and never let you sleep again.
 > 
-> **True Name:** Ouch. Well, you have friends up here, and we would gladly take you to bars good and bad.
+> **Douglas:** Don't worry! I promise. You'll see me within the year. I've already put in word with both the launch commission and the clinic here, and they're fine having me stick around station-side until I can upload, so it's already (loosely) scheduled.
 > 
-> **True Name:** As for me, I love all of the variety in sims and people. When I am not working or sleeping, I will walk the public sims, jumping from one to another when I have had my fill of them.
+> **May Then My Name:** !!!
 > 
-> **Yared:** That sounds nice. I've only traveled a few times. In Ethiopia, there's different climates and such, but only so much.
+> **May Then My Name:** I am eager to meet you, Douglas Hadje, Master of Spaceflight and Doctor of Other Boring Shit!
 > 
-> **True Name:** I will take you walking with me, then.
+> **Douglas:** Goes both ways, May Then My Name Die With Me of the Ode clade.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** And I'll be a slimy politician with you!
+> **May Then My Name:** Excellent, excellent.
 > 
-> **Yared:** Ugh, you're the worst.
+> **May Then My Name:** Now, I should head off. Ioan is coming up for air from eir writing, so I am going to go chase em around the house, frothing like I am rabid. 
 > 
-> **Yared:** Anyway, thanks for letting me vent and lifting my spirits.
+> **Douglas:** Oh! Time for a quick question?
 > 
-> **Yared:** I needed it.
+> **May Then My Name:** If you hurry, yes. I am already frothing at the mouth.
 > 
-> **Jonas:** Of course, Yared.
+> **Douglas:** Are you and Ioan in a relationship? I'm sorry if it's impertinent, feel free not to answer.
 > 
-> **True Name:** And please remember, uploading is always an option. We would welcome you with open arms.
+> **May Then My Name:** It is not impertinent, but there is no easy answer. If ey asks if I would like that, I will say yes. If ey does not, I will still be content to be eir friend.
 >
-> **True Name:** I know that you will come join us, anyway, sooner or later.
+> **May Then My Name:** And if ey does not know one way or another, as I suspect, I will ensure that ey makes the decision on eir own terms.
+> 
+> **Douglas:** You won't ask em yourself?
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** No. It is quite important that ey ask me, and not the other way around.
+> 
+> **Douglas:** Why, though?
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Two reasons. One: the one with the greater restrictions in a relationship wins out, and I will say yes to almost anything and anyone. Ey would not. It is thus on em to make the choice. Two: if ey really does not know, I will gain an absolutely enormous amount of satisfaction out of teasing em afterwards.
+> 
+> **Douglas:** Of course you would.
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** I am pleased that you have come to understand me so well.
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Now, I am getting froth everywhere, so I will have to run.
+> 
+> **Douglas:** Alright! Have fun, say hi for me, don't stay up too late.
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Lame.
+> 
+> **May Then My Name:** Bye!
+
+Douglas leaned back from his terminal and stretched his arms up toward the ceiling, leaning back in his chair.
+
+Every time he talked with Ioan and May, he was once again faced with the realization that he had hardly needed Ioan to convince him at all. The two were the first people he could call friends that he'd had since school. He liked them immensely. Beyond that, though, something about May Then My Name seemed as though she was simply built to be liked, as though, whenever he talked with her, he had no choice but to like her.
+
+It wasn't quite charisma, as, whenever he tried the word on for May Then My Name, it carried far too many implications of manipulation, and the last thing he could picture her doing was being manipulative.
+
+She was weird, yes. Goofy, even. But there was nothing about her that was calculating or cold. Perhaps that's what she'd meant about it needing to be Ioan's choice. Perhaps she knew just how easy it would be for her to manipulate em into a relationship.
+
+*One more walk around the station,* he thought. *Then I'll get to bed. January can't come soon enough.*