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# Ioan Bălan --- 2325
Before eir scheduled interview, Ioan took a walk around that abandoned lake, this time by emself. Ey needed a moment to think, and that moment, though through no fault of hers, needed to be away from May.
Ey needed to do what ey was best at. Thinking, ruminating, disentangling the knotted strands of what eir thoughts were so that ey might begin to comprehend the truth about them.
These knots were angry ones.
Or, perhaps not angry. They were frustrating ones. They were knots that ey knew the technical reasons for existing, but was starting to nonetheless resent. They were knots that bound and limited the process with which ey learned, as frustrating as the recondite letters that Qoheleth had sent so often, so long ago. Little hints and clues and never exactly the complete answer all at once. Never an explanation that allowed for further questions. Always too little, as though ey (and, at the time, Dear) was being strung along, lured into some unknown trap.
The same thing was happening now. Ey understood the technical reasons for no one, single Odist answering all of the questions ey had, ey and eir clade. There were too many emotions, too much secrecy, or too much shame bound up in the answers for them to sit down and tell a story from start to finish. None of them would admit to any more than one single thing throughout each interview, instead relying on the agreed upon admonition to stop when requested or warning that, after a certain point, the Odist would lie to or resent the Bălan.
Ey was half tempted to push one of them past that point, but then ey wouldn't know what bit was true or not.
And these Jonases! Ey was going to see one today, after eir walk. They seemed so slippery. It was not just that they controlled the interview, though ey did not doubt that --- the transcript from Codrin#Castor contained a new twist every time ey reread it. It was that they knew so thoroughly that they were doing so that they did it all with a wink and a smile. That little hint that ey was to know that all they'd done was so clearly calculated yet held so much plausible deniability that there really was no arguing with it.
Ey was not looking forward to eir interview with Jonas Prime today.
So, instead, ey stomped along the path and thought and talked to emself, walking all the way to the rock halfway around the lake from the default entry point to the sim, throwing a few handfuls of stones into the placid water one by one, and then stomping all the way back to that same point.
Once ey'd had eir sulk, ey headed to the meeting with Jonas.
Unexpectedly, this turned out to be at the same library at which ey had interviewed Sadiah. Not only that, but Jonas Prime was standing in exactly the same spot that she had been standing in, greeted em with much the same bow that the other historian had, and led em to the exact same booth in the cafe-*cum*-bar beneath the stacks. It was uncanny to such a degree as to immediately put em on the defensive, guarding against some threat, real or imagined.
Once again, the drinks were ordered --- cocktails, this time --- and the cone of silence fell. Jonas rested his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his folded hands. It was an incredibly charming look. "Mx. Bălan, so nice to meet you at last."
"Have you heard that much about me, then?" Ey did eir best to keep eir smile as earnest as possible.
"Oh, of course! You and your clade have been traipsing all over the place, interviewing some of my favorite people, and every one of them says that the Bălans are an utter delight to talk with."
Ey kept the smile in place. "I'm happy to hear that. I know that questions can get a bit tiring, so I try to make it a pleasant process, at least. If at any point you need to take a break or stop, just let me know."
Jonas waved away the comment as though there existed no reality where so nice a scholar could ever tire him out. "I'm excited to see what it is you have for me. Ask away!"
Ioan nodded and pulled out eir pen and papers. Ey spent a moment poking through the stable of questions that ey'd been asking anyone, frowned, and then flipped to a blank page. "I had a set that I was thinking of asking you, but I think I'm actually going to go off script here. My first question surrounds something that Codrin#Pollux heard by an Odist. I know you aren't one, but I'm hoping that you can shed some light on it."
"I'll do my best, of course. I'd tell you to ask one of them, but I doubt you'd get a straight answer, which I suspect you already know."
"And you'll give me straight answers?"
Jonas grinned. "Best I can, sure."
"Alright, then. After Why Ask Questions told Codrin that True Name was to instigate and manage the launch project, ey asked what she meant by that. She responded that the last thing that Michelle had done before she died was to give each of the stanzas a mission, and that True Name's mission was to, and I'm quoting here, "Do something big, help us divest". Given your proximity to True Name, can you clarify what she meant? What does it mean to divest?"
He laughed heartily and lifted his tall glass, saying, "To boldness! And here I was expecting you to ask if I'd invested in the launch or whatever. That is an incredible first question."
Ioan hesitated, then lifted eir own glass to return the toast. "To boldness. You have it, I need it."
"I have too much, my friend, and you need more, that's all." Jonas winked, then continued, "So, divest. The reason that's an interesting question is that's the word that immediately sold me when True Name came to me with that suggestion. It was the lynchpin on which the project was hung, and we built outward from there."
Ey scribbled quickly in eir shorthand, doing eir best to take down verbatim what Jonas was saying. Ey'd be able to remember, for sure, but through writing, ey might better process and use what time ey had with the founder while ey had the chance.
"It could've meant so many things," he was saying. "It could've meant just "clone the System and leave a copy at the Earth-Sun L<sub>5</sub> point". It could've meant "break the physical elements of the System up into much smaller ones and scatter them around so that damage to one did not beggar the others". Both of those are still on the table, by the way.
"We took it in another way, however, given news that we've been reaching from Earth. In particular, we were noticing a tendency to move from the excesses of capitalism back to the day-to-day hardships of feudalism and even, in some cases, subsistence farming. The problem, I'm sure you can imagine, is that when you're stuck being a peasant or scraping by to earn the most meager living, you aren't all that keen on space. It's only by dint of a few dreamers and the impossibility of retrieving it that the System remains up here in the first place."
Ioan nodded. "One of our interviewees phys-side said much the same thing."
"A dreamer, then," Jonas said, grinning. "But yes, life down there is horrible and no one --- or essentially no one --- wants to do a single damn thing about it. They're all so caught up in their little political games that they have no interest on doing anything to make their lives better, to live stronger."
"You don't sound very fond of them."
"Of course I am! I love every one of them for the delightfully stupid contradictions that they are, in the same way that one can both love and be disgusted by humanity as a whole. I'm just a pessimist, Ioan. You mustn't confuse pessimism with disdain. I can read the signs as well as any other, and I don't see them willing to do anything at all to do what life demands."
Ioan lifted eir pen from the page and looked up at Jonas. "What life demands?"
"Life all but demands more life. That's why those stupid contradictions back planet-side won't stop having children. Oh, we played them for that, of course. You learned that from End Waking, yes? We played on their desire to keep on fucking because...what was it, Life Breeds Life? It does. There's no way around it."
"It seems to me like you've stated a contradiction," ey said. "You said that they aren't willing to do what life demands, then said that they keep procreating as life demands. Is that what you meant?"
"Let me clarify. There's more to what life demands than just breeding. There is a level of intentionality required. In order for breeding to be effective, it has to have the right level of pressure put upon it. When breeding goes unchecked, you end up with an uncontrollable morass of life-stuff, and when that happens, you're more likely to run into systems running out of control, whether those are political systems, social systems, or even technological systems. Do you know why the race towards developing a true artificial intelligence stopped around the time of Secession?"
Ioan shook eir head.
Jonas's smile returned. "Because we didn't want it to. That's not the right pressure on life that we want. It offers too much risk to existing life, whether biological or uploaded. So, we pulled our strings, as you know we do, and ensured that interest in such projects dropped in favor of others. Better expert systems. Better integrations tech. Better entertainment."
"Wait, how is AI a threat to the System?"
"Of what use is the System to an artificial intelligence? It can't join us. It can't control us directly. There's only one way for it to put pressure on us to do any one thing, and that's to influence life phys-side, just as we've done, to convince them not to upload. The best we can ever hope from an AI is it ignoring us and letting us continue. The best we can expect should it not ignore us is a stalemate. A cold war."
Ey frowned as ey noted that on eir rapidly filling page. "Is there no way for an AI's goals to align with the System's?"
"Perhaps there is, but remember," he said, poking his thumb back towards his chest. "Pessimist. It fails the cost-benefit analysis. Not worth the risk."
"So, instead you decided to ensure that phys-side and the System continued their symbiotic relationship?"
"The part of me which has moved beyond pessimism and into disillusionment wants to sigh and say, "symbiotic is too kind a way to put it," but even I don't think that's true. We need them in order to continue growing, and they need us as something to dream about."
"Alright," Ioan said, dropping the line of questioning before it got too far from the few others ey still wanted to ask. "So it was decided that the launch was a good way to ensure that the System divested because it moved beyond what it was."
"Yep!" Jonas took a sip of his drink and grinned. "We decided on off-site backups as a form of risk management. They're not totally safe, of course, and they are, in their own ways, doomed. They'll eventually get caught in too eccentric an orbit around a star and burn up when they get too close, but until then, the lives that are lived within continue, secure. More than that, it gives them time to figure out if there's a way to ensure that sys-side life does as life will and expand in a way that isn't just forking. A pipe dream, perhaps, but a nice one."
"So you and True Name steered the launch project into existence to help that along." When Jonas nodded, ey continued, "Just as you did with Secession, yes?"
"Yeah. We used our elements phys-side to ensure that Secession happened. One of them came up with the idea, but we spun it to be as much in our advantage as theirs. We used Yared, as I believe you know, but we also used many, many others out there. It led us to a much more stable place in the world."
"Speaking of, one your clade told one of mine that there are complex thoughts on stability and stasis. I just want to confirm that I'm understanding correctly. Launch fits into your concept of stasis by ensuring continuity."
"Sure, but also, a little bit of excitement is required to ensure that our lives stay boring. Even if our lives become interesting, or Castor's lives become interesting, or Pollux's, then there is a better than good chance that at least one of the others' will remain boring, just how we want it. No Jonas, was it? He probably called it 'gardening', which I like. We're tending topiary, here, and there are many of us over on each of the launches, doing the same."
Ioan nodded and paused to drink down a third of eir cocktail. Ey was thirsty, of course, but some part of em seemed to be craving the numbing aspects of alcohol. Ey continued, "Alright, I think I have two more questions. The first is that End Waking said that there were goals to influence the economies phys-side and explained that there were short term, medium term, and long term goals. He was kind enough to fill me in on the first two, but not the third. Can you tell me what the long term goals of meddling with the economy phys-side were? He said something about critical mass."
"Oh, that's an easy one," Jonas said. "It's basically the same as what I said about life. If life is to have the right level of constraining pressures on it, one of the easiest ways to do so is through the economy. The long-term goal of his 'meddling', as you put it, was to ensure the continuity of capitalism. It gives something for people to dream about, which are alternatives. It gives something for people to work against. Since they know that we rely on reputation up here, they have plenty dream about. The critical mass is the amount of money and participants required to turn this into a self-sustaining system."
"Simple enough, I guess, even if a little frightening in its implications."
"What implications are those, Ioan?"
Ey frowned. "What it sounds like your goals are is to keep life on Earth from getting too nice. Or nice at all, really. It sounds like you're keeping the pressures high so that the System continues. More than continues, even. You wanted to keep it desirable as the greener grass on the other side of the fence."
"And how is that frightening?" Jonas laughed. "The grass *is* greener. We give them something to reach for. What more could anyone want out of life than a goal?"
Ioan kept from speaking up about what ey'd heard from those ey had interviewed who had uploaded for the money. Instead, ey asked. "Alright, last question for now. Two-parter. One of my clade interviewed someone who mentioned that there was some dissension with your clade about whether to go ahead with Launch. Is that true?"
Jonas shook his head, swallowing the last sip of his drink before saying, "There might have appeared to be, but I guarantee you that that was manufactured. Having some highly visible folks argue about whether or not it was a good idea gets everyone interested."
"And the Dreamer Modules?"
For the first time in the interview, for the first time since ey'd met Jonas --- the first time any Bălan had met any Jonas, if Codrin#Castor was correct --- he frowned. "You've been asking plenty of interesting questions, Ioan, but this is the first you've asked that is actively uncomfortable."
Ioan waited.
The grin returned, playful this time. "Alright, have it your way! You historians, I'll never get it. Do you know what's on the Modules?"
Ey thought back. "Research stuff. Telescopes, measurement devices, that sort of thing. Codrin said that ey got to lay in a field and look up at the stars as they really were outside the LV --- or at least as close as the sim would let them be."
"And?"
"Isn't there some broadcast continually playing? Something about prime numbers. Something to get aliens to get curious about Earth."
Jonas's grin turned icy. "No, not Earth, Ioan. The System."
"The L<sub>5</sub> System? Or those on the LVs?"
"Space is unfathomably big, Mx Bălan. Stupendously big. There is absolutely no way that aliens, as you put it, would care about Earth or the solar system. There's no reason to come here. There's no reason for them to even bother with something so pitiful as us." The grin was edging into a smirk, now, and Ioan couldn't tell quite what it meant. Jonas continued, "No, the LV Systems. There is the broadcast to get extraterrestrial intelligences interested in the LVs, yes, but that's not all. There's a very precise set of instructions for how the System works, how the Ansible works, and an Ansible receiver. The same one used for uploading to the LVs."
Ioan blinked and sat up straighter. "I don't remember hearing anything about that."
"We clamped down on the knowledge as best we could as soon as we realized we wouldn't be able to rule it out." Jonas waved his hand. "Not important, though, because the last part of that package is a complete description of a human neural system and a basic description of our physiology. A complete map of our DNA, should they even want to build an entire human."
"Whose DNA?"
"Why, our very own Douglas Hadje! Who else? Blame True Name for that one." He laughed bitterly. "But that's all that they could ever want to build a Douglas Hadje in simulation and send it through the Ansible to the attached System. It'd wind up in a dead zone, a locked-down sim, we made sure of that, but it'd be able to communicate, and enough people on that System know enough about the System that it might figure out how to break free of that restriction."
"That sounds rather exciting though," Ioan said. "Why were you so against it?"
"How much have we talked about risk tonight, Ioan?"
"You're saying that it presents too great a risk to the continuity of the LV System?"
"Ioan, you are very smart, but I need you to keep up if you're going to come away with interesting answers. Think through the list of instructions that I mentioned."
Ey tilted eir head, then frowned. "There's an Ansible on there, you said, right? They could theoretically upload that same manufactured construct to this System, right?"
Jonas nodded. "There we go. There's nothing to stop them from doing so, after all. It's easy enough for them to figure out that these are probes, and that probes must be coming from somewhere. There's no reason, then, for them not to find that somewhere and blast out constructs in our direction. We're taking steps now to match those new Hadjes to dump them in a similar locked-down sim. We'll ask our questions, then terminate them."
"What about *the* Douglas Hadje?"
"Oh, he'll be allowed. This is the least risky place for him to be, after all. He knows far too much to remain phys-side. But he'll be the last Douglas Hadje permitted."
Ioan sighed, finished eir drink in a few big gulps, and sat for a moment, staring down at the rest of the blank page left for taking notes. Ey couldn't do it. It was too much. Much too much. "Jonas," ey said, reaching a hand across the table. "Thank you so much for letting me interview you. You've given me rather a lot to think about, so I may come back with more questions down the line. Is there any you want to keep me from publishing?"
He returned the handshake and shrugged. "Nope, you're good to go with all of it. We've done the cost-benefit analysis, and this passes muster."
They both stood and walked toward the exit.
"Mx. Bălan, it's been an absolute pleasure."
Ioan smiled and very carefully did not say, *For you, perhaps. For me, it has been absolutely terrifying.*
# Yared Zerezghi --- 2124
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.
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.
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.
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?
>
> **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.
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Is there anything I can do about it?
>
> **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.
>
> **True Name:** And even then, because your name is on it, that is likely what you will go down in the history books for.
>
> **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.
>
> **True Name:** You could upload. There is no death here, after all.
>
> **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.
>
> **Jonas:** And you can help us keep fighting the good fight by whispering in everyone's ears.
>
> **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?
>
> **True Name:** Jonas is an asshole, do not listen to him.
>
> **Jonas:** I am, yeah, and I'll have you know that True Name just punched me in the shoulder, if that's any consolation.
>
> **Yared:** Do it again, and maybe I'll feel better.
>
> **Jonas:** Confirmed, she did it again.
>
> **Yared:** Ahhh, such relief!
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** You two are on the Council, how would that not mean slimy politicking?
>
> **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.
>
> **Jonas:** True Name's an asshole, don't listen to her.
>
> **Jonas:** Third punch to the shoulder confirmed.
>
> **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
>
> **Jonas:** Fun bullshit, but it's bullshit. You'd like it. It's more like volunteering to be a crossing guard than anything.
>
> **Yared:** I might, at that, yeah. I'll think about it.
>
> **True Name:** Please do, we would welcome you.
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Isn't she a skunk-person?
>
> **True Name:** An indescribably beautiful skunk-person, thank you very much.
>
> **Yared:** Uh, I don't know. Honestly probably meeting you two in person is the biggest draw. You seem really fun to be around.
>
> **Yared:** Hopefully this isn't insensitive, but are you two a couple?
>
> **True Name:** God no.
>
> **True Name:** Jonas may be pretty, but he drives me up the wall. I would murder him in his sleep two nights in.
>
> **Jonas:** If I didn't get to you, first. We're good friends, but not on that level.
>
> **Yared:** Okay. Thanks for clearing that up. Was just wondering.
>
> **Yared:** Wait, *can* you murder other people?
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Seriously???
>
> **Yared:** What the fuck.
>
> **Yared:** How often does that happen?
>
> **Yared:** Fucking terrifying.
>
> **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.
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Ugh.
>
> **Yared:** I'll just have to trust you, I guess.
>
> **True Name:** Do you not?
>
> **Yared:** Slimy politician, remember?
>
> **True Name:** There is a punch on the shoulder waiting for you as soon as you upload, my friend.
>
> **Jonas:** Tiny little skunk fists. Don't worry, they don't hurt.
>
> **Jonas:** OW
>
> **Jonas:** Unless she punches you in the kidney.
>
> **Yared:** Hahaha. I stand by my assessment that you two sound fun to hang out with.
>
> **Yared:** Skunk, though. You can change how you look that drastically up there?
>
> **True Name:** In theory. I know of few who have actually managed to do so, though that is rapidly changing with forking.
>
> **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.
>
> **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.
>
> **True Name:** Or most of it, at least. You have mentioned the speech patterns before.
>
> **Yared:** Yikes, that sounds kind of horrifying.
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Well, I'm happy for you, even if that makes me sad for Michelle.
>
> **True Name:** She is spending her retirement relaxing, so there is little need to feel sorry.
>
> **Jonas:** Is there anything else you're looking forward to, Yared?
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** Up there, though, I'd be forced to do something else, and that'd really keep me from getting so anxious about everything.
>
> **Jonas:** Makes sense. What sorts of things do you think you'd go for?
>
> **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.
>
> **True Name:** There are, yes. Plenty.
>
> **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.
>
> **True Name:** Or to counteract the thought that they now live in a computer.
>
> **Jonas:** True Name, naturally, takes the pessimistic approach.
>
> **Yared:** To turn it around, what do you both like best up there?
>
> **Jonas:** Oh shit. You can't do this to me. I'm not ready!
>
> **True Name:** He loves that he can still be a slimy politician without any of the actual hard work.
>
> **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.
>
> **Jonas:** I also really like coffee. Coffee and food. I get to have all of those that I want without worrying.
>
> **Jonas:** Oh! And alcohol. No liver disease, and also you can choose when to sober up.
>
> **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.
>
> **Jonas:** You can't phys-side?
>
> **Yared:** If I had any local friends, maybe.
>
> **True Name:** Ouch. Well, you have friends up here, and we would gladly take you to bars good and bad.
>
> **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.
>
> **Yared:** That sounds nice. I've only traveled a few times. In Ethiopia, there's different climates and such, but only so much.
>
> **True Name:** I will take you walking with me, then.
>
> **Jonas:** And I'll be a slimy politician with you!
>
> **Yared:** Ugh, you're the worst.
>
> **Yared:** Anyway, thanks for letting me vent and lifting my spirits.
>
> **Yared:** I needed it.
>
> **Jonas:** Of course, Yared.
>
> **True Name:** And please remember, uploading is always an option. We would welcome you with open arms.
>
> **True Name:** I know that you will come join us, anyway, sooner or later.