text | night | 023

[lonelynotforsaken]

[ LO431Y | TEXT | 023 ]

[The message goes out late enough that most people might have already fallen asleep for the night. It will be there in the morning, though. Martin is in pain, he's having trouble sleeping because of it, and people should definitely know about the boar. Even if it was just trying to defend itself in fear... Martin's not feeling his most sympathetic toward it right now.]

Hi, everyone!
I wanted to mention a conversation I had with Sol recently and also issue a general sort of warning.

Warning:
The boars around here are skittish and will potentially charge you.
If you have any food out, please make sure it's hidden as well as it can be.
The one I encountered was trying to eat our fish at the airstrip.
We can bring it into a hangar.
If you can get your food up into a tree if you're out in the wilds, that's probably best.
Boars naturally root around in the ground for things.
Or, if you've got a hard container, you can maybe put your food in there.
That's what I'll be doing for the waystations to try to dissuade anything from eating what they shouldn't.

Sol:
For anyone who doesn't know, Sol is one of the people on a nearby island.
They're probably one of the Glencolans that the PacAirs told us about.
They have strongly advised against trying to get across the ocean to their island.
There's something they call 'the trench,' which is where some sort of giant creature lives.
I think it's probably the whale god that the PacAirs believe in.
I know there are plans to maybe try rafting out, but I don't think that's a good idea.
I think a better plan is trying to get one of the drones we have reprogrammed and operational.
Then find anything like a camera and fix it to that so we can try to get photos or video.
Even someone's mobile if it still has a charge might work.
Jet also found a whole big hotel to explore.
There are a couple of places we could look for more and better supplies.
Just so we can be safe instead of risking people's lives.

Comments

VL121R | text

[meadqueen]

[Randvi’s on watch at her camp with Jet and Jade so she sees this right away]

A boar so close to the village? I'd been searching for game trails nearby with little luck before the storm.

Was anyone harmed?

We should consider having spears available near where food is processed. I wish I had been carrying my bow when I was taken.

Those young men wish to die at sea ardently enough that I doubt we can dissuade them. Do you think they’d be inviting retribution on the rest of us?

I admit, I'm afraid of the drone. Would someone else be able to wrest power over their orders away from us as we have done?

[lonelynotforsaken]

I got a little banged up.
But I'll survive.
Don't worry about that.

I think part of what the Pacairs seem to have said indicates there might be retribution.
We could send an envoy to their village to ask, though?
The way Sol was talking, anything that tries to go over the trench will get killed.
Even flying things.
But I still think it's safer to test with something like the drone, rather than people on a raft.

It's definitely possible that someone else could take over control of the drone, but if it's just one and it's on limited battery power, there's really only so much damage it could do.
Especially if we take out any potential weapons functions before turning it on.
Which I think would be sensible.

[meadqueen]

I have spoken with Senku and Squalo, and they are unconcerned about their own deaths. If that is the threatened consequence I don't think they'll mind.

It would be smart to open dialogue with the other people here who are not hostile either way. They may be open to trade for some of the goods Senku creates.

I know that Senku is careful with the drone but after everything it's difficult not to be nervous around it.

[lonelynotforsaken]

I think they should be a lot more concerned.
Especially after what we talked about with callsigns vanishing from the network and not coming back to it.
And if you're going to get yourself killed, it should be for a good reason.
Just to see if you'll come back to life isn't a good one.
Especially if they're doing this on a raft.
That we then lose as a resource.

I'm not sure I really understand Morse code well enough to talk to anyone in it.
Or just... be a diplomat at all.
But I'm sure there's someone who'd be good for it.

And that's fair.
Out of the risks, I just think that's the better one to take than the raft.

[meadqueen]

You would have to speak to them about that. As long as they die well, my only concern is that we don't fully understand the mechanism of return, which this could help us do.

I built the raft for this purpose. If necessary, I can build another.

I don't understand it at all. Senku taught me to say enough to hopefully avoid my death should I run into them alone, but for me it's two new languages. K might be a good fit for diplomacy.

[lonelynotforsaken]

Maybe my idea of 'dying well' is different.
But going off and doing something you've been told is going to get you killed when there are other options on the table to get the information you want...
Doesn't seem like it's dying well.

[meadqueen]

It isn't something that I would do myself. I don't want to lose my heart.

Perhaps you can speak to the others when the rescue party returns.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[...]

Lose your heart?
Like literally?

[meadqueen]

Yes, like the animal.

It may have been reconstructed improperly. I don't want that to happen to me.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[Right, well that's a horrific thought that hadn't even entered into his mind. Thank you for that, Randvi.]

Oh, god...
Do you think that happens to all the animals we hunt and eat?
They come back again, but wrong?

[meadqueen]

[This is a strange talent that she possesses apparently, but also she has been worrying about this for the better part of a month so welcome to the club]

I have not noticed any abnormalities in fish yet, and I have only managed to catch the one small beast in my snares so I can't be certain.

I think it's possible.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[To be killed and eaten again and again... this really is a Hunt domain.]

That's horrifying.
Oh, my god.
These poor animals!

[It's almost enough to drive a man to being a vegetarian.]

[meadqueen]

Yes, as with Sæhrímni, or Thor’s goats. Whoever is doing this must fancy themselves a god but they cannot do it properly.

If the same is happening to us I do not think they suffer.

[lonelynotforsaken]

Or do you think it's, like... clones?

[Just add a mix of Stranger into this horrible Hunt paradise.]

[meadqueen]

[Steph had once described people creating their own animals so at least she sort of knows what that is]

Is that not better? That way they don't remember their own deaths.

[lonelynotforsaken]

I mean, they might still remember it about to happen?
But for animals, I guess it's sort of... something they wouldn't get existential about like humans would.
Or any other species that's sentient.

[meadqueen]

Perhaps not. Our people seem to remember the moment of their death well enough.

cw: mention of death by falling

[lonelynotforsaken]

Yeah. I don't envy them that.

[It is, in fact, awful. He can still hear the crunch of his own bones in his ears, the excruciating pain of impact and fractures, the tearing of muscle and skin as everything had tried to fly apart, to scatter. Consciousness ceasing for only a moment before everything just slowly, excruciatingly, knitted itself together.

The memories send a shiver through Martin, and he digs his nails into his arm for a moment and holds his breath as he pushes it all back down again. He's normal. He is just... a normal person here.]

Fingers crossed everyone decides it's best not to take any risks we don't need to.

[meadqueen]

If we do have to learn about it, I’d rather see people do that voluntarily.

[lonelynotforsaken]

[Martin sighs in mild frustration.]

Let's just not learn about how the dying mechanic works her?
I'd be okay with that.
I know some people disagree, but that's what I'm going to advocate for unless something comes up that wildly changes my mindset.

[meadqueen]

Obviously it is ideal to not die ever, but this strategy is not applicable in the real world, either. I would prefer to know what it is I'm risking if I take on something dangerous.

[lonelynotforsaken]

Your life.
I think that's just what the calculus needs to be.
You're risking your life.
And coming back wrong or not at all.

[meadqueen]

At home I know, in a fight, what the stakes are. What it means to die honourably and what happens if I do or don't. That's how I can make quick decisions in tense situations.

Here we don't know. Do different kinds of deaths merit different consequences? Are subsequent deaths compounded? We don't know so we can't accurately assess the risks we’re taking. I wouldn't kill anyone to learn, but if they wish to sacrifice to teach us I think that is honour.

[lonelynotforsaken]

['That's... stupid,' he doesn't type.]

I just really don't think that's something we need to test.
If we assume the worst will happen, then everyone will avoid dying as best they can.
I think that should be the main goal in a survival situation.
And like I said... I really don't want people to get the idea that just because they could potentially revive, that means they shouldn't take their life seriously.
I'm afraid that's what's going to happen if people start experimenting.
Everyone here is important.
Their lives aren't worth risking for those kinds of answers.

[meadqueen]

Do you really think that when you were trapped and none of us knew where you were, the most useful thing we could have done is imagine that death is the worst possible thing that can happen?

All exploration here carries risk.