reefnet | text | night

[ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.

[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.]

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.

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

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

[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.

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.

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

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.

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

[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.

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.

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.

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.

['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.

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.

[... Is this a trick question?]

Yes?
Exploration carries risks, sure.
And if they were exploring the interior of the island, that's one thing.
But the issue is we've received intelligence that there is a severe threat in the outer ocean.
I just don't think it's unreasonable to ask that people pause in a plan to sail out and instead ask them to focus on all the other avenues of exploration we have where we don't have that information.

[Randvi trusts Sol more than she used to, but that's just moving the needle up a bit from “not at all”. Not the point, though]

Toward the forest where nearly everyone who has entered has been attacked, stalked, injured or killed. K and I were so worried about you with those animals but we can't avoid the rest of the island forever.

What if we remain trapped here because of this description of a trench and it doesn't exist?

There's a difference between a potential risk that we can mitigate.
And a sea monster that we've been told is going to kill people as soon as they cross into the trench.
I get where you're coming from.
I get where they're coming from.
I just think that we have a lot of potential avenues to exhaust before we do something that we've been told will definitely be fatal.
I'm not saying 'let's never do this ever and stay here trapped.'
I'm saying it's more sensible and more honorable to explore those other avenues first.
Rather than jumping to the extreme because we're being impatient.

I’ve spoken with them about this and I don't believe that it's impatience driving them.

Well. Perhaps Squalo a bit, but no more than in any other subject.

:)

This would not be my first plan either, but I will endeavour to make all of this as safe as it can be under the circumstances. I know you don't like it but I hope that you can at least accept it.

It's not like I can do anything to stop them.

Perhaps not, but you've voiced your objections. It's up to them to decide what to do with that.

Yeah.
Just hope they make a sensible decision.

text | night | 023

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cw: mention of death by falling

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