In the dead of night [video]

[hot_mes]

[it is pretty much the dead of night, since Law is doing his best not to sleep if he doesn't have to. It'll catch up to him eventually, but he's fighting it as best he can. Wearing this shirt no less, but it's less for irony and more for a need to do laundry. He's not here to talk about weird dreams, though, since without outside input he hasn't yet figured out that it's more than just...nightmares. Plain old nightmares that now feature people in Hadriel since he's been here long enough for them to enter his subconscious.

No, not dreams, although his query is related.]

Has anyone ever proposed an idea to find our benefactors an alternate food source?

It wouldn't help them with their Null problem but I have to wonder if it's even possible, and if so, how one would go about experimenting with the possibilities.

[this is where his mind goes on four hours of sleep]

Comments

Video

[fracturedbeauty]

Has anyone actually proposed such an idea? I can't say from any personal experience, but one would assume so, given the way others seem to carry on about it. Or, at the bare minimum, the deities know of it through the grape vine.

In either circumstance, there has been no sufficient alternative given.

[Not that Yukari minds too much. So long as there's not another copy of him running around and flirting with people. ...Or worse.]

Though, I believe it would be rather intriguing to see what you come up with, Hat-chan.

[A smirk. Someone's clearly trying to pick some sort of fight.]

[hot_mes]

[excuse you his hat is amazing...

As weary as he is, Law's a little easier to provoke than he should be. He bristles a bit, scowling.]

I won't simply make assumptions, I deal in facts and evidence. If someone has thought of it or even tried it, fine, but lack of success doesn't mean it isn't possible. You just didn't have someone of my capability around before.

[fracturedbeauty]

[Eh, by Yukari's standard, it's poor taste in a fashion statement. But he's in it much more for the trolling rather than the facts.]

Now, now, I never suggested it was impossible. I merely suggested that your attempts, and sequential failures, would be rather amusing to watch. Certainly you anticipated that there have been many inventors and creative minds the preceded your arrival. What could you possibly offer that has not already been given?

Unless it's a thorough translation of the public library here, I don't think you're going to get anything more accomplished than others.

[hot_mes]

[and of course right now Law is wide open to trolls. Not that he ever isn't...]

That depends on what has been tried already. And if there are no records on it, then I'll just have to work through the failed experiments to determine the parameters on my own.

[fracturedbeauty]

Well, if it's records you want, I know someone who keeps up with the information found in this world. Surely any efforts tried would be found in his care.

[Pause for dramatic effect.]

[hot_mes]

That would be useful.

[pointed stare of demand]

[blessedmaiden]

Well, we have the shops, the river, the orchard... I would welcome more options, thought, I just never really bothered to ask or check if something was possible.

[hot_mes]

...that isn't what I meant.

[slow, patient rub of the bridge of his nose]

The beings you call gods feed off of us. I want to know if anyone has tried helping them find something else to feed off of so they don't need us.

[blessedmaiden]

Oh, my apologies, I was only half paying attention.

I'm not sure if it's possible, you'd still probably need to find a similar source of energy that covers their needs and our gods all seem to feed on something different. I suppose it could be worth giving it a try, thought.

[hot_mes]

That's all I want, is to try. It was sort of an idle thought I had while I was working on something else.

[voice]

[circumitus]

[Rey has been doing her best to avoid sleep as well. She's haggard, exhausted, and no amount of caffeine has been any help. It isn't the first time she's had this rodeo, but it doesn't make it any less unpleasant.]

Would be nice of Hope to maybe resurrect some of their original hosts the same way he revives us and his own. They were evidently capable of controlling what they felt and when to provide them with more than enough "food".

[voice]

[hot_mes]

Don't think I hadn't thought of that. But I don't see any remains here, unless it's in the caves or somewhere else unexplored. Maybe he needs matter from the once-living to do the resurrecting.

[voice]

[circumitus]

The remains are in the lake. Or, at least, that's where some of them seem to be.

[She recalls very well seeing Nathan getting an earful from Hope about digging up one of the corpses.]

[voice]

[hot_mes]

[WELL THEN]

...that's what's in the lake? The warning against going too deep...

[voice]

[circumitus]

Well, that and the killer octopus-sharks. Am fairly sure that there were things in there pre-dating those fuckers, though. Just know that there are some dead down there.

[voice]

[hot_mes]

Oh, that's nothing. [he has worse on his crew]

That's...shit. Well, I suppose that shoots down that theory. I'd better think of another one.

[voice]

[synthedick]

People have tried to reason with them before. It turns out they're just as stubborn as we are.

[He's looking at you, Sorrow.]

[voice]

[hot_mes]

I'm not interested in reasoning with them. If anything, in a perfect scenario I would discover a viable alternative before even bringing it to them.

...I know, they seem pretty set on their own methods. [which is the pot calling the kettle black but...details.]

[voice]

[synthedick]

[Details indeed.]

Even if you did find some other way before bringing it to them, the real trick would be getting them to go along with it in the first place.

[As he said, pretty set on their own methods. Nick can't say he blames them at times -- you don't fix what isn't broken -- but there has to be a better way to go about this than how they have.]

[voice]

[hot_mes]

One problem at a time. No sense seeking a solution to the second stage when the first one hasn't even been solved yet.

Maybe it'll come to nothing, but at least it will have been an attempt. Better than sitting around here on my hands waiting for people to hurt themselves and need a bandage.

[voice]

[synthedick]

And that happens plenty as it is, with or without the gods' influence.

[Keeping people from hurting themselves in Hadriel is a lot like herding cats.]

You got any experience with this kind of thing? Problem-solving?

[voice]

[hot_mes]

Yeah. [he can't help but sound a little smug about it, given that planning strategies to bring about the best result with the least amount of loss is kind of his thing.] I'm a ship captain and a doctor, solving problems is basically my entire life.

[audio]

[readytobe]

[Now that is an interesting idea.]

I am not certain if anyone has. We do not know much about their...physiology, after all.

It does seem as though it would be simple for the "gods" to pick and choose whom among us they keep alive.

[audio]

[hot_mes]

Answers so far have been inconclusive.

Given that people do leave, the Door is clearly unstable and not entirely under their control. Therefore, simply using other people or making some kind of god-level decision about who lives and who dies isn't the answer. Finding another source merits looking into.

Re: [audio]

[readytobe]

[he chuckles mirthlessly.] A “god-level” decision? Why would they not do such a thing?

The Door has brought in a steady stream of newcomers for at least a year; plenty of their captives seem perfectly willing to be fed upon; and they are hunting down potential saboteurs as we speak. Ridding themselves of their detractors is the most reasonable course of action!

[Mewtwo, you are getting slightly stir-crazy. Stop that.]