[video] you will hear it for yourself, and it will surely fill you with wonder

[nonscriptum]

[As can be expected Nate's film-related framing could be significantly improved - he isn't entirely in line with the feed, but it does enable viewers to see the edge of a jib boom, thick fabric, and the roiling, dark waters behind him. Upon finding a sailboat moored in one of his island's small, rocky coves he commandeered it for the express purpose of old school navigation: no trade or transport, but cartography.

This might be evidenced by the worn pencil he has stuck behind one ear, and the notebook flat, open, in his hand. The other he uses to talk, being a gestural sort of person.]

I know everyone else is doing the whole- y'know, "organizing stuff and travel" thing, which is great! But I've been mapping the area because we're pretty scattered. Not just in terms of area and amenities, but environment. And the lunar cycle feels like it's twice as fast.

[He isn't an astronomer or an astro-physicist, but he's had to find his path by stars before and the passage of time is expedited here in a way that must contribute to the limited extents of high tide and low tide on the islands.]

I'm not sure if there was any life here before we arrived, but if anybody finds any ruins - ones we didn't bring with us - let me know.

[Nate turns briefly, glancing out at something adjacent to him. A shadow in the waves. When he speaks again it is with calculated casualness.]

And, uh...if you see a tall guy in a denim jacket...smoker, Boston accent, answers to "Sam." Tell him I'm looking for him.

Comments

[hot_mes]

I've already walked all over these four islands. There is nothing here that wasn't here in the desert, or the cave. This is just the city. [tipping his chin up and out toward the water] There are other islands, you can barely see a couple in the haze on a good day. What we're looking for isn't going to be here, it's out there.

[that's way more of a sense of adventure than anyone still sitting here at home where the houses are warm and the shops are full of canned soup]

[nonscriptum]

[Nate isn't convinced.

In his experience a lot of treasures - cities, even - are hidden in plain sight, underground or swallowed in deep valleys, buried in chasms that have shielded them from prying eyes for centuries. Rafe Adler spent fifteen years combing the land around a Scottish cathedral and came up with jack-shit - all Nate did was find the right headstone in a nearby graveyard to unearth the passage that no one else had been able to find for a decade and a half, even with financial resources. It's not the means, it's the method.

He isn't here to argue, but if he was he'd tell the guy to find his own boat for whatever nautical mishaps he wants to get into, because he's starting to suspect he'll get conscripted into being a chauffeur. He'll get to the islands once he's finished mapping.]

People didn't think there was anything in Hadriel's lake until I dove down to look. [Nate points out, not unfriendly.] I'm just saying don't discount what we've got.

[hot_mes]

You were the one who found the remains in the lake?

[now that he did not know. He'll have to poke at that line of information later.]

You're free to get a shovel and dig if you want. I only know what I see, and what I see is an ocean between me and everything I want to look for. [with a nod to the boat] That's not enough. Enjoy it, I have my own ways of getting around.

[nonscriptum]

Yeah.

[He knows, it was stupid. There were monster sharks. He got bitten. But it's all in the past!]

Wait- you don't even want to see what stuff is around the islands?

[Color him rightfully confused, but he was still down with having another person on-board for the mapping process. It's nice to be at sea.]

[hot_mes]

Not really.

[look he's a captain, not a cartographer. the shapes of the rocks just aren't interesting to him]

Let me know how that thing handles. Just for professional curiosity's sake.

[nonscriptum]

...all right.

[BUT THESE ROCKS ARE COOL, DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I'll let you know if I find anything.