[audio]

[synthedick]

[Along with the shift in terrain comes a transmission, one hitting the network within minutes of the move.]

This is Nick Valentine. Guard, report in with your whereabouts and what you're seeing on your end. Let's get this place scoped out as quick as we can. The sooner we know what we're dealing with on this planet, the better we can adjust.

[Last time, they ended up on completely separate islands, everything having been split in ways he hadn't expected. From what he can tell, things have been rearranged again, though the setup around the Speakeasy definitely rings familiar in the back of his mind.]

For anyone else looking to help, the Guard can always use extra hands. People who don't mind sweeping the streets every now and then, who'll keep an eye on the Colosseum once a month, who can handle themselves and protect others in an emergency. We're not the cops, but someone has to keep the city safe from whatever comes in with the new arrivals, and if that's up your alley, then give me a call.

[That'll do. Time to see what this new world is like for himself. Click.]

Comments

[private]

[synthedick]

[Sigh. Oh boy. He's actually thankful for that switch to a private channel.]

I'll get a few people on scoping out the local animals before we resort to rationing... [a pause, his tone darkening] though I can't say the worst hasn't crossed my mind.

[The gods put them through cannibals once, and he saw plenty of feral ghouls back in his world. Aside from that, he's no stranger to the depths of depravity people will sink to when it comes to survival.]

We should probably get a few hands on getting some of what's on the shelves now. Start putting it into storage at the Clinic in case of an emergency.

[Because he doesn't need folks accusing the Guard of hoarding it, and most people go to the Clinic when they're in trouble, anyway.]

cw feudalism 🙄, I say jokingly

[northerndragon]

Agreed.

It would be better if they don't think we're trying to keep it from them, only trying to be sure that everyone's needs are equally considered. I'm not a lord here, or a king. It wouldn't be right for anyone who isn't to seize the stores and lock them away, but --

[What he means is that if he were, there would already be a cache of food stored away for this kind of event, to supplement whatever people have stashed in their homes, and it would be distributed as needed. This is what a responsible lord does. But the gods of Hadriel don't seem to see it quite the same way.]

We have to watch out for other people doing that, too.

OH THAT FEUDALISM

[synthedick]

No kings or lords here, but someone has to watch out for the people who aren't prepared for this kind of thing.

[Which is pretty much everyone, if experience has anything to say about it.]

I don't doubt for a second that there are folks who'd take this opportunity just to make others suffer for whatever gain they thought they could get out of it. We aren't the cops, but if it comes to that, we might have to step in.

[northerndragon]

If it comes to that, or worse, I'm ready to do it.

[There's a determination in the way he says it, one which will hold true even if the gods are really absent. If he is killed, if he can't be brought back, so be it. He will do as much as he can for as long as he can, while there's still breath in him.

It occurs to him to be glad that his mother can't hear what he's saying... not with the implications of it.]

But it might not come to that.

I've reached a tower.

[synthedick]

[Nick is just going to file that determination away in the back of his mind and hope that that's a bridge they never have to cross.]

Good. Were you around before we got moved to the islands?

[northerndragon]

Aye, for a month or two. It was too hot, and too much sun. Even at the Wall, you don't see sun like that.

-- ah, the Wall is made of ice. The sun shining off it can be blinding, but it's rarely so bright.