obeir | Glencola Reef Inbox

This storm looks bad. If you're not close, can you find shelter where you are until it blows over? I ten billion percent don't want you caught in this, especially with an injured person.

Thanks for the warning. The injured person in question prefers a stretcher over myself or Squalo carrying her, so our progress is slower than I'd hoped.
It's looking like we won't make it back before the storm hits.

[ After some discussion amongst the group... ]

Squalo mentioned something about the jail Martin was in being nearby. He doesn't sound happy about it, but that may be our best option for shelter at this point.

How are things at the airfield?

We're all right here. We tied up the raft and these hangars are grounded. More people showed up, but we have enough room. I got Steampunk to come inside with us so he didn't get fried out in the jungle.

Afterwards, we'll have to see how everyone's doing.

I imagine prison isn't anyone's first choice but sounds like the safest bet you've got. Be careful. Tell Shark Guy not to die too.

[ Senku's "be careful" is about as sentimental as he gets, but he does care about K and Squalo. ]

Hope your kidnapper appreciates being allowed to stay after that stunt.
How's he getting along with Randvi? And what's the current head count there?

[ If Senku isn't holding a grudge then K (mostly) won't either, hence his willingness to respect Levi's request to keep his name off the network. ]

Thanks. You too. We're headed there now.
Squalo's been having a time of it but I'll pass along the message once he's done kvetching about wanting to knock out our already injured rescuee.

He didn't hurt me. He was freaked out waking up in some weird place. Hope he appreciates the shelter too though since I doubt anyone caught out in the storm is gonna have a good time.

[ Senku doesn't even bother with grudges when he should. He's made allies with people who have done way worse things to him than Levi. ]

8 including me. We have enough to keep everyone safe for awhile. Fixed up some of the holes in roofs as best we could. Randvi and Stephanie found some blankets or something in the hotel too. We'll be okay here. Sorry you gotta play prisoner for a minute to stay dry. There's four of you and a cat, right?

Think he's going to stick around after the storm? Or any of the others?
We should probably think about expanding soon either way. More stills, more ovens, and whatever else you'll need.
Really need something bigger to store surplus drinking water in too. Could something be made?
I'll also set up more fishing weirs in the nearby rivers when I can. Hopefully the current one survives the storm.

That's right. It's good we brought so many extra supplies. I just hope the storm blows over fast.
I can feel the electricity in the air. Giving me a headache.

[ It's just an android thing, he assumes. ]

Who knows? I think he might at least stay nearby for awhile because he likes having soap. He's weird but seems capable, probably not a bad ally to have if we can keep him. Martin and Kokichi, who knows. Martin seems a little anxious face to face but I don't know that he's the type to go rough it in the jungle alone either. I haven't really talked to Jet but he doesn't like scientists for some stupid ass reason.

[ He has no idea what the reason is but he lacks patience for the very IDEA. ]

More stills absolutely. Back home when I started out after petrification, we upgraded our shit slowly, like turning the ovens into forges and things. We can try to do that, but I had someone at home who was a master craftsman. He could build anything, ten billion percent, as long as I could explain to him what it was and maybe draw it. I can design pretty much anything but I can't always build it.

Of course we also had more tools or made more. This place keeps getting in my damn way about things like screwdrivers and axes or whatnot. But yeah starting with stills is a good place. If we want more soap we just need people to help with the menial tasks for ingredients, like grinding shells or mashing up coconut to make coconut oil or gathering seaweed. This isn't a free for all here!

[ It absolutely is and they both know it is. But listen, menial tasks are important and no one can do them all alone.

But wait hold on. ]

You can FEEL electricity? You're stuck being mostly normal human here, right? But you can still feel that?

It would be useful to have a competent and trustworthy lookout in the area. I'd been keeping watch at night myself at the airfield, but more eyes couldn't hurt. Haven't really interacted with Kokichi or Jet, so can't shed any light on the bias against scientists. I hope he hasn't treated you poorly. But Martin I do know and he seems very trustworthy, I think he'd be another good ally to have. Maybe I'll even get to meet him in person one of these days. [ In person poetry readings would be very nice, but he hopes it wouldn't make Martin uncomfortable. ]

Forges may be tricky but I don't think impossible. Materials are the biggest hurdle at this point — the lack of them. And the lack of tools, as you said. My woodworking and carpentry skills are all but useless here. I can fish and do any heavy lifting, but anyone could do that...

[ He's maybe been feeling kind of useless in general, if he's honest. ]

Has anyone expressed any willingness to help with the menial tasks other than Zam? I don't think it would be asking too much for people to lend a hand if they're going to make use of our resources. That's the only way this kind of system is going to work in the long term.

This place has saddled me with physiological changes [ they feel more like weaknesses, but he's being diplomatic ] similar to those of humans, but yes. Definitely feeling it. Might be interfering with my systems. No one else seems affected, so it's probably nothing to worry about.

Nah, he mostly just doesn't talk to me. It's not a big deal. No one seems to be at anyone else's throats or anything. Martin seems nervous to me in general but I think he's a good guy.

I hope you get back soon after the storm clears.

Your skills will be ten billion percent useful once we get tools. But you know we could just Stone Age it for a hot minute. I did that before. We can make tools out of whatever we got. It makes everything slower and more of a pain but it's not impossible to make an axe out of stone and wood. Primitive humans did it. I've done it myself.

Not anyone could have built the weir. Not anyone could have helped how you've helped. Don't sell yourself short just because your shitty back home humans took you for granted.

We haven't really needed anyone to do much. Martin has offered though. Not sure about the others, but Randvi might know. Kokichi doesn't seem to want to work with anyone but he'll probably come around.

When you get back can I take a look? I'm not a doctor but I know a ton about human illnesses. But you're not human. I don't know your source code or how you're made but I'm really good with computers. And maybe you can help me understand it anyway. I have an Arduino — a little computer terminal. Maybe I can use that to tap in and see what's going on.

Only with your permission, of course. With a human we'd use medicine but with you, there must be a code or mechanical fix, right?

Yooooo, K! My man! How's it going?

By some miracle Squalo and Chloe haven't killed each other yet, so it's a good day. How are things over there?

Great! Fit as a fiddle! The Detective and I are in excellent shape. Speaking of Squalo and Chloe... I had a question for you about something. Pretty sure I've got my answer, but I'm curious. Did you, by any chance, happen to see a pair of glowing eyes out in the wilderness?

That's good to hear.

You mean our mysterious watcher? I did. As irrational as Squalo has seemed lately, his paranoia isn't unfounded. The glow suggests the presence of tapetum lucidum, a membrane behind retinas that reflects light. Common in but not exclusive to nocturnal animals; [ Which is what he assumes most here will dismiss it as, so he feels compelled to add: ] I know of several humanoid species with something similar, myself included. Why do you ask?

Me? Just curious. Does it ever feel to you like we're being watched?

[The following comes in the very early morning after Tai and Chloe leave K and Squalo, Morning 25 unless the day needs to be retroactively adjusted.]

Hey. This wasn't the plan. I'm sorry.

Thank you for helping her.

I noticed some of the supplies are gone, so I'm assuming this was a voluntary decision to leave and we don't need to come rescue you. But why didn't either of you say something? You weren't hostages. The entire purpose of the trip was to help you both.

[ And to meet the talking cat, but you know. Honestly the whole thing is baffling to K right now. Who escapes from their own planned rescue? They didn't even steal any of the weapons that weren't already theirs. ]

I'm aware. This wasn't my first choice.

If she had her way, she wouldn't have said anything to me either. I'm just making sure nothing happens to her out here.

Do you need help? You, specifically. I'm still willing to bail you out if you ever need it.

[ If this thing with Chloe blows up in her face the way K's worried it might. Can't hurt to let Taissa know she has at least one person still willing to help. ]

Without Squalo next time. Who, needless to say, isn't taking the news well.

I've got this. [She's convinced herself of that at least.] But I appreciate the offer.

[K still seems like a good ally to have, but it'd take a whole hell of a lot to divide her from Chloe at the moment. She doesn't want to entertain those possibilities right now.]

[ Doubt.jpg ]

I would've given you guys the spare supplies. You're still welcome to them if you feel like doubling back.

[ It's actually surprising they hadn't simply taken the supplies on their own. Maybe there was too much risk (in Chloe's mind, at least) of waking him and Squalo. ]

I don't think Ms. Paranoia would be amenable to that.

We'll get by. If I think that's about to change, I'll get in touch.

She does seem to like a challenge.

Sure. Might not be a bad idea keeping in touch either way. Just in case.

[ Intentionally isolating themselves on this island seems so unnecessarily risky, but at least they both (hopefully) know what they're doing. Bear traps aside. ]

[ Senku finds K somewhere at camp. Never one to waste words, he just starts right in. ]

I wanna give you some stuff to hold on to for a bit.

[ He figures it goes without saying they might die on the raft. That's always been kind of the plan, really, though Senku isn't keen on dying, he can't in good conscience send someone else to die in the name of SCIENCE if he's not willing to do it himself. ]

[ K glances up from where he's sat sharpening some of the spears near the fire pit, looking a bit surprised. ]

Sure.

[ Considering all the chatter around base about the upcoming sailing trip, he assumes this might have something to do with that. And he has complicated feelings about the whole affair, but doesn't expect they'll matter much to anyone other than him, so he just waits to see what Senku wants to give him. ]

[ Senku just offers his normal little laugh and pulls a couple things out of one of his pouches.

The first thing is the Medusa. ]

Here. I figured I could give it to you or Randvi, but you might find it more interesting. I have no idea how this tech works, not really. I know it's powered by one of these, though.

[ The second thing: a diamond stud earring he found somewhere. ]

The diamond, I mean. There's a specific way you gotta cut it, which I'm aware of, but even with the right tools I couldn't do it myself. I burned this one's battery out petrifying everyone to make sure no one died. Long story.

[ And not one he's telling right now, because he's Senku and he just doesn't do that. ]

If we die, they say our shit all resets with us. I wanna test that theory, see if it disappears from here. But besides that, I can't risk losing that thing. We could just get swept overboard and whatever. It's waterproof, but if it sinks to the bottom of the ocean, I can't easily get it back. Same with the diamond. That's the only way to power it up. If we could power it up, you know...

[ He hesitates, which is rare, but he's trying to figure out how to say what he means. ]

Petrification can cure any wound. Any wound.

[ The implications of that should be pretty clear. ]

Otherwise, though, just more shit I don't wanna lose, but also don't want other people to take.

[ The other things he hands to K are transceiver modules: his flashlight and the thing that lets him save messages for longer. ]

Cool?

What did you guys do to me?

Treated your wound, attempted to bring you to a safe place you could recover in, and have been sending a map of the island to your callsign daily since then.

[ #JustEvilWizardThings

But he isn't going to be a hardass about this; he's guessing there's been some kind of trouble if Chloe's blaming them for it. ]

What's going on? Is Taissa still with you?

Taissa’s okay for now, but something’s happening to me. I don't understand

[There’s no further response for a while, and then she answers again.]

Someone followed us when we left your camp and they did something to me. Tell me what I have to do reverse this and I'll do it.

[ "For now" doesn't inspire much faith, but what can he even do from where he is. He has no idea where Chloe and Taissa are. ~~He hopes the bracelet is okay.~~ ]

I don't know of anyone who'd have a reason to follow you. Or who'd want to, other than Taissa.

[ The latter part of Chloe's message is alarming, coming from someone who previously refused to do anything to make her own rescue more expedient. Just what the hell's happened that has her so spooked? ]

Did what to you? Are you injured or ill? You're not making much sense.

[Why do you think she's calling? She has no idea whether she’s even safe to be around right now.]

Someone followed us. They built some kind of altar near where we were camped, with my blood.

Ever since it's like there's this itching in my head. Like a whisper you can't quite hear, you know? And I feel worse and worse until I do what it wants me to do.

How did they acquire your blood? *Are* you injured?

An altar makes me think it could be one of the superstitious islanders like the Pacairs. We know so little about them and what they're capable of.

It doesn't sound like it's safe for you and Taissa to be out there on your own. Especially not if you're being stalked while experiencing an inexplicable compulsion to do things.

[ What the fuck, honestly. This is getting increasingly strange. And Chloe definitely sounds... unwell. ]

I was bringing some of the bandages we used back to boil at the base. Taissa buried them after we left cause she was worried about boars sniffing us out. Whoever did this must have dug them up.

No thanks. Not interested in what people are cool doing to “criminals” back there.

So they'd been watching you long enough to know where to dig them up. Probably intentionally trying to unnerve you. The feelings of compulsion are equally worrying. I haven't heard of anyone else experiencing that here.

What are you talking about? I'd bet almost everyone here could qualify as some kind of criminal, myself included. Really doubt anyone at the airfield's gonna throw stones in a glass house. Besides, it operates under Viking hospitality rules first and foremost.

You'd really rather take your chances out there with a deranged stalker who could start targetting Taissa too?

That cop who cut up Salamanca knows things about me too. Most of you guys seemed cool listening to that shit.

I didn't want Taissa out here at all but she caught me on my way out.

All I'd heard was there was some kind of Uno reverse kidnapping situation Rust refused help with. Don't think I'm in his inner circle. He barely talks to me.

[ He wouldn't know the first thing about what Rust is up to if not for Randvi, and even she doesn't seem to know what happened with Salamanca nor what's actually going on with Rust and Shaw. Neither of them have seemed keen on being part of the airfield crew. Which is fine. They're hardly going to force their help on the unwilling. K won't, at least. That includes Chloe. ]

Is THAT why you felt the need to escape your own rescue? Because you thought Squalo and I were going to, what, kidnap you too and hand you over to the cop? Even if Rust had come after you, I don't know what's given you the impression I would've let him do anything to you. That wasn't just Taissa standing in the way of what Squalo wanted to do to you.

He called me, Salamanca, that night at camp, to warn me the cop went through his shit. Saw our messages.

He was hurt bad. I wanted to go out and find him, but they're both fucking idiots so he got left too close to the cabin. You know that thing would have done even worse, made it last longer, so I had to talk him through his exit. How could I stay, after that?

Lazarevic was a fucking war criminal and even he didn't kneecap the guy he cut up.

I barely know you! I don't know what any of you will do. You protected me when you didn't know who I was, but I hear people on here sometimes talking about criminals like they're animals in the zoo and I don't know what any of you would do to me.

I didn't even know this curse shit was possible.

You're saying Salamanca was beaten so severely that suicide seemed like his best option? Why not just kill him at that point. That's fucked up. Humans are fucked up. I can barely wrap my head around any of the things you inflict on each other.

That's a leap assuming the rest of us are on board with torture that we weren't even aware of. Or I wasn't. But I'm willing to bet it isn't exactly public knowledge.

What kind of messages did you exchange with Salamanca that make you think you'd be subject to the same thing? Do you think Rust actually is after you?

[ He doesn't know where either of them are, so can't even help rule it out as a possibility. And given his own experience with human cops and barely knowing Rust, he feels uncomfortably uncertain about the man's character. He'd expressed as much to Taissa previously, but this new information has really thrown him. Whatever happened between Rust and Salamanca must have been... Well, more than what it was presented to be on the network, to say the least. ]

He couldn’t walk. I didn't know what else to do.

I don't know! He sent all those messages about Salamanca privately, he could have been saying anything! You guys had to know he didn't just get all that shit out of him by asking nicely. Come on.

Look, I don't want to talk about it. I knew he wasn't a cop the whole time and I was trying to warn him off that guy’s grifter bullshit, that's all. It doesn't matter. He disappeared anyway. Right in front of me. Everything is so fucked up, I don't understand.

Those two were joined at the hip, seemed very friendly with each other. You saw how Salamanca acted around him. Wasn't subtle. Nothing that would lead me to assume the information could've only been acquired through torture rather than given voluntarily, in confidence. Though now I'm wondering if Rust even tried the voluntary method first.

Grifter bullshit?

[ So Rust and Salamanca might have been manipulating each other? It would make sense, and only further convinces him of how fucked up humans as a species are. Who wastes their time playing elaborate mind games when they should be focusing on escaping this damned island. Of course, K doesn't know the full extent of everything, nor quite how deep Salamanca's gay crisis had gone. ]

So he was revived and disappeared afterward. Did Taissa also see him disappear? [ Or did Chloe hallucinate all of it? ] Maddy, MZ114C, I think she disappeared around the same time. She wandered back to the airfield yesterday with no memory of what happened. Salamanca might turn up in a similar fashion.

Right, you saw them. You notice how that cop was winding him up? Brushing his arm and all that. Lots of cops do that shit to get your guard down. Non-cops too. I was worried, and for good reason, clearly!

But you worked with cops before, right? You know what it’d take to get cartel affiliation out of someone like that, especially a high-level guy, and I don't think dreamy eyes and well-defined biceps are really enough.

Yeah, Taissa saw him. She saw the cat too. At first I just thought the place we were hiding was fucked up but all these problems followed me when we left. Saw a post about someone coming back. She disappeared? Just like, blink and she's gone?

[ What are the chances Rust might've just been into "Ben" too before suspecting it was all a fake persona? But Chloe's already convinced her version of events is the truth so he keeps that speculation to himself. ]

Based on everything I know about human men, I could argue that attractive features do seem to inhibit their higher brain functions. But you're probably right. Of more immediate relevance is whether you think Rust has any real reason to come after you. Not sure anyone else will really care that you knew Salamanca's real identity all along. Most probably understand friendship and loyalty and why you wouldn't have wanted to rat him out.

You mean Sam Xerxes Ellington or you've picked up another cat...?

[ Cats are a welcome change in topic from Rust and Salamanca's confusing and violent game of gay chicken. He also might be a bit envious Chloe's a cat-magnet. ]

Sounded something like that. She vanished without a trace while travelling with people and just her things were left behind. I know several others have seemingly vanished from the island too, Maddy's just the first confirmed person to come back afterward.

[Look, Chloe agrees with Shaw’s assessment of whether or not Rust’s dick works - best to change the subject probably.]

Certainly did that to Salamanca. Fucking Christ. I don't know though. If he’d come after me or not, if he’d tell other people to come after me. If he's fine unless I try and go to the base cause there's stuff I could steal there. If he’d assume I had some kind of affiliation and try to cut it out of me.

Who? No, not Sam. This fucking cat ghost. I don't know. It didn't have eyes. It dropped me ten feet.

Salamanca didn't leave much behind but he’d only been alive a few days. I'm glad the girl’s ok.

I'll hope he has the sense to leave you be. We all have bigger problems here than trying to play arbiter of justice on the interdimensional island we've been kidnapped to. But what's the plan if he does decide to go after you? Or your plan in general? Going to wander around the island indefinitely, followed by bloody altars and trying to ignore the itching in your head?

[ He doesn't expect he'll be able to convince her to come to the airfield, but she should at least be thinking about these things. ]

This is the first I've heard about there being an eyeless ghost cat here. Beginning to understand why you think you're cursed.

Do you think I’d have texted begging you to uncurse me if I had options???

I'm at the mercy of this thing until it lets me go.

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in person, night 31

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cw: torture and suicide mention

cw: torture and suicide mention

Re: cw: torture and suicide mention

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