002 VIDEO @serene

[sereneflame]

[Serene's not looking too good lately, having been worn down by Lilac's screaming and the growing realisation that she's failing badly at her current task. Lilac at the moment is clinging to a tree behind her, snapping at bugs with her sharp teeth.

When Serene speaks she's terse and unsmiling, getting to her point as quickly as she can.]

I have a request for those skilled in magic or craft: Are there any here who know how to construct a raft? This raft would be something we carried on our shoulders between us on the drier parts of land and poled across the wettest stretches.

If not, I intend to head back to the drier forest to find fallen branches to lash together. I do not know if what I make will float, but there is little harm in trying. I would appreciate the loan of a woodchopper better than my sword.

[She shrugs shortly]

It may be that this preparation ends up being for nothing but I would rather avoid my boots getting too wet. This water looks stagnant.

Comments

audio; un: fiona

[cachemoney]

[Fiona's tone is incredulous and a little flat.] Avoid getting your boots wet?

Re: audio; un: fiona

[sereneflame]

[Serene gives her a very cool look]

I'll take that to mean you've never witnessed a person suffer from trench foot. By all means, wade as long as you wish.

[The 'you survivalist amateur' is unspoken but hangs in the air]

[cachemoney]

Um, no? Because that sounds fake. "I have a bad case of cliff elbow" fake.

[sereneflame]

[She rolls her eyes heavily]

If mammal feet are submersed in cold water and encased in damp boots with no respite then they start to rot. They blister, they develop sores and as the flesh grows to cold to live, they die. Soldiers suffer from this when they march for too long or stay entrenched in wet climes.

the first symptoms developing within a day. Since we have no choice but to walk, I intend to do everything I can to preserve the health of my feet.

[cachemoney]

[That's a lot of words to be fake? Also, gross.] Oh. I don't -- I've never heard of that. Good... tip?

[sereneflame]

[She's satisfied that she's won this little argument enough to move on]

So, do you know how to build a raft?

[cachemoney]

Unnnnfortunately, no. I don't have a lot of experience with water. In general.

[sereneflame]

[If her communicator hadn't been a bracelet she'd have crossed her arms to deliver her wise advice, but as it is she just has to shrug]

Then dry your feet whenever you get the chance, test any wet patch with a long stick before stepping there and beware of bloodsuckers lurking under the surface. Oh, and don't even think of drinking the water until you've boiled it well.

[cachemoney]

[Bloodsuckers.] Nice. Do you come from a planet with this kind of, uh... environment?

[sereneflame]

A swamp like this? There are in the western reaches of my land but I have never journeyed that way. No, I spent a good chunk of my adolescence travelling on foot, so I am well acquainted with dealing with the trials of the outdoors.

audio => video

[cachemoney]

Still, that's more information than I know about getting your feet wet. I mean, literally.

[She takes a second to flip the feed onto video, waving a little.] If you need to know anything about deserts, let me repay the favor. I'm Fiona.

video

[sereneflame]

Serene Charlord.

[She inclines her head to that offer, looking marginally more friendly now that Fiona's offered help, if not the help she'd been seeking.]

I thank you; given our direction of travel I may be taking you up on that offer in the coming weeks. 

[cachemoney]

Our direction of travel? Do you think we're headed for something, um... less damp?

[sereneflame]

This swamp can only go on for so long. We are travelling south, so I am sure if we walk for long enough we will reach more parched parts of this world.

[She shrugs]

Unless we reach the ocean.

[cachemoney]

Oh. [She looks a little more enthused about that prospect.] If the rest of the planet is like this, I wouldn't mind seeing an ocean. The oceans on my planet are, uh, not great. So that'd be nice.

[sereneflame]

No? What is the matter with them?

[She's loosening up herself. Look, there's an actual fond smile]

If we find an ocean I hope the seas are warm, unlike this fetid patch of land. I wouldn't mind swimming if it were in waters that won't chill me to the core.

[cachemoney]

Well, most of them are gone. At the moment. What's left is basically just a garbage dump.

[sereneflame]

Gone? How does a sea simply go?

[She pauses, holds up a finger]

Is this because of magic? That seems to be the most common answer to my questions

[cachemoney]

Uh, magic isn't really a thing, so no. The climate on Pandora is just really weird, hence... all the deserts.

[sereneflame]

They simply evaporated away?

[She frowns, tempering her initial scepticism with an internal reminder that the greatest lesson she's learnt is that her imagination is far more limited in scope than the multiverse]

I can only imagine what a disaster that would be if the seas on my world evaporated too. The loss of life would be crippling...

Did this occur within your lifetime? How has your society survived?

[cachemoney]

Yeah, it -- happens a lot. [She's figuring out that she's not being very clear, so she decides to rephrase.]

The seasons are really long. Half the time, the oceans recede so much that all that's left is desert. Pandoran society isn't much to write home about, anyway, so. Mostly we just survive as best we can.

[sereneflame]

Really? How long is... [She frowns all of a sudden, realising with a jolt that perhaps their shared language is perhaps a hindrance as much as a help, given how it fools them both into thinking they have far more in common than they do. she starts again]

On Callirhoe we have four seasons, each occupying an equal quarter of the year. Each quarter is three moon-cycles long, which means they last eighty-four days each. Would you consider that a short or a long time?

[cachemoney]

So that's... [She tilts her head to the side, squinting as she does some quick math in her head.] Three hundred-something days? Yeah, no. That's short.

It takes about, uh, ten times longer than that for Pandora to orbit. [She twirls her finger in the air to illustrate.] Two seasons, dry and not-dry, each lasting half an orbit. So! Really long.

[sereneflame]

Yes, three hundred and thirty-six days.

[Her eyes are wide as she tries to imagine such a world, to imagine growing up for years under one season. It's difficult to imagine]

In that case, I am twenty years old and you are... two? Am I right?

[cachemoney]

Hah, well, we don't count orbits as years. That would make things weird. Calendar-wise, we're pretty much the same as yours, about three hundred-whatever. [She purses her lips, eyebrows raising.] I'm also older than that, but I'm flattered, thanks.