Oh, yes. Steph is a student at a college, I think. It's similar to apprenticeship in some ways. You were considering becoming a skald - [what do they call that in Mercian?] a bard?
There is an age limit on when you can drink alcohol? [Really she's starting to see why you're all Like This.] Children drink small ale because water by itself is unhealthy… although I suppose your people have solved that problem by now, knowing about the animals.
A what? [ Sorry, Randvi. Maddy just blinks. She does NOT know what a "bard" is. But she thinks she can maybe add context. She helpfully adds: ] I wanted to be, like, an actress or a singer. Is that a bard?
[ The rest of what Randvi says though is SO confusing and out of left field that Maddy isn't sure how to approximate it. She just stares. And eventually says: ] Wait, what?
A singer, yes, or perhaps a poet. [This is seen as a much more practical job in her own time than it would be in Maddy’s. The girl might get along really well with Alvis - he keeps getting in trouble for teaching insults to the children.]
The small animals that cause disease. Senku distills alcohol to kill them.
Oh. Then yeah, kinda. We don't really have poets in modern times. I mean, we do, but they're not as important as singers or, like, movie stars. Has anybody ever told you what a "movie" is yet?
Wait, germs are animals??? [ Maddy is flabbergasted. Senku is pretty smart so she believes him, but she's as surprised as Randvi. ] I always thought they were just, like, their own thing.
The ones that can be killed with “antibiotics” are animals. You would have to ask him about the rest of it. He found some device - an arrangement of lenses that allows you to see them.
Yeah, kinda. It's like big pictures that move and talk, and they tell stories. The people in them get famous.
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a performer more than anything. Nowadays, I just try to do nothing and let other people take care of me. [ Maddy shrugs. ] Like, that's the easiest way to do anything.
[ Maddy does not realize Randvi is talking about a microscope, and pictures a huge, sci fi contraption. ] That's so cool. It's really impressive what kind of stuff he's able to do. I don't know what we'd do without him.
Don't tell him I said that about him, though. I don't want him getting a big ego.
Oh. Yes, I think that's similar. A skald is a storyteller also.
It is not always so good, to have to rely on another for everything. My sister was married around your age, however, and she seems to enjoy it.
I think it may be too late for Senku’s ego! But it is true. He was the first person to arrive here at the village after me, and I don't know what I would have done without his help. All I had here then was a small contraption to catch rain.
Yeah... [ Maddy thinks about that. ] I mean, you're not wrong about that. It's weird. I don't know if I would have had to think about it so much if I hadn't ended up here.
Did that happen with you, too? Is there anything you've never had to think about until you got here?
Yeah. [ Maddy sighs. She thinks about that. Like, really thinks about it. What would it be like to be married to somebody who abused her like Nate did? ] Maybe I would've had to learn that whether I ended up here or not.
Our nearest ally is a Danish settlement called Grantebridge. It's ruled by a woman named Soma, on her own. Sometimes, when my work allows my mind to wander I daydream about being her, running a settlement on my own, but it might not be so bad with an equal partner.
[Martin had said that president thing too, but he’d been half delirious at the time so she's not counting it.]
There are more opportunities for women than you'd think from my own stories, when you're not a noblewoman who had the misfortune of coming of age during a war.
I'm not sure you’d enjoy being a skald - I think you'd enjoy flyting and performing, but you’d need to memorize all of the Eddas and that sounds a bit like school - but perhaps another type of artist. The tattooist in our village is a woman. Oh, or a scout. You’d like Sunniva, I think, and you'd get to travel with her and see the world. Or at least our small corner of it.
Like Levi. [ Maddy smiles a little bit. ] I could be a scout here. That might be fun. I'm fast. I have a sword.
[ She thinks about it. It's becoming clear that it wouldn't be fair to the others if she sat around all day and didn't contribute - not that Maddy didn't briefly consider just that, although she won't share that with Randvi - but she'd rather fuck off into the jungle than sit around crushing seashells all day. ]
What was Sunniva like? [ Hearing about the PEOPLE from someone's past perks Maddy's ears up even more. She loves hearing about people. ]
Yes, like what Levi has been doing for me. It's a good way to travel but also help the settlement.
Sunniva and Norvid are my two lead scouts. They're both excellent at their jobs, but you'd consider Sunniva a bit more fun, I think. She oversees prize brawls during festivals, and records for me locations of interest that aren't strategic - ruins or beautiful vistas.
[ Maddy considers that. Thinks about it. ] You think Levi is still gonna let me do things with him? Or is he going to, like, freak out because I was missing?
[ It's a weird feeling. On one hand, Maddy can't help a surge of resentment at the prospective scenario she's concocted in her head. It's not like she tried to disappear or something.
But she can understand Levi's pain. His worry. After all, she would worry too, if she was supposed to be baby-sitting a little kid or something, and they disappeared on her watch. She'd freak out. And she's willing to lie low for a while if it helps people feel more at ease. ]
Sunniva sounds like somebody I would like to know, you know, if we existed at the same time. [ It's weird. How many other people would Maddy have liked to know but will never got the chance to, all because they didn't sync up in time with her? ]
Martin lives in Lunden, which is a city several days from my home village. People I know have been there. It sounds like there is less mud there for him.
Yeah, because the streets are probably paved for him, for starters. Do they have cement in your time, Randvi? [ They probably definitely don't have stoplights... ]
Not the way you're thinking, I think. The Romans used something like it, which is one reason their buildings stand today, and the Saxons use plenty of stone and mortar in their fortresses. England still uses Roman roads in many places, which are paved with stones. That's what I thought was happening here, when I’d first arrived.
It's weird how there's no roads here. Usually even when there's a disaster, you can tell where the roads would be. They're one of the things that stays.
[ It's eerie, so many remnants of people and no roads. ]
Unless whoever made this didn't want people to get around easily. I know there's, like, a hotel and shit, but what if it wasn't ever supposed to be for that? Like, what if this island was always just supposed to be a prison? Or a place to hold people so we could help them with their like... whatever they need help with.
[ Maddy's not even sure who "them" is. The Glencolans or whatever? ]
I've spoken about this with Jet before. It is strange. Even if this were a prison, people would be brought to the island solely through this location, unless there are ruins of a port that we haven't found. Having all of them carried around by drones does not seem feasible.
We have seen no ruins of bridges either, anywhere along the river. Even if people were walking along barely cleared trails, they'd need a way to cross the rivers.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 12:11 am (UTC)There is an age limit on when you can drink alcohol? [Really she's starting to see why you're all Like This.] Children drink small ale because water by itself is unhealthy… although I suppose your people have solved that problem by now, knowing about the animals.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 12:24 am (UTC)[ The rest of what Randvi says though is SO confusing and out of left field that Maddy isn't sure how to approximate it. She just stares. And eventually says: ] Wait, what?
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Date: 2023-11-07 12:39 am (UTC)The small animals that cause disease. Senku distills alcohol to kill them.
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Date: 2023-11-07 01:10 am (UTC)Wait, germs are animals??? [ Maddy is flabbergasted. Senku is pretty smart so she believes him, but she's as surprised as Randvi. ] I always thought they were just, like, their own thing.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 01:31 am (UTC)The ones that can be killed with “antibiotics” are animals. You would have to ask him about the rest of it. He found some device - an arrangement of lenses that allows you to see them.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 01:33 am (UTC)When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a performer more than anything. Nowadays, I just try to do nothing and let other people take care of me. [ Maddy shrugs. ] Like, that's the easiest way to do anything.
[ Maddy does not realize Randvi is talking about a microscope, and pictures a huge, sci fi contraption. ] That's so cool. It's really impressive what kind of stuff he's able to do. I don't know what we'd do without him.
Don't tell him I said that about him, though. I don't want him getting a big ego.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 01:42 am (UTC)It is not always so good, to have to rely on another for everything. My sister was married around your age, however, and she seems to enjoy it.
I think it may be too late for Senku’s ego! But it is true. He was the first person to arrive here at the village after me, and I don't know what I would have done without his help. All I had here then was a small contraption to catch rain.
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Date: 2023-11-07 02:39 am (UTC)Did that happen with you, too? Is there anything you've never had to think about until you got here?
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Date: 2023-11-07 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 06:36 am (UTC)Guess I'm glad you get to, then. But, fuck, Randvi. Girl. You really need to get out more!
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Date: 2023-11-07 06:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 05:08 pm (UTC)[ She moves even closer to Randvi as they walk. ] What do you think I'd be like in your time?
no subject
Date: 2023-11-07 06:42 pm (UTC)There are more opportunities for women than you'd think from my own stories, when you're not a noblewoman who had the misfortune of coming of age during a war.
I'm not sure you’d enjoy being a skald - I think you'd enjoy flyting and performing, but you’d need to memorize all of the Eddas and that sounds a bit like school - but perhaps another type of artist. The tattooist in our village is a woman. Oh, or a scout. You’d like Sunniva, I think, and you'd get to travel with her and see the world. Or at least our small corner of it.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 02:11 am (UTC)[ She thinks about it. It's becoming clear that it wouldn't be fair to the others if she sat around all day and didn't contribute - not that Maddy didn't briefly consider just that, although she won't share that with Randvi - but she'd rather fuck off into the jungle than sit around crushing seashells all day. ]
What was Sunniva like? [ Hearing about the PEOPLE from someone's past perks Maddy's ears up even more. She loves hearing about people. ]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 02:28 am (UTC)Sunniva and Norvid are my two lead scouts. They're both excellent at their jobs, but you'd consider Sunniva a bit more fun, I think. She oversees prize brawls during festivals, and records for me locations of interest that aren't strategic - ruins or beautiful vistas.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-08 09:29 pm (UTC)[ It's a weird feeling. On one hand, Maddy can't help a surge of resentment at the prospective scenario she's concocted in her head. It's not like she tried to disappear or something.
But she can understand Levi's pain. His worry. After all, she would worry too, if she was supposed to be baby-sitting a little kid or something, and they disappeared on her watch. She'd freak out. And she's willing to lie low for a while if it helps people feel more at ease. ]
Sunniva sounds like somebody I would like to know, you know, if we existed at the same time. [ It's weird. How many other people would Maddy have liked to know but will never got the chance to, all because they didn't sync up in time with her? ]
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Date: 2023-11-09 12:54 am (UTC)It's so strange to me, to think of the future. I look at the ruins on my map and imagine the Romans, and that's the way Sunniva is to you.
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Date: 2023-11-20 04:00 am (UTC)[ Maddy nods. She thinks about that, or tries to. It kinda hurts her head a little bit! ]
I could picture you in the future, though. In my future. You'd be a girlboss, Randvi.
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Date: 2023-11-20 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 05:59 am (UTC)[ It's eerie, so many remnants of people and no roads. ]
Unless whoever made this didn't want people to get around easily. I know there's, like, a hotel and shit, but what if it wasn't ever supposed to be for that? Like, what if this island was always just supposed to be a prison? Or a place to hold people so we could help them with their like... whatever they need help with.
[ Maddy's not even sure who "them" is. The Glencolans or whatever? ]
no subject
Date: 2023-11-20 06:08 am (UTC)We have seen no ruins of bridges either, anywhere along the river. Even if people were walking along barely cleared trails, they'd need a way to cross the rivers.