Event Log | Days 18-20

[doomcame]

WHO: K, Squalo, Taissa, Chloe & Cat
WHAT: Cabin fever, but inside a jail. The above get stuck after seeking shelter from the storm.
WHEN: Days 18-20
WHERE: VII.C.25 AKA Martin's Jail™
WARNINGS: None yet, please add them to toplevels and I'll update this as necessary.
NOTES: Make your own toplevels within and tag around for shenanigans and bad times.

Comments

[absentconstellation]

"Humans are adapted to long stretches of inactivity. Cats are not."

[desperate_times_right]

“Don't get me wrong, I don't think most of us humans are taking this well either. It sucks in here.”

But this cat is doing so much.

[absentconstellation]

"Indeed not," he agrees, taking that to mean that she understands his needs and recognizes that she was wrong to question them.

[desperate_times_right]

Whatever gets you through the day, buddy.

“So you can just come down and hang out, huh?” Raises some questions. “Do you know if the gods are real?”

[absentconstellation]

He looks up again with some confusion. No one he knows ever questions if the gods exist. They're far too active in the Mortal Realms to be doubted.

"Most certainly. Did you believe otherwise?"

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe shrugs. “I carry around a little idol of the patron god of the city where my ancestors lived, but when I needed help, where was he? You know?”

Would a cat know? Or a constellation or whatever.

[absentconstellation]

"The gods rarely involve themselves in the lives of any one mortal, however faithful that mortal may be. The lesser gods in particular are not able to travel between the Realms as freely as the Great Gods."

[desperate_times_right]

“But they're up there? They… know?” Chloe’s father had died trying to honour Ganesh and that has to count for something. Doesn't it?

[absentconstellation]

"The gods hear," he confirms. It's hard to say they 'know', because for the most part the gods don't really care about individual humans. A human life is brief and usually insignificant, there and gone in the blink of an eye.

Humans don't always like that. Truthfully, the Cat doesn't like it much either. So he doesn't mention it.

[desperate_times_right]

“Thank you.”

It's embarrassing to care about it, so she reaches into her bag.

“Hey, you one of those cats who will chase a flashlight beam?”

[absentconstellation]

One of 'those cats'? As far as he can tell, she basically just said the same word three times.

"I don't know. What is a 'flash light beam?'"

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe pulls a small camping flashlight from the bag at her hip and aims the beam at the wall, wiggling it around a little.

[absentconstellation]

He looks first at the device, then the effect it has on the wall. The circle of light produced is rather large, but he can see how it might pique the interest of some mortal cats. He, on the other hand, is far more fascinated by the device itself. He steps up to sniff at it, to see if he can determine what sort of magic makes it function. The reminder of his weakened senses makes his tail lash furiously in irritation.

"What is this tool? It looks like nothing I have encountered before."

[desperate_times_right]

Chloe switches the flashlight off so he can get a look without blinding himself.

“It's called a flashlight. A chemical reaction inside it makes it go, but I don't really know how it works.”

[absentconstellation]

"A 'chemical reaction'?" He had gotten so far just ignoring words he didn't know, but now he's genuinely curious about something.

[desperate_times_right]

Okay, here's a question: How do you explain a chemical reaction to a cat?

“You know how sometimes when people are cooking they'll mix two things together and it'll bubble up? When that happens it gives off energy, and the flashlight uses that to make it light up.”

[absentconstellation]

It's a very vague explanation, but he has a feeling that he has some idea what she's talking about. He peers closer into the flashlight, trying to discern the details of the bulb inside.

"The chemical reaction creates energy, but not light?"

[desperate_times_right]

“Right, yeah. In older flashlights, it's easy because the energy heats a metal filament and it gives off some of that energy as light, the way a fire does. This is LED though, and I'm not gonna lie: I barely know what a diode is.”

She doesn't know at all, actually.

“It uses less energy though because it doesn't give off heat, so the battery - that's where the chemical reaction happens - will last longer. That's why I use this kind at work.”

[absentconstellation]

So the chemical reaction is a combination of ingredients that produces energy, and the energy can heat metal to the point of glowing. That isn't how this flashlight works, but the power still comes from a chemical reaction. It's difficult to ascertain what her people have discovered when her understanding is so shallow, but he's getting a basic idea.

"It seems that humans have come to understand more of the world than I had realized."

[desperate_times_right]

“Oh yeah, loads of people know more about that stuff than me.” When you drop out of school to become a getaway driver for art thieves you've kind of got to settle for the bare minimum.

“They don't have this kind of thing where you come from?”

[absentconstellation]

"Some human mages are able to put light into crystals. I assume your people know of candles, as well." The gods don't need such things, and most lesser immortals are capable of some magic, so it's really only humans that need such a portable device.

[desperate_times_right]

“We don't -” Chloe stops, looks at her bracelet, starts again - “We have magic where I come from, I guess, but no one talks about it.”

She thinks about it for a second. “I think a flashlight would be comparable to a candle, yeah, or a lantern maybe. We still use those too but this can be safer and easier because there's no fire.”

[absentconstellation]

He almost goes to sniff the bracelet, but stops himself. He can't feel the magic, and getting closer will only frustrate him more.

"There are enough with the Gift in the Eastern Lands that there has been no effort to seek out alternatives, to my knowledge."

[desperate_times_right]

“The Eastern Lands? Is that where you're from when you're not burning in space?”

Look, this star thing is still a little unbelievable.

[absentconstellation]

"It is not."

Generally humans accept that constellations are something beyond their understanding and just move on, but apparently having knowledge of what stars actually are makes that difficult. Or is it that the gods are not so active in her life?

"It is where I have most recently spent time. As abruptly as I was brought to this place, I do not know the current state of other places in the Mortal Realms. A great deal can change for humans in a few short years."