what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

[inourhead]

This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.

Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.

And the demon's gaining on her.

She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.

And Holly's not fast enough.

The mouth catches her.





But it doesn't hurt.

Where are we?

----


with Minus (kappa)

with Mark (kappa)

with Max (Benedict)

in Terraria (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Erin (Rockeye)

Comments

[inourhead]

"I might," Crystal says. "Lightning and Book won't be here more than a few days."

[characterquarry]

Erin talks to a certain civil servant, translating the conversation acceptably close to realtime. (She has practice.)

They seem to be in an argument as to whether two people or four are applying for welfare, here.

[inourhead]

"What does welfare consist of here?" asks Crystal.

[characterquarry]

"A modest food budget, a place to live in, and accommodation of special needs, which your need for mice will qualify for since I can honestly say that you depend on them to continue having good health."

[inourhead]

"Unless your food budget won't accommodate us being awake all the time we probably should count as two."

[characterquarry]

Erin argues with the guy some more. Eventually, he throws his hands up and accepts a somewhat increased food-and-mouse budget, and two single-occupancy apartments.

There is some paperwork. A fair amount of paperwork. All four are asked to sign a document promising to abide by the laws of Tel Hesti and to only use the money they receive for the described purposes of food, mice, and 'living essentials' such as soap and toothpaste.

(Erin summarizes the salient laws. No attacking anyone, no stealing, no being naked in public, no harassing people, and similar.)

[inourhead]

"We get apartments?" marvels Crystal.

[characterquarry]

"Most people need to sleep, remember. To us, not giving you a place to sleep is cruel. Even if you won't actually use it for sleeping."

[inourhead]

"We're not used to it. Lightning's family has a house though."

They sign the papers. "Should I sign for Book?" Lightning asks. "Or his sisters? I can try to sleep right now if I have to but I'm not sure I can for a while yet."

[characterquarry]

"If someone's going to sign for him, it should be his sisters."

There is a loud ringing sound. The civil servant mumbles, "Ah, lunchtime soon. I always need some coffee after dealing with strange wishes."

[inourhead]

Crystal signs Book's name.

[characterquarry]

The civil servant applies a stamp to the papers, shuffles some of them into four different folders, and hands a fifth pile back to Erin, along with a sheaf of paper money, which may or may not seem familiar. "Residency will have their apartment keys ready in about an hour."

"Shall we have lunch in the meantime, Crystal, Lightning?"

[inourhead]

"Yes," breathes Lightning. "Non-troported food, yes, I don't even care what it is."

[characterquarry]

"I know a very nice bakery on seventh street. On the other hand the cafeteria in this building is pretty good too, and it's closer. Holly, Crystal, what do you think?"

[inourhead]

"We'd rather eat sooner than later, please."

[characterquarry]

"Cafeteria it is."

They follow crowds of suited office workers heading in the same direction. "This paper is money, by the way. I'm not sure if you use paper money in your world." She names the denominations.

The cafeteria itself is a large open space taking up most of the basement. It's very crowded, this being lunch hours. There might be as many as a thousand people here.

Past the check-in area, there are tall piles of plates and cups, and lines of counters serving all sorts of things. "The way it works is you pay to get in and then can eat as much as you like. You're not supposed to bring any food with you when you leave, though."

She pays in and hands them the remainder of their food budget. "You can't eat here for every meal on that budget, but just once is fine."

[inourhead]

"We have paper money," confirms Crystal. She and Lightning pocket their allotments. They figure out how they are meant to conduct themselves and get hefty servings of protein-heavy food insofar as they can recognize what's on offer. And then they eat like they've been choking down unvarying blandness for a week. "What do people on our budget normally eat?"

[characterquarry]

Erin gets average-sized portions, leaning towards liquidy things like soup.

"You can get bread, fruit, vegetables, some spices, medium amounts of meat and cheese. It's not a tiny budget, it just won't sustain restaurants and cafeterias for every meal."

[inourhead]

"...We don't know how to cook," says Crystal. "If you mean we'd have to cook."

"I know a little," Lightning says. "I can teach you a couple things before I go home. I guess if everyone has to have a place to sleep you might as well all have kitchens too?"

[characterquarry]

"Yeah, everyone has kitchens. There's pre-packaged food, too, it's just not as nice as cooked things. I suspect packaged things are still better than troported things, given how you've been describing them, though."

[inourhead]

"Troported things are... are edible, and at first they're not that bad, and Holly's really good at it," says Crystal. "But they get very, very samey."

[characterquarry]

"You could probably get enough money to eat whatever you want by troporting things. Like gold."

[inourhead]

"Really? That seems a little too easy."

[characterquarry]

"Troporting is unheard-of, here. If you're the only person who can do a thing, that thing becomes valuable. Econ 101."

[inourhead]

"Book probably knows something about economics but we don't. Can't people just wish for gold, if they want it so much?"