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Ronan and Mayumi, along with the rest of the players who came up with them,
start taking stock of their supplies. It isn’t much, but the fruit could
float, so that’s great. It is under someone else’s control, though. Most
everyone has something which they are still holding onto for dear life, even
though the storm is over, and they are out of the water. The two of them
have the door. It’s large and heavy; not something that belongs on a ship.
Ronan’s best guess is that someone somewhere on Danmörk commissioned it from
some other region, and had it shipped there. If the players were supposedly
on that ship, it would have likely been carrying other supplies that didn’t
belong to them. They didn’t really know the story, though. The Custodians
didn’t tell them that that would happen at all. And even if the story goes
that someone did buy this door, they would probably be an NPC who isn’t
looking for it at all, because it isn’t real. Even if they are, they’re not
liable to find it. That’s their justification for keeping it. When they
finally build their home somewhere around here, they’ll hook this door to
it. They’ve earned it.
They’re not sure where they’re gonna go, though. Should they stay close by,
or is this where all players begin their journeys? If that’s the case, it’s
not a good place to start a life. At some point, they want to all but forget
the way things were. If every time they try to immerse themselves in the
lifestyle, someone new shows up who isn’t used to not talking about
spaceships and computers, it’s going to ruin the experience. Ronan is not
even sure if they want to stay close to anyone who is here right now. Yes,
there is safety in numbers, but they can trust none of these people to have
any honor. Who are their characters meant to be? They have already met a
thief, who has been avoiding them, probably believing that Ronan might
retaliate. He won’t. That’s not in Ronan’s character, but the thief doesn’t
know that, and neither does anyone else.
Having possessions means someone might take them from you, but it also
signals that you’re less likely to try to take from others, and that’s a
valuable state to be in. Today, they’re in shock, and still full from a
breakfast that took almost no effort to procure. Tomorrow, they will be
hungry, and could descend into madness quite quickly. That’s why technology
breeds civility. There is no need to act like an animal when a food
synthesizer can print you anything you want in minutes. But here? There are
no rules, and it’s about to get nasty. That’s why Ronan and Mayumi signed
up. But they’re not idiots. They know they need to protect themselves. That
probably means forging their own path. Once they start building their
wealth, they will start to need to defend it, but they will also be able to,
and they will feel more comfortable around others because of that. So Ronan
picks up the door, and uses it as an umbrella for the both of them while
they head into the woods to look for a private place to settle. It will be
miles away.
“Wait, can I come with you?” It’s the little orphan Ronan saved from the
deep.
“What’s your name, boy?” Mayumi asks him.
“It’s Vith, son of unknown.”
She giggles, and reaches out her hand. “Come on, Vith. You can help me look
out for berries. Don’t eat anything, though. It might not be edible.”
“May,” Ronan argues, “we cannot keep him. You already have one on the way.”
“I’m not going to leave him to starve to death on the shore. I believe we
were brought together for a reason. He stays.”
He stays. Then nine months pass.
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