DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE SHORE

[phantasmods]

The morning of the 9th, everyone will get a message sent to their communication devices -

Okay, guys! I think we have enough stabilizers to try and get the shoreline stable. If you want to help out, grab your supplies and come on up to the roof!

When characters arrive at the roof, they'll find Top - with a wheeling table full of many copies of the same odd-looking device - the two exploratory drones, and a ramp down off the roof to the ground. (The latter looks a little hastily constructed.)

"Okay," Top says, picking up one of the devices. "Here's the stabilizers. Stick them to walls and stuff - mostly out of the way places where they're not going to get knocked off - and then press the buttons along the side."

They demonstrate, unfolding the set of legs at one end of the device before showing the buttons to anyone who's close enough. "Go ahead and take a couple, especially if you've got one of those space-saving inventories going on, I know there's like four of you with those? Strange got some first aid kits together, too, if you want."

Sure enough, another table nearby has the med kits... As well as traditional paper bag lunches, courtesy of Bottom. Don't question it too much.

"We'll be staying back here to keep track of the stabilization progress and work the drones," Top says, "but don't hesitate to call if you get in trouble! We'll send one of these guys down to get you an evac if you need it."

And with that, you're free to go down the ramp... Or to make for the beach however else you might choose to go.

Comments

[dubiouslychthonic]

I see. [Her professional side wants to press more on that front - dietary supplements? Hormonal support? There are ways to mitigate burnout and fatigue in psychic trolls, she wonders if there's similar for magical humans - but her diplomatic and cautious sides agree that needling him over it on a dark beach is pretty much the worst choice.]

Well, if you're intent on defying your own circadian rhythms, do you want to explore together a bit? My vision's more than sufficient for these light levels.

[founderinglight]

[Hey, at least he's not doing anything with it that would actually have a worse effect than some fatigue. Also it's not like he ever minds talking comparative biology with her.]

Humans are remarkably flexible in that regard. Prompto lent me his light, so I'm happy to explore if you are.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'd argue the point, but I was up well before noon today, so I don't really have a walkstub to stand on here.

[She's starting to feel it, but on the other hand, lately she's spent as much time staring at the ceiling - and listening to the knife roomba rattle around inside the cabinet she's shut it up inside - as she has sleeping, and being outside and moving around is enough to keep her alert for now.]

Just tray and keep the light out of my eyes and we'll be good.

[founderinglight]

Walkstub?

[Okay, he can't not be a little amused at that, if only because he'd expect leg to be a perfectly serviceable translation. The attempt at the Alternian word is passable enough, at least.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She smiles, ruefully.] Too much time spent among lowblooded eight-sweep-olds will do a number on a person's vocabulary.

[founderinglight]

I suppose mine isn't likely to be much better, considering. But that's still am interesting one.

[Noctis did not do great things for his own vocabulary.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

The current trend seems to be cramming as many syllables into an unsuspecting word as possible. Or maybe I'm just getting old and less patient with deciphering the more complicated ones.

[founderinglight]

Kids these days.

[They're just a couple of old people gently mocking the youth.]

Though that's probably better than indecipherable memes.

[dubiouslychthonic]

Oh, mothers, yes. Or compulsive punning. One of the girls speaks almost entirely in cat puns, if you'd believe that. [The Huntress - as she's more or less consistently insisting on being called these days - generally has a good head on her shoulders, but... the cat puns. Jetshard chuckles, and shakes her head.] But then, the historical record indicates here ancestor did as well, throughout her life.

[founderinglight]

...I can honestly say that that's not a problem I'm aware of any human having.

[Horrible puns, yes. Communicating almost entirely in them, not so much.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

Some people say it's a sign of an unusually strong custodial bond, but honestly I'm fairly sure that in the vast majority of cases it's an intentionally cultivated habit. Or starts out as one, at least.

[founderinglight]

I'm inclined to agree, if only because I can't see how the logic in the former follows at all.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I mean, there are plenty of weird behavioral tics that can result from a kid getting insufficient socialization because their lusus limits their access to other trolls. But I'm not convinced that it has any real impact on linguistic development.

[founderinglight]

...I think your species does family structures significantly differently from anything I'm familiar with. As well as language acquisition.

[dubiouslychthonic]

...Ah, right. Given that even closely related non-troll species don't have the same kind of highly variable brood parasitism, I think that's probably a safe bet.

[founderinglight]

...An extremely safe one.

[He's a mammal.]

Humans tend to stick with close genetic relatives until at least sexual maturity. Not always, but enough of the time that "you were raised by your parents" is a safe enough assumption.

[dubiouslychthonic]

Troll larvae are tended to communally by the Auxilliatrices of the brooding caverns, and turned over to the custody of their lusus naturae guardians somewhere around their primary metamorphosis. Most of us never meet a close genetic relative, or at least not close enough to be positively identified as such.

"Parents" [And that's a mostly-successful attempt at repeating the word he'd used,] doesn't really translate.

[founderinglight]

Direct genetic relative, with a connotation of caretaking and general responsibility for the child in question. Are you familiar with mammalian sexual reproduction in general, or do you need a fuller description?

[At least he's old enough that the Talk doesn't make him awkward.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm familiar. [She does have a pretty solid biology education.] Biologically it's straightforward enough. The word's just got connotations that the Alternian language would very rarely assign to people, is all.

[founderinglight]

Meanwhile, in human languages, we wouldn't assign those connotations to anything that wasn't. Or, at least, not in regards to the guardians of people.

I take it you don't have a notion of siblings, either.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She considers for a moment - again, the word isn't entirely nonsensical to her ear, but it's not anything that directly translates, either.]

We have "twin," although that's rare enough to be obscure. And we have "sibling" [- the word she uses is closer in sense to "fraternity brother/sorority sister" than the usual human sense of the word "sibling," the root word for things like "scourge sisters" or when trolls address each other as "bro."] but that doesn't imply consanguinity.

[founderinglight]

[His expression twitches slightly at the word 'twin,' though exactly what emotion is trying to break through there is hard to tell.]

Siblings are any individuals sharing the same parents - it gets somewhat complicated by half-siblings, adoptions, and something similar to the sense you're using it in. Twins are any pair of siblings born at the same time, identical or not - we also have triplets, quadruplets, and so forth.

If your social system isn't blood-relation based, what is your primary social framework?

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm familiar with the higher numbered multiple hatchings in theory, but I've never heard of any that resulted in viable grubs. Even twins tend to be at least a little undersized, even if the egg is enlarged to compensate.

The primary familial structure is romantic quadrants... four different distinct forms of pair-bond, I guess would be the best way to put it? Although one actually defaults to triads instead.

And beyond that, more nuances of alliance, indirect alliance, and patronage than I really care to list.

[founderinglight]

I think the highest viable pregnancy I've ever heard of is... eight? Which had some fairly concerning health repercussions for both mother and children, if my memory is at all reliable. Anything above four is fairly newsworthy, even more so if they're identical.

[He hums thoughtfully.]

Romance plays a role in ours, obviously, mostly but not exclusively in reproductive pairs. The rest tends to depend on someone's exact family background - those without siblings or other close family will tend to rely on friends more, and so on.

[His use of 'friends' maps to a term that, to a troll ear, more specifically means positive relationships, rather than antagonistic ones.]