I Like Long Walks On The Beach

[iamnotpolaris]

The beach is a nice, convenient, out-of-earshot place to calibrate the coordinates for this universe.

Comments

[not_only]

"I don't know, it doesn't seem that strange to me. They're very different kinds of islands, and very different kinds of trapped, and very different lengths of time. It only sounds weird when you summarize it just the right way."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I suppose. It is a little odd that we've landed so far from civilization three times in a row, but that's well within the bounds of statistical plausibility."

[not_only]

"I'd think there would be a lot more places that aren't near civilization than places that are. Or do most worlds have hardly any wilderness?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Most worlds have a lot of wilderness, but most worlds are also mostly vacuum. A similar feature to the one that ensures that we always land somewhere that won't instantly kill us tends to nudge us towards population centers."

[not_only]

"Oh. Why? I mean, it's obvious why you don't want to land somewhere that will instantly kill you, but why do you want to land near population centers?"

[iamnotpolaris]

"Mostly because there's only two of us--or there were--and interacting with society sometimes is good for our mental health, even if it's not the society we grew up with."

[not_only]

"That makes sense."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm kind of impressed that you held up as well as you did all by yourself in Terraria for those years. Maybe the flesh statues help."

[not_only]

"Maybe I just don't need other people around very much. I didn't have a lot of friends as a kid, either."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I think solitary confinement is supposed to be pretty bad for you even if you're not very social but maybe the lack of a 'confinement' part helps."

[not_only]

"The flesh statues were mostly creepy and upsetting and sometimes practically useful, but maybe they were helping with this too."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, however it happened, I'm glad you're okay."

[not_only]

"Thanks."

[iamnotpolaris]

"You're welcome. I mean, I'd be glad that most anyone hadn't been permanently psychologically scarred, but you're a nice person."

[not_only]

"Am I?" he wonders. "It's hard to tell that sort of thing with nobody around but flesh statues."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, I mean, you seem okay! You're not the kind of scarred that's miserable, at least, which is the important thing."

"...Unless of course you are just putting on a brave front and are secretly a mess of insecurities and unhappiness, in which case...that would be bad."

[not_only]

"Yes, that would be terrible," he agrees.

[iamnotpolaris]

giggle

"Seriously, though, if you're feeling bad for whatever reason we can...probably help. Or manage to find someone else who can help."

[not_only]

He smiles when she giggles.

"Thanks," he says. "I think I'm doing fine, though."

[iamnotpolaris]

"That's good. I'm glad we found you, though."

[not_only]

"Me too."

[iamnotpolaris]

"I am also glad the dragon and unicorn turned out not to be hostile."

[not_only]

"That wouldn't have ended well."

[iamnotpolaris]

"Well, probably it would have ended with Edie knocking them unconscious and then us all fleeing the universe."

[not_only]

"Unless that didn't work for some reason. And even if it did, that's only where it would've ended for us."