99th moon [Another Brick in the 4th Wall]

[paladinlost]

[Every day, many wasteful acts are committed across the world: nearly empty shampoo bottles are thrown away, ice cream bowls are not carefully scraped clean with a spoon, quality cold cuts are not placed between slices of freshly-baked bread, regained magic is not cast...

Cecil Harvey is not a wasteful person.

In fact, he's such an unwasteful person that he spends a large part of the weekend teleporting up to random confused souls, offering them ice cream and sandwiches aplenty, and teleporting away.

All of that with hair that looks like it came out of a shampoo commercial, of course.]

Comments

[paladinlost]

...They adapt, or they escape and accept the consequences as determined by the law.

[dragoon_pride]

Which I suppose is what anyone would do under such circumstances. Find some way to get by...

[paladinlost]

The clever ones manage easily enough, even when the world's police is against them. The others have more trouble.

[dragoon_pride]

Undoubtedly. I suppose it keeps them very well occupied anyway.

[paladinlost]

Criminal groups have many tasks for their members to complete, I imagine. And avoid the law takes much work.

[dragoon_pride]

I'm sure it certainly would. It seems it would be almost more work than it's worth, in a way.

[paladinlost]

Yes. What the police force lacks in talent, it has in persistence.

[dragoon_pride]

Sometimes persistence is all you need, to get anywhere.

[paladinlost]

They usually need a little more, but they've had their few successes thanks to it.

[dragoon_pride]

That's good, at least. Some success is better than none whatsoever.

[paladinlost]

Especially when it comes to fighting crime. I'm surprised the public still trusts them.

[dragoon_pride]

They've not tried to overthrow them or anything of the sort yet? How surprising.

[paladinlost]

They might not be particularly competent, but they are certainly benevolent. Perhaps that is why they are still accepted.

[dragoon_pride]

Perhaps so… acting in such a benevolent manner is certainly inspiring to people, if nothing else.

[paladinlost]

They also often go fetch travellers lost on the road, especially when the weather is dangerous. That must have earned them a lot of goodwill.

[dragoon_pride]

Yes, I’m sure they appreciate that help. It sounds like there are a great deal of threats to contend with out there, after all.

[paladinlost]

Thieves, mostly, but when their main target is both your weapon and your companion, it's best to catch them quickly.

[dragoon_pride]

It certainly is. That sounds like it would be easy enough to handle, though. Random thieves aren't typically all that skilled in a direct battle.

[paladinlost]

The natives are weak enough, and train a very limited number of species to boot. Their conscripts, however... Battling them is not so easy.

[dragoon_pride]

What makes them so much more challenging?

[paladinlost]

They come from the same worlds we all come from, they deal with this world in the same manner. Any strength we can achieve, they can achieve just as easily.

[dragoon_pride]

I like the sound of that... it means they'd be a more worthwhile challenge, a worthy rival of sorts.

[And really, Kain is all for this sort of thing.]

[paladinlost]

...A worthy challenger you could not battle yourself, and who is unlikely to fight fairly.

[Let's not forget that part.]

[dragoon_pride]

That first part hardly sounds fair. The second, I could deal with easily enough, though.

[paladinlost]

Certainly you could. But could your hypothetical newly-hatched caterpillar do the same?