01. un: hound - [Voice]

[cantilevers]

[He was still learning this whole earpiece device, so excuse him for it turning on and there sound like someone was fiddling with the setting. Where was his far more technologically inclined smart kid to help him? Ah well, he did realize it was on sooner than later thankfully.]

Uh... sorry? [Chagrin tone.] I was curious about an idea, since I still consider myself fairly new to this situation. Here's hoping you all with entertain me here:

What does a sense of community mean or feel like to you?

[A beat of a pause.]

Is it friends and family? Is it gathering places and camaraderie? How about a sense of people uniting for a specific purpose in mind? Everyone here has their own agendas and their own interests, and, with no overt crime present at the moment, it's curious to me how we could build a sense of community around these parts.

Comments

[welcome_summer]

... I only just arrived after the holiday eggs, and before the train. But before... I have watched people leave to return to our world without me. Watched people leave knowing the odds of seeing them ever again were next to nothing.

Then I had to do the leaving myself.

[cantilevers]

Ah yeah, that's also when I arrived, so we've been in this place the same amount of time. [He paused at the second sentence, his tone shifting softer and sympathetic.] I'm sorry to hear you've experienced so much loss.

Why did you have to leave?

[welcome_summer]

You have? Were you asked to help in the library as well?

And well... we were all of us brought in by a woman as suspects in the murder of her fiancé. Who, funnily enough, was still very much alive and hiding from her in our community, for... some reason. But eventually, that woman, the Director, would "uncover people's innocence" and send them away. Most of the time, there was advanced notice, and residents could squeeze in good-byes. It took... about five years for me to get cleared.

[cantilevers]

No, but I've been to the library to explore what it has to offer.

Ah well, I know a little something about an unfair justice system. It's good that you were able to clear your name, but that had to have been a hard fought five years. Were you sent to prison?

[welcome_summer]

[There's some hemming and hawwing for a moment as she considers that.]

I was tricked into traveling there--the Director was very good at that approach, luring people in when she wasn't just teleporting them. I suppose it was a prison of a sort, though? Not lock-and-key confinement! But it was a remote location, and it had a force-field around it, like Etraya has.

[cantilevers]

That's even worse then. It's unfortunate that you had to endure that treatment. Was the fiancé ever exposed as being alive and well?

[welcome_summer]

Oh, yes, it was a very dramatic reveal! There was a big enough threat to Camp, and personal to the both of them, that he had to show himself. Of course, just because he was found doesn't mean everyone was released then and there. She just went from being vengeance-driven to being too pre-occupied to turn off the, uh, system that brought new arrivals.

[cantilevers]

Ah, well, I suppose that is expected if there was an existential threat of some kind. Did you escape on your own or were eventually released?

[welcome_summer]

Released with a letter and a transportation ticket.

I will say that while the population was two to times larger than Etraya's, there wasn't any formal leadership roles. We had people working in the hospital, the mess hall, the library, and others who just helped out where they could. There was a general sense of who the best defenders were in a crisis.

We were still a strong community. The key things were communication and that interconnectedness. Etraya seems to have or be developing both.

[cantilevers]

I expect the lack of leadership roles is by design. We're supposed to be on the same playing field and dedicated to proving our worlds are worth saving, but this place is keeping us for as long as it wants us and we should all make the most of the opportunity.

[Maybe for some of them, this was their last opportunity.]

It does seem to be developing. It's good to see and even better to be apart of.

[welcome_summer]

[With a wry tone:] I'm sure the oldtimers would say that they are "making the most" already. This is giving food for thought, still.

[cantilevers]

Well, I am an old timer, and I can safely say that I haven't used that phrase yet.

[welcome_summer]

[She gives a (mock-)exasperated huff.]

I'm not bringing actual age into it! Honestly! I mean the people that have been in Etraya the longest. The ones with their literal houses in order on the other islands.

[cantilevers]

There are a lot of strange out of this world buildings here. Though, I heard it wasn't that difficult to make those requests, and it doesn't take more than a few months for some.

[welcome_summer]

That's still more months than we've been here. Which ones are the most strange to you?

[cantilevers]

Likely yeah. Most of the science buildings or these personal mansions for groups of people.

[welcome_summer]

The latter speaks to institutional wealth, organization... or both.

[cantilevers]

Or rich families. We have a lot of those. Cream at the top of the crop.