VIDEO - un: steelchains

[codicies]

[ Dylan's filming with his phone in one hand, sitting on an unremarkable sofa at home. ]

Hey guys, I'm Dylan. I got here a couple months ago, right before that whole train debacle. But with the announcement of the next one coming up, and the whole theme being survival, I think we should all coordinate and prepare.

We don't know exactly what's waiting for us when we get there, but we know they don't have a lot of natural resources left and we'll be there for two weeks. We can bring anything we can carry. Two weeks of food should be easy enough to carry if you ration it, but two weeks of water is another story.

Does anyone have a good, portable way to filter or distill water? Something that could fit in a backpack? Or at least something that could be assembled from parts that fit in a backpack.

We should also brainstorm other ways to be prepared for whatever is coming.

Comments

text; un: appleaday

[unaliveyourself]

there's other ways to hydrate than simply drinking water!
what's your favorite fruit?

[codicies]

I like the basics. Apples, oranges, watermelon and stuff.

But if the world has limited resources there's no guarantee there will be any fruit.

[unaliveyourself]

it is, however, much easier to pack fruit than water!
you could bring an entire backpack full of apples ♥

[codicies]

Okay, that's good to know, then. What fruits will keep for two weeks?

un: kafrizzle | video

[snapp_crackle]

[ Popp is filming while smoking a batch of fish out in the middle of nowhere in Dewpoint, which is honestly a pretty boring activity. He gives a little wave. ]

Hey, I'm Popp.

Even if it's hard up for resources, water shouldn't be that hard to come by, right? All you'd need is a pot to boil it unless it's all seawater or something.

[codicies]

You're on the right track. Boiling it would kill bacteria, but if it was sea water we could distill it to get rid of salt. You still boil it, but you need to find a safe way to catch the steam.

You can do it with a pot and a bowl if you've got a lid for the pot, but that might be cumbersome to carry around all the time.

[snapp_crackle]

Not as big of a pain as carrying around a month's worth of water.

[codicies]

You have a great point. Maybe as long as the pot fits in the bag, we could shove everything else in the pot.

It'd be heavier but there'd be space.

[snapp_crackle]

And there's got to be somewhere to leave things, right? Even if it's just one person watching the bags while everyone else does... I don't know what else, fighting off monsters or building a fort or whatever we're up to.

[codicies]

Yeah. If nothing else, we've gotta stick together where we can. I have a feeling not many of us will pass the Survival Test if this place manages to isolate us all.

[snapp_crackle]

Well, sure. We're representing our worlds, after all. I'd hate to make mine look bad by not helping out.

[codicies]

I guess we are. I don't know. There's better representatives for my world here than me. I just want to help where I can.

@cid; text

[levindicated]

Right. If they’re low on resources we don’t want to look like easy pickings while bringing supplies.

I agree we should coordinate as fast as we can, though surely we will be forced to make some difficult decisions. I can make something to clean water, I can coordinate supplies, but that won’t mean much if we can’t guard it.

[codicies]

Good point, especially since there's no guarantee any of us will stay together, so we can't just appoint guards. We all got sorted immediately getting onto the train. If we stick the water equipment — or any other supplies — with one person, that's putting all our eggs in one very vulnerable basket.

Are the parts easy to come by? Maybe you could put out instructions for everyone to build one, even if it's a less efficient version.

[levindicated]

Easy enough with scavenging and a little love from Aurora. The problem repeats itself, though. There’s not a lot of duplicate bits in simple machines like that.

One person could hold the key to it working.

The other option is magic, though I hate to rely on that as well. But it is compact. Unless the atmosphere over there is completely wretched… Which it might be.

Though, it is just a month. We should be able to make do. They might be low on resources, but you still need clean water to cool machinery and sustain life. If it were that dire, they wouldn’t be too keen on allowing additional people access to anything at all.

Say there’s plenty of water, but the access is restricted, even to the dirty stuff. Or if part of the machine breaks, we might not be able to fix it. But more to the point, the day is coming close. I’m not sure if everyone here is capable of cooperation.

It might not be pleasant, but it might be better to carry curatives for poisoning than the means to clean water.

[codicies]

Stocking up on cures because prevention is too difficult to coordinate or carry... I hate how much sense that makes, but you've made a lot of good points.

I'm gonna be scouting the different stores and seeing what supplies I can grab. First aid kit was always going to be in there, but now I guess I gotta be on the lookout for anti-poison stuff, too. Charcoal helps with that, right?

[levindicated]

That it does. I’ll try to work both angles, but… At the end of the day, the best laid plans can still be laid to waste.

It’s best to be versatile, to learn and grow from hardships and environments.

Well find a way through, eh?

[codicies]

Yeah, in general I've learned to make my preparations with the assumption that they'll be rendered moot somehow, so I agree that versatility is important.

Worst case scenario, we have to entertain. Guess I gotta brush up on my... whatever it is people might find entertaining.

Video; UN: guthri3

[waxen_wings]

[ Well, this is a question Jay can answer. ]

Hey Dylan. Nice to - well, "meet" you? I think I saw a sporting goods store in town. The kind that would have camping supplies. Anybody check to see if they have Aquatabs? Those little water purification tablets you can take camping. They're not as good as boiling and distilling, but they're small and easy to pack. 10 boxes of that'd keep everyone here hydrated for a week.

[codicies]

Oh hell yeah, thanks for the tip. I am gonna start scoping out the stores to see what I can gather, I will be on the lookout for those.

Anything else you recommend? My expertise is in surviving on the streets, so I don't know much about camping stuff.

[waxen_wings]

It's been a long time since I went camping and I don't know if that's what she meant by "survive" but...

[ Jay scruffs his hair and sighs. ]

Okay, so - tie your food up high off the ground. Learn how to tie a real knot, and if you have to ask what a real knot is, you don't know how to tie it. If you're out in the woods and it rains, don't go looking for a cave or dugout to shelter in. Don't go stomping through piles of leaves if you can avoid it. Learn how to start a fire or find something watertight for matches. Wear wool or nylon if you can find it. Try not to wear cotton. Oh - and about fires. Put them out, don't let them burn down. Use a little bit of water but don't drown them if you're going to start another fire there later. If you set the fire on flat ground, you can use a big rock to smother it after you poured water on it to smother any embers.

I'm probably going to practice starting a fire now that I said all that.

[codicies]

[ Dylan is listening intently as Jay speaks. ]

As long as you're gonna be practicing making fires anyway, can you show me how?

[waxen_wings]

Might as well, since I'm the one that put the idea in your head and I don't want you to start a forest fire. You can tell me how to survive in the city as a trade.

[codicies]

Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna go shopping around for supplies and stuff. Anything you want me to try and track down?

[waxen_wings]

Not off the top of my head. I'm good for surviving, but I guess if you do find camping and hunting supplies, you could use this to send me video of what's there?

[codicies]

Sounds good.

[ And then, a few hours later: ]

I don't think there are any camping stores in Etraya.

[waxen_wings]

Okay, so it's not going to help us right now - but we're supposed to be able to ask Aurora for things. I'll ask her for one. The worst she can say is no.

[codicies]

Can you still show me how to do some stuff? I can probably cobble together some supplies from that convenience store they have here.

[waxen_wings]

Yeah, you got it. We can make do with what we've got.