石神千空 Senku Ishigami (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
10billionpercent) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
voidtreckerexpress2020-11-01 08:14 am
10billionpercent) wrote in voidtreckerexpress2020-11-01 08:14 am
[Open] Escapades With A Mad Genius
Who: Senku Ishigami and anyone who wants to spend time with him.
Where: Various
When: Imagination 1-6
What: Senku apparently has all kinds of things to do pre-mission.
Warnings: One prompt is medical in nature, it's not really graphic.
Kitchen
In the absence of a laboratory, Senku appeared to be using cooking to cope. No, he wasn't on the purple team, meaning he wasn't officially cooking, but it was keeping him busy, and no one really wanted him to have idle hands for too long.
From the time they left the platform, until the night before the mission, he could likely be found in there at least once a day working on one project or another.
The first day, he was busy using the new ingredient of honey to make a caramel on the stove, and he had bunches of cilantro and some limes on the counter in front of him, as well as a water carbonatation machine.
After that, he could be found with a few other projects. In one instance he had lemons, honey and coconut oil in front of him. In another, he appeared to be making some kind of marinade with soy sauce and a variety of spice packets and some kind of meat. In a third, he was slicing ginger root and daikon as thinly as he could.
On Imagination day 5, he'd found his way to a few mangoes which since he didn't wear his SCA on the train very often, he didn't get the reminder that peeling mangoes was a bad idea. He'd barely started the first one when he developed a rash on his hands and at least the skin that could be seen swelled up, including his eyes and lips, thanks to urushiol being present between the peel and the fruit. One might stop at that point and deal with the allergic reaction, but Senku proceeded to continue peeling fruit as though he wasn't immensely uncomfortable.
Spa
Senku will likely check out the spa late in the evening when he couldn't sleep one night. For modesty's sake, at least other people's modesty, he will select the requisite orange swimsuit and sink into the water for a little soak. Notably, when wet, his hair collapses into some semblance of ordinary.
He wasn't interested in a massage, but a soak and a steam wouldn't be out of place.
[OOC: Also available, choose your own adventure. Senku haunts most cars, he doesn't sleep a whole lot and he doesn't usually mind company. You can just add whatever you like - don't be afraid of the pre-planned threads, or you can contact me on Discord: Ammeschan#5385 or![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
Ammeschan]
Where: Various
When: Imagination 1-6
What: Senku apparently has all kinds of things to do pre-mission.
Warnings: One prompt is medical in nature, it's not really graphic.
Kitchen
In the absence of a laboratory, Senku appeared to be using cooking to cope. No, he wasn't on the purple team, meaning he wasn't officially cooking, but it was keeping him busy, and no one really wanted him to have idle hands for too long.
From the time they left the platform, until the night before the mission, he could likely be found in there at least once a day working on one project or another.
The first day, he was busy using the new ingredient of honey to make a caramel on the stove, and he had bunches of cilantro and some limes on the counter in front of him, as well as a water carbonatation machine.
After that, he could be found with a few other projects. In one instance he had lemons, honey and coconut oil in front of him. In another, he appeared to be making some kind of marinade with soy sauce and a variety of spice packets and some kind of meat. In a third, he was slicing ginger root and daikon as thinly as he could.
On Imagination day 5, he'd found his way to a few mangoes which since he didn't wear his SCA on the train very often, he didn't get the reminder that peeling mangoes was a bad idea. He'd barely started the first one when he developed a rash on his hands and at least the skin that could be seen swelled up, including his eyes and lips, thanks to urushiol being present between the peel and the fruit. One might stop at that point and deal with the allergic reaction, but Senku proceeded to continue peeling fruit as though he wasn't immensely uncomfortable.
Spa
Senku will likely check out the spa late in the evening when he couldn't sleep one night. For modesty's sake, at least other people's modesty, he will select the requisite orange swimsuit and sink into the water for a little soak. Notably, when wet, his hair collapses into some semblance of ordinary.
He wasn't interested in a massage, but a soak and a steam wouldn't be out of place.
[OOC: Also available, choose your own adventure. Senku haunts most cars, he doesn't sleep a whole lot and he doesn't usually mind company. You can just add whatever you like - don't be afraid of the pre-planned threads, or you can contact me on Discord: Ammeschan#5385 or
no subject
He went to sit next to Senku, expression playful and light. Not that he couldn't read the room. Roland seemed ... pensive, strangely so, considering how Gen was guessing he was about to grill them about their world, not something that affected the man personally.
Unless, Roland was seeing parallels that Gen was unaware of? Or was he just feeling misplaced guilt that they had to deal with what was their entire civilization collapsing? He's pretty sure they won't be kept in the dark for long.
Still, Gen would keep up his persona, teasing a little, "Your hair looks great, by the way."
no subject
Roland nods cordially, but manages to offer Gen a small smile, his lips upturned to one side. His hand strays to the top of his bangs, smoothening down nonexistent cowlicks. "Thanks. You noticed?" Hair oils go a long mile, after all. He shakes his head, but it doesn't take a lot to bring him back to being serious. He'll take his time to address them, as if he was actually about to make a speech. Body language reflective thereof, elbows on the table and hands folded together. But if he looks like he's stiff, it's probably because he is. Worried? Perhaps, under this light.
"Thank you both for coming to see me. I know this was a little out of the blue, but I appreciate your time." He exhales steadily. "That's correct. When I heard about what you guys had to go through, I...thought long and hard and decided I might benefit from your shared experiences. Whatever you're comfortable sharing, at least."
He'll stop for now, gauging their interest; their understanding. Seeing what he might need to disclose on his own terms, too.
no subject
He didn't mind.
He shrugged slightly at Roland's question. "We've talked a bit about the overview, so I'm guessing you want more specifics than that. Clearly it's details you think we wouldn't want to share, or we wouldn't be in here." Senku offered his observations first.
"I'm not typically the kind of guy who would withhold knowledge though. I've got some hard lines, but I don't think you're going to get near them." He speculated a little bit.
"So, I don't mind."
no subject
He'd be happy to help patch up any cuts that might be caused when the truth sliced too roughly against Roland.
"You're talking about shared experiences," Gen pointed out, looking at Roland now. "So you're thinking your world could experience what ours did. Or something enough like ours did that you're hoping you can learn from us - either to prevent what'll happen, or to survive the aftermath."
Guessing, of course, but it seemed like an easy guess. "Senku won't ever withhold knowledge if it has a chance of saving lives, so. Ask whatever you'd like."
no subject
All of it, he means to agree with. Roland already following their train of thought, and he's glad that they're already on the same page. There really was something about the two of them that reminded him of his past, when he was surrounded by a sea of unnamed faces with only his closest counsel to keep him grounded. Advisors, but also leaders in their own right. Something Roland gravitates towards, already respects, given how much Senku provides and wishes to help his fellow men. Whatever rough edges were there, Roland is confident they'd want what was best for their people, the Kingdom of Science as they call it.
But more than that, Gen's mention that it could happen to Roland's world too...He doesn't give away the fact that it already has. In a different shape, a different form.
"Thank you, then. It just bears repeating." Roland takes a deep breath before beginning in earnest. He's ready to absorb what he can and take it back with him, wherever the winds of fate will fly him to next.
"Why don't I just let you start from the beginning, just to get a clearer picture? I know you're both from a version of earth that's just a little different than mine. I know that Senku was...the first to wake up? Regain himself?" Roland shakes his head, some of the details still trying to patch themselves into a coherent picture. "What happened to the world? What kind of malevolent force has the technology, the power, to petrify an entire globe? Does this have something to do with the war of philosophies you mentioned, Senku?"
Modern technologies versus improving the lives of millions. Plus, recalling what Gen had told Roland too - that there were some people who survived, five of them in space when it happened. It's a lot for Roland to unpack, so he's glad to be taking note now.
no subject
“Those questions encompass a lot.” Senku informed Roland first. “I’ll try and be as informative as I can be.” He couldn’t think of much offhand to avoid, except perhaps the admission that they had one of the petrification devices on them. For now, they were going to hold that close to the vest.
“I’ll start with the beginning. Our world was fairly modernized. The year was 2019, and we’d been through technological innovation to the point of space travel being a regular thing, with the International Space Station being in orbit. Whether our world’s histories correspond exactly doesn’t matter, they probably don’t, but this is just to give you an idea of what kind of world it was. People lived in modern skyscrapers in the first world countries, communication was on a global scale, as was trade.” Senku began his explanation. “One of the biggest changes was the internet, which allowed easy communication with people around the world.”
“For the purposes of this discussion, we’re going to assume this is an attack and the adversary is hostile.” Senku began. “On June first, all of the swallows worldwide fell out of the sky. The birds were petrified mid-flight and landed on the ground. A few could be dismissed as some kind of artist’s campaign in lifelike swallow statues, but this was on such a scale that it was all over the internet. Articles were written, wondering if it was the actual birds, and social media was completely abuzz with the phenomenon. The sheer volume of posts and the locations across the globe made me come to the conclusion that these were the actual birds and not some kind of stunt. That was the only logical conclusion and it was fascinating. I managed to get my hands on a few on the second and spent most of that night analyzing the data and uploading it to a few places that I knew might get attention as well as experimenting with-” Senku paused and cut himself off.
“That...probably isn’t important.” He chuckled a little sardonically. “In any event. On the third, at 12:40 p.m. I caught sight of a light from behind the Tokyo Skytree, and it took fifty-six seconds to reach me from there and for myself to get petrified, and obviously everyone around me. I can’t say for sure when the attack started, but I do know from information that Byakuya left behind, it began somewhere in South America. He didn’t narrow it down further than that. At the point it completely circumnavigates the globe, that’s it for humanity.” Senku explained. Based on the route from South America to Japan, there was no way they were the last stop.
“The only humans unaffected by the petrification were the six astronauts presently on the ISS, in orbit outside of whatever the attack is, so we can surmise the attack didn’t make it into orbit.” Senku continued. “Shamil Volkov, Darya and Yakov Nikitin, Connie Lee, Byakuya Ishigami and the diva Lillian Weinberg.” He could explain a lot more about the group if Roland was interested.
“Instead of panicking, I opted instead to think, and keep track of how much time was passing. It was extremely vital, especially the longer it went on. I had a lot of questions, but remaining conscious was a challenge. It’s total sensory deprivation. You have no senses at all, it’s just nothing.” Senku frowned a little bit. “I got to 117,354,893,870 seconds, which put us at April first, 5738, putting us just shy of 3719 years, by two months. Really lucky for me, because if I broke free in winter, it would be game over.”
Senku paused a moment then, to consider his thoughts. “What I can tell you is that the statues are completely solid all the way through, it’s easy to tell with the broken ones. Those that are complete can still be revived. Over time, my statue migrated, I found myself luckily downstream from a cave in which there were bats, and bats contribute to making nitric acid. The acid interacted with the energy I’d stored up with all that thinking which is how I broke free. There’s...a lot to this petrification that I can get into if you want more scientific details.”
“To answer your question, this had nothing to do with the ideological disagreement. I was sixteen and on my lunch break in high school, ugh. High school. Sorry.” He laughed. He actually had not enjoyed the whole school experience, he found it way too restrictive. “As far as I can tell there were no warnings aside from the swallows, and based on all the data I had, no one knew what that meant. So it wasn’t some kind of ransom situation either.”
Senku exhaled. “You might be a little disappointed by what we know about the who, the truth is, it’s pretty little. We managed to pick up a signal over the airwaves, which was just the word ‘why’ repeated over and over again in morse code. When we did that, I wasted no time asking for a conversation, but the signal stopped then and we hadn’t been contacted for awhile, but after the incident on Treasure Island, we got a new signal – it was the order to make the petrification device we’d picked up there work, in the hopes we had it near the speaker. We did, but it’s out of juice and I don’t know how to recharge it, which is why we’re sure it’s hostile. The voice it’s using is an AI voice, and it’s mimicking my voice at the moment. We tracked the signal through radar, and through the movements of the origin, we’ve figured out that the Whyman is on the moon. We have a lot of unanswered questions.”
That was probably a lot to digest, and now that he’d taken a breath, Gen could offer his insights or experiences, and Roland could ask questions.
no subject
At the end, his expression was a bit wry. "And yes - none of it makes sense. Absolutely none of it. If the attack affected the entire world - there's no faction, no nation, no ideology that benefited. Right? Everyone's stuck in that same boat. Wham, it petrified every single person."
"Not to say that I really think wars make a lot of sense to begin with," Gen admitted, "but there's a purpose behind a weapon, right? Someone on the other end is holding it. They're alive while someone else is the one who hurts and suffers. So, something that just wipes out the world ..."
He shrugged. "And our world isn't like some of the others. There's nothing supernatural. If there are aliens - probably, sure, I'd believe that - we've never met them. Humanity is behind this somehow, but, with no threats or demands or way for humanity to survive? It seems completely crazy."
no subject
He reserves his comments and questions until after both of them speak. Doesn't think it wise to interrupt when he's so enraptured with the tale anyway. Senku had always given him an impression that he was a guy who knew what he was doing, talented beyond measure, but it's when he recalls the history of their version of earth that Roland realizes Senku was not just an ordinary high schooler. He's also truly, without a doubt, a leader of a budding faction. The Kingdom of Science. Roland respects him for that, respects him for what he's had to go through without anyone else -
Alone. Roland's stoic expression is only marked by disconcerted nuances; a dip of his brow, the deepening of his frown, or the tightening of his arms against his chest. They were conscious that entire time they were turned to stone? He was counting the moments until what, death? For three thousand years? Until chance helped him break free...? It's this piece of information that makes Roland swallow thickly, as if Senku and Gen were speaking of a plot of a horror movie and not real life.
But this is what he asked for, wasn't it? To see a new perspective from someone who's survived the worst of the world's horrors; who built from the ashes the way Roland dreams of, has nightmares over. But at least he did, right?
It can be done.
He speaks then, with the gravitas deserving of the tale. "I...came from the year 2018. And as far as I can tell, our world histories do seem to share similarities. There's nothing special or magical about the world I was born either. We had internet, the space station from NASA...Easy communication, too." It seemed a good time to show them, a semblance of proof. His hand glimmers from the Arms Band, and out comes his mobile phone. A touchscreen, a couple of inches long, but it's turned off. "Cellphones, tablets, laptops and computers. The works. It's the same. We're just different versions of one another's Earth." He leaves his phone out, but it is laid down with the screen against the table.
"There are small differences, though. The names of countries, for one." He shuffles his gaze between them, though this isn't something he's uncomfortable sharing. It might help give context on his own reasons. "It's Aremica, where I come from. And I'm the president of its United States."
He takes a breath, quick. On to the rest. What really matters.
"So Byakuya Ishigami, your father, was part of the ISS team that survived the petrification. Did that team leave any sign or message that they were aware of what happened to the rest of humanity when they were in orbit? Traced the light back tot he source of the attack...?" Roland thinks a bit more; wants to add, for his understanding.
"It can't be coincidence that the 'Whyman' sending you instructions to fix the weapon that petrified the world came from the moon." Not that he was implying anything, but he had to be logical too. "I suppose more than anything, I just want to say that being the first to awaken and then being alone for all that time is...a feat of a lifetime. Senku, you're strong." More than he is brilliant, but that already received Roland's constant support on the day to day. Here, he sees the tenacity that he might have recognize but not put a name to since meeting the boy genius.
"How did you get unpetrified then, Gen? Plus, there's a matter of...the matter of what you did when you woke up. I've built nations and helped create kingdoms in my lifetime twice over, but to do so without any aid is unprecedented." He swallows again. The determination set on his face, more than before.
"What did you do? How did you do it? What was the first step?"
Because if I have to do it too...
no subject
“Between the Hundred Tales and the record, we know they saw the light encompass the Earth. You have to understand that technology was such that there was video surveillance in all kinds of places, and some of those places were for the purpose of showing things. Livestreamed events, that kind of thing. We know they didn’t have a chance to get through to NASA or Roscosmos in the time it took, which could be equally their position in relation to the communication satellites. He managed to use one of my favourite tricks, scouring social media to pinpoint us to South America. More than that? No. He’s not much of a scientist.” Senku said with a little bit of a snort. Well, not the kind of hard sciences that Senku knew and loved. He’d long ago surpassed his father in scope and knowledge.
“They knew, in orbit, that something had gone horribly wrong. They intended to come down and save humanity. They did the best thing they could, they kept the species going.” Senku explained. “There are two groups at least, of primitive peoples that are descendants from the six astronauts, who’ve survived over the course of that time. Population is low, it’s controlled by external factors. I can get into that more if you like.”
“Any more than that, and I’m gonna need some more data points. I can make a semi-educated guess, but there’s a lot of problems with it, compared with what we know about the Medusa we found on Treasure Island. Beyond that, there’s likely no evidence left of this device, I mean, it’s been so long the odds of it degrading into nothing are far higher than us finding something. If we’re going to go to South America, it won’t be for that alone.” Senku hummed. “Which is maybe in the plans, I don’t know them and Gen won’t tell me.” A pointed look went in his direction. “But I can certainly hypothesize that planning a trip to South America for supplies is not outside of something I would do. Especially if we’re going to America anyway.”
Senku paused at Roland’s next question and shook his head. “You misunderstand. He’s not sending instructions. He’s sending the command. The device we have our hands on, works under a verbal command. You-” He paused. “You have to speak a certain set of instructions to make it work. If what he said was broadcast to a Medusa that was full of power, it would completely spread out over the area of the Earth.” He huffed a little bit. “But this device can’t possibly be the same, I don’t think it could work the same, we’re talking about the original beam being significantly faster than the one we encountered with the Medusa. I have no idea what this tech is, it’s far beyond humanity’s knowledge.” He was leaning towards aliens himself, but he couldn’t say for sure, nor would he. Especially since the mini devices rained down from the sky. It was only logical.
He scoffed a little bit at the compliment. “I don’t think I am. I’m just a dumb guy who gets excited about things like space, mechs and robots and I intend on seeing humanity get back to where it was.” He was willing to downplay this as much as possible.
“Gen was unpetrified by Tsukasa, with the revival fluid.” Senku answered. “Any more about that…” He gestured at Gen. He hadn’t been there.
He hesitated at the final set of questions. How did he manage things? What had he done? He looked for a moment like he was uncomfortable, rather uncomfortable, actually. He frowned, he looked like he was thinking about it. The gritty parts of their world was largely sanitized when they spoke of it because honestly, griping about things like that was rather pointless, wasn’t it?
“The first step was keeping myself alive.” Senku answered finally. “It sounds so easy, and simple, but it’s devastatingly anything but. I preserved the stone shell that I broke free from and started walking. It was late afternoon already. The first thing I did when I got a chance, was assess my situation. The calculation of converting that amount of time to a date is some real nasty mental math.” He complained a bit. “In that amount of time, leap years, taking in the factor of the rotation of Earth changing the time…” He shook his head. “Nasty stuff. But I got there, and April was really a best case scenario. I was hoping for something to go my way, and that was it. Then I was dealing with an unfamiliar location. I had no way of knowing how far away from Tokyo centre I was, and if you think of it this way Fuji alone has erupted maybe a dozen times over that span of time. The landscape as changed a lot.”
He exhaled. “I found a stream, which was good. I considered what humans needed to survive and combustion was a must. I spent much of the evening trying to rub a stick and some wood together. Total failure.” He offered this with a bit of a weak smile, but this part of his life was what rattled him the most.
“I had to approach it another way. I figured then that not just the humidity in the air, but the fact is I’m not strong enough, nor do I have enough dexterity and finesse to start a fire that way. I needed a bow drill.” Senku held up three fingers then.
“So steps to a bow drill. I needed rope and a stick. There were some vines, but I can’t pull them down so I needed a knife. Step one, was to get a rock and figure out how to turn it into a pointed tool. That took a couple of hours, it’s not as easy as I make it look now. A lot of trial and error. Then I had to get the vine and split it, thanks to the knife. That was step two. Then I had to weave the strands together to make a rope. That’s step three. Combined it with a stick and I had a bow drill. So on the second night, I had fire.” He grinned a little bit.
“Ultimately, everything we do is an insane amount of steps, broken down to the smallest, tiniest bit of minutiae. Then you’re talking about other basic needs right? I had a stream. I had fire. Obviously I needed food.” Senku pointed out, but he was already two days in. “I made myself a spear out of rock, rope and stick and tried to hunt a deer. I’m pretty sure that deer was laughing at me.” He snorted. “I have no stamina at all and while my instinct was to chase the deer to stab it, that was a horrible plan. So then I needed a plan to get deer. Traps, obviously, so I needed more rope. I had to go back, follow the steps from before and get rope.” Senku explained. “Then I fastened traps and waited until I caught something. It did happen to be a deer. I foraged a couple of bites here or there but I had no reliable food before I got that deer.”
He paused there, if only to give Roland the chance for questions, if he was wondering how one got from this existence to the next part.
no subject
"Spoilers, my dearest," Gen told him with a little bit of a wry smile, responding to his future knowledge. "You'll find out soon enough. And our plans are a little up in the air anyway, you know how these things go. We will need to adjust our plans based on what happens when I return anyway."
A light, cheerful way of saying he wasn't even entirely certain if Senku was alive, or dying. Yes. Not dwelling on that right now.
But then he gave Roland a rueful smile. "I was revived by a man who I shared an interview with once - I knew exactly who and what he was, a very fearsome MMA fighter. And within a few seconds, he made it clear to me he'd prefer me smashed and dead - and that he wanted to kill 'the smartest man on Earth.' I was in a bit of a precarious position!"
And Gen laughed, as if that wasn't such a big deal.
However, once more, he largely let Senku handle the bulk of the explanation. And ... there was a lot here that he had inferred, but never heard confirmed aloud. He knew Senku had shitty stamina. He knew he had struggled. And ... he doubted any of those six months alone had been easy, since he'd been awake for a thousand years, and alone for even once he was finally able to move.
He reached out, and offered Senku his hand to hold and squeeze, wordless support.
no subject
The flow of information doesn't intimidate him, but spurs him to start writing faster, cherry-picking what he can and saving his thoughts for another time. He doesn't wish to interrupt the flow of events as he processes it, one factoid at a time, nodding and humming and shifting his gaze from the pages to their faces, making sure to catch nuances in between. From what Roland can tell...it almost sounded like a modern-day genesis. Restarting the world, literally, from the races born out of the surviving astronauts. Would his reality have that? Would that be the key? Get in touch with astronauts who may have been in outer space during the time of the nuclear bomb going off? How would they even land, then? Where would they go...?
But then, Roland would be all alone then, if he ever returned. Would that even be a possibility for him? He decides to compartmentalize what he wants to focus on, for now. At some point in time, these thoughts will come rushing back at him again anyway. Things are crossed out, squiggled away, and he continues in beat with Senku and Gen's words.
"What a nefarious scheme." He says under his breath, just audible enough. "To do this to the whole world...To invent a technology that causes mass extinction thru petrification...What a journey you've both had. From waking up to apparently, getting death threats as soon as you do." And from the sounds of things, it's far from over too. This sentiment he means quite deeply. It seems this little gathering of survivors really had that thread of hope connecting them all to the endgame - to bring back or revive the fallen, start anew, the best way they could or knew how to.
He moves his pen again, turning to a fresh page. Senku's survival plan is detailed, but he appreciates it because he had no base knowledge apart from the usual: looking for water, which he had outlined already; then building a fire? Roland's brows furrow, muttering just to repeat what Senku instructs. "Right. So bow drill, next..." His writing slows significantly with each passing line, the only indication that Roland's thinking much harder than he was previously. Otherwise, his face betrays nothing.
He wants to ask so much more. Senku, what would you do if you had neither deer to hunt for food nor a viable place to find clean water, a stream to drink from? Roland realizes there was going to be an extra layer of challenge for him; a nuclear wasteland was not going to be the same as a world covered in overgrowth. But a part of him is hesitant to talk about it, the words heavy on his tongue. How would he truly ask for Senku's brilliance or Gen's astuteness if he didn't try to be honest about things from his end, though?
Thankfully, he could buy himself some time with an equally genuine observation. As he ponders what to say next, his pen swaying side to side like a metronome, Roland returns to a point mentioned, a small smile on his face. For now, he will keep his other observation close to his chest until he confirms more for himself; since when did Gen start calling Senku his dearest and not just 'my dear...?'
Interesting.
"Say, if you want, I can always train with you here. Help build up your stamina, build some cardio and muscle tone. Whatever I can help with, just let me know. For both of you." Roland turns to them, determined. "I was a pretty small kid back in the day, and picking a martial art honed my body in a lot of ways I didn't expect. Anyway, it's something I want to offer in case it ever crossed your mind. And it's a little better than small talk training, right? You've got Gen for that, now. Heh." That inside joke was never going to get old, at this point. The origin of Roland's friendship with Senku, at this point.
no subject
No. He wouldn’t consider that. He didn’t have to do it again.
“By the time Gen was revived, we’re talking a year into the future here.” Senku pointed out. He smirked slightly at Gen and returned back to him. “Spoilers.”
He sighed and continued. “Food, water, next need was shelter. I built a tree house over time, as well as made leather from the deer hide. While the deer was pretty scarce, sometimes I caught things that were smaller. I foraged for mushrooms and berries, edible plants…” Senku sighed. “My days were completely filled with this. There was no shortcut, and no matter how tired I was, there was no way to avoid the fact that staying alive was the priority.”
Needless to say, he wasn’t resting very well. “Once the leather was ready, I then had clothes.” Yes, he’d been wandering around mostly nude for a long enough time, but it wasn’t like there was anyone to see him. “Another thing to keep in mind is that water, because if you hurt yourself you need to keep it as clean as possible. Infection is another death sentence when there’s no medicine. I would get soap, but again, that’s months away at this point.” He frowned a little bit.
“I had a base set up eventually, tools made, extra food gathered and a shelter and finally I could maybe work on something else, which to me was figuring out how the hell I was revived in the first place and how to get someone else to do it with me. There’s no way a single human can keep going forever, it’s just too hard.” Senku admitted. “I narrowed it down to the nitric acid, and went and poured it on him, but that didn’t do anything which was…” It had been immensely frustrating and disappointed and after he thought it through that night had been unpleasant.
“Also, I was doing a lot of talking. Partly, maybe, to remember how.” Senku frowned. “I talked to animals and statues and all kinds of shit.” He glanced away briefly. “Socialization is required for all humans, to some degree and as time goes on, it starts to really eat at you.” He could caution Roland of that.
“I hauled Taiju directly to the source, and I would sometimes go and yell at him for taking so long, I was getting really impatient with him, but nothing could be more of a relief then when he did wake up and that was in October.” Senku admitted with a pleased exhale. “The thing was, his brain wasn’t sleeping either, he just doesn’t think much.” He loved his best friend in his own way, but he wasn’t much of a thinker.
“With Taiju there, our chances of surviving winter increased exponentially. My stamina is shit, but his is limitless. Cheat code, that he is. He could handle the gathering and the fishing and that sort of thing while I figured out what to do about all of the petrified people.”
At that moment he sighed and offered a bit of a shrug at Roland’s offer. “I would like to say that would help, but honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t seem to build stamina at all.” He glanced away, it was a bit of a sore point for him, because he’s constantly lagging behind. “It’s not like I don’t live a very physical life, I do. Even when there’s more people, you might’ve guessed I can’t leave well enough alone, I’m involved in most of the processes. Mostly, I ignore whatever’s going on and deal with the consequences later.”
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His thumb was rubbing against Senku's hand, and he snorted. "Spoilers. It doesn't count if I was there to see that future, dearest."
And his grip tightened just slightly at the socialization bit. Senku was far from a social butterfly, but this much Gen had guessed before. He was human, and he needed people like any other human being did. Being aware for thousands of years, being alone for six months - it's something Gen worried over from the moment he saw that date carved into the tree, how a man enduring that could stay sane.
Roland got a wry look. "My friend, if Senku-chan's endurance didn't level up during all that time he survived on his own - hunting and fishing and building what he needed to survive before he woke Taiju - then it's not something positive thinking and exercise can fix. Of course he does put in the effort to do any work he drags me into, or asks Taiju or other muscle-y members of our group to do. If you'd like to help, you can help me keep him from wearing himself out too fast."
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Would he be able to buy wooden swords for practice? Did they already have them? Roland makes a note to check. There's a lot there to make note of anyway, between Senku's further origins and the fact that he had been alone for so long. Such a detail wasn't lost on Roland at all; it might be what makes him realize that upon meeting Senku, it was no wonder the concept of small talk didn't interest him in the least. He wouldn't know what to do himself, not having anyone to speak to. Counting in your head, as your body refuses to move, petrified until luck chances your way.
He grows oddly quiet after that thought takes ahold of him. The pen in his hand stills, and the ink no longer stains the pages. Of all the things he's writing, the little tips and tricks, how to survive and what to do when you awaken...He has to be a bit more candid. Even this advice was too far ahead for Roland, if only because -
He takes a breath and sets his utensil down. For this, he has nothing to write about.
"Senku, what's your strategy if you woke up and none of those resources were available to you?" He starts first, feels the way he says it, makes sure its leveled. "What if instead of a world overgrown, you woke up to...nothing?" Roland stops here for now, wonders if that's enough to go on. Or, he'll wait, see what he asks so he can formulate a better way to say what he means. Not that he distrusts them, and by all accounts he should be more honest about things given how much they've shared already.
It's just hard for him to talk about, private by nature.
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He wished he could blame it on a lack of socialization and maybe some of that was there, but he hadn’t been the most socially adept person in the first place. People tended to have to meet him where he was and typically, they didn’t mind the more they got to know him, but Senku always had a hard time making friends.
He could continue the story, but it might not be necessary if Roland had something else in mind. He blinked.
“You don’t have nothing. You need to define nothing for me.” Senku answered easily. “Unless you’re floating in a void, I’ve got nothing for that, you’d starve to death.”
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"Even outer space has something," Gen mused. "Debris, space dust, UV light and radiation. It might seem silly, my friend - but you will need to give us more to go on if you want us to help you."
His eyes glinted knowingly. "You seem to be preparing for a future of your own."
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Besides, what was this exchange between comrades - between friends - compared to the years and years he's had to endure to try and wrangle stubborn nations into peace? Senku and Gen at least, didn't mean him harm. They knew too, what it's like...
Roland closes his eyes only briefly, before donning his signature determined look, brow furrowed, lips forming a thin line. Worried, but it's as Gen said. How could they help him if he hid the fact?
"Nuclear, then." He says, quietly. "On the day my nation was supposed to host a world summit in a bid to unify all countries under a banner of peace...A nuke flew across the sky and leveled the city." Now one city was nothing, but Roland had to clarify -
"My version of earth was already at the worst of political and military tensions across every border. Such an act of aggression wouldn't be the last." He knew they were smart enough for the rest of what he's implying. The nuke would have started the end. The world war to end all world wars. He knows that. That's loomed over him for a long time, when he still donned the mantle of president.
He pauses here, and waits dutifully.
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He was familiar with the tensions that Roland was talking about, at least historically or rather it was always a possibility once nuclear weapons came into play. He sat back with his arms crossed then, inadvertently letting go of Gen’s hand, but he needed to think.
He got the picture, it wasn’t just one bomb but potentially annihilation. But world annihilation was so incredibly difficult and unlikely. One couldn’t really set off enough bombs to level each city could they? No, they wouldn’t, because once the governments fell, the citizens didn’t have access.
Senku considered for the moment that this was a possibility. He shifted in his posture, one hand coming up to his eyes and two fingers were raised. He was calculating, Gen would recognize that.
“What determines most the factor of surviving is very much how close you are to the blast. The thing about nuclear weapons is not just the explosion itself, but the radiation. It depends on the size of the weapon, and what agent you’re using, I mean the devices used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were completely different, so I can’t speculate as to what the composition is for your world.” He exhaled.
“In the short term, assuming I was outside the blast radius and didn’t die initially, I’d identify where the bomb hit and head in the opposite direction. I would travel as far as I could without tapping resources because radiation spreads. Even I can travel 80 kilometres in two days, if I have to. If you’re talking about two different places and being in between, you want to put yourself between the two places. Barring that, aim for an area further out. The worst of it can be avoided that way. The good news is that radiation levels decrease much faster than scientists thought they would, plants were already starting to regrow in those regions within two years.” Senku explained. “And getting far enough away would limit the long term effects on people, but the worst effects come from being too close, and it’s a really nasty bit of warfare.”
He had no intention, personally, in reinventing nuclear arms. Without a doubt they would be, someday, but it wasn’t going to be him.
“As much as you consider world annihilation, it’s statistically unlikely that you would decimate the entire planet in one shot. The governments wouldn’t survive, most likely and then who would have access to the arms? America in my world, is a huge landmass, compared to Japan, so there’s likely a lot of open space. It may not be ideal, but it might be what you have to deal with. Presumably you’d be dealing with a lot more survivors than I am too, because people would probably live outside of the blast radius and effects radius.”
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"That's going to be your big problem, my friend - and opportunity," Gen told him. "Governments and infrastructure as you know it will probably be gone. But you'd still have people. Tons, and tons, of people."
"People who suddenly likely have ... no internet. No international travel. No international trade, or even in a place like the United States or China or Russia, no organized shipping within those massive countries any longer. Society as you knew it will fall apart, and ... that's what you'll need to help manage."
"People are going to panic. People are going to fight and accuse and act against their own best interests as they attempt to protect themselves, and that is your real problem," Gen told him. "If you're worried about survival, you'll need to worry about how to keep people feeling safe, and like things are under control, and that their favorite brand of soda won't be out of stock indefinitely."
"Your cities are going to be the worst hit, even if they're not targeted by nukes," Gen told him, "because without a country's infrastructure to keep them afloat - they'll quickly run out of what they need to keep themselves going. Tight quarters means there will be a lack of food, increased illnesses, greater unrest and riots."
"Radiation is the least of your problems."