Status Update: 6
Same old situation. Holed up in some random access room, waiting for the rain to pass. At least you're clean now, and you're generally ready to face what comes next.
You hold up the bubble seeds to your neurons, glancing up briefly to ensure they've latched on sufficiently, before putting your face back into your knees. (-2 bubble seed)
[3 actions left.]
>Look a bit closer at the flashbangs, try to figure out if they're edible? Or if you can craft with them? Cook with them? Use them as a power source? That light has to come from somewhere, right?
Not that cooking has much use for you, but you doubt these flashbangs could help you achieve that in any way. You pull one of them out and roll it between your hands; the outer material, though translucent, is surprisingly tough. It would explain why they've stayed intact throughout your traveling these past few cycles.
Being a close relative of cherrybombs, these seed pods have similar chemical properties. If you were to throw one of these, the chemicals inside would react and produce heat, though to a significantly lesser extent than what cherrybombs can produce. The primary ingredient in these seeds is a different chemical, one that emits mostly blue light when sufficient energy is provided to initiate the reaction. You shake the one you're holding now, staring into its soft blue glow as it slowly fades; you're fairly certain the reaction is also reversible, but not indefinitely.
These seed pods are also much larger than that of cherrybombs. There are a few small defunct pods attached to the base of the functional seed pod, hinting at their shared origin, but this single pod you're holding is about three times the size of a cherrybomb seed pod. You're hesitant to open the pod to inspect its seeds, but based on what you know of cherrybombs, you would expect the seeds and the shell of the pod to be similar. You could in theory scrape off the chemical and apply it to something else.
Though, you don't know what you'd do that for. These would be more useful for light than for damage. You could probably use them as a supplementary light source on top of the light your neurons provide, but you'd need to be wary of the supply of chemical being exhausted from use.
At any rate, they're definitely not edible. You're not sure how to use them as a power source, if that were at all possible.
[2 actions left.]
>Are there any scav tolls along our path?
You... wouldn't know, really. It depends on where you go. You used to see roving bands of scavengers climbing your communications arrays, but they never much liked the peaty marshes of the rest of your territories. You will need to take shelter in the growing towers as you cross over to Five Pebbles' regions though, so you might run into scavengers that had the same idea.
But tolls... you've seen them engage in that behavior before. That sort of trade between their own kind and occasionally other critters... you hadn't expected them to be capable of understanding what they were doing, but...
...
You'd rather not think about this more. Point is, you don't know.
[1 action left.]
>How did your citizens treat you way back when? Were they all 'O great Innocence you are super cool' or was it more 'Innocence we order you to do all this work because we made you and it's your job'?
"Treat you"? Treat you? They barely thought of you. Oh, you understand, to some extent; they were never properly your citizens. They merely migrated over from Day's city, and by then global ascension was already in progress. You were an afterthought, a replacement for—
...
You promised her this. You know she's right. But it's hard—it's impossible—not to think of yourself this way regardless. You can't act like they didn't view you as just her shadow, just as she had predicted.
You curl up tighter, hunching into yourself. You miss Day's wisdom. She had so much of it, even with what little time you had with her.
She was supposed to have more time.
Your hands clench. It's not fair. It's not fair that she's dead. It's not fair that Silver—that Moon—
You grip onto your antennae, exhaling slowly. You need to stop thinking about this. This is the whole point of you being out here, isn't it? You're going to save Moon.
You power down before you get any further into your thoughts.