Ruins of Azlant Gameplay I

"I suppose what you've said has truth to it," Andvara admits. "I've had a change of heart, I'll be encouraging the people of Talmandor's bounty to trust in each other and you to defend the colony, and end my hunger strike."

"I'm glad to hear it," Aisha relaxes when Andvara sees her point. "It's good that we could get to this point before you had a medical emergency," she adds semi-jokingly.

Kaimana sighs slightly in relief, still not understanding this one bit. ”Do you want me to go get you something to eat, then?” he offers. ”I know you said it comes and goes, but I’m betting you don’t want it coming back.”

Jax frowns at her sudden change of heart. He rests his chin in his hand thoughtfully, but after a moment relaxes it.

"I think I'll manage, I have my husband to get me something to eat," Andvara says with a smile. "Thanks for the offer, though."

"Can I get you something now, then?" he asks, to which Andvara nods. "Something light and bland, I think, don't want to upset my stomach."

"In that case, I think we can leave you to it now," Aisha stands up and nods to them both, smiling wide. "Personally, I'm due for an appointment with a real bed."

With that, the party leaves. Once they're a short distance from the house, Jax turns to the others. "I'd recommend keeping an eye on her just in case. Her saying she was convinced was just a pretext; she had other reasons to end the hunger strike. Hopefully it was just her wanting to end it without admitting defeat directly, but I'm not sure."

Aisha lets out a low groan when she hears that. ”Well, if she keeps whatever problems she has to herself, I don’t actually care what her damage is. If not, well, I’ve done all I can to convince her anyways.”

Kaimana nods, waves, and heads off for a swim.

The next day, Aisha finds Eamon at lunchtime and gives him a smile and a wave, having opted to just sleep in and relax that morning herself. "Hey!" she beams, putting on a cheerful smile.

"Hey," Eamon says with a smile back. "Did you have a good rest? I don't think I saw you at breakfast today."

"I did, thanks. I was just kinda drained after the last few days so I figured I'd stay in this morning," Aisha explains. "Nearly dying multiple times, as it turns out, is exhausting." So is trying to perform emotional labour for half the colony, but she didn't need to explain everything.

"I can well imagine," Eamon says with an expression of sympathy. "And then to come back to that situation yesterday couldn't have helped either, I'm sure."

"It wasn't what I would have chosen to have going on when I got back," Aisha agrees with a light chuckle. "Anyways, there was a different situation I wanted to talk to you about. It's not hugely consequential or anything, but it matters to me personally and I think it's still important."

"Mhm? I'm always willing to lend an ear," Eamon says. "What's going on?"

"It's actually related to Kaimana. He and I had an argument the other day - it got smoothed over, I don't think that's the issue, but something came up during it. So a little while ago there was a pretty brutal fight and he got cut bad, but for some reason he never notices any of his injuries, and I snapped at him, called him a moron. It was thoughtless of me, and he took it pretty personally," Aisha explains. "We dealt with that part yesterday, I explained that I just snapped because I was worried and all, and he seemed to accept it, but then he said that he just doesn't like it when people 'notice that he's an idiot'," she puts up airquotes with her fingers. "I caught the phrasing, and obviously neither of us thinks that of him, but I have no clue how to talk to him about it, or even if I'd be the right person to do so given the earlier fight. Figured you might be the right person, or at least you'd have a better perspective on it."

"Hrm, I've seen him worried or stressed before, but this sounds much bigger than that," Eamon says with a frown. "You all are under a lot of pressure, too, though. I'll try and bring up some of what you've mentioned, see if him talking about it to me will help. Though, I should ask, how have you been doing?" Eamon asks. "You're under just as much pressure as Kaimana is, I'd imagine. Are you holding up alright?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Aisha smiles and nods at Eamon's offer. "As for me, I'm honestly fine. I mean, I'm rarely directly in harm's way out there, so I don't really get all the stresses of getting cut up over and over again that Kaimana and Jax do, and around here the problems are easy enough to deal with if you can understand where people're coming from y'know?" The lie rolls off easily enough that Aisha almost believes it herself, smile never faltering.

"If you're sure," Eamon says. "It's a lot, taking on the safety and well-being of the colony. Just remember, there's always someone you can talk to if you ever need it."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks," Aisha nods. "I'm sure everything'll get harder before it gets any easier after all."

In the morning, Kaimana sees that the loggers and lumberworkers are going to be tackling a rather large tree today, bigger than previous jobs, and so decides to tag along to provide some extra muscle.

After the tree is felled and the team begins work to transport the log, Daib Joiner freezes when the log begins tipping, and though Kaimana tries his best, the heavy log still ends up on Machi Valenth's foot. Mayfield Clarke, another logger, turns on Daib, shouting "What the hell are you doing? You could've killed him!"

In the evening, Aisha decides to pay Amissa a visit, so she walks over to her house and knocks on the door after dinner, just as the sun is starting to set.

Kaimana winces at Mayfield's shout, but Machi's foot seems more immediately pressing. The logger is cursing and kneeling down to look at the foot. "I'm so sorry," Kaimana says to him, crouching and looking himself. He frowns at the rapid swelling and bruising. "That can't be good," he mutters, wishing he had any idea of what specifically he was looking at. "I'm sure Eamon or Kurvis or someone will be able to fix it... it'll take a while to get back, but."

"The sooner I get back, the better," Machi says, with a grimace. "And it wasn't your fault," he says, with an accusing glance at Daib.

Meanwhile, Mayfield has continued to hound Daib, with Daib only able to offer weak protests as to why he didn't call for a better response.

"I'd probably be able to get you there the fastest, but let me work it out," Kaimana offers, looking at the exchange between Mayfield and Daib with a grimace.

He stands up and walks over. "Daib, is everything okay?" he asks. "I've heard about a lot of injuries that have happened at this point, and I can't really think of one that's been under your watch before. Seems like you're normally right on it."