To: Everyone

[speak_n_spell]

For those who identify as human: what's the worst injury you've survived?

I'm not just asking to be nosy - with everyone coming from different realities, I've been wondering if my understanding of Things A Human Can And Cannot Do is accurate? What if we're all operating from different baselines? It could be helpful to know before we get one another into trouble!

Comments

[earthborn]

I got spaced. That's... usually pretty permanent. But I got lucky, and somebody fronted a whole bunch of money to bring me back from what should have been dead.

So. I mean, technically I did die.

I've been shot a few times. Set on fire. Frostbite...acid? I'm not a great baseline. My life's too exciting.

[speak_n_spell]

I'm sorry, I think we've just stumbled into another of those interplanar cultural gaps: what exactly does 'spaced' mean?

[earthborn]

[There is a noticeable pause. Where do you even start? Shepard feels like she spends so much time explaining things these days; she's doesn't feel well equipped to be an educator.]

Alright, uh. Do you know what space is? As in, the space between planets, not just gaps between the furniture.

Big airless null-gravity void, out [For fuck's sake. She does want to be insulting, recognizes that impatience within herself, but it would be pointless. How do you say, how ignorant are you without just saying it.] ...out, beyond the sky?

Anybody who goes out there without protection, is going to die. There's a lot of boiling and freezing and rupturing of blood vessels and organs. Usually it's the suffocation that actually gets you. It supposedly takes about eleven minutes to die, and I'll tell you from experience, it's not a fun way to go.

[speak_n_spell]

I'm familiar with the concept of heavenly bodies and their orientation to one another, but to my knowledge no one in my world has determined what lies 'beyond the sky'. I admit I never thought it might a place lacking in air or heat, but I've created a few vacuums and can imagine the effect that might have on a person.

[Actually, that's something to keep in mind the next time she's faced with a nasty Night Creature - if she just shoves all the air around it away, would it simply implode? That's worth testing out on something that can't feel pain, like, say, an apple!]

I'm very sorry that happened to you. It must have been disorienting to come back from something like that.

[earthborn]

It's more that the default state of the universe is to be basically empty, and planetary gravity is what gives us the benefit of a nice, breathable atmosphere. [Thank god for scientists; or at least for the ones who knew anything at all about physics.] Sorry. You would not believe the number of people I've had to explain a hard vacuum to.

[Or maybe you would. It's a lot of folks.]

Disorienting is one way to put it. But part of my job is putting myself into harms way, so it's not like it was tragedy. Just a bad day.