29th treasure [audio]

[captainash]

So.

[Ash stays silent for a few moments after that, almost as if that word is the only one he intended to send. That doesn't last very long.]

Am I getting my weeks wrong, or was there a rather suspicious lack of confused calls coming from New Bark Town over the last few days?

[He normally would not have registered that at all, yet this time he's been thinking about it enough to make his head pound.]

...Never mind. It's probably nothing.

Comments

[captainash]

I'm pretty sure it should have been. I mean, we only had one wave of newcomers this month, and it's almost June.

[dreamsofahero]

Perhaps there's simply fewer? It's not impossible that there could be a disproportionate amount who have difficulty in using the pokegear, as well.

[captainash]

"No Technological Knowledge" week? Sounds great. Or maybe they all teamed up together and didn't see the need to ask the rest of us what's going on.

[dreamsofahero]

I suppose that's also a possibility.

Which, come to think of it, wouldn't that have necessarily been the case for whoever first arrived here...?

[captainash]

...That's true. Then again, the people who call out to us when they arrive don't necessarily know thay're doing it in the first place. But what made everyone decide to use the network so extensively?

[dreamsofahero]

I'm sure the convenience of it has something to do with it, but I do wonder that as well. It's certainly true that there are many here from worlds that use similar things on a regular basis, but that doesn't explain why those who have difficulty learning it also use it so much.

[captainash]

A lack of better options, maybe? I mean, they use Flying-types to deliver packages and letters here. That's not nearly quick enough in many situations.

[dreamsofahero]

Perhaps, but even that is generally much quicker than the means many worlds that lack devices such as this have.

Not to mention, is there truly any benefit to be had by communicating on these beyond meeting people more quickly? Certainly one can gather information, but you don't necessarily have to even announce your presence to do that. And for anyone with no interest in either there would really be no reason to make use of them at all.

[captainash]

It could be considered a way of conforming to the local 'foreigner' culture, to some degree. We're expected to us the Gears, so we use them because it gives us something in common that sets us apart from the local people. ...Or maybe it's just the closest thing we have to entertainment, once in a while.

[dreamsofahero]

That does still beg the question of whether anyone has eschewed them in favor of adopting an attitude similar to the locals, however. For some people the desire to blend in in such a manner may be stronger, or perhaps easier to adapt to than the culture of sorts that's been formed from those various outsiders brought here.

[captainash]

There might be, but if they were successful in their attempt we'd only know of their existence through a functional but unused Gear number, unless you can cancel those. Who would bother trying them all to find someone who decided to blend in with the natives?

[dreamsofahero]

There wouldn't be much if any point, no, but likewise, it's impossible to prove that there haven't been more new arrivals who didn't simply choose to approach matters that way.

[captainash]

True, especially since there's always the possibility that people did so in the past but have since disappeared, leaving no trace of themselves behind. I'm sure plenty of people brought here years ago have been fully forgotten by now.

[dreamsofahero]

*nods*

Exactly. Which comes back to your original question, in that it's truly impossible to be certain if the apparent lack of newcomers is of any significance or not.

[captainash]

Unless we get a sign that it was important later, but that won't help us now. I hope that won't be the case.

[dreamsofahero]

That's certainly true enough, but I suppose there's little to be done, in that case.

[captainash]

We can always hoard supplies and hope we won't need to use them.