apping to high seas

[exactlywhy]

It would seem, dear brother, that someone--or rather, someones--finds it acceptable to put us out to sea. I feel I should state for the record that I have yet to become entirely amenable to the act of rowing, though I do suppose it's encouraged we find others to take up the task. Assuming, of course, we cannot commandeer a larger vessel.

You realize we will have to compensate them in some fashion or another. Then again, it is a pleasure to travel with either of us, is it not?

Quite. Though we'll have nothing but time to plunder and pillage as an actual means of payment, I should imagine.

I never took us for pillagers, but I do find the idea quite appealing, as should you.

And here I thought I could simply leave that to you.

This isn't rowing, mind you.

When you put it that way, then pillage I shall.

Pillage you will.

Pillage we must.

((a joint post from exactlywhat and exactlywhy. robert in blue, rosalind in red.))

Comments

[punckat]

[Well hello, complete strangers that just so happen to remind the cat a little bit of a certain pair of trigger-happy twins from his own canon.]

There's usually a bit too much water and not enough doors around boats for my comfort, but pillaging sounds fun.

[Not too far off from what you do, anyway, Boris.] Good luck.

[exactlywhy]

One would assume that very much depends on the boat. So long as the hull remains uncompromised, a great many doors could be added to the interior. Provided, of course, that a great many aren't already present.

[exactlywhat]

Fun is part of the equation, but mostly the necessity for funding, seeing as how there are no research institutes where we are going.

Lest we fund them ourselves, of course.

[slowcialgraces]

...so, that steady stream of banter a natural thing, or did you guys have to practice it? 'Cause you're pretty good at it. Kinda creepy, though.

[1/2]

[exactlywhat]

Ah yes, we do sometimes...

[after 2 happens]

[exactlywhat]

But other than that, I notice nothing. You would have to say it is definitely subconscious.

[ognesperanza]

Are you going to be pirates or something?

[2/2]

[exactlywhy]

...though in our circumstances it comes rather naturally.

[exactlywhy]

I can assure you that any perceived feelings of our being "creepy," as you say, are entirely unfounded.

[exactlywhat]

That is the general idea. The specific one is we are researching while using piracy to fund our goals.

[exactlywhy]

Well, that certainly is a highly subjective query. Perhaps we already are, or have been at some point. Time can be tricky like that.

[slowcialgraces]

Uh-huuuuuh. Call it a bit of intuition based on personal experience.

[ognesperanza]

Point. But you don't look like pirates.

[ognesperanza]

That is stealing. You can fund your research without stealing from people.

[exactlywhy]

The remarkable thing about intuition is that there is little scientific evidence to prove its consistent efficacy, yet so many have such consistent faith in it. Quite interesting, wouldn't you say?

[exactlywhat]

We will have stolen from people already.
We won't have, as well.

Existence and nonexistence.

[ognesperanza]

That doesn't make any sense.

[exactlywhat]

No doubt you've heard of the thought experiment, 'if a tree falls in the woods, with no being around to hear it, does it really make a sound?'

If the seed was never planted, does the falling of the tree still make a sound? That is the question and the answer.

[exactlywhy]

The human brain does not always view what is and what it believes should be as one in the same.

[ognesperanza]

So you need funds like a tree needs a seed?

[exactlywhat]

The funds are the felling of the tree.

[ognesperanza]

And the research is planting the seed? That's backwards.

[exactlywhat]

What is backwards to a single infinite line?

Or, for that matter, a circle?

[ognesperanza]

Believe me, I know that. But pirates aren't that difficult to figure out.

[ognesperanza]

You can't say mortal endeavors are infinite.

[exactlywhat]

Neither can you say my endeavors are mortal.

[ognesperanza]

Um. I suppose not.

[exactlywhy]

Most pirates. Of course, my brother and I shan't be most. Or is that we aren't? Haven't been? In any case, it all amounts to a necessary means to an end.

[punckat]

I said usually! Where I come from, at least.

Think I'd feel a lot safer on a boat with more doors. Not that I'm going there anyway, unless the mun changes his mind for some reason.

[ognesperanza]

Stealing doesn't have to be necessary.

[exactlywhy]

I fail to understand your reasoning, though I doubt reason has very little to do with it.

In regards to where you are going, I wish you all the best in avoiding a fate similar to my own.

[punckat]

Yeah, wish I could help. [No you don't, Boris; shut up.]

You gonna put the institution on a boat, too, if ya do that?

[exactlywhy]

You say stealing, I say re-appropriating. And try not to forget there is an entire sector of the pirate life dedicated to cartography and seafaring adventure, usually ending in the search for something buried by other pirates of dubious reputation.

[ognesperanza]

Is there? I didn't know that.

[punckat]

Oh yeah, there's a reason. If there's doors I have the advantage in getting around - usually. No one in Wonderland can outmaneuver the Cheshire Cat.

[head...tilt?] Yeah, he's already sent me a few weird places. You talking about games or something from home?

[exactlywhy]

I had thought that to be one of the first things attributed to corsairs would be that ever present search for buried treasure. I gather you don't put much stock into fairy tales?

[ognesperanza]

No, not that kind. I like Greek mythology, not bedtime stories.

[exactlywhy]

I daresay doors afford that same luxury to most. Do you mean to say they provide a special means of travel for you alone? Intriguing, surely.

Both, either, depending on which way you look at it. My current fate, or current upcoming fate, is one entirely out of my own hands. Perhaps you can, at least, share the sentiment of not appreciating someone using your life as a mere source of amusement.

[exactlywhy]

All a matter of perspective. Though, to be fair, a great number of those tales are not something I would send a child to sleep after hearing.

[ognesperanza]

The myths aren't exactly happy. More like horror stories.

[exactlywhy]

You and I clearly haven't read the same fairy tales. If memory serves, many commonly feature such positively delightful subjects as death and dismemberment.

[punckat]

Not really the advantage if most people have it, is it? I'm one of a kind. [In every sense of the phrase.]

Bummer, but I don't think I can. My life's not worth anything, so it doesn't matter much how it's used. I just have to keep doing what I do until someone else does it.

[ognesperanza]

Do they? I never read many fairy tales.

[exactlywhy]

Oh yes, and here you were so quick to dismiss them out of hand. Should you ever find the time, perhaps you might peruse a volume of the Brothers Grimm. Quite appropriately named, I assure you.

[ognesperanza]

I could, I guess. Do they make audio books of it?

[exactlywhy]

I'll take you at your word on that.

Every life has some value, minuscule as it may be in some cases. Research subjects aren't grown in the laboratory, after all. Well, for the most part.

[exactlywhy]

I would imagine that finding a recording of any of their stories can't be too difficult, though whether the version is abridged greatly reduces the experience.

[ognesperanza]

[shrugs]

Works for me.