Cent's Yuenyeung [ Too Much Tea, Not Enough Coffee ]

To: Concerned
That sounds terrifying!

On one hand, I'm inclined to get all kinds of nutty ideas about what that might mean, but I think it's more likely just some kind of freak occurrence which happens to mirror our planet's past. If they're snatching up bugs, maybe it's some flytrap variant, though I can't imagine that there's much grub to go around these days. Let's hope that's a dying breed...

Around here, plant life is nearly gone. It doesn't help that most of the pollinators are overworked to all hell, and NYC isn't really their favorite spot, what with the smog. I met a wasp who came by Bends for a few weeks looking for work, but she started heading up north instead in pretty short order. Some part of me wants to say that with all the dead greenery and pollution, cities aren't really made for us. But we were here in ancient times, too. We've been here a long time. I think we're coded to want to hang around these grand concrete constructions like we built it all, even when we're not feeding off of it anymore.

Self-pollinating plants are the new 'thing', you know. Only reason countrysides still exist. So long as the sun doesn't burn out, I don't think we'll starve to death anytime soon. And, well... so long as the caffeine keeps flowing.

It sounds like you're at a crossroads, of sorts. Stonehenge, maybe? Haunted house of some sort? Never really developed a sense for the weird and paranormal.

To: Hollow Log
There's nothing wrong with having someplace a bit solitary to live! I remember dreaming when I was younger of living in the wilderness somewhere, in a little hovel or log, like you're doing now. I was born after the Burst, so I never experienced a world where there wasn't enough room for me. One of my friends went off and lived inside of a dead antelope-- I think he's still there, come to think of it. Very little competition!

I'm Cent, a cockroach. You're the first person who's actually told me what kind of bug you are, and I appreciate the honesty and openness! Right now I'm living in Bends, Brooklyn, NYC, so I happen to get my coffee through dispensers. Mocha is my main choice, though there's some decent tea, too. Anything that packs enough of a punch that I don't have to go outside often. (Maybe that's not for the better, though...) I can imagine hot cocoa would be perfect this time of year, though the orange juice throws me. I'll have to try that sometime, if I ever come across a good coffee place that isn't a week's journey from Bends.

What's it like living in a log? Do you have many neighbors? Friend or two to help bring you caffeinated cocoa, I'd hope?

To: Closer To Earth (Previously: Hello There)
Sounds pretty irritating. Well, emails are about free, so don't be afraid to ask me to repeat myself if something important gets obfuscated!

I can relate pretty heavily to that conspiracy theorist thing. I have a couple neighbors, a millipede and centipede, who just go crazy for those kinds of things. When I'm not isolate, they'll pull me into conversations about space travel, human resurrection, social pacts, gliders... whatever thing happens to be on their mind in that moment. They're very project-oriented, if that makes sense. I really do think they're double-dosing on caffeine, or maybe I happen to be under-dosing to the point of sanity.

The government (around here, at least) hasn't been so bad. They've even sent an envoy every month or two, which is a hell of a lot better than in some places. The one who comes by Bends uses a little glider machine with an electric engine, and she says she can hit a couple of buildings, top to bottom, in about a day. Mostly it's just refilling dispensers and taking any arrests from our building's Leo, but sometimes she stays and chats.

God, sometimes connection can be so fleeting. Even when I know somebody online, there's always the existential worry that they won't reply, you know?

Anyhow. It seems like your internet qualms might be fixed if you moved somewhere else. Something holding you down, maybe? Or is it not really a big enough deal?

Cent sat back after sending the third email. There was a little more of an influx than she expected so soon, but it wasn't a bad thing. Her legs had gotten tired from typing, and her head tired from thinking, but a sense of satisfaction rolled over her. At least for these few brief moments, she had prolonged the inevitability of loneliness.

Still, she wasn't ready to rest. These words on the screen, although far away, still gave her blossoming ideas of what these people on the other side might be. The cockroach retrieved a small makeshift notebook from somewhere amidst the piles of notebooks, flipped it open, and cautiously placed a charcoal implement between two legs. There were several souls vying for her reply, and she gave them nicknames, via their vaguely-worded replies--

Not A Member Of The Carapace Clique

Closer To Earth

Kinda Unsure

Concerned

Hollow Log

And her own little nickname, cutesy enough, written at the bottom:

Realized Their Purpose

That made her chuckle a little bit, mandibles clattering. Though there weren't yet faces to these names, and though she felt a little strange cataloging them like this, it was already helping her collect the many thoughts which surrounded them. From so far away, Cent was beginning to feel closer to the world and its far-away inhabitants.