afterthefire joined the game

It's... a forest, but it's not like any other forest he's ever seen. For one thing, it's a lot more... cube-shaped?

And there's someone else there.

Mei Changsu often hallucinates when his fever rises, but it's usually simply reliving memories. This is unusually creative for him.

He considers shouting for help and dismisses it immediately. If he's ill, someone will have already found him. If he's not ill, he suspects Fei Liu is too far away to hear.

What else can he do but fall back on manners? He bows.

"Good evening."

"Good evening!" Here, have 32 cobblestone and 32 oak logs. "--Don't tell anyone I was here? I'm not actually supposed to be around here right now, I should probably head out soon."

That was generous of him, but Mei Changsu makes no promises.

"I understand, thank you. I won't keep you, but do you know where where we are? Where might I find the others?"

"Sure." He'll show Mei Changsu to the nether portal and point towards a wooden path. There... appear to be buildings? And farms? And the mostly-destroyed ruins of buildings, which are mostly partially floating. "All the stuff is that way."

Floating? The possibility that this is a fever-dream is increasing. Still, it's no excuse to be rude.

He will say "Thank you" and follow the path.

Observers will note that he walks slowly and gingerly, as if he is in pain.

There aren’t any observers. There are… buildings? Most of them are empty but a couple seem more house-like. There’s also a really big one made of black bricks, the purpose of which is kind of unclear. If he turns right then there’s a giant crater!

Well, that certainly is a very large crater. Disconcerting.

He's going to head towards wherever it looks like there might be people.

There aren't really many other places that seem particularly people-centric unless he wants to go through a tunnel or a portal, or try entering one of the buildings. That said, his quest for people will be fulfilled anyway, in the form of a very loud blond teenager running up to him.

"...HELLO?"

It was hard to tell for sure with the man he spoke to before, what with the mask, but it seems like he's somewhere foreign. The style of architecture is certainly different enough. It raises the question of why everyone appears to be speaking perfectly comprehensible Chinese.

"Hello," he says, at much lower volume. "My name is Su Zhe. May I ask you some questions?"

"...Okay...? What the-- who are you????"

"Su Zhe. I'm a scholar from the jianghu."

He squints at the label floating above the boy's head. It may be his name, although he's never heard of anyone named "Tommy" or "Innit," much less the combination. He'll just ask. It's good to show children you're engaging with them.

"May I have your name?"

"Well I'm the big man TommyInnit himself and I've never heard of no scholars. What's a--jianghu? Is that the server you're from? I haven't heard of it."

"The jianghu is the area where martial artists groups have the primary political power, not the emperor. If a server is like a country, then I'm from Da Liang. The jianghu is the part of the country I'm from."

He pauses. "A big man? You are very tall."

"Oh. So the jianghu is, like, what Technoblade and Dream or whoever the fuck want? That sucks. Words over weapons, that's what Wilbur always said. We don't have an emperor either though, the only one who was an emperor was Schlatt and he wasn't really the emperor, he just cheated and then he died. I am so tall all the bitches want me I am 6'3" and I am the biggest man. Dream is scared to do a height check with me because he knows I will win."

Badmouthing the former emperor, even if he was only nominally the emperor, so publicly is admirably brave, if also unwise. He is rapidly becoming more interested in the local political situation. Is the dead emperor related to the devastation he passed on his way here?

"I see," he says. "If you don't mind, what country is this? Or, server, if that's the local word. And if you don't have an emperor, how is your country run? Why has his heir not replaced him, or some general not initiated a new dynasty?"

Blink. Blink. Blink. 

“Dream SMP, I guess. We don’t have a country anymore because the last time we did it got fucking blown up and if we make more they’ll just do it again. No leaders or else the Blade comes with all his dogs and TNT and shit and I gotta say I kiiiiiiind of like not dying! Not dying is poggers. Also I’m busy getting ready for the fight with Dream so it would be kind of awkward to also be president or whatever. I’m actually grinding and not just stealing, you know, like, who knew I could even do that. I’m all sweat, baby.”

"Your entire country was blown up?"

Every time this child speaks he raises more questions.

Originally Mei Changsu thought there wasn't a language barrier, but it's looking more and more like there is. That crater was enormous, but still smaller than an average village. Poggers? President?

Wasn't the man who gave him materials before labeled "Dream"? Is he named after the "server" or is the server named after him? If they're planning on fighting him... well. Mei Changsu knows that sometimes seemingly kind people can be the cruelest.

He shakes the thought out of his head.

"I apologize for asking so many questions, I'm not at my best today. Is there a settlement near here? Do you happen to have a doctor?"

“Sorry Su, this is about as settled as it gets around here. —Doctor! We have a doctor. PONNNNK. POOOOOOONK.”

<TommyInnit> PJNK

<TommyInnit> *PONK

<TommyInnit> VC2

"Instantaneous letters? Incredible. How did you do that? Will you teach me? How private are letters sent in this manner?"

The small part of him that is still Lin Shu gets a little overexcited. In his defense, he could do so much with this.

"Oh man, if you think chat is cool--" Tommy tosses him a stone button with the number "2" scrawled on it and then takes out a matching one from his inventory so he can yell into it: "HELLO?"

Tommy's voice comes out of his mouth, but also of Mei Changsu's new button.

He is calm and dignified and not at all excited about this.

He raises his own rock to his mouth and says, "Hello?" into it, too. He was expecting to hear his own voice from the other button, but it's still exiting. 

He has so many questions. He will limit himself to three.

"How do you make these? Is there a distance limit? Can anyone with a stone like this hear us?"

“No distance limit! All you need is a stone button and some ink, my friend, and you too can join VC 2. Or, like, other VCs, but VC 2 is the best one, trust me, I’m a fuckin VC expert. They could hear us if they joined VC 2—”

<TommyInnit> VC2

<TommyInnit> VC2

<TommyInnit> VC2

The fact that anyone can hear is... disappointing. It limits the usefulness rather significantly. Still, this is almost unbelievable -- just a stone button and ink? The things he could do with this...

"I'll take your word for it," he says. "How many VCs are there?"

Normally he would not ask so many questions, but TommyInnit seems pleased to answer them, and he is curious.