Tragedy in Albia

[Originally written July 5 2020]

The day began innocently enough. A large group of Norns had moved onto the island so I figured it was time to shepard everyone back. It took a few back and forth trips since they wouldn’t all follow me, but after a while I got everybody into the jungle area. I struggled to call and/or lure them back home but eventually the whole gaggle of them decided to move the party to the garden.

I ended up with several eggs this session, none of which could hatch – I didn’t want to let them hatch in the wild, away from the computer, and the incubator had closed. The first of these was Cathy’s, which would turn out quite bittersweet. I noticed several Norns with uncomfortably low life forces, but Cathy was faring the worst, and I could not for the life of me get her to eat. She seemed to have a wallbonking problem too, slamming into the incubator wall until her pain maxed out. She laid her egg just fine, but I still could not get her to eat and her life force kept dropping.

Beth also laid an egg but after collecting it and moving it to the queue I didn’t pay much mind to her or the egg; her life force is perpetually high and I had more pressing concerns, like getting Cathy to eat. Aaron, as I’ve come to expect, took care of himself once I coaxed him back to the garden. Angela and Carlos ultimately stabilized around 30% - they didn’t go up, but they didn’t go down, either. Cathy, on the other hand, kept getting worse. 

Bill also dropped below 25%, which would have been more worrying for me if it weren’t for several factors. First, he had grown old, and though I’m not using the fixed genomes that let Norns die from old age, he was approaching the point where it would seem natural for him to pass. Second, he has specifically become a grumpy old Norn and was generally making a nuisance of himself slapping other Norns (and poor Greg, too). And finally, but most importantly, his life force was dropping because he was too busy harassing Cathy to eat. He kept chasing the poor girl around, trying to Push Norn while she just wanted to get away. This in turn made her reluctance to eat even worse.

She managed to get away and ran all the way to the jungle, where I brought some food and continued trying to coax her into eating. We came close a few times with her picking up the food, but she always dropped it again. Greg wandered over at one point and stayed near her, and even demonstrated for her, picking up the honey pot, eating, and dropping it at her feet. At least one of my creatures listens when I tell them to Push Food! Sadly, Bill and his entourage showed up and began harassing her again, and she fled back to the house, where her life force fell into the single digits. 

I managed to pull a Norn back from the brink by finally coaxing it to eat… but sadly, it was Bill, who ate the carrot intended for Cathy. I wish I could be glad at least one of them made it, but of the two, I would strongly have preferred the young Horse Norn. I fetched another carrot, but she still wouldn’t eat. Beth laid another egg, and somehow Angela unexpectedly got pregnant at exactly 11 hours old. A quick glance at the Observation Kit told me her life force had gone up, so I figured she’d be fine; I had much bigger problems to deal with.

Despite my best efforts, sadly, Cathy passed away, with Bill still hovering obnoxiously over her. While part of the problem was certainly her own unwillingness to eat, I can’t help but at least partially blame him for just not leaving her alone. Not all was lost, though. I still had Cathy’s egg – and several others, including the one Angela had just laid in the jungle before taking a nap, with Greg dutifully standing guard at her side. I swear he’s the purest creature in Albia.