Stanczia: Now, Imri. Of course we can still get more humans to work here.
Imri: Wait, how?
The sick servants haven’t started getting better . . . We’re still blockaded from buying new ones . . . And for some reason, townies have stopped answering our job postings.
Stanczia: Yes, but there’s always the one fallback option that nobody can prevent us from using. Remember?
Imri: . . . Pottersfield?
Stanczia: Precisely. We’ll borrow some of the poor unfortunates from Pottersfield.
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Wait, why aren’t the sick servants getting better?
So Clarence failed his mission.
Because Imri and Stanczia are speed-running “ruin the stuff we rely on, for fun” and recovery takes time. A lot of it, sometimes.
They’re wrecking things faster than things can get better.
Umm…Pottersfield wouldn’t happen to be, like, a “potter’s field”, or a mass burial ground full of corpses of people too poor to pay for a proper grave?
Are they about to create a bunch of undead ghouls to fill in for the slaves?
‘ownies have stopped answering our job postings’… Gee, might that be because you killed the last two who decided to sign up?
Theoretically speaking, as far as the vampires know, the townies have no knowledge of that.
Practically speaking, the servant in panel 2 probably spread word around somehow, after what happened to the last two who came through. Silent rebellion for the win.
I don’t know boss, given the implications it was pretty clear they were gonna leave that idiot for dead.
I disagree. I think Stanczia was setting up for an “Oooh. Too bad, so sad, you didn’t stop trespassing fast enough because you took the time to disrobe.” *NOM*
I disagree. I think Stanczia was setting up for an “Look, wounded hiker” later, after day or two of Teal getting predictably lost due to the bit about no map and little to no navigation knowledge. And no water. Apparently, the town is not close enough to be reachable under this conditions.
Now, they are probably already dead, as this is obviously after some timeskip. But I believe they were still alive while Chartreuse was hiding in laundry room.
*Blows whistle, throws flag* Can we get some Word of God on this one?
It wouldn’t be humanly possible to hike to the nearest settlement alone, on foot, in those weather conditions, with that little preparation. Even with a coat, Teal wouldn’t have lived long enough to make it. Making her give back the uniform was just a way for Stanczia to twist the knife a bit harder.
She might or might not have been dead by the time Chartreuse was in the laundry room (depending on whether she died from something quick, like falling over a cliffside, or slow, like exposure). But either way, she was definitely doomed by then.
It’s not something the vampires would’ve been able to keep secret — Green and Teal both had social media, they had friends/family/associates to check up on them, Stanczia and Imri do actually need to report these incidents to the county labor board, and it’s a dramatic-enough story that it would’ve been in the news.
They’re just miffed because, hey, everything they did is within the scope of the law! These townies would’ve been fine if they had avoided pre-established risks! And new hires can still be fine as long as they don’t get sick, impulsively quit, or do anything else that it’s their personal responsibility to avoid in the first place.
Oh. Thanks for answers.
Not humanly possible? I was expecting it’s something human COULD technically do, if, like, experienced hiker and not ordinary … townie.
… and I didn’t realized that Teal could’ve been posting her story to social media while waiting to freeze to death with broken leg from falling from (relatively small) cliff while Chartreuse was hiding in laundry room.
Bonus reply:
Part of what makes someone “an experienced hiker” is “they take the preparation seriously and make sure to have all the supplies you need.” If you’re dying of dehydration and don’t have any water, you can’t fix it by drinking experience.
Teal doesn’t have to livestream her actual death. People just have to notice that her accounts have gone completely dark, with no posting, reacting, or responding to messages of “hey are you ok?”
Also, I think that the work for vampires was not exactly popular option for townies to start with. It’s possible there are just no more townies desperate enough.
Ah, who doesn’t like undead servants?
Prison. ‘Pottersfield’ is a prison, going by the theme.
Also, hi! Silent long-term reader here, very appreciative <3
Someone bring a phone over here, because you called it =D
APrison labor has some difficulty because in this situation they have little left to lose. I think I’d probably try to take a vampire with me, as impossible as that truly is, were I placed into that hypothetical situation.
Of course, in truth if I was unfortunate to be born into that county, I feel that claiming refugee status would be much easier than it is as an American, and that fleeing to one of the neighbors would be a simpler affair than it is here, so I would flee… The only thing keeping me in the USA is that Mexico and Canada have very strong opinions about poor Americans illegally migrating.
And my attempts to legally migrate have been unsuccessful. Also I’m already married to someone I love, so falling for a Canadian is no longer an option.
Speaking hypothetically, Sonheim would probably make it damn near impossible to claim such status. The leeches need blood bags and expendable labor. Something tells me they’ve also got the House of Commons and the Sun in their moldering pockets, so any reform would be impossible to carry out.
And since we’re pretty much lifting ENTIRELY from the US for these flashbacks and throwing away whatever fig leaf might’ve been left to imagine this as fiction, even as hires the prisoners will barely be paid at all and blamed for being in prison. If they die, well they’re a prisoner and deserve it, so fuck’em right? Ten bucks they’ll also be a minority group for Sonheim, meaning that the leeches will care even less about their well-being.
Claiming refugee status has less to do with your own country, and more to do with the country to which you are fleeing. Alas, Canada does not accept the idea that Americans could be economic refugees, and has a LONG history of hunting down American political refugees and returning them to the US government, dating back to well before the Vietnam war, but during the Vietnam war it was almost unforgivable the extent to which they persecuted political refugees from the US. Despite having socialized healthcare, they’re not really that far socially ahead of the US in other fields. For example, the way they have treated and often continue to treat the indigenous population is terrifying and horrible.
Mexico is somewhat safer for political refugees, but once more, no economic ones. Also, I speak French, not Spanish.
I could always try to find work in Morroco or Algers, of course, but… uh… I don’t really have that many useful skills. I’m just a math person. Also, I’m autistic and ADHD, and most countries don’t want immigration by the mentally ill.
You are autistic, ADHD math person and you are worried what would you do when being born in Sonheim? I find very unlikely you would have any real choice about that.
Also remember, Sonheim is not “free speech” country. They have massive propaganda and likely censorship. If you would be born there, you wouldn’t BELIEVE it’s better outside, just like Cyan doesn’t believe you can get government-subsided healthcare in other countries.
Despite some similarities, US is much better country to live in than Sonheim. (Unless … wait, Vampires don’t count, they are not alive).
My point isn’t that the US is worse to live in than Sonheim, it’s not. But it seems from what I’ve seen, like Sonheim’s neighbor that Thorn is from is more willing to accept Sonheim refugees than America’s neighbors are willing to accept American refugees.
So, assuming you did successfully flee Sonheim, you’d be better off.
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