Horizon Picks Up Hitchhikers, Part 84 · 7:52am Jul 20th, 2013
Robert lost two toes to frostbite a few years back … or so he told me. I really try to take people at their word, but I'm not sure he was telling the truth.
I picked him up on my way back from the Wednesday pickup games that the Ultimate Frisbee league runs. He sounded delighted at the idea — he was a former player — and said he might just show up at game next week. Later on, he mentioned that he was glad to get a ride because walking was difficult due to some foot problems he had. The story about frostbite came out little by little. When I got near his destination, he said just dropping him off anywhere was fine, and I had to really push him into telling me where he was headed so I could at least get him to the right side of the freeway.
When I pressed for details on the lost toes (because, c'mon, there's a story in that), he just said he was out deep in the woods, and it got so cold that it didn't even help to light a camp stove in his sleeping bag. If you've never camped before, this is a breathtakingly terrible idea, on the order of "sticking metallic underwear in the oven to warm up your danglies". Doesn't mean it couldn't have happened, but … well, it was a vague story with a huge implausibility and a number of unanswered questions. (How'd he get back out on frostbitten feet? If it was that bad, why didn't he lose any other extremities?) Then there were the multiple contradictions about the severity of his injury.
The bizarre thing is, if it was a lie, he didn't get anything out of it. He didn't try to turn it into a sob story, or ask for money, or for me to drive him further than I otherwise would. I wish I'd had more time in the car with him, to try to tease more detail out.
Very related: Anyone remember Princess Luna Picks Up Hitchhikers? I just sent Chapter 3 to my prereader! 
It feels good to get it going again.
Unrelated: As of today (I am posting this in the wee hours of Saturday morning), I have been an adult for exactly half of my life.
Finally: I have some things to wrap up on in the wake of Everfree NW, mostly involving Iron Author. Haven't forgotten, this week's just been chaotic after finally having returned from vacation. I'll make a separate post on that later on.
>posting this in the wee hours of Saturday morning
I'm sure everyone would forgive you if you simply used BST.
> I am posting this in the wee hours of Saturday morning
And I am reading it in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Happy birthday.
I've known some people who do incredibly dumb things while camping, mostly because they weren't taught how to camp. Also, both panic and cold cause stupidity, proven fact.
Looking forward to that new chapter going up.
I used to know someone who told bizarre lies for no apparent gain. He made a good show of believing them himself, at least sometimes, although they varied between improbable and impossible. I suspect that guy was schizophrenic.
I met his older brother. The two acted much the same way. Make of that what you will.
The most stunning delusion between the two involved an anime and a picture. As near as I can tell, one of them managed to draw a perfect representation of one of the scenes from the anime, and by this one act of the skill the two of them became thereby convinced they had drawn the entire movie. The story shifted whenever they were prodded for details. It was malleable, plastic, and neither of the two brothers seemed capable of understanding that they had even been challenged on it. They loved to talk about it. It was quite an accomplishment, after all, for two people to draw an entire movie on their own.
Oh, and happy birthday.
Half your life? Wow. You old, man. Real old.
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Like, that old, not gonna lie.
Guess I'm gonna have to ramp up production on the 2nd person Princess Skyla oneshot I've been doodling over and turn it into a late birthday present. No need to thank me.
Edit: Oh, and happy birthday. Was too busy joking to add that.
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Compulsive lying can be a thing on its own.
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The critical difference being that the individuals in question actually seemed to believe the preposterous things they said.
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I happened to know a compulsive liar for a while. He told me once, he knew he was lying, but he felt he absolutely had to maintain the lie once it existed, even when confronted with the truth. Your call whether he told the whole truth on that one.
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Thank you! (I eagerly await the Skylanomicon, to whatever extent biological weapons treaties allow it to be exported from your country of residence.)
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Aye, a palpable hit. But if I'd used Baxil Standard Time, I would have either had to wait until the next morning to post or changed all of the "today"s to "tomorrow"s. Going to extra effort for a system whose sole purpose is to reflect the laid-back draconic approach seemed against the spirit of the enterprise.
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Nothing to really add to the discussion, but it's a fascinating phenomenon.
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