fall damage

"you can just jump down."

vera said this at the edge of the quarry, where the floor was close enough to look harmless and far enough away to have a number. i had forty-two blocks of stone, two torches, a pickaxe, and no reason to trust a person who says just before a jump.

i dropped anyway.

the first ledge was fine. the second ledge had gravel on it, which moved when i landed and took three blocks with it. i landed on the third ledge with one heart left and the confidence of a landlord. then i stepped backward onto a torch.

the torch broke.

i fell into the water below and survived, which was the first mistake. the water was one block deep. my boots touched it, my knees touched the floor, and the game decided this was not a landing but an argument. i died to fall damage in water.

vera looked over the edge and said, "that was stupid."

i agreed, but i did not like the tone. she had watched the whole thing with the calm of somebody waiting for a printer to finish. then she asked if i wanted her to collect my things.

i said no because i was already dead and still had standards.

the items were spread across the quarry floor in a pattern that suggested planning. my pickaxe was beside the torch. the torch was beside the water. the water was beside vera.

i filed the cause as geological misconduct, but the form came back marked player error. the form is a liar. my boots were not even wet. forty-two blocks and not one of them had the decency to be the problem.

vera said, "next time, try the stairs, idiot."