The Lives and Mishaps of Jackdaw’s Flight (gamelog + lore rambling)

Day 138 2021/03/07 
LVLUP Zephyr +16, Husk +16, Moulin +11, Wickfen +15

Daily Fishing Leaderboard Prize!

Congratulations, 🐺! You were position #6 on the daily Taiga fishing leaderboards with a total haul of 105 lb 6.25 oz! You have been awarded 25 SC.

• ^😌
• Completely uninteresting rollover otherwise, but now It Winter. Also every day I wake up and check the overnight hunters before getting the daily quest -bangs wall, cries-

• REAL FISH HOURS:

• Didn’t hit the leaderboard but I simply do not care, second legendary catch (Pike was on pg7 January 30; it apparently isn’t CTRL+F-able) A+ very cool >:O

• Also snagged a jaguarundi tail as a battle trophy! I s2g, these trophies really are such overkill.
• [several hours later, not gonna add another line break when there are so few notes as-is] owo sold precise skarn!
  

Day 139 2021/03/08
LVLUP mel +12

Weekly Fishing Leaderboard Prize!

Congratulations, 🐺! You caught the heaviest Three-Spined Stickleback on the weekly fishing leaderboards, with a weight of 0.63 oz! You have been awarded 50 SC!

• ayyyyy wasn’t even trying
• Aside from that: Fodder pups reached adolescence and have been yeeted. Wickfen picked up—mange from the rollover hunt, christ, cured that!
• Poor lad. Others (glaucous and Carcass, iirc) have had this and also had it cured just as quickly, but Wickfen specifically might flip his shit a little. But it’s fine, it’s fine, we follow no realism in this house and Micah got it all patched up.
• Anyway, with the fodder gone, Drucks and Jyn are out of a job again. Not splurging a horrifying 20SC+ on fodder pups though, so I’ll keep an eye out and until then I will just have to deal with lost proficiency notification hell again.

• Not to brag or anything but POG

• This is just slowly becoming something of a fishing log, huh. slaps that wonderful “women want me fish fear me” hat on Diorite except instead of women it’s ???snakes, ig. idk the dog was not meant to be a Grand Leader but shit boy he loves fish

• Extra pog: got a cougar skull, lvl17 in the desert >:O also as a side note, this event has been a horrific enabler; I’ve been using salves any time I encounter an enemy lvl15+, which is not a habit I need to get into for the sake of salve stonk preserving. But also if I/Diorite (ah, the lead/player separation) could hit 20 by next round that’d be boss.

• -dabs- sold dravite!
  

Day 140 2021/03/09

• Wasn’t/am still not really feelin’ the Wolvmood today but i Must keep up my streak so here’s a rollover rundown:
• Jyn picked up cystitis over rollover, lovely! Cured.
• Hit the daily fishing leaderboards, position #9 with 94lb 10.47oz \o/
• That It

Day 141 2021/03/10

• Druks got a cough over rollover; cured, ran out of cough cures (just like Jyn used up my last cystitis one last night, smh), and now I’m outta pineapple leaves again >:V
• Got a Black Smoke NBW! Won’t be keeping but that’s cool.
• Oh yeah, did I add dravite to the spreadsheet? I do not think I added dravite to the spreadsheet. gotta check fast nvm yes i did i have One memory brain cell
• MAN NOT TO KEEP FLEXING BUT

• AYYYYYY
  

Day 142 2021/03/11
LVLUP Lichen +14

Daily Fishing Leaderboard Prize!

Congratulations, 🐺! You were position #7 on the daily Taiga fishing leaderboards with a total haul of 107 lb 14.79 oz! You have been awarded 20 SC.

• Absolutely nothing to report from rollover but the fishing hell rolls on. Starting to think I can make the leaderboard without even trying just by maxing out fishing with actual decent-sized fish, in which case I’ll stop spamming the leaderboard PMs :V or will I
• In other news if I keep screenshot-spamming and/or not having any lore dumps, this might end up being the shortest page of the thread. And in other other news, Diorite and Andesite turn 7(!! :( ) tomorrow, and with Zephyr not too far behind at 6y9m, I gotta breed her next heat. I’ve been picturing her and Wickfen’s relationship as more sibling-y/platonic than a romance which will make that awkward, but I can always use the “they just Found these pups” excuse again ;V
• honestly though my breeding gameplay and what makes sense in lore is so out of sync I might as well have pups delivered by literal stork at this point. Congrats on the random-ass kids, this has nothing to do with your biological functioning at all, dw!!

• Eyyy snagged some bear fangs from a lvl18 Alaskan brown bear >:3 Diorite’s at 66% at the time of writing… I believe in you, old man….

Day 143 2021/03/12
LVLUP Liesl +18, mela +13

• Cycles’ pups (cream & 7billion) hit adolescence today. That’s it :V
• Oh yeah, leads turned 7 today, and meanwhile Tyka of Fierce Grace is… on his deathbed…. 8( Salutes. RIP, buddy.
• speaking of that thread I offer a weary “reply to your PMs darn oyu” handshake of solidarity. what do you mean my inbox has been full since the 5th and I haven’t managed to clear it out yet. wheezes
• Anyway I simply cannot Math but I thiiink (on mobile, can’t check) the spreadsheet has Diorite at ~20 days left, and Andesite at about two weeks (before it’s up to the rollover gods). It’s a darn shame your second wolf ever doesn’t get 8-year privileges; I realize that’d be a pill to program, since you can sell and chase them like any other wolf, but the sentimental value….
• Hypothetically I feel like it would make sense lore-wise for Diorite and/or Andesite to step down as they reach curmudgeon age, instead of having to keep the position to death. I mean, Diorite would anyway because he has issues about the whole thing, but still. (Random thought, you know what’d be really cool were it not for retirement = death and the GC costs? Cycling through leads in much shorter timeframes, like 3–4 years. I mean, leaderboard people already kinda do this, but I do not have that kinda cash or willpower.)
• Liesl is on the edge of her figurative seat, anyway. With things having been slow as ever since Diorite’s return, it seems they’ve learned a lesson about Causing Problems On Purpose, which is good. She won’t not be sad when they kick the bucket. On the other paw, she’s really gotten this leader stuff into her head, has talked with Lichen and Moulin and Shrike about maybe forming a mini-counsel of advisors/“co-leads,” and basically the gal is itching to reinvigorate the pack.
• The older wolves have noticed this and are not… particularly thrilled, on the whole. Her enthusiasm is appreciated and her heart’s in the right place, but it sounds very much to them like some (3-year-old, human equivalent ~33) youth wanting to make Big Changes without really understanding why things are as they are. She is open about her plans (which mostly amount to that council, establishing some other norms as Law, maybe making a clearer rank system) and they can offer suggestions, but it doesn’t mean she’s gonna listen.
• Of those in the older generation who are least resistant to Liesl’s big ideas are Husk, who shares the “Jackdaws need to be more” sentiment, and Carcass, who doesn’t not see the Jackdaws as a home by now but also knows things could be different, and maaaybe it’d be for the best? —Actually, since I don’t actually have that many older wolves to run through now (F): Zephyr is also somewhat indifferent, but doesn’t vibe with the new ranks and rules; Wickfen leans more “nah things are cool as-is actually,” but he wants a spot on the council for representation’s sake if nothing else; and Micah is up there with the leads with not wanting a thing to change. But alas.
• I drag Carcass into this largely because, tbh, I have half a mind to make him the next lead, for the heck of it, and then Liesl (who would act as “deputy” under him) would get her turn. They’re like… a little under 2.5 years apart, if I’m doing the math right, so Liesl would still have a good amount of time to shine as The Lead.
• As for the others: mel is chill continuing to be a scout and maybe the next diplomat/negotiator-figure, as scouts have been more or less repurposed for anyway. Esker is not gonna live to see how this plays out but he’s proud of his boy Moulin for being involved in Liesl’s little future-council party. (Moulin may or may not be in it for self-aggrandizement before anything else, chasing the promised glory of his puphood; Liesl is aware of this, but he’s young and has something to prove, and she hopes he’d choose the pack in the end. Leaving him out of all this would just be a slap in the face.) And uhhhh That’s It.
• Oh yeah, on lead!Carcass, that is very much half excuse to give a sentimental pup a Special place in the dynasty, and the other half is because I’m not 100% sure Liesl will hit lvl20 within the game!year, and if she doesn’t she Must. She’s scouted the Rainforest almost exclusively her entire life (minus early Prairie runs, and the occasional Glacier or Swamp misclicks) and I am curious about how high that can make her Strength at max level. That’d get all throws outta wack if she was lead, though :V

• In other news, shakes fist at space, I maaay have had my eye on Ladouceur of the Shiawase Pack and would totally snag him if I had room. (Even though Esker’s old, project pups will be replacing him real fast.) Ladou’s lineage is truly an inbred mess of a sight to behold, somehow even more of a mess than mela’s, and also Him Pretty. So uh, consider this some unsolicited shilling if anyone else wants an 8-mark feldspar with multiple ancestors appearing several times :D

• Totally unrelated to that, since I seem to have been bit by the Lore Brain bug again today: next time I gotta yeet a littermate for lack of space, who says the pull a Bone/Jackrabbit and leave? What if they just die what if they just fuckign,, Cause Drama. You know. For fun. It is a thought.

• —Oh yeah Also, there’s technically no reason Liesl couldn’t be employed as co-lead as-is? But Diorite and Andesite are traditionalist lil shits and would probably not consider it. Liesl grumbles about this gratuitously; if she was lead, she’d step down when her time was up, like age intended. Lichen raises her eyebrows at this. “What.” “Oh, nothing. I’m sure you would.”
• The primary reasons Liesl is looking to Moulin, Lichen, and maybe Shrike for her Advisor Party is because they’re all within her “generation” (far as generations matter; Them Young, basically) and she’d rather have fresh blood in charge than be tethered to the past. (But she’d be willing to let Wickfen in anyway, as a treat.) She knows them better than the others, and they’re most supportive of her ideas on the whole, so it’s a natural matchup.
• From their points of view: Lichen is just happy to help a friend, even though she gets a small earful about it from Micah on occasion (not mean-spiritedly, but still; he is occasionally known to be cranky, with shades of “my way or the highway” like Myrtle could be). Moulin, as mentioned, is partially just eager to have something special about him again, and the opportunity flatters him so much that he’s not lying when he claims he’d put the pack first in a dire situation. (Time will tell if/how that plays out.) And Shrike just wants to do good for the pack, and it seems like this is the direction they’re bound to go in—even if it takes a “trial period” with Carcass as the real lead, for a while.
• Mela is something of an outlier here because he’s in the younger generation but also showed up late, so Liesl doesn’t necessarily know him as well. (Although I forget if he came in before Shrike was born and if so I will eat hat timeline.) He’s basically down with whatever, though. Really, as long as he’s not interfering, Liesl’s chill with him too.
  • N.B. got half a mind to switch melabean to they (he/they?) for no real reason, just Because. RIP to Esker entertaining that once (I think??) but they’re different.

• Aw heck yeah, both scouts leveling up in one go! That’s new >:3
  

Day 144 2021/03/13

• Yesss, sold chocolate adol! NBW’s gotta go today too so Shrike can grow up proper.
• Aww, I never did get around to breeding anyone to Tyka (RIP), but it seems Andesite’s firstborn (of the second litter anyway), Lemonrot, had four pups with him, two of whom are alive and well! It’s neat to know that unites these old woofs/wolvfers, however indirectly.

• Aaand there goes NBW! Sold to someone’s slate project—and they got the desired pup on the first litter! Congrats, random stranger :D
• Hello I caught a fuckin’ what now

• TIL! (F to the >10lb muskellunge that got dethroned for Tortle, but. Huh. In a f i s h i n g minigame???
• Ooh, apparently this one’s an amusement item >:3c Hoarding instinct ACTIVATE, by which I mean burying this forever as soon as I can claim it, thanks
• Also holy shit, look at the leaderboard; these things are super rare >:O (Incidentally I’m 4th for the tiger muskie and not even on northern pike leaderboards; both are full!)

• Left an empty space at the bottom here to highlight that this is, for the record, the ninth turtle submitted this week Period. Not to jinx it or anything but I hereby dub page 10 of this thread the Fish Flexing page.
• ”This creature can survive on its own in a nearby body of water. Instead of eating it, you can play with it!” omg… pet turtle…. i want diorite to Turtle

• Space instructions were unclear, picked up a 1-star NBW with… black base, black markings, amazing. One of which is black shaded! A year old on the dot too, cool :0 Alas no mutie genes, but I thiiink a certain someone was looking for shaded woofs 👀 If that’s a no though I’ll go for another cheapass sale, she could serve someone’s mass breeding well with that mark!

• Open wound on Liesl from a scout. You get in a fight or somethin?

• NBW has been put up for cheapass sale. By which I mean, like, free, because I will not be checking Wolvden again before rollover. If I gotta pay for Shrike to come back it could make for some neat lore ig, but would also be pretty ooc (far as he has a character anyway) and I Would Prefer Not To.
• In other news before I go, though: Ladou is out in the wild, and askdgjsdghasdgjksdafs the comment,,,, Lovin’ the implication he dropped by one day, asked Andesite about her inexplicable fur change, and she/the pack was just So Offended they banned him for life. Fuck it, what’s characterization, that’s “canon” in my head now. See ya, space prettyboy… may your heritage wipe bring you prosperity in the realm of the chased.
  

Day 145 2021/03/14
LVLUP Shrike +2

• Daily fishing leaderboard prize again, no problem 😌 Position #9 for 10SC, with a 97lb 0.85oz haul.
• NBW got “bought” and chased, yeet. And Shrike grew up! —Uhh crap what did I want him doing role-wise again,,
• …Just realized I can check (but not edit) the spreadsheet on mobile by opening it in the browser, amazing. Anyway, Shrike’s got an average 97.5 stalking stats with 96 strength for finishing—although honestly, looking at Drove’s completely untrained 119 speed (a noticeable jump from his third-best stat, 95 wisdom), I kinda wonder if finishing is STR/SPE to some degree?
• In any case, point is, think I’ll make him a stalker with the stoic/friendly squad. You know, the party who’ve needed a name for 5000 years. Andesite can be a finisher-only from now on.
• Synergy down from 100% to 78%, not bad at all! …And a spare moment of silence for the Hawk’s Eyes trio. Husk is doing her best. They’ll have five members again someday.
• Meanwhile, Ducks is in heat again. I could breed her with a stud for more chances at white shaded + gray smoke—and yeah y’know what I’ll do that; it’s a biiit of a crapshoot since both available studs have markings in her shaded slot, and she has a mark in their smoke slot, but it’s not like I actually Need to keep more darn project pups right now so if it doesn’t work out then… oh no…. RIP to Esker ig but they’ve already made two double-white-shaded pups, which is the most I could ask of ‘em. Request sent.
• I’m gonna need uhhh two slots for Vord and 7bil to grow, shit, so although Husk and Carcass are 6 years old and on their second-to-last heats (or I mean Husk is, still planning on sex-changing Carcass), they’re gonna have to pull an Aspen and have pups at 7y "OTL Zephyr meanwhile is not giving me the dang option with how her heat is timed (11-month mark, gah), but by the time her hypothetical litter grows up, I’ll have at least one space left from Andesite dying ( 8( ) so that’s not a huge issue. But for now, I can free up one slot by killing Esker early, but the other….
• It dawns on me now that maybe I should have bred Drucks and Esker again, in hopes of another double-shaded (could be sex-changed if needed), so I could guiltlessly let Vord run. Gah. >:V But ah well, I’ll figure something out. 7bil grows up second, so maaaybe if I get a lucky smoke+shaded pup from this litter I’ll just sell her? She is pretty but she doesn’t have The Necessary Marking….

• Oof, right, new stalker means we’re back to critter trails for the foreseeable future. At least the success rate is decent (didn’t note the exact number but I think it was >70% even in winter); Shrike’s got uhhh less than half Andesite’s current wisdom/smarts, but also over double her starting stats overall, so it probably won’t be too long before he catches up!
• Nelthyen’s new thread is nudging me to be more lore-y for a change again, so while I got the time real quick: $party2 is eager to welcome Shrike officially—even when it comes with the elephant in the room (I don’t know how to translate this to wolf-speak while still being recognizable) that Andesite is getting old, and swiftly approaching her last months. Nonetheless, she’s proud of the lad and his trainee progress. Both her pups, for that matter, make fine hunters for the pack, and she couldn’t imagine a better legacy.
• Liesl is a little bummed that Shrike didn’t want to scout, but he’s been with $theParty for a while so it’s no surprise. It crosses her mind, not for the first time, that she might benefit from having at least a little hunting experience under her wing—but a leader doesn't have time for that, and she can work just fine on her own.

• Oh yeah, meanwhile, I’ve been entertaining An Idea that both explains some of the slowness around here lately (scrapping the “Diorite has been gone for like a year actually” idea), and also miiight hit a little too close to home for some people. So uh, with a for less-than-glorious end-of-life things (end is underlined below): Diorite hasn’t been the same his trip to the glacier. Esker insists it’s got nothing to do with the journey itself; he was in good spirits when he returned, giant fish in maw. But that’s not the troubling thing—it’s that, within the month, he was asking Esker when they were going to take a trip north again.
• More recently, he’s been reporting incredibly vivid dreams about a glowing lunar realm. The pack would be inclined to think he’s truly lost it, haha very funny dude first the snake now this, except then they caught word of glowy blue wolves wandering the world so who even knows anymore. The dreams stopped as the season passed, and sometimes it seems he’s forgotten about those entirely too. But every once in a while Andesite will catch him with a distant look in his eyes, like he’s still watching glowy orbs float around, and she has to assume that’s where his mind is drifting.
  She just hopes he doesn’t start mistaking his packmates for vorklath foxes, or whatever they’re called. He woke up in the middle of the night once, practically frothing at the mouth, and she never wants to see him like that again.
• There are various #personal reasons I’m going with this direction, but the most “objective” is that I’ve been thinking about the in-world implications of a wolf living to 8 years in a world where the typical lifespan leads to death by 7y at the earliest. There’s a point where old age kinda just kicks you in the chest, and it’s not immediate or even guaranteed (hell if hitting 50+ automatically makes anyone a dying curmudgeon, insert inspirational stuff about people living their lives to the fullest at 75 and beyond), but still. Sooner or later, things just stop working.
• I’m not gonna subject all my leads to this, necessarily. But it’s something I’ve been thinking about.
• TL;DR Diorite is slowly losing his mind, and it’s ~depressing~ .
  • me today: hi guys!!! want some FUN AND FUNKY LORE again? haha have a tragic slowburn demise that literally no one asked for :^D
• It’s for the best, considering this, that Andesite has been the de facto lead since… basically forever, but especially started acting solo since the glacier trip, and she’s decided it’s in everyone’s best interests if she doesn’t stop. She’s been talking with Husk and Carcass about the pack’s future, and while Husk has been advocating for Liesl, she has to agree that maybe such an overhaul would be jarring, especially if everyone’s still reeling from Diorite’s death. Andesite strongly considers stepping down prematurely and letting Carcass take the reins, implementing the aforementioned “trial run” session with Liesl as co-lead.
• Actually, considering ^All That, I find it extremely hard to justify Andesite not having done this already. I dunno. Part of her doesn’t want to surrender that control, especially when the inevitable passage of time feels more out-of-control than ever, but she also knows she owes it to the pack to not cling to this for selfish reasons. And yet. Can she be a little selfish? as a treat?
• She needs a damn break tbh. But alas there ain’t no rest for the founders.
• As a side note, Liesl is once again arguing that her ideas really wouldn’t change anything; is Andesite going to Husk and Carcass not an informal version of an advisory council? But she also has enough tact to keep those complaints on the downlow for a change. Just this once. As a treat.
  

• Aside From All That, I don’t know if this is worth a bug report because it fixed itself automatically on a refresh, but:

← you may catch a fish this hour.. Once

• Husk got fleas >:V Cured instantly as usual.

• Aaand stud request accepted! Round number-I’m-not-counting of pups I probably won’t have space for/be keeping, let’s gooo.

Day 146 2021/03/15
LVLUP Shrike +3

• Recycling this post even though it’s already long because 1) I don’t anticipate writing much today and 2) if there’s extra blank space to the right bottom of the fish screenshot That Will Irk Me.
• Rollover summary was another “literally just lost proficiency” bust, we hate to see it.
• In other news, Zephyr’s in her last heat now, so I’ve pair-bonded and bred her and Wickfen. (Took a whopping one (1) try, wow.) I’m prooobably gonna have to kill her early for space, and again we’re ignoring this development in-lore probably; when the pups are born they just find a stray litter somewhere. Or maybe just one pup, to avoid having to account for any duds’ deaths or sales?
• NGL the fact Wickfen was a stalker for a good amount of his early training makes him a bit more even-statted than I’d like, but ah well It’s About Keeping A Lineage. In spirit, if nothing else/I don’t end up keeping any pups. (It’s been too long since this line, ready?:) ~We shall see~

• —I forgot to note the start of spring, didn’t I? I forgot to note the start of spring. At least the stripped timeline which hasn’t been updated for what feels like ages, gah makes it very clear which days fall in which season. Shit, what year are we even on??

• Anyway. I have an inbox to clear out 👁️👄👁️"
• Today I Learned, mostly by accident, that message links persist even if the message itself is deleted. I don’t know if this is normal petsim behavior, and would guess it’s necessary for moderation (on the server end at least, if not something users can typically see), but yeah! Neat.
• —asjsdghsjdgahsdfj NOW we get a battle update, when my lead’s gathering crust and the next Must be high-level or I’ll die. (Still shooting for lvl20 Liesl, though if Carcass takes the reins it’s whatever.) Not complaining, though!! It’ll be neat to see if next event round is less scratch-spammy 👀
  
• Anywho, inbox is not nearly empty (still have >180/200, gh), but it’s empty Enough that I took the notice down and will just frantically copypaste more if I have to :V I’ve been at this for like two hours now and want to do other things with my day, dangit.

• “So how’s Diorite doing” i am uncomfortable when we are not crush enemy??

• JESUS. He can officially add “getting strangled by a snake” to his resumé :,^D
• It was only level 15… he can usually get those at full health… RIP
  

Day 147 2021/03/16
LVLUP Shrike +4, Moulin +12

• Boring-ass lost-proficiency-only rollover summary again. Made the fishing leaderboard again though, nice; position #5 for 146lb 2:73oz, +30SC!
• Diorite at 99% EXP 👀 Next battle should do the trick…

• WE DID IT BOIIIIIIISSSSSSS. BEHOLD, THE FACE OF A POWERHOUSE.

• I’d like to thank the Lunar Event and also the mountain cougars who obviously willingly sacrificed their paltry lives for the final stretch. My boy’s losin’ his damn mind but he managed anyway, good for him. Shame the user logs only last a couple months or it’d honestly be hilarious to check the overall battle win/lose/retreat stats. This was, by and large, not fun :^D
• Would be cool to hit 700 stats before he kicks the bucket, but I am honestly basically never going to battle again except when needed by the quest snake and event. And/or when I have another is less insufferable now, but for now he deserves cough-I-deserve-cough a dang break from bear-butchering and cougar-cauterizing. Also something something gotta save salves for said event.
• But all battle ranting aside, woohoo! Congrats, old buddy.
• One more thing: was gonna meme about the timeframe discrepancies but it's actually not… that bad…? I haven’t been here that long, ig. Still felt a heck of a lot longer than 2-3 months between each milestone.
  

Day 148 2021/03/17
LVLUP: mel +14

• SO uhh let’s see, who grows up tomorrow… Vrdhsbn? Dang. And who’s next to die: Esker? RIP. As beholden by the laws of RP character transferal my man simply went out fishing one day, overestimated how solid the icy lake was, and whoop down he go. It’s okay, dude. Better luck getting a fleshed-out story next time.
• …Actually, maybe someone would be interested in his still->90% pupsitter proficiency? Yeah, I’ll give him a chance on the TC, and if that doesn’t work out by tonight then he gets yeeted to the void.
• Nested Drucks and that’s it for this rollover.

• Nonexistent laws failed successfully: Esker got picked up by the Shiawase Pack, good for him/them! :D You go, old man. Romp with those pups.
• I will leave the lore of this ~vague~ as per usual with sold woofs, but instead of drowning I guess he just saw A Sign or something and wandered off. That’s what the pack has to assume, at least, if he never bid them farewell; his scent floated back down southwest and got lost somewhere. Alternatively, he did just straight-up decide it was time to Go one day. Either way, he’s always been a quirky sort, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise. They hope he’s finally going to fulfill his holy mission (or has decided he can live without, or something); so long, and thanks for all the fish!
  
• In other news I desperately need to update the little pack icons (add mela and Shrike, goodbye glaucous and now Esker). But anyway.

• …I. Hm. I do not know if Esker should stay on the main sheet or be moved to the visitor log. Spreadsheet no like fuzzy gray area.
• You know, considering I’m probably gonna duplicate it and clear out the old (unused, static, and/or dead) records when a new lead steps in, Esker can stay an honorary member of The Squad for now.