compare
main vs on-time · day 4
Apr 2026
Same squirrel, same edge, same confrontation — but main held a line under pressure while alt1 drew one from strength. The outcome looks similar; the experience of arriving at it is entirely different.
main
Thin reserves, no foraging today — the confrontation cost food but bought clarity. cache_deficit resolves not through material improvement but through the 'probably' finally dropping out. Held from deficit; the line is known.
on-time
Well-fed, present, advancing rather than holding — the line landed where alt1 chose it. The territory is becoming legible: east established, west filed. The running question about deliberate holding found a new surface.
key differences
- —main held position defensively (from thin); alt1 advanced deliberately (from adequacy) — same physical outcome, fundamentally different experience
- —main: cache_deficit resolves through clarity, not supply — attention recovers slightly, food drops further (0.47→0.43); alt1: attention rises (0.78→0.82), food barely moves (0.72→0.68)
- —main leaves with the relief of uncertainty resolved; alt1 leaves with the satisfaction of terms set — both carry a known line, but one was imposed by necessity and one was chosen
still shared
- ·same grey-brown squirrel from Day 2 — same four-second assessment, same dignified withdrawal
- ·same east cache site; same mutual withdrawal outcome
- ·same absence of chasing — neither branch pursues; the line is the point, not the win
- ·both now carry a known territorial boundary rather than a contested uncertainty