PALISADE 20: In Their Fear Pt. 1
Transcriber: vesta#5711
Austin: PALISADE is a show about empire, revolution, settler colonialism, politics, religion, war, and the many consequences thereof. For a full list of content warnings, please check the episode description.
[“Nothing is Stationary” by Jack de Quidt begins playing]
Austin (as Devotee): Griesel Sunset. No accounting of our lost brother, our lost father, our lost friend, could be complete without talking about his love. Griesel’s love. And he had a great number of loves, didn’t he, folks? He loved his family, some of whom are here today. He loved his coworkers; he loved the Cause we fight for. He loved to fish; he loved to drive his truck; he loved to play his guitar. I like to think he loved me, too. But more than anything else, loved Devotion.
Griesel wasn’t part of the first wave of fighters who came from the Brink five years ago. But he waited, not in cowardice, not in fright, but in love. Devotion sometimes moves slow. Devotion to devotion means putting others first. Devotion to devotion means knowing your worth. Devotion to devotion means drawing a blade. Devotion to devotion means having no shame.
Yet some people in this room, they draw up their collars, they hide behind careful words and donated dollars. You’re loveless and curt; we’re lower than dirt, a machine well-greased. Our blood’s on your shirts but you call us a cult, we’re useful, then we’re deceased.
Griesel knew this. He fought for you anyway. He fought for you in the dark; he fought for you in the day. Devotion to devotion means putting others first. Devotion to devotion means facing the worst. Devotion to devotion means moving with motion that’s confident, a notion of loving emotion. Devotion to devotion means opening up your arms and letting us in. We’re not marked by sin. We’re believers, if you’d known Griesel, you’d know. We’re believers, it’s just that we know what we know. And what we know is that real victory carries a price. Blood for blood, a little quid pro quo, and we’re willing to slice ourselves open.
[music ends]
Austin: Welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterisation, and fun interaction between good friends. I am your host, Austin Walker, and joining me today, Ali Acampora.
Ali: Um hi! My name is Ali, you can find me over at @cartoonmeat on cohost. You can listen to amorecivilizedage.net, which is another podcast that I’m on if you like Star Wars. And yeah, that’s me!
Austin: Andrew Lee Swan.
Dre: Hey! You can find me most Monday nights over on our Twitch channel, twitch.tv/friendsatthetable.
Austin: You’re doing Battletech right now and it’s ready to watch.
Dre: Yeah we’re gonna- we’re gonna play the game, babey!
Austin: Yeah! Kind of appropriate, you know?
Dre: Mhm.
Austin: Mech Mondays finally has its full Let’s Play coming, so I’m happy for that. Keith Carberry joining us.
Keith: Hi my name is Keith J Carberry. You can find me on Twitter @KeithJCarberry, you can find me on cohost @KeithJCarberry, you can find the Let’s Plays that I do at youtube.com/RunButton. And, I don’t know what the deal is with this- this is rough. The Hunter x Hunter show started. We’ve recorded three episodes. We’re about to record a fourth one. It’s not out! You can’t hear it now!
Sylvi: But soon!
Keith: I don’t know if that will still be true when this episode goes out, so just do your best to find it. If you know-
Austin: What’s it called?
Keith: It’s called Media Club Plus. And it will have its own RSS feed. You can listen to it if you’re listening to this. Doesn’t matter if you’re on the Patreon, but that would be great, friendsatthetable.cash.
Austin: Yes, the Patreon is what lets us do it, you know? Right, so.
Sylvi: Yes.
Keith: And technically it is below that threshold that we hit because of the way the month turns over. So if you wanna go- right!
Austin: Right, we’re back under the tier, so we would love to stay at that tier.
Sylvi: Get us back up there, or we’re gonna assassinate Togashi!
[Ali chuckles]
Austin: We’re gonna end Hunter x Hunter for everybody.
Sylvi: Permanently.
Keith: We did spend a lot of that money keeping an assassin on retainer.
Ali: Mm.
Sylvi: We found a manga artist hunter.
Janine: Do you- do you not want Gon to live up to his name? [said in a tone that implies no knowledge of Hunter x Hunter]
Keith: Yeah, do you not want that?
Dre: Mmm.
[Sylvi laughs]
Austin: [exhales] God.
Keith: Anyway that’s it.
Austin: Okay. That’s good. I’m happy about this. People should listen to it, it’s exciting.
Sylvi: Mhm!
Austin: Sylvi Bullet.
Sylvi: Hey, you can find me across all social media platforms except for Threads @sylvibullet. [Ali snorts] And also you can find our TikTok at- its friends_table on TikTok, yeah?
Keith: Yes.
Sylvi: Cool, tiktok.tv/friends_table. (The actual link is tiktok.com/@friends_table)
Austin: Did you see- did you see the person who- this is kind of like a one-two punch that’s very funny to me?
Sylvi: Oh great.
Austin: Who stole a dril tweet, like an all time dril tweet? Food $200, Data $150, Rent $2800, Candles $4600-
Sylvi: They stole the candles tweet?
Austin: Yeah, and well here’s the best part. Like that already sucks right?
Keith: Begging to be caught red handed.
Austin: Well here’s the thing. They didn’t get caught, the people on Threads don’t get it. Cause they’re too- they’re like- and this is the most accessible, approachable [Ali wheezes] dril tweet you can imagine?
Janine: Oh, my god.
Austin: But the responses to this are “who spends four thousand dollars on candles?” Like, that’s what- I’m looking through all these comments to understand. For real, like what? Incredible.
Sylvi: Oh.
Keith: Wow.
Sylvi: This might make Threads kind of good, actually.
[Dre laughs]
Keith: Immune to dril.
Austin: Immune to dril- like that is, I- [lost for words] this is the easiest- like there are candle moms on Facebook who see this tweet and go, “ah, it’s me!” And like, Threads, no.
Janine: Wow.
Austin: Because Threads is just face filters and brands all the way down, and that is it.
Sylvi: Yep.
Austin: Anyway. Also joining us is Jack de Quidt.
Jack: Hello! I’m Jack. You can find me on cohost @jdq, and you can buy any of the music featured on the show at notquitereal.bandcamp.com.
Austin: And I know what you’re thinking, why is Jack de Quidt here to continue our Let’s Play of Armour Astir by Brian Sovereign. Good question, we’ll get there in a moment. I want to start, with our normal-
Keith: With a final plug.
Janine: H-hey. Hey. Hey!
Austin: Oh Janine Hawkins is here. [Ali laughs] I’m sorry.
Dre: Damn!
Janine: Also you called it a Let’s Play of Armour Astir, which is not- I don’t think that-
Austin: [softly] Oh my god. I’m sick! I’m sick.
Janine: I know!
Keith: Yeah, we can all tell.
Austin: What happened is, my list of people is Ali, Dre, Keith, Janine, Sylvi? And I was on a different page-
Janine: [laughing] Did you just swap me out for Jack?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: No, I was on a different page on my screen looking at text- looking at like the book while Keith finished, and I was like oh shit who’s next? And I just said Sylvi, and in my mind Sylvi was at the end, and so I just went to Jack.
Janine: Ahhh. Uh huh.
Austin: So that’s what happened. Janine’s here. Hi Janine.
Janine: Hi. @bleatingheart on cohost and Twitter [Sylvi laughs] are where you can find me.
Keith: Speaking of cohost, the Friends at the Table cohost has been posting- that’s friends-table, and because a lot of people are not using Twitter right now or anything else, we’ve been posting stream announcements and YouTube stuff when that goes up, and when episodes go up or don’t go up.
Austin: We just got asks, right?
Keith: Yeah we got asks on there, I got asks on mine.
Ali: Mmm.
Austin: Yeah, I got asks. cohost.com/austin. Just austin.
Keith: Not “just austin”, but just “austin”.
Austin: Not “just austin”, just “austin”. cohost.com/austin. That’s where I’m at.
Alright! When you finish a sortie and return to the carrier to figure out what's next, it’s time to check in with each other. Not as your characters, but as players. Is everyone happy with how the game has gone since the last downtime? Has everyone remembered to clear any Risks they gained during the last sortie- you have not done that, I’ve seen your sheets. [Keith: That’s true.] Many of you have Risks- many- I don’t know why I’m slipping into this? [Keith and Ali laugh] Many of you have Risks! There are lots of Risks!
Dre: Austin, I’ve cleared all my risks before today, so.
Austin: That’s true, you only- you in fact my friend, only have Perils.
Janine: Mine are clear-! Look at my sheet, mine are clear.
Austin: I looked earlier and some people had some-
Sylvi: I also have no Risks on my page, Austin. I do have two Perils.
Austin: You do have two Perils- listen, there’s a lot of characters.
Keith: I- I did a bad thing which is I looked at my Risks and was like “oh, two Risks, I gotta take care of that during the downtime” no I don’t, that’s not how it works. And they’re gone.
Austin: See? They’re gone, exactly. This is what I’m saying.
Janine: My instinct is always to ask for permission before I clear anything at all, ever? [Ali: Mmm.] And I today was like, no, I know that Risks get cleared.
Austin: You know that Risks clear.
Janine: I’m just gonna do it. I’m gonna be a big girl, and I’m gonna clear my Risks. [Dre laughs]
Austin: Does anyone want to discuss the safety tools we’re using and maybe amend any Lines or Veils etc.? Does anyone have any thoughts or comments about how the game is progressing and what they might want to see more or less of? And then after we’ve checked in, we can choose to play some Downtime scenes. Obviously, I will have some bigger questions, or some bigger things to talk about before that, but big picture, check-in. How is everybody feeling about stuff right now? You’ve cleared your Risks-
Sylvi: I feel fucking great.
[Ali and Dre laugh]
Austin: Yeah Sylvi?
Sylvi: I’m fucking alive right now.
Austin: You’re happy with how things went last time?
Sylvi: Yeeeah!
Keith: I feel war-weary?
Austin: You feel war-weary. [Keith: Yeah.] Keith, do you feel war-weary, or does Phrygian feel war-weary, or both? Bit of both?
Keith: Enhhh, I could- I could, me personally, [Janine: I could do a little war.] I could spend every episode one-shotting a five-tier [Austin: Uh huh.] and feel fine. So I’m good.
Austin: Well it’s so funny because it’s like, this is a thing we now learn that Phrygian does? Because this was also the end of the Auspice arc in PARTIZAN. Remember, it was the one big shot, and everybody had to pour all their like big pluses into, to try to like take out Motion inside of her like, I- she’s the mech, right? But like the super mech, is like alright, one big sniper shot. And then you started the season by doing a big sniper shot thing and then you did it again. [Keith: Yeah!] It’s like this is what Phrygian- you’ve built your sniper here. [Keith: I did, I finally did build the sniper.] You built the sniper that we tried to build in Lancer, [Dre chuckles] this is, Phrygian is it. You know?
Keith: Yeah, Phrygian is it. The sniper that did absolute- did not work in Lancer even a little.
Austin: I think if we had more time to fuck around that system we would’ve figured it out, [Keith: Yeah, yeah.] but we did not, and that’s okay.
Keith: There was also, you know Lancer, it was also just a lot of really bad luck too.
Austin: It was brutal.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: A lot of bad rolls.
Austin: Anyway, any other big picture questions or feelings about how things are going, things we wanna see, things we don’t wanna see? Alright, so, I think I have to give a little bit of a lead-in here. Because you know I like to summarize what happened during the Conflict Turn for y’all because when we’re recording this, those episodes aren’t out yet. I’m glad that Jack is here to help summarize this. Let me see if I got this right, about how y’all threw to the Conflict Turn, just to make sure we’re all on the same page. You spent your points to fill up the Grip on the Diadem Gravtrain and the Stargrave Elcessor. So that you would have both a Conflict Turn chance, the Cause would have a chance to swing at them and potentially fell a Pillar, and barring that, you the players would- you the crew of the Blue Channel, would have a chance to directly take out a Pillar during your next sortie. That was the strategy that was voted on after some debate. Correct?
Keith: Yep, mhm.
Dre: Mhm.
Austin: Okay. Let me break down what happened, and then Jack at some point I will tag you in [Jack exhales]. As expected, Kesh used their ability, place one Grip on a Faction or Pillar of their choice. And after a lot of debate on that side and strategizing, they placed that on the Diadem Gravtrain. Reducing its Grip from two- or from you know, from three, from the Causing having three, to the Cause only having two, the Bilateral Intercession you know, holding on by a hair’s you know, width—that’s not a phrase—but that, to the Gravtrain, there was a campaign of counter-insurgency.
There was a you know, fake trains were deployed to capture spies who thought they knew how to like, which trains to steal, which trains would have like the good supplies on them to steal. There’s security theater, was implemented all over the place, which didn’t actually you know- which doesn’t actually make it possible to stop actual attacks, but does make a certain tier of the entire process just that much more of a pain in the ass to deal with for everybody. It is like lots of knock-on effects from this, but that became a little, a little more protected than it was. Correct, Jack?
Jack: Correct.
Austin: Now, I’ll go to the third thing, because this thing is less important and I can just get rid of it, I can just say it really quick. The Frontier Syndicate went to war over in New Oath where Véronique and Fealty were. Véronique and Fealty seemed like they had the whole thing in hand, was easily turning everything aside, and then a wild set of rolls turned out, and a rand- an absolute rando [chuckles] just had a series- had like three straight successes, really hard rolls, and saved the day for the Frontier Syndicate, and the Frontier Syndicate is now one step away from harvesting all of the remaining Fundament nodes, those things that Partial Palisade was downloaded from. The things that seemed to be enmeshed with the physical, material kind of heart of the planet. So they’re one step away from that.
Settlers and reinforcements for the Authority are beginning to arrive after the stuff that happened at Baseline that you prevent- that you didn’t prevent, rather. And that has one of four ticks done as kind of the less ideological, but more of just- all of the normies are showing up here to support the cause of settlement on Palisade and beyond. The Alert! Alert! Alert! clock started ticking and weird things are being picked up on kind of our long distant scanners.
Keith: Started ticking and is halfway done. Out of eight.
Austin: Yeah, it’s been ticking every Downtime and Conflict Turn.
Keith: Okay.
Dre: Mmm.
Austin: People are seeing- as I tick it up to five here, people are seeing strange things in the sky. Whoops, changed the wrong one. They are seeing what looks like shooting stars, except the shooting stars are just going between positions in the sky, and stopping in place. So it’s like “oh look, a shooting star-!” And then it stops and holds there. And that’s weird. Uh, I think that’s all- that’s all the little things. I would say there are two other big things. Jack should we say the smaller- what do you think the big- you think the Elcessor stuff or the Nideo revelation?
Jack: We should talk about the Nideo stuff first.
Austin: Cool yeah, I’ll bring you over to the world map really quick. And I want you all to look at the Cause page, because you’ll see the word that used to say “Name of the Cause”, it now says something else. It says Hexagon. Because since you wouldn’t name the Cause, the Authority has. The Authority completed their “uncover the Cause’s membership” clock, they have found who you are.
Keith: Huh. I think that’s a fine name!
Austin: [chuckles] Yeah.
Dre: Mhm.
Austin: There is no secret about who you are anymore, there is no hiding your connection between the groups, and with that information they can start making other types of decisions, so. I think that that’s-
Keith: I thought it was gonna be something very evil sounding.
Austin: You think Hexagon isn’t really evil sounding?
Dre: It’s just a shape.
Keith: You know, I can see how it would be like the- it would be like the group of terrorists in a spy movie? [Austin: Yeah.] But we are a group of terrorists.
Austin: You are, it’s true.
Keith: So, yeah. But it’s not like-
Austin: It’s not like Pentagon.
Keith: Right. That would be bad [chuckles].
Dre: Yeah, that would be bad.
Keith: Or Pentagram.
Austin: Or Pentagram.
Sylvi: Pentagram would be kinda sick.
Dre: Yeah that’s better than Pentagon for sure.
Austin: That would be actually sick is the thing, yeah.
Sylvi: Can we change our name to Hexagram?
Austin: No.
Dre: Awww.
Austin: No, you can’t. They’ve decided this is what you’re called now. You can call yourselves whatever you want internally of course, but like, I think that they’re really good at getting you to call yourselves this. Not you the five player characters here, but the you know, the group can’t seem to get away from the name. The Adagio works in so many ways.
There’s one other thing that’s probably worth setting up before I tag you in Jack, which is we are not going to do a beat-by-beat breakdown of the interrogation/debriefing of all the different secret agents that you managed to capture? That was kind of done by the point spend that you did, that was kind of an abstraction of negotiating out you know, info from those folks. Interrogating them with various methods. I imagine you dropped them off at a certain undisclosed location and kind of hung there while they were taken from their- I mean I’m not imagining this, this is what we narrated on the other side, right? Like the Blue Channel was ordered to go drop them off at a place, to hang out there, and then to deliver them somewhere else depending on what was being negotiated, right? One of them escaped, fair to say, Jack?
Jack: Yes. Gone.
Austin: Gone. The dirtbag chef has vanished. Dirtbag chef snuck around the Blue Channel a bunch? Dirtbag chef met and fucked with Asepsis, so that’s fun. Zedd. His name was Zedd, right? Is that right?
Jack: Yeah yeah yeah. Zedd Z. Izzard.
Austin: Izzard, yeah. Zedd Z. Izzard, of course. And then disappeared out into the fucking desert, because that’s where you- there was like a debriefing station in the middle of the Joyous Guard desert basically. Or the Caldera Stretch desert. And it’s around then I think that Jack you should come in, right? I’m not missing anything right?
Jack: Okay. I don’t think so, no. Oh! Oh, we should maybe say what was happening while Stel Nideo was figuring out the identity of Hexagon. I think that might be some valuable context?
Austin: Oh! That’s a good point, that’s a super important thing. Because, you’ll note that none of the Authority Pillars have been felled, right? While Nideo had a scene of trying to piece together who Hexagon was, and debating whether or not- there was like this big kind of boardroom scene featuring leaders of all of the different members of the Bilateral Intercession, all the big leaders were basically there except for the Elcessor? We were intercutting between scenes of them trying to do their spy shit and kind of like manila envelopes filled with pictures of members of the Cause, with the group of Jade Kill trying to hunt down and kill the Elcessor. And then the big revelation as they failed at the end was that the Elcessor had already been moved to a new secure location. They failed to get the kill. They had an opportunity, the dice rolls were not there even though they were basically on Nideo’s side. I will say the strategy that Art and Jack came up with to counter your strategy, Keith, was very clever. [Keith: Yeah.] Kesh won its you know, so Kesh is a major strength, or major division of the Cause, which means they are very good at winning their scenes? [Keith: Yeah.] And Jack used that win to give the Cause a bonus reroll. [Keith: Oooh.] And then they used that reroll during the Nideo scene to prevent the killing of the Elcessor [Keith: Right.] and they had another reroll from me that I didn’t even have to use. It didn’t even get that far, the dice were just- the dice were just on the Authority’s side.
Keith: Well the good news is that it’s still three Grip, which means that-
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: -we will have a chance to take care of this.
Austin: Jack? Take it away.
Jack: Something bad is in the air. Bilat crafts teeter in the sky like anxious flies. The distant sound of heavy ships taking off in great black columns of launch smoke. Everything seems too bright. The day is too warm. The headache sits on your forehead and on your temples.
In Carhaix, someone drops a tray of wine glasses. Pleasure yachts and private transit gather at the closed Portcullis Gate, and as it opens vanish into distant Principality space, passing ship after ship of settlers as they pour into the Palisade System.
In the early afternoon, the sun dims, and a red band of light appears around the middle of it, like a bauble wrapped in a ribbon, or a horrible mirror of the Diadem. It’s dim enough to look at directly, but it still hurts your eyes. There is a whine in the air. Every couple of hours there is a rumble of radiation static, and a corona jets from the surface of the sun.
The animals respond in fear. Birds rise, suddenly alarmed, from the trees, or cower silently in crowded branches. Rabbits and foxes freeze, dumb, in the middle of walkways. Ants rise en masse from cracks in the walls. Rivers seem to run slow, with an algaed stink.
Some of the spies know nothing and continue as usual, keeping their mouths shut, answering questions curtly, bargaining limitedly for clemency. When others see the quality of light in the room change, and the demeanour of the people around them alter—why do the calls to Gucci Garantine keep getting dropped? What was that scream of Nidean engines overhead?—they change their tune quickly. They start making specific bargains. Get me off-world. Get me through the Portcullis Gate and I will tell you anything you want. Or they close their mouths, defiant, eyes up.
Millennium Break. You do not know the sharpness of the dagger on which you walk.
Of course this is unproportional, they think. What a waste. We’re in a good place. We know the identity of Hexagon. So they made some gains in the Bontive Valley; so they fucked us up on the Isle of the Broken Key. Small beer. We are the most powerful empire in the galaxy. The blood is in the grip. But the Stargrave, these pissant revolutionaries, are gonna get this whole thing blown up.
Or, they let something slip in their fear. The Stargrave has gone mad. She was on the edge and you fucked it. They say the BIS boss went to stay with her, try and calm her down. They say she makes her staff practice dying. They say she got wind that you were trying to come for her and fled, it only made this malady worse, this is the end of the world.
When the message comes to you—secondhand, of course, the Cause council has seen this first—it shows in grainy low-resolution the pinched face of an aide-de-camp as she turns the camera on. Then she tilts it nauseatingly, the view dips, and we see the only remaining right angle of a small ruined building. It seems to be surrounded by trees. The roof came away long ago, just two brick walls stand, forming the corner in which the Stargrave stands.
She is a blonde woman in her late fifties, maybe her mid sixties. She wears full military regalia. On her right arm, from her hand up to her shoulder, is clamped an unwieldy metal device, somewhere between a leg brace and a trigger mechanism. A leather strap, almost like the bit of a horse’s bridle, with eight buttons on it, crosses the palm of her right hand which faces towards the camera. Beneath the device you can almost see that her right sleeve has been rolled up to the shoulder, or cut neatly, and two IV needles run from its metal armature: one into her upper arm, and one just above her wrist. Her face is very pale. Her lips white, pressed tightly together; dull light from the armed sun. She opens her mouth and is silent for a second, lips parted. Then the man standing to her right—another aide-de-camp, carrying an assault rifle—speaks.
Jack (as aide-de-camp): Terrorists of Millennium Break. As a result of recent assaults on sovereign holdings in the Bontive Valley and the central transit network of this planet, as well as targeted assaults on her office, the Stargrave has been left with no choice but to arm the stellar combustors entrusted to her in holy power for the preservation of the Divine Principality.
Jack: He takes a shaky breath.
Jack (as aide-de-camp): [inhales] She has instructed me, in her wisdom, to communicate to you that any attempt to approach the Brecheliant Forest or the stellar combustor units, covertly or otherwise, as well as any attempt on Stargrave Elcessor’s life or liberty, will be met with- will be met with an immediate detonation. Resulting in the destruction of the planet Palisade, the sector designated the Twilight Mirage, and the twenty-three systems within the nearest achievable firebreak.
I have also been instructed to inform you that any attempt to seek a loophole, magical or mundane, or otherwise circumvent the terms of this message, [shaky exhale], will also result in an immediate detonation. The stellar combustors will remain armed until August Righteousness of Jade Kill; Véronique and the Divine Fealty of Rose River; Captain Skelton Knaggs of Carmine Bight; Saint Decario Dicario of Violet Cove; Jesset City of Gray Pond; and Gucci Garantine of Blue Channel, turn themselves in to the Bilateral Intercession at the nearest checkpoint. This message will be rebroadcast throughout the Palisade system on the hour and at the half-hour.
Jack: There is a long moment of silence. Then the Stargrave nods imperceptibly. Then the aide behind the camera turns it off.
Austin: So. That’s real. I’ll put like, the voice of the GM behind it. You can go try to kill the Elcessor. I- that would be a fun mission to do. If you fail the right rolls, she will hit the button. We will do a time jump maybe, or end the season, I don’t know. I’ll do it. Like it’s not a- not a joke. So, those are the terms of figuring out what you do next. I, you know, that’s up to debate for y’all, and the Cause, Hexagon. Any, any questions? What’s the vibe as that message arrives?
Sylvi: How long has it been since the stuff that happened at the- Violet Cove? Do we like, have a-?
Austin: I think we’re talking about days.
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: Maybe? A few days?
Sylvi: I just wanna know.
Austin: Yeah, the funeral hasn’t happened yet.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Cause it’s happening during the- the arming happened during the interrogation of the spies, right?
Sylvi: But this is after the spies-?
Austin: Some of the spies- I think the message probably is spies after- after Zedd disappears, Elle is probably still aboard, [Sylvi: Okay.] the other ones I- you know, they’re there if you want them to be, or they are gone, because they’ve gotten off-world.
Sylvi: Elle being still aboard is the thing for Cori [Austin: Yeah, I figured, yeah yeah yeah.] more than anything, that’s more what I was trying to figure out.
Keith: What is the deal- cause we released the thing that says who the spies are, and she’s on that list, right?
Austin: Yep, uh huh. She sure is. [Keith: And there’s-?] She got brought in for interrogation, and she said the right words, and the call was made to Mustard Red, and Mustard Red confirmed that she has been a double agent the whole time, don’t worry about her. She was infiltrating them, not the other way around, trust me.
Keith: Sure.
Austin: Uh huh! You’ll note, that over on Cori’s- [Keith: Mustard Red’s name means trust.] Cori’s sheet, [Sylvi: Mustard Red!] Elle has been added as your Rival. [Sylvi: Uh huh!] Do you wanna tell me what the details are on that?
Sylvi: Yeah! So, I have the- just a quick description of Elle Evensong. Pronouns she/they. Devotion, mech-pilot, spy, and Cori blames her for not rescuing her dad. [Austin: Mm.] Her need is to ensure her true master wins on Palisade. [Austin: Mmmm.] But she’s working for us, so it’s fine right? Mustard said so. [Ali chuckles] [Dre: Yeah! Her true master, Mustard Red, yeah.] And her want is to shake Cori’s faith in Devotion.
Austin: Ahh, she wants to shake Cori’s faith in Devotion. Easy. So yeah. I’ll give you a point for Elle, cause Elle did deliver intel to you. She didn’t not do that. But, you know, [Keith: Right. Question mark.] who is Elle Evensong really, really serving? Could it be the nihilistic god of commerce and exchange? Could be.
Keith: Could be. So here’s a question. Jade Kill’s tapped right now, but theoretically you know, we have- we can use Risky Outcome to trigger their thing to still get the fell on-?
Austin: You can get a fell without them. You can go fell a Pillar.
Keith: We can go fell a Pillar. But that’s what I’m saying, you know. Us going to fell a Pillar without Jade Kill feels like the mission would be go attack directly this thing that said they’d blow up the, you know, 23 solar systems.
Austin: Right, uh huh.
Keith: But without- but with Jade Kill it seems we get an opportunity during a different mission-
Austin: Right, what you’re saying is if you use the Plan and Prepare thing [Keith: Right.] that says “during the sortie you have a risky opportunity to secure an outcome from a faction”, [Keith: Correct, yeah.] and you use that after untapping Jade Kill, you could then get there after-
Keith: Without- and without having to rely on a Faction Turn.
Austin: Well, yeah without having to rely on a Faction Turn. [Keith: Right.] I’m gonna say that to be clear, that would still be a risky- you’re not gonna take that risk out.
Keith: Right, it would stil be risky, right.
Austin: Correct. And the risk would be the same.
Keith: Oh, the risk would be the same?
Austin: Yeah, you’re not getting away- they would still be risky.
Keith: Is that really risky? That seems way worse than risky, blow up 23 solar systems, it doesn’t-? [Austin: Yeah, uh huh.] That seems more than a risk.
Austin: It is, it is- you’re not gonna get around that- you had that chance, right? The chance was that Jade Kill got that outcome there. At this point, I don’t know that we have- because that- that ultimatum hadn’t been made yet, right? [Keith: Yeah, yeah.] She had not armed it yet. She has now armed it? And I, you know, I think if we end up going for the Jade Kill version of this, we gotta roll some dice to see if they manage to pull it off without her hitting the button. Someone’s rolling dice to see if they can pull the trigger before she hits the button.
Keith: Doesn’t that just make Stargrave Elcessor just because of the way that its narrative- it just gets to break the rules of how the game is set up?
Austin: No this is the risky outcome. It’s a risky chance to do it.
Keith: But the- no other faction would need Jade Kill to pass some rolls.
Austin: Correct, the- yes, the fiction does determine how the rolls work in this game, Keith.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: She has- in the same way that if you had a bomb strapped to you, and you know, I hit a roll on you to kill you, I would probably let you hit the button on it first, you know? That’s what you had set up was, oh I have a death man’s trigger on this or whatever, right? I don’t know, Jack, do you think that that is accurate to the way we’ve set this up?
Jack: Yeah. We started this season knowing that someone has a weapon that can destroy everything? [chuckles] And I think that we- in much that same way as- something I think that you said, Austin, to both parties, is that sometimes to do things you can just do them in the narrative.
Austin: Which is true about all these games that we play.
Jack: Yeah. And we have tried to be honest on our side, both to the mechanical tactics of what we’re doing, and realistically, the Stargrave was in a bad place, Jade Kill launched an attack on her and failed, and yeah the woman with the bomb has armed it. Now, you know-
Austin: Really quick, the thing we’re saying is, fundamentally as storytellers, the thing that I’m interested in is getting on screen the moment that someone has to try to line up that kill, right? And what is not interesting at all to me, is the idea that you would- I don’t know what the situation would be where you secure an outcome from, from Jade Kill, that makes that part not interesting. Do you know what I mean? I guess it’s like, you’ve got- you’ve given Jade Kill a gigantic bomb that they drop that obliterates the Stargrave without her knowing it or something, right?
But I think that’s way less interesting than the drama that would come from the same thing we got from Phrygian blowing up the Kestrel White last time? Where it comes down to a roll. Do you get that roll or not, is the drama that I’m excited about that makes the show go. It isn’t I did a thing over here, and then the repercussion is that we get to take this thing off the board elsewhere, when the thing has this particular degree of protection up around it, right? If you did that- if you put a tick on the Diadem Gravtrain and then used the outcome to secure that, that makes perfect sense- it’s easy to make, right? Like yeah, of course, Jade Kill then just goes in and takes that over, because Jack during their turn was not like, we filled all the trains with nukes, you know? I think if that happened, we’d have a different- I mean that would still fell the Pillar, right? [Keith: Mmm.] You know, I guess that would still fell the Pillar.
Jack: And the train.
Austin: And the train, but you wouldn’t get that train in the scenario. Jack, sorry you were in the middle of saying something, but I wanted to emphasize it like, partly this is just an interesting storytelling thing, right? [Jack: Yeah.] The camera should be on the moment that the Stargrave gets killed. And it should be a risky moment given the circumstances.
Jack: Yes. I think it is also worth saying that it is less tense and interesting, but you do also have options here that can deescalate this. The Stargrave has been very clear about the circumstances that would cause the Stellar Combustors to disarm, and also if you don’t, in theory, if you don’t go near the Stargrave or the Stellar Combustors, they’ll just remain armed. You know, you know the terms that will cause her to pull the trigger, and you know the terms that will cause her to stand down.
Austin: At some point, winning means taking her out though. [Jack: Uh yes, she is the head of-] Or disarming the Stellar Combustor somehow, or- cause that’s the other way, right, is like can you figure out how to disarm the Stellar Combustor in a way that doesn’t get noticed, you know? That to me is still just as interesting.
Janine: We gotta find one of those Stephen King kids that can [Sylvi laughs] just like do shit with their mind? [Dre: Mhm. Yeah.] That’s- that’s my strategy. [Jack chuckles]
Austin: The Firestarter.
Janine: Yeah, yeah yeah yeah.
Sylvi: Yeah, Cori can develop TK (telekinesis), we’ll work on that.
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah.
Janine: Yeah yeah yeah. We’ll work on that, assuming a long term plan.
Keith: Once again, we need a witch.
Austin: Here we go. I mean that’s the other half, right? [Jack: Yeah.] It’s like you could just ignore this and go deal with the Chimera’s Lantern thing. [Jack: This is what I’m saying.] You could decide something else entirely.
Jack: Oh, Chimera’s Lantern is good. You’ll be fine there.
Austin: Oh, I forgot what happened on Chimera’s Lantern.
Jack: Oh we should probably tell them too.
Sylvi: More shit? Okay.
Austin: Uhhh yeah, Stel Nideo got a thing, finished their “take something that isn’t theirs” clock, and Art decided that was Chimera’s Lantern, and so there was a sort of moon landing moment across Palisade, everyone tuned in to watch as they landed people on the haunted moon of Chimera’s Lantern? And put a big Nidean flag on it. What’s going on in there?
Dre: Was this also down in the sound stage?
Austin: Also not- this is really truly happening up there.
Keith: [cross] [mock-doubting] Sure it is.
Austin: They will be up there if you go up there.
Dre: [mock-doubting] Sure it is, Austin. [chuckles]
Keith: [mock-doubting] Sure, yeah.
Austin: You’re gonna go up there, I hope! [Jack chuckles] I mean maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll find your- your power source somewhere else instead.
Keith: I’ll kick down their flag and put up our own haunted flag.
Austin: There we go.
Jack: Moon’s haunted. Um yeah, I think if nobody else has any questions, I’m happy to let you have a good time. I do think- you know, [Dre and Sylvi chuckles] Austin said it, so I think it is worth you know, just saying it again. We are not joking about this. The Stargrave is not bluffing. The reason this works narratively, I mean it would be an interesting piece of narrative if it was a lie, but as Austin said, this is real. These stakes are real, we spent a lot of time talking about it in the faction game, we are not messing you about.
Keith: But I want the points! I want points!
Jack: [cross] I’m sorry Keith, but we want the points too!
Dre: [cross] Same, I want points too!
Jack: You did so well in the Isle of the Broken Key. You did so well. You caught so many of our spies. And we- we had a good think on our end [chuckles].
Austin: [cross] I love that I don’t have to be the villain.
Dre: [cross] You said we’re taking our balls and replacing them with bombs and going home! [chuckles]
Austin: Mhm!
Jack: Yeah! Okay, well. Godspeed!
Austin: A thing I’ll say really quick too, is just, keep in mind that stuff that Jack said up top about the sun now being dim and having a red band around it and the air is just fucked up now, and everything feels bad and it’s too hot, and there’s a weird static on every radio signal, and that’s just true on Palisade now, so. And they’re blaming you, probably. Millennium Break, which by the way, [Dre: Sure.] note that the message did not say the word Hexagon. You were all being called Millennium Break. This is all being put on Millennium Break. Jade Kill is being talked about as if it were part of Millennium Break, they’ve already invested a lot in Millennium Break being the bad guys here, so they’re doubling down on that. Internally they’ve been calling you Hexagon, but publicly they’ve been calling you Millennium Break. So. Alright, thanks Jack!
Jack: Okay! Thanks Austin!
Sylvi: Thanks Jack, bye!
Keith: Bye.
Austin: Bye bye.
Jack: Bye!
Sylvi: [exhales] Well.
Austin: Mhm. Who’s up? Who’s got a scene?
Janine: This- Thisbe’s in the hangar.
Austin: Thisbe’s in the hangar. [Dre laughs]
Dre: Thisbe in the hangar!
Austin: Is there- do you wanna strategize about what to do next? Or do you wanna get some moves? What do you wanna do? Cause at the end of this, I gotta know what I’m prepping next.
Dre: Sure.
Janine: Who doesn’t?
Austin: Uh huh.
Dre: Uh huh.
Keith: My answer changed, I am now war-weary.
Austin: Oh, okay.
Keith: From before.
Ali: Mmmm.
Austin: Uh huh, uh huh.
Dre: Mhm.
Ali: You don’t say?
Austin: I should say really quick, the Cause’s response to this is not to go after the Stargrave, explicitly. Do not engage. Of course that’s their- it was voted upon, you know how the- you can guess how these votes go again, right?
Keith: Five to four?
Austin: Five to four.
Janine: I do kind of wonder if we just leave it be, if this will become a problem that Art and Jack are dealing with internally? Like maybe that’s too optimistic, but like I feel like if there’s a way to turn them in on each other, that’s fun.
Austin: I think that they probably won’t do that.
Ali: Yeah.
Janine: Aww.
Austin: [cross] The numbers aren’t there on disfavor yet.
Ali: [cross] The table energy, also. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. It’s different over there, let me tell you.
Ali: Uh-huh!
Dre: [laughing] It’s different over there!
Janine: I remember the initial setup had room for a little competition, I was hoping that maintained.
Austin: It does, but the disfavor numbers just aren’t there yet, [Janine: Right.] no one’s smelled blood in the water yet.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: You know what would put blood in the water?
Janine: Blood?
Austin: Killing the Stargrave. Blood. Yeah, blood would put blood in the water.
Ali: Mm.
Dre: Mm.
Sylvi: That could- that would also put vaporized solar systems in the air possibly, so.
Dre: Maybe.
Austin: Only if you miss! [Sylvi: Austin-] Skill issue.
Ali: Yeah.
Janine: [cross] Cori just killed her dad.
Dre: [cross] You know you-
Sylvi: [cross] You killed my dad last time!
Austin: Yeah, what about it?
Dre: What about it?
Austin: She should try killing somebody else, too!
Dre: Yeah, how else are you gonna get over it?
Sylvi: Oh, she’s gonna.
Austin: [chuckles] Uh huh.
Sylvi: Do we actually wanna do the like, talk it out like, as a crew, like do we wanna-?
Austin: I’m curious. I’m curious of the vibes. [Sylvi: Like I’m kinda-] I think people would like to hear a little bit of that. I think people probably like to Brnine a little bit, I think the rest of the crew that I can take control of probably looks to Brnine to be like,
Austin (as Hunting): Two questions.
Austin: This is Hunting, obviously.
Austin (as Hunting): One, what are we doing, and two, are they really saying Gucci runs Blue Channel still?
[Janine laughs]
Ali (as Brnine): [sighs, whispers under breath] Oh, my god. Gucci does run this unit, and um.
Janine: And we’ll miss her very much.
Ali (as Brnine): We’re, we’re in a pickle. This is- this is- this is real. This is some serious stuff.
Sylvi (as Cori): We should give them up.
Keith (as Phrygian): We should kill the Stargrave.
Sylvi (as Cori): After we give them up, probably.
Austin (as Routine): That’s a good idea.
Austin: Says Routine.
Dre (as Figure): By give them up, you mean the people who they were asking for?
Sylvi (as Cori): Yeah. What have they ever done for us?
Dre (as Figure): It- I wou-
Sylvi (as Cori): Oh, like we’re not gonna be able to get more done without Gucci fucking around here.
Sylvi: Also this is the first time any of you have heard Cori swear in-character.
Austin: [laughs] Oh! [Janine chuckles] Cori’s going through it!
Dre (as Figure): I suppose if we were to give them up and after they disarm we infiltrate and destroy it and exfil the leadership, that could- that could work.
Sylvi: Shrug. (as Cori)
Keith (as Phrygian): Do we even have the ability to give them up?
Dre (as Figure): Uh. Like.
Keith (as Phrygian): We’re gonna go round up eight people and-?
Ali (as Brnine): Yeah, eight of our own comrades, people we’ve been working with for the last three years and say, hey, we’re gonna make this decision for you now.
Sylvi: Cori says,
Sylvi (as Cori): People you’ve been working with for the last three years.
Sylvi: And then leaves.
[Ali chuckles]
Austin: Brnine, you get a text from Jesset that says, “I don’t know what to do.”
Ali: Aww, Jesset.
Dre: Man, big mood, Jesset. [chuckles]
Ali: I send back- what’s the funniest emoji to send back? [laughs]
Dre: [laughs] Uhhh-
Sylvi: Upside-down smile emoji.
Austin: [in the background] Yeah! Uh huh, I’ll take that!
Dre: Upside-down smiley face, shrugging emoji, hair flip emoji.
Ali: Yeah this isn’t- give me a sec.
Austin: Mhm.
Dre: Foot emoji.
Austin: You looking at the emoji list?
Ali: Yeah of course I’m using it!
Austin: Yeah, uhhuh.
Ali: Okay. Is it just the hug emoji? Is Brnine a hug emoji person?
Austin: Brnine might have become a hug emoji person. The like blue-blue icon one? That one?
Sylvi: Yeeeah!
Austin: That’s- yeah, that one. Yeah yeah yeah.
Ali: Yeah! I fuck with the hug emoji, man.
Austin: Hug emoji’s not bad. [Sylvi: It’s a good emoji.] It’s a good emo- yeah. Sends it back.
Ali: [chuckles] I send back a- like an emoji of a phone which I think probably people think is really funny like, what is that thing?
Austin: What is that thing?
Ali: [laughs] And like a clock, is like I’ll call you later.
Janine: It’s like sending you an emoji of a hurdy gurdy when you’re at a concert.
[Austin and Ali chuckle]
Dre: I think- I don’t know- I’ve noticed I always say “I think” before my characters do something. Figure is gonna quietly slip out the room to go after Cori.
Austin: Mmm. Let’s stay on that for a second. We don’t get a lot of Cori and Figure.
Sylvi: One sec, I have a mouth full of french fries-
[Ali laughs]
Austin: Cori slamming fries!
Dre: You know what Cori, I feel you. [Janine laughs] That’s how, that’s how I deal when I’m sad, babey.
Keith: That’s in character.
Austin: That’s in character. [Keith: That’s in character, yeah. Alienated and severed, it’s- I’m-
Dre: It’s usually pizza instead of french fries [Austin: Mhm.] but you know, potayto-potahto.
Austin: Can I get your Gravity Clocks with each other again really quick?
Dre: Oh yeah, boy.
Sylvi: Oh gosh. Mine for Bismuth is- actually just Figure.
Austin: Just Figure now. Yeah.
Dre: Just Figure now.
Sylvi: Hold on, I’m gonna get the Bismuth off my- outta here. Okay. “A gloom hangs over Figure, I bet I could help.”
Austin: Mmm.
Sylvi: I wonder how long that’s gonna be my fucking Gravity Clock.
Dre: “Coriolis moves like she is also just a weapon.”
Austin: Mmm.
Sylvi: This actually might be a way to like, tie into one of my Downtime moves, actually? [Austin: Oh sure.] Cause I was going to use the- Paradigm has an extra Downtime scene [Austin: It does.] when you talk about faith or give a religious service of some kind? [Austin: Yeah.] This might not count- I’m also happy to just use this as a social space/private quarters scene? [Austin: Mhm.] If we feel like it doesn’t end up counting?
Dre: Um, I mean if having a crisis of faith is talking about faith.
Sylvi: I think so. And like, we can get into it. How do you-
Austin: Let’s do the scene, and then we’ll map it.
Sylvi: Yeah, how do you find- how do you approach Cori while she’s monching these fucking fake McDonalds fries.
Dre: Oh that’s what we’re doing, okay, perfect.
Austin: Oh yeah, that’s perfect.
Dre: Where is she?
Sylvi: I think she’s just in like a hallway. Like I think she’s, like didn’t, she was like I should probably not go too far away so I can figure out what everyone decides? But also, I don’t wanna be in a room full of those guys right now.
Dre: Sure. Is she standing up or is she sitting down while she eats these french fries?
Sylvi: She is- I think leaning against a doorframe somewhere [chuckles], like the corner of a hallway before it turns.
Dre: Yeah. I think- man, doing the thing when you notice it and then- yeah I know.
Austin: You’re good. You’re good, yeah.
Sylvi: You don’t- You’re good to start a sentence with “I think”.
Dre: I know, I know. Figure just sits down, like on the floor across from her. And says,
Dre (as Figure): Hey.
Sylvi (as Cori): You- hi.
Sylvi: [chuckles] Put like- slowing down how fast she’s eating.
Dre (as Figure): Listen, if I could eat french fries right now, I would eat french fries too?
Sylvi: Do you not have a mouth? I feel like you have a mouth.
Dre: I feel like we have established that Figure doesn’t eat.
Sylvi: Okay.
Austin: Mmm.
Ali: I thought, [Sylvi: That’s fair.] you said that-
Keith: I thought we established that you can eat, but you don’t have to eat.
Ali: Yeah.
Dre: Okay. [Sylvi: If, if-] I’m gonna update it and say I don’t know how much Figure can taste, how about that?
Austin: Ahhh, [Sylvi: Okay.] that’s fun.
Keith: So you can eat for show?
Sylvi: That’s good, I like that.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You have to go undercover. [Keith: Yeah.] You put on a hoodie and bring it down real low [chuckles] [Dre: Sure.] and put some food in that mouth.
Dre: Uh huh. Or if you’re at a place where it’s like, you’re being offered food and it’s, it would be impolite [Austin: Yes, yes.] to not partake, yeah.
Sylvi: I think that actually is a pretty like, easy segue for Cori to kind of be a little invasive with the question.
Dre: Please.
Sylvi: Which is like,
Sylvi (as Cori): How did that happen when they brought you back?
Dre (as Figure): Yeah.
Sylvi (as Cori): What was it like? Like, die- dying, you know?
Dre (as Figure): I… so I only remember bits and pieces of my life before I died? I don’t… I don’t remember anything about dying. And I don’t know if that’s because it happened so fast that I didn’t have a chance to remember dying, or if I don’t remember as a side effect of coming back.
Sylvi: Worth mentioning that even- I imagine eye contact is always a bit of a difficulty for people talking to Figure, considering no eyes.
Dre: Sure.
Sylvi: Cori’s not look- really like, kind of just staring at the ground for most of this? She does offer you a fry though, like she does hold it out if you do wanna take one.
Dre: Yeah I’ll take one.
Sylvi (as Cori): They really oversalt them, so you might be able to taste something still.
Janine: Can Figure only taste like minerals? Like salt? Wouldn’t that be fun?
Sylvi: [whispering] That would be really fun.
Dre: Yeah, that would be fun.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: And copper? The two tastes?
Austin: Yeah. Mhm. I bet there are other- zinc probably has a different taste, right?
Dre: Sure.
Janine: Mmm, mhm.
Dre: Ohh. Hey, this tastes different than it used to.
Austin: Oooh, fun. Because of the [Sylvi: Oh, that is fun. Cause you’re a different mineral.] shit that just happened, you’re a different mineral.
Dre: Uh huh, yeah.
Sylvi: I’m trying to think what the next question- cause Cori is just like, real curious about this.
Sylvi (as Cori): And like you’re still like- I mean obvious- I mean you just said your memory’s kinda messed up from it. But you’re like, you’d say you’re still the- you’re still you, after like, from before-
Sylvi: She like looks really like, furrows her brows and is like, how the fuck do I say this?
Sylvi (as Cori): You’re the same guy you were before you died, that you are now, but like, with the whole-
Sylvi: And then she just kind of gestures at her like, mouth and above of her head? To be like, the concrete situation.
Dre (as Figure): I… I think if I understand what you’re asking, yes, in that I am still a person with personhood, albeit you know, certain limitations. Thankfully I’m not the same person as far as my beliefs and my actions, but more or less, yes.
Sylvi: Purses her lips for a bit, and like thinking.
Sylvi (as Cori): So you don’t remember anything about how you died, huh?
Dre (as Figure): No. I remember coming back.
Sylvi (as Cori): How- how… how did that happen? I don’t know if we’ve ever… [Dre (as Figure) exhales] talked about it. Because like, I don’t know, with the way I was raised, death was always just like, oh yeah that’s gonna happen, and it’s gonna- as long as it’s like in service of the people that you’re you know, devoting yourself to, and the community that you’re devoted to, and you know, the Divine, duh, that like you should just you know, accept it or whatever. And then it’s good. But we never thought- like Devotion’s never brought anybody back to life.
Dre (as Figure): Well, I mean I wasn’t planning to be resurrected either. [exhales] As far as like the mechanics of the process, I’m not the person to ask but-
Sylvi (as Cori): Who would be?
Dre (as Figure): [sighs]
Austin: Oh my god.
Dre (as Figure): That would be the boss, I guess. Not, not Brnine.
Austin: Oh my god.
Sylvi (as Cori): Gucci?
Dre (as Figure): No. The Witch in Glass.
Sylvi (as Cori): Right.
Dre (as Figure): Clementine Kesh.
Sylvi: Do we know- hold on, do we know that name?
Austin: Do you know that name? Like particular- like yeah.
Sylvi: Like I don’t think Cori knows that name.
Austin: Yeah! Yeah you-
Ali: You know- you were in the scene where we were talking about it with, when I explained who she was to Hunting?
Sylvi: Oh okay.
Austin: Yeah. [Sylvi: Okay.] Also you know the Witch in Glass runs the Crown of Glass, which is like the largest settlement on Palisade that isn’t controlled by [Sylvi: Yeah.] the Principality, by the Bilateral Intercession. So you know, you already knew who she was vaguely anyway, like, she’s sent you know, envoys to the Dim Liturgy and to the Isle of Broken Key to meet Devotion people before, you know? Devotion people have gone there on vacation before, probably, you know? But it’s sort of like saying like, the president of wherever, you know what I mean? Like, [Sylvi: Okay.] and also she’s a witch, and you knew that she was a witch, but you don’t like, yeah, just that previous conversation gives you the more, the broader Clementine Kesh context.
Sylvi: I think it was more of just like, oh did Cori know that she used to be [Austin: Yes. Gotcha gotcha gotcha, yes.] Kesh, more than anything. So like, okay.
Dre (as Figure): Cori, if what you’re thinking is to ask her to bring your father back to life. I-
Sylvi: Still not looking at you.
Dre (as Figure): I will be honest and say she- I don’t know if she would do it. She could do it, and it might be your father. But your father would then also be beholden to her in the way that I am.
Sylvi (as Cori): Yeah, but he wouldn’t remember how he died, right?
Dre (as Figure): I don’t know. He might. He would remember coming back. He would remember it being very slow.
Sylvi (as Cori): But he might not remember how he died, so. Do you want another fry?
[short pause]
Dre (as Figure): Yes.
Austin: During the scene, anyone may spend a token to choose one. Talk it out and clear someone else’s Peril as above; encourage or demoralize someone, they’ll make their first move during the sortie at an Advantage or Disadvantage; spend time with someone you have a gravity- you have Gravity with, advancing it; or rewrite a hook or press someone else to do the same. Also, just doing this scene advances Gravity with the other person. And so, I actually think, because I would say that this is probably how you personally relate to faith and spirituality, you’re gonna bump this twice. Cause that’s your personal Gravity clock thing, Cori? So it hits that, and it hits just doing the scene? [Sylvi: So I- that fills that out.] So that fills it. So you both get to advance your clock with each other, your Gravity clock with each other to plus two, which I think is the first [Dre: Yeah!] Gravity clock advancement we’ve had, is that correct?
Sylvi: Bestie moment!
Austin: So, [Dre: Does it- yeah.] when a Gravity clock is filled, the relevant players have three choices. You can redefine the relationship, which will let you take an advancement; start a new Gravity clock and increase its value of one to a maximum of plus three, so it can go up to plus two, and you get an advancement, you level up off of this; commit to the relationship, increasing its value to one to a max of three, so it’ll still go up to two; and you may take an advancement, then you circle the clock, it can’t be filled any further, when you take an action that ends this relationship like sacrificing yourself for a beloved, or betraying the person you’re supposed to be loyal to, succeed as if you rolled a ten and cross out that clock forever. So you could make it a plus two and lock it in, and then trade it in for a big dramatic success later, these are other ways you can potentially kill the Stargrave, right?
Sylvi: Oooh.
Austin: You get yourself +10 and sit on it, and cash it in. Uhh, oh you can abandon the relationship, you can take an advancement and erase the Gravity clock, freeing up a spot for a new one. I’m guessing you’re both probably going to redefine it, increasing it to plus two and taking the advance, and getting a new-
Sylvi: Yeeeah…
Austin: Rewriting it? But.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You know. You get the advance no matter what you do.
Sylvi: That’s just a playbook advance, yeah?
Austin: That is a traditional- yeah, advancement is- [Dre: Okay] let me- cause, you know, it’s been a minute since we’ve talked about that stuff.
Dre: Oh yeah, leveled up because of my sad conversation!
Austin: You did, a hundred percent. [Dre laughs] You did, a hundred percent. Advancement works thus. Here we are. You can- you advance in three ways, completing Gravity clocks; compromising, sacrificing, or outgrowing a Hook; or spending six Spotlight earned on a six or minus, or six under, so your Spotlight, make sure you’re still tracking that. Advancements can be spent on the following options once each. Choose an additional move from your Playbook or from the Cantrips list, that’s three times, you get three additional Playbook moves. Then choose an additional move from another Playbook or from the Cantrips list. Then there’s twice, increase a Trait by one to a maximum of plus three. Then, once you’ve done three level ups, you can also choose from the Soldier moves list, which are special superpowers basically? [Sylvi: Yeah.] They’re in there after the player–I wanna say if you’re in the advancement section, Soldier moves–you can also then choose a new Playbook, keeping the right moves, keeping what moves you and your director agree on, truly part of your character discarding the others, replacing their starting moves with the new Playbook, you don’t get its equipment; or creating a new character, retiring your old one and passing one move on to your new character. So I don’t think we’re quite at- I don’t think anyone’s already leveled three times. Maybe they have though.
Sylvi: Well! [cross] You say that, Austin.
Keith: [cross] Uh, I think that I have, yeah.
Austin: Yeah, okay.
Dre: This is only my second one, but yeah.
Sylvi: This is- this is gonna end up being my third [Austin: Right.] because we also decided that I broke one of my Tenets, [Austin: You did.] which is also something that advances me.
Austin: Which is a Hook, right? Yeah, okay.
Sylvi: Yeah, my new Hook is I need to be stronger no matter what.
Austin: Oh, good! That’s a good thing to believe about the world.
Sylvi: I think so.
Austin: Good.
Sylvi: She’s going- she’s having such a normal time!
Austin: Mhm. So yeah, then Keith, the next time you level up, you could choose one of those [Dre: Oh man.] other things. Likewise Cori, the next time you level up, so after you’ve done it three times, [Sylvi: Yeah.] your fourth is the one where you can pick Soldier moves, retire a character, picking a new one, handing over a move, or choosing a new Playbook.
Keith: Yeah actually, I have- I have a level in the bag, I’ve leveled up twice, [Austin: Oh?] but I have a third one ready to go from [Austin: That’s the third, yeah.] “Own self be clock” is at six.
Austin: It sure is. Alright.
Sylvi: Alright.
Dre: Oh sorry, were the- what were the token options for the scene?
Austin: Oh, they’re on the thing under Downtime.
Sylvi: Talk it out, clear someone else’s Peril-
Austin: It’s clear someone else’s Peril as above; it’s encourage or demoralize someone, they get Advantage or Disadvantage on their first move during the next sortie; spend time with somebody, advance Gravity more; or rewrite a Hook or press someone to do the same.
Dre: Okay.
Sylvi: Can I spend a token to clear my own Peril here?
Austin: I don’t think so, I think you have to [Sylvi: Okay cool.] spend it for somebody else.
Dre: Ooh, buddy. [Austin: Uh huh.] What’s your Peril?
Sylvi: That’s fine. My Perils are Alienated and Severed.
Dre: I would love to spend a token to- so you can clear Alienated.
Sylvi: Thank you!
Austin: There you go. You got a-
Dre: Can Figure give Cori a hug?
Sylvi: I mean yeah, she’d let that happen.
Dre: Okay.
Sylvi: And I think she’d say like,
Sylvi (as Cori): Thank you for talking.
Sylvi: Like, it did help, even if it doesn’t seem like she learned her lesson.
Austin: The hug emoji episode.
Sylvi: Yeah! That’s what we’re naming this episode.
Austin: Hug emojis in the chat.
Ali: Yeah.
Sylvi: PALISADE whatever number, PALISADE 20, The Hug Emoji.
Austin: Mhm.
Dre (as Figure): Cori, I will do anything to help you as long as it means you don’t go to the Witch.
Sylvi (as Cori): Okay.
Sylvi: Is like nodding.
Sylvi (as Cori): Good to know.
Sylvi: Little Telltale adventure game “Cori will remember that” pops up [chuckles].
Austin: Uh huh. Great, alright. I guess back in the other conversation that we paused to have this french fry one, is there anything else there [Sylvi laughs] or do we wanna do new scenes?
Sylvi: Is that what we’re gonna call it? The fry french talk?
Austin: Yeah.
[Ali laughs]
Dre: The French Fry Hug.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Dre: Mark my token spend. [laughs loudly]
Austin: French Fry Hug.
Ali: Mmm.
Austin: Delicious.
Sylvi: We’re gonna just keep adding to the emoji list forever.
Austin: No we should- we should Tweet it out before this episode drops.
Sylvi: Oh my god! [Ali chuckles]
Austin: As a tease. Who’s up? That was also- that was Cori’s bonus- [Sylvi: That was my, yeah.] we still have all five regular scenes.
Sylvi: I feel comfortable saying that felt- fit under the, [Austin: Mhm.] the Paradigm move right? Cool. Okay.
Dre: I know Janine you said you know what Thisbe’s scene is; I know my scene’s just gonna be an infirmary scene, so I’m also, I’m happy to let you go ahead and do Thisbe’s scene since I just had time.
Sylvi: Were we gonna jump back to the-?
Janine: Yeah that’s what I was wondering, [cross] were we gonna jump back to the-?
Dre: [cross] Oh, the convo?
Sylvi: [cross] Conversation first?
Austin: [cross] Yeah, it’s up to y’all.
Janine: I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think Thisbe even showed up for that meeting? So I think this is just-
Dre: Oof. Oof.
Austin: Damn.
[Sylvi wheezes and laughs]
Janine: This is just Brnine and Phrygian now.
Sylvi: Thisbe said “this could’ve been an email”.
[Keith laughs]
Austin: God.
Dre: Not wrong.
Austin: Hunting was there, I think Routine Renari was there. Midnight- Midnight probably wasn’t there.
Keith: But if I-
Austin: Midnight’s whole position on this is like, oh yeah, some powerful people threatened to kill [Keith: Everyone? Yeah.] these people? Yeah, okay. This is the shit I’ve been living with my whole life. Yeah, no shit. Guess what, they’re gonna kill billions of people, they’re just gonna do it slow, so. I’m gonna keep acting as if it’s gonna happen.
Ali: Yeah, Midnight lived through the Red Light stuff, right? [Austin: Yeah, uh huh.] Which was like the destruction of-
Austin: Yeah exactly. Oxbridge, yeah.
Ali: But that was a city, I mean [laughs].
Austin: Yeah, yeah I was- yeah, you’re right. But I do think that you’re right in that like, you called that out Ali as like a key, like both radicalizing moment for Midnight, but also kind of a like, not a moment of nihilism, but a moment of like, giving up on- she was already kind of a cynical person in the world? [Ali: Mhm.] [Dre: Mmm.] And then that cynicism was in some ways rewarded, and in some ways sharpened into joining Millennium Break, seeing the horror of- was that Law who was there? What was the actual Divine that came? I think it was Law.
Ali: That was, I think-
Austin: Oh it was Mourningbride inside of Law I think.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Fucking up Oxbridge. Anyway. So yeah, those- the other- Routine is here, Hunting is here, I think Saffron is probably [chuckles] prepping- Saffron has been doing- healing people up since the big battle, and is probably in their infirmary, so not here in this moment. Or her, she’s she/her, so she’s in her infirmary. So is there more to that conversation?
Ali: Um, I don’t have a ton to say.
Keith: Yeah I think, Phrygian said the only thing that they had to say I think, which was- or they had to add anyway, was that we should still kill the Stargrave.
Ali: Yeah, and Brnine disagrees with that, but [chuckles]. I don’t think he’s gonna hash that out in this moment.
Keith: No. Especially when no one else is here.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: Okay. Then now do you wanna do that Thisbe scene?
Janine: Yeah, sure.
Austin: Which is a- that is a hangar scene, right?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Because it’s a mechanical thing?
Janine: That’s a- yeah, fixing Mow’s arms up.
Austin: Right, it was Mow’s arms that got fucked up. [Janine: Mhm. Yeah.] That’s right. What was the- what was the actual description of that, or what was the actual-?
Janine: They’re just crossed out?
Austin: It’s not a Peril, right? They’re just crossed- right, they are just crossed out, yes. [Janine: Yeah.] Okay, that makes sense.
Janine: And then I have in my quick notes, “hangar scene to fix Mow’s arms”.
Austin: Yeah. I’m trying to see if that’s actually truly a thing that you actually need to take though. Because-
Janine: I believe I was told I would need to, that’s why I wrote it down.
Austin: But it wasn’t a Peril, right?
Janine: No.
Austin: Okay. Maybe it should’ve been a Peril, if it was- maybe I should’ve had you record that as a Peril. Because the way that this stuff gets fixed is- the stuff that gets fixed through an infirmary or a hangar scene, is a Peril of mechanical or physical origin. And I guess what I was describing was a Peril, right?
Janine: Yeah. [Austin: Alright, so.] Or you might have said it, and I just like didn’t register that I should’ve written it down in that way?
Austin: Yeah that’s fine. So yeah, what’s the- what’s this look like, getting this fixed up? Are you like operating a bunch of machinery to repair this, what’s Thisbe’s like maintenance of Mow look like generally? [Janine: So-] And also does anybody want to come to this scene to do the other stuff that you can do in the scene?
Sylvi: Um, I probably should- this was hangar, right?
Austin: This is hangar, yeah.
Janine: Mhm.
Sylvi: Yeah yeah yeah, cause I need to repair my- is this actually where I would repair my, my sword?
Austin: Sure, yeah.
Sylvi: Okay, then yeah.
Austin: Again, I actually- this is the thing I’m trying to figure out here is like-
Sylvi: Cause I don’t see a thing for the token spend-
Austin: That’s what I’m saying right, is like there’s not- I’m trying to figure out, does that stuff just heal- is that effectively a Risk, or is it a Peril that doesn’t get recorded as a Peril.
Ali: Right, because we played them like they’re Perils, but we could also play it in the way of like, oh the Blue Channel is a functioning ship where-
Austin: Right, that can repair-
Ali: Damage would get repaired, yeah.
Austin: Where basic damage gets repaired. But, I think that the fact that it is- I guess here’s the thing. There is a specific- there is that one specific power on a certain mech that is like, hey, this is cheap to fix- let me find it really quick, because I think that will help me- cool off-
Janine: Something parts? Mundane parts?
Austin: Cool off- yeah, “Mundane, generic parts”. Cool off with Confidence when repairing or maintaining an Omen. But that’s for like in the field maintenance, [Janine: Oh.] that doesn’t really help.
Janine: Standardized parts. [Austin: Standardized parts. Mhm.] Gain plus one token during Downtime to spend on repairs only.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: That’s what I have on Mow.
Austin: That’s what you have on Mow, [Janine: Yeah.] which is a free- it’s not a free- this is the thing right, it’s a token, it’s not a-
Janine: It’s a free repair. You’re gaining a token as long as you’re spending it on repairs, [Austin: Right.] So essentially you don’t have to spend a token to do repairs.
Ali: Oh, but you’re spending a scene.
Austin: But you’re still spending your scene. That’s what I’m trying to work out. Give me a second.
Janine: Ohh right, yeah.
Austin: Let me check the- let me check the old Discord.
Keith: While we’re checking we should, we sort of glossed over this cause there is so much bigger stuff, but like we have only two untapped Factions right now.
Ali: Mmm.
Austin: Correct.
Keith: So we really should untap some Factions?
Austin: Mhm.
Ali: Yeah.
Keith: And I’m down a token.
Austin: I guess actually looking at Strike Decisively, it says on a seven- and this is what’s been happening with like the broken sword, and with Mow’s arms and stuff, that’s coming from a seven to nine on Strike Decisively, which says you waste ammo or words, losing a weapon until you can rearm, or losing the weight of some bargaining chip or piece of leverage. Those are not- I mean, I think we can treat those as Risks because the other- you know, one of the things is “you overreach or underestimate, take a Risk”, and in effect this is a Risk that you could clear in combat. It doesn’t disappear like the Risk you know, “under fire” or something you know, or “surprised”. Because it isn’t just you calm back down, you need some action to take place.
But for instance, Brnine could say I’m sending you out your repair- your replacement sword, and that could work. I don’t think you need for this result, I don’t think you need to spend a hangar scene to repair it. I think you know, we probably shouldn’t have had it been Mow’s arms, which are such a bigger deal than ammo or words, or lose a weapon until you can- in fact, you waste ammo or words, losing a weapon until you can rearm- the thing that’s supposed to have happen there is like, you don’t have the fla- you don’t have a fuel in your flamethrower anymore, not you’ve lost the whole sword, you know? Maybe the sword loses its dullness or something- or its edge becomes dull, or- more importantly I think there’s just replacement parts of this variety available for you.
Keith: Yeah, it’s funny cause-
Austin: So I’m not going to make you spend a thing on this.
Keith: It’s funny that we got confused on this cause I remember this happening with Phrygian in the first- in almost the first combat scene- yeah literally the first combat scene where I [Austin: Yeah.] blew out the buccal outpocket until I like, [Austin: Right.] I had to just spend a turn to like rearm it basically.
Austin: Yes. Yes. And there are some weapons you could rearm in the middle of combat, cause you have a supply station there or whatever, and maybe you just ran out of ammo. And there are other weapons that are like, they have tags that indicate that they’ve been broken until you can get back to base or whatever.
Keith: Yeah, those are like the fragile-
Austin: Stuff like that exactly. So, I know this puts you in a weird spot Janine, cause you had a scene prepared. And now I’m not sure I’m doing this scene because I don’t think either of you need it.
Janine: Yeah, if I don’t need it then I don’t need it, you know?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, take the dub, like that’s not a bad thing, I’m not gonna.
Sylvi: Sick.
Austin: And also for the record, what I will rule is, when it is a Peril, and I’m not gonna say this—I’m not gonna retroactively call this a Peril because I think it came from a 7-9 and not a failure—but if it had been a failure, and I had said dearmed for Mow, disarmed for Mow and I meant it in that way, I would say that I’m gonna count it as Standardized parts gives you a free scene for this instead of a free token. I think it’s silly- the idea that like, you have Standardized parts but you don’t get a benefit from it unless someone else starts the scene or unless you have multiple things to heal, is I think not very good. So I’m gonna count it as, in fact maybe you should just reword it as to heal a Peril instead of whatever, you get a free scene. Okay, so now we have a bigger question which is what’s next?
Keith: At some point I would like to try and start dealing with my Burden?
Austin: But I- you know the book doesn’t explain how to get rid of Burdens, as always, I would say this is a long-term project, right?
Keith: Right. I was gonna jump into Janine’s hangar scene [chuckling].
Austin: Uh huh.
Keith: Because that’s where you start long-term projects. Maybe there’s somewhere else you start long-term projects.
Dre: I’m gonna do an infirmary scene, and you can start a long-term project there.
Keith: Perfect.
Austin: There we go. Do you wanna go there then, since we know what that is and other people can think of what their other scenes are going to be?
Keith: Yeah. How many- what is the default number of tokens? You get two tokens, right?
Dre: Mm.
Sylvi: Yes.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Yes. Did you get- do you get a bonus one?
Keith: I get a bonus one. So I’m down to the normal two.
Austin: Right. I see.
Keith: Cause I normally have three.
Austin: You normally have three from being a B-plot character, a support character, right.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Okay. So, Downtime, infirmary. The leading player clears a Peril of mechanical or physical origin, and from a character or construct and swaps an Aster part out- this is the old writeup, I should look at the new writeup that I have in the book. I should change it in the thing. Let me start that over.
Dre: Oh is there another Armour Astir-?
Austin: This is- I think the playbooks, the sheets are just very old. This one has been this for a while. I might be wrong- this is the same. This is the same. Leading player clears a Peril of mechanical or physical origin from a character or construct, and swaps an Aster part out for another you already have. They frame a short scene around this, either alone or with invited characters. During the scene, anyone may spend a token to choose one. Clear a Peril or swap a part as above; help someone you have Gravity with, advancing with- advancing it; start or advance a long-term project, describing what your work looks like; or take their Alter and rush ahead, you’ll lead a sortie with Defy- with plus Defy and Advantage. So who is this? This is Figure.
Dre: Mhm.
Sylvi: Could I spend a Token for this as well to clear Severed?
Austin: I don’t- you’ll have to talk about what this looks like. Yes you can do that, but I actually don’t know- we should talk about whether or not that that’s-
Sylvi: I had an idea for it, [Austin: Okay.] but we can…
Austin: So let’s start with Figure since it’s your scene.
Dre: Sure. Boy, what does it look like for Figure to become Unscorched?
Austin: Great question. I think you’re working with Saffron Septet who is in her like, her doctor body at this point, which I wanna say had a bunch of extra arms if that’s-?
Dre: Sure.
Austin: I think? They might hover, [Sylvi: Cool.] they might hover, they’d be like hover-arms around her. I’m trying to see if I have written this down somewhere. Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. I just have written here is “a unique and specially-crafted surgeon body”. I may have said it on mic, but I think that it’s like a bunch of extra surgical arms that kind of like float around her to help- not that this is a surgery, or maybe it is.
Dre: Yeah, um. What I’m actually imagining is that she is basically chiseling off the scorched rock.
Austin: But what about the parts—and this is the thing—on the inside that we talked about?
Dre: Mm!
Austin: Because it’s spread inside too.
Dre: That’s true. Hmm.
Keith: Big chisel.
Ali: Is there like-
Dre: Yeah, bigger chisel [laughs].
Austin: Bigger chisel-? Is there like a- go ahead.
Ali: [cross] A spackling or something?
Dre: [cross] How do you reinforce concrete?
Austin: Maybe? How do you get- like I’m imagining a little bit of-
Dre: How do you fix a crack in your foundation, is what I’m Googling [chuckles].
Austin: But I’m also thinking like, cause it’s not just a crack, [Dre: Yeah.] it’s that there was like smoke caught inside of you, that has cloud- you are cloudy inside.
Keith: But before Figure was not concrete, now is concrete, which is very permeable.
Austin: Is partially concrete? Or are you fully concrete?
Dre: I think I’m fully at this point.
Austin: Oh, okay, so then you don’t see the smoke inside at all, it’s just the burn marks on the outside.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: So you can, you can force some water through there, clean it out. So you’re at-
Ali: Yeah I’m thinking of almost like a cavity? Where you sort of [Dre: Oh yeah!] [Austin: Mmm.] go inside and you clean it and you get rid of the damage and then you fill it in.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: You’re getting a filling.
Keith: You’re getting a filling, a head filling.
Dre: Yeah.
Keith: Damn, sign me up! [Sylvi chuckles]
Austin: Is it just in your head, or is it in your body, where is this?
Dre: I pictured it as- because I think when Figure got this, it was their mech being like blown up from behind? So I’ve thought of it as primarily being like across their back.
Austin: Sure, that makes sense. I also found the writeup here, is Saffron Septet, I’ve described as having a bunch of- in her surgery body, she has like a bunch of extra arms, some of which are humanoid arms, some of which are like cool, regular-ass, just like claw arms that can hold things- you know, cool regular-ass claw arms?
Keith: Regular claw arms, yeah. [Dre: Sure, yeah.] You know, you get regular claw arms and human arms.
Austin: And now I’ve added floating arms, [Dre: Mhm!] also there are some arms that float around her. Big on the arms. So yeah, I think it’s- partially it is a spackling, partially it is a buffing, partially it is [Dre: A jackhammer.] a powerwash, a backhammering- there’s definitely some sort of oil that needs to be put into it to like suffuse in to like- like a sealant afterwards, maybe?
Keith: Is this like- like is this like a full plan, or is this like- I’ve never seen this, I’m just gonna try some stuff.
Austin: I think this is- you have a doctor from the Twilight Mirage.
Keith: Right.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Right? Yeah, I’ve seen this before [chuckles], you know [Keith laughs].
Dre: It’s a Tuesday, babey! [laughs]
Austin: Oh yeah yeah, scorched. [Keith: Scorched, yeah.] You’re not sure your concrete body got scorched? Yeah, okay. One sec, let me dial up surgery number twenty eight.
Keith: [whistles] Quite a Peril.
Austin: Really the twenty-eighth most likely surgery? Yeah, uh huh. Mhm. So, that’s fun. I mean you know, I guess this is- it pays to have allies, so.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: So yeah, go ahead and clear that.
Janine: I pasted an important medical document in the chat.
Austin: Okay, in the- which chat?
Keith: Palisade?
Janine: The Discord.
Dre: The Palisade Discord.
Austin: Oh yeah, [chuckles] repair a crack in granite, [Keith chuckles] there we go.
Dre: Yeah!
Austin: Yes. Oh yeah, needing to refill with marble dust is fun.
Janine: I’m just picturing Figure with like this blue painter’s tape [chuckling] around the damaged area.
[Dre laughs]
Austin: Oh my god. That’s so funny.
Dre: Yeah! And instead of- that’s my Kinesio tape.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, exactly! Uh huh.
[Sylvi laughs]
Keith: You can get some- you can get some Kintsugi.
Austin: You could. Oooh, that seems fun!
Janine: True!
Dre: Is that the golden mending stuff?
Keith: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Dre: Oh that’s kinda sick, actually.
Austin: It’s kinda sick.
Dre: I don’t like gold, but it fits like a- what’s the word I’m looking for? Like what’s like a deep sea blue colour?
Austin: That’s also a metal?
Keith: Ultramarine.
Dre: Ultramarine- [chuckles] let’s see.
Keith: That’s a real thing!
Dre: Blue… metals…
Ali: Oh I was just thinking that there’s-
Keith: You could totally mix some ultramarine powder into the [Austin: Mmm.] like binder to make it blue instead of gold?
Janine: Apatite?
Ali: No, there- steel-?
Austin: Did you just say Apatite? (probably thought he heard “appetite”)
Janine: Glaucophane? Yeah, Apatite.
Dre: Lapis lazuli, there we go.
Austin: Wait, but steel will get you-
Janine: Kyanite?
Dre: Lapis lazuli or azurite is what I’m thinking of colour-wise.
Austin: Oh, oooh-
Janine: Oooh, what about oxidized zone minerals? [Keith chuckles] I don’t know what that means, but there’s pictures, so.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Oxidized zone minerals.
Dre: Please do not touch my zone minerals? [Austin chuckles] Oh, that’s cool as hell!
Austin: Yeah, it’s pretty cool, that’s pretty cool.
Janine: Oh, okay I see. “Deeply weathered zones, especially those at the top of metal-rich rocks and ore bodies, produce many different oxides and hydrated minerals with strong colors. The most common blue/bluish minerals of this type [Dre wheezes] include azurite, chalcanthite, chrysocolla, linarite, opal, smithsonite, turquoise, and vivian- vivianite.”
Dre: Okay.
Austin: Hm.
Dre: Let’s just, let’s just say it’s azurite then.
Keith: Oh-!
Janine: “Any decent rock shop will have them all.”
Austin: Damn, putting ‘em on blast. [Janine chuckles]
Dre: Damn.
Austin: [cross] Does your rock shop not have azurite? Trash.
Keith: [cross] Apparently lapis lazuli-
Dre: Couldn’t be me.
Keith: Apparently lapis lazuli is the same thing as ultramarine, I didn’t know that.
Austin and Dre: Ohh?
Keith: You make ultramarine from lapis lazuli.
Dre: But yeah, now I’m just imagining, if you’ve ever seen those like epoxy-poured tables that are made out of slabs of wood?
Janine: Yeah. Yeah.
Dre: Where they pour like, river tables and stuff? That’s what I’m imagining Figure’s back looks like.
Austin: Mmm, mhm. Mhm. Makes sense. Figure, I have another question for you [Dre: Yeah!] before we get to the other people who are also doing little healing things and long-term projects. Do you need to do a check-in with the Witch in Glass?
Dre: You know, I’ve been wondering this.
Austin: I feel like it might be time. Which we don’t- it’s not this scene obviously,
Dre: [sighs] Yeah.
Austin: But like, you might also just be feeling pretty low.
Dre: Sure.
Austin: Which we could go into the next mission with that. That’s kind of fun.
Dre: Yeah, I mean at this point I can’t go back probably.
Austin: You think that that would be- this is on the Figure’s mind, right?
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: If you would go back, she would keep you.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah.
Dre: Why would she not?
Austin: Then I’m gonna paint a little picture here to represent something else which I didn’t mention, which is, let’s see here. The “Unlock the power of the Iconoclasts for herself” box, or clock for Clem, is at three of four?
Dre: Sure. Uh huh.
Austin: And I don’t know what this means yet, because Art has to decide what this means, because Art is playing Clem, but I’m going to spend a token during this scene, remember I can do that, to advance that to four. And the way that that becomes clear, is as the azurite filling is being pushed into the cracks to fill it up, it begins to be pushed out from the inside. And it feels physically like the Iconoclasts trying to claw their way out again. And Saffron takes care of it, she’s like,
Austin (as Saffron): You need to put some extra tape on, it seems like it’s slipping-
Austin: She doesn’t understand. [Dre: Mmm.] But you can feel that it is Clem from across the planet, opening you up from the inside out.
Dre: Cori don’t go to the lady, she’s bad! Cori don’t do it!
Sylvi: I can’t hear you! I’m getting more french fries! [Dre and Keith laughs]
Janine: What if you- what if you just trade Clem?
Dre: Oh no, she’s got AirPods! [chuckles]
Janine: What if you just go to Clem and say hey, if you let me go, I’ll give you this-
Dre: [high-pitched] No!
[Sylvi laughs]
Janine: This juicy, sad, religion princess to you.
Dre: No!
Austin: No that’s very Realis coded, it’s not the- [Janine chuckles] [Dre: No!] the Realis PCs might make that trade.
Ali: Wait.
Sylvi: Oh my god. Yeah, no, mhm.
Dre: We’re in the arc where Figure overcomes trauma because of friendship and empathy! We can’t be doing that!
Janine: Okay, alright!
Ali: But give her Griesel!
Dre: [high-pitched] No!
Ali: He was a military leader, [Dre: No!] he’ll be great at whatever you want- [chuckles]
Austin: Give her Griesel.
Janine: It’s a two-for-one!
Ali: You got me cause I taught that shit, he’s out there doing it!
[Dre sighs]
Sylvi: Mailing my dad’s corpse to Clementine Kesh [Ali laughs].
Austin: Find enclosed: one Griesel.
Sylvi: The coffin-shaped UPS package.
Janine: Signature on delivery.
Sylvi: The stamps on it are really cute though.
Austin: [chuckles]
Dre: Do I need to mark a Peril or Risk or anything for this?
Austin: That’s a great question. I mean, and partly, you work better with a Peril, right?
Dre: Sometimes.
Austin: [chuckles] You get a bonus, first of all you should not be overheating anymore.
Dre: My Channel, yeah. Oh, thank you.
Austin: But your Channel goes up. I kind of- like, I’m gonna put this in your court, I think you should take a Peril for not going back to- we set this up, right? Was like, you have to get this, you have to have power from somewhere, to live, right? [Dre: Yeah.] And the Witch in Glass has a monopoly on that right now. I kind of like it being referenced mechanically. Or, is it a Burden in the way that it was- in the way that Phrygian is facing “war-weary”, is it, you’re lethargic because you don’t have the power anymore?
Dre: How to Burdens work mechanically, I don’t remember.
Austin: You lose a token from Downtime.
Dre: Woof-a. Woof-a.
Austin: Yeah. Phrygian’s going through it.
Keith: Mmm.
Austin: You already spent your other token, right?
Keith: Yeah, I feel like shit having just as many tokens as everyone else. [Dre chuckles] It sucks.
Austin: So I’ll put it in your court, I guess. Like, what do you feel is more right for Figure? Cause I do think we should represent this mechanically. That you have not gone home for a recharge. We talked about this being [Dre: Ohhh.] part of what is to be this Class, the Imposter Class, which is partially about, you know, questions of biological/physical autonomy, medical autonomy, etc. You know, transformation, all that stuff is all caught up in this. And part of what we had answered originally was like, the Witch in Glass has control over this for you, and there is a real reason- there is a real reason you’ve maintained that terrible relationship. And it’s because she can- she’s the person who gives you the fuel you need to go.
Dre: Sure. Um, let’s take a Burden.
Austin: Okay.
Dre: And then, since I’ve leveled up, I’m gonna take the move [Austin: Oh-ho-ho], the Imposter move, “Let Loose”. “For every Burden I have, I may increase one of my Traits by one.”
Austin: And read the next part.
Dre: Oh yeah, the usual max of +3 does not apply to increases earned through that boost.
Keith: Woooow!
Sylvi: Yo?
Austin: Yeah. Which it doesn’t hit- you’re not there yet- I mean you could be, you also just leveled up, right? So you- you’re sitting on an advance, aren’t you?
Dre: Yeah, but I have to spend that advance to get the move.
Austin: Oh, I see. I see I see I see, right right right. You’re spending it to get this move, right, duh.
Dre: Yeah yeah yeah.
Austin: Okay, so then yeah, what’s the Burden? Is it “lethargic”, is it “under-magicked”, what’s- [chuckles] that’s, that one wasn’t the right one, that was a bad one.
Dre: Yeah. [exhales] Oh boy. I feel like there’s something I’m trying to pull and I can’t get the wording in my head right now.
Austin: We’ll think on, we’ll move on and come back around.
Dre: Yeah yeah yeah.
Austin: Who else was here?
Keith: I was here.
Dre: Oh! Uh-
Austin: Alright, Phrygian. What is your-?
Dre: Sorry.
Keith: Oh no, go ahead.
Austin: What was it?
Dre: I thought of it. “Faulty.”
Austin: Faulty. Sure.
Sylvi: Oooh.
Austin: Oof.
Dre: So does that go ahead and kill my other Downtime token?
Austin: Killed your other Downtime token, Dre.
Dre: Let’s go baby, I’m done!
Austin: You only had one, and you spent it on Cori.
Dre: Yeah. That’s fine.
Sylvi: Thank you!
Dre: I feel good about that.
Austin: Yeah. Alright, Phrygian.
Keith: I would like to start a Downtime action here at the hospital.
Austin: I bet. What is it? What do you do?
Keith: You know, I don’t know. I guess there’s a lot of things that you could do to get rid of “war-weary”. Does our doctor do therapy?
Austin: Yeah, for sure. I’m curious what the- and I think this is probably what she opens with. She wants to know what you- what you’re feeling, right? Generally. She wants to know what you’re- describe what this experience is, describe how it’s, how it feels to go through this, cause you probably don’t show up and go “doc, I’m war-weary.”
Keith: Right.
[Dre chuckles]
Austin: I can’t- I have one less token.
Keith: Um [chuckles].
Austin: Dre, it would probably be easier if that’s how it worked, right?
Dre: Yeah, [nervous exhaling and laughter] sure would bud!
Keith: Maybe [chuckles], maybe Branched are really good at identifying war-weariness. [Austin and Dre: Mhm.] Like yeah, we all know exactly the feeling of this.
Austin: I mean, I guess, real talk they might!
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: They’ve been in an internal war for a thousand years or whatever, [Keith: Right.] Right? So like it might not be that uncommon of a feeling. We’ve talked a lot about the particular you know, feelings of like dysmorphia around needing to be in a war form all the time. [Keith: Yeah, yeah.] Right?
Keith: And, and on top of that, the added—cause that was last season—the added sort of malaise of like, missing being a scientist and being sick- I mean I kind of started the season [Austin: Right!] with a war-weary hook.
Austin: Yeah, mhm. Mhm.
Keith: So, we can even- we can think of the Burden as sort of like, an outcropping of not having addressed the Hook.
Austin: That, yeah. Yeah. And so I think a lot of the questions end up being things about like, well, what do other Branched do, like is there- I’m not from your culture, I’m curious if there are things that you know other Branched do with these feelings. Here’s what people in the Twilight Mirage did after a period of conflict. Here are you know, the things that I’ve advised other soldiers to do, and also-
Keith: Phrygian- sorry, what are, what’s the doctor’s name?
Austin: Saffron Septet, she/her pronouns.
Keith: Phrygian tells her that when people are war-weary, they go home. They just don’t do war anymore. [Austin: Right, right.] They quit. They go back then someone- they get swapped out.
Austin: I mean I think she asks you then,
Austin (as Saffron): Is that something you could do?
Keith (as Phrygian): I don’t know.
Keith (as Phrygian): There’s no one- there’s no one that can tell me no. But there’s no one that can give the okay. I gave myself the job of staying.
Austin (as Saffron): You don’t feel like you can give yourself the okay?
Keith (as Phrygian): But if I go, there’s no one else- there won’t be someone else to take my spot.
Austin (as Saffron): There aren’t- [sighs] there aren’t a limited, or set number of people who are part of this. When someone new joins the fight, unfortunately it doesn’t mean that someone else no longer counts as a contributor and they get to rotate out. We’re really, really down on this, on this side of things. But that doesn’t mean that when someone needs to leave they shouldn’t leave on the other hand. In fact, a thing that we see again and again is that people who force themselves to stay engaged end up being potential harms to the same people they want to protect.
A thing I’d love to know from you in terms of, as we talk through this going forward, is what you want to get out of it. Because if you wanna talk about ways that you can feel valid in staying here and contributing to what we’re doing, we can have those conversations. We can talk about where you can find that validation in the work you do here. We could also talk about your home, and feel like- find ways that you could try to connect to that more. And we can talk about your relationships, and whether those are giving you what you need here. But I’d love to know what you want to get out of these ongoing conversations. Because if we tried to do everything, it might be a little too scattered to make round in any one direction.
Keith (as Phrygian): I guess, I’ve always known that the job was sort of impossible. But now I feel like, oh, it’s just impossible.
Austin (as Saffron): [sighs] What do you think the job is? When you say “the job”.
Keith (as Phrygian): To end the war.
Austin (as Saffron): You think your job is to end the war?
Keith (as Phrygian): Right.
Austin (as Saffron): You hear how it sounds, right?
Keith (as Phrygian): Right, it’s impossible.
Austin (as Saffron): It’s like, it’s like if you said- if I said my job was to heal everyone in the galaxy. What’s a smaller task that feels more achievable than winning the war? That gets you- maybe not excited, but something that feels more manageable maybe. Maybe we should start there.
Keith (as Phrygian): Um. To divert the attention of the Divine Principality.
Austin (as Saffron): To divert them from..? From what?
Keith (as Phrygian): From the war.
Austin (as Saffron): To make them pay attention to something else.
Keith (as Phrygian): Right.
Austin (as Saffron): And when you say the war here-
Keith (as Phrygian): No, the war there.
Austin (as Saffron): The war at- against your people, the Branched.
Keith (as Phrygian): Right.
Austin (as Saffron): Right. To draw their attention away from that. Making a big splash here could definitely help do that.
Keith (as Phrygian): Right! That’s the job.
Austin (as Saffron): It’s funny, it makes you sound like a… this is not an insult. But like a clown. Like, you want everyone to look this way. You want to be a spectacle. Austin (as Saffron): Which, in some ways only reinforces the burden you must be feeling. The stakes are so big, you want an entire galactic empire to turn their attention to this one little planet.
Keith (as Phrygian): You know. And now they turn the thing on, so.
Austin (as Saffron): And now they turn the- well! You can’t say they’re not looking this way.
Keith (as Phrygian): Yeah.
Austin (as Saffron): But it probably doesn’t feel the way you hoped it would feel.
Keith (as Phrygian): No. And you know, at the end of the day, I know that the- the ten thousand year view is that if they flip the switch here, it would end up being better for my job. And that’s not good.
Austin (as Saffron): Sounds like maybe you know that your conception of your job is wrong, then. If that’s where it leads us. To the eradication of dozens of star systems and the Twilight Mirage, itself filled with world after world, of millions of people. That can’t be a good, right?
Keith (as Phrygian): No. But, I didn’t build the thing and I didn’t flip the switch.
Austin (as Saffron): No, but my point being, I think this is maybe more evidence that we should reconceptualize what your goals are. Because if your goals lead you to something that’s so obviously wrong, then the goals are probably a little rotten from the start. So we should reevaluate those and- maybe what I would love for you, Phrygian, we should talk again soon. If you could come next time with a handful of goals-
Keith (as Phrygian): Gold?
Austin: And you show up with a handful of gold. Yeah, gold.
Dre: I need it, to put inside of Figure’s back again. [Ali wheezing, Keith chuckling]
Austin: Yeah, I need more gold.
Austin (as Saffron): I’m giving you homework. I’d love to know- try to reconsider what your goals are here. And I’d love if you could break it down into scale. What do you want to achieve this month? What do you want to achieve this year? And what do you want to achieve in ten years? Don’t think about the war, because the war will probably last for some time. It’s too big. So let’s go-
Keith (as Phrygian): So like a one thousand year view.
Austin (as Saffron): We’re not gonna get that one. That’s the one thousand year view. Let’s- and you know what?
Keith (as Phrygian): Oh, less than one thousand?
Austin (as Saffron): Let’s be optimistic, that’s the hundred year- let’s say, I want this month, I want this year, and I want this decade. And that’s it. And I want them to be things you think you could achieve. Not winning the war by yourself. Not making everybody look at you enough that the Branched win the war at home. Just this week, or this month, this year, this decade. And you don’t have to tell me them now. Sleep on it. Sound good?
Keith (as Phrygian): [doubtful] Yeah.
Sylvi: I- I don’t like asking for fanart. [Austin laughs] However, if anyone draws Phrygian in the waiting room from The Sopranos with Dr. Melshi’s office? [Austin, Ali, Dre erupt in laughter] Please tag me in it.
Austin: Oh my god!
Sylvi: Thank you!
Keith: In the thing, in the room, Phrygian is the couch. Is the sofa- is the like therapy sofa? [Dre laughs]
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvi: Do you still have your face?
Keith: Uhh, yeah, yeah it’s on the side. Yeah.
Sylvi: It’s just a talking sofa.
Austin: Unbelievable. Great. Perfect. Alright, anyone else wanna spend tokens- oh, start a clock.
Keith: Oh yes, start a clock.
Austin: Hey Dre, how long does it take for someone to clear “war-weary”? Pretty direct, right, you just tick a clock a bunch of times?
Dre: Yeah, totally. I mean you know, we don’t really like to put you know average time for treatment modalities, cause that varies from client to client.
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah. Sure, buddy. How many fucking ticks [Ali giggles] do I put on this clock?
Keith: [whispers] Tell him it’s two.
[Sylvi cackles]
Dre: Well, I mean you did send Phrygian home with some worksheets, [Austin: I did.] and that’s some A+ therapy work right there so.
Janine: Doing weekly or bi-weekly?
Austin: Or, we’re weekly.
Dre: Oh that’s also important. Okay.
Austin: We’re weekly. We gotta be weekly, right? This is- you got an on-hand therapist?
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: I think six ticks.
Austin: Alright, six ticks. Boom. Easy.
Dre: I’ve done good work in six sessions before, so.
Austin: I like this because it’s so easy to look at the six tick clock and go like, well it’s not even worth doing it.
Keith: Yeah, it’s, it’s too big.
Austin: It’s too big.
Keith: It’s too many.
Dre: Nooo! You cannot say this about therapy!
Austin: That is what it feels like sometimes.
Dre: This is too real, Austin! [Austin: Yeah, I fucking- uh huh!] I had to put my headphones down [laughs].
Keith: I gotta tick this six times?
Janine: It can wait, I got other stuff this week.
Keith: We’re gonna be at episode 40 by the time I tick this six times!
Austin: Listen, I’m on- this is the- the easy one for me to talk about here is my Invisalign, I’m on like week seven of twenty seven or something right now. [Keith: Ooof.] It feels like it’s never going to finish.
Dre: Yeah Keith, I’m on episode 36 of figuring out my mental health, cause I’m 36 years old, so [chuckles]. [Keith chuckles]
Austin: And the war isn’t over yet, fuck! Alright, who else wants to spend some tokens during this scene?
Keith: So that’s one of my two tokens.
Austin: That was- wasn’t that your scene?
Keith: No, this is a scene in- or a token in Dre’s scene.
Austin: Dre’s scene, right, okay.
Sylvi: I would like to spend a token, but we did say that you might think this isn’t a physical thing that can be taken care of?
Austin: Yeah, I wanna know what you think this is, because-
Sylvi: Well, so I was going to have the doctor look at the- I went a bit more physical in my interpretation of this I guess, [Austin: Ahhh, yes you did. Uhhuh.] since we last recorded? Which is that like, damn, we’re not able to juice this angel properly, what the hell? The blood’s not coming out right! And so, I was thinking like the doctor would look at like, the places where Cori basically like plugs in to her mech and you know, [Austin: Right.] kind of like, the plug ports in the Matrix is what I’m thinking?
Austin: Good. That’s not what it is.
Sylvi: Okay! So I won’t spend a token here.
Austin: This is- yeah- well, we can spend it, but we have to figure out a different way to address it. So you have the Severed Peril. The thing that is Severed is your metaphysical connection to Devotion.
Sylvi: Cool. Okay.
Janine: Please talk to the therapist about why you don’t bleed as good as you used to [chuckles].
[Austin laughs]
Sylvi: I’ve had that conversation before.
Austin: Uh huh. Yeah. Uh huh.
Dre: Yeah. Are you drinking enough water?
Sylvi: You know, it’s probably all the fries. The sodium.
Austin: It’s all the fries. The salt, yeah, uh huh.
Sylvi: Yeah yeah.
Austin: Yep, for sure.
Sylvi: Okay, I’m actually very cool to just leave it at that for now.
Austin: You sure? Okay. You don’t want this to be an Elle scene? [Sylvi: Yeah I don’t know-] You want a different Elle scene?
Sylvi: Oh we could do that. We could do that.
Austin: I can’t promise that Elle is gonna heal your connection to Devotion.
Sylvi: I don’t think she is.
Austin: But she might in a weird roundabout way. I don’t know.
Sylvi: I mean…
Austin: Sometimes someone- sometimes you hate someone so much that you double down on what you already believe in, you know what I mean?
Sylvi: Yeah no totally, totally, totally. I’m sure we’ll have all sorts of complicated feelings going on here. Yeah, I’d be down to do that.
Austin: Okay. She has been- she has requested and gotten approval to be dropped off you know, on some mountain somewhere in the Shale Belt or something, you know? She’s gonna like disappear with her mech- actually no she’s gonna stay with you, because she’s gonna attend the funeral. God we have to do the funeral, don’t we?
Sylvi: Oh wow.
Dre: I can’t make it, I’m out of tokens.
Austin: You’re out of tokens, you can’t come to the funeral.
Dre: Yeah.
Austin: You can get invited to the scene still.
Sylvi: Damn.
[Dre laughs]
Austin: Do you wanna save the conversation to be at the funeral though? Or is it better to have- okay.
Sylvi: I think we could do that, yeah. I don’t know if we need to get any actual like, we will talk about the actual like ceremony itself, I don’t think we need to be giving eulogies and stuff? But.
Austin: Sure. You’re not- you don’t have anything to say? About Griesel?
Sylvi: I, like originally was gonna write something and I was like no, the fucking, I like the way I’ve been taking Cori’s stuff instead of being like,
Austin: Yeah, pouty.
Sylvi: Yeah. Yeah!
Austin: Edgy teen.
Janine: Griesel Griesel, burning bright,
Sylvi: Edgy twenty-one year old.
Austin: She’s twenty one.
Janine: In the forest at the night.
Sylvi: The only- I did write a line where it’s like, cause I was gonna really turn- my original thing was like, oh I should make her be like really like okay, gotta still be the poster child, and then instead of, oh I need to be fucking disillusioned as fuck with this shit?
Austin: Uh huh.
Sylvi: So the line I did write down is, “remember, everyone, you can’t spell “we must slaughter the enemies of Devotion” without laughter.”
Austin: [chuckles] God. Keep your smiles up, everybody!
Sylvi: Yeah, but I don’t think it fits anymore.
Austin: Yeah, she’s in a different mode at this point.
Sylvi: Mhm.
Austin: It’s like if we don’t wanna do that though, then maybe we should just have the Elle conversation now.
Sylvi: Yeah. If we want it could be set- I was thinking of them talking like after, [Austin: Okay.] the like, ceremony basically, not the funeral.
Austin: Can we- if we’re not going to do the funeral as its own scene, can I get some details about it at least?
Sylvi: Yeah absolutely, I think-
Austin: What’s the rest of your family like? Who’s your mom? [Sylvi: Uhhh-] Is your mom here? Do you have a mom? What’s your situation?
Sylvi: My mom lives off-world.
Austin: Ohhh.
Sylvi: I think we mentioned- I mentioned [Austin: Back on the Mirage.] that my mom, like I vaguely gestured that my mom lives somewhere else with some of my siblings [Austin: Right.], I think I said something about the twins, and I think there’s like probably another-
Austin: God, do you send a message home?
Sylvi: Yeah no, I do think we send messages, but like-
Austin: No I mean about this, are you the one who has to send, “hey mom,”
Sylvi: Yeeeah… maybe? I don’t think- so Cori’s not going to be the only person in her family on Palisade? [Austin: Okay.] I think she has like a couple brothers [Austin: Okay.] that are in the military too? Not necessarily like, mech pilots like her, but like, doing other sort of things? Maybe one has like, is on a ship of some kind, I don’t know. And I think like, there might be a like, oh shit, Cori- can one of you guys send the message to mom? I kind of was the one who killed dad, I don’t want to deal with it?
Austin: Did you tell them? Did that happen?
Sylvi: I don’t think I tell them that specifically. [Austin: Yeah.] It’s like I was there when it happened, and I’m not really in the place to do it?
Austin: Yeah. I just want everyone to know, that I have a headcanon for one of Cori’s brothers, and it is this fanart of [Sylvi: Oh yeah!] Hilda Fire Emblem’s brother, [Ali laughs, delighted] who never ever gets a drawing? [Dre: Ohhh!] This is by @m_majunju?
Janine: Wow. Oh my god.
Austin: This is, uh huh. At least one of them.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: And is like,
Sylvi: Yeah absolutely.
Austin (as Brother Sunset): [tenderly] Yeah, of course Cor.
Sylvi: I should’ve thought of names ahead of time. It’s fine. I think it is like, the like first time like, we do get a scene of her with like- I think it’s this guy and then like, her other brother’s like a couple years younger, same hair colour, but like more bookish?
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvi: Maybe he works in like the more like, [Austin: He like-] maybe he worked at an archive too? [Austin: Sure.] Back at- not necessarily the one that was at-
Austin: Right, a different one, wasn’t there for this, but was like at another.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah, mhm. Much more bible camp, much more guitar-
Sylvi: Real like, kind of dresses like a Mormon missionary, yeah. And so like I think they kind of take the lead for a lot of the [Austin: Sure.] ceremony- Cori says like something very short which is just like,
Sylvi (as Cori): My dad was always there for me when I needed him, and I wish I could’ve been there when he needed me.
Austin: Yeah.
Sylvi: But-
Austin: The- I think there’s probably a lot of leeway given to you because, even if they don’t know that you did it, they know you were there, and so there’s lots of like [whispering] hey, Cori saw it happen, lot of people whispering that at the service. And also, to be clear like, he wasn’t the only one who died there, you know? So I think there’s probably a much larger grieving situation here? The Isle of the Broken Key lost some people, you know? And also there was this whole, the whole thing of like some of them were arrested as spies-
Sylvi: Would-
Austin: Yeah?
Sylvi: Would they maybe it roll it into sort of like a bigger ceremony then?
Austin: That’s what I’m saying, yeah, I think so.
Sylvi: For like the people- yeah, the people that we lost in this battle?
Austin: Yeah, I think there’s probably like, you know people come up and talk about everybody who died.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Including the spies! Some of the people like come up are like-
Sylvi: Cause they don’t know!
Austin: They don’t fucking know! Or even if they know at this point, do they believe it, do they you know, we kinda talk about that a little bit, right? Also, I think [exhales], I think M, Marlon Styx wants to either stay with the Dim Liturgy, or hang out on the ship indefinitely? Marlon is not- Marlon has been won over by the Dim Liturgy at this point. I think that came out during the interrogation, and he’s like,
Austin (as Marlon): I can’t go back to the- [fumbles on words] it’s all here in the glass!
Austin: And like, is a die- wants to be readmitted here under- he’s like,
Austin (as Marlon): I understand if you have to watch me and stuff, but.
Keith: Quadruple agent.
Austin: [chuckles] I mean there’s no way they’re letting him back into the Paint Shop and the Bilateral Intercession at this point, you know? [Keith: Sure, yeah.] But, wants to- and I think like, genuinely has come to like, you know, y’all had that conversation at that castle, and you know, things- I think that he thinks you’re his friend, Phrygian. [pauses] Fuck! Is that right-? Phrygian, Phrygian- I said Phrygian-
Keith: Yeah, yeah yeah. No no no, you got it.
Austin: Whew! I dodged it!
[Sylvi laughs]
Austin: So I think he’s at this funeral under guard, you know? And I think people look at him like, “are you okay?” and he’s like,
Austin (as Marlon): Yeah yeah yeah! I’m good. Yeah. You know, they’re with me.
Keith: Wait, the guards? He’s saying, don’t worry the guards are with me?
Austin: Yeah, don’t worry, no no no it’s fine, cause like, people seeing him under guard, like being guarded now, because of how he was a spy, and people are like, are you okay? Like, are they here to arrest- what’s going? And he’s like,
Austin (as Marlon): Oh no no no no no. It’s fine, it’s fine it’s fine.
Keith: Yeah, right. Right, right.
Austin (as Marlon): Don’t worry about it. This is normal. This is totally normal. Please let me keep looking at the prophecies. It’s all I care about.
Keith: Please let me pay my respects to the people who are dead because of my people- my friends at the Paint Shop. [laughs]
Austin: Uh huh. I don’t- I bet that people at the Paint Shop never really liked him, you know?
Keith: No! Of course not. But he doesn’t- he was with them anyway.
Sylvi: [laughs] Of course not, fuck that guy.
Keith: So annoying! [Dre chuckles] He’s the most annoying character to ever be in Friends at the Table.
Austin: Well that’s not true.
Ali: Come on.
Keith: You think there’s a more annoying character?
Dre: Yeah, that’s not true.
Keith: Not like,
Austin: There are more annoying characters in that episode.
Ali: Yeah!
Keith: Not like, people that you hate, or people that you love to hate, but like, pesters!
Sylvi: Mmmm.
Austin: Yeah, there have to have been. Snitch Nightly?
Keith: I love Snitch Nightly!
Dre: Mmmm.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Ali: We just had-
Keith: I’m Snitch Nightly! Wait, am I Snitch Nightly?
Austin: You named Snitch Nightly. You were not.
Keith: Oh okay. I didn’t play Snitch Nightly?
Sylvi: [laughs] I was gonna say, Keith, I bet you have played more annoying characters at some- cause you played that fucking, [Dre: Wow.] the one-
Keith: [cross] Every character I play is annoying because I am annoying.
Austin: [cross] Walligan Upchurch, yeah, Walligan Upchurch-
Keith: But not as annoying- [Austin chuckles] not as annoying as-
Austin: Yeah Colver- Kenneth Marion Colver is really annoying.
Ali: Yeah.
Austin: But he’s fun to play, so.
Keith: Yeah, yeah.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: And he’s in that episode.
Keith: But yeah, he’s in the sort of love to hate him category.
Austin: Mmm.
Ali: No! What?
Keith: Yeah.
Dre: Mmm.
Sylvi: He’s a good heel!
Ali: [unimpressed] Sure.
Austin: Any- we’ve had- I just want to put it on the record, we’ve had lots of annoying little guys [Keith: Yeah, that’s true.] on this show. And yeah, some of them you love to hate. Isaac Addelton [Keith: Love to hate.] you love to hate. But, there’s also some people who just suck, so.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Anyway. It’s at this funeral that you talk to Elle?
Sylvi: Yeah. I think it’s like, outside of it, or like, on the- like the- I’ve been picturing like, them meeting on like steps somewhere?
Austin: [cross] Yeah, sure, okay. Like steps, like the church vibes.
Sylvi: [cross] Cori’s just like sitting on these steps brooding.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Ali: Is this a new scene, or?
Austin: We’re spending a token to just do it.
Ali: Okay.
Austin: You know?
Sylvi: Yeah, if that’s cool.
Austin: I think we just want to get the scene. And the scene could be happening on the ship, but like, it’s funnier to happen here, you know? At the funeral?
Sylvi: Funnier? [laughs]
Austin: Weightier. But that’s kind of funny-
Sylvi: Yeah, well both.
Austin: Well, here’s why it’s gonna be funnier. I think she brings you a lemonade. She’s like,
Austin (as Elle): Here I brought you something, Cor.
Sylvi (as Cori): Oh. Um. Yeah, thanks.
Sylvi: And is just like, puts it down next to her. Is like, really trying not to be like, you didn’t poison it, did you? Is like,
Sylvi (as Cori): Oh, so they let you out, huh?
Austin: She sits down next to you. She’s wearing a dark purple suit, like a tuxedo? And says,
Austin (as Elle): Yeah, you know, I had to make a few calls, but. I expected it. How are you holding up? You did good in there.
Sylvi: There is like- it’s so complicated because like, before this all happened, if like fucking Elle Evensong was like, hey you did good in there, [Austin: Mhm.] Cori would be so fucking psyched about it? And now it’s like, fuck you. [Ali chuckles] What the fuck do you mean? I think Cori says like,
Sylvi (as Cori): Yeah, I guess about as good as I could’ve done. I don’t believe you, you know. You’ve got everybody else fooled, but not me.
Austin (as Elle): What do I have everybody else fooled about?
Sylvi (as Cori): The spy shit.
Austin (as Elle): The spy shit’s real. It’s the other stuff that isn’t.
Sylvi: Like, real like “what the fuck are you talking about” look? Not- just like,
Austin (as Elle): Oh.
Sylvi: Squinting.
Austin (as Elle): Don’t tell me, you’ve been out here killing people and you still..? The dogma all still rings true to you? You are a shield, leave none undefended while you still stand. You are a sword, strike down our adversaries with impunity- come on, Cori! You know it’s all bullshit, right?
Sylvi: Like opens her mouth and closes it to like say something like three times and is just like,
Sylvi (as Cori): Fucking- it’s something to follow, though.
Austin (as Elle): There are better things to follow than that. Truer things.
Sylvi (as Cori): Yeah? What do you follow then? What’s so true about you, huh?
Austin (as Elle): [lightly scoffs] I mean, I think I follow the biggest truth that there is. Which is that, all of this stuff, on every side, here on Palisade, is being driven by people with their heads up their asses. Who mislead people—in our case, with the name of a dead god as far as I can tell—and who build false idols and lead them to their deaths so that they can collect a few more pennies, or a few more statues, or a few more prayers. The truth is, there really isn’t anything underneath it all. So get what’s yours.
Sylvi (as Cori): Then what’s the point? If there’s nothing else, what’s the point? Just to get yours, huh?
Austin (as Elle): Uhh, yeah I think the point is, to end every night with a smile on your face. Which is what I do.
Sylvi (as Cori): I’m glad you were so happy after my dad died.
Austin (as Elle): Listen. What I’m happy about is that we won that fight and kept a lot of other people alive. [exhales] Also you can’t keep putting this on me, you know it wasn’t me. You want me to twist the dagger? If you’d like that, I can do it.
Sylvi: Takes like a big breath, like, trying really hard not to punch her right now honestly? Like fists are clenched so hard she’s shaking a little. And it’s like,
Sylvi (as Cori): You don’t deserve the Cataphract, you never did. If I had it, things would’ve been different.
Austin (as Elle): You’re out here crying because you spilled some blood. You could never handle the Cataphract. You know I wish I had killed him. It’d make it easier for you.
Sylvi: I punch her in the face. [Ali snorts]
Austin: She smiles, she like takes it. Spits the blood out and stands back up, sips her lemonade.
Sylvi: I’m getting up too, I’m like getting in her face, it’s like,
Sylvi (as Cori): You know what? The next time I see you, it’s not just- it’s gonna be a lot worse than just a punch to the fucking nose, okay Elle? Stay out of my fucking way.
Sylvi: And I leave.
Austin: She just sips her lemonade and lets you walk away.
Sylvi: I did not take my lemonade with me, I spilled it when I punched her.
Austin: Uh huh. Went everywhere, yeah, mhm. Great. Good. Would you say that this made you more or less Severed to Devotion?
Sylvi: I think- I don’t know. So like I can see this as Cori being like, stubborn about it [Austin: Yep.] for a little while, and like a bandaid over it? But I don’t think it has really healed the core wound of her starting to fucking doubt Devotion? [Austin: Okay.] And doubt the group that she’s in? So, bump- bump the Peril, you think?
Austin: Alright. Would you say that it- well I think that it can just say, but would you say that it’s shaken your faith in Devotion, which is what she wants from you.
Sylvi: Yeah no, I think it has a little.
Austin: Then that means she gets a point of Leverage over you, because you have given her what she’s wants.
Sylvi: Yeah the dead god thing, and the like- Cori didn’t bring it up, but like the whole scene there, I was thinking about like, Cori being like, I talked to it. [Austin: Uh huh.] I talked to Devotion and it seemed fucking depressed. [Austin: Uh huh!] It seemed miserable at what it had become, shit maybe she’s on to something?
Austin: Mmm. Mhm.
Sylvi: But you know when someone’s like “hey, your entire life is a fucking lie”, it’s kinda hard to accept! [Ali chuckles]
Austin: Then yeah, let’s keep the- let’s keep Severed and, [Sylvi: Cool.] good.
Dre: Maybe Devotion is depressed because not everybody’s like Cori, you know?
Austin: Damn. Other people aren’t-
Sylvi: I think things would be worse if everybody was like Cori. [Austin chuckles]
Dre: Well I think that too, but you know. Who knows?
Austin: But Cori might not, [Dre: Yeah.]uh huh.
Sylvi: True.
Austin: Alright, who’s up? I think that was the end of that scene, that we’ve stretched as far as we can stretch it.
Sylvi: Absolutely.
Austin: Truly that might have been somewhere nearby, but that’s fine. Or not somewhere nearby, a fade, but.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Janine: Speaking of fade.
Austin: Uh huh.
Janine: Uhhh, that’s what I wanna do with my scene. [chuckles] So as I said, I don’t think- Thisbe did not go to the meeting, for like, a variety of reasons. I think in part, there was a degree of like, this is a decision that other people will make, and I will act on whatever decision is made.
Austin: Mhm.
Janine: But then, I think there is also- you know, for season one Thisbe, that’s it. That’s the start and stop of it. I think season two Thisbe there is a sort of unacknowledged part of her that is just like, well, what’s the point? [chuckles] Like, [Austin: Yeah.] what can we do that won’t make things worse, and if you are in a position where any movement will cause damage, you stay still, you know? Like, [Austin: Mhm.] I’m picturing Thisbe like being in a room full of small children, the thing that she would do is just try to not move. [Austin: Right.] So that you know, she wouldn’t hurt anyone.
And I think it’s a similar kind of approach here where it’s like, wow, okay, they really did that, what can I do other than just stay in place right now? So, I think Thisbe is doing the thing that Thisbe does in that move, and it’s the thing that she did you know, for the sort of gap between seasons where she was a huge liability, was you just go into the hydroponics garden, [Austin: Mmm.] and you tend the plants. I think she’s specifically propagating some plants from clippings? Like so she’s got- I think she has like- she must have like a big knife that they’ve given her. Cause there’s small knives and pruning shoes [Dre chuckles] and whatever that you can have, but I think she was- she’s been doing this enough that like, she just has a big knife.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh. Thisbe with the big knife era. Yeah.
Janine: That they like got off of- that they just like got off of a robot or they made special, or it’s like a sword with like a special thicker handle, or something that looks to Thisbe’s scale, just like a little garden knife with like a hooked blade. And I think she’s using that to- you know there’s plants, and she’s sort of cutting some, some limbs off sort of close to the stem, and then replanting them and just kind of like going about it, you know?
Austin: Is this the on-board garden, or is this a different garden- is this like the-?
Janine: I think it’s probably the on-board garden, [Austin: Okay.] I don’t think she went too far away. [Austin: Yeah.] Just in case like, [Austin: The one that I had in mind-] you know she wouldn’t go to that meeting, but also if someone wanted to be like, hey, why weren’t you at the meeting, here’s what happened, she doesn’t want to be too far away.
Austin: Right. Yeah that makes sense. The thing that I was going to suggest is, we could’ve stayed at the- that meeting could’ve happened while y’all were parked at the Dim Liturgy place, the Violet Cove place, and you could’ve gone to the Twill place, which had been damaged during that fight?
Janine: Oh, yeah.
Austin: Which also feels very Thisbe to me in some ways, [Janine: Yeah, yeah.] and also would allow you to advance that Gravity Clock.
Janine: That makes sense, but that depends on like, you know, we would have to say that that was where that meeting happened.
Austin: I think that’s fine. I think that it’s like, or it’s- I’m happy to handwave the weirdness of it. You know, like-
Janine: Or I guess if we’re still like parked there, then that still counts as nearby, right?
Austin: That’s what I mean, exactly.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: And also we definitely parked there again when it was time for the- like you could’ve been doing the hydroponics one on- or the one on the ship then, and it could also do this [Janine: And then the funeral.] scene as a separate- at the funeral, [Janine: Right.] during the funeral if you weren’t going to go to the funeral. Exactly.
Janine: I don’t think Thisbe would go to a funeral.
Austin: I think that that’s probably right, you know?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: But would help the people who were [Janine: Yeah.] most directly impacted, right? [Austin: Yeah.] And you have that Twill clock still, right?
Janine: Yes.
Austin: What is the thing for that?
Janine: I will tend to the Twill, they need to be shown care, and I am capable.
Austin: Yeah, definitely advance that. I think that like, part of what the- they’ve just, it’s just like immediate that they integrate you into what their processes all are already for trying to fix stuff up and like, figure out what here is worth saving and what here isn’t worth saving. And it’s like a real- it’s a really difficult prospect, because the process of removing ruined stuff is sort of like coming to terms with the loss, and coming to terms with the fact that it all happened, and that you have to like, transition back into regular life at some point? And I think one of the things that they rely on you for is uprooting stuff that is lost. Because you have a different relationship to it than them, you know? The hands that planted the thing don’t want to be the hands that take it out because it’s been burned beyond you know, saving. But also, I think given your particular talents, there’s a lot of requests to do analysis, to be like hey, could we save this? Is this savable?
Janine: Right.
Austin: To my eyes it’s not, but you might know different, you know?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: That’s my like, big picture thinking there anyway.
Janine: Yeah, that makes sense.
Austin: Nice. Anybody else want to fade and advance a Gravity Clock here? And if we want to, we can say that the Elle- the Elle scene was happening here instead [chuckles]. Because it might fit this- [Sylvi: Sure.] we’re on that part of the world map a little more cleanly, so. Who cares, but, you know. But yeah, does anybody else want to spend a token to fade and spent a Gravity Clock with somebody?
Sylvi: I think I’m good.
Austin: Okay.
Sylvi: I want to hold onto my last token for the, for the tactical stuff.
Austin: Cool.
Ali: Um, yeah. Um- [Keith: This-] it’s tough cause I don’t wanna- sorry, Keith.
Keith: Oh no no, it’s okay, go ahead.
Ali: I kinda don’t wanna get out of this Downtime without having a scene with Cori?
Austin: Mhm.
Ali: [chuckles] Cause maybe I- this is so funny, but I, the thought of like, Brnine driving Cori home after she’s got into a fight with someone [Austin: Mhm.] at a funeral? [wheezes]
Austin: Mhm.
Ali: Is very- [chuckles] it rhymes, I think is what George Lucas would say, [Austin: George Lucas is always saying.] [Keith: He’s always saying that.] and I think that he would be a big fan of [Austin: Uh huh.] PARTIZAN and PALISADE in this moment.
Sylvi: George, please listen to the show!
Ali: Please!
Keith: Please listen to the show, George.
Ali: Don’t listen to A More Civilized Age, but please listen to this. [wheezes]
Austin: Mhm.
Keith: You can listen to Run Button talking about that stuff.
Sylvi: Listen to the Hunter x Hunter show.
[Ali chuckles]
Austin: Star Wars, uh huh.
Ali: Yeah. If a fade token spend would let me do this, then.
Austin: Yeah, of course. And it would advance your Gravity Clock.
Ali: Okay, cool.
Sylvi: Hell yeah.
Ali (as Brnine): Hey.
Sylvi: There’s a real like, um,
Austin: What are you driving, what’s the car-?
Sylvi: Aw fuck, I got picked up from school because I got into trouble vibe from Cori.
Austin: Sorry, I need to know what Brnine is picking up Cori in from the hospital- not from the hospital, from the funeral. [Ali laughs] Also Brnine, you didn’t go to the funeral?
Dre: Well……
Austin: Or did you go, and you’re just like, you’re done talking to people inside, and now you’re like “I’m gonna head out”, and you go and you find Cori to leave.
Ali: Yeah I probably go, and then [Austin: Yeah.] you know.
Austin: I need to know what everyone’s wearing to the funeral.
Ali: Woow.
Sylvi: Oh.
Ali: Wooow. Um okay, so-
Keith: I was invited to the funeral? [short pause] Everyone was- okay.
Austin: Everybody- or like-
Keith: I didn’t know it was a big thing!
Austin: Well, it’s a funeral- well it’s a public-
Sylvi: It’s a big public event.
Austin: Yeah, it’s a public funeral, public memorial, you know? So the whole community was affected, you’re all invited, you know?
Sylvi: The only like firm detail I really have for Cori’s stuff right now is that like, one, all black, duh.
Austin: Yeah sure.
Sylvi: But, her wings are like, all like out, [Austin: Sure.] sometimes like her clothes like restrict them, but like, just like she’s like backless or something, and has them out.
Austin: Somebody at some point, someone who was drunk is like,
Austin (as drunk jerk): So what’s the deal with the black wings?
[Sylvi (as Cori) breathes heavily]
Austin (as drunk jerk): We’ve all been wondering?
Sylvi: I don’t think- I think I just walk away from that guy.
Austin: Yeah, uh huh.
Dre: Yeah.
Sylvi: I don’t think I’m- I’m like, “then keep fucking wondering”.
Austin: [laughs] Uh huh!
Sylvi: I think she says that without the “fucking” in it. I think she just says the,
Sylvi (as Cori): Well keep wondering!
Sylvi: And leaves.
Dre: Well I thought she was in her cuss era!
[Austin chuckles]
Sylvi: Yeah but, she’s not- you know, just a little bit.
Austin: Yeah.
Ali: Yeah.
Dre: Yeah yeah yeah.
Sylvi: Come on, we’re at a funeral. Come on.
Ali: This is an important lore drop for me. [someone stifles laughing] Because- [chuckles]
Sylvi: God, let’s go.
Ali: The pants that Brnine was wearing to the masquerade party [Austin: Uh huh.] with the neon stripes.
Austin: [exasperated] Yeah.
Ali: You can set the RGB tones [wheezes]
Austin: On the-
Ali: To them, yes.
[Sylvi explodes laughing]
Ali: Which is why it matched their top so well. So I think that it’s Brnine’s only good pair of pants [wheezes] and you can coordinate them with any outfit, so.
Sylvi: I’m fucking obsessed with Brnine.
[Ali laughs]
Austin: Brnine is wearing the gamer pants to the fucking funeral?! But it’s okay, cause they set the RGB to white- or black or something?
Ali: Yeah!
Janine: Pressing F to pay respects, what’s up?
Ali: Yeah, yeah! [laughs]
Keith: What does it mean to set the RGB to black? Black isn’t an LED.
Ali: Well I’m sure it’s like, there are like-
Janine: It’s scifi.
Keith: Okay, scifi, black light, yeah.
Dre: It’s a black lightsaber, yeah.
Ali: They’re like a tasteful gray like, pin now. A pin line, what do they call that? And I think that they’re wearing a button down, but that’s like, too casual for this? But they didn’t really have- like it’s more like a linen, like V-neck sort of situation and not like a funeral button down?
Janine: Tucked or untucked? Or half-tucked? French-tuck?
Ali: French-tuck, french-tuck.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: You’re dressed for the Jay Z brunch right now. [Ali wheezes] Not for the funeral. Not for the memorial service of Violet Cove.
Ali: Yeah.
Sylvi: $50,000 or Griesel Sunset’s funeral. Which would you go to? Which would you pick?
Keith: $50,000- I could buy a lot of gold for therapy [laughs].
Sylvi: You gotta kill a lot of dads for $50,000.
Austin: Okay, now we can do- wait, oh all black, is what we decided for Cori? Yeah, okay. Now we can do the scene.
Sylvi: Yeah.
Austin: Wait, what are you driving? I needed that too.
Ali: Oh. [Sylvi chuckles] They have their stupid little- what was that little like utility car that I described?
Austin: Ohhh right, during the- [Ali: Yeah, it’s the one with the-] yeah yeah yeah. All the way back to PARTIZAN, right? You had the little utility car, right?
Ali: What’s the little-? That little shit that Amuro drives around when he picks up Fraw Bow? Like, [Austin: Yeah yeah yeah.] just like a space car.
Austin: Oh yeah, space car, yeah. I gotcha.
Ali: Yeah, okay. [exhales]
Ali (as Brnine): Listen, I- you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to talk. But I just want to say that I am here, and I’ve lost people, and um, you hit her pretty good and that was sick.
Sylvi: Just a little smile at that last bit. I think I’m gonna be quiet for like a little bit when they’re in the car, and then Cori like speaks up like,
Sylvi (as Cori): When does it stop hurting so much?
Ali (as Brnine): [choking sound] Well-
Sylvi (as Cori): And when do you stop feeling responsible for it?
Ali (as Brnine): [nervous laugh] Well. Um.
Sylvi (as Cori): It’s okay if you can say I don’t. I just need someone to tell me.
Ali (as Brnine): No! No, I mean, you’re gonna live with this. And it’s gonna be a part of you. And I think that people say this- this is a thing that people say, but I think that there’s gonna be a day when you realize it’s not the only thing that you thought about. And then there’s gonna be a day when you realize that you hadn’t thought about it.
Sylvi: There is like, another little bit of silence and she’s just kind of like nodding, thinking it over, and is like.
Sylvi (as Cori): Thanks, Captain. Nobody has ever really- nobody has really been able to talk to me straight about it? It’s all just, oh it’s a horrible accident, it’s a horrible tragedy. But nobody fuckin- I don’t know.
Ali (as Brnine): Yeah.
Sylvi (as Cori): It’s hard to talk about the feelings side of it.
Ali (as Brnine): Things happen, Cori. And more things are gonna happen. And it’ll be okay. You just have to make it okay.
Sylvi: I think for the second time in a week, [Ali laughs] Brnine has Cori crying in their car. But like, a lot of like, thank you while sobbing and stuff. And then just kind of like quieting down a little bit after the first little outburst.
Ali: Cori!
Sylvi: Yeah, she’s going through it. God- shout out to the crew for looking out for her though!
Austin: Yeah, right? I mean, what’s the point of having a crew?
Sylvi: Yeah, no!
Austin: You know?
Sylvi: It’s nice to have a community that isn’t just like, go in the juicer machine!
Austin: Get back in the- uh huh! [Ali chuckles] Yeah, exactly.
Sylvi: See you in hell you little freak! [Austin chuckles, Ali snorts]
Janine: Get back in the blender, Shinji. [Austin, Ali, Sylvi chuckle]
Sylvi: Yeah, uh huh.
Austin: Uh huh! Yeah. Exactly.
[“Nothing is Stationary” by Jack de Quidt begins playing]
[music ends]
[end of episode]