Twilight Mirage 13: An Instinct Without A Word
Xander @cosmickaiju
AUSTIN (as Satellite): Report 132.
Are you familiar with The Treatise on Change, Primary?
[MUSIC - “The Twilight Mirage” starts]
It's a small section of a larger text, something about the breaking through the limits of human cognition. It postulates that there's no such thing as change, at least, not the way we normally talk about it. The writer, he was a soldier, I guess, he said that we think about change like it's a light switch; like one day you press a button and things are different. And so when we try to change things and it doesn't happen like that, it seems futile. Impossible.
But that's wrong, he says. A light switch isn't even a light switch. It's connected to circuits and wires, all hidden behind the walls, and if you slowed down time, and if you considered all that went into a single switch: the natural metals, the design of the electronics— you'd see that things only ever shift very slowly.
I don't know. What do you think, Primary?
The upside, I guess, is that it means we should keep trying to improve, even when it doesn't seem like it's worth it. But it also means that the weight of history guarantees certain negative changes too, like asteroids on an impact course that no one can adjust.
And the scary thing is, from inside, it's impossible to tell which we're working towards.
[Music stops]
[2:11]
AUSTIN: Does everyone get back to HQ okay? Everyone’s back in Old Church. Uh, Myriad is parked nearby now, [sighs, sounds like he’s trying not to laugh] Gig rolls in on a horse, in the middle of the night.
KEITH: Wait, rolls in? This is a way weirder horse than I thought it was.
AUSTIN: [Laughs] I mean it’s also that weird shape you mentioned, right?
KEITH: It is, yes, but it’s definitely somewhere between a trot and a canter.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: Which we have gone over the difference—
AUSTIN (slightly over Keith): We’ve gone over this, yes.
KEITH: — in this podcast before.
AUSTIN: It’s true.
Alright, you’re all back together at Old Church; I think Surge has cooked you up a big ol’ pot of gumbo. Quire gumbo.
KEITH: Gumbo?
AUSTIN: Gotta love a gumbo, um—
KEITH: I like a jambalaya, but a gumbo is pretty close.
AUSTIN: I’m a, I’m a gumbo, I’m a gumbo boy.
KEITH: That’s fine.
AUSTIN: You put that down on my…. tombstone.
[Someone laughs]
SYLVIA: Jesus.
KEITH: Austin Walker was a Gumbo Boy.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
[Laughter]
AUSTIN: God, god I could go for some—
KEITH: And that’s it.
AUSTIN: And that’s it.
KEITH (laughing): Austin Walker was a gumbo boy and that’s it.
AUSTIN: No, no notes on like, when I was born, when I was died. … When I was died. Great.
KEITH: Left behind a big bowl of gumbo. Survived by pot of gumbo.
AUSTIN: Oh my god. Okay, what are we, what are y’all doing.
SYLVIA: Well two of us have pets now.
KEITH: I think I’m trying to teach the horse how to play cards.
AUSTIN: The horse can’t come inside, it's not allowed.
DRE: Awww.
KEITH: What!
AUSTIN: Janey makes that very clear.
KEITH (as Gig): What are these things?
AUSTIN (as Janey): I don’t know, a.. Horse?
KEITH (as Gig): You’ve never— you’ve never seen this?
SYLVIA (as Echo): Hey does your horse wanna meet my snake?
KEITH (as Gig): Oh yeah, I’ll bet they’ll be friends
DRE: Oh my god.
AUSTIN (as Janey): There’s a snake, there’s a horse... [sighs] I’m not hungry, I’m gonna go… I’m gonna go...
KEITH (as Gig): But wait— you’re not hungry for gumbo?
AUSTIN (as Janey): No.
AUSTIN: Janey just like, leaves.
KEITH (as Gig): You’re not hungo for gumbo?
[Laughing from Sylvia and Dre]
AUSTIN: Um…
KEITH (as Gig): We here for the gumbo tonight!
AUSTIN: Surge is like,
AUSTIN (as Surge): Don’t, don’t worry about her, she’s been goin’ through a lot ever since the Doyenne and all that stuff, you know.
Keith (as Gig): Yeah… For how terrified I was, I forgot all about that!
AUSTIN (as Surge): It’s been some time.
KEITH (as Gig): Have you seen my horse?
AUSTIN (as Surge): I we saw the horse, Gig. It’s a nice horse…. Strange.
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah.
DRE (as Even): Wait, have you--
KEITH (as Gig): It’s a fuckin weird horse!
DRE (as Even): Have you never seen a horse like that before?
AUSTIN (as Surge): No.
DRE (as Even): Oh.
KEITH (as Gig): Oh, I found it locked in a, I found a bunch of em locked behind glass with a bunch of weird computers.
AUSTIN (as Surge): [snorts] That’s…
KEITH (as Gig): On, like your planet, dude.
AUSTIN (as Surge): I stay where near people are, I’m not really a horses behind glass sort of guy.
KEITH (as Gig): I just assumed.
AUSTIN (as Bernadette): He’s a coward!
AUSTIN: Says Bernadette, and then—
KEITH (as Gig): Bernadette!
Austin: Starts eating some gumbo.
AUSTIN (as Surge): Don’t mind her.
KEITH (as Gig): Who made the gumbo?
AUSTIN (in Surge’s voice): Surge did, me did, I did.
[Laughing]
AUSTIN (as SURGE): Me made the gumbo.
[More laughter]
ART: It’s a lighting thing.
[More laughing]
AUSTIN (while laughing): That’s the deepest Home Movies cut there’s ever been!
AUSTIN: Good. Okay, so what are you all doing? What’s the-- Is there dinner conversation about things that aren’t a horse?
KEITH: There would be, if this gumbo weren’t so good. [Dre laughing] And I give Surge a wink.
AUSTIN: He winks his otter wink back at you.
DRE: Um, I mean I guess we should be talking about leaving for the sculpture in the morning.
ART: Yeah, I guess we should probably be comparing notes about… our weird little adventures. Some of us got horses, some of us saw rooms full of horrible skeletons.
KEITH (as Gig): Oh tell me about the skeletons-- were they nice?
ART (as Grand): Oh they were, they were dead.
KEITH (as Gig): Oh.
ART (as Grand): I’m sorry to tell you that--
KEITH (as Gig): You didn’t find--
ART (as Grand): -- about skeletons.
KEITH (as Gig): I just feel like maybe we all found something weird that was alive.
DRE (as Even): Have you all like--
KEITH (as Gig): Thats what I thought.
DRE (as Even): Have you all written this in your reports to submit for the next-- for the last upload before we leave the node?
KEITH (as Gig): Reports?
DRE (as Even): Yeah, the--
[Austin laughing]
DRE (as Even): The fleet doesn’t know about this stuff until we report it. Like you get to name a new species of animal, Gig.
ART: Shmorse.
KEITH (as Gig): I mean if they watch the [laughter] if they watch the show, they’ll see it, so I think I’m covered.
DRE (as Even): No but, like, you know how the Mesh works, right? You could tap into and you could find information the fleet shares, and none of the information on this planet is up there. That’s on us.
KEITH (as Gig): Well it’s gonna be on the show.
DRE (as Even): I mean, do you have like, people you trust to like, take the stuff you put on your show, and put it in the mesh?
KEITH (as Gig): I mean, they asked me to do this.
AUSTIN: Is there a wikia? Like what’s--
SYLVIA (as Echo): He is a big walking report.
DRE (as Even): That’s true.
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah I’m a big walking report. I’m basically a big fucking square nerd, and I walk around giving reports all the time.
SYLVIA (as Echo, softly): Hey, I didn’t mean it like that..
DRE (as Even): Did you like, film this facility?
KEITH (as Gig); Yeah, I filmed it -- I always film everything!
DRE (as Even): Okay, I’m just asking--
KEITH (as Gig): I’m filming now!
DRE (as Even): That’s fine.
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah.
AUSTIN (as Surge): You’re filming, oh…
DRE: Even waves.
AUSTIN: I think Surge like, starts to smooth back his otter hair. Or smooth forward? I dunno. Do you brush otter hair forward or backwards? Backwards.
DRE: Probably it’s backwards, yeah.
ART: I mean, it depends the look he’s going for.
AUSTIN: True, He does it forwards so he has like a dope…
[Crosstalk]
KEITH: No, yeah, he has a nice ruffle.
AUSTIN: He’s got a little ruffle going to it, yeah.
KEITH: Yeah. [pause] Very shabby-chic.
AUSTIN: Bernadette like, gives you the finger.
AUSTIN (as Bernadette): Blehhhh
KEITH (as Gig): Stuff it Bernadette!
AUSTIN (as Bernadette): Bleehhhhhh.
KEITH (as Gig): Blehhhhh.
DRE (as Even): You should probably ask permission before you videotape people’s houses though, in the future.
KEITH (as Gig): Hey guys, can I keep videotaping…. on my video tape?
KEITH: And I make a jerk off motion.
AUSTIN: Jesus Christ!
[laughing]
ART: Woah!
SYLVIA: You give the guy a horse and all of a sudden he’s too big-time for you...
ART: Right, yeah.
KEITH: I’m just saying— videotape??
DRE: Whatever.
ART: You teach a man to horse, and he’ll be a jerk for a lifetime.
DRE (over Art): Fuckin’, before you transcribe it to your fucking solid state MEM disk, whatever you wanna call it.
[laughing]
KEITH: It’s Soft RAM!
AUSTIN: It is Soft RAM, that is canonical.
AUSTIN (as Surge): [heavy sigh] So uh, what are you guys gonna do with that Saint?
KEITH (as Gig): Oh, we were gonna do something with it?
DRE (as Even): Well we could, I mean, they left it here and I was looking at it and nobody came and stopped me, so..
KEITH (as Gig): Does it have a cupholder? I can attach it to Duck.
DRE (as Even): [Sighs] Okay.
AUSTIN: It’s way too big for Duck.
KEITH (as Gig): No, no no no, you’re misunderstanding, I want to take out, if it’s got like some luxury items, I want to attach it to his saddle.
AUSTIN: Oh my god.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Wait, you want to take its radio out and put it on your horse?
ART (as Grand): I don’t think you can put a cupholder on a saddle, wouldn’t it bounce out?
KEITH (as Gig): Not if if it was gyroscopic, like a mech’s would have to be, mech designer.
ART (as Grand): No, it’s not that it would tilt, it’s that the the force…
KEITH (as Gig): It can be gyroscopic in three dimensions.
[10:00]
DRE (as Even): I cannot believe that we have access to technology that’s more advanced that the fleet can’t make, and we’re talking about cupholders.
SYLVIA (as Echo): So, does it still work? Or….
DRE (as Even): We would have to make it work, but I think it could.
SYLVIA (as Echo): I mean, you two…..
KEITH (as Gig): We could probably have it carry the nodes, that would be nice.
DRE (as Even): That is actually a very productive idea, Gig.
KEITH (as Gig): You sound surprised, and I’m offended. I’m hurt. I’m not just here to fuckin be an asshole!
SYLVIA (as Echo): Are you sure?
ART (as Grand): I believe I could patch it to make it work, and I also think Gig is kinda here to be an asshole.
[laughing]
KEITH (as Gig): I was — listen, I want to make it clear, I was sent by official people to do official things.
SYLVIA (as Echo): To be fair, we all were.
ART (as Grand): And it was, you’re here to — you’re here for… ranching?
KEITH (as Gig): No, for filming.
AUSTIN (laughing): Yes, Even, Bernadette is flicking Gig off even harder in the background.
AUSTIN (as Bernadette): Never liked officials, [makes laughing sound].
KEITH: I throw a piece of gumbo at her.
[laughing]
ART: A piece of gumbo?
AUSTIN: That’s not how that works!
KEITH: Yeah like a piece, yeah like a piece, like a chunk of meat. I just like, toss it.
AUSTIN: She catches it in her mouth and starts chewing on it.
KEITH (as Gig): Woah! [starts clapping]
AUSTIN: She’s not a seal!
[laughing]
KEITH: That wasn’t her clapping her fins!
DRE (over Keith): Yeah, no, that’s an otter, come on they’re otters, not seals, get it together.
KEITH: That was me applauding for clapping it.
AUSTIN: They’re not otters, only Surge is an otter.
KEITH: Yeah, no, I was just like hey, nice job catching it, it was dope.
[Austin sighs]
SYLVIA: This is a mess.
KEITH: Yeah, hey, can you guys get off my back?
AUSTIN: And she like picks up her bowl and walks into the kitchen so she can eat alone
KEITH (as Gig): She likes me best. [the others quietly laughing] I know for a fact that she likes me best.
DRE (as Even): Okay, um, I guess Grand Magnificent, do you wanna work with Echo to see if you can get it running and..
ART (as Grand): Absolutely, I’d love it.
AUSTIN: Hell yeah
SYLVIA (as Echo): Yeah, me, the mech expert. Let’s go, let's do this.
DRE (as Even): Well, I mean, it’s a mech down here, so it doesnt require, I mean I guess it might hook into whatever their version of the Mesh is, but it’s not, it’s not gonna to be nearly as Mesh-dependent as something made in the fleet.
AUSTIN: That’s true.
ART (as Grand): Well, I would imagine that I could, you know, I meant what I said, like, patch it, not in a software sense, but in like a clothing sense, you know, take the parts of it that don’t work and replace it with parts I know how to build. It’s not gonna be pretty. Well, I mean, it’s me, it’ll be, it’ll be striking, certainly.
AUSTIN: Alright, let’s—
ART (as Grand): But it’s not what your mother would like to pilot.
KEITH: We’re having fun.
AUSTIN: Echo, did you have something else to add there? Or are you just gonna—
SYLVIA: No, no, I was just gonna say let’s go look at this thing.
AUSTIN: Alright. So yeah, let’s get this scene of, of, Echo and Grand in the garage slash church and it’s like laid out in all of its component parts. And it’s a situation where like you could just rebuild what it was and patch it together, especially with the extra Glass that you brought back, the opaque stuff, is enough to like, patch that spot.
ART: Sure.
AUSTIN: But it won’t, it won’t like be conductive, and it won’t be able to be a screen, and it won’t all that stuff. But you can also, like I think this is gonna be another Beauty Is Truth, Truth Is Beauty where like, I mean if you two are working on it together Echo could totally, this could be the Amp Runner scene for Echo.
ART: Okay.
AUSTIN: So, I’m curious, what’s that look like?
ART: Sure.
SYLVIA: Can I just get a quick refresher on what the like, they’re called Saints, right?
AUSTIN: They’re called Saints —
SYLVIA (under Austin): What the heck are they?
AUSTIN: They are big armoured knights, they look like knights, they look like medieval knights, basically. Specifically I’d say like very pointed toes with like little flourishes on the armour to give them style, but otherwise are like, not chrome — like, smokey steel, what’s the word I’m looking for? There’s a word for this.
SYLVIA: Brushed steel, maybe?
AUSTIN: Like brushed steel, I guess, yeah. With like you know, a little bit of trim that’s like gold or whatever color you want to paint it or whatever color you want to treat it to be. Um, their huge Glass cockpit is in the heart of the machine, and you — I guess now that you’ve taken it apart you could climb into — you could set it up so you can climb in from the back, you can make it so that the heart opens up and you can climb into it that way. It’s like, the pilot’s in such a situation that the cockpit’s like, on top of their torso, you don’t see them inside of the cockpit, they’re like, standing up inside of there, and moving their body in a way that makes the mech move, but it’s not just like they’re wearing a big suit of armour either. It’s like this weird middle ground between a Pacific Rim style cockpit and a more traditional just like, oh if I move my arm it’s inside of the right arm of the machine. And then just like, they all had different heads, so like one of them had a high bishop hat style helmet, one of them had the very pointed nose like Demon Souls style medieval helmet, there’s just like different types of armor the same way that there are in medieval Europe.
AUSTIN: Like, any of that or even like, you know you haven’t seen what the other Saints look like from the other cities in the Crown, you’ve only seen this one, but you know, you could guess there might be some that look like non-European knights, also, or non-European soldiers. Um, but they are all the sort of like walking armour.
So, it, when you take something you feel, a concept or an idea, and express yourself by way of your chosen art, whether it’s performed or presented, and it is an experience for others, roll. But we’ll, I guess maybe we’ll do that part later, that’s like, once it actually makes its debut, in retrospect.
ART (as Grand): Yeah, just talk to me about what you want it to look like. I mean, what do you want out of this?
SYLVIA (as Echo): I mean —
ART (as Grand): I know what it used to look like, don’t worry about that, what do you want it to look like now?
SYLVIA (as Echo): I want it to look.. I don’t want it to look like it’s just another generic grunt, you know? Like there were, um, when we were in combat there with the Mandati. I think like, the helmet needs to change, and I need like, I kinda wanna keep the hole in it somehow.
ART (as Grand): I — We can absolutely keep the hole.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Like right, right by the cockpit I think, if we can shift things in that way, where it looks like it has a hole in its chest, and then there’s the heart region right by it.
ART (as Grand): I, I mean I think, I want you to know that I can do all of those things.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Okay.
ARTt (as Grand): But I also want you to know that you can be further out of the box, too, right, if you want this to be, this could also be a baker. Not that you would want it to be a baker, but you know…
SYLVIA (as Echo): Alright.
ART: And he, Grand starts drawing, he draws what Echo is talking about, you know, the hole and move the cockpit here, and this is all done in like, in light, as we’ve talked about, just in front of him.
ART (as Grand): Or like you know this or this, but really like. I can just, I can do what you said, I can make this look like a very striking, unique one of these, this can — but it can also be anything.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Okay. Oh, wow. Okay.
SYLVIA: Echo kinda like, just immediately sits down on the ground and starts thinking.
SYLVIA (as Echo): I want a, a shield. Like.
ART (as Grand): Okay, okay that’s a great use for the glass that I got.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Like, and I want... It needs to be intimidating. Cos I need like, the people, if I’m using this, then it’s gonna be against people who are dangerous and like, have ill intent, and I need it to intimidate them. I don’t want it to be like, Even’s, and no offense, shitty cat.
[Austin laughing]
DRE: Nah, fair.
SYLVIA (as Echo): I need it to be scary. I need it to not be, you know.
ART (as Grand): That’s great. Tell me what scares you.
SYLVIA: Damn. [laughs]
SYLVIA (as Echo): I mean. What scares me doesn’t really have physical form but, you know.
[Crosstalk, laughing over next two lines]
ART (as Grand): Okay well, it really helps, if, if your ideas have physical form.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Yeah, that’s exactly the problem. I dunno, what does the Mesh look like, right?
ART (as Grand): O-okay. Let’s let’s, let’s—
SYLVIA (as Echo): I think, change the, change the like. [sighs] I want it to look human, but like, a little wrong.
ART (as Grand): Okay.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Like, it has like a third arm. And like, one of the arms is just a blade, like it doesn’t have a hand or anything. And like, maybe just like—
ART (as Grand): So like a, like a scorpion’s tail almost, but on the side?
SYLVIA (as Echo): No, this is like one of those— the arm on the back, like the third arm is like a normal arm, and one of its, where it would have a normal arm is the sword. Like one hand has the sword, one hand is the sword, and then there’s this other arm on the back.
ART (as Grand): O-kay.
SYLVIA (as Echo): And then I think…
SYLVIA: And then Echo kinda like sketches out something that looks like the, um. Like Echo picks up the like, I think Surge probably has like notepads and paper and like, pens around, ‘cause this is like, in his garage, isn’t it?
AUSTIN: Yeah.
SYLVIA: So I think Echo grabs that and does kinda a crude scratching of like, kinda antler shapes. Like kind of a cross between the shapes of the people that they saw in that vision, completely unintentionally, and like, a cross between a stag’s antlers.
ART: How much like the creepy dreams in the tv show Hannibal are we going for?
AUSTIN: Uh, its not..
SYLVIA: Oh man.
ART: This is not, this is out of..
[20:00]
SYLVIA: A little bit, yeah actually.
KEITH: Oh, Hannibal’s not like a classic tv show for the...
[Austin laughs]
SYLVIA: I actually wasn’t even thinking of that but…
AUSTIN: A stag mech is pretty dope.
SYLVIA: Yeah, no, I was…
AUSTIN (under Sylvia): Or like, a stag person.
SYLVIA: …definitely going for like, a stag person, with some like, uncanny valley in there, is kinda what I got to.
ART: Alright, I think it’s easy to get into the uncanny valley with a stag person.
SYLVIA: Yeah. Well i mean like, with like, a human form that has like, but the silhouette is off with that third arm and like, some of the proportions. You know?
ART: Yeah, I think that that’s kind of it, I think in the final sketches at least, you start seeing Grand get to like, the face is, is Echo’s face, if Echo was in that Final Fantasy movie.
AUSTIN: Great, so it’s also like, the statue face again.
ART: Yeah, a little bit.
SYLVIA: I actually want it to have no face. Just straight up like, it’s faceless.
ART: Okay, the uncanny valley is very easy to do through faces and very hard to do through physique.
SYLVIA (over Art): Yeah, I know. That’s the thing, I want it to be like, you know how when Grand saw the shadow people, they looked like people but like, off. Like there was proportioning stuff that was off about them?
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
ART: Sure.
SYLVIA: That’s kind of what I’m trying to go for. I feel like I have a better idea in my head than i do through words, and I’m struggling really hard with this, so sorry if this drags.
AUSTIN: No it’s fine, remember that the key of this move is that it’s about what you feel more than what it is, physically.
SYLVIA: Yeah.
ART: Sure. But like, we should have an idea of what it looks like.
AUSTIN & SYLVIA: Totally, Totally.
ART (as Grand): Okay, so it doesn’t have facial features, it just has like, facial indentations, it has the antlers of a stag, and it has an arm on the back.
SYLVIA (as Echo); Yeah.
ART (as Grand): [intrigued] Okay, sure.
AUSTIN: I’m trying to think if there’s anything else here that I needed to get here. Okay, yeah I think that that’s it, I think that’s fine. What are you, or I guess, do you just, build it that night, basically?
ART: Yeah, it’s designing it, its making sure that the things doing, I guess this is probably more hands—
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
ART: -on than the-- than the Amp Runner, huh —
AUSTIN: Yeah.
ART: Because I can’t-- Then yeah, I guess it is a lot of like, putting it together, I don’t know how I’m lifting all of it...
AUSTIN: Well I think, I was gonna say I think Surge comes out to help with this stuff, and I think at some point he’s just like:
AUSTIN (as Surge): So uh, is this not — Echo I dont mean to pry but… This isn’t gonna be run on the Mesh, I guess.
SYLVIA (as Echo): I mean, unless there’s some way for me to get onto it without, like, invasive surgery….
AUSTIN (as Surge): I mean, what are you, uh, it’s only been a month, I just feel weird asking questions, I’m sorry.
SYLVIA (as Echo): It’s fine.
AUSTIN (as Surge): Why don’t, why don’t you use the Mesh?
SYLVIA (as Echo): Uhhh, I can’t?
AUSTIN (as Surge): Cause of the, of the chip thing?
SYLVIA (as Echo): Yeah.
AUSTIN (as Surge): Okay, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to um, why don’t.. Why don’t you have a chip?
SYLVIA (as Echo): Uhhh it’s complicated. Umm back on...
AUSTIN (as Surge): You’re talking to a big otter person, I get it.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Back home, we are born with our chips, instead of having them implanted like other ships, and um, there’s the option to have that happen, but I didn’t want to, I guess, is the easiest way to put it.
AUSTIN (as Surge): Okay.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Yeah, I dunno, it’s complicated.
SYLVIA: And Echo kind like, starts looking away from Grand and Surge at that point.
AUSTIN: Surge is like:
AUSTIN (as Surge): Well I think we could make it so you’re not in it, you’re not in the mesh, you’re just kinda seeing it on the glass, you know what I mean?
SYLVIA (as Echo): Uhhh if that’s possible?
AUSTIN (as Surge): Like uh… Just like, uh..
AUSTIN: And he like, turns on a screen in the. In the room, and he’s like, it’d be like this except you’d kinda see through it
SYLVIA (as Echo): [surprised] Oh? Yeah, okay.
AUSTIN: Um, Keith linked a very creepy image, um, that actually gives me is an image of just like a weird, faceless monster person with its arm out. It has birds on the arm and then like the torso is all fucked up and you can see ribs. I actually really like that as a part of making it uncanny.
SYLVIA: Oh Shit.
AUSTIN: What if the cockpit is like full body? You can always see all of Echo and it's in the middle of your, middle of the torso instead of being on the heart.
SYLVIA: Yeaaaaah.
AUSTIN: Like everybody else because that's part of what the image is of what these look like was like. Oh yeah! You just see, you always see the, the heart. And like that's what the design is for these, but yours is not that. People see your whole body and you're surrounded by like metallic ribs.
SYLVIA: Oh yeah. I really love that...
AUSTIN: Awesome. I'm into it.
SYLVIA: I also really like the, the extended torso like the..
AUSTIN: Me too. Yeah. Yeah It's like..
SYLVIA: That's, that's what I was trying to kind of say just couldn’t think of it.
AUSTIN: It's like.. stretched.
SYLVIA: Yeah. Like, it's just like, a little too... elongated in proportion to everything else.
AUSTIN: Right. It's, you have a Slenderman mech, you've got a Slendermech.
SYLVIA: Aaah.. well now I don’t.
[laughing]
AUSTIN: Yup. I gotcha. It's not that elongated. It's not that elongated.
SYLVIA: No, It's like literally like, it's like 10—
KEITH (over Sylvia): It’s like..15% longer.
SYLVIA: Right.
AUSTIN: It's definitely a creepypasta mech though.
SYLVIA: Yeah. Oh no, totally. [Art laughing] Listen, I like it.
AUSTIN: It's just a different creepypasta.
SYLVIA: Being me, it's very hard to not fight doing weird horror shit at every chance I get here.
AUSTIN: I just, I just did a search for “creepypasta mech” and it auto corrected to creepypasta merch, and I hate life. I hate it. I hate that we live in a world where there is creepypasta merchandise that you can buy. God dammit. All right. Um, I guess Even, I do want to, there's a thing I want to do with you, which is like, are you prepping for the next day's travel? Are you like, what do you, what do you do? Cause I know what Gig does Gig at this point is like always doing worky stuff. Right like, always filming stuff and like I know what downtime looks like for Gig or like offscreen time. But I'm curious what offscreen time looks like for Even.
DRE: Um, I mean, I think in this instance it's, that Even is trying to like, get ready for... travel tomorrow. Like he's like making lists, but like, he's really distracted and I think he is just being pulled back to the pile of stuff that he and Surge brought back to the garage.
AUSTIN: Gotcha. Um, you like go over to the pile of stuff at some point, to look it over and then like, over in, uh, one of the other buildings nearby that had been abandoned, you can see little strokes of light, um, little like brief, not flashes, but like pulses of light. What do you do?
DRE: Oh, okay. I want to go look at that. What color are the lights?
AUSTIN: Like white.
DRE: Okay.
AUSTIN: Um, as you get closer, you can see that it's actually very similar to the sort of like drawing in the sky, drawing in the open air stuff that Grand does, but it is Janey doing it. Um, and you can see that it's like, she's drawing, like. Again, it's kind of like, for people who don't know what we mean, if you look up, what's the VR Google drawing thing called?
KEITH: Uh, Sketch?
AUSTIN: Is it Sketch? Tilt Brush.
KEITH: Tilt Brush...
AUSTIN: Tilt Brush is what it's called. People should look up Tilt Brush.
KEITH: I think Sketchup is what I'm thinking of.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah. Um, and she's kind of doing a Tilt Brush drawing of two figures. Um, uh, and I think it's just c-- I think it's clear. It's like, it's her and the Doyenne. Um, and she's like very — she's like in her feelings right now.
DRE: Oh Man. I, I feel like I like — am I seeing this through a window?
AUSTIN: Yeah, I think you just kind of like tilt your head in to see what's happening, and that's what she's doing.
DRE: Oh Man. I sh.. I both, me as the person and Even I think doesn't feel comfortable like intruding on this.
AUSTIN: That's fair.
DRE: Like, I think like this. Yeah, that seems personal.
AUSTIN: Mhmm.
DRE: Um, um, yeah, I still think like the pull like — and the pull isn't like a logical pull. It's still like this kind of like, it's not hunger, but like it's, it's a, it's like, it's an instinct that Even doesn't have a word for.
AUSTIN: Yeah…
DRE: Back to the stuff that he found.
AUSTIN: Okay. So what do you..
DRE: And Surge found.
AUSTIN: So you go back to that stuff. Um, what do you, uh, what do you do when you're there with it?
DRE: Um..
AUSTIN: And this is like coming from the creature part of the hybrid that you are now?
DRE: Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is the non-Even part of the hybrid.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: Um, I think he takes out the, the, the wings that he recreated and like lays them on a table and is just kind of running his hands over and over them. Like over and over again.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: And I think it's some parts. So I think we decided like the omni-tool is not detachable anymore. It's no longer like the weird spider thing that happens. So I think.. I have two ideas for how this omni-tool, like turning things and incorporating things work. Um, and I think I'm going to go with the one that's like less gross.
AUSTIN: [trying not to laugh] Okay.
[Keith laughs]
DRE: Um, but I think like as..
KEITH: That’s a first for this season.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
DRE: Right. Yeah, yeah. But I think as Even doing this his, his hands, like his fingers kind of like flatten. Um, like they, like they kind of enlarge and flatten. Um, and it's an Even gets this rush of like kind of a form of synesthesia, where it's like he suddenly is given all this information on this thing, and I don't think it's like, it's nothing that he can process.
[30:00]
DRE (cont): Like it's such a rush that he can't process it. But it's, it's basically the creature part of him sending all of this, basically this information on like how this thing is built, what it's made of, like down at a molecular level.
AUSTIN: Yeaah…
DRE: And like running the calculations of how that stuff could be incorporated into the fused infrastructure of Even and the creature.
AUSTIN: Are you trying to build a thing here or are you just trying to like scan it and like..
DRE: No, I think this is building something.
AUSTIN: Okay. Are you like.
DRE: I think this is the Junkware move.
AUSTIN: Are you like, okay. Uh, are you trying to like hook up those wings to you?
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Let's give me a Junkware move. Remember you take plus one forward on it.
DRE: Okay. Um...
AUSTIN: You roll omni-tool. So how does this feel like this feels very, very like.. Based on what you’re describing there isn’t much like, intellectual thought here, it’s like, very emotional, right?
DRE: Yeah. I don't even know if it's emotional. It's like, like I said, it's...
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: Hunger isn't the right word for it.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: But it’s, it’s..
AUSTIN: But it's like pre-linguistic, the feeling. It's a very like, hmm...
DRE: I mean, the analogy, the analogy for it is like, I keep returning to like the Xenogenesis books by Octavia Butler.
AUSTIN: Mm-hm.
DRE: But in the first one of those books, um, they talk about how the Oankali? Which are like the gene traders are like, super interested in humans because some of them carry cancer cells.
AUSTIN: Ohhh.
DRE: And for them it's like when they see cancer, it's something they've never seen before.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: And it’s like certain members of them that are like, more tuned into like this gene stuff, like it gets. They become obsessed with it and it's, and it's again it's like there's not a good analogous word for humans to understand how it is, but it's like, it's almost like they're like hungry for it.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: And it's not in like a, like an aggressive like, I'm gonna eat you way.
AUSTIN: No, no.
DRE: It's like a, I find this so fascinating that I can't pull myself away from you.
AUSTIN: Gotcha. That could be a bunch of things. I'm very curious. It’s [mumbling]... Make a case for whichever thing you want.
DRE: Um, so let's see. First. Okay. So you said I have a, I have a plus one from Omni-tool and then I have another plus one forward for my scrounge roll.
AUSTIN: Yeah, so roll two d6 plus two.
DRE: Plus two. Okay. Um, I think this is actually maybe powerful.
AUSTIN: Yeah, I could see that.
DRE: Cause it is, it's like maybe giving in isn't the right word for this, but it is like this is, this is the thing and I'm finally just rolling through with that.
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally. So mark that. Hey!
DRE: Ten!
AUSTIN: It’s a Goddamn ten.
DRE: Yep.
AUSTIN: All right. So when you get a ten plus, choose two. Uh, you make it and give it one tag. It does not require a negative tag and it does not harm you. So you get to choose two of those.
DRE: Umm...
KEITH: Oh, that's nice. It doesn't harm you.
DRE: Right, well, I can only choose two of those three.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
DRE: So, um, and one of my Omni-tool things is that I get an additional uh, tag when I roll.
AUSTIN: Oh is it? Sick.
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Ok, cool.
DRE: Yeah. When I'm, when I'm successful, let me make sure…. You gain one additional tag for the cybernetic you next you create. Yeah. Um, so I'm going to say, uh, it doesn't harm me and I, uh, add one tag to describe it. So I guess I get two tags and then I also have to put a negative tag. Right.
AUSTIN: I'm curious how the harming thing works. Is that, do you know from the book if they're clear, if that's like, just to make sure…
DRE: I don't think so.
AUSTIN: Before you make this choice. Is it, is it a thing where it's like it hurts you once now and then it doesn't hurt you again? Or is it like every time you use it it's gonna hurt?
DRE: Um, let me see.
AUSTIN: I don't think it says.
DRE: No, it doesn't really say, and I think it's like it, that that's to leave space for like…
AUSTIN: Totally.
DRE: Cause the Omni tool isn't even very well defined. So like I think it, it could harm me in a singular way and that like this is overriding like bodily functions.
AUSTIN: Oh yeah, Totally.
DRE: And like bones could break and all sorts of things could go bad…
AUSTIN: Uh-huh.
DRE: Or it could, you know, do harm and that like this makes my body are heavier than it used to be. And like I'm slower or like my leg is now kind of like hurt during this extra load
AUSTIN: It actually, so I just read through their, their description thing and it does, it's the description of it in the book itself, specifically the example it shows is about the integration hurting you. So —
DRE: Oh, okay.
AUSTIN: It would inflict harm this time that you install it if you did the harm one. Um, I just want to make sure that we all had that we had the same like,
DRE: Yeah, sure.
AUSTIN: Hands on like what the options are there. Not that, I'm not trying to push you one way or the other. I just want to make sure that yeah, the right, the right clarity on this. [Dre laughs]
DRE: Um, god, maybe it does, maybe it does harm me then, and I think that is like this is the first time Gardener's done this. Um, and it's, it doesn't go smoothly. And again, this is like operating on instinct. This isn't like a…
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: Logical, rational thing he's doing.
AUSTIN: Right.
DRE: This is like a, this has been bugging me.
AUSTIN (over Dre): it was like the opposite of what's happening in the garage right now.
AUSTIN: Right. Which is like slow and you're talking it out and you're trying, you're prototyping different stuff and meanwhile Even is shoving wings into his back [Dre and Austin laughing],
DRE: It's fine. Yeah. Um, so no negative tag and I get one tag, so I guess two tags overall, but I will take harm as established by the fiction.
AUSTIN: Um, I think this is like, obviously it's armor penetrating like —
DRE: Yeah, sure.
AUSTIN: It has to go into your fucking back. Right? Um, I think you’re at moderate one, so I think you take two harm. Doing this.
DRE: Okay.
AUSTIN: One for each wing basically. So that’s —
DRE: Yeah.
AUSTIN: Where you’re at —
DRE: Yeah, okay.
AUSTIN: You know, which is, is wild, right? Like you put the first one in, right? You, you, I mean, what's this? What does this look like?
DRE: I don't even think it's putting it in. I think it's like, it's sprouting, almost.
AUSTIN: Okay. Does it like go in through your hand and then sprout out your back? Is that how the [Dre groaning] creature works?
SYLVIA: Hell yes.
DRE: Oh, there's like, you see like the mass moving up the arm and then over the shoulder. Yeah, sure. No, let's make this as gross as possible.
[Crosstalk]
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: Wow, yeah. A lot of body horror.
AUSTIN: Are they metal or are they..?
ART: Didn’t this start as not being gross, like, this was like, I'm going to start with this thing I'm not being.
[End crosstalk]
KEITH: I, I can I say something? I'm not getting — I'm not taking any shit from anyone about the eye ever again.
AUSTIN: Eyes are different.
DRE (over Austin): Yeah, no, you’re right.
KEITH: Anybody that wants to… What's that?
AUSTIN: I said eyes are different. I disagree.
KEITH (incredulous): Eyes are not different than chunks of metal bubbling [dre laughing] up through your skin, up your arm into your back —
AUSTIN: Eyes are different.
KEITH: And then sprouting.
SYLVIA: Right, eyes are way more boring.
AUSTIN: Can they sprout, [laughs] do they sprout metal or do they sprout flesh?
DRE: Oh God. Um..
AUSTIN: I don't think it's ugly. I don't want to be clear like, as the, my camera as, the GM is not framing this as horrific. Like I, I actually think that this is like, it's not pretty, but it's not like, like I think maybe Hannibal is actually. We're back to Hannibal again, um, in which there is, the point of it is to reframe what you might think of as terrifying, or as, um, uh, not just uncanny, but like, um, something that, that that feels that it should be framed as repulsive. And then like, oh, actually let me tilt the camera just so, so that this now feels aesthetically pleasing to see. And that is part of what you contend with.
ART: Yo, we watched Hannibal differently.
AUSTIN: Really? You didn't really, you didn't see that? Like, I don't know. I think a lot of Hannibal stuff, especially during the, like the rando, like serial killing, like the going after the various, uh, uh, like other, like the filler episodes, the non A plot episodes, we're pretty much always like, oh wow, this person did an amazing thing with all of these human bodies. And that's gross, but also like there is something aesthetically clean about the production. Like it's a high production level killing, which is, yeah.
[Dre laughing]
AUSTIN: Keith, Keith in the chat says, Galaxy brain: eating people is beautiful. Right? Like that's the whole — that’s the like, the whole thing of that, totally right? Like, oh wow, look at, well — what a well-produced dinner Hannibal isn't making. Um, so it's that, except it wraps back around the other way to where it's like, oh, the final product is actually good.
DRE: So you know what it probably is the — probably the closest thing is it's not like, you know, like bones breaking and shit like that.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
DRE: It's probably like, it's probably weird in like the way that like a fucking Animorph is weird, but there's like some of the Animorphs kids are better at it than other people in terms of making it aesthetically pleasing.
AUSTIN: Right. I have a question. Are these the same as the, the Glintwings wings? Like does it do the plasma shit to fly? Like what do these do?
DRE: Um… so how did the Glintwings wings work? Were they like plasma propulsion?
AUSTIN: Alright, so, they had plasma propulsion and then they also had like a low glide mode. And so they would plasma propulsion up and then they could shoot their plasma. And then when they did that they had to glide for awhile and kind of, like, nose dive basically, um, down.
DRE: Yeah. I don't think I get… hmm…
AUSTIN: Your tags. You tell me what you do with your tags.
DRE: Right? Yeah. And I'm, I'm trying to like balance like the mechanics of the two tags. Um, and I also, like the tag system here is vague, so I'm still not super great at it.
AUSTIN: Tags are very vague in this system.
DRE: I mean, I guess like the main thing I do want to get from it is like if not, um. So I guess like having probably true flight would be like two tags, right? Because like —
AUSTIN: Probably?
DRE: Yeah. Um, so yeah, let's do that. I don't think it has like the offensive capabilities.
AUSTIN: Cool.
DRE: Um, and I think it does, it comes out looking different because part of like Even’s bond with the creature is that like, it incorporated some of like the, the... um, the Twilight like nebula mass into it. Um, so I think it comes out as like, weirdly… Haven’t we said that it's like weirdly pearlescent or something like that?
[40:00]
AUSTIN: Yeah, totally, totally.
DRE: Yeah. So it comes out like, as this like, kind of dark pearlescent. Um, but it definitely looks like metallic. It doesn't, it's not like —
AUSTIN: It’s not flesh.
DRE: — it’s not something like angel feathers or anything. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Right right right. It is. Totally. Okay, cool. Um, I think like after you do that, are you like beat? Are you, like, do you pass out? Do you like…
DRE: Yes.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: No, I think he probably like falls over on the floor.
AUSTIN: I, um, I, I think Janey finds you at that point. I think Janey probably saw like, you do the nice thing, which is like, “I'm not going to watch, she's having a very private moment” and then you're like, “Ahhh!! I'm growing weird wings!!”
[Dre laughs]
AUSTIN: And she's like, “Oh, I'm watching this shit”. [Laughing] Just like..
DRE: Fair.
AUSTIN: Water on your face and like wakes you up. And like…
AUSTIN (as Janey): Never seen anything like that before.
DRE (as Even): Um, would it make you more or less concerned if I told you that I hadn’t either?
AUSTIN (as Janey): More. Definitely more. I have a bias towards expertise, so you’re like, like half person, half space...
DRE (as Even): I mean, I don't know.
AUSTIN (as Janey): ...Bug.
DRE (as Even): I'm.. I'm, I mean I'm me. I don't know.
AUSTIN (as Janey): I'm not s—
DRE (as Even): Does it need to be more complicated than that?
AUSTIN (as Janey): No, I'm sorry. I'm just, I've been taught, I’ve been thinkin —
DRE (as Even): I mean, no offense taken.
AUSTIN (as Janey): I've been thinking a lot lately about partnerships, you know?
DRE (as Even): Yeah. Do you, do you want to come with us? I mean it seemed like you and the Doyenne had some unfinished stuff.
AUSTIN (as Janey): No, it's absolutely finished. She made that clear.
DRE (as Even): Oh.. okay.
AUSTIN (as Janey): You could just take her this.
AUSTIN: And then she hands you like a little drive basically.
DRE (as Even): All right. I'll make sure she gets it.
AUSTIN (as Janey): She is, very...
DRE (as Even): This isn't gonna get us like, shot or imprisoned or anything is it?
AUSTIN (as Janey): She can be arbitrary, but no, it's nothing. It's nothing. It's a favor. It's nothing that will get you imprisoned.
DRE (as Even): Okay. We're new here, you know, good first impressions and all that.
AUSTIN (as Janey): Be careful in that city. It is alluring and everyone there is so smart and... I told you this a month ago. The people down here will find uses for you if you're not careful.
DRE (as Even): I mean, thankfully for me, I, I have a use.
AUSTIN (as Janey): I thought I did too. All right. How was the gumbo by the way?
DRE (as Even): Uh, it was, it was, it was very good. It was different. I don't think we've, I've ever had anything like that, but it was good.
AUSTIN (as Janey): All right. Are you going to need a different bedroom now because of the,
DRE (as Even): Um….
AUSTIN (as Janey): ...Wings?
DRE (as Even): I’ll, I'll figure it out.
AUSTIN (as Janey): All right.
DRE (as Even): Thank you though.
AUSTIN (as Janey): Have a, have a good night, Even.
DRE (as Even): You too. Thanks for not letting me just pass out on this floor all night.
AUSTIN (as Janey) No, no problem.
DRE (as Even): Probably would have been hell on my back.
AUSTIN (as Janey): Yeah. Also, sorry in advance for whatever the fuck my mom says about those wings.
DRE (as Even): Ahhh, you know, it'll be fine. We're leaving tomorrow. I'm more worried about, you know what everybody else will say about the wings, so it'll be fine.
AUSTIN (as Janey): God, [sighs] Good luck.
AUSTIN: And she just walks away.
AUSTIN: All right, so just the next day, you all just, what do you do? How do you get there?
KEITH (as Gig): Whoa. Heckin’ wings my dude! What’'s going on?
[Laughing]
DRE (as Even): Yeah. Um, I don't really know what happened, but yeah... I've got wings now, so that happened.
KEITH (as Gig): That's cool. Can you fly, fly, do a fly?
DRE (as Even): Um, yeah. Okay. Yeah. No.
DRE: Even tries to fly?
KEITH (as Gig): You have— wait, you have wings and you didn't try them out??
[Laughing]
DRE (as Even): I was... okay. Like, you know how you have that eye like, I guess like installed or made for you?
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah.
KEITH: And then I…
(overlapping)
DRE (as Even): imagine if you like grew that eye —
KEITH: I hit the back of my head with my fist and then it pops out.
DRE (as Even): Okay. Yeah, I know. But imagine if you like grew that eye.
KEITH (as Gig): Oh.
DRE (as Even): Yeah. I was kinda tired. It was late too.
KEITH (as Gig): That makes sense, I guess. Anyway, try it out.
DRE: Okay. All right. Sure. Um, yeah, fucking. Even probably starts off wobbly but kind of gets like, four feet off the ground.
KEITH: How high can you go?
DRE: Oh, um.
AUSTIN: What's it sound like? Also? Yeah. Again, is it flapping? Is it propulsion?
DRE: No, I think it's propulsion.
AUSTIN: Okay.
DRE: I think it is. I think it is, it's more akin to like a jet pack than like, wings flapping.
AUSTIN: Right. And the propulsion looks like the Mirage basically? Or like a mix of like, what's it look like?
DRE: Uh, so you said the Glintwings were like, like basically plasma, but..
AUSTIN: They were like in my mind like, green and yellow. Yeah. Plasma.
DRE: Um, I think it is. It's still that similar plasma, but it's like a, a really dark purple.
AUSTIN: Okay, cool.
DRE: Probably leaves like a little trail behind it.
AUSTIN: There are definitely like little kids in Old Church and then like the settlement now, who’re like,
AUSTIN (as kids): Whoa, look at that man!!
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah, that man got wings, he can fly now. He didn't have those yesterday.
AUSTIN (as kids): Wow.!! Can you make me some???
DRE (as Even): Uh... no.
AUSTIN (as kid): I wanna ride, Mister!
DRE (as Even): Oh, Christ..
AUSTIN (as kids): Mister, I wanna ride! I wanna ride!
KEITH (as Gig): [shouting] Wait, we should, we need to figure out if it's safe first. [Directed at Even] Dude, give me a ride.
AUSTIN (as Duck): [makes sad horse sounds]
KEITH (as Gig): I'll cook. Wait no, I'm not, this isn't my permanent new ride, Duck. No it’s… Okay, fine. Don't give me a ride, Duck is getting jealous. Duck is getting jealous because Duck is a baby.
AUSTIN (as Duck): [makes more sad horse noises]
KEITH (As Gig): Oh. Oh, he's a good baby.
SYLVIA (as Echo): Duck, it's okay.
SYLVIA: I pet Duck a little bit.
AUSTIN: It's like, it just, it moves its mane so that you can pet it right on the back directly. Folds it over so that it opens it up for you. It’s great. How are you doing Grand?
ART: Everything got really creepy.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh. Like good creepy.
KEITN: Yeah good creepy.
ART: I just didn't know we were going to be quite so transhumanist in this, uhh..
AUSTIN: Me either, honestly.
[laughing]
AUSTIN: But here we are.
ART: People got wings and octopus horses.
AUSTIN: Oh, I guess it is kind of like an octopus horse.
[Laughing]
KEITH: Yeah. It's kinda like an octopus horse.
KEITH (as Gig): Duck. Can you ink?
AUSTIN: [Disgusted noise]
AUSTIN (as Duck): [makes horse-saying-no sound]
KEITH (as Gig): No. Okay.
AUSTIN (as Duck): Mrm-mrm.
DRE: Well, hey, listen, it's not that kind of podcast, Keith.
AUSTIN: [Snorts] Yeah. Um, all right. Sorry. This motley crew begins to make their way to Sculpture City. Do you ride in the Saint, Echo?
SYLVIA: No. Mm... hmm.
AUSTIN: Do you like, bring it with you?
SYLVIA: I mean I have to in some way, but do I have a way of like calling it like Even does for the Amp Runner?
AUSTIN: Oh! Wait, we have to go back, really quick. I just realized something that was definitely a moment of intimacy. The Grand and Echo scene. Um, and so both of your specials should fire for sure.
SYLVIA: Okay.
AUSTIN: Um, I should look at what those are really quick cause it's been a minute, uh, for the Aesthetic your special is when you share a moment of intimacy with someone, be it physical or emotional, roll. So pick an emotion and roll about what that scene was.
ART: Um, I'll take Peaceful. Okay.
AUSTIN: Oh, it's a 12. So on a 10 plus, uh, you can, you get two hold and then you can spend that hold to clear out or spike all emotional spikes in a state of your choosing. For both of you, you can nullify the other person's special move if they are a PC. You can have them honestly tell you what their secret pains are. Uh, you can have them honestly tell you how their mind and soul are vulnerable.
ART: This is — I can hold this forever?
AUSTIN: You can hold this forever.
ART: All right.
AUSTIN: Um, or you can — don't hold it so long that you forget that you have it and then we don't ever get a payoff for it.
ART: Sure. No. Yeah, right now I'm not really interested in... some of those answers are going to get more interesting.
AUSTIN: Yes. Uh, and then for Echo, um, when the Honed shares a moment of intimacy with someone, be it physical or emotional, you generate one hold with that person. Either of you can spend it to have the Honed appear in a dangerous situation with or without explanation as to how they got there. I love it when a plan comes together.
SYLVIA: Basically.
DRE: That's pretty sick.
AUSTIN: All right.
ART: All right.
AUSTIN: Um, so do y'all ..
KEITH: I should look at my special and put it in my thing .
AUSTIN: You should. Do you just head uh, west?
SYLVIA: Yeah.
DRE: Yeah, I think so. And I guess I'm probably piloting the Amp Runner because like I don't have, I don't have like a jack, like I don't have like a remote thing for it, so it's going to come with me, I'm bringing it.
SYLVIA: I guess I'm piloting my Saint too. But I need a name for it still.
ART: I think this is where we find out that Grand built himself like, a secret chair in the back of the Amp Runner. Like, it's on the back. Like facing… It's on the outside, on the back like facing out.
AUSTIN: It’s on the butt??
ART: It's, yeah, it's, it's like on the, butt…
AUSTIN: God.
DRE: Do you have like a little patio deck out there?
ART: I think it's definitely covered.
AUSTIN: And yeah, and Gig is just on a weird horse,
SYLVIA: Like a little horse…
ART: Horse-topus.
SYLVIA: Next to thes big mechs... It's really good...
KEITH: I mean, the horse isn’t little, it just gets smaller as it goes on.
[50:00]
AUSTIN: Right. It's not little. That's true. It's big at first actually. Right?
KEITH: Yeah. Yeah. It just gets small.
AUSTIN: Gotcha. All right.
DRE: What kind of horse are we basing this off of? Like are we saying like, Clydesdale big?
KEITH: Um, I would say your average horse... it’s horse sized.
AUSTIN: Okay.
KEITH: It's one horse sized horse.
DRE: Keith, for someone who was really into acquiring a horse not so long ago, you gotta do some horse research.
KEITH: I don't know what you're talking about.
[laughing]
AUSTIN: [Snorts] Good. Great. So this motley crew heads west toward Sculpture City. As you get closer and closer, to the north and the south, uh, it goes from being this kind of like, prairie to being a desert, to being quarries of Glass. Um like, these are, it's very similar, Grand, to what you saw to the northeast of Old Church, where it was just like the, you know, the Glass that was hard to look at. You can see that there's some of that still, but like most of it had been dug, or the sand that's hard to look at it? Most of it's been dug up and, and refined here. There’s just like, huge, massive quarries going deep underground, or deep into the ground rather. Um, and as you get closer, you could start to put together what the city itself looks like.
AUSTIN (cont): There are, so I think maybe the most noticeable thing are these huge, like, angled roofs that are spread over the city. They're like individual slats of stained glass. A bunch of different colors, bright colors, dark colors, but like the whole city is constantly cast in various shades of color. Um, there's never any natural light or like pure, like, light of the sun on Sculpture City. There is, it's always a shade of magenta or a kind of, an uh bright orange or a deep blue. They're like massive. Like they, they, they are taller than the buildings. They're up on these huge pillars, these huge white pillars.
Underneath those big glass, um, like stained glass, uh, kind of windows basically, uh, are tons of buildings. It's a, the city is, is, you know, 20,000 people or something, which is not much by Earth standards, but by the standards of, of Quire is the densest city, uh, one of the densest cities on the, on the planet. Um, and it's all built around kind of, uh, a couple of districts that you can kind of make out as you come down from the hills.
AUSTIN (cont): I'm going to move you over to this map. Um, so coming down from the east, from the hills, you can see this like very specific, very geometrically designed city, with cross cutting diamonds of road, um, with very like, uh, everything is just like mix of um, kind of geometric precision with a kind of art deco flare. Um, so you'll have, um, you'll have like a perfectly cross cut, uh, like diamond road that has a diamond inside of it and it has a strange other rectangle inside of that. And then, um, at the, at the corner there will be this little like, just this little like curve of a little park on the end. Um, and then again, all of that is then cast in this color of just like, um, like the beautiful red coming in from the sun, uh, through the stained glass that's above it.
Um, and it's just this mix of sandstone buildings with like, uh, the, the glass, the stuff that they build the hearts over, like, is built right into all of these buildings. Um, and then in the center of it, the city is, is this lake that has a diamond structure in it, and then another diamond inside of that. And that is very clearly where the Doyenne must reside. Um, it is, it is like an island in the middle of this desert, um, that, that is sort of like a lake in the middle of this desert that then it has an island inside of that, uh, and it has just this giant like, tower that isn't it. It's wider. It's wideness is what is striking more than its height. So, you know, it's, it's 12 tower, 12 floors high or 15 floors high or something, but it just takes up this whole huge mass in the middle of the city.
AUSTIN (cont): And it's right in between these two other districts. It's in between what's called The Crown, which is where the governmental side of the city is, and The Sculpture, which is where the campus is. Um, and I think as you come into like the side of town, you can kind of just see, you know, artists out on patios looking at the sunset and painting. Um, there are lots of people sculpting out in the middle of these like work areas. Um, like people running glass in from the quarries directly to people who are working inside of their, like their kind of outdoor, um, like, uh, kind of studios.
Um, and, and there is, you know, the, when you first saw Surge, you heard that, uh, you heard Motown music playing, like that's what's playing here. It's, it's just like the sounds of, of um, of people singing and tambourines being hit, and lots of horns and like, um, so like rad little guitar riffs, like very like playful guitar riffs. Um, it's, it's like, I think like basically, if I had to shoot this scene for Rio, I think like, “I Want You Back” would be playing right now, uh, as you move through the streets here.
Um, and no one even seems to bat an eye at any of you. Like no one is like weirded out by your wings, or by the strange version of a Saint that you have. I think like, somebody even like gives you, gives you like, a little nod, like somebody was like a big ol’ afro, gives you a nod. Um, and then you run into the, the Saint that had the gun before in the, in the combat scene, uh, last time that we played. Um, I believe that character, his name is... I need to double check, but I'm pretty sure it is Saint Caliper. Um, and uh, there's a person inside and you just hear this like metallic voice that says,
AUSTIN (as Saint Caliper): I was wondering when you'd visit.
AUSTIN: And uh, she has kind of not cornered you, but stopped you in your tracks. Um, and she says,
AUSTIN (as Saint Caliper): Come with me. I want to introduce you to some people.
DRE: Well, I guess unless anybody else has anything I think Even kinda, speaks up and says,
AUSTIN: Are you like, speaking from inside the Amp Runner?
DRE: Oh, that's a good question. Probably not. I think, I think like, um, I think like a little hole in the stomach of the Amp Runner opens up and Even kind of like, descends on like one of those rope things that has like, a foot hook on the bottom.
AUSTIN: I know exactly what you mean, yeah.
DRE: Um, and like kinda says hi and does like a formal greeting. Um.
AUSTIN: Is that like, what's that sound like? How do you introduce yourself to, as like an, someone from a different world, you know?
DRE: That's a, that's a good question. I mean, I guess in some way, they already have met. Um, cause I assumed that, you said her pronouns, were she, right? she/her?
AUSTIN: Yeah, she uses she/her.
DRE: Yeah. Okay. Um, I mean she has kind of already interacted with us in a battle setting. Um, what is her official title and name?
AUSTIN: Saint Caliper.
DRE: Um, I think Even says:
DRE (as Even): Saint Caliper. It's, it's nice to meet you in a place where we could actually talk to one another.
AUSTIN (as Saint Caliper): Pleasure is mine. If you follow me, we can go to a place. It's a little more, uh, appropriate for conversation.
DRE (as Even): Sure. Um, what, um. We're all brand new to the city.
AUSTIN: The whole Knight, it's like big this, I guess, actually of the Knights from this city, um, of the, of the Saints, hers is probably the thinnest. Um, it's the one that has like a rifle strapped to its back. This like, long all metal, like it's almost like a staff or a halberd, but it's, it's also just a rifle. Um, and I think I should also just like give a little bit more on what these look like, because like, oh, it looks like a knight is not, is like very open ended. Which is fair. I want it to be somewhat open ended. But um, the, the key thing for me with them is, is one, these like, big glass hearts where you can see part of the pilot’s torso and kind of waist. Um, and then two, I think that they have lots of, um, the basic form is the same between them. There aren't that many, right? You're not seeing these all over the place. You've seen four total so far. Uh, you have the remains of one and have transformed it into this, this wendigo creature.
Um, and the, uh, the ones that, that you've seen though all are pretty bulky in design. Um, this one is the thinnest of the group, the kind of like leanest. But even still like it is, it is a wide like, walking tank. Um, and they're generally the same shape. The big distinct-distinguishing fact is that each one has its own kind of, um, there's like little pieces of gold fringe, or little engravings that mark it as one person's Saint or like, uh, and you even in just looking, there's something of like a hot rod quality to them, where it's like, you can imagine that Caliper stays up late like tinkering, and like not adding racing stripes but the, the, the armor equivalent of adding racing stripes. Um, anyway, apologies for interrupting there.
DRE: Um, I guess Even says,
[60:00]
DRE (as Even): Uh, we'd be happy to, I mean this is our, our first time in the city. Could you tell us a little bit more about, you know, where we're heading, where we're going. The, the place where I'm from, we really value remembering things and preserving things and I don't, I don't want to miss something on the way just cause I don't even know what I'm looking at.
AUSTIN: Um, she says,
AUSTIN (as Saint Caliper): You know, I'm not much of a historian. Come with me, and there's some people who can maybe answer your questions. Sound good?
AUSTIN: Um, it, I think it's probably at this moment that you realized that she's pretty young. How old are you, Even?
DRE: Um, I don't know if we've ever figured out like how fucking like, Twilight Mirage years work. But I think in our understanding of age, I think Even is probably like early fifties.
AUSTIN: Okay. She is like more than half your, or less than half your age. She's like what we would consider early twenties. Right. Um, I think she's actually just actually — no, like we are in Quire. She is actually in her early twenties. She is like 21, 22. And, and moves with a sort of like, so she gets back in, or, she's stayed in the Saint the whole time, but when she turns, she turns in a way that's like, it disregards the people around her. Um, she like, when she walks — she's like leading you through the city streets, um, towards this, this place that's like on this corner here, uh, where there is like a little bit of this lake that's in the middle of the city, up against a road. And um, uh, she takes corners very tightly. She like isn't really like. People get out of her way, and she has kind of a haughtiness about that. Like she doesn't say anything to give that away, necessarily, but it's posture. You see a little bit of Grand Mag in her, you know?
DRE: I think while we're going through these, these streets, I think Even radios, um, Gig and um says,
DRE (as Even): Gig, I don't, I don't feel good about this. Can you send your eye out ahead and take a look. What she's leading us into?
KEITH (as Gig): Yeah, I can do that.
AUSTIN: Totally. Um, so you just send your eye up. What do you where, what are you looking for specifically? You know what I'm just going to say, you can totally, I mean, I guess you just still have to roll to, to analyze or something, but like I can give you just general descriptions.
KEITH (as Gig): Um, yeah, I guess it would have, uh, Even what do you, what do you think might be up? Or is this just like anything?
DRE (as Even): Um, I mean, could be anything, but specifically we saw that she was not firing back against, um, the folks that were like, ambushing the leader of Sculpture City. Um, so I'm wondering if she is maybe leading us into some sort of ambush involving... Oh, I forget the name of that group of that faction, but those folks.
AUSTIN: The Mandati.
DRE: Thank you.
KEITH (as Gig): Um, yeah, I don't, I can do that. No problem. I'm gonna. Um, I'll send my, eye out, guess for if I, before I, you know, make any moves, uh, if I could just get like a vibe, like what's happening.
AUSTIN: Yeah. So it's a pretty busy afternoon. Um, there are lots of people running to and fro. You kind of go past a lot of little, um, little bookstores, little cafes. There's like some live performance out in the street. Um, and the, the most, uh, the most besides the palace, I'd say, I guess the, the biggest attraction in the direction that you're going, the biggest thing that would catch your eye.
[Laughing]
KEITH (smug): Yeah?
AUSTIN: I'm not happy about this at all. This is bad. Is a pretty large building. Um, that is, uh, like the entire, it takes you a second to even recognize this, I think maybe with your eye because of the weird color situation because of the different big panes of stained glass.
KEITH: Um, yeah. Yeah.
AUSTIN: But I think it does like an analysis and it realizes that the whole building on the outside seems to be either made of, or plated with some sort of specially treated gold. Um, and uh, above the front door — it's just like a three story building, um, that has a bunch of little like side wings. It looks like it was maybe once a gallery, or a museum, uh, in terms of its design. Llike, you know, it has that the thing of like, oh, here's like a second floor balcony that is, was clearly used to host events and like have people come over. In fact there's probably live music on that balcony right now. Um, and a couple of people on that balcony looking out over the streets, there's probably someone up there painting something. There's somebody who is like a, you know, there, there are a lot of people just sitting around the tables, all of whom are wearing like, just stuff that is, I will have to talk about fashion in a second. So I'm not, I'm actually gonna pause that until we get inside. And I'm going to ask for some, for some clarification from you guys on what the fashion looks like here.
AUSTIN (cont): But, uh, the, the thing that you end up seeing is a sign that says “The Old Gold Graduate Club And Privacy”. Um, and that is where you…
KEITH: Wait, the Old Gold…
AUSTIN: The Old Gold Graduates Club and Pry-vacy. Or Prih-vacy. You don't, you don't know how they pronounce it here. It's Quire.
KEITH: What is a privacy?
AUSTIN: It's not a, that's not a real thing. It's not, there's not, you can't Google this thing.
KEITH: Okay. This isn't something that I didn't know about.
AUSTIN: No, totally.
KEITH: Okay. It sounds like some sort of exclusive club.
AUSTIN: It is definitely an exclusive club. In fact, your eye probably even catches like, as people go in, they show some sort of ID or are scanned or something. And also everyone who is going in seems like there's like a lot of weight on them but also a little haughty themselves. Do you know what I mean?
KEITH: Yeah, so they’re sort of like the sort of person that would walk into a solid gold building,
AUSTIN: A solid gold building that has Graduate Club on it? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, I think, you know, unless you're, unless you want to do an Analyze or something that's like the basic gist of what you see here.
KEITH: Um, I have two questions. One, are we still at the same emotional state as we were last session?
AUSTIN: Yes, yes we are. We're leading in straightaway.
KEITH: When does that reset, when do we reset those?
AUSTIN: Either huge time jumps, or when it's, when you take states, when you take action to address them. Um.
KEITH: Okay.
AUSTIN: Or again, like, I mean, they update themselves as you play based on what you roll, do you know what I mean? So like where are you at now, for instance? And also we should, we should just as a note, we should be very careful about making sure that we say what we're rolling in terms of number. We got a note in from somebody who was like, I like to follow along with like the number side of this. But you guys have just been saying like, y'all have just been saying like, uh, roll, Joyful, and then you roll Joyful and you tell me if it's a success or a failure. But I want to know if you have a two in Joyful or a negative one. And like, all right. Yeah, sure. I getcha.
KEITH: Yeah. That's fair. Um, so I have, uh, I have one away from being spiked in Joyful, which I, which I do have a two in. But everything else I'm totally healthy in, totally normal levels.
AUSTIN: Gotcha. Um, so you, there isn't a way to just like, oh, I'm going to start naturally, I'm gonna do a thing that reduces my Joyful down. There's not like, you're just at four Joyful right now and like, unless there's something that makes you start rolling sad, you won't naturally come down from that, unless we take a huge time jump in which it makes sense for you to shift away from that. What happens is when you mark the fifth one, which, which has only happened in the other game once, um, then we have choices to make with how that then comes down basically.
KEITH: Okay. Yeah. I mean a, I may, I mean it's going to have to happen here sometime, so.
AUSTIN: Alright, why not in this very controlled environment is what you're saying.
KEITH: Yes, exactly.
AUSTIN: So why are you, why is, why is Gig joyful about, about seeing all this stuff?
KEITH: Um, oh man. It's an, this is the first like this is a city ass city. First of all, Gig lives on the least city of all the ships.
AUSTIN: Oh, true. True.
KEITH: Uh, so the, yeah, Gumption’s Gambit is like a space, like it's like it's this, because everything always comes back to this for me, it looks like the fucking like Millennium Falcon or the Ebon Hawk and it was a place where thousands of people live. Like it's like it's a fucking ship, you know?
AUSTIN: Right, right. It’s super dense. There's lots of tiny hallways and little compartments and exposed wiring and tubes and shit.
KEITH: Yeah. And there's, you know, generations of people who have tried to make it look as nice as possible, but like it's a fucking ship. Like it's a ship where people are like, “something's wrong, glue a wire to it”. Like it's, it is not like super put together. So that in itself, and then also it sounds like a nice looking place, just in general. And so it's like just coming off of the, I think, I think, I'm still in the like the wow, I'm on a planet, like it has not been that long.
AUSTIN: Cool.
KEITH: Like it’s been what? Oh you said a month. A little over a month?
AUSTIN: It’s been a month. It's been a month, yeah. A month and a couple of days probably for the trip itself, so.
KEITH: Right. Yeah.
AUSTIN: Cool. All right, so go ahead and give me a roll. Give me your Joyful roll, which is plus two.
KEITH: Uh, where am I? Okay. I actually, uh, I got lost, um, because I forgot that you changed the background, so I was in the tab and was like, I'm on the wrong tab. All right, so I'm rolling Joyful.
AUSTIN: That's a nine.
KEITH: That’s a nine.
AUSTIN: When you get a seven to nine, ask two questions and remember to take plus two, plus one forward on that. Two of these specific Analyze questions to be, to be clear.
KEITH: Yeah. And then I have, I have a bonus one, too.
AUSTIN: Oh, awesome. From one of your specials, for instincts, right?
KEITH: Yeah, instincts.
AUSTIN: It's added to that list, basically.
KEITH: Yeah. Right. Yeah. So I don't get a bonus question. I just get, um, let's see. Um, you know, I'm going to actually start with that one. Who or what here is relevant to my story?
AUSTIN: Uh, so there is on that balcony that I described before, the one that's like on the second floor, there is a, uh, a person who, one of the waiters, one of the service staff, uh, like leans close to a person at one of the tables, um, and is told something. And then the, the service staff member walks away quickly and comes back with uh, a figure who like enters the bit, like comes out of the balcony door and onto this open, open air balcony with a lot of presence. Like, as soon as this guy comes on, not on screen, but as soon as he like.. I guess yeah, as soon as he comes on screen, like, we go from this wide angled shot to this, this much, much tighter closeup.
Light skinned black dude. Uh, he's like a fade on the sides of his hair with like straightened, straightened hair on top straightened and then kind of a little bit, a little bit curly, right? Like he's a, he has a natural curl that has been straightened out, and then he has like a little wave in it. Uh, he has very light eyes. He has on like a dress jacket with like a blackish bluish, um, floral pattern on it. It's like a very light pattern. Um, and then underneath that jacket he has on like a silk shirt that has this really ridiculous geometric pattern on it, of various shapes colliding in different ways. It's like yellow, green and white. Uh, and then has on dark black pants, and really nice black shoes. Um, if I cast him, he would probably be Terrence Howard or like the Terrence Howard of like 10 years ago. Um, and he comes out and he's, he is, he is vaping. He is of course vaping. Um, uh, and he like puts the vape behind his ear, uh, and takes a knee next to this table.
KEITH: It’s a box mod, he just has a huge ear.
AUSTIN: [laughing] This is just a huge, it's a huge, he's just, she's blowing clouds from his ear. It's incredible. Uh, and he leans over and like, nods to this person who's talking to him and he's like, he's like explaining something in a way that's like, uh, you know how some, okay. You know, Magii Ma in Yakuza Zero? You know like how people can sometimes appease somebody else in a way that they, they kind of denigrate themselves in a way that, that is actually a weird power play? Like they're so in command in a situation that they have no problem going down on one knee next to somebody and acting like that they're attending to someone's needs, even though really the needs of their attending to are their own? That's what this dude is totally fucking doing. Um, uh, and he's just like, he's like nodding his head and your eye doesn't like, make out what those particulars are. It's not important.
Um, uh, but what is important is after he's done, think he like stands up and then like, he like taps the guy's glass and the, the service staff person comes over and refills the glass and, and he does like a little, “nope, it’s on me” gesture and then walks back like to the other side of the balcony. Uh, takes the, the vape pen back out, takes a drag of it and then like reaches out and does like Minority Report style interaction with whatever the version of the Mesh is here, which we'll get into in a bit. Um, and then like says a few things as the vape pen like hangs from the, his lower lip and is clearly like on a call with somebody else.
AUSTIN (cont): Uh, and like maybe we even get an overlay of your, eye slowly trying to start lip reading him. Um, and one; we get that he is not lip readable at first. Like it takes a long time for your eye to get, his lips read. Like he's, he's always throwing off lip reading. It's a thing he does. And eventually you just get finally like a subtitle appears and it just says “just deal with it”. Uh, and then he does like a, he does like a phone unlocked gesture in the sky, which in this world is like. “hang up”. It’s a very, very forceful left to right swipe or right to left swipe in the, in the sky. And then like shakes his head and goes back inside.
So that, that guy's probably, probably relevant to the story. He seems like the sort of person who would be…
KEITH: Anybody that's, anybody that's keeping lip readers from lip reading is relevant to something.
AUSTIN: Mhm.
KEITH: Um, all right, so I have one more question. Um, what, if anything appears to be out of place?
AUSTIN: Um, there are two more of the Saints, these big robotic knights, um, in the, like in the back of this thing, like up, up against the dock that connects it to the lake, um, that are being like polished and serviced, and they're just kind of standing there. They're not like in any sort of garage. They're not like hooked up to anything. You know what I mean? Like, they shouldn't, they, they're not meant to be there. They're also not threatening or anything. It's not a trap.
KEITH: Right.
AUSTIN: You don't get the vibe that this is, that this is like an ambush. Um, but, but you do now know that there are two more people who ride those Saints, or pilot those Saints here ahead of time. Ahead of time. Excuse me. Okay.
KEITH: All right. I guess I, I guess I bring my eye back then. I'm just gonna pop it back in.
AUSTIN: Okay, from your horse. From Duck.
[Dre chuckling]
KEITH: Yeah.
AUSTIN: All right. What about the rest of you? Everybody else just kind of soaking it in as you get closer?
ART: I mean, will anyone tell me more about this, this Glass material though?
AUSTIN: You could totally ask.
ART (as Grand): Uh, yeah. Um, so I found some of this glass?
AUSTIN: Caliper like,
AUSTIN (as Caliper): Yeah?
ART (as Grand): And I'm, I'm really curious about, you know, what makes it, what makes it so, so hard? How do you, how do you manipulate it like that?
AUSTIN: She shakes her head.
AUSTIN (as Caliper): You're asking me how you make the, the hair of a paint brush soft. I'm not interested. I paint pictures. I don't make paint brushes.
KEITH (as Gig): No, he was asking you about the glass.
AUSTIN (as Caliper): I'll introduce you to someone who's interested in trivia.
AUSTIN: Thank you for the scene. It helped me figure out Caliper’s voice.
ART: Yeah. Fucking rude.
AUSTIN: I didn’t know how much of a mean bitch she'd be. But here she is.
ART: Sheesh. Being nice to people's free.
KEITH: Being mean to people's free too, I guess.
[laughing]
AUSTIN: And it's fun. Uh, she like does the say-- she actually like guide you out front and she's like,
AUSTIN (as Caliper): Anyone who has a horse or a big robot, follow me.
AUSTIN: And like leads you around the back to, to kind of like hide all of your big, your.. the Amp Runner cannot hide behind this building. It definitely has its big tail sticking out still. Um, but everybody else is able to, like.. There is not a trough for you to put Duck at or anything. But um, one of the people who servicing the other Saints like, comes over and sets up like a bucket with water in it for you.
SYLVIA: I'm just picturing like the two weird mechs on either side of this little weird horse.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh, yep.
SYLVIA: It's really good.
KEITH: I am, I leave a little snack with uh, Duck.
AUSTIN: What's the snack?
KEITH: Um, it's, um, it, it was sort of a last minute thing. So I think it's like if something weird, like beans mixed with granola or something like…
AUSTIN: Okay, good. [laughing]
KEITH: Like a horse will just eat this, you know? Like these are both fine for horses to have and they're together.
AUSTIN: Oh, a nice treat! Says Duck. That's not what Duck, Duck doesn't speak like that. We've been over this. Duck vaguely speak sometimes through weird neighs. Uh, okay.
AUSTIN: Um, Caliper, outside of, I guess I can describe what she looks like that she gets out of her big mech. Um, she has, uh, a kind of straight blonde hair that is is, I would say it's like, uh, I guess actually, she probably has it in a ponytail while she's in the, the Saint. So you get her coming out of it and then removing the, the band that keeps it up and it falls down to her, to her shoulders. And this is not like a cool, sexy reveal of her long hair. This is like she's out of her mech and like, doesn't want her hair to be tied up and pulling back on her skull anymore. She like pulls the elastic out and it falls down quickly. Um, and it is like very messy. She's just like a messy looking person. Um, uh, but she, uh, when she undoes her, she has like a, um, kind of like a, a layered suit underneath, not a suit, but like, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Like overalls basically for when she's in the Saint itself.
And so she like, uh, walked over to where the people are cleaning up the other, the other Mex and removes that, that kind of cover-all system, uh, and it like, hits a button on the like on the belt, and it kind of like vacuum packs into itself. And then she like, tosses that into the Saint that she was walking around in. Um, and underneath, uh, she has on like a velvet, like... I guess maybe she, she pulls that out of another compartment.
[80:00]
AUSTIN: She has like a velvet dress jacket on that has like, um, like “TS” on it for The Sculpture with a, with a. It's probably a, a, uh, the, the kind of not sigil, but the kind of shield I guess, for The Sculpture is a five pronged star that has in the center, like a silhouette of a sculpture, of like a, of a human figure, making some sort of pose.
[Outro music]
AUSTIN (cont): I don't know what that sculpture looks like yet, but it's probably an actual sculpture from this setting that we haven't thought through yet. That is like a famous sculpture. Um, yeah, like a jumpsuit is what she, she took off. Thank you. Thank you, Art. Um, and now she has on like this velvet dress jacket, that’s like black crushed velvet. And uh, just has like on probably tights and a skirt on underneath that, uh, and like a white blouse. Um, uh, with her like again, kind of greasy yellow, blonde hair.
Um, and then she walks up to the front door and there's a, there's like a, a guard there but not a bodyguard, but like a bouncer, who she says like,
AUSTIN (as Caliper): They're guests of the Doyenne.
AUSTIN: And the guard like, goes like “okay”. And, and let y'all in.
[Outro music continues]