[00:00:00] Speaker A: In this hazy room, this hazy memory, where the parameters, the lines of delineation between potential other rooms in the home don't matter, not even that they don't exist, but they sort of fuzz away at the corners, at any lines that determine this place to be real or fake.
What you're focused on right here and right now, is that warm memory, the smell of your mom in this place. When there are homes and houses that have that distinct smell memory to them as well. Whatever is filling your senses at this moment, it's not Chloe. In your avatar state, in the beautiful clothing and the rebel outfit, you are looking through a perspective of a dream and that first person, like it's a video game, that you see yourself so small.
But when your mother, her back turned to you, her long hair resting against her shoulders, and whatever cardigan that she's wearing, fussing and fiddling with some of the cups in the cupboard, she takes two out to get the two of you some tea.
You have to scoot up on the kitchen chair, one that was a little bit too tall for you, but you didn't want to have to go up on your high seat or anything like that.
She pours out two cups of tea, and when she sits across from you, from this table, which is abnormal, usually you'd like to sit next to her.
There is no face.
The face that would be there again, is hazy. The parameters of the edges of her eyes and the corners of her mouth, whatever she used to look like to you again, it's not as if it's gone, but maybe you just don't remember what it was like before.
An almost cartoonish smile just sort of drawn on an afterthought, is all that you see.
And she says to you, and in our vision, us as the audience, all looking in, although Chloe, you feel you were in the small body, we do see the Chloe in her avatar uniform, sitting across from this fake mom.
She says, how was your day, Chloe?
[00:03:05] Speaker B: It's been hard. The last.
It's been hard.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: I'm sorry to hear that.
You know, I do know you work your very best, and you do an incredible amount to make a lot of people very happy.
Do people not see that?
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Not if Ren is anything to go by. I.
I don't know. I guess I've been working so hard, and now it feels like maybe I've been working at the wrong thing. I mean, you know, you thought. You think that I did the wrong thing, don't you?
[00:04:00] Speaker A: We may have our differences, Chloe, but I think at the end of the day.
Anything that you've ever worked hard for, you deserve.
And there is an immediate sort of like blip. There's a flicker, something digitized and mechanic in this hazy face, One that like almost solidifies the face, rounds out in polygons in a very unsettling way. But it immediately goes back to the softer edges, the haze rather than the hard lines.
Chloe, in quote unquote reality. What was the last fight that you had with your mom and what was it about?
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Oh, it was right before they came at me in my vassal form when I told my mom what I had done with the community center. And she, who's been involved with it for almost my whole life, was deeply upset with me.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: In that, like in the licklo filter over the phone, your mom's actual voice saying, you can't mean to tell me you're going through with this after everything that it's given to you.
And what was your response?
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Everything that it's given to me is why I want to do this. I think it would help.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: You think it would help Chloe? What about the people who were there right now actively trying to make something of themselves? Do you not see the position that you're in over all of these people?
[00:05:57] Speaker B: I mean, it'll take a bit of time to rebuild, but things will be better after that. Think of all the other people after this, after this group. It's worth it.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: That memory, it forces its way out of your mind almost as if attempting something shifts and that object permanence threatens for it to lose itself in your short term memory. And it goes back almost like a cloud being like fanned away, dismissed, back to this hazy room where there is a mother there, a mother with a drawn on smile, but with softer edges again. This memory, this room almost being pumped with perfume to get you back into this state.
This very strong reverberation coming off of the voice and echoing. I'm very proud of you.
I'm very proud of you.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: And it's not that her mother doesn't tell her that she's proud, but I think that with the decisions that she's made in the recent past, that has come with a caveat or a warning of I'm proud that you've gotten to this position, but you need to think about your positional power or about the people that you're supposed to be serving and just that straight, I'm proud of you. Just the straight you deserve anything that you've worked for.
I think it twinges something in Chloe's mind because that pride isn't worth it if it's not something that she has put the effort into getting.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: What is something that you wish your mother would say to you? Not the real mother or not the fake mother necessarily, but what is just the words that you wish you could hear?
[00:08:17] Speaker B: I think that it is the acknowledgement of their similarities and Chloe's intent. So I'm proud of you. You remind me of you. Of me at your age.
I can see what you're doing and what you're trying to.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: What is your earliest memory?
[00:08:52] Speaker C: It's probably in Wren's mind.
They're all sitting in the living room of their railroad style apartment.
And I think they're just. They're just sitting and nobody's really talking or saying anything, but they're just together.
And maybe her dad and her mom are like next to each other and just like smiling very fondly as the three kids are playing or being a family. It's just a warm, cozy feeling of like, this is safe. I'm safe here.
And Wren would probably be about 4 or 5 at this point.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Again, the people, the figures that you physically acknowledge. When you feel someone coming in to your room in the morning to wake you up with any amount of breakfast or news or something, or to help you get dressed, it's this like physical acknowledgement of, oh, this is my mom, this is my dad, or this is one of my siblings trying to like come in and sneak up on me and like scare me out of bed or something along those lines.
But even if there were to be faces, it's almost as if they were like projections and like the old projections with the bulb where it just feels like it's on a swivel. Each expression again digitized and fuzzy in a different way in Wren's mind. Fuzzy and sort of this filter, this thing denoting.
These aren't actual memories, but it all feels like walking still into your home at 4 years old and we see the audience sees Wren's castle avatar, Plum Blossom walking in.
But Wren, you feel yourself as if in a video game in first perspective and you are playing with something with Adam. Are there any toys that you shared or were allowed to share?
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Yeah, probably like a couple of.
This is so Asian, but whatever.
Probably like a couple of like coloring books or even like basic math books like arithmetic, multiplication tables.
But in terms of toys, probably like very toys geared to improve critical thinking in a child. So blocks sort of thing, puzzles, just jigsaw puzzles.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Even sharing that, I think y'all are working on a puzzle of like a garden.
Your other sibling.
What was your relationship with them even growing up, was it also sort of strained?
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Yes. So Wren's relationship with her older sister Angela was incredibly strained because it didn't start out that way, but. But as they progressed through middle school and high school, Wren was always compared to Angela and she was always in Angela's shadow in a way.
And so she was never able to step out of it, no matter how hard she tried.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Working on this puzzle, who does Wren gravitate to? Like, who would Wren look to right now?
[00:13:17] Speaker C: Probably because this is before Wren enters elementary school proper, I think she would still be like, oh, this is my older sister and she knows everything and she's so cool and she can.
I've built out the frame, I've done all the corners and all the edge pieces, so now I gotta build the middle. And she's looking towards like, almost like an approval, like seeking approval. But then also if she's stuck, that is the person she's turning to.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Wren, if you are the frame pieces, I think Adam is finding all of the like minded colors put together, even though that may or may not be the most helpful in a garden. There's a lot of green, obviously, but I think Angela was always the person putting the puzzle together. The person who putting the puzzle together is able to find the specific areas where everything needs to go.
And Angela's sort of filter fuzzy face smiles at you.
And her voice, there is like a pleased nature to it. She's happy, she's proud of you.
How much older is she than you at this point?
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Just two years older.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Just two years.
So this room is filled with giggling children's voices. Angela's words are not the grounding maternal voice and quality of voice as Chloe's mother, for example. But it's very close.
She says it's gonna come together so easy because you did it this way. Ren, thank you.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Yeah, you're welcome. I mean, you know, I found the edges. There's only three little bubble things and then there's one that's a solid line, so it's no big deal.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Her face turns to you in one that almost the physical maturity of it startles you, but it's almost one where she like fully engages her shoulders and maintains eye contact with you, putting a hand on your shoulder. And she asks what was the last thing you did for fun and you know, didn't have to put together in worry that something might fall apart later on.
What was the last thing you were really able to do? Just spontaneously.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: Wren's eyes.
As she goes through her memories to try and answer this question, Wren's eyes well up, and she doesn't have an answer, but she so desperately wants an answer. And it's not just she wants an answer. She wants the right answer.
She wants to say an activity that she did for fun, that was a good activity.
But she's at a loss for words because she can't remember something that she did spontaneously.
And she looks at Angela and she goes, um, I don't. I don't really know.
Um.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: I don't.
[00:17:26] Speaker C: I don't really think that's.
That's necessary.
Yeah, I don't know.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: Suddenly, the two of you are not in children's bodies.
And in actuality, you haven't seen Angela in a very long time.
You see yourself in the scene, changing. You are still in this old family's house. Maybe your parents have already moved out of it at this point, but you are still, the two of you, in, like, the same position that you were over this puzzle. Adam is still a baby, but it's Angela wearing, like, a businesswoman's suit. And it's you, Wren, wearing the bright and colorful clothing that you usually do.
And you physically acknowledge that this is Angela as you would see her if she were still around and her mouth opens to say something.
Wren, what is it that you wish Angela would say to you? Not just.
Not even what you think real Angela would say or fake Angela, Just something that you want her to say.
[00:18:48] Speaker C: I think Wren wishes that Angela would say, wren, you've done enough, and you did a really good job. But you don't have to keep trying so hard anymore.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: I will not be asking you to recall a first memory. But what is your first memory of Caldera?
You came into caldera for high school still young. Not as young as a baby or anything like that, but it's a new area. It's a new perspective. Your whole life having been literally anywhere else other than this place, the city where there are teenagers who are familiar with public transportation and have relationships to their neighbors in some way or another, and sort of a responsibility to their elderly and to the other, to their friends, siblings, and things like that. Maybe something in the suburbs or wherever that you weren't wholly familiar with. But people here, even the high schoolers, you realize, take care of each other.
What was the first thing, the first club or something that you participated in? More notably, you met varun for the first time.
[00:20:24] Speaker D: It probably would have been something along the lines of like a. Either. Like a cooking Club or like a home EC style club, something along those lines.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: And I will ask Valiant here.
[00:20:37] Speaker E: Hello.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: It will be Varun's voice but it'll be your words.
This younger high school version of your friend. Someone you became very close to. Arjun.
But the lines are fuzzy. The exact details may or may not be there. The color of his shirt the first day that you met, the bright patterns were or were not there.
There's this sort of cop out sort of nature to the memory. But he's there and it's strange.
Arjun, what did you look like in high school?
[00:21:23] Speaker D: He probably. He would definitely be a little, little bit shorter. Maybe like about a solid maybe inch or two shorter.
Definitely not as long of hair. Definitely would have been not as wavy, not as like well kept either. Probably would have been almost like very, very short. Kind of your typical high schooler haircut. You'd probably see and you'd probably just be dressing a lot more plainly. A little bit. Although there would be a little bit of pops of color but nowhere near as.
It's nowhere near as like fashionable as he is now.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: How do you carry yourself? Like what's your posture like in high school?
[00:22:11] Speaker D: Believe it or not, he'd probably be a little bit, a little bit more closed off.
So a little bit like on a little bit hunched over, more shy, a little less outgoing as he is nowadays.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: In this homec class which maybe you're even surprised exists. You're maybe back home. This was already something like written out of the curriculum, but it is dealt with with such precision and care here.
And va'ruun comes up to you as you are like the person standing by themselves in the little like cooking area that's assigned to pears basically and valiant craft. Sort of something that you think a high school va'ruun would say to Arjun, coming up to him for the first time, like encouraging words or anything along those lines.
[00:23:10] Speaker E: Hey, that's a really good job you're doing over there.
[00:23:15] Speaker D: Oh thank, thanks.
Kind of my first time really doing this, so.
[00:23:24] Speaker E: And it's your first time. Whoa.
Wow. It took me ages to get the folds quite like that.
[00:23:37] Speaker D: Nah, you're.
That's funny. No, you, that's. You're probably being really, really humble about it.
[00:23:47] Speaker E: Not at all.
Do you always sit by yourself?
[00:23:58] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, I, I just, I just recently transferred so I don't have a lot of friends.
[00:24:07] Speaker E: You're the new kid?
[00:24:10] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, I am.
[00:24:14] Speaker E: The form of. Arun slides into the seat immediately to your right and leans over and even though you hear only voice.
There's a bright smile painted over it clearly, as varun says.
Well, I'm varun.
Pleasure to meet you. And you know what? I was looking for a new place to sit anyway.
So tell me, but how are you finding caldera?
[00:24:48] Speaker D: Oh, um, it's. It's nice. It's definitely a lot different than back home, but, you know, in a good way. In a really good way.
[00:25:00] Speaker E: Oh, what's home like?
[00:25:02] Speaker A: More of a.
[00:25:04] Speaker D: More of a country boy a little bit.
[00:25:07] Speaker E: Ah, you'll fit in just fine down here then.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: And as this conversation happens and you realize you're doing a great job, you have no need to maybe be as insecure as you maybe feel. The home cooking that you've done preparing you well enough for this class. And at some point you become a figure that is able to help the other city kids here who have maybe had no experience cooking or had a kitchen for themselves.
The warm filter over this varun's voice, this memory.
Your bodies change to that of older Arjun and va'ruun. Maybe not exactly the age of y'all now, whatever now is, whatever then is Arjun, as you are sort of standing behind now, your bartender little setup, and you're tired and your eyes are sort of pulsating with the bar lights, and you're trying, trying to maintain and keep up this shift.
Va'ruun comes in again, this figment of him, but you know it's him, but he's not all there. The pieces aren't exactly there. And he puts a warm hand on your shoulder.
The v'ruun that we know has proved there are some things that he hides.
There are some things that he maybe tries to put others comfort or care before his own. And you felt that and you've been frustrated by that.
However, regardless of that, regardless of what is real or what is fake, in your exhausted form right now, one that is alone and again away from home, what is something that you wish varun would say to you?
[00:27:19] Speaker D: I think Arjun would like varun to do one of his usual, like, I don't put one of his arms around Arjun, kind of look him and just sort of go, it's okay, you don't have to.
You don't have to fight this so hard. Especially if it's going to be good for you in the end.
Why not take her up on her offer?
It does make a sort of sense because it is something that he has thought of before, even when Natasha was laying that out to.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: To him earlier.
We will move now to va'ruun.
[00:28:04] Speaker E: Eep.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: V'Ruun what is your earliest memory?
[00:28:13] Speaker E: A lot of Varun's older memories are really hanging. It feels like.
It feels like life paused and reshifted for him in his early days after one of his mom's pass.
His memories of his early childhood are strange. It just feels like the earliest memory was himself, both of his mothers and Mithryn sitting by a hill on Caldera and smiling and laughing and playing and then juxtaposed immediately by a deep seated grief and sorrow.
Sometimes V isn't even sure if that's actually his earliest memory or not, something he created.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: And most likely, yeah, most likely, who knows what exactly was ever the first thing any of you experienced.
But there's something wonderful and again grievous about what we do remember, that you are babies, that you are children.
How much older is Mithryn compared to you?
[00:29:38] Speaker E: You, I think about four years older.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Very quickly, Mithran sort of became a second parent to you at a certain age. Maybe it didn't matter too too much when you were too young to really understand dynamics. But there's in this hazy sort of hill again, the parameters that delineate it from this memory ending and this hill area, however far it goes in actual geographic location, it just sort of stops to some degree, to some area that you don't exactly remember every detail of. So it just sort of ends or stops short.
How old are you in this memory?
[00:30:34] Speaker E: I think couldn't be older than five.
I, I seem that young, but it's so hazy, so far out of my reach.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: So your mom died very when you were very young and Mithryn at 9 has to be the person that has to help look over you. And maybe in a very particularly rough patch of years or something along those lines, maybe Mithryn is all you remember in some of your patches of memory is the one who is taking care of you the most.
Like maybe not driving you places or anything like that, but taking care of you if you needed to speak up for yourself.
And even if his body is also that of a child, even if a little bit older of a child, there's something still so glowing about his presence, something of that of a knight.
But when the two of you are playing on this hill, one that has this hill that has two memories to it, two feelings where there is one less mom.
His voice filtered, sitting next to you as the two of you maybe have a quiet moment to yourselves.
He says, do you have anyone else that you can talk to? Like you talk with me?
[00:32:24] Speaker E: Not really.
I Mean, I got friends. I actually met a new friend recently.
Their name is Eric. And they also really, really like the same cartoon that I watch on Saturdays.
But no, Big brother is super special.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: But do you talk to Eric about his family or anything? Like, when you're sad?
[00:32:59] Speaker E: No, I don't. I think eric has, like, 2 dads. 1 1 of them always picks him up and always buys him, like, ice cream when he comes out of school. And sometimes I'm like, wow, it'd be really nice to also get ice cream. Can we get ice cream like how mom used to get us ice cream?
[00:33:27] Speaker A: Varun were growing up with the loss of another income in the house. Was money tight?
[00:33:38] Speaker E: Mm, absolutely. Money was absolutely tight. And it always manifested in.
It manifested ways, like going to a supermarket and there being a little stall where tiny plastic animal toys would be on sale. The ones that would be. It's just an assortment of animals put into a twine basket for kids to pick up and beg their parents for.
Varun was no different.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: Yeah, Mithryn. As you ask him about getting ice cream, there's the grim, almost bittersweet expression to this hazy filtered face where he knows the answer is no, they can't always get ice cream for you.
But he says in your. He says in response, we can. We can try to get ice cream next time, but.
[00:34:50] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: Don't you wish you still had mom around? Or that Mama, who we have still, you know, would have time to get us ice cream, too?
[00:35:09] Speaker E: Yeah, but I know Mama's busy with work and you always spend time with me and play with me.
I don't think I need anyone else other than my big brother.
Just keep playing with me.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: And there's something.
There's something. He's. Friends frustrated, but he tries not to take it out on you. Oh. Never tries to yell or raise his voice as much as possible, but this time he clenches his fist, sort of like hitting it towards the ground next to him. And the scene changes. And you are adults. And he is wearing a business suit. And his hair is more slicked back and well taken care of.
And you are wearing your usual outfit, your colorful clothing. You're happy. You're content.
He slams his hand on a table in front of you. The two of you are not sitting next to each other on a grassy hill anymore. There is plastic and metal separating you two as you sit across from each other.
He says, isn't life unfair and something that you should be more willing to want to change in ways that matter?
[00:36:44] Speaker E: Not like this.
Like I I know you don't care for my choices, but I'm. I'm doing real good out there. I'm. I'm helping out, and I'm getting better at my cooking and cooking for larger orders. What's so bad about that?
[00:37:05] Speaker A: And his mouth opens, but everything stops. And the world stops. And the people behind the cash register and the waiters moving all around, bustling, trying to also make ends meet.
Everything slows down in this moment. And you were the only one. You were the only one.
And whether real or fake, what is the thing? Even if it seems anachronistic to the conversation from Mithryn's mouth, what is it that you want to hear from him the most right now?
[00:37:43] Speaker E: I don't understand you, but I love you.
I love you so much, no matter what.
That's what Varun wants to hear, a confirmation of love, that he matters. And it's not just a millstone that's hanging around Mithryn's neck, which is how he's made so often to feel.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Halcyon.
You, although you feel as though.
[00:38:32] Speaker E: You.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Should, you do not experience the world as haze.
You don't have a first memory, and you don't have anyone in your life where you recognize for the very first time you were not born in a conventional way, whatever conventional means.
And you only know what it means to be born conventionally.
Looking at the people all around you and understanding them, fundamentally understanding them physiologically, that they were kept and fed by placenta inside of a person.
I guess an interesting question for you, human childbirth and the concept of that.
Was it ever disgusting to you or something beautiful or just strange?
[00:39:33] Speaker F: I think it was. It's violent.
Death can be very easy, but birth is never easy. It can. It can go from extremely difficult to deadly. Right. And I think that there is a fear in that, for Halcyon, in the recognition of.
[00:39:56] Speaker A: There.
[00:39:56] Speaker F: There is no. There are easy ways to slip out of this world, but there's no easy way to come in.
You come in screaming and crying, hopefully from somebody who is screaming and crying in the best case scenario.
And there's. Then there's blood and guts, and you have to be cut away from the thing that brought you into this world. So there's a violence to that.
Yeah, I think it's a little scary.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: The understanding, acknowledgement, realization, recognition, whatever the word may be, knowing that you were not born that way.
Do you have any particular feeling about that that you still don't know?
[00:40:49] Speaker F: I think that there is like a longing for that kind of Connection, Right. It's a literal. The umbilical cord is a literal connection.
And in the recognition that that didn't happen for me, that there was no rearing, there was no intention, that at least Halcyon understands in that moment or in this moment that it's not like a wish to be a real boy, but it's, you know, there's, I think, a melancholy for things that you'll never have. And even if it is scary and off putting and kind of unnerving, there's also a wonder about it because Halcyon's very curious. And there's a longing to understand what that would be like. Because Halcyon gets many of the experiences of life, but birth is not one of them. And death will probably not be a traditional version of that either.
So I think there's a melancholy to that too. If Halcyon were to really think about it.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: The lions are not fuzzy in this room. This place, the hideout, quote unquote, this velvet room, this blue contrasted with the erratic high frequency red of the void. This is a place, an island, a mirage of something.
A cool place for you and the other rebels to rest.
This auditorium space for Arjun, the stained glass mural for Chloe.
Halcyon, you, the creator.
All around you. Very suddenly it begins to move and spiral all around you in this warm and sort of slick feeling. There is the scaled nature of the walls and the floor.
For the first time, as if alive, the head of a snake protrudes from the ground.
And very gently, almost as if an embrace of some kind, wraps all around you, creating this tunnel with you in it. With its body as a beautiful iridescent snake with a sort of translucent skin and belly. Seeing its long organs inside of it, a true monstrous face appears to you. But almost angel. Wing like feathers sort of adorn the sides of its face as it rests its head against all of its wrinkles and all of its parts, providing you almost like a throne or a seat. And her voice rumbles all around you.
She says there is not much time, but there is enough time to give you some answers.
[00:44:28] Speaker F: Uh, yeah, Halcyon, kind of.
I think the first thing.
I'm alone, right?
Yeah. I think the first thing out of their mouth is, where are my friends?
[00:44:46] Speaker A: All of you emerged into the void with valiant intent.
But there is something very wrong and corrupted about this castle's enforcer, this one.
Able to tap into superficial memories, familiar faces.
I think maybe you understand that sort of memory loss and manipulation wouldn't work on you.
So while I have you Here. While I've brought you here, do you have any questions for me?
[00:45:32] Speaker F: Who are you?
[00:45:35] Speaker A: I am not anything to be my existence. The reason to have a voice, to have a form, is to explain something, for someone to learn.
If you didn't have to have a body, if you were just able to convey yourself with less words and more history, more feeling or memory, do you find that would be much easier?
[00:46:13] Speaker F: Easier?
Yeah.
But. But I like being here this way.
I don't know what happened before, but I know that it was different. And I'm scared of what comes after, so I don't. I don't want to change.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: You have so much to convey, so much you have to address, take care of, eat, sleep.
You like all of those things?
[00:46:53] Speaker F: Yeah.
Especially eating and sleeping and working out.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: And yet, do you not feel like a person?
[00:47:09] Speaker F: Well, I'm. I know that I'm not. I know that I'm different.
Doesn't matter how hard I try to fit in, it doesn't work.
But I know that part of me is.
And I think that the more time I spend here, the more I understand that part. And I like it. And I don't think I've ever liked things before now. I think things just were and they weren't. And I didn't have much of a feeling about them either way.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: Once you give anything a name, you have given it memory, you have given it history, you've given it sentience.
You've named yourself, you've decided that you like things, and you've decided to care, to help.
I will tell you what you were made to be, and now what you are no longer.
From ancient time, by no means the beginning of time, a snake, the mere visage of one would strike certain devilish meanings, certainly.
But at the root of it, the symbol that I take, knowledge, was something to fight for, something to desire. And I am the thing that people so run away from.
But regardless of what they run away from, I exist.
I have no name. I shouldn't be anything in particular. But this is the form suited to explain to you.
You are one of the many sparks of rebellion.
You are the mini droplet of thought.
People deserve to know the truth, no matter how difficult, no matter how strange or riot. Uplifting.
Although you were not given a name, you were not given things to like, to dislike, as all people were born into this world to be. At first they will gain things, they will desire things, and that will mark their personhood.
I shouldn't have a voice, I shouldn't have anything.
And I, to Say that I like this position or like this purpose.
It's not meant for me to like or dislike, but for you.
You have decided you're not going to convey anything unless you want to. You were born with purpose.
When did you come to the name Halcyon?
[00:50:49] Speaker F: Well, I woke up and it was already there.
I think it was the first thing out of my mouth and I didn't even know what it meant.
But I. I knew it was mine and I knew it was better and I knew it was missed.
So I took it and I kept it.
[00:51:17] Speaker A: I give you a gift, Halcyon.
I hope that you will take it and that you will continue in whatever way that you deem important, in whatever way that you like.
You will save the world and you will inspire change and people beyond.
These rebels that you have taught so much.
Are you ready to save them?
[00:51:48] Speaker F: Yeah. Of course.
[00:51:51] Speaker A: You are going to act with advantage.
[00:51:55] Speaker F: Okay.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: And you are going to strike what that looks like. We will very slowly come to it. But how would you like to strike, given this information that you are a droplet of rebellion. You are a spark of so many spirits. Sparks with stealth and guile, with precise insight, with direct force, or with arguments and emotional appeals.
[00:52:27] Speaker F: I.
I actually, I think in this case it would be with arguments and emotional appeals, but I'm not good at that.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: You have advantage. I'm okay.
[00:52:42] Speaker F: I'm okay at it, actually. Okay.
All right. Okay.
I got a one, a two and a two.
[00:52:54] Speaker A: No worries. Okay.
[00:52:56] Speaker F: Okay.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: That being a failure, technically.
[00:52:59] Speaker E: Let's go.
[00:53:01] Speaker A: The hideout. The Velvet Room disappears, and in front of you now, Halcyon, you are standing behind the other four of the rebels, whose minds are absolutely absorbed with the hypnotic faces of what seems to be this hydra of computer heads, this tentacled mass of wires and cords, and all manner of social media online directions.
The void takes place in this red pixelated realm where it stops and ends is unclear and it hurts your eyes, but you emit and emanate a blue fire now.
[00:53:54] Speaker F: Yeah, I think I'm kind of overcome and I just. I shouted it.
Hey, you electronic freak, let my friends go, because I'm gonna save the world and beat you up. And I feel pretty epic saying it, but I don't think the words quite match my intensity.
[00:54:18] Speaker A: Although the failure, what it looks like here, the beginning of a giggle and the beginning of a guffawing laugh from what you realize to be Natasha Sheridan, whose form takes place as this eldritch online creature, the Hydras, hypnotizing, burst out into laughter and with a willingness surprising to you. The hydra heads move backwards and the hypnotizing faces disappear.
All four of you, Ren, Arjun, Varun, Chloe are back to yourselves and you're finally back into this fight, realizing where all of you are and when you entered and what the plan was to kick Natasha Sheridan's ass behind you as Halcyon emitting this new light to them.
Natasha laughs, her voice filtered and dissonant.
Now that is a fucking story.
Josephine at Scary Dog Friend plays the Architect and edits the show. The biggest thanks to Minerva mcjanda for creating our system Void Heart Symphony. You can find Josephine producing actual plays at Bathouse RPG and Nameless Domain. Other podcasts you can find her include Someplace to Be, a System Hopping actual play with an indie focus and Monster Anonymous rating and Dating your favorite monsters everywhere you listen to your podcasts. Thanks again to Goblets and Gays for hosting us and all the music you hear today is from Epidemic Sound.
[00:56:14] Speaker D: Abhishek Patonge he him plays Arjun Kumar. You can find him voice acting as well as starring in other TTRPG APs such as Zenith over at Sword and Key premiering August 29, as well as Ironstorm the Valley season two over at Nerds with Dice premiering September 5. You can also find him being a huge tokusatsu Nerd
[email protected] Alyssa Disaster Queer plays Chloe Penitent.
[00:56:42] Speaker B: You can find them here on Goblets and Gays for our Pathfinder series Tyrant of the Dark Star as well as on An Unwavering Force, a Star wars actual play.
[00:56:50] Speaker C: Donna she her plays Ren Kong. You can find her voice acting, playing other TTRPGs and overall being a goofy gal at Shabro on twitter.com Leanna Albany's.
[00:57:01] Speaker F: Any Pronouns plays Halcyon. You can find them acting, producing and generally goofing around on all platforms.
[00:57:10] Speaker E: Valiant Dorian AliantDorian OrtsoSpiritBear plays Varun Pillay. You can find him as a main cast member of Transplanar RPGs the Chaos Protocol, hosting his TTRPG talk show Dicey Banter and designing wild hearted monstrous games like his in development. TTRPG the Beast Within, a grungy action RPG with a werebeast twist.
Hurt me Abhishek. Hurt me.
[00:57:47] Speaker A: Oh my God.
