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Episode 22 - Dungeon & Servant Quarters

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reading the latest chapter of @silverskye13's redstone and skulk like

[yayforocs]

Episode 21 - A Kitchen for a King

[yayforocs]

CD #3

Whirrrrrrrrrr…

A throat clears, and for a minute, the only sound is the soft whirring noise of a crank being turned.

Eventually, though, there’s a breath in, then out, and then a voice.

“So I think I learned what a ‘supernatural thriller’ is today, heh…” There is no smile in the laugh. There’s a noise of uncertainty. “I- So- It’s-” A sigh. “From the beginning, yeah…”

“When we went to the world for today, Zeta- that's Shantil, she prefers to go by her last name- had told us that it was going to be a ‘supernatural thriller’, which now I think means ‘scary magic’, essentially. With ghosts. It was… It was a uh…. I forget what it was called, but it was- we started out in this room covered in posters, an’ then this train showed up, which is like this big machine used to transport a buncha people at once, an’ then suddenly we were on it, like I blinked and then suddenly Voltage was in my face tryna shake me, so I guess I- well, Mask, too, he went to her after I responded, so I guess something happened to us an’ we blacked out? But when we woke up, we were on the train, which I didn’t learn was even called a train ‘til later, but-”

“Anyway, there were a buncha different rooms in the train, an’ each of ‘em were themed to a ghost that had died on it- like one was pink an’ the ghost- Nikola? I think? Was like magically writin’ all over the walls an’ stuff, and there was another one that was a yellow maze, an’ another had this paper sculpture in it, an’ one- well, we went into it once, an’ it was all black an’ had what I guess was the last one in it- but it wasn’t a human ghost anymore. It was this black monster thing with red eyes an’ it kept popping up an’ chasin’ us all over the train as we teleported from room to room. It didn’t start once we got in the room, though, it was goin’ way before we ever found it. Voltage had had a run-in with it before he woke me an’ Mask up, so we were running pretty much from the start of it.”

“We had to figure out a buncha clues and get everyone’s name so we could- right, yeah, yeah, because it um- the monster thing would take memories. It’d completely wiped the other ghosts on the train, they couldn’t even remember their names, we had to like. Give ‘em back to ‘em. An’ then when we figured out the last name- or- really, that the last name left had to be the name of the monster, because it was a human once too- we were able to team up with one of the ghosts- the purple one, I… I don’t remember what her name was, but she knew spells an’ stuff, an’ we were able to team up with her an’ get rid of the monster- and…”

“Um.”

“I- I wasn’t thinking, it was stupid, she’d said she could summon it or whatever so I thought it’d appear in the circle, the- the magic circle thing, an’ didn’t think about it coming through one of the doors, an’-”

“I’d- so- it-”

There’s a long breath in, and a long breath out.

“I put myself on the other side of ‘em, b’cause they were gonna try to hold it off if it didn’t work, and honestly I can’t do magic, I don’t have magic, so I thought I’d put myself where I could do what I’d done last time we ran into it there an’ just be ready to throw my dagger at it an’ run so I could distract it for ‘em, an’-”

“I mean, I- I guess I did- be a distraction, I just- didn’t think it’d come from behind me, is all. Don’t even know what it took, just that it took something, an’ it’s driving me nuts. I feel like I remember everything, but that’s just ‘cause I don’t know what I’m missing, and I know I’m missing something.”

“I think I’m gonna go home tonight. See if I can figure it out. An’… Honestly, I’ve… kinda been avoiding goin’ back, b’cause like- What do I even say to them? Would they believe me? I-I mean, I guess Kale an’ Kid have prob’ly dealt with weirder things, considering – the- god- thing- an’ they both just kinda seem- weirdly knowledgeable about a lotta things, honestly- but Tab would- …Or, well, no, I- I guess she might, since she had like- talked about dimensions and stuff. So. Mm. But they’re gonna be so- I don’t think they’d want me to go back. But I dunno if I even wanna come back after that. If- if there’s stuff like that here, then- am- I’m still gonna remember them after a couple months, right? Years? How long is- I mean, the other party’s been here for twenty an’ they’re still goin’ strong, so- it- it could be a while, right? If stuff like that is here, that could- that could really change a person that drastically- would- would I still be the same?Or- if that was just a- a one-time thing, like… I mean, it- it prob’ly was. It was just in that- world, or- whatever.”

A sigh.

“Or maybe I just- won’t say anything ‘til I know what to say, an’ just… be home. That… sounds kinda nice, actually. I- I think I’ll do that. I’ll just be home. An’ if they ask, I’ll just- figure it out, I guess.”

The whirring slows, and then stops.

---------------------------------------

Aron blinked, and realized she was- she was in her room. Her room- and Tab’s, of course. Sitting at the desk, blueprints laid out- though the wings were still strapped to her back. She stood and took them off, as well as her bag, and put them in their corner where she usually stored them. Didn’t make sense for her to be wearing them while she was just looking over the blueprints, and the longer she could last without questions asked, the better. She just knew they’d not be happy with her running off by herself- though she was with a group so she wasn’t exactly by herself- and not want her to be in the extra danger that she was clearly putting herself in. She’d lost a memory, after all, and the back of her neck still hurt from where the thing grabbed her like that. She didn’t know if it’d left a mark- oh gods, she hoped it didn’t. She’d noticed a bruise around Voltage’s neck… was that from his run-in? Did she have one, too?

She reached up and lightly touched her neck, then less lightly as she realized that yeah, while it still hurt, it didn’t feel bruised. Maybe because she’d been dropped so quickly. Her sigh of relief let her hand and shoulders fall back down.

She looked around the room.

Right-!

She looked around the room.

[My bed] [.91m] [Tab’s bed] [.92m] [Black oak door] [1.22m] [Retractable paraglider wings] [.61m] [Note: A gift from Something Owner, whatever that means]

Good. It did work, it was just- something weird with the universe, she guessed.

But it did seem that she was the only one here currently, and she was antsy about it. Aron needed to see someone- anyone would do, just- after that, and not knowing what she forgot- gods, she hoped she still remembered who all her friends-

There was a knock at the door.

"Aron?"

She whirled to face it, and had to force herself to not rush to the door and to not rip it open- after all, her coming to the door to answer would be an oddity in and of itself, considering who'd called out to her, but she couldn't not, not now.

She opened the door to see Kid.

And she grinned.

[yayforocs]

CD #2

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr…

“So… today was… Today was fun! Mostly. Right to the end, anyway.” A throat clears, and the voice continues. “So apparently these are supposed to be daily missions we get sent on, so I guess I’m gonna be making a lot of these? I hope this can hold all of ‘em. Might have to grab my recorder from home or somethin’. But uh. Yeah. So, we did our first mission today! It went pretty well, ‘t least I think it did. Voltage might not agree with me, heh. But we had to go to a…. what’dshecallit a uh… ffffantasy world! That’s it, fantasy. ‘N we had to get this apple pie recipe from a bakery that’d been overrun by goblens for a tiny wizzard guy that wanted to taste the pie he’d had as a kid. So he gave us a map, thought we were part of the local adventurer’s guild or- I’m assuming local, at least- an’ sent us on our way. Fought a real weird bug-lookin’ creature on the way there, an’ I landed the killing blow!”

There’s a short pause, as if the speaker was taken aback.

“Final blow. I landed the final blow. Hm.”

Another short pause, but it’s shorter than the first.

“Anyways, we got over to this town, an’- oh yeah! Right, yeah, everything looked real like… Colorful? But like really colorful. Like someone took a regular place an’ just made the colors like… even moreso. More intense maybe? An’- an’ we had to use the necklaces to get there! So all the ponds an’ such outside, we gotta stand next to a certain one, open the wings on the necklace, twist it clockwise three times, an’ then jump in the water an’ it just takes us there, just like that! ‘Course, you gotta close the wings once you get there, an’ then do the same thing but counter-clockwise when you wanna go back, but get this: you don’t get wet! At all! Which was a big relief to me, y’know, ‘cause of my gunpowder an’ explosives an’ stuff. Don’t want any o’ that gettin’ wet.”

“But right, yeah, we got over to the town an’ found the bakery an’ snuck in, an’ there was this tree with a face right by the front door but it didn’t do anything to us, so we got in and started lookin’ around, found a safe with money in it, found a lotta empty pie boxes, and a whole lotta nothin’. At least, ‘til-”

The speaker cuts off for a second.

“Uh.”

“The.”

There’s a short hum, and a shifting noise.

“She’s uh. It’s the masked lady with the four arms. Her. Codenames person. She found a little trapped drawer that had half the recipe in it, an’ also a poison dart that she got hit with once she opened it. It was a real neat little trap, I was able to pick it apart an’ see how it worked! Didn’t find anything else in there, though. But there was this big ol’ kitchen right next to the main room area, an’ it had a buncha rolling pins an’ ovens an’ knives an’ stuff all movin’ on their own! Poked around there some, didn’t see anything, but there was a door upstairs that was like a trap door, an’ uh… I really need to- Mask. Mask an’ I went up there to listen in, while Voltage was keepin’ an eye out for a patrol of goblens he’d seen outside, an’ then one of ‘em came in through another door! Had himself a bucket of apples an’ just started tossin’ em around the kitchen, makin’ applesauce or somethin’, an’ we could hear a whole bunch more goblens upstairs too, but we were kinda trapped on the stairs for a bit. Managed to get down an’ talk to the lone one, an’ of course he yelled, which tipped off the upstairs ones, but then we got somethin’ worked out where they’d let us go find the recipe if we taught them how to make apple pie!”

“Which turned into Voltage teaching them how to make apple pie while Mask an’ I found the recipe upstairs, since he already knew how to make at least some kind’a apple pie, and… well… heh, it seemed like he was having a real fun time.” There’s a snicker. “Poor guy, I think they could hardly understand what he was tryin’ t’ tell ‘em. But it worked eventually, an’ they made their pie, an’ they were happy, an’ the wizzard was happy, an’ we got back alright. Shontil came down t’ meet us an’ ask how things went, and uh… well, I found out that even though we can go back to our own world wherever, or- whenever, I guess, we still age while we’re here.”

“So… I… I don’t really know what to think about that. I mean, it makes sense, time passes here just the same as it does back home, but… I dunno, I feel like everyone back home’s missing out on something. Maybe I should go back every night so they still get to see me- like. Grow, I guess. But if I go back every night then I’m missin’ stuff here, too. I don’t really wanna be the only one outta the team that doesn’t stay, an’ besides, we’re like. We’re… we’re here, so… I don’t wanna just… ignore the room. It’s meant to be used, so I should use it, right?”

A sigh.

“I dunno. Maybe I just need to think about it some more. One more day could- wouldn’t hurt anything, an’… I can probably wander around and talk to some people an’… an’ get some thoughts from others, too. Or if not, maybe I can find Shontil an’ ask her what most people do. Somethin’. Oh- right, yeah, maybe I can hop over to uh… what’shername- Requiem’s room? But she was outside it so maybe it wasn’t hers actually. Or maybe I’ll just ask her whenever she gives us the clothes, I could do that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, ok, I can wander around a bit, maybe find someone else or Shontil, an’ if not, then I’ll just ask when we get the clothes, because Requiem said she’d get us some new clothes because she does that for everyone I guess? Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyways, that’s all for today, I think.”

The whirring slows, and then stops.

[yayforocs]

CD #1

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr…

“Alright, test recording, test recording- this- is- a- test- recordiiiiing.”

“Oh, y’know, it might should be longer than that, actually, lemme… Uh. Hm.”

“Alright, ignore that first bit, it’s still technically a test because if this doesn’t work, then ah- heh, I guess it wouldn’t really matter anyway. Ok!”

“So!”

“Today’s been interesting! Very different! Absolutely crazy! So there I was, right, sitting at my desk, lookin’ over the blueprints Kale’s god got for me, and then suddenly I was- like- all I did was blink, right, and then suddenly I’m sittin’ on a wood deck crossing this whole plain just full of all these little ponds an’ stuff, an’ I’m not alone, either- there’s a guy there that’s climbing out of the water, lookin’ like he got an unexpected dunk, and then there’s this- like- she has four arms, ok, four arms, which is really cool, an’ she wears this mask that’s got a buncha eyes all over it, an’ she’s just standing there like she’s cross at someone. And then this living statue lady comes over to us from this really pretty old-lookin’ building a ways off, says her name’s Shontil and welcomes us to something called the Multiversal Rescue Agency- says we each did some heroic deeds or something that got us all picked to be able to travel to different universes an’ help people out in ‘em! I... didn’t really get it at first, an’ I still don’t quite get it, b’cause I don’t really think I’ve done much of anything to qualify me for that, but.”

“So then she takes us up to this huge building, an’ we get inside, an’ it’s a huge Library! With- with all these weird little eyeball creatures an’ paper snakes flyin’ around, takin’ care of the place, an’ all kinds’a people inside- from all over! I guess they’re all from different universes, just like we are, but everyone is so different and it’s so cool! Anyway then she takes us over to this big eyeball thing with lots of tentacles an’ just floating there in the middle of it all, says that’s the Lorekeeper, an’ then it speaks to us an’ it’s- it- It was like a million different people were whispering in my head all at once, but I could understand what they were all saying, an’ none of it was out loud- it was like what you’d- or, at least, what I’d imagine a god to be like- b’sides Beta an’ Sector, at least. Like, I’m pretty sure this guy could take either of ‘em, easy.”

“But he gives us these- li’l- wing necklace lookin’-things, calls ‘em Jumpers, says we use ‘em to travel to an’ from different universes an’ such, an’ then he gave one of us a living crow skeleton to kinda keep watch over us an’ report back an’ such, an’ then sends us off to the armory to go get cool items or whatever. I- I actually didn’t get anything, b’cause my headband’s been acting up ever since I got here, so I went to go get it fixed instead- it’s not fully back, but it’s at least identifying a few things… Like the paper snakes are called Bookwyrms, and the little eyeball creatures are Little Keepers! Still won’t identify a lotta the stuff around here, but it’s at least- sorta working. Keep getting an error message when I try to do like. Anything at all with it. Says “expected exception, code: not relevant”. No idea what that means, but I hope it’s not broken- I only just got it.”

“Speaking of getting things, though, so I went wandering around to explore the place after all’a that, because we have like our own whole- room- area an’ stuff, so like there’s a common room, an’ then bedrooms for each of us, which is really nice, it’s a lot better than the bunker back home. But I went exploring, tryin’ t’see if I could find somethin’ to record with, so I could- well. Record. An’ I ran into Shontil, an’ then this big guy- like, really tall, kinda older looking- walks by, hears our conversation an’ that I’m lookin’ for a recording device, an’ he offers this thing! It’s- I- I dunno if I can describe it actually, it’s a dome-shaped thing with a disc in the middle an’ a crank on the side, an’ I can record with it! Hopefully! If this works, heh.”

“Anyway his name’s Fohzug an’ he’s from Partyyyyy… Gamma! An’ that party’s been goin’ for twenty years. Shontil said it was the longest a party’s ever stayed on, an’ they don’t seem keen on retiring any time soon, either.”

“Wonder how long we’ll be here… what kinda crazy stuff am I gonna have to tell when I go back- which! We can go back whenever we want to, it’s not like I’m stuck here, which is… really nice, hah. I was worried at first, but she said we could visit, so. It’s gonna be great.”

“…Dunno if it comes across, if you can hear it on the recording, but I’m sitting up on the roof right now- there’s a giant fountain up here, an’ it’s real pretty. The Jumper starts humming whenever I get close to it, an’ it sounds really nice. I’m not by it right now, so it’s not humming, an’ I’d get up an’ go over to it to show you, but Iiiii dunno if I trust myself to carry this properly over there without accidentally stopping the recording or something, so just trust me on it.” There’s a small chuckle.

“This seems like it’s gonna be real fun. I’m lookin’ forward to it.”

The whirring slows, and then stops.

[yayforocs]

Tape #7

Click.

A sigh. It’s a little shaky.

“…Prob’ly should’ve waited a bit to record this.”

A few seconds of silence. Then there’s rustling sounds, and then silence again.

“…No, it’s- I should… I should go ahead an’ do it.” The rustling returns, but only for a moment. “So. …Um.”

A pregnant pause.

“I… just got back to the base. …From- running off.”

…

“So… Lately, I’ve… been havin’ trouble. With- y’know, fighting ‘n all that. Thought I wasn’t makin’ out to be any good of a soldier, which… if I’m tryin’ to help win this war, then I should be a good soldier. Should at least be able to take care of myself. Well, it’s… I thought I was startin’ to do alright, with savin’ that one guy, but… then some stuff happened. A lotta stuff. I almost got captured, or- well, I basically was, an’ then Kale swooped in an’ saved me. Not only that, but he knocked out Kid, an’ we took him with us. Had this- this really intense fight on the way back, someone tryin’ to save Kid I guess… but. We beat him. …Kale did- pretty… brutally.”

The sounds of someone shifting.

“So I talked some with Kid, once… everything got settled out. Turned out he’s got some protocol or somethin’ bc he’s a robot? An’… he can’t attack me. Or anyone in the Resistance. Would go against his programming now. So he’s… been tryin’ to train me, an’ we had our first ‘session’; I got a bit worn out after the first one an’ went to go visit Sy-” Here the voice cracked, and there was a shaky breath in, and a smoother one out. “I went to go visit Sytri, like I always did whenever I wanted to unwind an’ relax a bit. …Long story short, Kid followed me, an’ he recognized Sytri. From the Rivals. Turned out he’d been one of ‘em the whole time an’ never- he just- let me-” Another sigh. “…Kid ‘n I had a short lil argument thing, I’unno, an’… I ran off. Said I was done tryin’ to be somethin’ I wasn’t, an’ left a note, an’ ran off.”

“Guess what they say is true, with the past repeating itself.”

“Then I ended up actually gettin’ captured on the way to Willowdale. Like knocked out ‘n tied up ‘n everything. Kale came swooping in again. Brought Kid with him, too. But I was still- especially after that- having doubts about everything, so Kale took me home.”

“And… Sheila told me everything.”

“And then…” The voice sounds a little more upbeat now. “I had… the most interesting thing happen. Kale’s god showed up.” A small laugh. “Never gonna forget that, I don’t think. They talked to me for a minute, said I’d done a good job against that Rival. Even though it ended poorly for me. But then they asked if I wanted to be a Unit. Like- like Kid. An’ Kale. I-I thought that’d mean like… not bein’ able to think for myself an’ havin’ to follow protocols an’ programming ‘n all that, so I- freaked out a little, heh. But it wasn’t that it would’ve been like that, though, but… I still didn’t wanna do it. I wanted to learn to do this myself. An’ not by… by cheating. So I got a headband instead. Shows me all kinds’a neat stuff ‘bout most everything.”

“-Scratch that, it shows neat stuff about actually everything. Even them. Showed their… uh… their name, I think… and… somethin’ else, maybe?”

“A-anyways. But then I mentioned fixing Kale’s arms ‘n legs after that fight a while back, an’ they gave me blueprints- actual blueprints- to all of Kale’s mechanisms! I’ve been lookin’ over ‘em whenever I can, an’ I honestly don’t understand quite everything, but… I’ll figure it all out eventually.”

“Once I got back, Kid an’ Tab were there, too. Guess they couldn’t wait any longer for me, huh? Heh. Hadn’t seen Tab in a long while. It was… it was really nice to see her again. So now we’re rooming together again, an’ now she’s got this lil bird with her. Dunno where it came from, but it’s pretty cute. S-so anyway, that’s… I guess that’s really all I wanted to say. It was a lot, but… I’m back, and… an’ I’m determined, absolutely determined, that I’m gonna make it work this time.”

“I’ve got to.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #6

Click.

“I don’t have a story this time so much as a thing to talk about. It’s a book I’ve got; I brought it with me from home. It’s one of the few things I brought; my wings being another. Got it when I was… let’s see uh- twelve? Eleven? Somewhere in there. Heck, maybe even nine, I don’t know. Around those ages, at some point.”

“…Actually, I think eleven. Eleven sounds right.”

“I said we were a pretty isolated little town, and we were. We always had to go out to other towns; no travelers or merchants or anybody really came through. But there was one time someone came through and was selling all sorts of random stuff. This book was one of the things he was selling. I never saw him, but I’d been off running around that day, anyways. He left awful quick though. Kinda wish he’d stayed a bit, then I could’ve asked him a buncha questions ‘bout the places he’s been ‘n all that.”

“Anyways, I was a kid that liked to run around outside. I liked to be active. Thing was, it also meant I was sticking my nose into everybody else’s business. There was one person, Mr. Trevor, he… wasn’t all that fond of kids running around and being noisy. And me an’ Josiah, the horse kid, we were always running around and being noisy. …Well, when he wasn’t helping out at his parents’ bakery and I wasn’t in Tony’s shop. Playin’ games we made up, just usin’ our imaginations… And I don’t know whether it’s funny or sad that a bunch of ‘em had us in some kind of- of war situation. Play-fighting each other. But it wasn’t- it wasn’t anything that like. That I could use now. We were just kids, y’know? I’m… actually crap at fighting, really fighting up close like that.”

“Like I said, kids runnin’ around and bein’ noisy.”

“So he bought us books. Guess he was trying to get us interested in something quiet. What he didn’t realize was the books he bought were fantasy adventurous stories, and they only gave us more imagination fuel.” A short laugh, clear and happy. “He wasn’t too pleased about that at all. But what could he do, really? He couldn’t exactly take ‘em back, an’ we were so happy he’d gotten ‘em for us that it always managed to at least give him a grin. He may not have liked all the noise we were makin’, but it was pretty obvious he still cared for us.”

“Josiah’s was about a caravan of travelers, having to collect this magical substance to fuel a crystal that protected their town. Mine was about these characters from two communities, one above the surface and one below, that had to team up with each other once monsters suddenly started appearing. They had to travel another dimension of sorts and kill a dragon that was creating the monsters; it was great. Is great. I still read it from time to time.”

“Didn’t get us hooked on books at all. Just gave us more scenarios to act out. Which I suppose was good, it got us play-fighting each other less. And then Tony let me start building stuff, small stuff, and we used those. Once he made sure they were safe to play with, anyways. They were mostly useless bits of junk that never actually had a function, they just looked cool and were good enough to play the part of whatever props we needed them to play. Wasn’t ‘til a while later that the stuff I built actually did stuff.”

“But yeah, I kept that book and re-read it over and over again. It’s weird, I never really wanted to read any other books, ‘cept Josiah’s. We switched books every now and then. I always liked mine better, though.”

“…I’m glad I brought it with me. Somehow over time it just- became one of my favorite possessions. And it’s… something else to remind me of home. Remind me of… bein’ a kid. Carefree ‘n everything. It’s a happy thing, a nice reminder.”

“Hopefully I’ll get to trade books with Josiah again.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #5

((This one was written for an rp split-off that I and the muns for Aron's friend group had for a bit, so it's not canon at all to the rest of her sectorbrine lore stuff, but I wanna include it here anyway :V))

--

Click.

Paper crinkling as if it is being folded, unfolded, and folded again.

“Ok ok ok, I-” Unfolded. “I’ve- I’ve been here for several months now, and-” Folded. “And I got- I-” Unfolded, and a slight pause followed by a breath of an excited laugh. “I got a letter. An- An actual letter from- from Josiah. He was talkin’ about how everybody back home was doin’, sayin’ that they all missed me and were worried ‘bout how I was doin’ ‘n such, an’-” Folded. “I- I’ve never gotten a letter before. I-I mean, there was- there was no reason for us to be sendin’ each other letters back home, an’- an’ I didn’t know anybody else outside of town, so- so I never got one, this is- this is the first letter I ever got.”

“I’m gonna- I’m gonna write a reply soon, but- I’m tryin’ to think of what to write about. I’m definitely not talkin’ about the-” Pause, and a small laugh. “Heh, if I’m not puttin’ it in the letter I prob’ly shouldn’t talk about it on this, either. …Well. Then again, the only people that’re gonna hear this’s Sytri, who already knows, an’ all of you back home. An’ by the time you guys’ll hear it, this’ll all hopefully be over an’ I wouldn’t have to worry about anything. ‘S just a bad encounter I had with an Imperium soldier a li’l while back; I’ll tell you about it when I get home. But uh… Ah- I met a couple new people today. First one’s named Nils, an’ he’s… he’s interesting. Ok ok, I’ll- lemme- I’m gonna back up a little bit. So earlier today I went to go see if Kale’d go with me to visit Sytri, ‘cause Sytri said he wouldn’t mind seein’ Kale again and built a ladder so he could reach his house easier instead of havin’ to climb that cliff to reach ‘im, so- Yeah anyway, turns out Kale’s been workin on some ‘linker’ thing, didn’t tell me what it was, an’ exhausted himself enough that he straight-up passed out on his floor. Tab ‘n I put him to bed, ‘n Tab was feelin’ lonely, so I took her with me instead. Sytri didn’t mind at all- he fixed up some sandwiches ‘n we talked an’ it was nice.”

“So we stayed there for a li’l while before headin’ on back. Kale apparently woke up ‘n left at some point while we were gone, b’cause when we got back, his room was empty. And that’s when Nils showed up. He’s always got this straight face ‘n deadpan tone, an’ it’s- it’s actually kinda funny. He asked us- Tab was still with me- he asked us if that was the bathroom. Kale’s room- the bathroom!” A small laugh. “Poor guy was lost as could be. So I offered to tour him through the place, since it’s his second day an’ all, an’ before we could head off to find his room, someone else showed up. ‘S a courier, an’ I hadn’t seen him around before- his name’s Silas, an’ he’s- he’s super quiet, ‘n seemed pretty shy an’ easily intimidated, too. Though,” and this was said with a chuckle, “Nils talkin’ about ‘kidnapping’ him an’ chasin’ him an’ such prob’ly didn’t help any.”

“But he’s the one who gave me the letter. Like he gave Nils one, an’ then he just- he just handed me this.” Unfolded. A pause. “I still can’t- believe that I, I got- I got an actual letter. From home. I-I dunno how Josiah got it to anybody either, unless he- Well, no, we’d send people out to other towns to get supplies ‘n whatnot, so I suppose that he could’ve- sent it with them ‘n they… they found a courier or somethin’, but still… An actual letter.”

“I gotta write a reply to this.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #4

Click.

“Alright, how to start this one…? S’pose I should’ve thought of that before I started recording, huh? Hehe.”

“What I wanted to talk about this time was somethin’ that happened a couple weeks back now, I think. I was out walkin’ with Kale and-”

“Oh, I didn’t talk about Kale yet, did I? Should pro’bly do that.”

“So Kale’s been here a few weeks I think. Met him like… three weeks ago? Ish? He’s a li’l bit taller than me, and even though he doesn’t look older, he’s a whole ten years older ‘n me, which caught me entirely off-guard. Not as much a-” There was a pause that was started with a small breath of a laugh that gave way to silence for a couple of seconds. “He’s a magician, like… the kind that does card tricks ‘n stuff. He’s pretty good at it too, and… some of it involves real magic, apparently? Like okay there was one time the other day I was fixing his arm and he put a card out, face-up, and- oh, crap, ah- his arms are- they’re mechanical arms, it’s not- I’m not any sort of nurse or doctor-” A short laugh that sounded slightly nervous. “A-anyways, I was fixing one an’ he put a card down an’ told me to flip it down and back up, so I did, and it was a completely different card. I swear he didn’t touch it, I didn’t feel any sort of difference in the card, it just… it just changed. As I was holding it. And it was the coolest thing. So- yeah, he can use some real magic too, but I’m not sure how much. Anyways, he’s- he’s interesting; I like him. A little protective. …Yeah, yeah, he’s good. I like him.”

“-Ah, right. We were out walking. Well, we ran into Sytri while he was out hunting, and he’d just gotten a deer. So we ended up havin an almost picnic out there in the woods, just as the sun was setting. Kale ‘n I prepared veggies ‘n berries ‘n such that we’d had- some from Sytri and some from me because I’d brought some stuff to snack on, like. Carrots ‘n such. But yeah we had a nice li’l picnic, and the sun was setting, and us sittin’ there with a crackling fire and the smell of meat cooking… it was absolutely great. I didn’t really like where we were though; we were a bit close to Rival territory, but… None of them showed up, so it was alright. We just… talked. About all sorts’a things. Kinda wish we’d had some spices or sauce or somethin’ to put on the meat, though, but. It was an impromptu thing, y’know?” A short laugh. “We couldn’t have exactly prepared for it.”

“It was almost like a camping trip. ‘Cept we didn’t actually camp out. There’s no way I would’ve stayed there overnight.”

“…If it hadn’t been that close, though, it might’ve been kinda fun actually.”

“-Oh yeah! It came up that Kale did magic tricks and Sytri did one for us. He pulled his bird, Anton, outta nowhere. He put his jacket on and Anton came out of it, and then after a second went back in and he took the jacket off again, and the bird was just- gone. I dunno how he did that. Heh, maybe he uses some magic, too. …Prob’ly does, actually.”

“…Y’know… I… probably owe a lot to those two. I haven’t really been able to talk to all that many people since joining the Resistance, so… coming from li’l Willowdale, where everybody was family, suddenly being thrown into a place where I don’t know anybody and everybody’s busy enough to not have much time to talk is a bit… ah… jarring, you know? Just a little bit… I mean, I’ve met a couple others, but… Kale’s really the only one here I could say I’m even close to, and it’s only been a couple weeks, and then there’s Sytri, and I’ve only known him for just as long.”

“But still, without those guys, I… don’t know how well I’d be doing, honestly. I had a bad en- experience not too long after I joined, and… it freaked me out enough that it gave me nightmares for a good while. I still get ‘em every now and then. But… having people to talk to about stuff, it’s… helped a lot. I’ve been able to be more cheerful, and… and closer to my usual self. It’s… I’m really grateful to those guys. And- and I’ve been gettin’ to know someone else, too, her name’s Tab- seems she might become another friend.”

“…I know we’re in a war, but… I can’t help but look forward to the future ‘n gettin’ to know ‘em better.”

“Should make a buncha good memories together.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #3

Click.

“Figured I might as well go ahead and start talkin’ about these, since this stuff happened more recently and it’s fresher on my mind. I can go back and talk about village stuff later.”

“So. This was… a couple few weeks back, I don’t remember exactly when, but I was out flyin’ one day, just gettin’ fresh air ‘n having fun. I went out in an area I hadn’t really been in before and- it was neutral ground, I made sure of that, I don’t- wanna-” Cough. “I learned that lesson a while ago, to not get too close to Rivals territory. Unless it’s like- an order or something. But I wouldn’t be by myself if it was, and- …I’m getting sidetracked.”

“Ok so! I was out and about and there was this cliff thing that just kinda. Jutted up outta nowhere. So I’m like ‘huh, alright, let’s look at that’ and somethin’ caught my eye when I flew over it. I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me or something, but nope. I landed and went to go look and see and sure enough, I had seen right. There was this… little cabin just- out in the middle of the woods on top of this cliff. There’s this little spring by it, too, and it’s just… such a nice little place. I’ve said it before, but it’s the kinda place where if I lived there, since it’s so isolated ‘n- an’ calm ‘n everything, you could forget a war was even happening.”

“And then someone starts callin’ out asking if anyone’s there. Turns out the cabin’s still got someone living there- a blind hunter named Sytri. And yes, a blind. Hunter. He- it’s pretty impressive, honestly, he uses hearing and such to sorta ‘see’ everything and he hunts that way. Also he’s got a raven that stays with him called Anton, and he’s his own character on his own, heh.”

“Oh yeah, birds. So we kinda talk, exchange names ‘n pleasantries ‘n all that, and he somehow figured out I was a Resistance member, I still don’t know how. Again, impressive. But yeah after that he asks if I wanna help him feed the birds. So I’m like ‘awh yeah I’d like to feed some birds that sounds nice’ and tell him yeah sure, and he opens his door and all of these- crows start pouring out of the house; they were so thick I couldn’t hardly see through ‘em to the inside, and they just like. Swarm him. I almost thought they were attacking him for a second, honestly. But they didn’t, even though one of ‘em managed to cut his lip with a talon or something- and he pulls out raw meat and tosses it on the ground and they all swarm that instead. Tell you what, I’ve never really been all that scared around birds, but seein’ how they tore into that sure did make me a little nervous. And then he gives me a slice of the meat, still bloody ‘n everything, and boy I dropped that thing so fast.”

“But yeah, then we went inside and it was really nice. Cozy. I like it, I really do. His gun had somethin’ wrong with it- kept jamming- so I fixed it and we talked. He’s got the slightest hint of an accent, and it’s absolutely great. I like hearing him talk, though it was mostly him askin’ me questions, so I did a lotta the talking. He’s really nice. Honestly now I’d probably say he’s a close friend. That accidental visit started a thing, and I go visit him now every few days and we just sit and talk. About whatever. It’s relaxing, and it’s a nice- it’s a nice way to forget about the war for just a little bit, y’know?” A small sigh, but it’s a happy one. And when the voice resumes, it’s quiet mutterings.

“…Should I cut it off here or keep going…? Eh, I’ll cut it here.” And then back up to full volume. “So yeah! That’s when I met Sytri. Still visiting him ‘n such- it’s pretty great.”

“…Yup.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #2

Click.

“So… This is supposed to be… a bunch of good stuff. Uh. Good memories to think about, yeah.” A cough. “Heh, and now that I’ve sat down to record this, my mind’s gone entirely blank. I don’t remember what I was gonna talk about. Um.”

…

“Something back in the village… Dangit. I’m just gonna-” Rustling. “Oh, wait, no, there was-” A small laugh. “I don’t think this was what I was going to talk about, but- this just came to mind.”

“So I’ve got this friend, his name’s Josiah, he’s my age; he’s always wanted a horse, right? Thing is, for whatever reason, wild horses were never around, and the horses we used for traveling to other towns were both males, so. No chance of him gettin’ a horse from them either. And he didn’t have the money to buy one.”

“One day though, this was when we were like… fifteen? It was before I’d gotten my own house, at least. He comes runnin’ up to me talkin’ about how he actually saw some wild horses, and he’s gonna go catch one, and to not tell anybody because if any of the adults found out, they’d prob’ly try to stop him. And, well, me bein’ me, I decide the best way to not tell anybody is to go with him. We go back and forth on it a minute, but he does let me tag along.”

“It took us a good minute to get to where he’d seen ‘em, and… wow. Those were some pretty horses, I’m not gonna lie. But those things were huge, too. I swear they were bigger than the ones that we had back home. Thing is, we didn’t realize just how big they were ‘til we got up close to ‘em, and at that point, Josiah had come too far and he wasn’t gonna back down. He was determined to bring back one of these horses.”

“To his credit, he knew from bein’ around our horses back home that they were skittish, so he didn’t try to approach ‘em from behind… But that meant they saw him coming, and they’d take off whenever he got too close.”

“We were there in that field all day, and I was havin’ the time of my life watchin’ him try to catch himself one of these horses. There was- there was one point though where he did end up approaching a horse from kinda behind it and it kicked. The thing missed him by an inch, I swear it did. An inch. And then took off and he didn’t catch that one either. I think the closest he ever got was like- his fingers brushed one. But that was it.”

“And boy did Sheila let us have it when we got back. Goin’ on about how dangerous it was and how we could’ve been seriously hurt by one of those horses and how nobody had known where we’d gone and if we had gotten hurt nobody would’ve been able to help, and… On and on. We were grounded for runnin’ off like that for a week. Fifteen, and grounded. Heh. Prob’ly deserved that though, not even lettin’ anybody know where we were.”

“…I wonder about him. If he ever got himself enough money to buy a horse.”

“Oh. Oh, man. Just thinkin’ about- how furious Sheila’s gonna be when I get back. With how angry she was about us just running off into the field after some horses for only half a day… At least I left a note though, so they knew where I went off to.” A chuckle. “She’s gonna tear me a new one. …I swear, she’s the mom I never had. She was strictly against me callin’ her as much, though. Always sayin’ that no, my real parents were out there somewhere and that any day they’d come back lookin’ for me. …I still wonder why she said that. They never did show up.”

“…Anyways, that’s all for this one, I think.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Tape #1

Click.

“Alright, so…  I think this should… work now.” The sound of a throat being cleared.

“Right.”

“Um… I guess- I should start… at the beginning? …Not that I… really know what the beginning was for me- my first six years are… kinda a blur, heh. Don’t remember much about ‘em, just- a couple snippets here an’ there. A few specific memories, an’… a couple of vague things. I liked my- my dad’s laugh, I know that. I don’t remember what it sounded like, but I know I liked it.” A sigh. “Wish I could remember more than just a couple things, but… It only lasted ‘til I was six, y’know? Or- or maybe not even ‘til six, I dunno how long I was on my own, or- or how I even… made it to Willowdale, but… ‘s apparently what happened. Ask anybody, ‘n they’ll tell you that I just… wandered in one day, completely lost and alone. Just a li’l six-year-old, out by herself, doing who-knows-what, and come from who-knows-where.”

“So… that’s why I don’t have a last name that I can tell anyone; I mean I’ve gotta have one, I just… can’t remember it. Same goes for my birthday. I’m nineteen-ish; I didn’t know when my birthday was, so everybody just… decided to celebrate it on the date that I showed up- June 19th.”

“Yeah, so that’s my uh- beginning, I guess. I started living with a woman named Sheila for a bit, and… basically the entire village raised me. Wasn’t too big of a town, everybody knew each other and everybody was like family; it was great and I absolutely loved it. I mean, y’know, Sheila’s said I still had times where I would… I’d- cry for my parents, but…” A short moment of silence, and when the speaking resumed, it was quieter. “That’s… kinda expected, y’know?”

…

“A-anyway, I… got around the place a lot. Energetic and friendly- I fit right in, I think. I liked watching Tony in his shop; he was a mechanic. An actual mechanic, not like- not like me, I just… tinker around and get lucky, but… He was like. A professional or something. And if he wasn’t, he might as well have been. I liked to sit in and watch him work on all sorts of… random stuff. None of it ever made it out, but he didn’t really care- he just liked makin’ the stuff. And after a while, he let me tinker around, too.”

“One day, though, somebody brought in fireworks from the next town over, and we got to set ‘em off that night. I think that’s what got me hooked on explosives. They were absolutely gorgeous, all sorts of colors ‘n patterns ‘n such, and I loved ‘em. Whenever it was brought up later, Sheila would say that I’d gone on for days an’ days about the ‘pretty lights in the sky’ and wantin’ to see ‘em again. Didn’t see any more for a couple years, though. Apparently they’d gotten ‘em from a traveling friend, and he’d just happened to have been in town that day they went, so it was a while before they were able to get any more. After all, with the war goin’ on, nobody really… wanted to spend resources on fireworks, I guess. I mean it makes sense, it does.”

“That second time though, they actually brought the guy back with ‘em. An’ he lit ‘em off himself, made a big show of it, an’- man, it was gorgeous. I absolutely fell in love and begged him to stay an’ show me how he did it. And… long story short, he did. Always made sure I was doin’ everything right, ‘n it almost seemed like he was part of our big family, too. I’d alternate- one day I’d be over at Tony’s, one I’d be hangin’ out with Josiah, and another I’d be learning from Dan- the fireworks guy.”

“An’ I remember, one day, he asked if I’d like to learn somethin’ new. This was a good li’l ways down the road, after he’d stayed for a while. I think I was like… fourteen? Ish? Anyways, he pulled out this thing an’ says it’s called ‘military dynamite’. Showed me what that did and again, I was clamoring to know how he did it. Sheila hated it. Wanted me to have nothing to do with it. …But she still let me learn. Reason being that it was somethin’ I’d be good at, an’ she wanted me to be able to protect myself. It was somethin’ that was set off from a distance, an’ I think that was part of it, too. I wouldn’t have to get close to anybody else; I’d be safe from a ways off. So he started teachin’ me that, too.”

“Well. After that, I was set on being a demolitionist. Well, sorta. I didn’t know the term ‘demolitionist’ existed, I just knew I loved explosions ‘n the like. They were fun to make and fun to set off.” A laugh. “I’m sure the rest of the village wasn’t fond of the constant noise, but… We did all the testing ‘n such a good distance away from buildings, so nobody got hurt. I mean there were a couple times I’d be too close, and I- I did get burned a few times. Sheila- thank the gods for Sheila- she was always keepin’ an eye on me, and whenever anything happened, she was right there with cold water an’- and she’d always fix me right up, scolding me the entire time.”

“Eventually, I got some help to build myself a little house a good ways off from the village so I could mess around in peace, and the noise wouldn’t be too awfully bad for the rest of ‘em. That was when I was around… sixteen? Yeah, that sounds about right- sixteen.”

“So… yeah. Time passed; there was a skirmish nearby and it may or may not have been like. Right by my testing grounds, so… I ended up helping chase off some Rivals soldiers. Mostly inadvertently. That was really when I first saw anything of the war firsthand. I mean I’d heard some rumors, but… we were pretty isolated. Nobody ever really bothered our little corner of the world ‘til then. But that’s what made me decide to join. These guys took me in, raised me, when they knew nothing about me and could’ve just… left me, y’know? I had to pay it back somehow, an’… an’ doin’ what I could to make sure the Rivals didn’t win was the best way I could think of to do it. Besides, after seein’ that it’d reached even us, I… I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing, anyways.”

A nervous chuckle.

“I ah… didn’t exactly leave the best way, though. I snuck off. I mean, if I’d told anybody what I wanted to do, they’d’ve tried to stop me, so. I wrote a kinda long note about it and… left with those Resistance members I’d helped. And, y’know, living out by myself made it easier for that to go unnoticed ‘til after I was already gone, so… There was that, too. I don’t know that I could’ve gotten myself to leave if I had to say goodbye to everybody in person…”

“So anyways, that’s… that’s a sort of nutshell of everything about me livin’ back at home. A nice… first entry, I think. Let’s see if that worked.”

Click.

[yayforocs]

Episode 20 - Shopping District Shenanigans

[yayforocs]

i am so sorry to the folks that followed me bc i posted welsknight but i have just suddenly realized i never posted any (any!!!) of my aron tape recordings and now i must post All Of Them.

[yayforocs]

brain is whiplashing back into aron thoughts, this is from a convo aron and roxy had last session abt aron's headband. party found out it can tell her what species folks are and uhhhhh roxy does not want aron to find out what she is. aron already knows. roxy does not know this. aron intends to keep it that way.

[yayforocs]

i think i can die happy now