Emma has a tea party, the Patina takes two very different approaches to X Bike upgrades, and the Council continues to be a problem.
Emma has a tea party, the Patina takes two very different approaches to X Bike upgrades, and the Council continues to be a problem.
Cast:
- Marathon Messenger is played by Penn Van Batavia. She can be found on Twitter at @acquiredchaste and in drag as horror king JOHN on Instagram at @john.is.risen. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes SLICE *IT* OUT, a grisly carving RPG about cutting pieces of yourself out to fit in. Check out faer other work at pennharper.itch.io.
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. She is our wonderful editor. She’s also a contributing editor and occasional guest player for the Orpheus Protocol, a cosmic horror espionage actual play podcast. Find her on Twitter at @sydney_whitt.
- Emma Blackwood is played by Cameron Robertson. Find her on Twitter at @midnightmusic13 and on Instagram at @reading_and_dreaming. Cameron is also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
- Birdie Foundling is played by Kit Adames. Find her on Twitter at @venusvultures. Kit is also a voice actor and writer on Elevator Pitch Podcast, a queer genre-hopping anthology podcast that can be accessed on Spotify and YouTube.
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron and can also be found as a player on the Orpheus Protocol.
Music & Sound Credits:
- This podcast features the musical talents of Dora Violet and Arne Parrott. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett. You can find Arne at atptunes.com.
- old radio Channel search sound effect by Garuda1982. Link & License.
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- Clank 002.wav by yottasounds. Link & License.
- Riot Crowd Immersed in 5.1 Take 1 by MrProfDrDickweed. Link & License.
- Stuff Will Never Love You Back by Doctor Turtle. Link & License.
- The Ants Built A City On His Chest by Doctor Turtle. Link & License.
- Sleepers by Sergey Cheremisinov. Link & License.
Art Credits:
- The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @rashedjrs.
Find Us Online:
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A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Season 3 Episode 32: Cleaning Up Your Messes
Transcript by Cameron Robertson
Intro:
[hurdy gurdy music begins]
Nick: Welcome, listeners, to A Knight of Shreds and Patches. An immersive actual play podcast. This episode features the talents of –
Penn: Penn Van Batavia as Marathon Messenger and Gwendolyn Rozenthall.
Kit: Kit Adames as Birdie Foundling and Vaus Foundling.
Cameron: Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood and Janus Foundling.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard and Winifred Foundling.
Nick: Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.
Sydney: Hello listeners, this is your editor, Sydney, with today’s messages:
Thanks for being here! Our hearts are warm and fuzzy enough from seeing you that we’d actually stop to talk to you in a grocery store aisle, instead of just giving a polite wave and squeezing on past. That’s how much you matter.
And if you need any recommendations on the weekly specials, consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards, where something new pops up every Sunday.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into Season 3, Episode 32: Cleaning Up Your Messes. And so…
“Join us, for now our tale to yours attaches
To carry hope: a Knight of Shreds and Patches.”
[hurdy gurdy music ends]
[electronic beeping]
[robotic powerup noise begins]
Distorted Robotic Voice: Power restored. Systems online. Reconfiguring audio connection.
[robotic powerup noise fades to radio frequency static]
[over radio]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Last time on a Knight of Shreds and Patches, we sat in a room and metaphorically went round in circles. Wander had given us an offer to throw our next X Bike race, in exchange for us making the finals by what we only conclude was some combination of blackmail, assault, and huge sums of money. Why? Who knows. He's weird and scary, I guess.
Trying to flex his power over us the same way he can over everyone else, just because he can, just to see what we'll do. In this case, what we decided we'd do is tell him no. The convenience of being guaranteed the finals wasn't worth throwing away the Patina's good name in one of the few places we've earned one. We'd still have to do at least a couple races, even if they were just parading around like Wander's little peacocks, and then when we got to the finals, we'd barely have the experience to know we were going the right way. [sigh] Once we get that trophy and Winifred fixes the Knight, I'll be so excited to get back on the road away from all these politics and posturing.
Forests. I miss forests.
[radio static]
Sydney (as Karma): Meeting Log: Karma Jones, November 8.
Attendees: Karma Jones, Gwendolyn Rosenthall
Location: Sector 7, Official Balcony #3
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Nick: We see Emma and Rye, the handsome relative to Opal, the councilor, seated on a white stone balcony above Merchant's Ally. The crowd below is busy and jam packed as people shove their way through during one of the higher traffic times of day. There is a pair of double doors with glass windows showing a tea shop, of which you are on the second floor on a balcony overlooking the street. What does the interior of this tea shop look like where Emma and Rye have decided to meet up?
Cameron: The interior of this tea shop is full of contrasts. It feels somehow incredibly cozy, but from looking in it most definitely does not look like it would be cozy in any way, shape, or form. It's extremely lacking in color almost - white marble floors, white wainscoting on the walls with mirrors above it. It is very opulent in a minimal way. There's not a whole lot there, but what is there is incredibly high quality and makes you feel nervous that you're going to get it dirty by touching it. There are numerous tables scattered around the shop, as well as some areas with arm chairs and loveseats that are also all in this all white color palette, which isn't really a color palette if it's only white. It looks like a place for the higher class citizens of Sasnak Traveling to go and enjoy some time out in a way that kind of removes them from the natural mechanics of the city as a surrounding.
Nick: The table that Emma and Rye are seated at is small, fairly intimate. You're seated in wicker chairs and the table has a white linen tablecloth. Seated on the middle is an elegant silver stand of plates with little snacks and sandwiches and a silver tea service, and you both have beautiful china cups with steaming tea in front of you. Rye is wearing a slim cut tweed jacket over a very casual looking button down shirt that is open a couple of buttons at the neck. And he is wearing slacks and some loafers, and he has his legs crossed at the knee. He looks very relaxed around Emma and says,
Nick (as Rye): Well, I'm glad we got to meet up this week. It's been pretty hectic for me, but it is something that I really look forward to. I know that's really started to become a routine, and I appreciate that. How's how's life been with you lately? You went incommunicado for a few days there.
Cameron (as Emma): Um well,
Cameron: Emma pushes some hair behind one of her ears and sets an elbow on the table and leans her head into her hand a little bit.
Cameron (as Emma): Um - there - yeah, it - we had some adventures and um - yeah.
Cameron: And Emma leans back off of the table again and crosses her legs the other direction, and she's wearing a dark olive green skirt and a very light brown just past cream cardigan, along with her normal boots that she apparently just never takes off.
Nick (as Rye): Were you doing more work for my aunt?
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah. So we were - [laughing] and I'm not being cagey because of that - um it just didn't, it went down with more drama and um more excitement than was necessary for it. Um yeah, so we did a job for your aunt, and we we were, we were in the Guts and Marathon and I fell through the floor and disappeared into um, the bowels of Sasnak Traveling.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, shit.
Cameron (as Emma): [small laugh]
Nick (as Rye): Well, you are okay.
Cameron (as Emma): Uh huh.
Nick (as Rye): So that's good.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, um. Mhm.
Nick (as Rye): I've been down to the Guts a couple of times, but never really, deep. Really I've just been on, I guess, a sort of guided tour, a supervisory visit to the Drain Boys. I'm - I've heard what the real Guts is like, but I've never seen it.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah I wouldn't recommend necessarily as a fun outing location.
Nick (as Rye): Well, it's not necessarily about fun, it's - I feel like I've had this sheltered life of privilege and like there's more I should do, you know? And I don't even know what the actual people who live on Sasnak that aren't necessarily citizens have to deal with day to day, I've been so sheltered.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh~.
Nick (as Rye): Just wish I could understand a little better.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, so, so you, so you like, want to know like, Drain Boy living conditions?
Nick (as Rye): Um yeah, to start. Did you - did you interact with the Drain Boys a lot? I don't know if they frequently jump after people in death trap, pitfalls.
Cameron (as Emma): No, nope, that that did not happen. There were, I'd say there was less so much interactions as we saw them several times. First of all they're, at least all of the ones that we ran into, were like children.
Nick (as Rye): Well, yeah, that's why they're called the Drain Boys, right?
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, but there are adults in charge, though.
Nick (as Rye): Uh huh.
Cameron (as Emma): At least that's what I was led to believe. But they were, like, I said, we didn't really interact in a official capacity in any way. But yeah, I think the oldest, the oldest we saw was probably, like, maybe, maybe 15. We we definitely didn't almost get eaten by a nest of octopuses.
Nick (as Rye): See, that's so specific, though it kind of sounds like that you did almost get eaten by a nest of octopuses.
Cameron (as Emma): No, that would be silly. Why would I bring that up? Um,
Nick (as Rye): How many octopuses are down there? I've heard that there's a few, but -
Cameron (as Emma): [incredulous laugh] A few?
Nick (as Rye): - it's a water animal, right? That doesn't even make sense.
Cameron (as Emma): So that's what you would think, and that's yeah, uh huh, that that's what I had questions about. But they have adapted remarkably well to just gross, damp sewer conditions.
Nick (as Rye): Huh.
Cameron (as Emma): One of them fell off of / out of the ceiling, I'm not exactly sure, and just landed behind in the middle of our group, and then, like, tried to attack Marathon from behind, like, just as we were walking down a hallway.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, I've seen them in the Aquarium Dome before. They're they seem pretty cute, actually.
Cameron (as Emma): I can assure you, they're not as attractive out of water.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, kind of like a wet grocery bag, right?
Cameron (as Emma): I mean, kind of. I think that, I think that's a little bit more jellyfish, like, there's, there's more substance to them. And I don't, I don't know if the, if the Guts octopuses specifically have, like, bulked out, since they're wandering around in a mostly non-water setting, but like they're they're not small, and they are still ambush predators, even in the Guts, and were not concerned about going after things that were bigger than them. But like the nest we ran into was uh,
Cameron: And Emma looks around the tea shop.
Cameron (as Emma): The room was probably like twice the size of this one, maybe slightly more, definitely taller, but real, real big room and basically a carpet of octopuses, and that's not counting the ones that were on the walls.
Nick (as Rye): That's horrifying, actually. I hope you will think less of me if I actually do not want to see the real Guts anymore.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, see, that's why I'm I'm saying it's not a, it's not a destination that I'd recommend. But I do think that you could, you could definitely make a difference down there, just probably with policy stuff. Not with you going down there and directly interacting with the octopuses, because they do come in giant size too.
Nick (as Rye): So, oh yeah, I think -
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, ask me, ask me how big a giant octopus is, Rye? I can tell that you want to.
Nick (as Rye): How big is the giant octopus, Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, so it hugged Cassidy and -
Nick (as Rye): Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): - she had suction bruises like this big around.
Cameron: And Emma holds out her hands in front of her and is connecting her thumbs and pointer fingers.
Cameron (as Emma): Just slightly smaller than this. About that big around.
Nick (as Rye): Ouch. [grossed out and terrified noise]
Cameron (as Emma): And that was, that was the suckers on the arms.
Nick (as Rye): I I wish I did not know that.
Cameron (as Emma): Well now you do, and now you know that those things are down there and they hunt children.
Nick (as Rye): [long exhale] I think -
Cameron (as Emma): So you should do something about that Mr. I-live-here-and-my-aunt-is-a-council-person.
Nick (as Rye): I feel like it's so easy for me to think about like with the fencing training and survival training that I've gotten in my life, that I'll just walk down there and fix it with my two hands.
Cameron (as Emma): Wh-wh um.
Nick (as Rye): But actually doing some bigger change through social influencing would be a lot more impactful, and I know that, it's just hard to make my brain believe it.
Cameron (as Emma): Please, please don't wander down there with just a rapier.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, do you want to come?
Cameron (as Emma): Uh yeah. [duh]
Nick: He's smiling widely at Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): If you're gonna go by yourself, you're gonna need someone to protect you.
Nick: He takes a deep sip of tea and Rye puts a hand on one of Emma's hands.
Nick (as Rye): I was I was joking. I I'm not going to make you do an escort mission down through the Guts. I believe the stories you're telling me.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, because it didn't turn out very well for me last time.
Cameron: And Emma pulls her hand away and grabs a finger sandwich off of the trays.
Nick: Rye also grabs a finger sandwich and sticks the entire thing in his mouth and chews quickly.
Nick (as Rye): So it sounds like there's been a lot going on. When we talked before, there was a little bit of tension with your group. How's everyone doing? How are you doing with all that?
Cameron (as Emma): I'm doing fine.
Nick (as Rye): Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): I won't say [laugh] that Marathon and I falling through the floor and being missing for 24-ish hours didn't cause some increase in tensions.
Cameron: And Emma nods like she has portrayed this fact extremely well with those words she just said.
Nick (as Rye): Well, we don't we don't have to talk about it in any more detail, if you don't want to, that's, I'm just trying to learn a little bit more about you and how you're doing, because we're friends and I care about that sort of thing.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, like, it's, I'm, I think I'm doing good with everybody in the group. I can, I can tell that everybody is trying really hard to make a effort to keep everything very civil and respectful and kind, and that that has been a change since 'The Great Emma and Marathon Guts Adventure', but it's it's still, it does, does, does still feel a bit tense.
Nick (as Rye): Well, I would say, if there's anything I can do to help, to let me know, but
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, you're gonna go fix all the policy stuff with the Drain Boys to take care of the orphans.
Nick (as Rye): Yeah. I meant with like -
Cameron (as Emma): As discussed.
Nick (as Rye): - your group dynamics, but um
Cameron (as Emma): I think that would help some of us feel better. I don't know if it would help with the group dynamic. [laugh]
Nick (as Rye): All right, I'll see what I can convince my aunt to do. There's always chance for tax write offs with charitable donations, that sort of thing. I'll try to couch it in language that she understands.
Cameron (as Emma): Sounds like a plan.
Nick: Rye grabs two more finger sandwiches and shoves them in his mouth.
Nick: Around this time, Emma, you notice that the crowd down below the balcony has even more people in it than it did before, and that people are starting to shove and try to get out of the street and roll me a average Perception check.
Cameron: So for Perception I have two yellows, a green, and two purple.
[dice rolling]
Cameron: One success, four advantages.
Nick: Hmm. So what you notice is the crowd appears to be being herded into a sort of choke point. And near the edges of the view that you can see on either end of this road, there are some groups of private security - some of them are wearing red uniforms, and on the opposite side some are wearing black. And then, with those advantages what you notice as well is that there are some people not wearing private security uniforms that are mixed into the crowd that still walk like they're a member of security and appear to be shoving people and trying to get everyone riled up, instigating some sort of conflict down there.
Cameron: Emma seeing the rumbling occurring in the streets below leans over a little to take a more comprehensive view of the situation.
Cameron (as Emma): Well, that doesn't look great.
Nick (as Rye): What? What are you seeing? It just seems particularly busy.
Cameron (as Emma): Well, on that side,
Cameron: Emma points behind Rye,
Cameron (as Emma): There see all of the security personnel in red?
Nick (as Rye): Oh, yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): And then on this side,
Cameron: And Emma throws her thumb back to point behind her.
Cameron (as Emma): You see all of the security personnel in black uniforms?
Nick (as Rye): Oh, Croos damn it.
Cameron (as Emma): And then do you see all of those very obviously, like some sort of military training postures people just like pushing people down there in the middle.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, yeah.
Nick: And Emma, you hear Rye murmur under his breath.
Nick (as Rye): Opal, what are you doing?
Cameron (as Emma): Which color is she?
Nick (as Rye): She hires the black security forces. Those are usually who work with her.
Nick: And you see that the crowd is starting to get stirred up and crushed together, and there is definitely a pressure cooker happening down below that's probably going to break out into some sort of fight any minute.
Nick (as Rye): I would normally say we should call for security, but they're there.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhm. What - what do you do in this situation, if the security forces are the ones fighting? Is it like - do you call up the First Sword? Do you call in Ramp Girl reinforcements? Like
Nick (as Rye): Ramp Girls have -
Cameron (as Emma): Do you just say, 'eh I guess they're fighting' and just try to stay out of the way?
Nick (as Rye): Well, step one is our tea date is going to go longer than we expected, because we are not going down there.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhm.
Nick (as Rye): Step two would be the Ramp Girls have helped in the past, but this is something that the Swords are supposed to handle.
Nick: And as Rye says that, things down below come to a head, and you hear shouting, and the crowd is starting to shove, and you see some rocks being thrown and fighting, and the security on either end are getting closer to each other and starting to lay about with cudgels, and things are getting super out of hand really quickly.
Nick (as Rye): Hopefully some of the Swords are nearby.
Cameron (as Emma): Is that truly just a hope thing, or is there some sort of alert system that you can tell them something's going on?
Nick (as Rye): They have a surprisingly robust intel organization. I'm sure they were tracking on this. It's just how bad they think it's going to be, and if any of the Swords actually come down here to stop it, or if it just has to play out.
Penn: From a side road, we see Gwendolyn trundling down, fully encased in her armor, rushing to meet this riot clash of security forces. And we see her push past many bodies to get towards the middle of this pit of moshing bodies, and tries to separate them into two sides. Shout some words before getting consumed by this cluttered mass of violence.
Nick: And Emma, you see the tide of people get close and then slowly you see people start to back away from where Gwendolyn disappeared, and then start to run away, and the crowd is starting to leave as Gwendolyn appears to be person by person quelling this riot with her own strength of will and combat prowess.
Cameron (as Emma): Damn.
Nick (as Rye): Yep. She's First Sword for a reason. Pretty terrifying.
Nick: As the crowd is starting to clear, someone from the crowd seems to have had a burst of bravery and throws an elbow straight into Gwendolyn eye and her head rocks back.
Cameron (as Emma): [sympathetic pain noise]
Penn: A haggard Gwendolyn picks up her helmet that had fallen wayside during the battle, and uses it to smack this person across the face, letting her helmet fly again, before suplexing them backwards into the ground.
Nick: With that the budding riot has been quelled, people are still fighting in smaller groups. The shops have all closed up with their automatic shutters that are normally to protect them in a Turning, but what could have been a disaster is now a minor inconvenience for the population of Merchant's Alley thanks to the First Sword of Sasnak personally solving this problem with her own fists.
Cameron (as Emma): Well, I'm glad Gwendolyn was close.
Nick (as Rye): She has a particular talent for being where she's needed. Surprisingly.
Cameron (as Emma): Isn't that kind of her job? Why is it surprising?
Nick (as Rye): It's a big city. I'm not sure how she does it. Like it is her job, but it's difficult.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I guess it doesn't - it doesn't feel like that big a city. But I guess I also haven't really strayed very far from Merchant's Alley, besides like, going up. I haven't really gone to, like, any of the edges.
Nick (as Rye): Oh, yeah, we should tour the Tornado Corridor sometime. The winds out there very fun.
Cameron (as Emma): You know, the the name makes it sound like the winds aren't fun.
Nick (as Rye): Well, it's just a scare out of towners, you know?
Nick: He is grinning mischievously at Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, sure. Who - who are the red security forces working for?
Nick (as Rye): I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, okay, well, I know the you just said that the other group is Opal, and the only other council person's name that I know is Wander.
Nick: Rye taps the side of his nose and nods.
Nick (as Rye): It's always those two.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, didn't, didn't, didn't Opal like supposedly kill him?
Nick (as Rye): That's what I hear. She shot him multiple times. He was declared dead by the First Sword. But I guess it didn't stick.
Cameron (as Emma): That's odd.
Nick (as Rye): Sometimes weird things happen in Sasnak.
Cameron (as Emma): Have they been feuding like this for a while? I'm assuming it's feuding. That's what I think you would call the security forces fighting and shooting each other.
Nick (as Rye): They've butt heads before, but it's really increased for the last couple of months. I think they're both maneuvering for something big, but my aunt won't say her plans.
Cameron (as Emma): Hm.
Nick (as Rye): I don't know what they're trying to compete over, but usually when counselors get this overt, one of them is left standing by the end. It's hard to predict who it will be. Selfishly, I hope it's the person who pays for my lifestyle, but
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah so, I'm gonna - you know, based on what we've seen previously, Rye, I'm not feeling great about your aunt's chances against the guy who won't die even after he's declared dead.
Nick (as Rye): Maybe.
Cameron (as Emma): That just that just doesn't seem like normal human behavior.
Nick (as Rye): You're right. It isn't. But also, my aunt tends to learn from her mistakes. That's a big part of how she got where she was. She'll probably make extra sure next time, but hopefully it won't come to that.
Cameron (as Emma): Use a bigger gun?
Nick (as Rye): Yeah, or just put him somewhere where she can kill him over and over again until it does stick.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, that's morbid.
Nick (as Rye): She's efficient.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhm.
Nick: Rye looks a little uncomfortable and rubs his arms with both hands.
Nick (as Rye): Anyway, that's I'm a I don't really want to talk about that anymore. This, this tea sure is delicious.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhm. And these sandwiches, wow.
Nick (as Rye): And look, it looks like the First Sword is taking a little rest with the people that she's arrested. Isn't that sweet?
Nick: And you see down below that, Gwendolyn is sitting and breathing heavily amongst a crowd of unconscious rioters, looking just exhausted.
Cameron (as Emma): I don't, I don't - I don't know why you would want that job.
Nick (as Rye): Sense of duty, I imagine.
Nick: A couple more days pass. The parts promised by Opal were delivered shortly after completion of the job, but this is when the Patina is able to meet with Surge and Audrey to discuss how the parts will be used to upgrade their X Bikes before the next competition, which is coming up fairly soon. We see the garage with several open crates of X Bike parts. Both of the X Bikes are up on lifts for easy mechanical access, and the group is scattered around the shop discussing upgrade options.
Cameron (as Emma): All right, so I think the ones in this box at this point - Cassidy, I think if you're looking to maintain the lightness and maneuverability of your bike, I think we're going to want to compile things from these pieces for your upgrades. I think you'll get the most benefit while adding the least amount of weight for those. And Birdie, that box we sorted mostly the the heavier duty-er pieces, the more heavy duty pieces, that I think would handle a lot better on your bike. You've got the power to support them in a way that Cassidy's doesn't.
Sydney: Cassidy walks over to start looking down at the box of parts that she approximately knows what they do if they're on the outside of the bike, but it's still a pile of mechanical things.
Cameron (as Emma): And I'm not presenting these boxes to you to say, look through them and tell me what parts you want to add to your bike. I've just - these are our starting places.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That's a carburetor. Look, I've learned a thing.
Cameron (as Emma): No, it's not. [laugh] It's fine. You've got, you've got three of us here to assist. These are just how we think they'd pair best with the bikes, but if you talk through any specific things you would like to improve about your bike, we can compile what we're doing with it from there. You do not need to know what any of these are. It is fine. Don't worry about it.
Sydney: Cassidy backs up from the box, having been chastened by that the one thing that she thought she knew she didn't.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right, cool.
Nick: Surge has walked over to the crate of parts where Emma is sorting through.
Nick (as Surge): So if you're working on those parts, I can start on the other bike. We could just sort of divide and conquer. I know your work's as good as mine at this point anyway, I'm not feeling overly protective or anything, although it hurts to admit.
Cameron (as Emma): That. works for me. I've got no preference on which bike to work on, so if you feel the same way, I can stick over here with Cassidy and you can go for the beefier bike.
Nick (as Surge): So Birdie, we're probably going to strip this thing all the way down to the studs, remake it like new.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh.
Nick (as Surge): How much power do you want?
Kit (as Birdie): Um.
Nick (as Surge): How much maneuverability do you still want?
Kit (as Birdie): Like, completely, to take it apart and like, it's gonna, it's going to look different?
Nick (as Surge): Well, I mean, it'll still be the same color, but that's how upgrades work. It'll be, I don't - I'm not much one to debate how many parts have to be replaced before it's a totally new bike, but it's going to be getting a lot of work if, if you want to win. If you want it to be faster, stronger, better.
Kit (as Birdie): Um, yeah. Yeah, sorry. [uncomfortable short laugh] Okay. Um.
Kit: And Birdie is looking between the box of new parts and the bike that she inherited from Zan and having the realization that it's no longer going to be Zan's bike, but her bike dawn on her just now in this moment, and she looks very nervous and is starting to bite at her lower lip. Off to the side, Audrey catches this interaction happen and will come up to Surge gently pat them on the back and whisper in their ear.
Kit (as Audrey): [whisper] She she seems a little nervous. You should talk to her.
Kit: And then walk away towards Emma immediately, before Surge can respond.
Nick: Surge makes a face at Audrey's back and mumbles,
Nick (as Surge): Traitor.
Kit: Audrey has a big smiley face painted on the back of her overalls.
Sydney (as Cassidy): All right, Emma, then just give me the breakdown of every trade off we can make, and I'll figure out what I want. If I if I don't know the parts enough. [laugh]
Cameron (as Emma): Do you want to go fast? Do you want to jump good?
Sydney (as Cassidy): No, but you have to tell me, if I -
Cameron (as Emma): Do you want to do twist spinnies?
Sydney (as Cassidy): - if we go fast, how much am I giving up of the handling in the corners, and how much am I giving up on, like, the acceleration versus the max speed with like, messing with the gear ratios? Because I know enough to be dangerous.
Cameron (as Emma): Well, it depends on what all else we change!
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, and that's -
Cameron (as Emma): We've got a lot of variables we're working with here.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That's so you need to lay out the variables for me so I can make an educated decision.
Kit (as Audrey): Um, Emma,
Cameron (as Emma): Okay Audrey, I need your help making a spreadsheet.
Kit (as Audrey): Yeah. Um, if you want to, we can go through everything. I don't mind doing that.
Cameron (as Emma): [tired already] Yeah.
Kit (as Audrey): It means you'll be closer to your bike's spirit, and you guys will be better friends, and you can race better.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, exactly. It's important for me to be aligned, to leverage our synergies.
Kit (as Audrey): Exactly~.
Cameron (as Emma): My gosh.
Nick: While this conversation is happening, Surge puts a hand on Birdie's shoulder.
Nick (as Surge): Hey, uh, while they're talking about that, you want to go for a quick walk, get some air?
Kit (as Birdie): Oh yeah, okay, yeah, sorry, I don't - I trust you. This isn't about like, anything with -
Nick (as Surge): Oh no, I know. Um, we're - come on. Let's go.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay.
Nick: And Surge walks outside to the crisp air of the afternoon. There are a couple of other garages open with sounds of mechanical work coming from the inside, but it's fairly quiet and deserted, and Surge waits for Birdie to catch up before setting a gentle pace down the walkway. They've got their hands in the pockets of their coveralls and are looking down at their feet as they scuff their boots along.
Nick (as Surge): So what's going on? We this is supposed to be like a really exciting and good thing. I've never seen a racer unhappy about the idea of upgrades. Talk to me.
Kit: Birdie is giving the expression of someone who was caught in the middle of like shoplifting or something. She looks very surprised and bad at concealing it.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh. Um.
Nick (as Surge): What? You don't think I have emotional intelligence just because I'm a little bit crabby on the outside? I'm very observant.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh no, no. This isn't about - it's not it's not necessarily about you as like a person. I just I thought I was being more stealthy than that.
Nick (as Surge): I spend a lot of time trying to see how people are actually feeling behind their facade. And Audrey is a big old coward, so I want to make sure you're okay. I'm supposed to take care of riders, and you're one of my riders, so
Kit (as Birdie): Well, thank you. Yeah uh, bikes not mine originally. Belonged to um, my uh - someone I grew up with and I really looked up to, and, you know, they died. So
Nick (as Surge): Who was it?
Kit (as Birdie): Named Zan Foundling. They were a pain in the ass and a stupid good X Bike racer.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah, I think that name rings a bell.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Nick (as Surge): I remember they just stopped racing one time. I never really heard about them after that. I'm sorry to hear that. That's, that's rough.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, it's fine. Um,
Nick (as Surge): Well, clearly it's not fine. That fucking sucks, and that's okay.
Kit (as Birdie): Well, yeah, yeah. But, um yeah, I mean, it's like, I got, I got my bike from them. I got my racing name for them. I got, I just, I don't know. It's like, it's the complicated feeling of getting passed down something that you knew was so important to, I mean, like it was their baby, like no one else can touch it my baby, and they don't even know that I'm using it, like they didn't give it to me or anything. It wasn't like, passed down to me or whatever the keys were like, welded into a wall in the Guts to make sure that - I don't know. So it's complicated, I guess, in the best and easiest of terms, but, you know, it's kind of like a - I think it would be healthy for me to accept that change is going to happen inevitably and move on from it, but it's easier said than done, right?
Nick (as Surge): Yeah. Um, first of all, congratulations on the self awareness. There is not a very big portion of the population that has any sort of self awareness, so that's good.
Kit (as Birdie): Thanks.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah, and it doesn't help, right? Like knowing that doesn't make you feel any better. That's one of the shitty things. I know how you feel, not for any direct parallels, but that feeling of knowing that something is going to happen, that you're unhappy about it, but that it's going to happen anyway, but that feeling of guilt that maybe you shouldn't feel bad. Don't feed that fire if you can.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Nick (as Surge): It's okay to just let it ride. So we could leave the bike exactly how it is, and you will lose -
Kit (as Birdie): [soft laugh]
Nick (as Surge): - and you might get hurt. I would rather not do that one.
Kit (as Birdie): I think Zan would hate me losing on their bike and me changing their bike more, so
Nick (as Surge): Okay, so there's, there's a sort of, like philosophical thing called, have you heard of the Bike of Mike?
Kit (as Birdie): I feel like Zan told me about that as like a mythical bike that rides around with no rider. So maybe I'm misremembering.
Nick (as Surge): No, that's Spike the Bike. That's a different thing.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh, I see. [laugh]
Nick (as Surge): The Bike of Mike is, if you have an X Bike and you've taken off parts and replaced them with new parts, at what point is that not the same X Bike anymore? Is it when you've replaced every single part? Is it when half of the parts are replaced? Is it one part? Like at what point is the spirit of the bike different? And then secondarily to that, which isn't as relevant, abut if you've taken every single old part off of this bike, and then you reassemble all the old parts into a different bike, is that bike the Bike of Mike? Which one is the original Bike of Mike? You see kind of the thought process there?
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do.
Kit: And Birdie is nodding her head as she points her fingers in different directions and is mouthing the words that they're saying back to understand which bike parts are where in the metaphor.
Kit (as Birdie): Um, yeah. So it's kind of about like, I guess in a way, it's like where does the legacy go if the actual object attached to the legacy is replaced,
Nick (as Surge): Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): and it's in your heart, I'm sure.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah, the real Bike of Mike is the bike we've [overlapping] made along the way.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] made along the way. Mhm.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah. So it's a fun thing to think about, and it's also kind of dumb. But what if we could preserve some part of the bike so that that spirit is still there? That you can feel like some part of your sibling is with you on the track. We could keep the handle bars the same, or if there's enough parts that we've taken off, I could assemble something specifically out of those.
Kit (as Birdie): Is there a part that's small enough to make into, like jewelry or something? I don't know about anything about bike construction.
Nick (as Surge): Oh, yeah, we can. We can make you all sorts of stuff out of leftover parts you want. What? Like a necklace, a choker, a tiara, a ring, a -
Kit (as Birdie): I was just thinking like earrings, but
Nick (as Surge): Surge is listing things on fingers as they make the list.
Kit (as Birdie): I'll just, I'll take like, something just small enough to be like,
Kit: And she'll make a circle between her forefinger and her thumb that's about the size of a ping pong ball.
Kit (as Birdie): Just something around, around that size would be good. I maybe just something to physically carry with me also would kind of help maybe, you know?
Nick (as Surge): Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah, we can do that. That should be doable.
Kit (as Birdie): You know, Surge, I was just gonna say that, I'm sure you already know this, but it's always nice to say, that processing grief sucks and it's hard.
Nick (as Surge): Yep.
Kit (as Birdie): Boo.
Nick (as Surge): Boo indeed.
Kit (as Birdie): But thank you for talking to me about it. It does make me feel better to kind of just process out loud, I guess,.
Nick (as Surge): Yeah and I don't know if it would help at all, but I think you're doing a really good job. You're really supporting the rest of your crew while you work through this stuff. I don't think any of them noticed, or they'd probably be out here having this conversation instead.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, I mean, you know, you can have the same conversation about, man, this sucks with people as much as you want, but you know it's, I don't want to like - everyone's lost someone. It's good to just let it be after a moment, I guess.
Nick: There's a loud clanging noise from the Patina's mechanic bay, and Surge whips around to look and says,
Nick (as Surge): I need to go see what that was. Do you want to come or do you want to take a second? Both are fine.
Kit (as Birdie): Uh -
Nick: And Surge is shifting back and forth from one leg to the other.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah um, yeah, I'll come back with you. We're good.
Kit: And in the distance you hear Audrey go,
Kit (as Audrey): [from a distance] Wasn't my fault Surge!
Nick (as Surge): Oh boy. That was definitely her fault. Go, go, go.
Nick: And Surge goes jogging back towards the motorcycle bay. And when the two of you get to the doorway, you see that one of the boxes of parts has been spilled and they are scattered across the floor of the garage.
Nick (as Surge): I can't believe that that would happen. Who would possibly be so careless as to knock all of that over? That is worth more than a year's salary for most mechanics.
Kit (as Audrey): The woman you love with all your heart?
Nick (as Surge): Mmmm.
Kit: Audrey smiles so big.
Cameron: Emma has a whiteboard and is drawing out a giant graph explaining to Cassidy what all of the different variables they can alter on the bike are to tune it exactly where she wants.
Sydney: Cassidy is pointing to things and nodding to Emma and looking up into the air as she's trying to hold these variables in her head.
Penn: The garage door that's been open to allow a little bit of circulation while preparations are being made on the bikes grows a little darker as Marathon's silhouette re-enters the garage. As she walks in, she's got her arms full of cans and icy treats.
Penn (as Marathon): Y'all, I brought super soda and popsicles. That's what I'm bringing to this. Who wants grapefruit?
Cameron: Emma has both hands on our forehead.
Cameron (as Emma): [tired] We appreciate you, Marion. Marathon - just left out the "th" in the middle of your name. That's how tired Cassidy is making me having to explain all of this.
Sydney: Cassidy jogs over to grab a couple that look like they might be getting away.
Penn (as Marathon): Ope. Thank you. Thank you. And take your favorite. How's the spreadsheet?
Sydney: Cassidy gives Marathon a quick peck on the lips before going back to work.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Sorry, my favorite.
Penn: Marathon's eyes flutter a little bit before she regains composure to pass out sodas.
Sydney: [laughing] And then Cassidy goes back to and points at the whiteboard.
Sydney (as Cassidy): We're working on it.
Cameron (as Emma): That was adorable. It's only been 10 minutes and I'm so tired.
Nick (as Surge): Audrey doesn't get a soda until we finish picking up these parts.
Kit (as Audrey): What the fuck?
Nick (as Surge): Well get started. I'll help because I love you.
Kit (as Audrey): Aww~, you do care.
Penn: Marathon has set some of the treats on a grimy table and palms a caffeinated super cola and tosses it underhand under one of her legs over to Emma.
Penn (as Marathon): Caffeine boost coming up.
Cameron (as Emma): [tired] You're my - you're my new favorite person.
Kit: Birdie is sitting content with her banana flavored soda and watching everyone.
Nick: Next we find ourselves in a large, darkened room near the heart of Sasnak Traveling. There is a glossy black table surrounded by tall back chairs, and we see a group of council members who have been called to this meeting by the First Sword of Sasnak, Gwendolyn.
Penn: Gwendolyn, her armor now scuffed and dented and a big shiner on her face, lifts her sword from her back and holds it over the table.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): I call this emergency meeting of the Steering Committee to order, and I would like to propose discussing the recent security riots that have been slowly spreading throughout the city.
Penn: And she takes the giant sword and slides it back into the sheath on her back.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): And you know what I would like to do that as well.
Kit: The camera pans to a long square nailed hand raising a single finger up into the air, and zooms out on a woman with long blonde hair thrown up in a very messy updo with grown out dishwater, blonde slash brown roots. She's very tan - it's a little patchy in some areas, and she's got bright blue eyeshadow and very thick eyeliner. And she's chewing gum.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): I would like to call to order why there was a kerfuffle outside of my deli this morning? Does anyone have anything they would like to say?
Penn (as Gwendolyn): I apologize that the fighting bled out there. I broke it up as fast as I could. Apologies Councilperson Esposito.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): It's not your fault, Gwendolyn. I'm talking to everyone else at this table.
Kit: And she shoots a look at Opal.
Sydney: The councilor next to Councilor Esposito leans forward. This is a strongly built masculine figure with long, wavy hair and stubble, wearing a crumpley blue dress shirt with the top button open. He leans forward onto the table.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): Last week, there was people rampaging through the corn fields. You can't let that happen in the Ag Domes.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Councilpersons Wander, Councilpersons Opal - do you have anything to say to Councilpersons Ramirez and Councilpersons Esposito?
Nick (as Wander): Yes Councilor Opal, what do you have to say for yourself?
Nick: And Wander is wearing black robes and looks like the shadows of the room have coalesced into his chair. The lighting further highlights how gaunt his face is and his teeth look especially sharp. It's like he was designed for this room.
Penn: As Gwendolyn's eyes settle on Wander, she almost averts her gaze, her eyes continuing to be drawn to the spot on the table, now totally clean, where Wander once lay dead.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Oh, my god, this guy again. Jeez.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): Don't push everything off onto Opal, take some responsibility for your people out there.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Or like, apologize.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): People's food is at stake.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Yeah, what he said.
Cameron: Opal has been seated with her hands resting on the table with her fingers interlaced, just very calmly, and when Wander calls her out, her eyes drift to the spot where his dead body once lay and then continue on to where he's seated at the table.
Cameron (as Opal): [sigh] Believe we've had this conversation before, Wander. I don't know why you're constantly asking me.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): I have a different question.
Penn: Gwendolyn looks away from staring at that same spot at the table.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): What is this even about anymore? What can we put on the agenda for the next big council meeting to get this fucking over with. Look at my eye. Look at my armor. I'm sick of running around the city cleaning up your messes.
Nick (as Wander): The way to resolve this would be for Councilor Opal to stop acting like a petulant child that lost one of her toys.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Doing what!?
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Oh my god.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): What is she doing?
Cameron (as Opal): Whose toy are you referring to Wander?
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Enough with the vagaries.
Nick (as Wander): Just because I was able to offer a contract to her best X Bike racer,
Cameron (as Opal): Oh my gosh.
Nick (as Wander): - doesn't mean that she should be inciting violence in our streets. My security forces were acting in self defense.
Cameron (as Opal): Why were your security forces there?
Nick (as Wander): Why were your security forces there, Opal?
Cameron (as Opal): Because my office is right there, Wander. My security forces are often there.
Nick (as Wander): My office is like nearby.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Do you have offices all over the city?
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): What's your excuse for the Ag Domes?
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Yeah?
Cameron (as Opal): I've never sent my security forces to the Ag Domes. There's no reason to go there. They are not doing any Ag.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): Then who's smashing up the crops?
Nick (as Wander): Opal, are you suggesting that my security forces are fighting themselves? That seems a little far fetched.
Cameron (as Opal): No, I don't know who's in the Ag Domes.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): The two of you are obviously arguing about something that means nothing to the rest of us. I have a business to run. I'm a career woman. I got a family at home, but you two are playing around with things that affect other people's lives. So just get done with whatever you two need to do to solve this and quit sending people in places they don't belong. That's what we're trying to say.
Kit: She snaps a bubble on her bubble gum.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Thank you. Councilperson Esposito.
Nick: Wander snaps a salute to Councilor Esposito and says,
Nick (as Wander): Yes, ma'am.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Oh, don't give me that. Don't waste my time anymore. I gotta go get Mclaughley down for a nap soon. So,
Penn (as Gwendolyn): And I don't want to disrespect your time, but I want to make sure that we have a resolution here, something we can either add to the agenda to discuss at the next meeting, or some sort of agreement that we can broker right now to make sure that everybody's getting just a little bit of what they want, and we can stop all these security clashes throughout the city. It's getting unmanageable.
Nick (as Wander): First Sword, you might be able to at least delay hostilities by adding to the agenda discussion of the prize for the X Bike championship. Maybe a bigger pot would give us a slightly less violent avenue for conflict resolution.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): [sigh]
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): Where's that money coming from?
Nick (as Wander): That would be something that we would have to discuss in the greater council, would be funding, but we could find something.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): So it's just a bribe from the rest of the council to make you stop breaking things?
Nick (as Wander): It is not necessarily going to go to either of us. It would go to the winner of the competition.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): You just said you -
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Who you're already paying?
Cameron (as Opal): You have the current champion as your racer, Wander.
Nick (as Wander): No for the next championship, the one in a few weeks.
Cameron (as Opal): Yes, I'm saying you have the champion racer right now from last year as your racer, that does seem like it would be a bribe to you, as you have the best chance of winning again.
Nick (as Wander): You wanted suggestions. That's mine.
Nick: And Wander pushes back from the table and turns to go.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): No wait!
Nick (as Wander): Now if there's nothing else.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): We're definitely not done. We just started this shit.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Why does he get to leave?
Nick (as Wander): I don't think I could add anything more to the conversation.
Nick: And Wander starts to leave and then, as he's passing Gwendolyn, he puts a hand on her shoulder and leans in and says quietly,
Nick (as Wander): Neither of our security forces were in the Agra Domes. It's easy to blame the two biggest conflicts and settle old scores.
Nick: And Wander leaves the room.
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): For a guy that looks like an overgrown corpse, he sure does act like a kid.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Okay, everybody -
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): I gotta go pick up Axelrod from school.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Okay now this meeting is definitely not over. Just because Wander is walking out doesn't mean everybody else can walk out right now.
Sydney (as Curt Ramirez): Well, it sounds like the terms are we're paying protection money to not get our stuff blown up. Great. I lost the drawing of lots to be here and listen to you assholes. Let me take it back.
Sydney: And Ramirez starts standing up to head out and deliver the news.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): But we're - it's not over.
Cameron (as Opal): I would just like it logged that I don't require any protection money.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): We haven't found any sort of resolution. Please sit down Councilpeople.
Kit: Councilperson Esposito will stand up, but lean over the table and say,
Kit (as Meredith Esposito): Whenever the others decide to quit having their confrontations in my area, then we can talk. But one of the people at fault just left, so I don't see a reason for me to be here anymore.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): [bit pitiful] Oh god, but how are they gonna stop?
Kit: And she shoulders the world's tiniest purse and walks away.
Sydney: And Ramirez points at her back and then walks away, following.
Penn: Gwendolyn, seeing them leave without being able to stop them, puts both palms on the table and leans over and just takes the world's deepest breath out.
Cameron: Opal has remained unmoving and is still seated exactly as she was at the table.
Penn: After keeping her eyes tightly closed, Gwendolyn finally opens them back up and lifts her head to see Opal still sitting there.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): [surprised huff] Councilperson Opal, I thought you would have left too, but no um, is there anything we can do from your side of things to close this confrontation, or is there just no confrontations happening in the city according to you as well?
Cameron (as Opal): There's definitely confrontations happening in the city, First Sword. I will - from my side at least, I will try to keep a closer eye or tighter leash on my security forces. The - I'm afraid the group involved in the altercation today was my grandnephew's security force and he was nearby and yep, I will have them remain closer to their person they're supposed to be guarding, and make sure that everyone knows not to leave their security details in the street where they can encounter other security forces.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Okay.
Cameron (as Opal): I truly know nothing about the Agra Domes, though.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Of course.
Cameron (as Opal): I believe I went there once on a field trip when I was like seven.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Oh, I remember, yep. The corn day, the corn day.
Cameron (as Opal): Yeah, yeah. There's no reason for me to disrupt the suppliers of all of my businesses. So I'll own up to altercations between mine and Wander's security forces within Merchant's Alley, but that I do not know what Curt is talking about.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): [clears throat] Well, I appreciate that you're willing to concede that. And I would like just, I would love to see some action, less confrontations. They're they're not. Of course, there's nothing I couldn't manage, my and my team couldn't manage, but you have to understand,
Penn: And Gwendolyn is going into charm mode.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): We have to, you know, we we just want to maintain the appearance of a static city.
Cameron (as Opal): It is in my best interest for my security people to not be beaten up by you, as I then have to pay for their medical leave. So
Penn: And Gwendolyn gives a little snort.
Cameron (as Opal): I'm fully with you there.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): I - okay, okay. And as long as you're tightening leashes, just keep an eye on your new pet Patina. I know, I know they're change makers.
Cameron (as Opal): Have they been getting into fights in the street? I have not heard anything about that.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): No fights in the street.
Cameron (as Opal): Oh, good.
Penn: Gwendolyn gives a little smirk.
Cameron: Opal looks very relieved.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Anyway, I forget what I'm saying. I just keep it out of the streets again, please. I'm begging you. And if, and you know what, [conspiratorially] if you kill him, make sure he stays dead next time.
Cameron (as Opal): I don't know what more you want me to do, Gwendolyn. How, how many times did I shoot him? You saw him. I saw him.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): A lethal amount, yes.
Cameron (as Opal): My people who carted off his body saw him. I don't I don't understand. I thought we I thought we were done.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Did they actually cart off his body?
Cameron (as Opal): Yes!
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Hmm.
Cameron (as Opal): And they cleaned and repaired the table. I don't, I don't understand. Um, I'm very put out.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): I am as well.
Penn: And Gwendolyn, perplexedly flops down into one of the council chairs.
Penn (as Gwendolyn): Um, well, I don't see what I can do from here. I guess meeting adjourned, as much as that matters.
Cameron (as Opal): I will endeavor to not make your life more difficult. However, with Wander existing, I don't know how much control I truly have over that, but I shall endeavor.
Penn: And Gwendolyn sinks a little bit further in the chair as Opal prepares to leave, even though she's one of the strongest biggest Swords in the city, feeling like one of the smallest people that can live.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Penn (as Marathon): Welcome back folks, you’re tuned to Going the Distance: Traveler’s Guide on road dial 1558. That’s a wrap on today’s log and we’re set to loop after these considerations. Further detail for the following is cataloged in the show notes.
This has been A Knight of Shreds and Patches, an actual play podcast using the Genesys game system from Fantasy Flight Games. The show is edited by Sydney Whittington, and features the talents of:
Kit Adames as Birdie. Kit can be found on Twitter and Instagram @ venusvultures. Kit is also a voice actor for Elevator Pitch Podcast, a queer genre-hopping anthology podcast that can be accessed on Spotify and YouTube.
Penn Van Batavia as Marathon. She can be found on Twitter @ acquiredchaste and in drag as horror king JOHN on Instagram @ john.is.risen. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes SLICE IT OUT, a grisly carving RPG about cutting pieces of yourself out to fit in. Check out faer other work at pennharper.itch.io.
Sydney Whittington as Cassidy. Sydney can be found on our Discord server, which is linked in the show notes, and on Twitter @ sydney_whitt. She’s also a contributing editor and occasional guest player for the Orpheus Protocol, a cosmic horror espionage actual play podcast.
Cameron Robertson as Emma. Cameron can be found on Twitter @ midnightmusic13 and on Instagram @ reading_and_dreaming. Cameron is also a player on Tabletop Squadron, a Star Wars Edge of the Empire actual play podcast.
And Nick Robertson as narrator. Nick can be found on Twitter @ alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron. Nick can also be found as a player on the Orpheus Protocol.
This podcast features the musical talents of Dora Violet and Arne Parrott. You can find Dora at facebook.com/doraviolett. You can find Arne at atptunes.com.
The official artwork for this podcast was created by Rashed AlAkroka, who can be found on Instagram and Artstation @ rashedjrs.
You can follow the Patina on Twitter @ akosap_podcast or visit the website: www.akosap.com. To further support the show, consider joining the Patreon at www.patreon.com/AKoSaP, where we’ll be bringing you weekly content including bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards.
Until you tune back…
…stay bold and stay kind