The Patina is reminded of old memories and makes some new ones as they get back on the road.
The Patina is reminded of old memories and makes some new ones as they get back on the road.
Announcements:
- Special thanks to Fern on our discord for continuing to provide wonderful contributions to Pallie’s romance novel collection. If anyone else would like to join the fun and submit romance novel excerpts that they’ve written to potentially be read by the Patina, please email knightofshredsandpatches@gmail.com.
- Thanks to Ben R. for the wonderful tabletop game “Pull Over, I Need to Pee”, about the interstitial moments between chapters, the moments that are usually skipped, overlooked, or deemed not important enough. Behind the scenes, we used this to help spark some of our narrative direction this episode, though the gameplay itself didn’t make it in. You can find the game here: Pull Over, I Need to Pee.
Cast:
- Pallie Fisher is played by Rhi. Find her on Twitter at @rhiannon42 Rhi is the GM and producer of The Magpies, a Blades in the Dark actual play podcast, and the owner of Skill Check, a document accessibility service for the RPG community.
- Marathon Messenger is played by Penn Van Batavia. She's an indie TTRPG designer who just launched a new game, Wasmannian, a solo RPG about bees, wasps, and otherness in a binary world. You can find Penn on Twitter at @acquiredchaste.
- Cassidy Shard is played by Sydney Whittington. She also edits the show. 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.
- Our GM and narrator is Nick Robertson. Find him on Twitter at @alias58. Nick is also the GM for Tabletop Squadron, which you can support at Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron. Nick 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.
- France » Rain Under Canvas by kernowrules. Link & License.
- Rusty Old Wheel (Loop) by Oneirophile. Link & License.
- MONSTER horror sounds » 10263 resonating metal horror screech.wav by Robinhood76. Link & License.
- Which That Is This? (Long Version) by Doctor Turtle. Link & License.
- First Day of Spring by David Hilowitz. 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:
- Our Website
- Twitter
- Join our Patreon
- Join our Discord
A Knight of Shreds and Patches Transcript
Season 2 Episode 29:
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.
Kit: Kit Adames as Birdie Foundling.
Cameron: Cameron Robertson as Emma Blackwood.
Sydney: Sydney Whittington as Cassidy Shard.
Nick: Nick Robertson as GM and Narrator.
Sydney: Hello listeners, this is your editor, Sydney, with today’s messages:
Thanks again to our lovely Fern for feeding our in-show romance novel addiction. Us and our characters both can’t wait to read, nay, *experience* the next stop in our shared literary journey.
Thanks again to Ben R. for the wonderful tabletop game “Pull Over, I Need to Pee”, about the interstitial moments between chapters, the moments that are usually skipped, overlooked, or deemed not important enough. Like last time, we used it behind the scenes to help shape some of our road trip scenes. The link to the game can be found in the show notes.
We’ve also got some new merch in our TeePublic store! You can join the official Patina Book Club, or get our new pride logo featuring the knight on gear from t-shirts and hoodies to stickers and mugs. And if you’re more looking for new content instead of physical gear, consider backing our Patreon, which gives you access to bonus episodes, campfire conversations, and other fun rewards.
And with that, we wrap up today’s announcements and head into Season 2, Episode 29: Happiness in the Memories. 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]
Penn (as Marathon): Last time on a Knight of Shreds and Patches, I officially was inducted into the Patina, very excitingly. In other unfortunate news, I did have to release Sports out into the wild, my pet Jolly Jogger. Well not my pet anymore. I’m sure he’s living a very exciting nice life and um, yeah we’re uh, we planned out a little bit of a, our path forward trying to get to this mysterious signal I heard about, this airship we’re hunting down, so that’s very exciting. But before that we’re gonna try to maybe hit Sasnak Traveling, a giant moving city, which coincidentally is where Birdie is from. So that’s kinda the plan, but uh who knows what’s gonna happen? I’m just thankful to be on the freaking team! Ahh this is so exciting.
[radio static]
Episode Start:
Rhi (as Pallie): [over speaker] Well. We’ve officially been banned from Mellow Tone for five years. First time I’ve been exiled from a place. (heavy sigh) Not like we were gonna stick around forever, but… it’s an option we’ve lost. I don’t like havin’ doors closed. No point in lingerin' on it, I s’pose. We’re camped out on the way to… honestly, not quite sure yet. Away. We’ll find work, I’m sure. We always do.
Had to hike quite a ways outta camp to record this. Hell of a lot of us these days. Gwendolyn’s been here for almost a year, Cassidy for almost half… Wyatt grumbles about so many mouths to feed sometimes, but he grumbles about everything. It’s good havin’ more folks around, and he knows it. More people means bigger jobs, better security. We can watch each other’s backs. Even if it does mean that I gotta walk half a mile to get away from all the chatting and doe-eyed looks.
Speakin’ of Cassidy, Owyn’s got it bad for that girl. And if I’m reading her right, pretty sure she’s feeling the same. Of course neither of ‘em is acting on it, they’re just staring longingly at each other across the campfire and gettin’ up to antics to impress each other. It’s cute for now, but if it goes on too much longer, I’m gonna lock ‘em in the truck and order them to talk it out.
[pause] [sigh] Truth be told, I’m worried about Gwendolyn. She’s good to have on the crew--crazy strong, and tough as hell. But she and Wyatt have been butting heads lately. She doesn’t think he’s a good leader. Hasn’t said it to his face, but she’s making it pretty clear. I’m not sure how to fix it, honestly. Wyatt’s stubborn, and so is she, and I don’t know which one of ‘em is gonna break first.
All right, that’s enough brooding from me. Gotta head back and make sure nobody’s burned dinner to a crisp again. Pallie out.
Nick: We see the Patina next to their rig. They are on the side of a surprisingly well maintained road that looks like it has not been traveled by anyone in quite a while judging by the weeds and trash scattered around. The group was taking a break and Emma triggered this diary entry while tinkering with the Knight during their break. The general atmosphere is much more relaxed as the group settles in to the rhythms and routines of long travel, continuing towards their goal attempting to triangulate and discover the source of Marathon's signal. Emma had been listening to the recording downloaded from Pallie's arm as she sat alone in the back of the rig. The rest of the Patina had walked around to join her catching the tail end of the recording and listening respectfully to the voice from the past until the journal entry clicked to stop.
Penn: Marathon is sporting one of her new outfits from the Patina shopping trip and Glaishelf. She's wearing high waisted work dress pants, a light tan color with a large thick brown belt and a shiny gold buckle. And then on top she's got a short sleeve button down shirt with a floral print pattern, bright colors and it's buttoned almost all the way down to her navel directing plenty of attention to a fresh gold chain she has hanging from her neck.
Penn (as Marathon): Um so, is that one of your alive run away friends or one your um, unalive friends?
Sydney (as Cassidy): No it's one of our lovely collection of dead friends actually,
Penn (as Marathon): I see. Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] Yeah. It's actually really sad Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] I apologize for your loss. Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I didn't know we had ones from this old though, because this wasn't in the tape that you found in the arm, right Emma?
Cameron (as Emma): So she had several in there so when Zee-o transferred it, they just moved all of the recordings that Pallie had stored in that memory system within the arm and just moved all of them to the Knight, so I have got journal entries going back years.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Oh~.
Cameron (as Emma): Even from before - obviously from before y'all found the Knight because that one was just from before so
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, we can learn about baby Cassidy, -
Kit (as Birdie): Aww~.
Sydney (as Cassidy): - you know from back before, I don't know, the latest...
Sydney: Cassidy gestures at an entire group of Patina that's different than the one that was in that recording.
Cameron (as Emma): Yep.
Kit (as Birdie): I want to know about baby Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well keep listening to this logs I guess. Pallie will tell you an unfiltered version.
Penn (as Marathon): Is this invasive for you at all? Is this like something I should walk away or -?
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, I don't know what Pallie had to say. If it's invasive, it's probably to Pallie and she's not really around to care.
Penn (as Marathon): Hm.
Cameron (as Emma): And it is a bunch of really good information.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Tech information or history of the Patina [laugh] except that's just me.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, so like, yes, it is giving me a better understanding of the dynamics of the group that I entered into, but primarily technical stuff. That's - most of them are very focused on whatever project she's actively working on and then it just if Wyatt pissed her off -
Sydney (as Cassidy): [startled laugh]
Cameron (as Emma): - right before she went to go work on it, [laugh] and I hear about that, too.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah that's not uncommon. [sigh] I kind of miss the days, the - [laugh] before we started having too many things, too many people. Bad stuff. We still had to like find jobs and you know, do our best to be able to eat but it was maybe more uh, I hesitate to say innocence given a lot of our histories, but optimism?
Cameron (as Emma): Slightly less war machines?
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah~.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, we didn't have the Knight we just had the combat rig and my rifle and Iokua's big sword, Owyn's explosives, and Gwen's giant great axe, which she used to go be the First Sword of Sasnak in a very good naming thing. It's honorary anyway.
Penn (as Marathon): I'm glad you're uh, finding some happiness in the memories.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, maybe if we keep heading towards Sasnak we'll go see Gwen if she's still there. Get some old stories. [laugh]
Kit (as Birdie): [voice jumping up in awkward discomfort] Yup. Mhm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Birdie can get some old stories, too~.
Kit (as Birdie): [voice still pretty high up there] Yay. Yay old stories. Great. [awkward laugh] And we go and see Gwen and then we go. Yes.
Penn (as Marathon): [short laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Still, [laugh] If we, if you don't - if we need to not go to Sasnak, we can.
Kit (as Birdie): [so high] No, it's fine. I already said it's fine.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah but your voice still -
Kit (as Birdie): [oh so very high] No~!
Cameron (as Emma): - keeps going up every time we talk about it.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] It does the thing. Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] [imagine how high then go higher] I don't know what you're talking about.
Penn (as Marathon): Is this something where we should encourage you to face your fears, or is this something where we should stay out of it?
Cameron (as Emma): [laugh]
Kit (as Birdie): [just slightly higher than normal] It's fine. I'm al- I'm already - we've already decided that we're going and, I support
Cameron (as Emma): But the cool thing is we can change our mind at any time.
Kit (as Birdie): [normal again] I would like - [rushed] we can go.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): And I'm fine with this. I'm just nervous. That's it.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, standing offer. If you need us to redirect we can, but otherwise we will continue in that direction and we should do that soon.
Kit (as Birdie): [normal voice, but rushed] Really, guys. I'm fine. Let's just go. Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Nick: So the Patina piles into the rig, eager to get on their way after their break and begins an extended journey. The next time we see the Patna it has been a couple of days of uneventful travel, and the group is holed up in the back of the rig staring glumly out of the truck to a heavy rainstorm happening just outside. They find themselves trying to delay setting up camp hoping that the storm will break. It's near evening, and the sun is bright on the horizon, even through the thunderstorm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well it's pretty outside. I wish it waited until [laughing] we got our tents set up.
Penn (as Marathon): It's pretty inside too - and let me just say that is a compliment for everyone in here right now, so in the back of the rig.
Cameron (as Emma): Thanks Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): [bashful laugh] Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Everyone who looks like Emma's workshop.
Kit (as Birdie): [short laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): Yup.
Penn: Marathon is just trudging around touching little things. little doodads with her feet.
Penn (as Marathon): So uh, whatcha working on back here, the sciency stuff?
Cameron: Emma is sitting in the Knight's cockpit where the array of messed up and disconnected panels are starting to look slightly better but are still kind of a mess. And she says,
Cameron (as Emma): Well right now it's mostly been putting the Knight back together after Iota or at least putting the inside of the Knight back together.
Sydney: Cassidy is sitting cross legged right up next to the edge of the opening to outside where she's not getting wet and calls over her shoulder.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It wasn't my fault - except for some of it.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing] I didn't - I didn't say it was. We were trying to remote uh, take care of an AI -
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): - intrusion. I- It's, yeah no it's not your fault at all. It's just a lot to piece back together. But I am finding some, what look like additional things. Uh I don't know what they do, but there's other things to connect to in here that I hadn't seen before because the panels are in the way.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Cool.
Cameron (as Emma): So that could be something to play with later.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Did any of that anti-AI whatever whatever Advantia stuff - anything actually useful?
Cameron (as Emma): Uh. Eh? Since we already had it quarantined, not particularly, at least for the Knight situation as it is currently. I do have what are hopefully some easier ways to quarantine things in the future should the need ever arise. But not a whole lot for untwisting a bad AI, maybe two bad AIs, with a good AI and trying to put the good AI back - like not none of that was the focus [laugh] of -
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): - any of that info. But for future stuff, hopefully I'm faster. [laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Sounds like a good lesson.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): Faster than the Advantia. [laughing]
Kit: Birdie says. She's currently sitting cross legged on the floor playing her own version of solitaire, where the numbers are all mixed up, and it only makes sense to her brain.
Penn (as Marathon): Find anything to do with that uh, metal tentacle arm that I grabbed that I worked [strong buff noise] pretty hard to rip out of the wall?
Cameron (as Emma): Not yet. I did take a preliminary look at it and it's got some really useful pieces in it, but I haven't gotten to the make stuff cooler part yet. I'm still in the make stuff work part. So when I get to the make stuff cooler part, I'm definitely going to try to include the tentacle somehow.
Penn (as Marathon): Cool.
Kit (as Birdie): Can be like a claw machine sort of thing.
Penn (as Marathon): That can be fun.
Cameron (as Emma): Just attach a tail.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [laugh]
Kit (as Birdie): A prehensile tail that can grab things.
Sydney (as Cassidy): If it can grab someone off the top of the Knight that would be really nice.
Kit (as Birdie): Oo~.
Cameron (as Emma): That is true. That would have been useful.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's a extreme windshield wiper.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing] Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): Mhm.
Cameron (as Emma): Speaking of being able to see things with the windshield wiper, Cassidy if you look in that box behind you, there's a small container of all the lenses that I got. Do you mind cleaning those?
Sydney (as Cassidy): The red one or the blue one?
Cameron (as Emma): The blue one.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Cool.
Penn (as Marathon): It's job time.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, I can do this.
Cameron (as Emma): I think with your rifle maintenance, you're going to be the best person to get them fully ungreaseified.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I also have a scope, so.
Cameron (as Emma): They're just slimy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, but like [ew slimy noises]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yes, yes, I am prepared to undo all of the oil that Renn had put on them in the first place.
Cameron (as Emma): That would be fantastic. Um. I can come up with jobs for -
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah. Reporting-
Cameron (as Emma): - anybody else too.
Penn: Marathon gives a little salute.
Penn (as Marathon): Reporting for duty Miss Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): All right.
Penn (as Marathon): What mechanic-sy thing can I help you with?
Cameron (as Emma): All right, do you want to work on something like manual labor or more detail work?
Penn (as Marathon): [sounding concerned that she won't be good at anything] What do you think um, I'll be good at?
Cameron (as Emma): I mean, I think you could do either. [laughing] It's just really how are you feeling right now? Do you feel up to doing some exercise?
Penn (as Marathon): I'm always up to doing some exercise, but
Cameron (as Emma): All right.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): In that case, if you come over here.
Cameron: Emma climbs down out of the cockpit and walks around to the side of the Knight. Basically, looking at the Knight's lower back where it is incredibly dented up from where the Knight just landed after being yeeted by the abyss.
Cameron (as Emma): So um, we need to get this undented.
Penn (as Marathon): You got a plunger?
Cameron (as Emma): I do. I also got hammers. And we can unscrew sections of it and remove it if you would rather have like a flat surface to hit the back to get it flattened. It is up to however you would like to show off your muscles.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah, Miss Emma, bending metal, something I can do.
Penn: Marathon gives a little finger gun.
Cameron (as Emma): All right. Well, I think if you go right here.
Cameron: And Emma grabs Marathon slightly by the shoulders and shifts her over slightly.
Cameron (as Emma): I think if you stand right there that's just great eyeline for Cassidy to see you doing super cool work.
Penn (as Marathon): [startled gay panic coughing]
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Penn (as Marathon): [clearing throat] Mm.
Cameron: This was said quiet enough that with the storm, [laughing] Cassidy doesn't hear from the other end of the truck.
Penn (as Marathon): Um. [quiet throat clearing] Thank you. Thank you, Emma. Appreciate that.
Cameron (as Emma): Yup. Uh help yourself to the wall of hammers and let me If you have any questions.
Penn: Marathon gives a little two finger salute again and then keeping her feet as planted as possible to remain in this eyeline position begins to reach for the hammers.
Kit: Birdie picks up her cards halfway done with her game, and turns around to face Emma and will be like,
Kit (as Birdie): Okay, if everyone else has jobs, I kind of want a job too. So do you have anything else?
Cameron (as Emma): Okay. Yep. Come on up here with me and we - you can try to help me figure out how these wires reconnect back up.
Kit (as Birdie): Okay!
Kit: She's gonna climb up to be with Emma in the cockpit and will get comfy beside her and just snicker a little bit and be like,
Kit (as Birdie): [quietly] I think we're doing a good job of setting them up.
Cameron (as Emma): [quietly] I think we're being incredibly subtle.
Kit (as Birdie): Mhm.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
[hammering starts]
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, wow. Ah. Oh, this is really, really tough work over here.
Cameron (as Emma): [quiet laugh]
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Cameron (as Emma): You doing great Marathon! Look at those shoulders! Wow.
Penn: Marathon gives an extra flex.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
Kit (as Birdie): You know if I were a very smart rifle shooting leader of the Patina I'd be real impressed right now.
Penn (as Marathon): [quietly so only Birdie & Emma hear] Too hard Birdie. Too hard.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wow, Birdie, you're you're doing such a good job of inhabiting this hypothetical person's role.
Kit (as Birdie): [mock innocence] Huh? Huh? I don't know what you're talking about. Huh?
Cameron (as Emma): [snort]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Oh look, the rain - the rain stopped.
Cameron (as Emma): We're just fixing the Knight. I don't know what you're talking about.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go grab that cleaning cloth for my rifle kit outside and then I'm also gonna go set my tent up, so you guys have fun.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, thank you~!
Kit (as Birdie): Okay, have fun.
Sydney: Cassidy hops down from the thing and does throw a glance over her shoulder to Marathon before walking away.
Kit (as Birdie): [quietly that only Emma & Marathon hear] Don't slip in the mud have to have to have Marathon catch you. [laughing]
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
Cameron: Emma and Birdie are just snickering in the cockpit.
Cameron (as Emma): You know, Marathon if we if we detach that piece of sheet metal right there. If we take it and like put it outside, I think you get a really nice swing going with the hammer. And it'd be loud enough that Cassidy will have to pay attention to you. [laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): You know what? I'm appreciating uh, uh I- I'm appreciating the wing womaning going on here, but uh,
Kit (as Birdie): Uh huh. Uh huh.
Penn (as Marathon): You guys gotta let -
Penn: Marathon sets the hammer down and slicks back her shaggy hair with her hand.
Penn (as Marathon): You got to trust, you gotta trust the old game. The old Messenger game. So
Kit (as Birdie): You've been with us for a couple of months. You had that time to show the game.
Penn (as Marathon): [sputtering]
Kit (as Birdie): We're just helping you out.
Cameron (as Emma): Is it like a delay of game due to rain? Like what's up?
Kit (as Birdie): It's like-
Penn (as Marathon): It is delay of game due to relationship building. So
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): You know, it can also be a team effort, like an ice derby team. Mhm. Mhm. You are the -
Penn (as Marathon): Now, is the team interested in this relationship? Or is this an individual sport that we're talking about?
Kit: Birdie will look at Emma and differ and just turn around and start doing the teenage thing of putting her arms around her back and like moving them and making kissy noises. [laughing]
Cameron (as Emma): You know, I don't know so much if it's a team sport, but Birdie and I are think are happy to be the fans cheering you on in the stands. Um.
Kit (as Birdie): [over the top kissing noises]
Cameron (as Emma): And being very subtle.
Penn (as Marathon): I am -
Cameron (as Emma): Very subtle.
Penn (as Marathon): - setting up my tent. This is [exasperated exhale]
Kit (as Birdie): Go set up your tent next to Cassidy's.
[wingladies laughing]
Penn (as Marathon): Oh my god it's like, [laughter in voice] it's like middle schoolers.
Kit (as Birdie): [giggling]
Cameron (as Emma): No, at least High School.
Kit (as Birdie): [laughing] Yeah. You know, be a little generous with us.
Cameron (as Emma): [quiet laughing]
Penn (as Marathon): Where's my tent. Where's my tent.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
Penn: Marathon starts grumbling as she sets down the hammer and starts picking up her things.
Nick: And the Patina prepares for the evening, everyone feeling as though they got their point across.
We cut to a few days later and for the first time we see Marathon in the driver's seat of the rig. Marathon, how're you feeling as you drive the crew around for the first time?
Penn: You can see from any angle the muscles gridding in her jaw, and she is white knuckling the steering wheel in front of her and the car is just rapidly accelerating and decelerating. She's still getting used to the idea of the gas pedal and any time that the car needs to shift it makes this horrible grinding sound. And she is constantly forgetting to shift as well.
Penn (as Marathon): [clears throat in a scared way] Um. Ah, is this fast enough?
Penn: And as Marathon asks that the car is going maybe about 12 miles an hour so.
Kit: Birdie is sitting in the front seat fully turned around. She has her seat belt on her legs because she's fully sitting up in the seat backwards looking at Cassidy and Emma while they partake in a romance novel and she's like,
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah yeah, you're doing fine.
Kit: Just reaching out kind of blindly and patting Marathon's shoulder.
Penn (as Marathon): [panicking] I would appreciate it if there was other eyes on the road, but you know, [mumbling freak out] you know what? No, no, I got - [stressed sigh] [clears throat]
Kit (as Birdie): Trust your instincts, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): My instincts say to go slower.
Penn: And Marathon slows down another three miles an hour.
Cameron (as Emma): Does it make you feel better if I'm also looking out the windshield?
Penn (as Marathon): Yes. Thank you.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay, I am looking out the windshield.
Penn (as Marathon): [focused exhale]
Sydney: Cassidy has closed the romance novel and is looking like she's trying not to be sick at the continuing sudden accelerations and decelerations and accelerations.
Penn (as Marathon): I think- I think I'm hitting, I think I'm hitting steady.
Cameron (as Emma): [encouraging] Mhm.
Penn (as Marathon): Hands on [stammer] nine and four?
Kit (as Birdie): [mock whisper] It's ten and two. [normal voice] Uh, you okay Cassidy? You look a little green.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sounds a little green] We're learning.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah uh, I know that romance novel was pretty disgusting - you know, maybe we should stop a little bit early for lunch today?
Sydney (as Cassidy): I would love to stop about now, would be great.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I was just thinking I'm very hungry.
Kit (as Birdie): Aw~. Okay.
Penn: Marathon, upon hearing this, immediately throws the rig into brake, stalling the rig and causing a pretty big shock to go through the rest of the vehicle.
Kit (as Birdie): [squawk]
Cameron (as Emma): Oof.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [sick sounding groan]
Kit: And as Birdie flies back and her back hits the dashboard.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean are you hurting? Are you okay? Are you okay?
Kit (as Birdie): I'm fine.
Penn (as Marathon): Great.
Cameron (as Emma): Go- go ahead put it put it in park.
Penn (as Marathon): Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): Let's,
Cameron: Emma pats Marathon on the shoulder.
Cameron (as Emma): [trying her darndest to be encouraging] You know it was, is it is a good- good first, good first drive, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): [possibly in shock] I can't, I can't let go the steering wheel.
Kit (as Birdie): Just relax, Marathon. [laugh]
Sydney: As soon as the rig came to a stop, Cassidy is outside. She's looks like she just took a sporting injury and she's trying to walk it off.
Kit (as Birdie): Egh.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, um,
Penn (as Marathon): [forcefully] Humans were not built for this.
Cameron (as Emma): You know, it just takes practice. You'll get more used to it later, but if you want me to drive after lunch,
Penn (as Marathon): Yes.
Cameron (as Emma): so you can rest,
Penn (as Marathon): Yes. Yup.
Cameron (as Emma): I can do that.
Penn (as Marathon): Thank you.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah. Yep. You can try again later once your hands stop cramping. [laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): God this monstrosity. This twisted form of metal.
Nick: The rig settles as its air brakes apply and the loud noise causes some members of the Patina to jump in surprise. And about a week later, the crew is making good time. Roads have stayed relatively flat or you've been able to find clearings and plains as you continue your way to the south. And we find the Patina in the rig driving much as they've been doing for the last week.
Cameron: Emma is driving and the rig is traveling at a substantially faster speed than it was when Marathon was driving.
Kit: Birdie is sitting behind Emma with her feet up on the center console. And she's got a diary and a little pen that has a small sphere of feathers on the end and she's journaling while listening to Cassidy reading and throwing in some non verbals as the story is being told,
Kit (as Birdie): Oh! Mm hmm.
Kit: She's looking at Marathon and just wiggling her eyebrows every once in a while.
Sydney: Cassidy's in the passenger seat. She temporarily had stopped reading the romance novel and had flipped forward a couple of pages and then flipped back looking thoughtful.
Penn: Marathon is sitting in the back next to Birdie and as Birdie is kind of teasing her a little bit, she's just a lot more content than we saw her when she was driving the rig, is much more comfortable sitting in the back, And has got - because this roomy in the back of the rig, she's got kind of a Marathon spread going and she's got one arm draped over the back of the seat.
Cameron (as Emma): Are you gonna keep reading Cassidy?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, I was just reading ahead.
Penn (as Marathon): It was just getting good.
Kit (as Birdie): [betrayed] Without us!?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, I'll catch you back up. It's fine.
Kit (as Birdie): Hhh.
Cameron (as Emma): Okay.
Sydney (as Cassidy): [dramatic reading voice] Stephanie slammed the bed chamber door and flung away her kilt thrilled to be free of the damning reminder of how her family still saw her. They were trying. She was even wearing her old clothes to ease them into it, but they were so slow in adjusting their assumptions from her birth. They still didn't understand that that was not her true self, no matter how many times she tried to explain that she wasn't Steven and never had been. But here with her Beatrice, she could truly be herself.
Kit (as Birdie): Aw~.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Beatrice emerged from the washtub, water streaming over her heaving wet bosom, saying,
Cameron (as Emma): Dear- [laugh groan] Fuck. [laughing]
Sydney (as Cassidy): which. [Scottish accent] 'Yes, my dearest Stephanie. My sweet flower. Cast off those odious garments. I have laid out my favorite of your night dresses for you. Do please put it on and then let me take it back off ever so slowly.' This is the accent that they always did for these, like whenever they talked about kilts, they always just use this one.
Cameron (as Emma): Mhm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): So I have to use it.
Penn (as Marathon): [overlapping] I was gonna say your accent is excellent.
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] It feels very authentic.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): And I will say, at least for this wet chest she was getting out of a bathtub.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): I deem this one acceptable.
Sydney (as Cassidy): She didn't even say wet chest, she said wet bosom. She said heaving wet bosom.
Kit (as Birdie): Yes. This one was heaving.
Penn (as Marathon): Oof.
Sydney (as Cassidy): It's very evocative.
Kit (as Birdie): Mm hmm.
Penn (as Marathon): [seems to be having some sort of reaction to the heaving bosoms] Oof!
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I'll give this one a pass.
Kit (as Birdie): Yay~.
Cameron (as Emma): Stamp of approval. This one's okay.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wow.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, I I've loved them all. This one? I agree with the word evocative. Uh visceral was a, I felt like I was there.
Cameron (as Emma): [snort]
Penn (as Marathon): I've said it before, you're an excellent reader Miss Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well thank you. Things that come from being on the road with my, you know, [soft laugh] my second life, I suppose. I've had a few.
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Sydney (as Cassidy): But I guess uh, your piece of Cassidy lore for the day: So we have our, our trans heroine here in this novel. So am I. [short happy laugh]
Penn (as Marathon): Oh! Oh, hell yeah. Hella.
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Penn (as Marathon): Cool! Damn. Gender be rad.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing]
Kit (as Birdie): Gender be rad. [giggle]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Gender be rad.
Cameron (as Emma): I like that.
Penn (as Marathon): Cassidy that makes you so like, I want to say you're already like, really cool, but that's like three degrees cooler.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wow.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Am I approaching ice cold yet?
Penn (as Marathon): Uh [clears throat] Sorry. I meant two degrees cooler. Sorry.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I see. I see. But
Cameron (as Emma): No, not icey yet.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Ah~, oh sorry. Sorry. Your - good point Emma. Good point.
Cameron (as Emma): I can't believe I just made a pun. I'm ashamed of myself. [laughing]
Sydney (as Cassidy): No, this is the moment this is what really brings us together.
Kit (as Birdie): Don't be!
Penn (as Marathon): Uh Cassidy got you. Cassidy got you Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): [sigh] [laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Now, but the - oh~ I mean, all the you guys know, like all in the cities where there's access to medicine, like it's a normal thing, but
Kit (as Birdie): Mhm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't get to do that cause I'm on the road forever.
Penn (as Marathon): I was gonna say we never stopped for medicine.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah. Turns out that Advantia implant that I've gotten my arm is that.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh.
Kit (as Birdie): Really?
Sydney (as Cassidy): But of course they don't publicize that you can be
Cameron (as Emma): Oh~.
Sydney (as Cassidy): regulated by your own body.
Penn: Marathon says
Penn (as Marathon): Oh.
Penn: And then we see her face flash as she flashes back to the conversations between Ciphera, Cassidy, all of the little references that Cassidy has made throughout their adventures together.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, my God, I I missed all the clues.
Cameron: Emma also does a flashback to the conversation that she sat adjacent to when Cassidy and Ciphera were talking by the fire.
Cameron (as Emma): Context. All right.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, I didn't like exclude you on purpose. It's just kind of a -
Penn (as Marathon): No, I
Sydney (as Cassidy): - fun historical fact.
Penn (as Marathon): Should of- Uh, yeah I dunno.
Kit (as Birdie): I mean,
Penn (as Marathon): Cool. Rad.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, we uh, I mean, it's, it's super accessible on Sasnak, and my siblings growing up and all my friends. Not all of them. But a lot of my friends are trans. And so I just I kind of thought it was way more accessible than it actually was until I started traveling around more. So I totally thought that y'all's conversation was about something different.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, happy to have enlightened you, I guess?
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): So wait, is that why you don't like the Advantia?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, cause they hid the access to this forever.
Penn (as Marathon): Mmm~. Okay.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Because they just sit around and they'd go, 'Ah, you you didn't even say the password.'
Penn (as Marathon): Whoa.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And then like, you have to convince seven different people that okay, yeah, sure. I guess you qualify.
Penn (as Marathon): Damn.
Kit (as Birdie): Mm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I was like, Well, I didn't even I didn't think it was an option for me because I was on the road forever.
Cameron (as Emma): [sigh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Like, I don't know where I'm going to be. But it's fine. We're here now.
Penn (as Marathon): We're here now.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): And uh
Kit (as Birdie): It's really cool.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah, it's cool. I don't know, I that's pretty cool. I don't know, yeah. Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): That is so irritating though, that they have a way to not require medicine constantly.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): No but you could, you could totally misuse it or something.
Kit (as Birdie): Big Advantia.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah. Don't disrespect them.
Cameron (as Emma): What - what if the genders become too strong? It's world ending!
Penn (as Marathon): [snort laughing]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Every time -
Cameron (as Emma): Ugh.
Sydney (as Cassidy): - they try and control it, there's one more gender.
Cameron (as Emma): [laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): So. There's a lot of genders now. It's great. But
Kit (as Birdie): Mhm. Mhm.
Cameron (as Emma): I just I know, for several of my cousins are either trans or non binary and were on either hormones or puberty blockers and all sorts of stuff and I - there were several times where, you know, we forget to go to the pharmacy and that's a pain. They [angry noise] I am now, I now don't like the Advantia more.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, fuck them.
Penn (as Marathon): I get it now.
Kit (as Birdie): I mean, I always didn't trust them, but still fuck them.
Cameron (as Emma): I'm just if if if technology exists that can make people's lives better then that should be shared and made available to make people's lives better.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah!
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, I'm sure that they are like, well, [Modem impression] rewriting one's genetic code is - there's so much potential for misuse.
Penn (as Marathon): [sigh groan]
Cameron (as Emma): To make people's lives better?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, but I don't know someone's gonna, like grow a third arm or something. And I guess that's a world ending weapon.
Kit (as Birdie): I mean, I think having a third arm would be cool.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I still don't see the problem. [laughing]
Penn (as Marathon): Hey - third arm, could end my world, if you know what I mean. [chuckle] Wink wink. [clears throat]
Sydney (as Cassidy): There you go. That's that's your that's your history of Cassidy for the week. I guess. Besides all of our more fun stories we're hearing from Pallie's logs. [laugh]
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Penn (as Marathon): Mm.
Kit (as Birdie): Read more, Cassidy! Read more!
Penn (as Marathon): Well, with the added context, would you continue, Miss Cassidy?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Oh yeah do you want to hear more about Beatrice's heaving wet bosom?
Penn (as Marathon): Yes, please. Double on the bosom.
Cameron (as Emma): So you want four?
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle]
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, I'm here for it.
Cameron (as Emma): [overlapping] Are the Advantia concerned that people are going to end up with double bosoms?
Kit (as Birdie): [overlapping] [speaking slowly as if writing in her journal] Marathon likes women with four boobs.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Maybe that's, that's why. Yeah, we'd get to the future of three boobs and four boobs.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey when it comes to boobs, more the merrier. That's -
Cameron (as Emma): I mean, if you think about most other mammals that breastfeed like, it is weird that we only have two. [laughing] Anyway, that's a fun farm fact with Emma. [laughing]
Kit (as Birdie): [laughing]
Penn (as Marathon): [laughing] Thanks Emma!
Sydney (as Cassidy): Thank you, Emma.
Penn (as Marathon): [so much joy] Thank you Emma
Kit: Birdie writes down.
Kit (as Birdie): Marathon likes more than two boobs. [laugh]
Sydney: And Cassidy launches back into a spirited rendition of a very graphic sex scene.
Nick: As the rig rolls onward, even from a distance away, you can hear the Patina laughing and joking with each other over the romance novel as they continue their journey.
Next, we see the Patina another week of travel into the future, and the going is much slower as they head through heavy scrub land and some dense woods. The rig is frequently stuck mud from summer rains or forced to drive long and indirect routes to get around fallen trees and obstacles and cliffs and hills that are too steep to climb. And the Patina is scattered ahead of the rig looking for any potholes or debris that will damage the mechanics of their truck when someone spots something in the distance of the woods along a worn deer path. And you call for a stop as a group and go to investigate what appears to be some sort of large screen covered in dying foliage and out in the wilderness away from any signs of civilization. This is a fairly common occurrence that you all would stop and investigate what you find along the road to make sure it's not an indication of any danger.
Penn (as Marathon): Who's feeling brave this time?
Penn: Marathon's standing with her hands on her hips a little bit behind the rest of the group.
Kit: How big is the screen again?
Nick: It's like 90 inches and it's on a plinth.
Sydney: Does have a roof over it?
Nick: I don't think so. It has plants that have started to grow on it, some vines, and some saplings that have started to lean on it, but it looks like the plants don't live long when they come into contact with it - something about this kills vegetation. But as you get closer and take a closer look at the screen, it does have some streaks of tree sap and rain marks from essentially being outside.
Kit (as Birdie): Well, I'm always feeling brave, but Marathon you are taller than me, so
Penn: Marathon takes a deep breath.
Penn (as Marathon): [deep breath] Okay. Yep, I'm ready. [muscle noise]
Penn: And Marathon steps forward, reaches up to the top of the screen and rips down some of this dead foliage.
Kit (as Birdie): Yeah, you got it Marathon! Woo~!
Penn (as Marathon): Don't shock. Don't shock.
Kit (as Birdie): Muscles ripple!
Nick: Marathon, you're able to pull this foliage down pretty easily and get a clearer look at this display, which you realize now had been powered and functioning and it flickers much brighter as though detecting your motion in front of it. And you see hundreds of scrolling flickering messages in white boxes that pause and rotate and flow across the screen.
Kit (as Birdie): [long whistle]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hey~ Emma.
Cameron (as Emma): Hey~ Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): That symbol that's on the top there? Like above the picture.
Cameron (as Emma): [sigh] Yep.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, that's Aranabis.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): [gasp] Aranabutchers! Is the Aranabutcher coming?
Penn: Marathon says with a little smile.
Cameron (as Emma): No.
Kit (as Birdie): No.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hey, Marathon.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah?
Sydney (as Cassidy): You're fun Patina fact for this week: the Aranabutcher was~ Wyatt.
Cameron (as Emma): And Zee-o! It was both of them. They were combined in the murder.
Penn (as Marathon): [sound of hoisting a heavy bag up] Well. [long thinking sigh] Cool. I don't know. You guys are - are you guys just... fun fact. That is a fun fact.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, you know, just a mild bit of massacre after they tried to abduct our friend and gut their brain for any - I don't even know. They decided our friend was not allowed to exist.
Kit (as Birdie): Yep. I mean, I wasn't friends with them.
Penn (as Marathon): I'm just gonna assume it was justified and no more Aranabutcher jokes. Not for me, but I did- I did get that nickname cached on. So [I'm so cool laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): What a master of branding.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah. Thank you.
Cameron (as Emma): [laugh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): Wyatt used to save it up until going to a temple to drop off all his remembrances but I guess this is a - I don't know if it's a drop off or just a grave marker?
Cameron (as Emma): It's like a shrine.
Kit (as Birdie): Kind of pretty. I don't know what like the foliage [starts mumbling] around and stuff, I don't know.
Penn (as Marathon): Damn, I'm not over the mass kil- I'm jus- okay no. [deep breath] Okay, we're cool. Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean, the mass killings were caused by that they attacked our friends. So,
Penn (as Marathon): Mhm. Mhm.
Kit (as Birdie): And justified.
Penn (as Marathon): Like I said, I'm sure it was justified. Yes.
Cameron (as Emma): And we weren't involved.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, we were halfway [laugh] across the world, at least halfway across the continent, I guess. I don't know. We were in Eagle Hill. We were on a train. By the time we get back and figured out what happened it was a while later.
Penn (as Marathon): I'll just I'll just digest it later. Um, is there anybody, do you guys have anybody you want to immortalize as a ghost?
Penn: Marathon has a another little silly smile.
Penn (as Marathon): [sputtering] But well,
Penn: And then she catches herself.
Penn (as Marathon): But sorry, I didn't know if any of you are true - true believers. I did not mean to discount.
Cameron (as Emma): I am not and I'm pretty sure that is not how ghosts work.
Penn (as Marathon): I've not been very religious myself, but it's nice to see the artifacts I guess.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah I [laugh] I guess.
Cameron: Emma walks closer so that she can read some of the things scrolling across the screen.
Nick: As you take a look at these scrolling messages, they are on shadowed white backgrounds with simple black text. There are small circular photos in the corners that are mostly of people - some of what looked like pets or flowers. And the messages appear to be either eulogies to people long past or memories, short stories about people usually mentioned by name - very familiar, probably from loved ones. And the just sheer volume of entries that are being displayed is a little intimidating. But one thing that you do notice is that a bottom corner of the screen that was behind some foliage appears to have been damaged and is flickering sporadically, difficult to make out. But it has a single message that is unchanging and if you were to attempt to fix it or read it in between flickers, you might be able to find out more about this place and the type of memories that it honors.
Cameron: Emma steps slightly closer to the screen and the place where it's flickering and broken, she hits it on the side of the screen, thus fixing it, because that's how technology works.
Nick: From your experience working with aged technology, Emma, you innately know that really, it just needs percussively maintenanced. And so you do. You hit the side of this screen, and the screen does still flicker in this bottom piece that is broken, but the frequency slows down enough that you can make out this message, which is another of these remembrances. A larger one, but still in the same format. This message is much longer and more intricate, appears to be made out of hundreds of remembrances over a long series of years, and is a remembrance of what looks to be a teacher. She was well loved and her students traveled to this shrine to upload stories and how they had progressed through their lives and how she affected them. And there are messages after messages after messages. But one of the ones that catches the eye of everyone who is looking, is a simple message that just says, 'I love you and I miss you, your wife.'
Kit (as Birdie): Aw~.
Cameron (as Emma): Aw.
Kit (as Birdie): That's so sad.
Penn (as Marathon): I think I kind of get it.
Cameron (as Emma): So I - I have some problems with the cult of Aranabis in general, but I do think this is really cool. I like having a space to remember someone.
Penn (as Marathon): If only people weren't out here perverting it.
Penn: Marathon makes a gesture to the symbol of the cult.
Sydney: Cassidy looked lost in thought for a second and is brought back to it by Marathon's remarks.
Kit: Birdie is going to pull a page out of her diary that she's been filling up slowly and write a few words on it before taking a piece of tape and then putting it up on the screen. If you look closely enough, it just says 'to Z from Birdie.'
Kit (as Birdie): I'm sorry, I never got to apologize. I love you.
Cameron: I think once Birdie puts it up Emma at least puts it arm around her shoulder.
Kit: Birdie is making the deep frown but trying not to cry face that you see on babies and toddlers very often of just like she's barely holding it back. [laughing]
Cameron (as Emma): Aw~.
Sydney: Cassidy grabs Birdie's other shoulder on the other side flanking Birdie with Emma.
Kit (as Birdie): Oh~. It's okay, guys,
Penn: Marathon comes from behind and gives a big bear hug.
Penn (as Marathon): [squeezing effort noises] Yep. Oh, okay. Squeeze it out.
Kit (as Birdie): [squished Birdie noises]
Penn (as Marathon): There we go. Okay.
Kit (as Birdie): [refilling lungs] Okay. [cough to laughter while crying] If you guys want papers to tape up, we can all have one.
Penn (as Marathon): That sounds kind of nice.
Kit (as Birdie): [wobbly voice] Okay. [sniff]
Kit: And she's gonna trying to discreetly wipe under her eyes while turning away to tear the papers out of her journal.
Nick: Birdie hands out papers to the Patina who write their own personal messages and tape them up next to Birdie's. And we see the Patina taking some time in these quiet woods to think about those that were no longer with them, before one by one heading back to the rig giving everyone the time they need to think and process at this place of memory.
After a few more days of travel, we find the Patina having parked the rig next to what Cassidy's maps marked as a trading post and a location to refuel, but as you arrive, you see that this post is no longer in a state of repair where it can be of service to anyone. There are obvious signs of a fire. The square cinderblock building has been marked with soot and heat damage. What little remains of the glass windows are smashed in and partially melted. The large overhead awning that covers what were once gas pumps is now rusted and you can see the sky through the holes. There's a torn and water damaged, handwritten sign taped to the last remaining pane of glass that says 'Closed Due to Fire.'
Kit (as Birdie): Oh, maybe I can get some fuel here. Well, I mean, I always have like the stuff from Renn, but still.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, you think they have ketchup chips? Oh god. I have been -
Kit (as Birdie): They have what?
Penn (as Marathon): - hankering.
Cameron (as Emma): What?
Penn (as Marathon): Ketchup chips?
Cameron (as Emma): What does that have to do with fuel?
Penn (as Marathon): It's - one of these,
Sydney (as Cassidy): If you drive fast enough you'll ketchup.
Cameron (as Emma): Boo~.
Penn (as Marathon): No, no. Y'all- you ever been inside the glass part behind the windows?
Cameron (as Emma): Of a store? Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah, sometimes -
Sydney (as Cassidy): This store? No.
Cameron (as Emma): Not this one.
Penn (as Marathon): Well, sometimes they have snacks, right? Like old snacks. Sometimes they're kind of dusty, but
Cameron (as Emma): How old?
Penn (as Marathon): Um I don't know.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't know that you should be trying to eat things that are so old you don't know.
Penn (as Marathon): You're probably right, but ketchup chips have not betrayed me so far.
Kit (as Birdie): Just like arena juice hasn't betrayed you?
Penn (as Marathon): Arena juice has betrayed me but she's one of my first loves. So
Cameron (as Emma): I was about to bring up that I think your stomach can probably handle anything [laughing] with the amount of arena juice it's handled.
Penn (as Marathon): That reminds me I am hankering for that too. I doubt they'll have any in there but it would not hurt to look. Anybody want to jump in there, look for snacks with me or something? Anything in there? Doesn't have to be snacks.
Cameron (as Emma): Sure.
Kit (as Birdie): Sure. They may have some good rations.
Penn (as Marathon): Cool.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I don't know. The sign says the shops closed for fire.
Penn (as Marathon): Oh, Cassidy, or you want to respect the signs then?
Sydney: Cassidy looks at all of the fire damage and [laughing] the burnt down husk of a lot of it.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I mean,
Penn (as Marathon): Never wanted to break rules. Huh? Cassidy Straightlaced Cassidy.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, that's that's my first and last name is Cassidy.
Penn (as Marathon): Mhm.
Sydney (as Cassidy): My middle name is straightlaced, though.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing] I was gonna say that's the one straight part about you.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Penn (as Marathon): Straightlaced Cassidy Shard. Yup.
Penn (as Marathon): Yep.
Penn (as Marathon): Come on. Let's have a little fun.
Sydney (as Cassidy): The fun of walking through the door.
Cameron (as Emma): And exploring the fire ruins.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Cameron (as Emma): Looking for ketchup chips and arena juice.
Penn (as Marathon): It's not fun if you don't make it fun.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I'm gonna see if I can find where the uh, fuel tanks were outside. Since there's anything left, those are probably not exploded.
Kit (as Birdie): Ooh~.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah.
Sydney (as Cassidy): And maybe we can siphon some fuel off for the rig.
Kit (as Birdie): I'll help do that.
Cameron (as Emma): All right Marathon. I'll be on snack duty with you.
Penn (as Marathon): Hella!
Nick: Emma and Marathon, the inside of this trading post you could tell once was filled with goodies to help people to travel safely and comfortably. You don't find what you're looking for, but you both find something partially damaged, but still interesting.
Cameron: Emma is stepping delicately around the charred pieces of furniture and stuff looking through seeing if there's anything salvageable. And where she ends up is at one of the big refrigerators to the side and find some part of the cooling element that she could potentially fix up.
Penn (as Marathon): Find some doodads over there?
Penn: Marathon asks as she's disappointedly rummaging through some of these boxes of snacks that have been broken into and eaten by little critters long ago.
Cameron (as Emma): Uh. There's some parts of the refrigeration system that didn't get all burned because it was in a refrigerator. Uh, a lot of the connections externally are burnt to a crisp but yeah, there's some pieces in here - can potentially beef up our ice chest a little bit. I don't know. It's not super exciting, but cold food is good, I guess.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah, I I'm - big thumbs up from Marathon Messenger over here.
Penn: Marathon says she's wandering around this old building and a faded piece of paper on the wall next to where there would be a cash register. And she squints recognizing something and walks up to it.
Penn (as Marathon): Hey, uh, Emma - I I think I just found something. Is that Cassidy?
Cameron (as Emma): [distracted] What?
Penn: And as we get a clearer view of this poster, she sees a sketched version of a younger Cassidy's face and the poster is labeled 'Wanted for Sedition: Cassidy Shard' and then it details a reward for her to be turned in to Allium.
Penn (as Marathon): Emma, you should - I think I think I found a Cassidy celebrity artifact over here.
Cameron (as Emma): [laughing] What?
Cameron: Emma is climbing out of the refrigerator with her piece of salvaged tech.
Penn (as Marathon): Sedition?
Penn: Marathon is inraptured in this poster right now.
Cameron: Emma walks over to join her at the poster wall.
Cameron (as Emma): Oh, yeah. That - that's Cassidy. There's Wyatt.
Cameron: And she's pointing at the different posters as she's going.
Cameron (as Emma): And Pallie. And that's apparently what Iokua looks like. And there’s…
Cameron: Emma trails off pointing at another poster.
Penn (as Marathon): Wow, this is the old crew, huh?
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah, I -
Penn (as Marathon): She wasn't kidding.
Cameron: Dropping her hand Emma says,
Cameron (as Emma): I knew they wanted in Allium, but I didn't realize quite wanted posters level of wanted in Allium.
Penn (as Marathon): This'll be - now, okay. I had a fun idea. I was going to take the poster down present it to Cassidy, do a little teasing. But do you think that would instead cause a traumatic response? Because in that case, I will not do that.
Cameron (as Emma): You know, um, I think the first half of your plan of removing the poster and presenting it to Cassidy, I think that's a solid plan. Um. I I do know that during the Allium job, they did lose a team member.
Penn (as Marathon): Mm.
Cameron: Emma looks to that final poster again.
Cameron (as Emma): So -
Penn (as Marathon): So no on the teasing.
Cameron (as Emma): - the joking part, probably not.
Penn (as Marathon): Very serious. Okay.
Cameron (as Emma): Yeah. But, I mean, if it were me, I would appreciate having the illustrations of my friends.
Penn (as Marathon): Yeah, sure. Okay. I'll take - they're a little faded, but I'll take them down.
Penn: And Marathon starts collecting the posters.
Nick: And we'll cut away from inside this trade hub to behind the burned out building where Birdie and Cassidy are looking at two large fuel tanks. The metal has been split open and rusted and whatever fuel might still be inside has been ruined by rain and sun over the presumably months since this fire happened. But you do notice that there is another tank through a hatch buried in the ground, that still appears to be sealed.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Hey, Birdie, do you think that tank is where they keep the church fuel? Because it's all holy?
Kit (as Birdie): [giggle] Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think so.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, unfortunately, we're driving a rig and not a church. So
Kit (as Birdie): Mobile church would be interesting.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah. But I - there is that hatch over there on the ground that maybe is more traditional type fuel.
Kit (as Birdie): So you want us to go investigate the weird horror movie hatch for more fuel?
Sydney (as Cassidy): Well, I mean, we open it and then if nothing jumps out, then we smell it and see if it smells like fuel. And then we can go from there. So not like jump into it.
Kit (as Birdie): We also have flashlights in case so
Sydney: Cassidy toggles the light on her headset on and off.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah.
Kit (as Birdie): [sigh]
Sydney (as Cassidy): You don't have to be the one that does it.
Kit (as Birdie): No, we can do it. We can do it. Let's go.
Nick: The hatch squeals as you pull it open and as you shine light in you can see the glimmer of something liquid in the bottom and smell chemical fumes.
Kit (as Birdie): [sniff] Uck. Yeah, there's fuel.
Sydney (as Cassidy): Yeah, it smells right. Oh~, okay. Well, I guess let's rather than like climbing down there with buckets, maybe we can go ask Emma if she's got some fancy mechanical way to - maybe we'll hollow out Marathon's tentacle and use it as a giant straw.
Kit (as Birdie): [laugh] I think she'd be upset.
Sydney (as Cassidy): I yeah, I don't think it's the best use of an articulated arm thing, but we it’s sitting in the back. Marathon was wondering what to use it for. This is the pinnacle.
Nick: And as you are deciding what to do, you hear a horrible mechanical rending screech from back towards the rig and Emma and Marathon, you also hear this noise and looking out through the shattered windows of the trade station, you can see that something incredibly heavy must be climbing onto the rig because while your view of the roof is blocked, you can see the rig sinking down even further on its overloaded shocks. And all four of you from where you hear this noise run to get a view of what has broken the silence of this abandoned station to see a mechanical spider covered in focusing lenses and articulating legs and grabber arms that had climbed halfway up onto the rig as though looking for something. And as the four of you come into view, every single lens points directly at Cassidy.
[hurdy gurdy music swells]
Outro:
Penn (as Marathon): Welcome back to MTR 1153, that was just the end of today’s broadcast and we’ll be right back to the music after this little break. The particulars of the subsequent can be found 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. Penn is an indie TTRPG designer whose most recent work includes Wasmannian, a prompt game about gender and wasps. 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 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, which you can support @ Patreon.com/TabletopSquadron. 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 next time…
…Signing Off