Episode 12: Hidden Directives

Gather 'Round the Trashfires

The cohort is having growing pains. Natural loner Grant has a lot to get used to joining the... eccentric cohort. Geri's struggle to interact appropriately with her ex comes to a flash point, but in the process inadvertently triggers one of Cass's stolen memories to return. The cohort also learns a dark truth about a Society policy.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I'm now offering people a chance to get shouted out on the podcast if they support my Patreon. The shout-out tiers are Burning Refuse, Dumpster fire, and Flaming Hot Garbage.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Many Worlds of Darkness Fan Discord Server for your support. You're Burning Refuse.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 12: Hidden Directives

After the cohort makes it back to the cabin, Geri takes another crack at trying to figure out Sophie's location and status through dreams. Now that she has that adorable photograph of the little blonde girl missing her front teeth, and she remembers Sophie's name - and so much else - she's back in business.

Even with the help of the photo reference, Geri finds it very difficult to stay in the dream long, like something's disrupting her sight. But she does manage a very brief dream of Sophie playing at a child-sized table happily having a tea-party with some toys - a teddy bear and a Jesus doll about the same size. She tells the Jesus doll, "Don't worry, Mr. Christ... Grandma says daddy will come home soon, too. Then we'll all be together!"

After Geri hears her say that, she can't keep hold on the vision any longer, and wakes up.

After their short stay at the motel, Grant decides to take Madison up on her offer and move in with the cohort - at least for the time being. He quickly makes himself at home and starts settling into a routine - a creature of practiced habit. He wakes up early every morning, often before sunrise, and sits out on the porch to reflect and enjoy his cup of coffee.

His first full day, he's barely seen - he's already wandering around the property chopping down a couple trees, digging somewhere with a shovel he's seen carrying around. He returns to the cabin later in the day, covered in sweat and smudges of dirt. He's wearing his usual simple tee-shirt, flannel, jeans, work boots, and ball cap ensemble.

Geri is in the open area of the first floor of the cabin when Grant enters.

She's wearing pajamas after a nap since Madi woke her up for early-morning exercise. She's downing more coffee. She probably has some blood in her caffeine stream.

Madi's been up bright and early like usual for her normal habit of early morning exercise, then tending to Nacho and Cassidy. But recently, she's been disappearing for hours at a time, and she happens to return about when Grant does. She's wearing jean shorts, a scoop neck tee shirt, sneakers, a pastel over-sized open shirt, her backpack, and sunglasses and sips on a frappe.

Grant, by way of greeting, asks the two if they remember the path out back where it narrows and there's a big rock to one side. They do. He warns them when they go back that way now, to jump on the rock then out three feet, or else they'll get a nasty surprise.

They thank him for the heads up.

Grant says he plans on working on a few more traps around the property as time allows, and a map so the cohort won't get killed by any of them.

Geri directs him to the shared information notebook, and also mentions there's already some collected information on the church in it, and she's got more information when he's done.

Madi mentions while she's curling up on one of the sofas that she's got news to add to the journal... but she thinks AJ and Robert might throw a fit.

When Grant gets done writing his warning - he doesn't ignore them to read the whole journal at that moment - he fixes himself a glass of water and asks Geri what her information is.

Geri asks, with no context, if Grant raised Sophie Christian. Madison turns to her scandalized and tells her she can't just ask people's religion like that.

Geri explains that whether he did or not would change the meaning of something she saw.

Grant firmly says he didn't. He stays far away from all that.

Madison asks if that means Grant's an atheist, like that's a mysterious and slightly exotic - or maybe taboo - thing to be. Grant confirms he is, that he and his dad got away from religion entirely after what happened to his mom.

After some consideration and sipping her coffee, Geri starts by saying Sophie seems relatively happy and safe for the moment, and isn't scared.

Grant immediately jolts to full alertness, clamoring for more news of his baby girl and asks where Sophie is and what she was doing.

Geri can't give an exact location, and seems disappointed in herself. She says Serena or others are probably involved because her vision was being disrupted, somehow. The church gave Sophie toys to play with, and Geri says she saw her playing tea party.

Then her face goes deadly serious as she tells Grant that Sophie is bait. It's all a trap. She explains the church is luring Grant in to keep both.

Grant rubs his face. He knew, he figured, deep down. But he wants to know how Geri knows for sure.

Geri tells him how she saw Sophie tell the Jesus doll that ""grandma"" said Grant's coming soon and they're gonna be a family together. And also, that's just how the church works.

Madison sadly calls Sophie a baby Cass, and says the church keeps getting grosser. She urgently says they gotta rescue her before... she trails off, and changes to they gotta rescue her fast.

She adds on to what Geri said by explaining that Geri dreams stuff sometimes. True stuff.

Geri tells her to remind her to stop confirming whether people are dead or not.

Grant settles into his seat, visibly disturbed by what he's hearing. He says they might have an advantage, that the church might not know yet that he joined up with the cohort.

Geri continues, without anyone asking, that the church buried Blake alive. Grant asks who he is, and Serena, for that matter.

Madi's horrified. Apparently she never read the dream journal.

Geri infodumps that Blake's the guy the cohort tricked to let them in the church - and she thinks he was a piece of shit but not bad enough to bury alive. She adds Serena's the Youth Minister - a higher-up on the same level of authority as Derek. She lists off her powers as can't be burned, steals memories, and can sometimes, maybe more than that, see through Geri's dream vision-things. And also Serena claims God gives her secret wisdom and she's way perkier than anyone has any right to be.

Madi describes Serena, and all the inner circle people, really, as monstrous.

The description jogs Grant's memory, and he mentions how awful it is what happened with the memory stealing. Madi says that's what happened to Cass, it's what Serena did to her.

Grant reassures Madi that they can all definitely kill Serena once they've rescued Sophie. He'll help.

For once, Madi doesn't cringe or balk at the idea of murder, though she doesn't really acknowledge it either. She wallows in misery at the idea that the church used Cass to try to capture her.

Grant mentions it all sounds familiar, and that his dad was right all along about Charismatic Virtues. Geri confirms anything Grant's dad said's not only true, but probably worse than he said.

Madi meanwhile, continues on, that the church was working with her school, and she still doesn't understand why. It doesn't make sense!

Grant says they killed his mom, and expresses deep regret for ever stopping in the area.

Madi assures him they'll get Sophie back, and Grant's sure of it, too. He has to be. He just... ain't quite sure of a plan yet but makes a dry joke-not-joke that he's sure it won't be a flasher outfit in a neighborhood.

Madi suggests they could try getting in through Serena's house next time, since it's one of the church tunnel entrances. Geri thinks Sophie might be kept at Serena's house or the Youth Building anyway, because of the toys and kid-sized table... unless the church owns other properties.

Grant wants to scope out the place, maybe use his shape-shifting power, but Geri warns their security's probably on high alert because of the cohort majorly embarrassing Derek - the head of security, recently.

Though she says it could still be a trap, Madison brings up the meeting with Father Philip. She hopes it can bring some answers. She explains for Grant that Father Philip's her former Headteacher from her Catholic School. She also tells him the short version about how the football team and cheer squad all died, but their memorials were inexplicably held at the crazy cult Protestant Megachurch. Instead of. Y'know. The chapel on campus. Or any other Catholic ceremony.

Grant listens quietly, taking in the information and not giving his thoughts away. Madi continues that Charismatic Virtues and Cassica Hall have been joining up for some reason, but Charismatic Virtues hates Catholics. And her school has no reason to like prosperity gospel or anything else the cult teaches. Plus all the murdering and kidnapping. She also tells Grant how her plan in the ward to use Reddit campaigns spreading the word about Charismatic Virtues' crimes kept getting thwarted, and also now the church now has a grudge against both her and Geri. She sent all the proof to Father Phillip a while ago, and he sent an encrypted message back from his personal email saying they needed to meet.

Geri and Grant agree that while it's possible the meeting could be a trap, with proper preparations for contingencies, the information's potentially valuable enough to take the risk. Grant tells her to pick a place, so she isn't going somewhere he has control over.

Grant says public is risky but also still safest. Geri suggests somewhere semi-public - somewhere she can have a conversation away from people listening in, but could still make a scene if it went south. Grant adds the cohort could blend in nearby as backup, and Madi gets excited - it's like the copaganda shows!

Geri tells Madi to not tell Robert that, cuz he might bring an actual newspaper to pretend to read like the trope. On the other hand, Grant says Robert can just stay in the car. Especially if it's day. Madi says Zuse can keep him company.

Grant says if Robert does anything, he could be ready to make a distraction. The others agree. Geri mentions AJ's also good at making gadgets that cause distractions.

Grant says they need distractions, and a plan to get from their location to the getaway van real fast. They remember they should probably get a new vehicle - Grant's little car sure isn't gonna cut it.

Before they think too hard on that, Madison remembers something: she got a deal to trade with someone for a bunch of cryptocurrency. She just needs to do a weensy little test to prove she's legit. No biggie.

When pressed for information, she admits it's hacking into the Tulsa medical center database for ER records for the last six months. Hillcrest Medical Center - the parent medical group that the Pryor Ward was in.

Geri asks if that's the ER most of them went through initially. Madi's not sure, but says she's about to find out.

At the mention of the ward, Grant asks what the Society is all about. Madi lightly kicks Geri in the leg to signal it's her turn to do the 'splainin.'

Geri does yet another infodump about the Long Man Society. She explains how AJ's... ancestor? is one of the founding members. It was originally based in Native American Legends and protecting the rivers of the area, and human trancendance. But they disagree about how to go about that last bit and that's why everything's gone to shit. She also says there's someone called Camille who's a bitch and Dr. Werner did some torture, but helped them escape so he's complicated, and Zuse used to be a member. Also Geri did a giant arson when they escaped and Madi was super destructive, too.

The group adds on the Society has military and Police access of some degree - enough to have National Guard and SWAT support of some kind.

Madi specifies they're tied to the government program Project Triton, and the Grand River Dam Authority, so that explains some of it. As a side-note, they want to turn Remade like the cohort into "assets."

Grant's immensely frustrated by the situation. Now the Society knows his face, too and assume he's cat-obsessed.

In a 'they're not as bad as they could be' way, Geri points out the Society really doesn't like the Church. The church kept causing issues for them about her. Also, she thinks at least a few of the lower-level people seem like decent folk, like Caleb helping them escape and Beth seeming basically blackmailed into working there.

Grant shakes his head in disgust and as he does, catches a whiff of his own B.O. He says he oughta bathe and Geri points out where the shower is.

Grant reminds them both where the trap is before he leaves. Madison excuses herself for a meeting with Lucas.

Sometime later that week, Geri still hasn't gotten any word back from Amanda.

She opts not to try calling again, like a normal person might, and instead... dream-spies on her.

She wants a little insight how Amanda's doing without having to risk another unanswered phone call.

Geri get a dream without a location. it's just a confusing swirl of thought snippets. The drunk voicemail plays over and over again in the background.

There's memories of finding out that Geri's been checked into rehab, or at least that's what the rumors say. And then the news that she's on the prayer list. Amanda's worried about Blake; she heard he went missing.

Amanda has a sinking feeling that something isn't adding up. Something isn't right.

Armed with this new information, Geri's emboldened to try another phone call.

Maybe she'll get through this time, if Amanda can already sense there's something very wrong.

She nervously takes her designated burner phone out away from the cabin with her to make the call to her fairly recent ex.

This time, Amanda answers, cautiously asking if it's Geri calling.

Immediately, Geri launches into apologies for not giving context for anything she was talking about before.

Amanda cuts her off, gently. She calmly but firmly says Geri's name to stop the torrent of word-vomit. She says she doesn't need to know.

Geri says that there's a lot of fucked up things going on, so she needed to make sure Amanda was okay. And she misses her.

Amanda brushes off the last bit and maintains a composed demeanor. She acknowledges the strange things going on, but says that Geri's supposedly in rehab but the number doesn't belong to any. And then someone broke into

Geri's father's church, and Blake's missing. She says she doesn't think she can deal with all this drama.

It's a blow to Geri. She pauses, briefly explains the church is spreading lies to cover themselves, but says if Amanda wants no part in it... she'll stop calling. She admits she was worried the church found her, hurt her.

Geri's desperate. And a little paranoid. Maybe more than a little. She decide she needs to know if Amanda is in danger, and she couldn't just SAY if someone was threatening her in person while she was on the phone, now could she?

Geri exploits the link she formed the previous night from her dream, when she heard the scattered thoughts, to be able to reconnect much further than she otherwise should be able to while they're on the phone.

She immediately senses a strong wave of suspicion, but also concern and care.

She's able to tell she's definitely talking to Amanda and not some impostor.

She also knows Amanda misses her dearly, though she might never admit it.

Back to the call, Amanda asks why they would hurt her, they're a church. A crazy church, but just a church. She oh-so-gently says she's worried about

Geri, too... and thinks Geri might need to talk to someone, like a therapist.

Geri pleads with Amanda to understand. She tells her the church would hurt her because they killed Blake, they tried to kill Geri herself, and they've kidnapped other people, too. She asserts that Amanda knows deep down what the church said ain't true - because they lied. It's suspicious as hell because it's lies. She begs for Amanda to trust her.

But... Geri senses a deeper wave of concern, and Amanda rejects the claim outright. She says she knows Geri's father was harsh, but the claims are getting out of hand. She tells Geri to get help and abruptly hangs up.

Unbeknownst to Amanda, Geri's still connected to her mind.

In a fit of rejection, desperation, betrayal, and panic, Geri has only the best, most well-thought-out ideas. She projects a series of 4k HD perfect memory clips into Amanda's head to show her the truth and make her believe.

She projects memories of her baptism, images of herself in her white dress.

Geri's father is by her side. She sees her reflection in the lake. She's going through the process of the baptism, and then she's underwater, held down at the throat by her father's crushing hand. She's thrashing and struggling for air, her racing heartbeat pounding in her ears. Just before everything goes black, there's a flash, a burst of scarlet going wild into the area as she desperately struggles with her last energy, then flames.

Next, she projects an image of Serena doing her memory-stealing ritual in the cult basement, with that altar and stone statues, chanting witnesses, and everyone in robes and everything. She shows Derek turning into his monstrous, demonic-like form.... and than Derek burying Blake alive from Blake's perspective.

Blake's burial at least gets cut off before his actual death.

Amanda dials the number, gripped by sudden overwhelming panic. Geri doesn't recognize the number, and that only intensifies the blinding terror she feels from Amanda, amplifying each others' feelings like hideous feedback. The connection snaps.

It suddenly occurs to Geri that perhaps she was a bit rash this time.

Geri, even with her now-perfect memory, isn't able to catch the entire number in the chaos of Amanda and her own avalanching frenzy. She gets all but the last two, and it doesn't remind her of any of the church folk's numbers, at least.

She takes her phone sim and battery out and sneaks the long way back to the cabin, making extra sure not to be followed. She manages to calm herself enough - or wear herself out enough - from the panic to sleep for a dream about Amanda's relationship to the person the number goes to.

She has a fitful sleep and all she's able to glean is that the boy who gave her this number told her to call it when she believed.

She writes a news post in the journal saying she has someone she cares about that might be in danger, someone with that mysterious incomplete number gave them it to call whenever they ""believed,"" and that she knows the loved one called that number.

She doesn't disclose Amanda's name, real gender, or that she's her ex.

The evening after Geri puts up the announcement, Cassidy begins mumbling a 10-digit number, over and over. It's that incomplete phone number Geri wrote, but with two more added. It's like something jump-started in her brain and she's grasping onto it. She won't say anything else, as if stopping repeating means she'll forget it again.

The next morning, beyond the sound of Zuse cackles, clown music, and tinkering sounds that have become commonplace from the garage, many of the other cohort members begin to gather in the open kitchen and living area.

Cassidy, in a rare moment, is out of the bedroom, curled up under a throw blanket and sipping cocoa Madison made for her. She also looks much less haunted, more in thought than she's been since her rescue. Madison's busy changing bed-sheets and cat litter and other such care-taking tasks.

Robert comes downstairs and starts making himself some grilled cheese sandwiches, fancy ones, and asks Cass if she wants any. Grant and Geri, too, when they arrive shortly after.

Grant's coming in from the yard after another morning of working on building god only knows what. Geri's coming downstairs from a fitful nap - she never seems to sleep well and her after-workout compromise naps from having to get up so damn early are no exception. Madison also has fitful (and often late) nights but she's still an early bird, up with the sun for the morning workouts she drag others to. Damn teenage metabolism.

Both Geri and Grant take him up on the offer. Grant asks if they have tomato to throw on his, and Robert says a house without tomatoes isn't a house worth living in before obliging. He clearly takes great pleasure and pride in cooking, both in general and for his friends.

Cassidy doesn't ever actually answer Robert calling across a couple rooms to her. Grant walks up to her, politely and friendly introducing herself, all normal-like, not bringing attention to the fact she was a bundle of terror who didn't hardly speak or even head downstairs much the day before. He asks her if she wants a grilled cheese, too.

She pets the cat, Nacho, in her lap - Crunchy is mostly hiding still. She very quietly tells him no thank you.

Grant tells her that's alright, if she gets hungry later, she can just throw something at Robert. That makes her crack the smallest ghost of a grin.

Robert even gives the go-ahead for her to do it.

There's some more mystery noise from the garage, and Cassidy makes note of it. Geri assures her it's just AJ always making stuff and Zuse being Zuse.

Grant asks if AJ's gadgets normally work, since he never got to test any on the cat rescue. Geri says yes, which mildly impresses Grant. Robert says making stuff is AJ's superpower or something, he's pretty sure. And if they didn't work, AJ wouldn't be as useful.

Robert sets out a bunch of finished grilled cheeses, some with tomatoes and some without, for people to eat as they please.

Grant asks Geri about that weird number. She reiterates what she wrote in the notebook, and says she was checking on her loved one, trying to make sure they weren't dealing with another church kidnapping and maybe. possibly. Accidentally spooked them... so they called the number.

As he starts chowing down on his grilled cheese, Grant asks if someone just gave this loved one a number to call in case Geri contacted them. Geri corrects it's once they believed and calls it 'Matrix-sounding bullshit.'

Robert remarks that, once again, without meaning to, they've put one of their loved ones in danger. Geri doesn't respond to him and is suddenly very interested in her sandwich.

Grant politely, kindly even, asks Cassidy if it's alright if the group asks her a few questions. Cassidy stares back at him frozen, mid-sip of her cocoa, before whispering that she doesn't remember things.

Grant smiles and tells her that's alright, and that she's free to throw things at him, too. Geri gently adds it's okay if she doesn't remember, but anything she does might help.

The men make Cassidy a little nervous and suspicious but not enough to hide or flee. She calms when she focuses on Geri, though. She admits she remembers a number close to the one Geri wrote down, she thinks.

Geri does her best to keep things seeming casual, like two friends chatting, and she takes a seat closer to Cass - but not too close to spook her. She gently asks what Cass remembers about the number.

Cass pets Nacho to stay calm during the questions, even the seemingly easy ones. She says that he gave her the number.

Geri very gently prods for his name, or what he looked like.

Cass begins to describe a young man, nearly a boy really, her age who's athletic, with dark hair and eyes. Her expression softens as she explains, her focus inward, captivated by her mental image.

Geri remembers the description matches the one Madi's previously given of Jake, so asks if the name starts with a J.

Cass's eyes widen as she quietly blurts the name "Jake," but says that isn't his number.

The guys keep quietly eating grilled cheeses as they listen, not interfering for now so they don't spook the fragile girl.

Cassidy continues, louder now and visibly excited. She repeats she remembers that that isn't Jake's number... but on the other hand, she doesn't know what it does go to. This was a new number.

Geri tenses, from some mix of protectiveness and boiling rage under the surface, but she tries to hide it by sipping her coffee to remain nonthreatening. She asks if Jake mentioned any new friends or coworkers recently she should meet, when she believed.

But Cass doesn't know what Geri means by that. She tries to puzzle it out as she speaks, explaining Jake just told her - and then she remembers he told her to call if she needed help!

Geri gets up to get another sandwich then, in part so she can turn her back and drop the act for the briefest of moments. The color's drained from her already pale face. She forces a casual tone when she asks Cass if she wants anything while she's up.

Cass says she's fine, and doesn't seem to notice anything amiss.

Robert's cracked open the whiskey to have with his grilled cheese this morning.

Grant has started doing dishes so he can hang around to pretend to not be listening. He gives Geri a nod of encouragement to keep going while she's in the kitchen.

Cass idly mentions that Madison said Cass and Jake used to date, and she remembers a little.... the feelings, mostly. But she's missing so much.

Geri composes herself and tells Cass that she's remembering more every day, surely it'll come back.

Robert offers maybe Cass could try exercising to try to feel better. He says he trains every day.

Cassidy stares at Robert.

Geri asks what the voice sounded like when she called, but Cass says she never did. Next, Geri asks if anything about Jake's behavior seemed off or out of the ordinary that she remembers.

Cass asks for clarification, and thinks a moment. She suddenly asks if Geri's 'that goth chick' Madi was helping at the ward.

Grant snort-laughs while still trying to pretend he's not listening.

Geri says she is, and reminds Cass they were both working on a social media campaign. This jogs Cass's memory enough that she remembers it's because of Geri's Father - and... the Church.

At the memory of the church, she freezes and her face drains of all color.

She's shaking and panicky, with tears beginning to form and trail down her face. Geri redirects her attention on petting Nacho the cat. She tends to calming Cass, bringing her another blanket and saying soothing things to the girl, that she's safe now.

Nacho doesn't seem to mind the desperate petting, and purrs just the same.

Grant, now done with dishes, quietly returns to the living room and takes a picture of Sophie of his wallet to look at while things are quiet. Robert leans against a wall in the living room sipping his whiskey.

Unprompted, Cass adds in a whisper that Jake said to call if she needed help, when she understood why he did it.

Once Cassidy is sufficiently calmed, Geri smiles and thanks her for her help. She dismisses her to rest if she'd like, assuring her Madison's probably nearly done with what she was doing by now.

Cassidy apologizes for not remembering more, and turns to Robert, squinting.

She bargains that if she goes jogging with him, he has to explain why he went through her best friend's underwear drawer on Easter, and why the boy with him seemed to want to wear Madi's dress. Also, why there was an egg bomb.

Geri snerks into her coffee. Grant gives Robert a raised brow.

Speak of the devil, the other boy walks in from the garage. As one would expect, he's wearing jeans and a hoodie with 8-bit characters on it.... but it's hard to tell what the orginal colors of his outfit were because he's covered head-to-toe in splotches of bright powder in a rainbow of colors, with only circles around his eyes left clean where he must have been wearing goggles. There's also pieces of large, holographic confetti in Mardi Gras colors in the folds of his clothes and wedged in his curly hair.

He flops on the couch near Geri and greets them, particularly Cassidy, with a simple 'sup?'

Cassidy suddenly no longer thinks AJ wearing Madi's dress is weird.

Grant laughs when Cass speaks - with a jovial quality that seems to surprise even him - and asks if AJ got in a fight with a craft shop.

Geri is stuffing her face with more grilled cheese in a desperate attempt to not crack up laughing.

AJ nods in confirmation to Grant and acts sheepish to Cassidy at her statement, saying a couple self-depreciating things before explaining he was working on his latest invention, and says it's a liiiiitle temperamental, especially with Zuse "helping." He scratches the back of his neck and couple colorful pellets drop out of his hair on the sofa. He picks it up, revealing it's a green skittle. He asks Geri if it's apple-flavor.

She explains technically they're all flavored the same and just scented different, anyway.

Grant and Robert are surprised Skittles lied to them.

AJ wants to know if it's apple or lime scented, then, because apple is just the worst.

Geri thinks it's probably lime. That's what they're supposed to be, right?

AJ eats it.

Apple.

Cassidy has a brain-break moment because the skittle came out of AJ's hair onto the sofa covered in god knows what. But tries to soothe herself knowing there's weirder things to be concerned about.

Grant quips that the cohort's always solving great mysteries and debates, and goes back to looking at the picture of Sophie.

AJ takes note that Grant's decided to stay after all, and Grant justifies that their objectives align for the moment and the Society knows his face now. But he doesn't know whether it'll be a permanent arrangement.

Cassidy wanders upstairs to check if Madison's done changing sheets and be done with people for now.

Once she's upstairs and out of earshot, Geri says they should try to talk to Zuse, because they might have another person to rescue from the church now.

AJ mutters wondering if he's gonna ever get a single meetup with Cass where he doesn't look like a total basket-case. Grant asks whether it's the meetings that're the problem, cuz he ain't seen AJ de-basket-cased yet.

AJ tells Grant that at least he thinks it's cute when he's basket-cased, Cassidy keeps looking one step away from trying to get an exorcism. Then he turns to Geri to ask who they need to rescue, but before he can finish getting the words out, he's interrupted by...

Zuse turns a corner out of nowhere yelling over-dramatically for surrender.

He has a t-shirt gun merged into his wrist and shoots AJ right between the shoulder blades with a pair of his own rolled up boxers. He's wearing the bright red silk boxers, knee-high socks, and the fluffy pink bathrobe.

Grant blinks and shakes his head, unsurprised at the current development. Geri doesn't even look, just pinches the bridge of her nose. AJ yells indignantly at Zuse that he's already told him a thousand times he's not allowed to merge with gun-anything.

Grant remarks they're really trying to one-up each other on entrances, and mentions Cassidy's up and talking, sort of.

Robert asks that Zuse stop destroying the social climate and also the house itself.

Geri doesn't doesn't give a shit about the toy gun or trying to wrangle Zuse from mild mischief and continues with the important matters as if the argument isn't happening at all. She says that Cass was giving insight about the number, confirming Geri's suspicion that Jake sent it. So now they know The Church is involved.

AJ tries to take away the gun, but Zuse flops in a seat and merges it further into his wrist, then folds his arms so there's nothing to try to grab.

Grant asks what Jake did, since Cass said he said to call the number when she understood why he did it.

AJ says if they're insinuating the cohort needs to rescue Jake, he's not helping. Geri clarifies it's not Jake, but a sign the church either took someone or is in the process of taking someone else, besides Sophie.

Grant says they can count on him to help. AJ says he guesses that's okay, and settles down.

Grant puts the situation in his own words, calling Jake a wood chipper candidate, along with a number of others. And Jake gave a couple of people the cohort cares about a sketchy number. AJ thinks Grant's got everything.

Zuse asks why Jake would give 'coma girl' the same number he gave to lure victims, if he supposedly wanted her out. He's idly messing around with the t-shirt gun he's merged to.

Geri agrees with Grant and AJ, not listening to Zuse's question. She's surrounded by scarlet wisps again.

Robert also thinks they need to take Jake out, and randomly mentions if the church fucks with his mother, he'll eat Jake's heart for breakfast.

No one knows what Robert's mother has to do with anything. Robert explains Jake's been giving the shady number around to their relatives to trap them when the cohort members try to check on them.

Geri points out neither Cass nor her loved one is a relative of a cohort member and glares at Robert.

AJ interrupts and says Zuse isn't allowed to be a part of the conversation until he surrenders his firearms. Zuse suddenly shuts up mid-sentence while explaining his theories about Jake before he can get anywhere with it, crossing his arms.

Grant asks who Geri's person is. She thinks and settles on... a close friend, one she didn't think anyone, definitely not the church, knew about.

Zuse blurts quickly before AJ can yell at him again that AJ's fine cuz all his friends are here and his family's immortal. AJ reminds him his mom's not immortal. He hopes Gabriel is protecting her.

Grant's confused. He doesn't get how Jake got Cassidy out but he's the bad guy.

Geri gives AJ a look that it's his turn to explain. It takes AJ a couple of moments of staring back at Geri to understand what she wants.

AJ explains Jake was Cass's boyfriend but he's working with the church and decided because he was sure the cohort would be able to break Cass out, it was totally cool to lure the cohort in and make a deal with Agatha to trade Cass for Madi. But thinks he's a good guy somehow, ends justify the means sorta asshole.

Geri impresses on Grant that Jake is super tight with Agatha, though, having wine together tight. AJ says they had wine together while discussing evil plans like tropey supervillains.

While no one's paying attention to him, Zuse hides the t-shirt gun fully in his arm, and once his hand and arm look normal again, he innocently tells AJ 'see, no more gun.'

Robert says he and Grant will just have to rip Jake's head off and make D'Vonte happy.

Grant says they could have Cassidy call the number to smoke out Jake, but it doesn't have to be her. Geri thinks it's a good idea to be able to trace it to see where it goes, but also thinks it's likely to be a burner.

AJ orders Robert to leave the asshole to him. Robert whines that he never gets to deal with any assholes, and Geri tells Robert there's plenty to go around.

Zuse snacks on a candy bar from his bath robe pocket as he listens.

AJ considers Grant's idea, and thinks it could work. Grant warns if he pretends to be Cassidy for the call, she really shouldn't be around when he does. Geri thinks Madison probably shouldn't be there, either, for that matter.

It takes AJ a moment to understand what Grant's saying, and he asks in surprise if he can do women, too.

Grant, slightly taken aback, says he.... has a daughter. But if AJ meant the shape-change power thing, he thinks so.

AJ, metaphorically, has his entire foot in his mouth. He awkwardly rambles about how he's not sure why he even asked, of course powers aren't sexist.

Zuse says bigotry is a human invention, and says humanity can be an atrocious species sometimes, in a way he doesn't consider himself part of it.

After acknowledging it sure is weird people're like that, Grant wants to move on and sums up what he was saying as his power's an avenue to nab Jake or at least get some information out of him. And they need to talk to Madison's headteacher priest guy too, apparently.

Geri says they actually need Madi involved for the Priest. She's got the occasional scarlet wisp still flickering around her. Grant asks if they wanna do both those things before breaking into the Church Tik Tok influencer - Serena's place. Geri says they do.

Grant's making a list of things they need to do. Robert's having a little bit of a hard time following along, confirming things Geri and Grant already settled in the exchange.

AJ sighs at Zuse, saying he's human, too. And possibly one of the worst given the time-frame he was alive and his.... Aryan-like appearance.

Zuse immediately sands up at the very serious implication and taps AJ on the forehead, zapping him with a jolt of electricity his body constantly generates. He very definitively say he was never a Nazi, he's not even German... he's pretty sure. Besides that, he drafted in '42. For the Americans.

AJ winces in obvious pain. He says maybe Zuse isn't a Nazi, but the cohort totally agreed they shouldn't use powers on each other!

Robert asks if they really did agree that.

Zuse says even if they did, he gets a pass for AJ calling him a Nazi. Then marches back to the couch and flops into it.

AJ insists he wasn't the only one thinking it.

Zuse does not opt to fuck him up more in that moment. He instead huffs and pulls out another candy bar from his robe to eat as angrily as it's possible to eat a candy bar.

Geri changes the subject, asking Zuse if he knows anything about the Society Agent Knox.

AJ continues to be a dick to Zuse, saying now that they know he's not a Nazi, he's partially in the clear. Now they only have to worry about him having collaborated with the people who turned the cohort into Remade and tortured them.

It's honestly a wonder Zuse hasn't kicked the shit out of him at this point, instead he snaps that, sure, he's the best friend of AJ's ancestor. He tells

Geri he might know, but maybe she doesn't want to hear it from a supposed terrible Nazi torturer person.

Grant mater-o-factly says Geri probably wouldn't have asked if she didn't want to hear from him.

Geri assures Zuse that she doesn't think he's bad, just literal walking chaos. And he doesn't remember his past, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

Zuse and Grant have a small unofficial staring contest while Geri's talking, because they locked eyes and Grant doesn't back down first... and Zuse either doesn't know it's weird or doesn't care. Grant finally has a good look at Zuse's pixelated silver irises.

AJ adds after a moment, seeming to struggle for a compliment, that Zuse is the most... energetic workshop assistants he's ever had.

Zuse says he knows a couple things. Firstly, that Knox isn't the agent's real name - it's a nickname that he's as tough to crack as the famous Gold Standard fort. Zuse is surprised Geri was able to get anything from him telepathically.

Geri moans about the awful river song in Knox's head and how annoying it is, and sucks a keeping out telepathy. Zuse says it's a trademark of the Society.

AJ suspects it's a company standard mantra. Even if they can't keep out telepaths, may as well drown the telepath in nonsense... and suggests again the cohort should come up with something similar.

Zuse says that the lullaby has quasi-religious origins that hearken back to the Society's founding, such as with Dr. Werner, though the organization's largely moved past those religious roots.

AJ mentions, after several moments of being lost in thought, that he thought the Long Man Song sounded familiar. He grows distant from the conversation, zoning out to corners of the room.

Geri asks Zuse why Madi would completely blank when she heard the song. Zuse goes... quiet.... for several long moments and fidgets with his candy before even saying he doesn't know with a hundred percent certainty.

Geri asks for his best educated guess.

Zuse suddenly sounds real flaky and claims he isn't a good guesser. He starts rapidly shoving skittles in his mouth.

She asks what the most statistically probable explanation seems to be. Grant smirks as Geri is undeterred with her line of questioning.

Finally backed enough into a corner, Zuse relents, lowers his voice, and explains it's used as a form of conditioning for patients at a high risk of becoming too unmanageable - a shortcut to calm them down, basically. Gabe hardly ever allows its use since he took over the program. Remade classed as WMDs are subjected to that conditioning by Society policy, so Gabe can't defy the rules too overtly.

Grant asks if the Society thinks Madison is the missing WMD from Iraq, which

Zuse pooh-poohs as thinking too small.

AJ focuses back on the conversation about then, devastated. Horrified. Broken. He asks how they could do something like that.

Geri is totally not having feelings about WMD Labels... and lacking one, saying that on the one hand she made people at the ward's lives hell on purpose and still never had that happen to her, she thinks - and also there's the fire she kept making. On the other hand she asks if there's a way to undo the conditioning.

Joking, Grant asks if Geri's jealous. Geri's silence says it all.

Zuse tries to console Geri by saying he's sure she was just resistant to programming. He seems oblivious to the cohort's discomfort with the topic at hand. To AJ, he says it can be used in psychotherapy, but is also used as a lullaby at night. It's subtle enough to make it easy to abuse, so Gabe limited it's use severely.

Grant asks if the song means Knox is also a WMD, and Zuse says no, he was probably just thinking it because he was hunting known deadly operatives. He's still, as he most often is, using his inappropriately chipper tone.

Geri admits casually they did kinda blow up the ward. Equally casually, Grant says it sounds like good practice for The Church.

AJ pales. He asks if the patients are used as sleeper agents after they're programmed.

Zuse explains it depends who's in charge of implementing it, and how deep it goes. The old-school wing of the Society - AJ's ancestor and his allies, only do it as a safety measure in extreme cases. However, there's a more... ambitious faction with Camille that wants to expand its use.

AJ seethes, clenching his fist. He mutters 'that asshole.' Geri matches AJ's energy, wisps flaring around her, and hisses about Camille being an evil bitch.

Grant asks AJ what's up. The boyish Remade doesn't respond right away, instead seething with all his muscles clenched until he's shaking in place with barely contained rage. He manages to somewhat compose himself, shoulders slumping in something like resignation or grief. Even still, he speaks through clenched teeth.

He explains they got him with the lullaby, for a long, long time. They got him real good. He's sure he must be a sleeper agent.

Zuse clearly didn't know this about AJ and watches him have his fit with some degree of scientific curiosity.

Grant calmly figures that makes at least two of the cohort that're programmed. He asks AJ if he knows what he's programmed to do.

Geri goes quiet, watching but detached.

Zuse pops a few more skittles in his mouth and tries to assure AJ that so long as Gabriel was in charge of the program, he's not been aware of any subjects being programmed to do specific tasks - just the pacification. On the other hand, Zuse suspects Dr. Werner lost privileges over that program when he helped break the cohort out.

AJ isn't even listening anymore, he's too absorbed in his own freak-out and desperately trying to remember. He's staring off at nothing while he blurts out bits of his thoughts at no one in particular - She did... something. It.

She did it. She couldn't have. No. No. She wouldn't have.

Why. Why is she. Why is he.

A name.

Brody?

Who's Brody?

He clutches the side of his head, over one eye.

Grant and Geri both very cautiously watch AJ's reactions, like he's a scared animal who might bite them.

AJ looks up at them, shaking, distraught, and acting cornered though he's physically not. His emotions are plain on his face and body language. His speech. Is erratic. And broken up. He pleads with them to stay away. He says it's not safe, that they've been programming him since he was a - since he was a child. He turns to Geri and tells her to protect the cohort from him.

Geri carefully tells him she thinks they had a similar experience, since she was taught since she was young to be the next preacher, so it will be okay.

Grant tells him no one in the cabin is a picture of stability, and Zuse finger-guns at Grant before knocking back the rest of his Skittles in one go.

Grant continues by telling AJ that they're all fucked up, they all had terrible things happen to them by fucking monstrous people, but they're all gonna get over it and cope by hunting down and killing every last one of those fucks who thought they could get away with it.

Zuse pipes up that Dr. Werner is an exception. He promises he means well. Grant gives Zuse a skeptical look but doesn't reply.

AJ continues freaking out, shouting to the group at first that they don't understand. He looks over his shoulder to the door, as if expecting company from the Society at any moment to come bursting through. He claims he's not unstable, he' programmed to get whatever The Society wants, and they can use him to get to the cohort. He doesn't think they have. He hopes they haven't. Have they?

He reasons himself into believing the Society hasn't activated him yet, so that must mean they want him deactivated for some purpose, to keep him deeper within the cohort, waiting. They must want something they can only get with him there with the cohort. He starts pacing trying to figure out their deeper plan as he spirals further out, rambling more questions of why he's even there.

Grant keeps watch of the situation. He seems like he's about to say something to counter, then drops it.

Zuse calmly stands up, walks over to AJ, then zaps him in the forehead with a poke. He yells at him to get it together, then zaps him again.

Zuse explains there was nothing in AJ's file to even suggest he'd been programmed. So if, as a family member of an original founding member of the Society he happened to hear the lullaby growing up (weird, funny even, how that could happen), it was kept a carefully guarded secret from the rest of the Society.

Geri claims they tried to program all of them, and it only took for some. She promises they'll work through it together.

The shocks stun AJ for a few moments, and it looks like he might snap out of his shitfit. He looks at Zuse with what seems like new eyes, a new awareness... and suddenly grabs his shoulders. He shouts at Zuse that he knows, he knows something. He asks if that's why he came, if he's his handler. He demands to know more, Screaming at the top of his lungs to tell him.

In the middle of the shouting, Grant leans over to Geri to ask if he should bonk AJ to knock him out or if Geri thinks she can calm him down. Geri shays she'll try.

Zuse shifts the merged tee-shirt gun into his forehead so he can use it to shoot AJ in the eyes with a blast of air. Zuse tells the 'Baby Werner' to stop it.

AJ stumbles and Geri takes the opportunity to wedge herself between the combatants. AJ was going to continue, but hesitates when his eyes refocus and he sees Geri there. He stumbles back again, confused.

Geri calmly says they can work through this, and that Zuse can't possibly answer his questions if he throws so many at him at once. And also tat they proved Zuse isn't omniscient in the ward, even if he does know a lot.

Things begin floating around AJ as he stops fighting and Geri speaks. His hair starts floating, as if he's underwater but in air. The skittles that were still stuck in his curls pop out and begin orbiting him, the colorful dust trailing separately like rings.

His feet are no longer touching the ground.

Zuse takes a step back and the t-shirt gun tube retracts into his face.

AJ, in his emotional state, doesn't seem to fully grasp what's going on with him. He's continuing his discussion with Geri even as the others are backing up and staring openly. The paint powder from AJ's clothes and skin separates and swirls in the air around him.

He tells her he can't take that risk, what if he hurts her, or any of the other cohort members? He gets cut off mid-ramble when he does finally notice the stares, and looks at his own body. He screams and flails, managing to flip himself upside down, but still floating.

Geri's now only pretending to be calm and too-casually says that it's alright, she and Madi nearly blow up the cabin at least once a week each.

There's a soft humming. It's Zuse, transitioning into singing. Geri shoots him a look. He sings very well, though. It's the Long Man Song.

AJ initially seems unaffected, flipping around, banging his head on a coffee table, but shortly in, he rights himself and the song's effect takes hold. He goes quiet, relaxes, even his expression goes passive. He falls gently to his feet and the floating effects dissipate, all the powder and skittles dropping to the floor. He furrows his brow, as if he forgot something he meant to say.

Zuse fades out singing once AJ's calmed. He says it's evident why it's both useful and dangerous. He acknowledges it's reasonable to worry, but says AJ should focus on not letting the worry control him. He says Gabe even hid the conditioning from him, his best friend, and reminds AJ that Gabe does love him.

Then he announces he needs more Skittles and wanders toward the garage.

Geri and Grant are both emotionally spent, and plop into their respective seats. Grant asks which one of them made AJ float.

AJ says he doesn't know, then awkwardly mutters he has some work to do.

Zuse calls out in a sing-song voice it wasn't him!

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!
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