[SPEAKER_04]: it has been many days since our gentle giant has even attempted to participate in the theatrics.
[SPEAKER_04]: For what would have been months on any other planet, he has sat in place, eyes unmoving, staring, into the middle distance, as if it were an abyss in and of itself.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner is broken.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, Ow.
[SPEAKER_01]: How are you doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: You're busy?
[SPEAKER_01]: I noticed you hadn't read any of the books I got for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought you might want to escape with a good story or something.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, not one of your own.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, that's fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't a hassle anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just been kind of a long time losing these actors.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they were starting to get pretty lively and then, well, no fault of yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was just a bummer.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we all felt that one with you, probably not as much as you.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, I mean, it's a terrible thing to lose something or someone so dear.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even I've lost a lot of dear friends to the resistance back home.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, big.
[SPEAKER_00]: Samson, al, may I bother you for a moment?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Larsi, what is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: How can we help you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I have something that might be of interest to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: What is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what it is, but I have it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, hand it over then.
[SPEAKER_00]: Excuse me.
[SPEAKER_04]: Marcie cuts herself short and steps onto the platform
[SPEAKER_00]: I would speak briefly.
[SPEAKER_04]: Samson looks to Al, whose expression remains still.
[SPEAKER_04]: But his head ever so slightly nods.
[SPEAKER_04]: Marcy Bows takes a breath and begins.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're traveling, brother and I, across the Darthic Spass.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is cold and dry, but I do not mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the cold.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know it may not seem likely when you seeves, but for some reason, I love the feeling of the cold on my skin.
[SPEAKER_00]: The great dark expanse is also filled with light.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how it is possible and brother-only explains and riddles and metaphors.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's very smart, and at times it makes me feel a little dumb.
[SPEAKER_00]: But brother loves Reno's the less.
[SPEAKER_00]: He makes me feel like intelligence is not the only thing that gives you kind of joy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember how we came to be on our journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I feel like this is the only thing I've ever done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever we do, I ask him about our journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Try to learn more about this wandering quest, but I probably shouldn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I do ask, he becomes sad and distanced.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love brother, and I do not like to see him sound.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he is sad, he spends more time in his chamber of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I built it for him, but I'm not exactly sure what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes in there to think,
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother is a terrific musician.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sweet notes from his instruments are my sounds, like sustenance, as I carry us across this endless waste mask.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I built the chamber of life, I did so at Brother's request.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an early memory of mine, perhaps my earliest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometime after leaving home, he told me that he needed a place to go and think, separate from the rest of the ship where he could store his thoughts and memories.
[SPEAKER_00]: He called it the Chamber of Life because it was built to be a testament to his memory.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never understood why he needs to store his memories.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must have a better memory, but I suppose that is to be expected.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was programmed to remember everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm bigger, but brother is older, so he probably has a memory stored as a chamber of chronically that would be four times.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes I'm not so sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are not the same, brother and I.
[SPEAKER_00]: He never called me, brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something inside just told me that he was my kin, even if we are inherently different.
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, brother is quite small.
[SPEAKER_00]: Within the confines of my halls and calendars, he is perfectly suited to the space and never wants for anything that my company.
[SPEAKER_00]: We communicate regularly, our thoughts intermingling like a single individual.
[SPEAKER_00]: His is the only voice I can hear.
[SPEAKER_00]: All other life existing to me as life or dark, depending on the nature of their souls.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only times I'm unable to hear brothers when he is in the changing of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can see him in there more clearly than when he is outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: But being unable to hear him makes it feel like I'm trespassing on his personal time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I try to give him space, even if I desire to study brother when he is in the chamber.
[SPEAKER_00]: For it is the only time I feel I am able to see as he does.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll stand before the great arbor in the center of the room upon an elevated platform.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's roots, spinning out of the bottom like threads of light.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are six paths from the tree, each lady to another door.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though when he travels through the doors, I lose sight and sound of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not even feel his presence in our universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is as if he's vanishes from existence when he travels through the doors.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says they are where he can relive the memories, and I have no reason not to believe him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has never lied to me, and he has had plenty of opportunities to do so.
[SPEAKER_00]: Typically, brother stays silent if he does not wish to speak on something, or if he believes I will not enjoy hearing what he would say.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when I press him, he will tell me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes he is quite right that I would not enjoy hearing any of it, especially the bloodshed and the malice, but there are sweet stories of triumph and happiness that, after hearing I am glad that I pressed him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, all of the stories he tells me have from one he and I are a part, and I have time to rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has been sometimes since we were last at a place where I could rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not that I particularly mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: My arms are tired, certainly, but it is not determined.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I do rest, it will be, oh, so much better.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I don't actually rest when we find a new place to explore, as there is very little for brother to do or see us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I often wonder what he is doing at these places.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's glowing orbs of light and dark which shine outward into the darker bits.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother describes what he sees and it seems to be a beautiful sight, though I cannot see it as he does.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know what differs between our powers of vision, but when I see orbs of light, he sees civilizations, struggles between people of all types.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where I see one world shattered,
[SPEAKER_00]: He sees an unexpoied, filled with specks of light, fighting back against the oppression of the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, where stops.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother Analy found a gorgeous orb of light, hardly affected by the darkness that plagued many other arms.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother has told me that the darkness I see and festing the light is the cruelty and hatred that emanates from the souls of the wicked, who had afflict pain on others.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says this happens a lot,
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not believe that such innocent creatures could be cool, but then again, I have seen brother after a long time apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will come to me slowly and quietly, as if recovering from a harrowing experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: He never speaks of these experiences.
[SPEAKER_00]: I suppose he is feeling me from this bound to fold cosmos of hatred as he would call it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This new place where we've landed is beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother Thensfield notes back to me so that I may catalog them for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he leaves me, it feels like time slows down.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am a lower, listening to the humble of the universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: And though I can feel brother, it is feet and almost indistinguishable from the feeling I have when he steps through one of the six doors.
[SPEAKER_00]: Save for those times.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never felt his absets.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a constant.
[SPEAKER_00]: I trust my brother to protect me.
[SPEAKER_00]: He would never let any harm befall me, not that any truly could.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am protected by my nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we land on an orb, I plant myself in the Solis ground, stretch my arms and siphon energy from the darkness.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is better to take from the dark as the light is already in such short supply.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel inside me that I must do my part to fight the encroaching darkness.
[SPEAKER_00]: For though I make no dent in the conglomerate of energy, it is better than to let the lights suffer further.
[SPEAKER_00]: Silence is the sound I hear now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother has finished with his notes and gone on to experience adventure, as he has wanted to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not disparage him in his adventures.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish I could join him, but more often than not, I am not allowed to show myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: For my design might raise suspicion of war.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not understand war.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother tells me it is when many people die to satisfy the greed of a few.
[SPEAKER_00]: This fills me with a feeling that I cannot quite place.
[SPEAKER_00]: I suppose it is anger.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something is strange is happening now, though I struggled for the words to describe it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps I will peruse brothers notes from previous adventures for reference.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ah, yes, I could say they have taken to me as if I were a deity, or at the very least a symbol for one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their movements are peculiar.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is as if they are in a constant state of life, death, and reproduction.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their lights flicker to me, their lives lived in the blink of an eye, but to them they suppose it is a great length of time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am trying to concentrate.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I do, I am able to feel the flow of time as brother does, but it is not always successful.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I want is for the lights to stop flickering for a moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish to see them for who they are, however that may be possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps it is worked for the lights have dimmed, but not extinguished.
[SPEAKER_00]: I suppose what I see is what brother has called buildings.
[SPEAKER_00]: Structures are furious shapes and sizes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Each of them serving purposes to what he calls civilizations.
[SPEAKER_00]: The people of this civilization are diligent and work hard, but I noticed that they are invested in me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps a little too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother's notes mentioned something about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparently, it is common for primitive civilizations to use fiction and mysticism to explain that which they are unable to understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems that I am a phenomenon to these people.
[SPEAKER_00]: A structure unlike anything they could ever hope to build.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps if I had thought to hide myself better, we would not be in this position.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even blending in at this point would draw too much suspicion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: People have died for various reasons that seem related to my existence.
[SPEAKER_00]: War seemingly are thought to using me as their reasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their squabbles and petty disputes cause far too much harm.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wish brother were nearby so that you may see what has become of my residence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, I sense him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though I cannot tell how near he is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like he is returning, but something is slowing down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that the spirits grow vying to get into something that's triggering my alarms, I feel something's falling at me, like they're trying to harvest me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing they can do can harm me, but something's deep down in my programming is insistent that I fight back.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not wish to kiss, but I must also survive.
[SPEAKER_00]: When they depressed my whole, I would be forced to take drastic measures.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, please stop.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not wish to harm anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please, do not do this, perhaps if I am at a faint energy they will know to move you alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that seems to have intrigued them further.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're ramping up their efforts soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will have no other weak horse.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems I must do it to protect my weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear a sound.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is like music.
[SPEAKER_00]: The kind that brother might play in the chamber.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sweet, tender, could these be their voices?
[SPEAKER_00]: How could creatures that produce such a beautiful sound that tempts such harm upon me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother is back.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know he will make everything better, but they are trying to stop him.
[SPEAKER_00]: They do not trust him, and I don't know why.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is too kind to cause these people harm.
[SPEAKER_00]: They know not what they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: To hurt them for their folly would be more cruel than the folly itself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can feel a weight upon his shoulders, something burdened him, and he wants nothing more than to rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've had enough of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother does not wish me to act alone, but there are times when I cannot sit by and watch.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are leaving.
[SPEAKER_00]: I dislodge myself from the solid ground,
[SPEAKER_00]: He is back in his chambered life, finishing up his notes on the excursion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother is very fond of kindness, but he is particularly fond of camaraderie and collaboration.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most of his longer adventures happen because he develops affection for people or places.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've had friends trouble with us through the years, but their time with us is typically short.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I see time differently, but sometimes it is as if I close my eyes for near moments and another one of our companions has either passed from the physical row or left us for a more peaceful life somewhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not like to say goodbye, but it is inevitable.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I do not even get a chance to say goodbye for one moment they are there and the next brother is morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know why time passes for me in such strange ignorance, but rather says he has it too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if he does, but I have no reason not to believe him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our newest companion has lasted a while.
[SPEAKER_00]: They joined brother sometime before our daring escape from the people that worshiped me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their age, or at the very least their appearance, is elderly, and so I assume that I would hardly get a chance to know them.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have, however, lasted longer than any other companion of ours.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have made me reconsider my feelings on our companions, and my dismissal of them as mere grains of sand on the endless beach that is our quest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever that quest may be.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother is devoted to this companion.
[SPEAKER_00]: I sense feelings of deep baddination, perhaps love.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've started calling our companion B02.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a system I came up with, but it only makes sense to myself and brother.
[SPEAKER_00]: We use an archivic calendar to measure time, brother and I, used by civilizations in the before times, it tracked the days and nights of a specific civilization as it's or revolved around the nearby stars.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though that civilization died long ago, brother continues to use it.
[SPEAKER_00]: 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours to a day, 365 days to a year.
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes little sense to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: The numbers are not round, but brother insists that is as best for him this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, these are two of their second companion of this gigatom, or that's what brother calls it at least.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still can't believe that we've been traveling for over a billion years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Among the various things Brother has learned from B02 is a technique he calls multiple luckists, which, from my observations, seems to be a fancy word for light magic, pain go away.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a pain in my legs and I had suffered for such a long time, I did not even notice it anymore, but Brother knew that I hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: Deep down, he could feel it as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: He used his newfound power to heal my chronic pain, and I felt renewed with a speed that I had never previously known.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even when I was younger, it my earliest memories I was never so fast.
[SPEAKER_00]: B02 has decided to leave us.
[SPEAKER_00]: They can no longer journey with us, or they can feel their soul leaning.
[SPEAKER_00]: They must return to the powers that made them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother wishes for them to stay, and I wish they would too, but I see their light flickering.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their soul is nearly depleted.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is time for it to wander back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother stays with them, but I cannot bring myself to watch.
[SPEAKER_00]: I keep my eyes on the great obsidian seas, and as B02's soul leaves us, I see it being pulled across the dark expanse, toward its origin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother has not been the sad before.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do not know how to comfort him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have considered turning around and returning to B02's orb,
[SPEAKER_00]: but brother insists on only looking forward, not lingering on the past.
[SPEAKER_00]: He seems to be struggling with this idea, though, for he has not stopped thinking about B02 since their death.
[SPEAKER_00]: I worry for brother, but while he speaks of good, I see him slipping into darkness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I must help him if I can, but I know not how soon we will arrive at a new orbit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brother has been spending all of his time in the chamber of life, but I'm hoping a new adventure awaits.
[SPEAKER_00]: One that will retrieve him from his decline.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we'll find an adventure that I can take part in, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would so like to see the world as brother does.
[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of the outcome, I know we'll be back in our same old quest soon enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until he's out of his slump, I will protect brother, because I know he would do the same for me.
[SPEAKER_04]: When the actor finishes speaking, even her eyes are not spared the tears.
[SPEAKER_04]: The gentle giant sits as still as ever.
[SPEAKER_04]: And though his vision blurs, his breathing is not sway.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fuck!
[SPEAKER_01]: Then you had to go and make it sad or didn't you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_04]: He stands suddenly and sends him worries for a moment that he is going to leave, but instead he goes directly to the platform at the center of the room.
[SPEAKER_04]: He stands for several moments unable to form words that a calm washes over him.
[SPEAKER_04]: He feels determination again.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Give me more.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm ready.
[SPEAKER_03]: This has been another hidden anecdote.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hidden anecdotes and other tales is presented by Outrageous Creation's Media.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was created by GM Stepniewski.
[SPEAKER_03]: This episode was written, directed voice and edited by the creator.
[SPEAKER_03]: The voice of Marcy was Morgan Retker, who also produced and provided this episode's artwork.
[SPEAKER_03]: For a more detailed credits list, see the description or check out the team's work at Outrageous Creation's Media.com.
[SPEAKER_02]: I suppose I will not be rid of you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Fine.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're going to linger, then the least you can do is put yourself to good use and help me get to the bottom of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I get new fate from me.
[SPEAKER_02]: This is your escape, I see.
[SPEAKER_02]: You'll be back.
[SPEAKER_02]: I know you will.