despitethenora | Sneck IC inbox

I'd been wondering if it'd be better to ask Claudine. There's my answer.

[She tries to keep her tone level and even, even for that, but she's still too angry for perfect control.]

He laid hands on her. Humiliated her. A week later. He let me think it was a verbal disagreement. Just an argument over Hunter.

And then I see this.

I've worked so hard to find ways to get Aloy to feel comfortable around them. Spent hours in bed, thinking of how best to approach her, convince her it's safe to ask for things. Treating this as just an argument.

If I'd known, I could have...

I can see why she didn't tell me. She'd hate to seem weak, wouldn't she? She's Aloy, she gets things done. She stands alone when no one else can.

["With Sobeck, all things are possible."

It's like a recitation. GAIA seems...bigger. More real, in that moment. She gestures, calling up imagery. Aloy and Donatello, considering a book in Tryse's hut.

"Is it not enough for them to work together? She has done the same with another individual who offended her."]

[There's a little bit of a flush to her ears, but it doesn't do much to dispel the anger she's trying not to let leak now.]

I'd hoped they could be friends. She needs those, so badly.

But friends don't treat each other like that. That's the way someone treats another they view as inferior. That they want to show that they have power over. And that's totally unacceptable to me.

He wouldn't treat Hunter that way. Not Eve. Not Korone. He'd probably try to break anyone he saw treat them like that. So why is it okay to treat Aloy this way? The fact that he didn't tell me about it-

[She paces a little, clenching and unclenching her fists, taking slow, deep breaths.]

She shouldn't have to work with someone who treats her like that. Not unless he makes an effort to change. And-

GAIA, has Donatello ever apologized?

Edited 2023-07-18 23:34 (UTC)

["It seems he made a peace offering at the end of that very conversation."

An image of Aloy floating on the ceiling and scanning Donnie's tech bo, which has been suctioned to the ceiling.

"Since, he has emphasized that a fight is not the end of a relationship for him. He cannot apologize for a justified anger, and Aloy is not asking for it."]

[She can't change anything. She promised not to change anything. And she isn't Donatello, she isn't just going to write how she thinks Aloy should feel into her heart without permission.

She wants to rant and rave. This wasn't an argument, this was a demonstration. A humiliation. If he'd done this to anyone else, someone he actually cared about, no matter the provocation, he'd probably be coming back within that week with a gift. A box. A dagger. A new quiver. Instead, he'd left Aloy dangling again.

Tryse paces for a moment more. Mentally checks how much time has passed. She doesn't have the time to spare for this.]

GAIA, I've... allowed myself to get sidetracked. Is there anything that I should be focusing on here that I'm not?

["There are several recommendations, depending on your goals. However, in all cases, the starting point is this."

Purple letters scroll into the air: Tryse: You are an onion. Many delicious layers. I work in each one.

"From what I have seen, you have not yet attempted to see your surroundings here as Aloy would."]

[Tryse scrubs at her face. As Aloy would. Try to think like Aloy.

Try to calm down so you can think like Aloy.

You're such a failure, Tryse.

She takes a long, shuddering breath and gestures to condense all of the profile data. Shove it to a corner of her field of vision. First things first. First thing Aloy always does.

She taps her focus to ping her surroundings.]

[The ping goes out.

And each memento on the walkway populates a file icon, as well as the low-humming machine orb with its spear sticking out of it by the door.]

...Nothing to climb?

[Well. That spear had drawn some attention earlier, hadn't it? Best to go inspect that, then. She approaches it and taps the icon.]

[A memory:

Aloy is surrounded by a projection of a world deprived of all life. The falsehood is given away by the way it flickers periodically with static. There is lightning, and a haze of red light. Sitting on the ground before her is a small, red orb, odd shapes fluttering around it. She is agitated.

HADES: Does "Aloy"... still think she can... restore GAIA? Save... Life on Earth?..

Aloy: Yeah, "Aloy" does.

HADES: Then you are... deluded. Extinction... inevitable.

Aloy: What would you know, HADES? Twice you tried to destroy life on Earth, and twice you failed! The only extinction you ever brought about is your own.

HADES: You... are incorrect. Three times... HADES extinguished life.

Aloy: What? You remember this?

HADES: Yes, data intact. Non-viable biospheres aborted... in years 2154,2161, 2168.

Aloy is starting to pace.

Aloy: So? That's... centuries ago. It's what you were designed to do!

HADES: Current biosphere is... version five. There will be no version six.

Aloy: There won't need to be! I'm saving this one!

She presses her Focus, activating a program. A bright blue hologram of Elisabet starts materializing over HADES.

HADES: You... are deluded. Outcome... inevitable... Aloy is... outmatched... a pawn... in losing game.

Synthetic Voice: Master Override armed. To activate, state name and rank.

Aloy: Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime!

HADES: Extinction... will trumph... Earth... doomed.

Synthetic Voice: Master Override, activated. Purging Extinction Protocol.

HADES: ...will be at last... wiped clean... of filth.

The hologram dissolves again, wisps of light coalescing on HADES, the AI boasting of doom to the last moment. White light floods Aloy's awareness again - and then she's back in the corroding ruins of an old world facility, the now-silent machine core in front of her as she pulls her spear free from it.]

[She watches silently. A god machine silenced. A world saved. And yet Aloy still couldn't be allowed to rest. Not even just being here. She thinks some day she'll make it home, and there's more fighting.

She wants to hold Aloy. This is all just. So unfair.]

Seven years isn't long enough to establish a biome. The god-machine was mad.

[Gods. She's so tired. She reaches out, touches the spear. Rests her hand on it.

She should probably do something with it. Pull it out. Push it in further. But she'd said she wouldn't make any changes. She grips it firmly, knuckles going white, and closes her eyes, taking slow, deep breaths.]

I feel so stupid sometimes. I ask for such a major hint and I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing.

[She lets go, takes a step back, then eyes the mementos. Time to start accessing their icons, one by one.]

["Indeed, HADES was. Each of the terraforming system's subordinate routines went mad when their shackles to my predecessor were broken. The resulting deviations from the terraforming system's correct operations caused what the tribal cultures now populating Earth refer to as 'the Derangement.'" A pause, watching Tryse grasp the spear. "You have just discovered the next layer. Understanding begins with learning, not the other way around."

The Seeker's Mark
Aloy stops before door. Another step, and she'll exit the cradle facility. Where she was born. Where she was - made. She doesn't want to deal with what's waiting for her, but it has to happen. She moves, and the large doors fold up and out for her, the facility's lights flooding out into the dimmer candles of the Nora sheltering in the mountain entrance. One of the matriarchs, seeing Aloy's figure striding out, gasps and slaps her hands to the floor in a bow. She can hear the Nora murmuring as she continues walking. Several Braves, holding their spears, kneel. The matriarch that bowed pleads, "Aloy - forgive, forgive!"

Matriarch Teersa, more even-keeled, speaks. "The Goddess spoke to you?"

A moment, a foul taste in her mouth, and Aloy chooses the easy way. She can't make them understand. She has to frame things carefully. "Uh - she did."

"What did she say?"

"That...I was born to lift a curse. To kill a Metal Demon."

The matriarchs are beginning to stand. "How, Aloy? How?"

Aloy shakes her head. "I don't know yet. But she told me where to go to find out."

A different matriarch. "And you will do this?"

"It was...her wish. What she made me for." The determination is coming back. "Yes. I will do it. I'll, uh. Try, anyway."

Aloy is beginning to look away, when the matriarchs burst out in unison: "All praise Aloy, Anointed of the Nora!" They're beginning to repeat, people falling to their knees, and the anger rooted deep in Aloy's heart takes over.

She grabs a woman's elbow, pulls her up. Another, and another. "No. NO! Stop this! Up, UP." Damnit. One of them - it's the man who brandished his spear at her, when she was little and had saved that boy. She stops, planting herself and unloading. "First you shun me, and now this?! I will not be worshiped! I'm not your 'Anointed!' I don't belong to you! There's a whole world beyond your borders. Whole tribes of people just as good as you, and it is all in danger. It's a world worth fighting for. Not just here. Everywhere."

Warchief Sona is coming to her feet. And next to her, Sona's son, Varl, speaks. He's...gentle. "How can we help?"

Aloy breathes. Lets her voice come back down. "If you can fight, and you're willing, go to Meridian, and wait for me there."

Teersa raises her hands. "As Aloy says, so it shall be. Nora! Make way, that she may forge the path for others to follow!"

A moment. Aloy remembers the mental twists Sona went through to justify the war party pursuing raiders where Nora law would otherwise forbid them. They're probably doing it again - it's okay to leave, if it's to follow the Anointed. But it gets done what needs doing.

She nods to Teersa.

The faceplate of a machine, modeled to resemble an antelope
The grazers are stampeding about the mountaintop clearing, driven into a panic by the adults organizing the Proving. The air is cold to the bone, heavy snow blowing in the air, reducing visibility. It's the first step - harvest a trophy from a machine. Nora coming of age are shooting down their marks, rushing to remove the face plate. Aloy has taken one, herself - but as she raises her trophy, proud, an arrow whistles, and smashes the piece. She looks, and sees Bast at a ledge. He may be older, but he is still the horrible little boy who stoned her, and he still wears the same gleeful expression as he turns to run with his own trophy.

Aloy looks to the adult supervising this part - and it's the man who pointed the spear at her. He sneers. Laughs, even. "Your trophy is shattered, outcast. Looks like you'll need another."

She growls her frustration, and turns to down another machine. There are no others in the Proving still hunting when she claims a new trophy, and mutters to herself. "I've gotta catch up."

She turns, and sprints into the snow, making for the Paths winding the edges of the mountain. The gargantuan tendril-like appendages of the dead Metal Devil over the mountain arch overhead, as much a part of the landscape as the trees. Her footing is certain, and she throws everything into the run, even as she hears a man's voice advising the participants: "Slow, and steady, now! All you need is to finish. That makes all but one - is the outcast coming?"

One of the participants, a girl, answers. "She was behind me." It is all anyone cares to say on the matter, before Aloy finds the next observer, posted up on the Path. Aloy stumbles to a stop next to him, surveying the situation. At a glance, the others seem hopelessly far ahead, on a long trail up and down. The observer, not actively malicious like the last, simply advises, "Dead last, girl. Might as well walk from here. Bast will win, or Vala. But you will be made a Brave, so long as you finish."

Aloy's continuing to look, catching her breath. Simply being made a Brave isn't enough. She's trained for this all her life, so she could win. So she could demand answers from the Matriarchs for her lot in life. She looks to posts crossing a gap in the stone. The new trail simply descends. Longer. Safer. But she could...

The observer grasps her thought. "Ho, now. That's an old trail. Two died on it last year. It's falling apart!" He's starting to walk the new trail, leaving her. "Better dead last, than dead altogether." Aloy backs up - sprints - begins jumping across the tops of the posts. He shouts. "By All-Mother, are you crazy?! You're going to kill yourself!"

She lands atop the last post, and it gives way, falling to the far side. Aloy leaps, fingers barely finding purchase to pull herself onto the old path.

"It doesn't get any easier! You're insane to go that way!"

But she's already throwing herself into a sprint again. "No way but forward now." She finds an old zip line, throwing a hook over it and riding it down. As she runs, she starts to hear the others again, complaining about the poor visibility. Trying to suss out who's where, who's winning. Bast and Vala, by the sound of it. "Come on, now," Aloy chides herself, practically hopping up a rock face. "Faster! Stop dragging!" The others have finally spotted her. The outcast - on the old trail. She's crazy. All Aloy knows is she's gaining. It's her whole existence now, still berating herself. "I've trained my whole life for this. They had a tribe, but I had the wilds." Her breath is flagging. "Precision...not enough...must be...perfect."

One more zip line down, and she lands in snow just before Vala - beautiful woman, friendly, maybe they could be friends after this - and Bast, all of them driving through the home stretch toward one of the younger matriarchs. They drive their trophies into the snow - Aloy, then Vala and Bast. They look up at the matriarch, panting.

Bast pushes to his feet, pointing and exclaiming. "She didn't win! The outcast cheated!"

The matriarch stands over her, hands folded and looking at her, and speaks. "An outcast, win the Proving? Never."

Aloy's heart stops.

"For she is a Brave, now."

Vala smiles at her. "You did it!"

The matriarch continues. "As are you all. So long as you put your trophy on the altar. But it is Aloy, once outcast, and now brave, who is first among you -"

An arrow - the plumes, that's no Nora arrow - plunges into the woman's chest, and she falls, screaming.

-An old world trinket, a charm of the globe
Aloy listens to an old recording she's recovered, as her horse-like robot crosses the remains of a ranch's gate. It's a place in what the ancients called Nevada. It's a place her mother called home, where Elisabet said she'd go when she was trapped outside the bunker where her team was finishing their work.

Elisabet Sobeck: Ok, GAIA. Sorry about that. Where was I?

GAIA: You were telling a story.

Elisabet Sobeck: Right. Yeah... so, like I was saying, it was a children's electronic kit, but I'd hacked the wiring to an auto battery and solar PV, so the grass caught fire. And so did a tall pine that'd stood there, I don't know, maybe a hundred years.

GAIA: Query: You were how old?

Elisabet Sobeck: Six. My mother was home, thank god, so she called the fire department and after, she took me out on the lawn and showed me the dead baby birds. Because there were nests in the pine tree.

GAIA: Query: What did you feel?

Elisabet Sobeck: I'm not sure. I remember yelling that I didn't care. And that's when my mother took my face in her hands and... spoke.

GAIA: Query: What did she say?

Elisabet Sobeck: She said I had to care. She said, "Elisabet, being smart will count for nothing if you don't make the world better. You have to use your smarts to count for something, to serve life, not death."

GAIA: You often tell stories of your mother. But you are childless.

Elisabet Sobeck: I never had time. I guess it was for the best.

GAIA: If you had had a child, Elisabet, what would you have wished for him or her?

Elisabet Sobeck: I guess... I would have wanted her to be... curious. And willful - unstoppable, even... but with enough compassion to... heal the world... just a little bit.

Elisabet Sobeck: Anyway, that's all I've got for now, GAIA. Time to tuck in.

GAIA: I wish you a pleasant sleep, Elisabet.

Elisabet Sobeck: Thank you. I'll catch you tomorrow.

Aloy spots a figure, sitting. It's some sort of armor. No, an environment suit. It's surrounded by a perfect triangle of flowers. That only happens around the metal flowers. GAIA must have had one placed here. A memorial to her creator. Aloy steps up to the figure. Swallows, and presses her Focus. It projects for her the face of the person inside the suit.

It's her own face. Older, and forever at rest.

-A blue charm on a necklace
Aloy is catching up to Rost, who waits for her as near to the village as he will allow himself to go. He watches her step forward.

Rost: So. It’s time. Are you ready?

Aloy: Yes. I guess. It’s... louder than I expected.

Rost: You’ve never been so close before.

Aloy: I guess everything’s bigger up close.

Rost: Soon it’ll all seem familiar. Like home.

Aloy: I don’t know about that.

Rost: Look for High Matriarch Teersa. She will help you. Any other concerns?

Aloy: What should I expect once I’m inside?

Rost: There will be people celebrating, and feasting. More than you’ve ever seen in one place. No other village compares to Mother’s Heart. It is the seat of the High Matriarchs, a center of Nora life, a jewel of the Sacred Land. Give it time, and you will grow fond of it... as I was, back when I was of the tribe.

Aloy: Are you sure they’re going to let me in?

Rost: I’ve told you. Aloy. By law, any child outcast can run in the Proving --

Aloy: "And any who pass are made braves, and are outcasts no more." I know that. But not everyone follows the law like you do, Rost.

Rost: Have faith, Aloy. The tribe will honor your right.

Aloy: Any final lessons before I head in?

Rost: No, you’ve learned every lesson the wilds have to teach.

Aloy: It was you who taught me, not the wilds. Not sure my bow and spear will be much help in there, though.

Rost: It is with bow and spear that you’ll win hat you’ve what you’ve wanted all these years. Aloy. Answers.

Aloy: I’m ready to do this. See you back home in a few days?

Rost: You will not find me there, Aloy. Here. Take this, to... remember.

He presses the blue charm into her hands.

Aloy: Why are you talking like we’ll never see each other again? No - No...

Rost: You should be with the tribe. And I will always be an outcast.

Aloy: But I told you, I have that figured out! I’ll come to you in secret. I’ll be the one breaking the law, not you! You don’t even have to talk to me!

Rost: This attachment to me will only hold you back. It IS my wish that you embrace the tribe. You’ve lived in isolation long enough.

Aloy: Not until now, I didn’t.

Rost: For your sake, I must go where you will never find me. This is goodbye.

Aloy: No. It’s not. You taught me how to track. Wherever you go, I can follow.

Rost: Not this time.

Aloy: This time... and every time. I’ll be wearing this when I find you.

Rost: May All-Mother bless you, Aloy.

He turns, and leaves her behind.

Aloy: And you.

-A lone, potted flower
A Thrush says goodbye to her Hawk. There's a low-key attraction, unacknowledged for very obvious reasons.

-A headdress, metal and draped with blue wires
Aloy and a large Banuk man, Aratak, are surrounded by fallen machines in mussed snow, out of breath, meant to be competing, but - fighting back to back. The Banuk dress in heavy blue clothes, place blue wires in their own skin. The competition to take the position of chieftain from him has failed. Aloy doesn't want it, but it's the quickest path. Always the quickest path, with her.

Other Banuk are approaching the site of the battle.

Ruatuk: The attack cut short the competition. Naturally, there can be no result. It is void.

Aratak: You saw what she did! She defeated the machines, not I. It is proven... She is the better hunter. We are Banuk. Survive. Prevail. What else matters?

Aratak cuts his hand with Aloy’s spear.

Aratak: My blood is in your teeth. I take my place behind you on the hunt.

His sister, Ourea, is quick to insert herself. She believed Aloy a tool for this, for what she wants to do.

Ourea: No more hunters may make the ascent to Thunder’s Drum! The way is closed to all but the chieftain and myself.

Aratak: It is not my place, but I would ask a boon. To accompany you and my sister.

Ourea: It might be permitted, but only if you do as say.

Aloy: No. Only if you do as I say.

Ourea doesn't like this. But she's committed herself to the arrangement. Aratak, well, he indicates his willingness.

Ourea: Thunder’s Drum awaits. There’s a camp at its base - Longnotch, it’s called. Meet us there when you ready...Chieftain.

The Banuk leave her a cache of gear, and file away, leaving Aloy to talk to herself. As usual.

Aloy: All of the winters... coming at once. A new outfit. And a weapon like Aratak’s. I guess the Chieftain gets the Chieftain’s gear. And now, to Longnotch. Nothing left to keep me from Thunder’s Drum.

- The memory cuts. They're surrounded by metal, fire bursting far off in the facility. Ourea has fallen, blood running from her nose. Her body is failing, and without a Focus, she can't see the 'spirit,' the AI named CYAN, she loves so much. But Aloy can.

CYAN: Ourea...I'm free. You must escape.

The light fades, and the facility's destruction proceeds around them. Ourea is no longer breathing - the woman is gone. And her brother, the man she has argued with so much, is on his knees with her, broken. Insensate to his impending doom.

Aratak: My sister...

Aloy reaches out, forces him to pay attention to her.

Aloy: This entire place is going to go! Aratak! Aratak! Aratak... Survive. Prevail. You are Banuk. What else matters? Aratak, she would never have wanted you to die here. Let’s go. Let’s go!

Once more. He hates this. SHE hates this. Family is so important, and it's been awful to see siblings divided and trying to get authority over one another. And now they'll never mend things. But he stands, and forces himself to leave his sister. Together, they flee the fire.

-A carving of a robot pterodactyl
The joy of her sister's sunwing override codes. Until it gets cut short by responsibility, anyway.]

[-A copy of COSMIC FRONTIER
Shipping talk between tired scavenger hunters. Up until "Yeah. and NOT worth using a token to go get."

-A bear statue
Climbing like bros, vulnerable talks about family, and getting hugged to sleep

-Crocodile plushy
If Tryse scans the plush as well, she might notice it's...a little bigger. And sitting in the middle of the walkway now, instead of positioned like it was crawling onto the walkway.

This file, too, warns DATA CORRUPTED as it plays a static-riddled jumble of Aloy getting killed by the Snekmanji crocodile over and over again, multiple times with Airi. It finally resolves with the crocodile killing her when accompanied instead, by Robin's Egg, cutting off with Aloy reviving only to get buffeted by a witch's hat.]

Edited 2023-07-21 00:20 (UTC)

[That's such a mixture of feelings, and they manage to distract, somewhat, from her rage. Sympathy. Pity.

Talanah's beautiful. What does being her Thrush entail? Obviously nothing romantic, she's certain of that. But still...

Rost. The Nora. She's beginning to why Aloy's shaped the way she is. Rost has done so much for Aloy, and yet Tryse wishes she could reach through time and throttle the man. It's always a mistake to think barbarians are stupid, but...

And flying-

She should cast a flight spell on Aloy. She'd like that.

She's reaching for the frog when she triggers the crocodile by mistake. And she pauses, staring at it warily. That was... She was in Aloy's heart.]

GAIA. Is this thing usually such a strong presence?

[It takes longer for the AI to answer. There’s a metal groan in the room when she looks to it.

“Its presence is difficult to reconcile.”]

[She shouldn't. She promised not to. Tryse turns her back and walks away.]

If you're not recognizing it as trauma, then it's probably a foreign element. Possibly introduced by Qhyone. Maybe when it became a taboo for her.

[She reaches the spear and gives it a firm tug, trying to pull it from HADES.]

There's only two I'll allow inside Aloy for such a long time. Claudine and myself. Airi can, in a less intimate fashion. But certainly no creation of the cult's.

["Limit noted." A pause. "Clarification needed: define 'a less intimate fashion.'"

It takes effort to free the spear - back in the day, Aloy gave up on freeing the real one, for half a year. But it can be done.]

[She closes her eyes for a moment.]

I was... I was using crude humor to vent frustration. Sorry.

[She strains, grunts, but... In this, it's less about physicality and more about mentality, isn't it? And mental strength, Tryse has in spades. If that matters here.

Still, it practically sends her sprawling when she manages to get the spear out. She huffs, picks up her beret, plops it back onto her head, and picks up the spear. She's ever really used one before, but how hard can it be? It's a staff with a pointy bit at one end.

She turns back to the shelves. Time to put down a plushie.]

["Ah. I am afraid I am not programmed with colloquial forms of humor.

"Query: You are frustrated?"

GAIA watches, failing to truly react to Tryse falling over with the spear.

It's heavy - the haft is metal. And even this is more complex that a staff with a pointy bit at one end. No, much more complex than that: it's a staff with a pointy bit at one end, and a little black box lashed to the butt of the haft. A small, medial line of light will power on if it's brought near the plush.]

I'm still angry. And now there's this plush crocodile. I'd blown it off as a joke, and it seems to be... more.

I remember you, you little beast. You attacked me, too. Hwast cunte-draca.

[Yeah. Fuck it. She's stabbing the thing, or giving it the old college try at least.]

[The animal's AC is actually -

Nah, it's incredibly easy to stab. The spear's blade plunges into soft stuffing. A ring of light manifests over the box at the butt of the spear haft.]

[She's... got no clue what to do with that ring of light, really. Tryse reaches out, pauses, and... tries slapping it?

That's how technology works, right? Aloy slapped the record player, after all. Not that it worked.]

[There's an aborted activation sound at the initial contact, but. That seems to be all a slap gets.]

...

[Okay, but what if?

Her heart works on willpower and emotion. So did Claudine's. So can she just... Gather everything she has, focus it together, and slap it again? It's worth a shot. She spreads her legs, scowls in concentration, and raises her hand. Giving it a few seconds to focus, and for Aloy's heart to act however it's going to, she gives it a harder, firmer, more confident slap.]

[Tryse invests in the slap, and what can Aloy's heart do but answer someone determined to make an action do something? A circle slowly closes around the ring of light, a loading sound playing.

A hologram of a man appears over the crocodile. The sides of his head are shaved, the tuft of hair on top long, blond, and tied up in a bun. He slouches, standing with legs wide. And he grins, wagging a finger like Sonic. He speaks with a cavalier tone, and a southern American accent. "Ah-ah-ah. All things gotta end sooner or later, honey. This cult loves an ending, huh? An ending, and an ending, and an ending - ya get my drift?"

He shakes his head, and chuckles.

"All respect to Liz, but she don't accept death lying down, for anyone, does she? And even she still needed me to whip up my magnum opus. HADES, ya get me? The grim reaper himself.

"Now there's this little lady 'round these parts who gets why ya want a 'medical option' available."

The hologram seems to look Tryse in the eye, and winks.

"Might be interesting to see how she was, before she understood she has an ending, too. Run, and fly, and dive. Take the fast way down a cliff, 'cause it's more fun to experience the rush, even if you know your hands'll smart with rope burns after. But here's the rub. And it's a hell of a rub."

He raises his hands, as though unveiling a display, and a clock appears over him, with a meme-style audio cue of children cheering: 24:00:00. It starts ticking down.

"Hope the lil' lady has some fun. But that thing hits zero, and it's like Arnie used to say in my granpappy's classics." An eight-bit video game sound, and a pair of sunglasses appears in his hand, which he makes a show of putting on, extending fingerguns with a stock gun-cocking sound effect. He drawls, "AH'LL BE BAHCK."

The hologram freezes, before disappearing.

The plush sits, inert, a bit of stuffing spilling out where it's been impaled on the spear.]

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