In a world where shadowy organizations make living weapons out of cheerleaders, Robert combats his true nemesis - underage drinking.The cohort also does their best to plan for an upcoming rescue mission.---------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 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 7: Madison and BoozeAfter the visit with Lucas, the cohort had their work cut out for them starting preparations to rescue Cassidy. One of the first things on Geri's list of things to do was give the cohort a non-telepathic means of group communications in the cabin.She totally wasn't annoyed with AJ still being upset with her at all. And definitely didn't have to rewrite her first entry in the extremely low-tech shared pen and journal set several times to scratch out such phrases as 'Since AJ's being a pissbaby...'The end result of the notice is rather short and direct, simply informing the others the journal is to share messages and gathered information for when their schedules didn't line up to always meet face-to-face.Geri also decided she wanted that argument with AJ to stop, but wasn't sure how to be positive it would stop. So naturally, she attempted to solve the issue of non-consensual telepathy with... more non-consensual telepathy. Instead of just talking to literally anyone.Because talking about your problems out loud makes you look stupid. You can't just admit you don't know things you by all accounts should.She decided, since Beth has an innate understanding of emotions and was at least somewhat close to AJ while they were at the ward, to Reconnect to her again and - instead of initiating a private conversation - to poke around in Beth's brain for the information she wanted.She looked for what Beth knew about AJ's emotional state while they were at the ward, what Beth might know about how to smooth things over with AJ, and what Beth knows about how to (mundanely) get people to not be upset, generally.Beth knew that things were very delicate for AJ - his whole world had just been shattered when he learned his beloved uncle Gabriel had kept secrets from him. Especially secrets like this.Beth believed the best way to smooth things over with AJ was for honesty to be the best policy. And for general knowledge on making people less upset? She believed truthfulness, mutual respect, and clear learning from mistakes usually work best.Most of those were things Geri didn't want to hear. She put off settling the issues with AJ she caused until she could hopefully find an approach she didn't hate.We start our scene shortly after dusk in the cohort's cabin. It's been a couple short days since meeting Lucas. During the past days AJ's been making a ruckus at all hours in the garage he's claimed as his bedroom, holing up in there except for supply runs.Geri's in the kitchen cooking dinner for the whole cohort - home-style mac n' cheese. She's readily taken on several domestic tasks for cohort functioning and is actually good at them. She doesn't tend to venture outside the cabin as much as the others for her research and other conspiracy-fighting tasks.Robert's actually awake, starting his evening casually sipping on a glass of dark spirits.AJ finally slinks out of the garage, wearing a flannel button-up, jeans, and an apron with a hula dancer's body on it. He watches Geri cooking for a moment before conspicuously rummaging for frozen foods instead.Geri tries to offer him some of the food she's making, letting him know it's for everyone, but just then, the door slams open and shut again.It's Madison. The girl's frazzled, clinging to the door wide-eyed, locking it. Peeking out the peephole. She takes a few breaths but it doesn't do much to calm her. ...
