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now, and restrictions may apply. Welcome

1:02

to the second episode of

1:04

Series 80 everyone. This month

1:06

we are covering romance games,

1:08

but not just any romance

1:11

games, specifically duo or solo

1:13

play romance games. And this

1:15

week I am pleased to

1:17

have with us guest co-host

1:19

and previous guest on the

1:21

show, Sendalino. Together we are

1:23

covering our first letter writing

1:25

duo RPG, a game called

1:27

You Never Told Me, by

1:29

Senda herself. But before we

1:32

get to all of that, here's

1:34

what to expect in the calls

1:36

to action after the show. I don't

1:38

have too much time before I need

1:40

to get this episode out. It is

1:42

late as it is. So we will

1:45

keep it brief by only having our

1:47

normal Patriot information as well as our

1:49

patron thank you after the show and

1:51

how to get a hold of us

1:53

online. Check the show notes for other

1:55

shows on the network that I have

1:58

had in producing as well. But that's...

2:00

about it. With all of that out

2:02

of the way, with all of that

2:04

out of the way, interrupt

2:06

to show everyone. Welcome

2:45

to Character Creation cast a show

2:47

where we discuss and create characters,

2:49

the best part of role-playing games,

2:51

with guests using their favorite systems.

2:53

I'm one of your hosts Ryan,

2:55

and this month, we are covering

2:57

RPGs that have a romantic theme

3:00

to them, but also are geared

3:02

towards either dual or solo play.

3:04

This week, we are continuing the

3:06

trend in duo RPGs with a

3:08

letter writing game called You Never

3:10

Told Me by a friend of

3:12

the show and current guest co-host,

3:15

Senda Leno. I am here

3:17

with Senda again today to

3:19

examine this game and create

3:21

some characters together. Senda welcome.

3:23

Awesome. Thank you. I'm excited to

3:26

be here again. Yeah, yeah. I'm

3:28

glad we could line this up again.

3:30

I'm really excited to learn about that.

3:33

This is our first letter writing game

3:35

I think we have covered. I really

3:37

like them, which is of course why I

3:39

wrote one. Yeah, it's an interesting

3:41

concept to have that asynchronous

3:44

like solo play effectively, right?

3:46

Yeah, partially solo play, but

3:48

also, let's be real. Like I think

3:51

with part of my interest veering

3:53

into LARP in recent years, letter

3:55

writing is a way to also

3:57

engage that without some of them.

3:59

run up for larping because you

4:02

can decide how committed you are,

4:04

right, to be the real world

4:06

aspects of what you're doing versus

4:08

like, you know, how you choose

4:11

to communicate. So yeah. We'll probably

4:13

talk more about that as we

4:15

go. Absolutely. Well, let's go ahead

4:17

and get into this and start

4:20

by discussing what this game is

4:22

all about. What's in a game?

4:24

Okay, Santa, what are the core

4:26

concepts of you never told me?

4:29

So this is this is one

4:31

of those weird little games that

4:33

happened because you saw a thing

4:35

on the internet. Just to be

4:38

clear, this this game is three

4:40

pages long at the moment. It

4:42

is in data. So we are

4:44

going to do one little tweak

4:46

in character creation even as we

4:49

do it that I will hopefully

4:51

catch up with and publish on

4:53

the edge version for people later.

4:55

But if not, you'll know, right?

4:58

Like it's still kind of evolving,

5:00

but it's definitely playable now. This

5:02

game was inspired by a series

5:04

of tweets that were interrogating the

5:07

idea of being an immortal vampire

5:09

who went to a museum and

5:11

found like in a museum a

5:13

love letter to them. for like

5:16

a hundred years ago or something,

5:18

right? And like, how would you

5:20

react to that? And there was

5:22

a series of tweets about this

5:25

from when Twitter was Twitter. And

5:27

it was really interesting to me.

5:29

And I was like, what would

5:31

you do in that situation? And

5:34

so I wrote a game. So

5:36

that's that's the basic concept. The

5:38

secondary part of this game is,

5:40

as you said, it is a

5:42

letter writing game. So a piss

5:45

Larry. And it does mean that

5:47

you can. decide the speed at

5:49

which you engage, the medium in

5:51

which you engage, kind of all

5:54

sorts of things about it. It

5:56

is a much more both personal

5:58

and then also shared experience because

6:00

of the letter writing aspect. So

6:03

I guess that's I think that

6:05

pretty much covers the core concepts.

6:07

This is not a chunky game.

6:09

So I don't know if there

6:12

are a lot more concepts than

6:14

that to cover Exactly is one

6:16

of those micro games that that

6:18

gives you like a very narrow

6:21

focus on These are your characters.

6:23

This is the situation go Yeah,

6:25

it's definitely a framework for telling

6:27

a story together that gets you

6:30

started and doesn't really frankly give

6:32

you a lot of guidance past

6:34

that point. So, I mean, I

6:36

actually even wrote into like, how

6:38

does the game end? Well, it

6:41

ends when you either logically come

6:43

to an end point, decide that

6:45

you're done playing, or lose interest,

6:47

right? Like, it's gonna end whenever

6:50

you decide it ends. Yeah, absolutely.

6:52

So in this game, what sort

6:54

of setting do you imagine these

6:56

characters to be played in? So

6:59

I think that it's very flexible,

7:01

right? The default. with which the

7:03

rules are kind of written is

7:05

that you've got some sort of

7:08

magic twining through potentially invisibly probably

7:10

invisibly through the world that we

7:12

live in. But that means that

7:14

you could still play kind of

7:17

any point along the historical spectrum

7:19

as long as there's a way

7:21

that you can have been alive

7:23

for a long time and accidentally

7:26

run across a letter from the

7:28

other person that is, you know,

7:30

from a time perspective, very separated

7:32

from where you are now. That's

7:34

pretty much it. Public display too,

7:37

right? Right, which makes it really

7:39

interesting. But that doesn't mean that

7:41

you couldn't play it like in

7:43

the future, right? Yeah. Or that

7:46

you couldn't play it in like

7:48

a different setup of world, right?

7:50

In any setting where you can

7:52

justify the public display of a

7:55

letter that an ancient letter, right,

7:57

like something historical, you could play

7:59

this game. Absolutely. So what sort

8:01

of tools do we need to

8:04

play the game then? This one

8:06

is interesting because it is there

8:08

is partially a conversation. here about

8:10

you and your fellow player, how

8:13

you are choosing to approach the

8:15

game. So for me, I personally,

8:17

when I'm doing a letter writing

8:19

game, I can get really obsessed

8:22

with the minutiae. And when I

8:24

say that, I mean, like, sometimes

8:26

I have sitting over here next

8:28

to me, you can't see it,

8:30

but I have, you know, like,

8:33

I have custom stationary, I have

8:35

specific pens, I have, I have.

8:37

I have wax seals that I

8:39

have purchased for specific characters. That

8:42

is a good detail. You can

8:44

do that, but you don't have

8:46

to, right? Like I have also

8:48

played this game where we negotiated

8:51

that it was much easier to

8:53

do it via email. And that's

8:55

fine. So part of the answer

8:57

to this question is how do

9:00

you want to make that communication

9:02

happen? My sort of baseline assumption

9:04

would be you probably need stamps

9:06

and envelopes and paper. But you

9:09

don't have to. Maybe you just

9:11

need access to an email address

9:13

that you're going to use. Or

9:15

maybe you just are like using

9:18

a shared Google doc writing back

9:20

and forth. What it comes down

9:22

to is you have to have

9:24

a medium in which you are

9:26

choosing to share those letters back

9:29

and forth. And whether the physical

9:31

sending of a letter has meaning

9:33

to you or not, that's your

9:35

call. Yeah, I can even imagine

9:38

like using utilizing Discord for this

9:40

or something more real time potentially,

9:42

but as long as you can

9:44

go back and forth. Yeah, you

9:47

could really any way that you

9:49

can have a back and forth.

9:51

Since it's letters, right, like it's

9:53

just like some place where you

9:56

can have chunky text. Yeah. Yeah.

9:58

Can you send wax seals through

10:00

the mail? Oh yeah. Black sealed

10:02

letters? You should give me your

10:05

address. I'll send your Christmas card

10:07

next year. Fantastic. I will do

10:09

that. And then you will get

10:11

a wax seal on a letter.

10:14

That's so cool. I like that.

10:16

Yeah, it's fun. Interesting. So what

10:18

sort of stories and themes then

10:20

do you play in this game?

10:22

So it's definitely the the interest

10:25

that I had in this game

10:27

originally was that concept of like

10:29

you might have had a spark

10:31

with someone a long time ago,

10:34

but like nothing kind of came

10:36

of it. Right. So 100 years

10:38

later or 500 years later, you

10:40

know, whatever, you know, period of

10:43

time, 50 years later, I don't

10:45

know. You suddenly discover that it

10:47

was mutual, right? Right. How do

10:49

you react to that? And the

10:52

game is written around the presumption

10:54

that you would act on it

10:56

in some way, right? Yeah. Whatever

10:58

that way is, and maybe that

11:01

way is. I'm mad at you

11:03

for never telling me or maybe

11:05

that way is like trying to

11:07

reach out and rekindle that flame.

11:10

I think largely it's an exploration

11:12

about relationships and the weird ways

11:14

in which we communicate in them,

11:16

particularly when you have that fear

11:18

of sharing something, but it comes

11:21

out later. But like to the

11:23

extreme later, right? Like it's really

11:25

like it's finding out as an

11:27

adult that your high school crush

11:30

also had a crush on you.

11:32

Right, exactly. And like what do

11:34

you do with that? And it

11:36

depends on where you are in

11:39

your life and like what all

11:41

is happening and stuff, but the

11:43

game is written with the assumption

11:45

that you are going to interact

11:48

on that connection point in some

11:50

way. Yeah. But whether that. you

11:52

know, ends up being good or

11:54

bad. That's kind of like up

11:57

to you. Yeah, exactly. Oh, that's

11:59

so interesting. Yeah. That's the, that's

12:01

kind of the theme. From there,

12:03

I should say, because it is

12:06

a framework to get you started

12:08

and not necessarily. an ongoing framework

12:10

of play. It can grow into

12:12

so many things because now we're

12:14

talking about two people reconnecting and

12:17

recreating a relationship that previously existed,

12:19

right? Either positively or negatively, whatever

12:21

that looks like. So I think

12:23

it has a lot of room

12:26

for expansion and just exploration about

12:28

the ways that we communicate as

12:30

people. And especially when you start

12:32

considering as people who have maybe

12:35

a wealth of experience that we

12:37

as Humans don't have, right? And

12:39

how as an immortal who has

12:41

that kind of perspective on experiences,

12:44

how to approach relationships? Absolutely. Yeah.

12:46

Now, it being a letter back

12:48

and forth writing game, what do

12:50

the characters do in the game?

12:53

Obviously, you're writing letters as your

12:55

character to the other character. and

12:57

back and forth on that. But

12:59

what are the limitations of what

13:01

they can do? Like, do they

13:04

describe, like, if the relationship were

13:06

to evolve, can they describe, hey,

13:08

this date that we just went

13:10

on? It's fantastic, or is it

13:13

like always at a distance until...

13:15

See, it's not prescribed in that

13:17

sense, right? Like, I'm not gonna

13:19

stop you as the author of

13:22

the game. That's interesting. My vision

13:24

for the game, like I think

13:26

you could totally do either of

13:28

those things honestly. My vision for

13:31

the game was to manage any

13:33

time the characters are kind of

13:35

at a distance, right? So there

13:37

is, you know, conversation like, why

13:40

aren't we, why aren't we having

13:42

this conversation in person? Right? Figure

13:44

that out. And that distance is

13:46

probably something that would keep your

13:49

characters from just like. walking down

13:51

the street and being like, hey,

13:53

let's go get dinner. Whatever that

13:55

looks like. But maybe it's not.

13:57

So then you just have to

14:00

justify why you'd still be writing

14:02

letters at that point. I don't

14:04

know. But maybe that's how the

14:06

game ends. Right now you're in

14:09

the same place and you don't

14:11

have to write letters anymore. Right?

14:13

I don't know. And that's okay.

14:15

I like the malleability of that.

14:18

That's very nice. It's a little

14:20

mushy. Yeah. And that's fine. But

14:22

you're also working on the. the

14:24

time scale of immortals, right? So

14:27

it's like, it could be a

14:29

hundred years between letters. It could

14:31

be, right? And that's part of

14:33

what I like about that is

14:36

that I've, I put a note

14:38

in here, right, because I want

14:40

to, I think a lot of

14:42

folks sometimes in letter writing games,

14:45

myself included sometimes, right, even though

14:47

I love them, there's a lot

14:49

of pressure about time frame and

14:51

responses and that kind of thing,

14:53

and I want to just acknowledge

14:56

that I like. If you're immortal,

14:58

then like a month going by

15:00

and not getting a letter is

15:02

like, you know, hours. So you

15:05

can like respond as fast or

15:07

as slow as it makes sense

15:09

for you and your life and

15:11

just like where you are and

15:14

what's happening for you personally outside

15:16

of the game and that that's

15:18

not a problem and we should

15:20

just set that expectation up. Yeah,

15:23

I can easily see like modifying

15:25

it slightly to say like, hey,

15:27

for every real life day that

15:29

passes, a year will pass for

15:32

our immortal characters or 10 years

15:34

or whatever, right? So the longer

15:36

you take to write a response

15:38

letter, now you have to take

15:41

all that time into account as

15:43

well. It sounds like a lot

15:45

of pressure riot. It does, it

15:47

does. That's the kind of thing

15:49

you could totally decide on, right?

15:52

With the folks, the person that

15:54

you're writing with, because that would

15:56

still be a cool twist. Especially

15:58

if you were doing digital, right?

16:01

Because otherwise you have to account

16:03

for like, it took five days

16:05

for my letter to get to

16:07

you, and now it took five

16:10

years. for my letter to get

16:12

to you. I'm very sure. Yeah.

16:14

That's why you have to go

16:16

based on the time stamps. The

16:19

post office stamp. Sure. It would

16:21

be easier to manage that one

16:23

via email or discord or some

16:25

instant communication, right? Yeah. Absolutely. What

16:28

is one of the most unique

16:30

things you put into this game?

16:32

I think that's a really good

16:34

question. I think that this game

16:37

builds on a lot of the

16:39

very simple micro games that are

16:41

out there these days and a

16:43

lot of the epistolary games that

16:45

I have already played. But I

16:48

think It's a little looser maybe

16:50

than some of them. So if

16:52

you say like by the general's

16:54

hand or thinking of some other

16:57

ones, a lot of them will

16:59

give you prompts based on cards,

17:01

which is probably useful to have

17:03

a writing point starting point. But

17:06

I am when we talk about

17:08

as we did at the very

17:10

very beginning a little bit, letter

17:12

writing as an opportunity to dabble

17:15

in free form. kind of larp,

17:17

basically, without having to commit to

17:19

costumes or anything of that, you

17:21

know, type. I am much more

17:24

interested in Nordic style larp in

17:26

this game. Maybe it would be

17:28

like letter writing from that perspective,

17:30

right? Right. In a lot of

17:33

ways, it's sort of a free-form

17:35

journaling experience that is shared. Yeah.

17:37

And that makes a lot of

17:39

sense based on the material of

17:41

the game. It's an interesting concept.

17:44

I don't know if that is

17:46

truly unique, but it is definitely

17:48

the take that I went with.

17:50

Absolutely. Yeah. So the history of

17:53

the game, when did you first

17:55

start working on this? You said

17:57

you came from a Twitter thread.

17:59

Back when Twitter was Twitter. I

18:02

think I wrote this game in

18:04

2016, which is a little shocking

18:06

to me. From the perspective that

18:08

I still don't consider it to

18:11

be, quote, done, unquote. I'm like,

18:13

well, I really haven't gone back

18:15

and spent time on this that

18:17

by. Has it really been that

18:20

long? Oh my goodness. Yeah, so

18:22

that's based on the dates of

18:24

the last update on my computer

18:26

file. It was 2016. Exactly. Yeah.

18:29

Yeah, I think that's pretty much

18:31

it. There's a thing that happens

18:33

for me when I write games.

18:35

And I do tend to write

18:37

silly little short games, right, that

18:40

may or may not have a

18:42

lot of rules because I am

18:44

really into the concept of kind

18:46

of getting something up and running

18:49

and then just going with it

18:51

and seeing what happens. And it's

18:53

been very successful for me. with

18:55

my old game group, which is

18:58

unfortunately, lots of people moved away

19:00

and it got challenging, right? But

19:02

it was really successful for us

19:04

a lot. And so in searching

19:07

for that experience, again, I think

19:09

I write a lot of games

19:11

that cater to that style of

19:13

gaming. Yeah. So I think that

19:16

this is right in line with

19:18

all of those weird little short

19:20

games that you can kind of

19:22

play for as long as you

19:25

want and don't have. a lot

19:27

of, I'm not sure what the

19:29

word I'm looking for is, but

19:31

they don't have a lot of

19:33

mechanics. But they really want to

19:36

get you started with an interesting

19:38

starting point, and then it is

19:40

up to you and your interest

19:42

to continue to drive it. And

19:45

if your interest fades, then cool,

19:47

you're done. Right? Who knows how

19:49

many millennia will pass in between

19:51

the next letters? Right. I played

19:54

a letter writing game in the

19:56

middle of lockdown when my group

19:58

could not get together. We had

20:00

a five or six person letter

20:03

writing game going on that was

20:05

very cool and very complicated because

20:07

we all had plots. But we

20:09

could write different things to different

20:12

people and not everyone was seeing

20:14

all of this stuff because we

20:16

were writing physical letters. Oh wow,

20:18

that's interesting. And it was very

20:21

fun. And I think that experience

20:23

and my obsession with that, definitely

20:25

I was writing a lot of

20:27

letters. My experience with that definitely

20:29

influenced me writing this game because

20:32

I really enjoyed that and that

20:34

game didn't that it wasn't that

20:36

wasn't even really like a quote

20:38

game right like that was that

20:41

group of people we sat down

20:43

and we were kind of like

20:45

we really want to keep playing

20:47

something we can't get together in

20:50

person because you know it was

20:52

locked down and we decided that

20:54

we were you know basically supernatural

20:56

fantasy like right like urban fantasy

20:59

style thing we were a bunch

21:01

of monsters hiding among the normal

21:03

contemporary civilians who normally met up

21:05

for a monster convention every year

21:08

but we couldn't this year because

21:10

of lockdown so instead we were

21:12

writing each other letters so we

21:14

all had weird monster personas and

21:16

then we were just like and

21:19

go right and we just throw

21:21

letters and that was all there

21:23

was to the game but um

21:25

It was a lot of fun

21:28

for me. Yeah. And is why

21:30

I started getting into things like

21:32

custom stationary and stuff for characters.

21:34

Oh yeah. Yeah, it was good

21:37

times. It kind of feels like

21:39

combining larp with play by post.

21:41

Yeah, basically. Effectively. Yeah. Which is

21:43

really interesting. And there are. actual

21:46

letter writing like LARPs out there

21:48

that are being played by larger

21:50

groups. They're certainly out there. So

21:52

this is this is one of

21:55

those games that definitely like if

21:57

you're into TTRPGs and maybe like,

21:59

you know, epistolary games, you'd be

22:01

into this and like if. here

22:04

in to larks. You might just

22:06

play this as a letter writing

22:08

larp, right? And you know, you

22:10

could play that anywhere along the

22:12

spectrum that you wanted to. I

22:15

would really need to practice my

22:17

penmanship. It's okay. It's been so

22:19

long. You can type them. It's

22:21

okay. Definitely folks were typing some.

22:24

I was writing them because I,

22:26

okay, let me tell you about

22:28

my character from that game just

22:30

for a second. So, so we're

22:33

all playing monsters different types, but

22:35

I was a. Which cat with

22:37

a human girl familiar, but she

22:39

was like 13. So I couldn't

22:42

write the letters because I didn't

22:44

have opposable thumbs. So the 13

22:46

year old girl was writing the

22:48

letters for me. So they were

22:51

all like little hearts over the

22:53

eyes. That's so good.

22:55

It was really funny and

22:57

and very fun, right? And

22:59

then I would give you

23:02

really into it, right? Right,

23:04

and I would sign I

23:06

have the stamp around here

23:08

somewhere, but I had a

23:10

stamp of a cat's paw.

23:12

Oh, beautiful. I wouldn't instead

23:14

of signing them, I would

23:17

just put the cat paw

23:19

stamp at the box. Anyway,

23:21

this is that experience and

23:23

then the Twitter thread led

23:25

to this game. That's the

23:27

history. Yeah. Absolutely. That's amazing.

23:29

Now, I'm assuming there's not

23:32

too much for terms and

23:34

concepts that we need to

23:36

know before we dive into

23:38

character creation, right? Not at

23:40

all. I can't think of

23:42

any. All right, well, do

23:44

we want to go ahead

23:47

and make some people? Yeah,

23:49

let's make some people. Fantastic.

23:51

So, the very first thing

23:53

that we're going to do.

23:55

is, well we should talk

23:57

about lines and veils. Yes.

23:59

Which is, you know, one

24:01

of my favorite things to

24:04

do all the time, but

24:06

I did write it on

24:08

the game to make sure

24:10

that you do. And there

24:12

are some things that have

24:14

the potential to come up

24:16

in this game just because

24:19

of the style of game

24:21

that it is, right? And

24:23

like your immortal creatures, this

24:25

list is not exhaustive, right?

24:27

So we should not treat

24:29

this as the only list

24:31

of potential content warnings, but

24:34

things that we might want

24:36

to specifically discuss would be

24:38

things like physical intimacy, death,

24:40

intimate relationships, rejection, rejection, and

24:42

depression, right. I think if

24:44

we were playing this for

24:46

real zies, I think, gosh,

24:49

because like rejection might take

24:51

the fun out of it

24:53

for me personally. Not having

24:55

rejection be a part of

24:57

the game would make sense

24:59

to me simply because, you

25:01

know, I want to play

25:03

to fall in love. Let

25:06

me ask you a question.

25:08

So from that perspective, we

25:10

don't want to play current

25:12

rejection. How do you feel

25:14

about historical rejection? I think

25:16

historical is fine. Yeah. So

25:18

we could have had that

25:21

kind of stuff in the

25:23

past. Yeah, I think historical

25:25

rejection is perfectly okay. Because

25:27

if it's like, you know,

25:29

we rejected, one of us

25:31

rejected the other back in

25:33

the day, and now there's

25:36

an opening for an actual

25:38

romance. That would be really

25:40

interesting. Yeah, so that's fine.

25:42

I mean, so the reason

25:44

death is on here is

25:46

because we just live a

25:48

lot longer than other people,

25:51

right? So there's some stuff

25:53

that I would normally line

25:55

out maybe about death that

25:57

like if you're gonna live

25:59

for 500 years, then I'm

26:01

like, yeah, I think I'm

26:03

okay with it from that

26:05

perspective. Yeah. But like you're

26:08

you're talking like friends and

26:10

potential family along the way

26:12

losses and stuff like that

26:14

Exactly like that kind of

26:16

stuff I think I would

26:18

prefer in playing this game

26:20

that that stuff be like

26:23

off screen past, right? Like

26:25

it makes sense to me

26:27

that someone who's lived that

26:29

long has gone through some

26:31

of that, but I would

26:33

rather not deal with it

26:35

in the current moment. Like

26:38

historical references, awesome. Yeah. I

26:40

don't want to be sitting

26:42

by someone's bedside in the

26:44

hospital right now. Exactly. Yeah.

26:46

I think that's a good,

26:48

I think that's also a

26:50

good call. I think depression

26:52

has its place as well

26:55

if your character is going

26:57

through some stuff and wants

26:59

to be opening that sort

27:01

of vulnerability. I think that

27:03

can add a layer to

27:05

the letter ready process. Yeah.

27:07

But I'm fine with everything

27:10

else. So yeah. Okay. And

27:12

this is this is written

27:14

down and I will say

27:16

it here. If we were

27:18

going to play this game

27:20

for real. Right. This is

27:22

only the initial discussion and

27:25

our list of lines and

27:27

veils can evolve as we

27:29

continue to play this game.

27:31

And my purpose with having

27:33

lines and veils at the

27:35

beginning is definitely both to

27:37

make sure that you've had

27:40

the initial conversation and then

27:42

also to make sure that

27:44

everybody knows going in, right?

27:46

It's okay to add to

27:48

this list and it's okay.

27:50

to as you approach something

27:52

say like if we do

27:54

X it's fine but if

27:57

let's not go into why

27:59

right right so it's okay

28:01

to evolve that and it's

28:03

okay to draw lines with

28:05

more finesse as we continue

28:07

on right that makes sense

28:09

cool all right here's the

28:12

part where I'm gonna rearrange

28:14

a little bit on you

28:16

which I think from here

28:18

we should actually jump into

28:20

there's two sets of questions

28:22

for our characters that we're

28:24

creating. The first one is

28:27

what makes you immortal and

28:29

the second one is what

28:31

limitation does your immortal state

28:33

impose on you? So I

28:35

think we should start with

28:37

what makes us immortal. It

28:39

does not need to be

28:42

the same, right? We do

28:44

not have the need to

28:46

have the same cause of

28:48

immortality. We just need to

28:50

both be immortal. I like

28:52

that. Yeah. So there's a

28:54

list. Do you want me

28:56

to read out the list?

28:59

There's a list of items,

29:01

but you can always come

29:03

up with your own. Yeah.

29:05

Go ahead and read out

29:07

the list and then we'll

29:09

see if any of them

29:11

speak to either of us.

29:14

whatever calls out to you.

29:16

So the first one is

29:18

obviously the one inspired by

29:20

the vampires, right? The blood

29:22

of my sire burning through

29:24

my undead veins. Sure. That's

29:26

that's one. A patron gave

29:29

me immortality in exchange for

29:31

something important that I will

29:33

define. I am a symbiot

29:35

who lives through many lives

29:37

in shared bodies. I was

29:39

not born. I was created

29:41

through deific power. That's like

29:44

the Zeus or however you

29:46

want to interpret that. I

29:48

am a great magician who

29:50

tied my life force to

29:52

an indestructible object or something

29:54

else that you come up

29:56

with. I feel like you

29:58

can still come up with

30:01

so many things more than

30:03

that, but those are some

30:05

ideas. Yeah, absolutely. Now, it's

30:07

interesting, the symbiot was pre-Star

30:09

Trek sender, was it not?

30:11

Wow, I think it was,

30:13

actually, yes. Yeah, because it's

30:16

giving Dax vibes. Oh, you

30:18

know what? I said 2016,

30:20

but that's wrong. This is

30:22

actually 2021. So I would

30:24

have been... I think I

30:26

lied. That would have been

30:28

a big difference. It's only

30:31

been four years that I've

30:33

been ignoring this game. That's

30:35

much better. That makes so

30:37

much more sense. Absolutely. What

30:39

did I get 2016 from?

30:41

I don't know. I don't

30:43

know. Okay, but yes. No,

30:46

this was mid Star Trek.

30:48

That makes a lot more

30:50

sense. That's interesting. Yes. I

30:52

have an idea in mind

30:54

for mine, but I'm curious

30:56

if anything strikes your fancy.

30:58

Or do you want to

31:00

play off of mine at

31:03

all? I would love to

31:05

hear. yours because I have

31:07

done a bunch of these

31:09

before. Okay, I'm gonna lean

31:11

into my nonsense and a

31:13

take on the patron giving

31:15

me immortality in exchange for

31:18

something important. My character a

31:20

long time ago became an

31:22

immortal magical girl. Yep. I

31:24

love it. Right. We can

31:26

continue to ask questions about

31:28

this, but I, so I

31:30

want to know two things

31:33

about that. Firstly, whatever the

31:35

exchange was, right, I want

31:37

to know what you gave.

31:39

But secondly, are you, like,

31:41

what, as a magical girl,

31:43

specific question, what age does

31:45

it look like you are

31:48

in perpetuity? Right, okay. Yeah,

31:50

an appropriate age. Appropriately adult,

31:52

but like, so you're not

31:54

stuck at like 16 forever.

31:56

Correct. Okay, that's what I

31:58

needed to know. Mm-hmm. And,

32:00

uh, and she, her pronouns.

32:02

Okay, we'll get, we'll get

32:05

to that part. Okay. No,

32:07

no, no, I mean, that's

32:09

fine, actually. I'm pretty sure

32:11

that's in here. Anyway, sorry

32:13

carrying on, did you know

32:15

we're play testing right now?

32:17

It's fun like that. Yeah.

32:20

Cool. Um, yeah. So that,

32:22

what did you, so what

32:24

did you have to give

32:26

an exchange for the immortality?

32:28

I think, basically my, like

32:30

a normal life, right? Yeah.

32:32

Because I need to effectively

32:35

be. on call against the

32:37

forces of, you know, evil

32:39

and whatnot, protect the world

32:41

from devastation. So we can

32:43

unite all peoples within our

32:45

nation. Is there any way

32:47

that your immortality can end?

32:49

Gosh, can it be taken

32:52

away once granted? Yeah. Or

32:54

is there still a way

32:56

to, like, is there an

32:58

Achilles heel here, or is

33:00

it just forever heat death

33:02

of the universe and you're

33:04

still here? I think I

33:07

can still technically die. But

33:09

like I'm going to go

33:11

with the whole reincarnation magical

33:13

reincarnation stuff happens and I

33:15

have to rediscover myself once

33:17

I come of age. Every

33:19

time. Oh no. But only

33:22

if I die and then

33:24

once I rediscover myself I

33:26

get all my memories back.

33:28

Okay. Oh this is going

33:30

to be really interesting but

33:32

I'm going to hold off

33:34

on asking you more questions

33:37

because we'll save them for

33:39

later. We're going fall in

33:41

magical girl nonsense here. I

33:43

love it. Okay, what goes

33:45

with a magical girl then

33:47

is my question. Interesting. I

33:49

feel like I don't want

33:51

to go vampiric. Oh, that

33:54

could be interesting. I think

33:56

I'm going to go with...

33:58

I don't, I should say,

34:00

I'm torn, I think, between

34:02

I was not born, I

34:04

was created through dayific power.

34:06

Or I'm a great magician

34:09

who tied my life force

34:11

to an indestructible object. Yeah.

34:13

Is there one of those

34:15

that seems more interesting to

34:17

play magical girls with? Because

34:19

I am definitely working this

34:21

in genre wise now. Right.

34:24

Is this a rival's to

34:26

lovers story? Were you a

34:28

villain of the week effectively

34:30

or you know over the

34:32

arc of the first season

34:34

sort of deal or I

34:36

love that so much And

34:39

now I'm like oh which

34:41

one of these two things

34:43

is better for that? I

34:45

think I'm going to go

34:47

with A great magician who

34:49

tied my life force to

34:51

an indestructible object. Oh. Because

34:53

then that's something that I

34:56

could like do, right? Mm-hmm.

34:58

It's a little bit more

35:00

agency than just being created.

35:02

Yeah. Like springing forth from

35:04

someone's forehead fully formed. Mm-hmm.

35:06

Um, cool. And I think

35:08

I might continue to define

35:11

that object as we go.

35:13

to figure out what it

35:15

is as we continue to

35:17

have this conversation. But I'll

35:19

be talking about it. Yeah.

35:21

Cool. So what limitation does

35:23

your immortal state impose on

35:26

you? And I just have

35:28

some examples. Again, you can

35:30

kind of say anything you

35:32

want. You could always come

35:34

up with one. But some

35:36

of the ones that I

35:38

have written down is I

35:41

cannot be exposed to a

35:43

specific common condition. like sunlight.

35:45

For example, I am geographically

35:47

bound. I can't leave a

35:49

certain area. I cannot move

35:51

across moving water. I have

35:53

another form that I cannot

35:55

always resist. I share this

35:58

immortal form with my twin.

36:00

One of us can be

36:02

here at a time. If

36:04

a mortal uses the frame

36:06

or uses the phrase, I

36:08

wish within my hearing, I

36:10

must. Make it so. That

36:13

is a specific call out

36:15

to a different game that

36:17

I played with a friend.

36:19

But anyway, or something else

36:21

that you come up with.

36:23

Yeah, very gin, a plate.

36:25

adjacent on that one. It

36:28

was a, what was it,

36:30

it was a monster of

36:32

the week? No, it must

36:34

have been, yeah, it was

36:36

a monster, it was a

36:38

monster of the week or

36:40

monster heart? I think it

36:43

must have been monster hearts,

36:45

we were playing a monster

36:47

hearts game. He was playing

36:49

a gin. Oh, very nice.

36:51

Very nice. But he didn't

36:53

tell me that, so I

36:55

like every now and then

36:57

accident, quote, accidentally said, I

37:00

wish. So I think my

37:02

limitation is that whole, if

37:04

I die, it takes me

37:06

20 years to at least

37:08

to regain my memories. Do

37:10

you also have a limitation

37:12

in terms of like, if

37:15

something happens, you must respond

37:17

to it? Right? Like you're

37:19

a magical girl if your

37:21

city or area or whatever

37:23

gets attacked. You have like

37:25

magical homing beacon and like

37:27

you have to respond to

37:30

it. You can't ignore it.

37:32

Yeah, I think if it's

37:34

like it's effectively like the

37:36

patron that gave me these

37:38

powers would kind of have

37:40

the sight of all things

37:42

going on and alert me

37:45

to the stuff I need

37:47

to intervene with. But they

37:49

aren't able to directly intervene

37:51

with the world for whatever

37:53

reason. Yes, they have to

37:55

do it with you. So

37:57

you have to respond when

37:59

they ping you basically. Yeah,

38:02

I think it's a matter

38:04

of like, I was the

38:06

only one that they had

38:08

the energy to reach through

38:10

to back in the day.

38:12

And so like I'm this

38:14

solo magical girl, destined to

38:17

protect everything that's possible. everything

38:19

forever. Yeah, exactly. That's you.

38:21

Sounds horrible. It's kind of

38:23

tragic, isn't it? Yeah, it

38:25

really is. And to do

38:27

so, like, without a partner.

38:29

Can we have a team

38:32

or anything? Yeah. Just as

38:34

like, you could build teams,

38:36

but like, in the end,

38:38

you're always gonna be alone

38:40

again, because you're the immortal

38:42

one. Woof. Yeah, I don't

38:44

know. Gosh, that would be,

38:46

that would be both exciting

38:49

and tragic. And like the

38:51

thought of getting to this

38:53

point again, like getting to

38:55

this point and knowing that

38:57

I have a potential for

38:59

a romantic partner to finally

39:01

share life with would be

39:04

very invigorating. So I like

39:06

that a lot. That's cool.

39:08

Okay, so based on. your

39:10

character and me also having

39:12

magical girl nonsense in my

39:14

past and interests. I am

39:16

going to choose. I have

39:19

another form that I cannot

39:21

always resist because I think

39:23

that if we end up

39:25

in the same place as

39:27

like a connected immortal duo

39:29

that you probably need an

39:31

adorable animal sidekick. Like I

39:34

think that's I think that's

39:36

the logical thing to do.

39:38

Yeah, absolutely. So my default

39:40

would be cat. But I'm

39:42

not glued to that. Do

39:44

you have a preference for

39:46

immortal, adorable animal sidekick? Gosh,

39:48

I mean, cat is a

39:51

good classic one, but like,

39:53

you know, also cute, but

39:55

like, cat-like, like, a ferret

39:57

would be fun or... Ferret

39:59

would also be fun, yeah.

40:01

Yeah, because you're a little

40:03

bit more agile and climbing

40:06

and stuff like that. I'm

40:08

going to put ferret. Cool.

40:10

And then the other question

40:12

that I have to answer

40:14

with that is what forces

40:16

me to change, which I

40:18

think is very interesting, right?

40:21

Because this will kind of

40:23

dictate how much time I

40:25

spend as a human versus

40:27

a ferret. Yeah. And it

40:29

could be something. Like that's

40:31

triggered in the world around

40:33

me, but it might be

40:36

just like the weather, right?

40:38

I don't know. Yeah Do

40:40

I know of this transformation?

40:42

Do you know? That do

40:44

I know that I do

40:46

transform? I feel like this

40:48

is probably something that I

40:50

did to myself by accident.

40:53

Okay. Right. And maybe it's

40:55

maybe it's part of like,

40:57

whatever I used to make

40:59

myself immortal. Maybe this is

41:01

like a side effect of

41:03

that spell that I didn't

41:05

anticipate and I didn't do

41:08

it perfectly. So this is

41:10

what happens because of that

41:12

one thing that I kind

41:14

of goofed up. Which makes

41:16

me think that maybe the

41:18

indestructible item that I've tied

41:20

my life force to is

41:23

something ferret related. Oh, interesting.

41:25

I'm not sure. what it

41:27

would be. Yeah. But like,

41:29

that's cool. Like maybe it's,

41:31

I mean, this is, this

41:33

particular concept tends to lend

41:35

itself to, you know, kind

41:38

of a flactory kind of

41:40

conversation, right? But maybe it's

41:42

like a ferret skull like

41:44

dipped in iron or something

41:46

along those lines. but like

41:48

super indestructible via magic and

41:50

whatnot. Yeah, I mean just

41:52

magic, just magic for the

41:55

indestructibility. So I'm trying to...

41:57

I got a couple thoughts

41:59

in my brain that would

42:01

make things much more complicated.

42:03

I can throw things out

42:05

because I know you like

42:07

complicated. Okay. My transformation brooch

42:10

as a potential object, somehow

42:12

you got bound to that?

42:14

I love that. Through the

42:16

evil magicians. somehow even though

42:18

it's indestructible as the only

42:20

way to get rid of

42:22

you that would be the

42:25

perfect ploy by the big

42:27

bad end game like Right

42:29

but also if I was

42:31

if I was originally evil

42:33

and I was like trying

42:35

to make it so that

42:37

I was maybe stealing your

42:40

power or something yeah to

42:42

like to to run my

42:44

giant spell of immortality maybe

42:46

I would have tapped your

42:48

locket like your brooch yeah

42:50

and I ended up getting

42:52

tied to it like that

42:54

I like that too I

42:57

like that a lot yeah

42:59

perfect and do like this

43:01

transformation into ferret So here's

43:03

my temptation. Let me see

43:05

if this is what you

43:07

were going to say. So

43:09

then my temptation is I

43:12

can't control the transformation. Whenever

43:14

you transform, I transform. Even

43:16

though I'm so much older

43:18

than else. And I have

43:20

no idea that it's going

43:22

to happen and it could

43:24

happen at any time because

43:27

whenever you get called away

43:29

to a job that you

43:31

have to do, right? Because

43:33

you are... bound to perform

43:35

as a magical girl. So

43:37

if you go off and

43:39

transform, I'm like at the

43:42

grocery store and suddenly I'm

43:44

a ferret. I do like

43:46

that. However, I also want

43:48

to be open to the

43:50

prospect of us having fought

43:52

in the past as our

43:54

like magical girl human self.

43:56

Because there has to be.

43:59

that opening of like we've

44:01

clashed so many times yes

44:03

that we like started liking

44:05

when we got to clash

44:07

yes and it means to

44:09

love her is a love

44:11

us joke uh-huh yes that

44:14

also makes sense so maybe

44:16

it has more to do

44:18

with okay are you the

44:20

kind of magical girl that

44:22

is associated with planets, for

44:24

example? Or are you associated

44:26

with something else as a

44:29

like theme? Oh, that's a

44:31

good question. I guess something

44:33

maybe cosmic level, right? Sure.

44:35

That makes sense because immortal.

44:37

Yeah. So like the immortality

44:39

and the patron is beyond

44:41

like direct intervention. Sure. So

44:43

like cosmic level instead of

44:46

like local planets sort of

44:48

level makes a lot of

44:50

sense to me? Yeah. So

44:52

is there something that like

44:54

just like space wise could

44:56

be happening at a cosmic

44:58

levels that might be connected

45:01

to your brooch that would

45:03

then cause my transformations? Oh

45:05

yeah. Like if there's like

45:07

a like a little beacon

45:09

of sorts or something out

45:11

there. Cosmic storms or like...

45:13

something, I don't know, I'm

45:16

like, I'm like, what's, I'm

45:18

searching my space knowledge and

45:20

I'm not coming up with

45:22

anything, but I really like

45:24

the idea that whatever transforms

45:26

me is somehow connected through

45:28

your brooch to maybe your

45:31

patron. Yeah, what if it's

45:33

like black hole mergers? Oh,

45:35

like creating like cosmic level

45:37

gravity waves. Let's just put

45:39

cosmic gravity waves because we

45:41

can then do that whenever

45:43

we want, right? Like that's...

45:45

Exactly. But I like the

45:48

thought that it's like rare

45:50

enough where like it never...

45:52

happens when we're in the

45:54

same space together. Like the

45:56

proximity protects you from transforming

45:58

one way or the other.

46:00

Yeah. But like if we're

46:03

apart, then that transformation can

46:05

just happen when it happens.

46:07

Yeah. And I really like

46:09

the thought of like me

46:11

finding you as a ferret

46:13

and you having no memory

46:15

of us being like enemies

46:18

of sorts or whatever. But

46:20

you like, do you think

46:22

that as a ferret I

46:24

don't have, like, I don't

46:26

know, so I'm working on

46:28

the assumption, like, what, like,

46:30

what do you like, in

46:33

a very magical girl way

46:35

that, like, the human and

46:37

the animal forms share the

46:39

same personality and memories? Okay.

46:41

But we could do that

46:43

differently. I'm, I'm very curious,

46:45

like, do I see you

46:47

as an animal companion? And

46:50

then not even know at

46:52

all that you're also my

46:54

greatest rival slash. Oh my

46:56

God, right, but like, but

46:58

I would totally do that

47:00

intentionally, right? I don't have

47:02

to forget. I could just

47:05

be like, oh, I could

47:07

just be like, oh, let's

47:09

get some secrets. The guilt

47:11

of that over the centuries.

47:13

Oh my God, right, because,

47:15

because how else do you

47:17

fall in love, right? Yeah.

47:20

And what if you're the

47:22

one that always brings me

47:24

bring to me back. that

47:28

reminds you who you are

47:30

because I want to, oh

47:32

my God, yes, okay. I

47:34

love that, I love that

47:37

so much because it's both

47:39

cruel of me because then

47:41

you're stuck in the immortal

47:43

loop again, but then I'm

47:45

not alone. Right, right. I

47:48

am here for the juicy

47:50

drama. I am here for

47:52

the juicy drama also, and

47:54

I'm so excited about this.

47:56

So at some point though

47:59

we got separated, right? Like

48:01

so, but there must have

48:03

been a period of time

48:05

in which we were actually,

48:07

and then within your proximity

48:09

then I would not have

48:12

changed back to a human.

48:14

Yeah. So we probably have

48:16

done several cycles like that.

48:18

Yeah. Yeah. That's wild. That's

48:20

wild. All right. Are we

48:23

ready for our next questions?

48:25

Yes, please. Okay. These are

48:27

the how old are you

48:29

questions? I have some, again,

48:31

just ideas. I will read

48:34

them off to you. We

48:36

can, you can always decide

48:38

something on your own, right?

48:40

So the ideas are, not

48:42

even I remember my beginning.

48:45

I remember Florence when it

48:47

was the center of the

48:49

Renaissance. I remember when the

48:51

Roman Empire split. I remember

48:53

Urak when it was the

48:55

greatest city in the world.

48:58

I remember when the pyramids

49:00

were built. I remember the

49:02

first Olympics. I remember the

49:04

founding of, oh no, I

49:06

never thought I was going

49:09

to read this out loud.

49:11

Hang on. The founding of

49:13

Tenectic lawn? Tenectic? Yeah. So

49:15

that's one. We're going to

49:17

go with it. I remember

49:20

when we defeated the Kumu.

49:22

I remember the building of

49:24

the Taj Mahal. I thought

49:26

in the American Civil War

49:28

or a time that I

49:31

will name myself. That's interesting.

49:33

Do we want to be,

49:35

I mean, we'd have to

49:37

be almost roughly the same

49:39

age if your immatality is

49:41

linked to my brooch. Oh,

49:44

that's really true. I definitely

49:46

couldn't exist before you. Yeah.

49:48

And like normally with something

49:50

like this, I might be

49:52

going a little bit more

49:55

alchemical and be leaning towards

49:57

Florence and the Renaissance, but

49:59

like we're really talking like

50:01

some magical girl like nonsense

50:03

here so it really doesn't

50:06

need to be, right? So

50:08

I guess it is just

50:10

a question of, I think,

50:12

so I think, I think

50:14

for me, I have to

50:17

make you answer first, because

50:19

I am dependent on your

50:21

brooch. because you could at

50:23

the very least be the

50:25

same age as me. or

50:27

much younger. Yes, exactly. So

50:30

I want to, how tortured

50:32

do I want my character

50:34

to be? Probably very. Good

50:36

answer. I'm gonna go with

50:38

the pyramids. Okay. I remember

50:41

the pyramids being built. Okay.

50:43

So I don't know if

50:45

I really even need to

50:47

choose one of these specifically

50:49

in this exact scenario. Because

50:52

I think where I am

50:54

is like, you lived like

50:56

two or three lifetimes, which

50:58

your lifetimes are pretty long,

51:00

right? But I think that

51:03

you've gone through your rebirth

51:05

cycle two or three times

51:07

before I came onto the

51:09

scene. Yeah. so that you

51:11

have some time to know

51:13

exactly how lonely that is.

51:16

Yeah. Sorry. No, that's fine.

51:18

That's fine. Because like, I'm

51:20

imagining that the big bad

51:22

person that we're fighting, that

51:24

I'm fighting against, has like

51:27

first defeated me and like,

51:29

okay, now I did it.

51:31

Now I get to enact

51:33

my plan and it takes

51:35

a while to enact their

51:38

plan. And then 20 years

51:40

later, I come back and

51:42

thwart that plan. And then

51:44

they have to start at

51:46

square one once again. Because

51:49

I can't kill them. They

51:51

fight out. They can't kill

51:53

me. Yep. Permanent gridlock for

51:55

all eternity. Oh my God.

51:57

So I'm just gonna add

51:59

this in, but I feel

52:02

like my character originally was

52:04

working for this big bad.

52:06

Power right? Yeah, I think

52:08

that's how they found out

52:10

about you And and probably

52:13

about the magic in the

52:15

brooch to be able to

52:17

try and do something with

52:19

a spell with that Like

52:21

something was whispering in their

52:24

ear that this is where

52:26

you get the power from

52:28

right to perform the spell

52:30

of that magnitude Yep I'm

52:32

so interesting. Oh, so good.

52:35

Okay. Are we ready to

52:37

name our characters and give

52:39

them pronouns? Absolutely. You already

52:41

said she hurt, so that's

52:43

easy. I did. I think

52:45

my character is also gonna

52:48

go she here. Fantastic. There

52:50

is a list of potential

52:52

names on this sheet, but

52:54

of course you can pick

52:56

anything you want. Yeah. I,

52:59

so I said. Cosmic level

53:01

and I see Andromeda is

53:03

a name on this list

53:05

which would be Very fitting.

53:07

I agree. I think I'm

53:10

gonna go with that Andromeda

53:12

I Think so let's see

53:14

which is my true name

53:16

I have gone by many

53:18

names when I was born

53:21

many names every life you

53:23

have a different name but

53:25

the immortal consistently reborn magical

53:27

girl soul is Andromeda amazing

53:29

I think I'm just gonna

53:31

be easy and go Genevieve

53:34

nice because that was the

53:36

name that I actually was

53:38

given right mm-hmm and then

53:40

have kept I like that

53:42

a lot what what do

53:45

you call me when I'm

53:47

your animal companion ferret oh

53:49

Because it might not be

53:51

Genevieve, because if you don't

53:53

know it's me. No, that's

53:56

interesting. Do you do you

53:58

talk as a ferret? Oh

54:00

God, I think I must

54:02

talk as a ferret, mustn't

54:04

I? Yeah. I think I

54:07

must. I like the thought

54:09

of you having to talk.

54:11

being able to talk at

54:13

least as a favorite. I

54:15

gotta be able to tell

54:17

lies for a while until

54:20

they become not wise. Yikes!

54:22

Gosh, so did you give

54:24

me a name? Yeah, so

54:26

then I would have given

54:28

it to you if I

54:31

could talk. So would it

54:33

have been like, Lady Fuzzford,

54:35

no. Let's see, okay, cosmic,

54:37

cosmic, cosmic. All I can

54:39

come up with right now

54:42

is Galactica, and I don't

54:44

think that that's it. That's

54:46

not it. So I was

54:48

thinking opposite of cosmic, and

54:50

you have gene in your

54:53

name, like genetics. Yeah. What

54:55

if it was like... Like

54:57

helixia or something like that

54:59

I like that. Yeah, about

55:01

the double helix of the

55:03

DNA because that that's like

55:06

the dichotomous Big and small.

55:08

I love that. I mean,

55:10

yeah, we'll do helixia is

55:12

what you called the ferret.

55:14

Okay, and then obviously like

55:17

Genevieve and also I feel

55:19

like my Evil villain name

55:21

then was like Oh No

55:23

names are so hard Okay,

55:25

I'll come up with a

55:28

three. I'll come up with

55:30

the evil villain name later

55:32

I mean it could also

55:34

just be Genevieve, right? It

55:36

could be Genevieve, but it

55:39

could be Genevieve But because

55:41

you could just live your

55:43

truth, right? Because you could

55:45

just live your truth. Yeah.

55:47

Yeah. Okay. We're just gonna

55:49

do that live your true

55:52

somewhere in your life somewhere

55:54

in your life somewhere But

55:56

like I think we must

55:58

have had confrontations and then

56:00

I did the spell and

56:03

then your animal companions. showed

56:05

up. Yeah. Yeah. That's so

56:07

good. Okay. Neat. So, our

56:09

next question. What is the

56:11

present time for our game?

56:14

What is the now that

56:16

we are writing letters in?

56:18

It's gotta be like present

56:20

day anime, right? I'm like,

56:22

I think just contemporary makes

56:25

sense. Yeah. For that one.

56:27

I'm going to say like

56:29

just a year or two.

56:31

Yeah. So how long have

56:33

you remembered again who you

56:35

are? I'm going to say

56:38

like 20s again because you

56:40

just. So how long have

56:42

you remembered again who you

56:44

are? I'm going to say

56:46

like just a year or

56:49

two. Yeah. So like I

56:51

have to go through college

56:53

because I'm already signed up

56:55

for it. But like I

56:57

already have all this knowledge

57:00

from. So like breezing through

57:02

courses. Just like whatever I've

57:04

already done this so many

57:06

times. Wow, you're getting much

57:08

better like over the last

57:11

couple of years at your

57:13

grades and everything. What's going

57:15

on? You don't even do,

57:17

like you don't even study.

57:19

I go off on study

57:21

retreats practically every night. Oh,

57:24

you're really really good at

57:26

this whole like. Pyramids ancient

57:28

Egypt section. How's you know

57:30

so much about this? Telling

57:32

the teacher, they're wrong. Well,

57:35

that's how that happened. Amazing.

57:37

Okay. Cool. Then the next

57:39

question is, who wrote the

57:41

letter that we're going to

57:43

start this game with? Was

57:46

it you or was it

57:48

me? I think it's more

57:50

interesting if it was you.

57:52

I think it's interesting if

57:54

it was me also did

57:57

I but and then the

57:59

question is before we get

58:01

to when was it me

58:03

quote Calixia or was it

58:05

me, Genevieve, that wrote the

58:07

letter? And I'm tempted to

58:10

say Genevieve. Yeah, I'm also

58:12

tempted to say Genevieve. Okay.

58:14

Because that makes a lot

58:16

more dramatic sense. Yes. Okay.

58:18

And when did I write

58:21

it? So setting that initial

58:23

letter in a time period

58:25

itself. I'm thinking. What, like,

58:27

Renaissance? Sure, I like that.

58:29

I love, I'm having visions

58:32

of you as a magical

58:34

girl in the Renaissance and

58:36

I love that so much.

58:38

Like, what does that look

58:40

like? Awesome, cool. Absolutely. Yeah,

58:43

let's do that. That's awesome.

58:45

And before we get to

58:47

the next one, just because,

58:49

and this is, this is

58:51

a question I'm going to

58:53

ask because of the magical

58:56

girl twist that we've taken

58:58

on this and some of

59:00

the weird turns that we've

59:02

taken. So we must now

59:04

be separated, right? Because otherwise

59:07

I wouldn't have written you

59:09

a letter. So. Or maybe,

59:11

maybe Jennifer would have written

59:13

you a letter in Helixia's

59:15

around. That's also complicated, isn't

59:18

it? Right. Well, I like

59:20

the thought of it was

59:22

a do not send letter.

59:24

Yeah, I mean, I think

59:26

that's exactly what it was,

59:29

right? Like, I wrote a

59:31

letter to you, and with

59:33

no intentions of ever sending

59:35

it, I just needed my

59:37

feelings out. And then it

59:39

was found in like a

59:42

cache of art or something

59:44

like that. It was like,

59:46

you know, they found a

59:48

thing in... Florence or wherever,

59:50

right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And

59:53

it's, it's on display at

59:55

a museum as like, look

59:57

at this beautiful love letter

59:59

from the Renaissance, like displayed

1:00:01

next to some art. Yeah,

1:00:04

I love that. I love

1:00:06

that so much. It's so

1:00:08

good. What shared experience inspired

1:00:10

the letter? I am gonna.

1:00:12

jump in and say I

1:00:15

feel like then I probably

1:00:17

would have written this after

1:00:19

one of our fights right

1:00:21

like that like going head

1:00:23

to head with you inspired

1:00:25

me to write this letter

1:00:28

about like how it's the

1:00:30

most invigorating like living experience

1:00:32

that I have these days

1:00:34

after now that we've both

1:00:36

been alive for way too

1:00:39

long like right what if

1:00:41

we add to that? Like

1:00:43

there was a moment during

1:00:45

the fight where I saved

1:00:47

you from certain death effectively.

1:00:50

Oh, I love that. And

1:00:52

then like we had that

1:00:54

moment of connection and then

1:00:56

continued our fight without saying

1:00:58

much after that. Right. Or

1:01:01

like, or like, or sort

1:01:03

of half continued the fight

1:01:05

and then. Like I just

1:01:07

was like, ah ha ha

1:01:09

ha, you can't get me

1:01:11

and then just like ran

1:01:14

away or something like, can't

1:01:16

do with this emotionally. Yeah,

1:01:18

but like that that moment

1:01:20

of like the close ups

1:01:22

of each of our eyes,

1:01:25

that anime moment of our

1:01:27

hands clasped and like just

1:01:29

a heartbeat is all you

1:01:31

can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

1:01:33

I love it so much.

1:01:36

Okay, so that that'll be

1:01:38

that'll be the starting point

1:01:40

for the first letter, the

1:01:42

one that is in the

1:01:44

museum. Yeah. What is our

1:01:47

strongest shared memory? And the

1:01:49

answer might be the same.

1:01:51

Might be based on that

1:01:53

description, but yeah. Gosh, it

1:01:55

feels like that would be

1:01:57

something that would be cemented

1:02:00

in the positive, but is

1:02:02

there a stronger. like antagonistic

1:02:04

memory that we might have.

1:02:06

I wonder, so when I

1:02:08

cast the spell that ended

1:02:11

up tying me to your

1:02:13

brooch. Yeah. I wonder if.

1:02:15

Like that seems like it

1:02:17

would require I mean, maybe

1:02:19

I could do it without

1:02:22

it being present or whatever

1:02:24

But like it might have

1:02:26

required me to like catch

1:02:28

you in some sort of

1:02:30

magical circle So that you

1:02:33

were present and part of

1:02:35

the spellcasting against your will

1:02:37

probably Right like to do

1:02:39

that and that might be

1:02:41

not a great What if

1:02:43

it was a memory of

1:02:46

when you successfully killed me?

1:02:48

Oh, I really like that

1:02:50

actually. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my

1:02:52

God. So and your memory

1:02:54

of that is of course

1:02:57

you being killed and my

1:02:59

memory of that is me

1:03:01

killing you and then like

1:03:03

holding your body and sobbing

1:03:05

over it. Post Renaissance. Yeah.

1:03:08

Oh, yeah. Okay. Cool. Have

1:03:10

we spoken since then? I'm

1:03:12

so tempted to say no.

1:03:14

I know, me too. That's

1:03:16

fine. We have not. We

1:03:19

have not. Yeah. We have

1:03:21

not. You have not. You

1:03:23

have not. You have not.

1:03:25

You found me. Got my

1:03:27

memories back. Yeah, but then

1:03:29

you left me alone. Right.

1:03:32

Okay. So we have. I'm

1:03:34

not even there as Helixia.

1:03:36

Right. Yes, that makes sense

1:03:38

because we need to write

1:03:40

letters. Yeah. Perfect. Oh, the

1:03:43

guilt. So it's been a

1:03:45

while because we're talking Victorians.

1:03:47

So, because that's the other

1:03:49

part of that question, how

1:03:51

long has it been? Yes.

1:03:54

Like, because what is that?

1:03:56

18. You made 1800s, right?

1:03:58

Yeah. Usually in this game

1:04:00

I end up googling a

1:04:02

bunch of stuff. Maybe a

1:04:05

hundred and fifty to a

1:04:07

hundred and eighty years ago.

1:04:09

Yeah, perfect. So it's been

1:04:11

a while. Yeah, I don't

1:04:13

think I died since. Except

1:04:15

you must have died since

1:04:18

because now you're only in

1:04:20

your 20s again going back

1:04:22

to college. Oh, that's true.

1:04:24

I died once. I think

1:04:26

the only time you've died

1:04:29

since. Yeah, which was like,

1:04:31

uh... Yeah, probably 22 years

1:04:33

ago. Yeah, yeah, wow. Ooh.

1:04:35

The stakes are high. The

1:04:37

stakes are getting higher and

1:04:40

I love that. Awesome. So

1:04:42

then the next questions are

1:04:44

about the letter parts themselves

1:04:46

now that we have a

1:04:48

reasonably good idea of who

1:04:51

we have a connection to

1:04:53

each other. The first part

1:04:55

being for me as the

1:04:57

letter writer. Yeah. So let's

1:04:59

just go through them and

1:05:01

I'm going to get your

1:05:04

input on these too because

1:05:06

I'm not always going to

1:05:08

answering them by myself and

1:05:10

because we should always answer

1:05:12

this kind of thing together

1:05:15

as we're group, group world

1:05:17

building. So the first question

1:05:19

is why did you write

1:05:21

the letter? And I think

1:05:23

we actually already answered this

1:05:26

question. I think I wrote

1:05:28

this letter because I realized

1:05:30

that I was heartbroken after

1:05:32

killing you and finally succeeding

1:05:34

at my goal was the

1:05:37

worst thing that ever happened

1:05:39

to me. Was the letter

1:05:41

post-killing or post-moment in the

1:05:43

Renaissance? Oh, right. I think

1:05:45

it's almost similar. interesting pre-killing

1:05:47

pre-killing pre-killing interesting like because

1:05:50

knowing that you were feeling

1:05:52

that and you still killed

1:05:54

me through with it on

1:05:56

how accidental it might have

1:05:58

been or like you weren't

1:06:01

where I didn't think it

1:06:03

was real I was like

1:06:05

well I have to be

1:06:07

evil and I've shed these

1:06:09

feelings so now I've succeeded

1:06:12

I wrote them down to

1:06:14

get the feelings out on

1:06:16

paper because I needed to

1:06:18

leave them behind yeah right

1:06:20

because I have a commitment

1:06:23

to Big Bad Dark Power.

1:06:25

Did it work? No, obviously

1:06:27

not. But I convinced myself

1:06:29

for a while there that

1:06:31

it worked. For a couple

1:06:33

hundred years that it worked.

1:06:36

Until I actually succeeded at

1:06:38

killing you, which proved to

1:06:40

me that it didn't. But

1:06:42

because of accidentally killing you,

1:06:44

I just, like, I haven't.

1:06:47

I've just been I've been

1:06:49

trying not to engage you

1:06:51

in any kind of fight

1:06:53

ever since then. Yeah. Oof.

1:06:55

Okay. Okay, cool. Okay, yes.

1:06:58

Why didn't I give it

1:07:00

to you? Because then you

1:07:02

would have known. Yeah, exactly.

1:07:04

I did not want you

1:07:06

to know that. No. Cool.

1:07:09

What are your feelings for

1:07:11

them now? I'm still absolutely

1:07:13

in love with you and

1:07:15

trying not to engage you

1:07:17

in case I hurt you

1:07:19

again. Because I'm in this

1:07:22

situation where I'm like ripped

1:07:24

between like this some sort

1:07:26

of loyalty commitment to this

1:07:28

other power right? There's either

1:07:30

something I believe in that

1:07:33

they're trying to do or

1:07:35

like there's to have some

1:07:37

sort of hold on me

1:07:39

which I'm tempted to say

1:07:41

they have some sort of

1:07:44

hold on me at this

1:07:46

point. Can they take your

1:07:48

immortality away? Right. Um, honestly

1:07:50

I don't feel like they

1:07:52

can because it's tied to

1:07:55

you. But I think they

1:07:57

can do something else. Yeah.

1:07:59

I think like I Okay,

1:08:01

bear with me. I almost

1:08:03

think that I have

1:08:05

stayed with them at

1:08:08

this point because Gosh,

1:08:10

there's so many directions we should

1:08:12

go, right? Here's two. Tell me

1:08:14

if this, if you like either

1:08:16

of these or if they spring,

1:08:18

you know, make more brainstorm happen

1:08:20

for you. One of them would

1:08:22

be I stayed because if as

1:08:24

long as I'm their point person

1:08:26

in terms of actual confrontation, then

1:08:28

I can try to avoid confrontation

1:08:30

with you. Right. And maybe they've

1:08:32

just recently given up on me

1:08:34

on that and that's why you

1:08:36

died again. Right. Because like for a

1:08:39

couple hundred years it was me and

1:08:41

then they were finally like you are

1:08:43

terrible. You are the worst minion ever

1:08:45

I'm sending these other people and I

1:08:47

was like no, no, no, right. But

1:08:50

that doesn't necessarily give me a reason

1:08:52

to stay now. So like there's that

1:08:54

idea, but also, yeah, maybe there's

1:08:56

something like, okay, let's just make

1:08:58

this even more tragic. Let me just go

1:09:00

with it and I'll say a bunch of

1:09:03

things and then you tell me what you

1:09:05

think. Okay, like what if

1:09:07

they hold like my

1:09:10

memories of my original

1:09:12

family and if I

1:09:14

leave then they just

1:09:16

like crush them? Hmm.

1:09:19

What was your thought?

1:09:21

My thought was like they

1:09:23

have no sway over you

1:09:26

and so you figured

1:09:28

that out. And you

1:09:30

for the past 150 years

1:09:32

have been fighting secretly against

1:09:35

what they were trying to

1:09:37

send my way. Yeah, let's do

1:09:40

that. But without telling

1:09:42

you, because like you hate,

1:09:44

you obviously hate me, I

1:09:46

can't let you know.

1:09:48

Right. Yeah, because communication

1:09:51

is not for the

1:09:53

immortal, apparently. Yeah, let's do

1:09:55

that. Okay, cool. Cool, so I've

1:09:58

been like kind of the spy on the inside.

1:10:00

Yeah. Have you been like sub-turt

1:10:02

or subtly like, you know,

1:10:04

foiling the plans? I think

1:10:06

I've been pretending that I'm

1:10:08

still loyal, right? But like,

1:10:10

specifically screwing things up because

1:10:12

I did so much, like,

1:10:14

I think when I killed

1:10:16

you the last time, that

1:10:18

elevated me so much in

1:10:20

their opinion that I became

1:10:23

like the general or whatever.

1:10:25

And now I've been using

1:10:27

that power to like... quietly

1:10:29

screw things up for a

1:10:31

couple hundred years. That's so

1:10:33

good. Yeah. You got a

1:10:35

promotion and you're utilizing it.

1:10:37

You got a promotion and

1:10:39

I'm using it to try

1:10:41

and make sure you don't

1:10:43

die again. But then you

1:10:45

did and now I'm heartbroken

1:10:47

again, right? Yeah, because they

1:10:49

finally found out. I think

1:10:52

they did finally find out.

1:10:54

Yeah. Without telling you one

1:10:56

of the plans they were

1:10:58

enacting, they gave you a

1:11:00

dummy plan to... do stuff

1:11:02

with and you were like,

1:11:04

I can meddle with this.

1:11:06

Metal with this one and

1:11:08

then they sent someone else

1:11:10

out who got you and

1:11:12

now I'm like, uh-oh. Oh,

1:11:14

that's very good. Okay, good.

1:11:16

Okay, what is my current

1:11:18

life like? So then in

1:11:20

a very magical girl way,

1:11:23

like I must live a

1:11:25

mundane life and then also

1:11:27

a super evil secret villain

1:11:29

life. So I think that

1:11:31

I think my mundane life

1:11:33

is very boring Except that

1:11:35

there's these gravity waves that

1:11:37

sometimes turn me into a

1:11:39

ferret And when I'm not

1:11:41

anywhere near you which I

1:11:43

haven't been for Several hundred

1:11:45

years, right? They're very unpredictable

1:11:47

to me right right because

1:11:49

I don't know that they're

1:11:52

coming Does your character know

1:11:54

my characters mundane identity? I

1:11:56

mean you must since you

1:11:58

I think yeah I must

1:12:00

just I must in in

1:12:02

the cycles that I become

1:12:04

involved with right yeah yeah

1:12:06

Because like you're usually the

1:12:08

one as the ferret to

1:12:10

usher my powers back. Yes.

1:12:12

So you must know my

1:12:14

identity each time. Yeah, so

1:12:16

there's got to be a

1:12:18

way and it's probably part

1:12:21

of the big bad's like

1:12:23

technology that they have a

1:12:25

way to identify you. Yeah.

1:12:27

Because their goal is probably

1:12:29

to stop you before you

1:12:31

awaken again. So my goal

1:12:33

is always to make sure

1:12:35

you awaken before they can

1:12:37

get you. But it means

1:12:39

that those two things happen

1:12:41

pretty closely together, which aligns

1:12:43

with the magical girl experience,

1:12:45

right? Yep. Yeah. Is like,

1:12:47

guess what? You're a magical

1:12:50

girl. Oh, look, you're under

1:12:52

attack. Like, yep. That's very

1:12:54

good. It's very good. It's

1:12:56

very good. Yep. I think

1:12:58

maybe the big bad does

1:13:00

not know that I turn

1:13:02

into a ferret. Yeah, I

1:13:04

don't think so. I don't

1:13:06

think they do. I think

1:13:08

that's a secret that only

1:13:10

I know, because nobody else.

1:13:12

Yeah. knows that happens. Okay.

1:13:14

I like that. I like

1:13:16

the thought of it like

1:13:19

when it happens like you

1:13:21

know how there's the plausible

1:13:23

deniability from regular citizens and

1:13:25

most magical girl anime where

1:13:27

it's just like all this

1:13:29

wild stuff happens and the

1:13:31

next day they're like life

1:13:33

is normal. Everything is fine.

1:13:35

I like that on a

1:13:37

localized level when you transform.

1:13:39

So you can transform in

1:13:41

the middle of your day

1:13:43

job in the middle of

1:13:45

the supermarket. People are just

1:13:47

like, oh, so and so

1:13:50

must have gone home sick

1:13:52

or whatever. Little ferret scurries

1:13:54

out the door behind them.

1:13:56

Yeah. Is the ferret like,

1:13:58

uh, has one of those

1:14:00

like... The only thing I

1:14:02

think of is like doctor

1:14:04

who in the like you

1:14:06

can't ever see the phone

1:14:08

booth as more than just

1:14:10

a phone booth unless you

1:14:12

you're in the know is

1:14:14

the ferret like that where

1:14:16

it's people they're to reality

1:14:19

or altered and it's like,

1:14:21

you don't notice or care

1:14:23

that there's a ferret running

1:14:25

around until it starts interacting

1:14:27

with you? Probably yes. Like

1:14:29

it's just sort of like

1:14:31

in the background. Yeah. But

1:14:33

it's really annoying for me

1:14:35

to be in the middle

1:14:37

of something and then suddenly

1:14:39

not have opposable thumbs. Right.

1:14:41

My food's gonna go bad

1:14:43

again. I was in the

1:14:45

middle of cooking dinner now

1:14:48

I can't take the pan

1:14:50

off the stove. Yep. That's

1:14:52

amazing. I like that a

1:14:54

lot. Yeah, I think that's

1:14:56

fun. Or it's like I

1:14:58

work from home. Because many

1:15:00

people work from home myself

1:15:02

included. And suddenly I go

1:15:04

from like typing on a

1:15:06

keyboard to like one letter

1:15:08

at a time with a

1:15:10

paw. Like, oh my God.

1:15:12

Yeah. You have to like

1:15:14

tiny hands, look for the

1:15:17

go away button. Like tiny

1:15:19

hands, turn off the camera,

1:15:21

turn off the camera. You

1:15:23

got like a panic button

1:15:25

for the internet? Oh, it

1:15:27

looks like your internet went

1:15:29

down again. Yeah, sorry, it's

1:15:31

really unreliable. That's funny. Okay,

1:15:33

is there anything else important

1:15:35

about my character? I can't

1:15:37

think of anything right now.

1:15:39

I think we have done

1:15:41

a lot. I feel like

1:15:43

I have a pretty good

1:15:46

idea of who she is.

1:15:48

Yeah, have you been keeping

1:15:50

like a tangential eye on

1:15:52

me? Oh, a tangential eye

1:15:54

on you. Yes. But like

1:15:56

I also think because I'm

1:15:58

connected to your brooch that

1:16:00

like there are certain things

1:16:02

that I can actually sense

1:16:04

about like what's going on

1:16:06

as soon as you have

1:16:08

the brooch, right? Yeah, which

1:16:10

you must. Do you like

1:16:12

manifest it when you realize

1:16:14

that you're magical girl? There's

1:16:17

no way I'm keeping it

1:16:19

for you in a standard

1:16:21

cute little future way. Yeah,

1:16:23

I think it manifests. Yeah.

1:16:25

Because like upon my death,

1:16:27

it like dissolves away from

1:16:29

reality. Right. and blows in

1:16:31

the wind, right? Yes. Yeah,

1:16:33

sparkles blowing away in the

1:16:35

wind. Yes, perfect. Very dramatic

1:16:37

music playing each time. Yes.

1:16:39

And then when it comes

1:16:41

back, it's that in reverse.

1:16:43

And then the realization hits.

1:16:46

I love it. Yeah. So

1:16:48

what? So I can talk

1:16:50

you through like what you

1:16:52

need to know to resubmon

1:16:54

it. And then I'm like,

1:16:56

yes, she's back. Perfect. That's

1:16:58

so good. Neat. The next

1:17:00

questions are for you. The

1:17:02

letter reader. Where did you

1:17:04

read the letter? Where did

1:17:06

you find it? I want

1:17:08

to say it was in

1:17:10

a Renaissance exhibit. Let's just

1:17:12

go international in the Louvre

1:17:15

in Paris. Sure, I mean

1:17:17

you're in college, right? So

1:17:19

are you doing a semester

1:17:21

abroad? Yeah, I think so.

1:17:23

Yeah, cool. Yeah, and I'm

1:17:25

like, you know, I have

1:17:27

some fond memories from the

1:17:29

Renaissance for some reason. Let's

1:17:31

go check it out. That

1:17:33

was how I awoke. Oh,

1:17:35

this time that's how you

1:17:37

awoke was reading the letter.

1:17:39

Reading the letter triggered the

1:17:41

awakening. That's why you that's

1:17:44

why you didn't usher me

1:17:46

in this time. You just

1:17:48

you did buy proxy. Yes,

1:17:50

accidentally. Perfect. Yeah. All right.

1:17:52

I love that. How do

1:17:54

you feel about Jenovieve before?

1:17:56

And how do you? Feel

1:17:58

about them now has that

1:18:00

changed having led read the

1:18:02

letter. Oh my gosh the

1:18:04

I think like all of

1:18:06

that happens in an instant,

1:18:08

right? Yes. Because not only

1:18:10

do I... I remember you

1:18:13

from the thousands or hundreds

1:18:15

of years that we've interacted.

1:18:17

Like I also remember you

1:18:19

killing me as the last

1:18:21

thing we've done together. Yikes.

1:18:23

So like... So

1:18:27

this swirl of like joy

1:18:29

of remembering you specifically gets

1:18:31

mixed in with a feeling

1:18:33

of betrayal which gets mixed

1:18:35

in with rereading the letter

1:18:38

and like just being confused.

1:18:40

Let me ask you something

1:18:42

about our strongest memory together.

1:18:44

Did you die? Did you

1:18:46

just die immediately or do

1:18:48

you remember like do you

1:18:51

have a like as you

1:18:53

died me holding you in

1:18:55

my arms crying memory? Like

1:18:57

did that did that part?

1:18:59

When did you die in

1:19:02

that scene? So my my

1:19:04

thought was dramatic sword fight

1:19:06

through the heart close close

1:19:08

quarters and like you basically

1:19:10

close quarters and like you

1:19:12

basically Right there. Yeah, like

1:19:15

catching you and lowering you

1:19:17

to the floor with my

1:19:19

sword still through you. Yes

1:19:21

Yeah, and and my last

1:19:23

moments in that lifetime were

1:19:25

like looking up into your

1:19:28

eyes both in shock. Yeah,

1:19:30

but also knowing that I

1:19:32

will be back. Yeah, and

1:19:34

like I think she was

1:19:36

filled with Kind of like

1:19:39

a I'll see you next

1:19:41

time sort of feels to

1:19:43

like a long goodbye. Right,

1:19:45

okay. But like in a

1:19:47

much more dramatic sense. Right.

1:19:49

So I mean, I think

1:19:52

there's like, there's a little

1:19:54

bit of mixed in like,

1:19:56

and you were crying as

1:19:58

I died. Oh yeah, there's

1:20:00

definitely like the, I couldn't

1:20:02

talk silent tears. Yeah, but

1:20:05

also me. And yeah, I

1:20:07

think I'm mistaken whether or

1:20:09

not I saw your tears.

1:20:11

or thought they were mine

1:20:13

or if they were like

1:20:16

sweat or whatever like something

1:20:18

yeah like because I knew

1:20:20

how I felt about you

1:20:22

before that happened right yes

1:20:24

like there was that intense

1:20:26

like like love and need

1:20:29

to be in one each

1:20:31

other's company even if we

1:20:33

were antagonistic about it yeah

1:20:35

reaching up shakily on your

1:20:37

cheek. Yeah, yeah, yeah, before

1:20:39

I completely lost out. Right,

1:20:42

which is when that when

1:20:44

that like happened, if we

1:20:46

watch it from the outside

1:20:48

is the moment of like,

1:20:50

Jen of you doing the

1:20:53

like, no, the camera pans

1:20:55

up right to the sky,

1:20:57

right? Yeah, perfect. So good.

1:20:59

Okay. Has your feelings about

1:21:01

me changed having read the

1:21:03

letter or is it just

1:21:06

that's where we're hitting confusion

1:21:08

now because there's such an

1:21:10

influx of just like what?

1:21:12

Yeah, I think it's I

1:21:14

think it's just a massive

1:21:16

amount of confusion, but like

1:21:19

a little bit of hope

1:21:21

as well. Okay, amazing. Yeah.

1:21:23

What is your current life

1:21:25

like? I think we've addressed

1:21:27

some of this, right? College

1:21:30

student, right? Yep. Semester abroad.

1:21:32

Semester abroad, which caused me

1:21:34

to find this letter. And

1:21:36

then a year after this

1:21:38

letter is when I finally

1:21:40

got my stuff together to

1:21:43

write back effectively. Nice. And

1:21:45

yeah, and I think I'm

1:21:47

just normal, normal college student

1:21:49

international studies or something like

1:21:51

that, right? Yeah. And probably

1:21:54

like an art degree is

1:21:56

what I'm going to go

1:21:58

with at that point. Yep.

1:22:00

Yeah, okay. So there's only

1:22:02

one more question left in

1:22:04

character creation, which is, is

1:22:07

there anything else important that

1:22:09

we need to know about

1:22:11

your character? She's really cool.

1:22:13

Like swords. We established swords.

1:22:15

Like this is like thirsty

1:22:17

sword lesbian written all over

1:22:20

it. I love it. Oh

1:22:22

my gosh. Okay. So if

1:22:24

we were going to play

1:22:26

this game from here, the

1:22:28

last piece is actually just

1:22:31

to review our lines and

1:22:33

veils and make sure that.

1:22:35

in the construction of our

1:22:37

characters, we haven't introduced anything

1:22:39

else that we need to

1:22:41

zero on or get specific

1:22:44

about. I'm cool for me

1:22:46

with where this all lands.

1:22:48

I'm very excited about it.

1:22:50

Are you sure you don't

1:22:52

want to write some letters,

1:22:54

right? Because I write some

1:22:57

letters. We might have to

1:22:59

at this point. Right? This

1:23:01

is really good. Like I

1:23:03

want this magical girl thing

1:23:05

to be something I can

1:23:08

watch and consume. Because my

1:23:10

goodness. Cool. That's it. Amazing.

1:23:12

Well, let's go ahead and

1:23:14

dive into a quick discussion

1:23:16

and get some D20s for

1:23:18

your thoughts. D20 for your

1:23:21

thoughts? Sure. Do you want

1:23:23

me to read Amelia's parts?

1:23:25

It's weird because I'm also

1:23:27

the game designer host on

1:23:29

this. I know that is

1:23:31

true. How would you like

1:23:34

to do it? It's, I

1:23:36

think we can just kind

1:23:38

of have like an open

1:23:40

discussion about this. I mean

1:23:42

like the first questions about

1:23:45

the character sheets of which

1:23:47

it's there are not. There

1:23:49

are not. It's very free

1:23:51

form like just write some

1:23:53

notes down right? Yeah. You

1:23:55

just need to write down

1:23:58

your notes so that you

1:24:00

know, you know, you know,

1:24:02

what. you're doing. Maybe I

1:24:04

should make character sheets for

1:24:06

this game. Like that's totally

1:24:08

a thing that I could

1:24:11

do in the future. I

1:24:13

have not done it as

1:24:15

of this point. But you

1:24:17

know. Yeah. It would be

1:24:19

a nice little guide for

1:24:22

the questions that you have

1:24:24

there and everything. And I

1:24:26

think it would lay things

1:24:28

out. But I think as

1:24:30

you just experienced, and every

1:24:32

time I have done this

1:24:35

with someone, the questions tend

1:24:37

to inspire a lot more

1:24:39

answer than just the answer

1:24:41

to the question, right? Which

1:24:43

makes it hard to say,

1:24:45

put your answer here in

1:24:48

a little box because what

1:24:50

we actually did was, you

1:24:52

know, answer like, I don't

1:24:54

know, 10 questions each or

1:24:56

something, which involved this really

1:24:59

deep backstory. And that's not,

1:25:01

I wouldn't say that's an

1:25:03

isolated experience for me. That's

1:25:05

what's happened every time I've

1:25:07

done this with someone, which

1:25:09

is I really enjoy it.

1:25:12

It certainly feels like it's

1:25:14

a game that is ripe

1:25:16

for having that shared narrative

1:25:18

control with one another. Yeah,

1:25:20

the goal is very much

1:25:22

to give you so much

1:25:25

kind of. shared background and

1:25:27

then emotional energy that can

1:25:29

go into writing letters and

1:25:31

you don't need a format

1:25:33

for it from that point

1:25:36

Absolutely, for sure. Yeah, oh,

1:25:38

it's so good. How do

1:25:40

we like the character creation

1:25:42

in this game versus other

1:25:44

ones that we've made characters

1:25:46

for? I mean, I feel

1:25:49

like I'm really biased. I

1:25:51

love doing characters by questions.

1:25:53

Yeah, that's why I wrote

1:25:55

it like that I don't

1:25:57

know. What did you what

1:25:59

did you think? This is

1:26:02

play testing feedback for me

1:26:04

now. Yeah, yeah, because like

1:26:06

it gives me very eye

1:26:08

of the high ground vibes

1:26:10

in a way. Yeah. Just

1:26:13

because the direction that we

1:26:15

went in. Yeah, that's because

1:26:17

we were very like enemies

1:26:19

to lovers on this one.

1:26:21

A hundred percent. Yeah, but

1:26:23

I can still see kind

1:26:26

of a similar vibe of

1:26:28

building the characters together and

1:26:30

vibes off of one another

1:26:32

and and like the characters

1:26:34

kind of. Meshing with one

1:26:36

another's immortality is and all

1:26:39

that sort of stuff, right?

1:26:41

Yeah, I really do like

1:26:43

how it's it's effectively like,

1:26:45

you know, the questionnaires and

1:26:47

dread and and I utilize

1:26:50

that for for my immortals

1:26:52

game as well. The dreaded

1:26:54

reflections of the immortal soul,

1:26:56

which is just a Super

1:26:58

Panantic title to say you're

1:27:00

playing Highlanders. Yeah, that makes

1:27:03

sense. Yeah, okay. That makes

1:27:05

sense. And you use a

1:27:07

jangutower. But yeah, the questionnaire

1:27:09

format is fantastic and I

1:27:11

think it really opens things

1:27:13

for creativity. Yeah, and I

1:27:16

haven't. Every time I have

1:27:18

run through this character creation

1:27:20

as a playtest it has

1:27:22

resulted in very Different sets

1:27:24

of people that I am

1:27:27

very excited to Find out

1:27:29

what happens for them and

1:27:31

like I said ours was

1:27:33

very enemies to lovers the

1:27:35

other times I've done it

1:27:37

hasn't gone that way, but

1:27:40

like it works Both ways,

1:27:42

right? Yeah, absolutely. There is

1:27:44

a certain inevitability that these

1:27:46

end up being somewhat tragic

1:27:48

characters just because of the

1:27:50

immortality, right? Like from our

1:27:53

perception as mortals, like the

1:27:55

things that you go through

1:27:57

when you just live through

1:27:59

multiple lifetimes or, you know,

1:28:01

tens or 20s of lifetimes,

1:28:04

feel very tragic from where

1:28:06

we're sitting, right? Yeah. Well,

1:28:08

and plus you have to

1:28:10

have a period of separation,

1:28:12

right? And it's, and it's

1:28:14

the whole, like, why didn't

1:28:17

you tell the whole name

1:28:19

of the game? Yes, you

1:28:21

never told me, like, why

1:28:23

didn't you tell me? Yeah,

1:28:25

that's, that's, because it sets

1:28:27

up that tragedy, effectively. And,

1:28:30

and, and going through that

1:28:32

knowing that's kind of where

1:28:34

we needed to end up.

1:28:36

is like I can't imagine

1:28:38

a scenario that you go

1:28:41

through with these character creation

1:28:43

that doesn't end up in

1:28:45

like I'm excited to get

1:28:47

these two together. Yes. Right.

1:28:49

Which is definitely my direction.

1:28:51

Like I think you could

1:28:54

play this game and decide

1:28:56

that you're gonna just be

1:28:58

friends and never see each

1:29:00

other again or whatever. Right.

1:29:02

But it's not sort of

1:29:05

the direction that I feel

1:29:07

like the questions are pushing

1:29:09

in. Right. Because immortality ultimately

1:29:11

leads to loneliness. Exactly. And

1:29:13

the only cure for that

1:29:15

is experiencing it with another

1:29:18

immortal. Yeah, exactly. That's so

1:29:20

good. Cool. I don't know.

1:29:22

Do you want to do

1:29:24

you want to figure out

1:29:26

how this story would play

1:29:28

out for our characters? Gosh,

1:29:31

I mean, I would love

1:29:33

to play this with you.

1:29:35

actually play it. Yeah, I

1:29:37

think I think so. Like,

1:29:39

like, I guess, hopes and

1:29:42

wishes, sort of conversation here

1:29:44

then, right? Like, the whole

1:29:46

cadence of the game is

1:29:48

going back and forth, right?

1:29:50

I'm assuming I am the

1:29:52

first one to respond to

1:29:55

your written letter in the

1:29:57

beginning, right? Yes. Yeah. So

1:29:59

you, that is the interesting

1:30:01

thing and it's a little

1:30:03

bit funky, which is a

1:30:05

little bit funky, which is

1:30:08

the person who sees the

1:30:10

original letter is the first

1:30:12

person to write a letter

1:30:14

yeah and you don't actually

1:30:16

write that original letter so

1:30:19

that you as a player

1:30:21

have the freedom to respond

1:30:23

to whatever you imagine that

1:30:25

letter to be. Yeah, absolutely.

1:30:27

Yeah, that's very good. I

1:30:29

think, um, gosh, I think

1:30:32

Andromeda would be like, she

1:30:34

waited a whole year to

1:30:36

respond. Yeah. Right. Maybe it

1:30:38

took her that long to

1:30:40

find you or maybe it

1:30:42

took her that long to

1:30:45

get the courage to write

1:30:47

back. Right. I think it's

1:30:49

a combination of both. Yes.

1:30:51

Like first I have to

1:30:53

find her, then I have

1:30:56

to get the courage to

1:30:58

actually send a letter. Yeah.

1:31:00

What, so one of the

1:31:02

questions that I have in

1:31:04

the game to help you

1:31:06

write that first letter is

1:31:09

just from a character's perspective,

1:31:11

what outcome would you like

1:31:13

to have from the contact,

1:31:15

right? Like are you just...

1:31:17

going to reach out and

1:31:19

reinitiate? Are you reaching out

1:31:22

to be like, hi, I

1:31:24

love you? Like, what is,

1:31:26

what do you want from

1:31:28

the other player when you

1:31:30

do it? Right, that's interesting.

1:31:33

I think it's like in

1:31:35

this case, I think it's

1:31:37

a forgiveness letter. Like I

1:31:39

forgive you for killing me.

1:31:41

Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah.

1:31:43

I think that would spark

1:31:46

off a good back and

1:31:48

forth. I think it really

1:31:50

really would. Yeah. I think

1:31:52

that would be a fantastic

1:31:54

place to start. For a

1:31:56

sure. Oh my gosh. These

1:31:59

two. Huh? The babies,

1:32:01

I keep calling them babies,

1:32:03

but they're obviously not. No,

1:32:05

absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Just immortal

1:32:07

babies. Just immortal babies. Uh-huh.

1:32:09

I mean, this is usually

1:32:11

the part where we say,

1:32:13

let's take it up a

1:32:16

level and figure out character

1:32:18

advancement and narrative advancement and

1:32:20

stuff like that, but like,

1:32:22

my gosh. Take it up

1:32:24

a level. Take it up

1:32:26

a level. Take it up

1:32:28

a level. Realistic, it's, you

1:32:30

know, it's, it's, it's four

1:32:32

pages. Yeah. There's not, there's

1:32:34

not a lot of mechanics

1:32:36

there. It is a character

1:32:39

creation exercise. Do you drive

1:32:41

a letter writing, you know,

1:32:43

campaign? Yeah, I would say

1:32:45

there's, there's no real mechanics

1:32:47

at that point, right? There

1:32:49

aren't any. There's no randomness.

1:32:51

There's, you don't have like.

1:32:53

you know, scenario cards or