Joey: Wait, he actually said that?
Roddy: No, it’s cool, it’s like Mission: Impossible, being totally disavowed.
Mette: That’s … a good thing?
Kiln: I take my vows very seriously.
Joey: Also, isn’t there a “caught or killed” clause in that?
Alex: Yyyeah, so maybe less cool than it sounds.
Hellbinder: You know, we’re standing right here.
Police: Never mind, sir – I can see you have your hands full.
Joey: I can’t stand the stress – can we get going to Africa already?
Kiln: Madness. The Great Enemy is loose and corrupting Halcyon. Immediate action is called for.
Alex: Sure, but I’ve got time-sensitive leads on both the eldritch orbital death laser and the HHL’s security system to follow up on.
Mette: We must do something now to free Golem before he dooms humanity’s presence on Earth.
Roddy: (by text) Hey, out on a date with Gothwitch because she said my rescue didn’t totally suck. Score! Don’t do anything cool until I’m back.
All: Goddammit.
3 Likes
Polyanna: Do you guys wanna see a butterfly?
Jillian: Please don’t thro-
Polyanna: yeets the butter across the room
2 Likes
Hellbinder: You broke the BIG Table?
Joey: Just a piece.
Hellbinder: …
Joey: Sir?
Hellbinder: Good job, my boy. Fine job.
1 Like
Joey: I dunno. That debriefing with Hellbinder really confused me.
Alex: How so?
Joey: I couldn’t figure out what he wanted. Complete honesty? Plausible deniability? Or answers that he could use to defend the school? Was he out to protect the academy, or himself, or us? Did he want me to snitch about your infiltrating the HHL’s security system as part of some villainous plot, or to understand our capabilities, or as a valuable bit of info he could trade to the HHL for some advantage?
Alex: Maybe it was a combination of things. People are complex. Attributing to them a single motivation, judging them from a single action, or characterizing them in a simplistic fashion are all unfair – as well as being tactically unwise.
Joey: You really think so?
Alex: Why should I confirm that for you, snitch?
2 Likes
Hellbinder: Alex, you want to pay attention while we debrief about the end of the world?
Alex: sorry, I’m live streaming DOOM
Hellbinder: is that really as important as this?
Alex: well I pre-empted Pat Robertson
2 Likes
Alex: so basically you only remember important things at the moment they happen
Mette: it seems that way
Alex: and your memory is often vague so you are missing key details
Mette: that’s right
Alex: this is exactly how I treat doing homework
2 Likes
Joey: So basically, you find yourself flung into a distant future with no memory of the intervening interval.
Kiln: It seems that way.
Joey: You’ve effectively had all the time in the world, yet, suddenly, through no fault of your own, you’re here, right now.
Kiln: That’s right.
Joey: That is exactly how my homework deadlines treat me.
2 Likes
Arizella: I’m just not sure if I’m cut out to be a club advisor
Hellbinder: why is that?
Arizella: will they even listen to a grownup?
Hellbinder: you have my permission to, as they say, diss me in front of the squad to max your rep
Arizella: I don’t understand any of that
Arizella: oh my god, I have grown up
2 Likes
Hellbinder: Come. You are originally of a foreign culture, alien to so many here. Surely your ability to cope with and adapt to that will allow you to deal with the ‘kids these days.’
Arizella: I was much younger then. More adaptable.
Hellbinder: There is a universality of youth. The trappings change, but the attempt at growth, rebellion, and joining are constants. Why, I’m sure you had your own lingo to refer irreverently to the adult figures in your life at the time. Even for me as your headmaster.
Arizella: …
Hellbinder: Yes?
Arizella: (Makes a sound of clicks and high-pitched squeals.)
Hellbinder: Young Lady, I know Lower Lemurian and that is completely inappropriate!
Arizella: You’re right! I’ve still got it!
2 Likes
Arizella: Hey, Kiln – what’s up?
Kiln: I am weighed down by the angst of my displacement in time and the question of whether I will ever find happiness in my life. If only there were someone I could relate to as both a mentor and someone who appreciates the troubles of youth.
Arizella: Um … wow, that Hellbinder sure is a [makes a sound of clicks and high-pitched squeals].
Kiln: You realize that in Ancient Low Lemurian, that means “A man who hungers for honor,” right?
Arizella: Goddammit.
Kiln: Or maybe “an umbrella of great puissance” – your accent is terrible.
2 Likes
Alex: I got your commlink 911. What’s the sitch?
Roddy: Disaster! The Internet is out here in our Fortress of Attitude!
Alex: I got this. I set up the router/WiFi net down here myself, using a few spare bits of AEGIS tech to ensure perfect, multi-gigabyte throughput. I can just …
Roddy: Yes?
Alex: What. Happened. To. The. Router?
Roddy: Oh, I asked Joey to fix it first.
Joey: (From the next room.) I said I was sorry.
2 Likes
Kiln: In my time, the gods themselves would whisper in our ears, granting us wisdom.
Mette: In my time, we were connected directly into the ShipNet through our PsiFi implants.
Alex: In our time, I set up a highly sophisticated –
Joey: I said I was sorry!
Roddy: Wait, is this why I can’t use QChat to send cat GIFs to Tiff?
2 Likes
Roddy: And tonight was our D&D game, and we don’t have any Internet.
Kiln: I was looking forward to yet another evening as a Kender Thief.
Alex: I keep telling you, 5E doesn’t have Kender, you’re just a Halfling.
Mette: I will miss our –
Joey: Dammit, I won’t take the blame for this. We don’t actually need our Internet to game. My Dad used to tell me that, back in the day, D&D was played at a common table, face to face –
Kiln: Joey –
Joey: – rolling physical dice, with Vis-a-Vis markers on vinyl maps –
Mette: Joey –
Joey: – and communal Doritos and beers. Why can’t we --?
Alex: Joey, our DM is up at on Moonbase Q.
Jason: (by text) Are you guys signing onto Roll20? I don’t see anybody.
2 Likes
Arizella: okay! I wanted to get to know you all a little better by… doing a group activity!
Kiln: what did you have in mind?
Joey: poetry?
Arizella: um, no, I wanted to… do a group TikTok with everyone!
Roddy: uhhh
Alex: uhhhh
Arizella: no good? We can write and recite poetry
Joey: yeah!
Roddy: no, no, TikTok is fine
Alex: yeah, let me get my camera
Joey: hey!
Arizella: (thinking fast) we can recite poetry on TikTok!
Everyone: …
2 Likes
Mette: OH! I understand this. (smiling)
Mette: There once was a man from Nantucket…
Arizella: Umm maybe something more original
3 Likes
Alex: there once was a dev from Nantucket
Alex: who put keys in a hash bucket
Alex: how fast did it run? The op is O(1)
Alex: I’m all outta rhymes so uh, fuck it
Everyone: …
Alex: see this is why I don’t do poetry, jeez
2 Likes
Joey: There once was a man from Halcyon.
Joey: Who could know his pain?
Joey: He could sometimes glimpse joy:
Joey: A companion he dared not touch
Joey: Alone, he groomed only himself.
Everyone: …
Joey: Wait, I thought this was about serious poetry. Goddammit …
2 Likes
Roddy: shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Gothwitch: if you do, I’m never speaking to you again
2 Likes
Tahi: today, I participated in something called “arena scheduling” for classes
Tahi: it was not what I expected
Kiln: no combat to first blood, no weapons, no skating the line between life and death?
Tahi: (putting a spiked mace away in the closet) I know, right?!
2 Likes