UnHuman Hub

The calamity was specific. Particular. One might say targeted. It didn't destroy the Earth, and it didn't kill every living thing. It only killed that which was human.

So how is a human to survive the apocalypse and thrive after it?
Simple.

They must become

UnHuman

The original tale series of UnHuman. All tales by Oboebandgeek99 unless otherwise specified.

Main Tales

Cinéma Chaotique
- Goodbye Nightflower: Beginnings
Wholly Haphway
- Goodbye Nightflower: The Shining City
Yeren Back Again
- Goodbye Nightflower: The Yeren
Untitled tale
- Goodbye Nightflower: The Ancient Country of Japan
Untitled tale
- Goodbye Nightflower: Shifters
Hello Nightflower
- Goodbye Nightflower: Meet the creators

Supplemental Tales

Untitled custodian tale

Overview

UnHuman is a complex but highly flexible setting. Here are the basics:

At some point in the vague now-ish, a "calamity" came along that killed anything "fully human."
However, humanity survived in the form of anomalous humans who were somehow not considered fully human.
1. Additionally, some were brought back afterward due to the influence the anomalous had on them.
2. Additionally additionally, some beings came to this planet after the calamity.
3. Many of these "unhumans" (as they'll collectively be referred to from here on out) have some kind of conditional immortality; they're immortal, but at a cost
The calamity didn't kill anything that wasn't human, even if it had human intelligence.
Despite undergoing severe and sudden ecological change, life on earth continued and even thrived in some cases.
Some unhumans banded together and formed communities; others became scavengers and roam the world.
Most unhumans are capable of learning some kind of magic.
The influence of the Foundation and other GoIs on the world is indirect, as most who survived were unaware of these groups.

UnHuman as a setting is generally best used for adventure and character driven stories without the political machinations of world powers interfering. Keep reading to learn more about the specifics, or check out the "How to write" tab if you want to contribute.

The Calamity

An unspecified number of centuries/millennia ago, something happened that seemingly wiped out every singly human on earth.
Nobody knows exactly what this apocalypse was; immortals suspect that the event either had some memory wiping thing attached, or else was so traumatic that everyone who lived through it immediately blocked out the memories.
SCP-2000 didn't work, or anyone who knew of its existence died; either the apocalyptic force knew about SCP-2000 and targeted it or just straight up wiped out everything so completely that nobody knows it exists
- Same goes for any other apocalypse fixing/preventing SCP
- That said, the location and machinery at 2000 still exist, as do ways to the Library. Perhaps someday, someone will find them.
Every single organization and formalized GOI is gone. Some looser defined groups still exist; see "The Inhabitants" for more details

The World

There are some places reclaimed by nature, but much is still in place from the human civilization
Some settlements have been reclaimed from the ashes of human society, while others were formed in the middle of nowhere.
Many live semi-typical lives in settlements, mostly cut off from the rest of the world in their own self-sustaining communities
Some prefer to be scavengers out in the wastelands, seemingly because this hostile life gives immortals something to do.
Industrialization doesn't seem to be a thing anymore. If the resources are found, industrialized technology could be started up again, but outside of a small number of people wanting transportation very few seem actually interested in starting up industrialization again.

The Rules (Magic, Tech, etc.)

Magic exists and most can learn it to some extent. Scavengers need a basic knowledge of technomancy in order to even survive, and settlers will sometimes use magic to augment their lives, particularly with medical issues.
The most common form of magic is technomancy, using archaic magical practices to enhance technologies created after the industrial revolution.
- A common example is universal translators. Pretty much everyone has some kind of translator gadget on them that translates what other people say (like babel fish).
Immortality is kind of a thing but not unconditionally. Otherwise normal humans who were supposedly "immortal" died in the apocalyse¹ and everything that is "immortal" now still requires some basic level of self-maintenance to stay alive. There is always a cost.

The Inhabitants

As far as anyone is aware, all humans died in the apocalypse. That said, intelligent live is still found on Earth, though it's a little harder to find. Intelligent lifeforms are divided into three larger subcategories: Survs, Reeves, and News

Survs - Survivors

Survived the apocalypse by not being fully human when it occurred.

Shifters - Shapeshifters, typically shifting between human and animal forms. Think Vampires/Werewolves.
Creatures - Animals of near-human or human intelligence who survived by not being human.
- Yeren - SCP-1000 or bigfoot, the Yeren are growing in numbers, forming small communities and living a peaceful nomadic lifestyle. They seem to have a complicated relationship with the humans who used to walk the earth. Are they hiding something?
Mechs - Robots with AI that equals or surpasses human intelligence. Most are Survs, some are News.
Civs - Normal humans descended from humans who lived through the apocalypse. Believed by most to be a myth.

Reeves - Revivors

Killed during or prior to the apocalypse and brought back later

Liches - Humans who were dead for an indeterminate amount of time before being brought back by magic, some before the apocalypse, many after. Can look like fully formed humans, animated skeletons, or anything in between.
Zombies Prometheans - Humans who died and were brought back shortly before the apocalypse through scientific procedures. Whereas Liches can be brought back in any state of decay at any time, Prometheans had to have been brought back shortly after death and are constantly fighting decay. Don't eat often and are often described as being a bit… off. Only a few Prometheans are thought to exist.
Ghosts - Human spirits with no physical form, thought to wander the Earth. Nobody is certain they exist, but it seems plausible enough to most.

News - New lifeforms

Came to Earth or evolved intelligence after the apocalypse.

Aliens - Either from another planet or another dimension.
Travelers - Time travelers who came from the past. Not many around, as time travel can be tricky and doesn't always lead to the same future.
Evos - Lifeforms that evolved after the calamity.

dont read beyond this point this is just stuff for me lol

Characters

Characters:

Nitro - A play on the zombie trope. He died as a human, was brought back to life through Science, and now seemingly can't die. Doesn't require brains as sustenance, but needs to eat often and performs intricate (creepy rituals) with human(ish) tissue to maintain his body. (His name is pronounced like Nih-tro)
??? "Sebastian" - A strange mutant crab monster (possibly from space or another dimension) that is generally pretty nice and polite. Eir name is pretty hard to translate into Human sounds, so the humans give nem the nickname Sebastian. Pronouns are untranslatable too, but seems to prefer ey/em/eir or ne/nem/nir. (Apparently in my dream, we eventually found out that it was another form of Bright but im not really sold on the idea)
Mio and Gabriella - Two documentary filmmakers from Nightflower, a protected community where they are the youngest inhabitants. They've left home for the first time to explore the wide world, but what awaits them?
Lorenza - A play on the vampire trope. A mysterious shapeshifting woman that seems to attack and transmit things through her bite; she can heal people, hurt them, or give them inexplicable powers this way (yeah its dumb and I really need to come up with a more concrete idea). She stalks the main four, and we later find out that Nitro is under her thumb. But what exactly is her goal?

Tales

Cinéma Chaotique - Gabriella and Mio leave Nightflower, meet Nitro, Sebastian and Lorenza and the world is explained to them.
- Goodbye Nightflower: Opening scene
Wholly Haphway - The gang travels to Haphway
- Goodbye Nightflower: Life in Haphway
Yeren Back Again - The gang travels with the Yeren
- Goodbye Nightflower: The Yeren
Untitled tale - Mio gets a sudden desire to visit Japan, Lorenza/nitro relationship explored
- Goodbye Nightflower: The Ancient Country of Japan
Untitled tale - Mio gets hurt, Lorenza saves her
- Goodbye Nightflower: Shifters?
Hello Nightflower - Mio and Gabriella return to Nightflower, explanation of Nitro's past
- Goodbye Nightflower: Meet the creators?

This was once revealed to me in a dream (no seriously i had a dream and thats where the following plot and character ideas are coming from)

Story outline:

We jump into the story post-apocalypse (perhaps quite literally, I have an idea for two normal contemporary filmmakers displaced in time to be our audience surrogate)
On Mount Golgotha has already been played… except something seems off. There's been no noticeable change in alagadda, basically everyone's dead, but the destruction of everything kinda seems to lowscale, like this wasn't the intent of the piece being played.
The only living things are the things that weren't alive to begin with (i.e. we get to play with undead tropes)
Some factions of these creatures are trying to find the missing scores and set the apocalypse right. The others are trying to stop these factions or play keep-away with the scores. But the scores are a powerful thing…
If we want to combine this with story 1, we find out that shortly before the apocalypse there was a new genre popularized called "Golgotha Rock" and one of the primary producers was, you guessed it, the band in story 1.
- along the combination lines, we could end the last tale combining the two story arcs, with the filmmakers getting back to their time and stopping the band

Characters:

Nitro - A play on the zombie trope. He died as a human, was brought back to life through Science, and now seemingly can't die. Doesn't require brains as sustenance and rarely eats, but when he does its always… a little strange. (His name is pronounced like Nih-tro and its dumb)
??? "Sebastian" - A strange mutant crab monster (possibly from space or another dimension) that is generally pretty nice and polite. Eir name is pretty hard to translate into Human sounds, so the humans give nem the nickname Sebastian. Pronouns are untranslatable too, but seems to prefer ey/em/eir or ne/nem/nir. (Apparently in my dream, we eventually found out that it was another form of Bright but im not really sold on the idea)
Mio and Isabela - Two filmmakers from the early 21st century. An anomalous portal has taken them to the distant future. Can they work together with their newfound friends to discover what happened and if they can stop it?
Lorenza - A play on the vampire trope. A mysterious shapeshifting woman that seems to attack and transmit things through her bite; she can heal people, hurt them, or give them inexplicable powers this way (yeah its dumb and I really need to come up with a more concrete idea). She stalks the main four, and we later find out that Nitro is under her thumb. But what exactly is her goal?

Wow I hate what I have of this draft, but i still like some of the concepts. i havent even gotten to the golgotha part yet. im tired. - Oboe

“Are you getting this, Isabela?” Mio said, in awe.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m getting all of it.” Isabela moved the camera around the machinery, trying to capture its complexity. “You’ve really created something worth documenting, Isaak.”

“Yeah,” Mio agreed, “especially if it does what you think it can do.”

“Well, that’s the hope. So far the early tests have gone well, but that’s just inorganic material. I still need to calibrate some stuff.”

“So, run us through how this works,” Mio said.

“Well, basically the idea is to move objects through time, maturing them and speeding up long natural processes.”

“Well, we know that. But how does this,” Isabela pointed to the incredibly complex machinery, “do that?”

“I mean, it’s all kinda boring and technical, and I don’t want to put you guys to sleep,” Isaak explained. “Maybe I can cover it in the talking head portion?” Isabela looked at Mio, sharing a glance. He’s hiding something. “Actually, that reminds me. I’ve got a new part coming in next week, and as soon as it gets here I want to run some tests on plant cells. How would you guys like to be there for the first test?”

“Unfortunately we can’t,” Mio replied. “We’re out of town next week. For a gig that’s actually giving us money.”

“Right, right,” Isaak said, nodding. “I forgot you guys actually do this kind of thing to survive in this capitalist hellscape.”

“Can you run a test for us right now? It would make great footage,” Isabela asked, eager.

“I think she means to ask if it’s safe for us to document a test,” Mio interjected. “I mean, do we need a hazmat suit? Two miles of distance? 911 on speed dial?”

“Ha, ha. No, it’s perfectly safe. Most of the machinery is non-combustible, I’ve got numerous failsafes in place, and by the very nature of the machine every dangerous process is safely contained while we wait a safe distance away,” Isaak explained. He looked back at Mio, who was unconvinced. “There are sprinklers above us that will automatically activate. And I’ll let you hold the fire extinguisher.” Isabela looked to Mio, her eyes pleading. Finally, Mio sighed.

“Good enough for me, I guess. So,” she grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall, “what are you going to test?”

“Something simple and inorganic,” he said looking around the room. He grabbed something, showing it off to the girls “A scrap of cardboard.” Isabela excitedly followed his every move with the camera. He carefully placed it inside the transparent chamber, moving back to the main control unit. “Alright, you guys ready?” With a nod from the girls, he slowly started playing with the unit.

Slowly, the machine began buzzing, whirring, thumping, sounds coming from each direction. Isabela took a few moments capturing the chaos before focusing back on the cardboard in the center. It looked like it was changing, gradually but quick enough to be clearly visible.

Then they heard an alarm. Mio immediately looked over at Isaak.

“What’s going on?” she asked, worried.

“Trying to figure that out myself,” he said, furrowing his brow. He looked at the various meters and numbers on the unit, trying to find the problem. “Oh no.”

“Oh no?” Mio asked, incredulously.

“One of the failsafes,” he said quickly working his way around the control unit. “It just became a fail-dangerous.”

Mio scoffed. “You said—”

“I know what I said!” Isaak snapped.

“So what do we do? Stop the test?” Isabela asked.

“No, that’s more likely to put us at risk. Um,” he said, frantically looking around. “You guys stay put for now, I’ll see if I can’t get things running smoothly again.” He quickly ran around the machine, desperately trying to figure out the problem.

“You’re getting this, right?” Mio asked Isabela.

“Oh yeah.” The camera followed Isaak around, panicked and desperately trying to figure out what went wrong. He murmured to himself, examining the machine, then suddenly gasped, looking back at the girls.

“I figured out what’s wrong,” he said. “But I need your help. Mio, do you see the lever on the wall across from me? I need you to go to that. Isabela, I’m sure you saw the green button on the back wall, you go there.” The three looked at each other for a few moments. Uncertain, Mio and Isabela cautiously got up and went to the features Isaak had described. “Alright, on the count of three, Mio, pull the lever. I’ll release this valve, and then immediately after, Isabela, you’re gonna hit the button. Okay?” Mio and Isabela nodded, still unsure.

“Okay, ready? One,” Isabela looked at the button. “Two,” Mio readied her hand on the lever.

“Three!” Isaak released the valve as Mio pulled the lever. For a split second, the noise got worse and more concerning. Then Isabela hit the button and everything slowed down. It was quiet, save for the breathing of the three. Mio made her way over to Isabela, who was still following everything with the camera.

“Okay,” Isaak’s voice came. “We should be good.”

“Good,” Isabela said smiling. “I’m gonna check on the cardboard.” As she turned around, she didn’t notice her camera had hit part of the machine. Mio only had enough time to grab her shoulder.

“Isabela, no!”

The room warped around the two of them, showing things as they were, as they used to be, and as they had never been. Realities coalesced, then split apart, moving like water around the two girls, who could only stare at what was happening in awe.

When the world around them settled, there was no sign of Isaak or his incredible machine. The walls had crumbled, and the ceiling was no more. A thick layer of dust coated the few recognizable structures in the lab.

“What… happened?” Isabela asked. Looking around, confused.

“I’m not sure,” Mio responded. As she looked past Isabela, her eyes widened. “We need to get out of here fast.”

“What are—” Isabela didn’t have time to respond before Mio grabbed her, leading the two of them behind a small bit of wall left standing just before the creatures crashed through the space they had just occupied. Mio put a finger to her lips, a gesture to Isabela to stay silent. She nodded in response as they cautiously peered back over the wall. Isabela made sure her camera was still recording.

There were three creatures, apparently engaged in a fight of some sort. The closest one to them was a giant-humanish-crab-creature. In the middle distance was what seemed to be a human skeleton aided with technological features. The furthest was the most recognizably human, but something was off. His skin was too pale, he had wounds that were old but clearly not healing. He was the first to make a sound.

“We don’t want any trouble,” he said, apparently to the skeleton creature, “we just want what you took from us. You’re outnumbered and outclassed.” The crab made an incomprehensible noise, distracting the human. His face shifted to disbelief. “What are you— no! We’re not taking a break! We gotta deal with this now!” The crab thing made more noise. “What civs? There are no civs here!” The crab gestured behind itself, pointing right where Mio and Isabela were. The human creature looked where the crab had directed, making eye contact with Mio. She quickly hid, hiding Isabela with her.

“Did he see us?” Isabela whispered.

“I think so.”

The noises got louder as the skeleton seemingly joined the argument now too. Mio looked around her. There was no clear path out, no way they could outrun the three monsters without being seen. She calculated every path but nothing was working. Finally, the familiar voice spoke out.

“Fine, fine,” the human(?) voice came. “If you wanna deal with the civs, deal with the civs, but I’m going to deal with this asshole. And you better not take too long, or this time I’ll actually ditch you.” The two held their breaths as somebody clearly came towards them. There wasn’t any time to wait.

Mio grabbed Isabela’s hand and began running, but before they got too far they found themselves in the clutches of the crab creature — literally, clutched in his giant claw-hand-things.

“Let us go!” Mio shouted, squirming and kicking at the beast that had grabbed the two of them. Moving quicker than any creature of its size ought to be able to, the crab thing ran (scuttled?) with the two in his claws. Though they spent some time trying to fight themselves out of it’s grip, they stopped as they observed the land around them. Around them, a desolated city flew by, alien yet all too familiar. They looked on in awe, until suddenly the crab thing shifted them. The squirmed again as it gently placed the two of them down on a fire escape on a miraculously still standing building.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Mio asked as the thing slowly backed away. Slowly, the crab gave two familiar gestures: it’s claws raised, but defensively (wait), and a single pincer raised to its closed mouth (quiet). The two were stunned by the recognizable gestures. If Isabela hadn’t known any better, she’d say the thing smiled at them as it disappeared around the corner.

“We gotta get back to Isaak’s lab,” Mio said, desperate. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to get back there and figure out what happened.”

“Maybe we should wait here, Mio,” Isabela said, cautiously. “And stay quiet.”

“You’re going to take instructions from that monster?” Mio said, horrified. “It probably just left us here like sitting ducks to come back to later. And then it’ll eat us up with it’s crab friends.”

“I don’t think crabs eat humans.”

“I’m not waiting for that monstrosity to come back here and kill us.”

“I really don’t think it’s trying to hurt us. Otherwise, why wouldn’t it have just done that in the first place?” Mio didn’t have an easy answer for this question. “It was very careful to not hurt my equipment. I’m still rolling! I caught… whatever it was we saw back there. I think… I think it wanted to keep us safe from whatever fight they were having.”

“Sure, maybe, but maybe a lot of things. Maybe it’s leaving us here so that it can cook and eat us later. Maybe it wants to sacrifice us to the crab god! And you’re really asking me to believe that… thing isn’t gonna kill us?”

“I’m asking you to trust me,” Isabela said quietly. “Maybe that guy he was with can tell us what’s going on.”

Mio looked at her weighing their options. Finally, she sighed. “Fine,” she said. “But I’m still gonna look around this fire escape for the quickest escape.” With that, she slowly began climbing up to get a view from the top of the building.

As Mio analyzed how best to escape, should they need it, Isabela finally took a moment to stop filming and analyze the footage they had gotten so far. Maybe she could get some clues from the footage. It started conventionally enough, entering Isaak’s lab and looking at all his equipment. Then the machine. She nodded approvingly at the footage; this would all be excellent B-roll for the film they were planning on making. Then the test. Then the failsafe failed. The lever and the button. It was about to happen. The shift.

“I could see a lot from the roof,” Mio said, interrupting Isabela’s viewing. “No clue where those creatures went though.”

Isabela looked up at Mio. She could review the footage later. “What did you see?”

“Not much. There are pockets of buildings still intact, but it’s mostly just… unsettling.”

“So we still have no clue what’s going on?”

“All I know is Isaak’s stupid machine did something it wasn’t supposed to. And the safest escape is through a window on the fifth floor. We should wait there.”

Just as Isabela stood up, a noise came from around the corner. She and Mio looked at each other, quickly backing themselves against the wall. They heard indistinct muttering that soon became clearer.

“…sure this is the building? I swear we’ve passed this building like two times already.” There was an incomprehensible noise. “You and your ‘internal compass,’ how many times have you confidently led us into danger?” Another noise. “This place? Okay, where are they? Am I supposed to just call out? Like, ‘here, civvy, civvy, civvy’?” With another noise, two figures rounded the corner and into the alley. Sure enough, there was the crab-monster and the not-quite-human. The crab waved to greet them.

“Great,” the human said. “The civs are okay. Can we go now?” Mio and Isabela looked in anticipation as the crab spoke back. “They can get down themselves, don’t coddle them.” The crab walked towards them. “No, don’t— You don’t know where they’ve been!” The crab only looked at the girls. Mio looked at Isabela, shaking her head. Isabela only shrugged, stepping forward. Carefully, with both limbs this time, the crab grabbed her and gently set her on the ground.

“Thank you,” Isabela said with a smile. Mio looked at her in disbelief. Isabela narrowed her eyes at Mio. Mio sighed and stepped forward, and she was lowered too.

“Great,” the human said. “Now you’re probably covered in germs. Civ germs.”

“You know, we can hear and understand you,” Mio said to him.

“Can you now?” came his sarcastic reply.

“And what the hell is a ‘civ’?” Mio continued, confused.

“Wow. You’re even more clueless than I thought. Good luck not dying out there.” He turned to the crab. “C’mon, let’s go.” He turned and began walking away. The crab didn’t move, and spoke back to the man. “No, we’re leaving.” The crab continued to argue with him. “Big whoop, everybody needs help. Dragging around two dead weight civs is a bad idea… So what if my tone is harsh? …No we’re not… Yeah, and it’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made… oh you’re seriously going to… no, I— fine, fine. Fine. Have it your way.” The man turned to the two girls. “We’ll take you two civs home. That’s the only favor you get from me. Okay?”

Mio and Isabela looked at each other, uncertain. “Thank you?” Mio finally said.

“Don’t fall behind,” the man said coldly as they walked out of the alley.

“What are your names?” Isabela asked.

“Why do you want to know?” the man asked, coldly.

“I dunno, just thought I should figure out what to call you in my head.” Isabela shrugged. “Or I could just stick with ‘asshole.’ That’s been working great so far.” The crab let out a noise that almost sounded like laughter, and the man grunted in response.

“Fine,” he replied. “It’s Nihtro.”

Mio looked over at her friend, confused. “You mean, like nitro?”

“No, Nihtro,” the man said sternly. “N-I-T-R-O.”

“Yeah, that spells nitro,” Mio replied. The man sighed, too weary to reply.

“And that guy,” he said, pointing to the crab. “Well, eir name doesn’t really work with human-made sounds,” he said unhelpfully. “And it doesn’t translate either.”

“So those sounds are a language,” Isabela said, oddly excited. Nitro stopped in his tracks.

“And you don’t have universal translators. Great.” He looked at his surroundings. “Come on, I think there’s a surviving tech shop around the corner. I can cobble something together for you guys with the parts leftover.” Nitro hurried towards the shop, ushering the two girls inside. “You stand guard,” he said to the crab. “And you two, follow me.”

There was hardly anything left in the store. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in. Everything had a thick layer of dust on it. To Mio, the weirdest part was that she thought there should’ve been fewer things. More looting, barren shelves. But instead it mostly just looked like it hadn’t been restocked in a while. Plenty of things weren’t there anymore, but she was surprised by just how many things were. Nitro walked through the store, grabbing different things off of the shelves and muttering to himself. Eventually, they walked to the back of the store, ducking into an aisle as he opened the packages, disassembling the gadgets inside and recombining them. After some time, he held two versions of the same earset gadget, messy in the recombination.

“You’re gonna need to step back for this,” he said, pushing them away. “Technomancy can be a dangerous game.” Very quickly, he took a large marker out of a pocket on his jacket and drew a symbol on the floor. He stood in the middle, holding an earpiece in each hand. He closed his eyes, closed a hand around each, and began murmuring. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening. Then, the two noticed a faint glow from inside his hands. As he finished the chanting, the glowing subsided. He opened his hands, and the messy wiring was gone, cleaned up into two succinct devices. He handed one to each of the girls.

“There you go, two universal translators.” As Mio took hers, she noticed Nitro had one in his ear. “You’ll be able to understand anyone with a coherent thought now.” Cautiously, they put the device in their ears. They waited expectantly.

“…How do we know it works?” Mio asked.

“Go talk to that big lug out front. You’ll figure it out pretty quickly.” Isabela and Mio looked at each other before heading to the front of the store. The crab person waited expectantly. Mio hesitated, but Isabela walked forward.

“Hey. Nitro says these should be good, so hopefully we can understand you now. And I wanted to thank you for getting us out of the way of the fight. And for being so gentle with my video equipment.”

What happened next Mio and Isabela found impossible to describe. The sounds they were hearing now were the same sounds they’d heard the crab make earlier, and the translator wasn’t giving them an English reading of what he was saying, but it was as if they now had the context to understand the language, and the meaning and intent came through perfectly.

“Of course!” The crab said, gleeful. “That technology looks highly specialized. And in perfect working order, too! I would’ve felt so bad if anyone had broken it.”

Mio’s jaw dropped. Isabela took a few moments to process what was happening, but as she understood, she nodded and smiled.

“I think it’s working!” She said, excited. “Well, I’m Isabela, and my friend is Mio. Since we kinda got sidetracked in introductions earlier.”

“The grouch said that your name was impossible for us to pronounce,” Mio interrupted. “Is that true? Or is he playing some sick joke on us?”

“No, it’s true,” the crab replied somewhat sadly. “In my own language, my name is—” at this, he let out a sound that somehow remained almost completely untranslated. There was only a vague sense of me coming from the sound. “But as you can tell, there’s not really a good English equivalent.”

“Well, what does Nitro call you?” Isabela asked.

“Nothing, usually. He always just says ‘ey can be so annoying,’ or ‘why is ne still here?’ or ‘get over here, you idiot!’ But mostly he just doesn’t refer to me.” Ey shrugged. “When it’s just two of you, it’s kind of clear from context.”

“Well there are four of us now, and we need some kind of epithet for you…” Isabela said, deep in thought. Suddenly, she looked up with a wide grin on her face. “How about Sebastian?” Mio slapped her own face with her hand as Isabela said this.

“Sebastian…” Ey pondered on the name before looking back at Isabela. “I like it!” Ey exclaimed, smiling at Isabela. Mio was convinced she would never forget the horror that was eir smile. Nitro finally joined them out front at this moment. “Nitro, good news! I shall henceforth be known as Sebastian.”

Nitro looked at em for a few seconds before responding. “…Yeah, that’s not gonna stick.”

“So,” Sebastian continued without paying the man any mind, “where are we taking you?”

“Well, we don’t exactly know,” Isabela admitted.

“You don’t know where your home is?” Nitro asked in disbelief. “Great. Two civs. Two clueless civs, and we’ve agreed to be their escorts, and they don’t even know where they live.”

“What she means is that our day has been pretty weird and we’re not exactly sure what’s going on,” Mio clarified.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” Nitro said.

“What that means is that we were checking out some cool machine our friend Isaak made, then something went wrong, and suddenly Isaak, the machine, and most of the building is gone, and we nearly get trampled by you guys fighting that… skeleton thing.”

“The lich,” Sebastian supplied.

“Sure, whatever, the lich. And then… you’re a crab monster, and there’s something wrong with you, but I don’t know what, and Isabela and I are just confused. And we want to go home.”

page revision: 162, last edited: 03 May 2021 16:46

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SCENE	VIDEO	AUDIO
1 The Setup: Nightflower	B-Roll: A normal day in the Nightflower community.	V.O.: Nightflower. It is safe, guarded, protected, beautiful. It is our home. And it is a lie.
test	test 2	test 3

The Topiary

yes the bees >:)