It's nice when you have blankets. You could make things like blanket forts!
[Despite finding a lot of houses back home, Seto and Ren didn't really find a lot of blankets. They either had rotted away or were in uses by people who fell asleep for the last time in their beds. The latter could still be used, but Seto didn't like disturbing bodies. Better to cover them up so they're not cold.
But here they could have blankets if they asked. It's really nice.]
And it's comfy so you can sit down for a long time and be warm too.
[Seto goes through the multiple reasons why you need blankets outside of temperature changes and for that, she's grateful, because other Drifter Appreciation ideas form in her mind. Since they like to travel, seem unable to settle in one place, all they would have to do is give them a rock ring and two kids could offer a special blanket fort installation service, for the small, one time fee of One Hug.]
We'll make you a nice fort next time.
[But for now, story time. She motions towards the ground with her foot and says-]
[Forts, made of blankets. Well, in theory, it...makes a strange, abstract sort of sense, though in practice they've yet to understand any foreseeable purpose for such a thing. But Ren says, you have to sit right here, and who are they to protest? Nothing seems to be immediately looming, no danger on the eve of breaking overhead.]
[So they sit, one knee drawn up with their elbow falling across it, the other folded beneath them.]
[Seto will answer that one, but he's also going to shift some of the blankets towards the Drifter. You can have some buddy, there's definitely enough for all three of them.]
A blanket fort is a warm place you can hide in and tell stories and sleep.
[That's the basics but it's a wonderful thing.]
You can make them alone but it's fun with a friend. And you can make shadows on the blankets too.
[He has a flashlight and all. Maybe they could try that later on....
More ideas for the Best Plan Ever. Sorry Drifter, hopefully you didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day.]
[Ren's content they're easily bending to her childish whims and there's no other coercing that has to be done. Seto continues to explain forts, the why of it being wholly unnecessary to say aloud in her mind because it just is. It's fun. It's something you're supposed to do with friends and that's all there is to it.
So while he's talking to them, if Driftybean doesn't move, she's going to wrap a blanket around their neck like a cape, and drape the rest over their body, knee, and any other exposed parts until they're completely covered. Nice.]
[They're already wearing their cloak, so they're plenty warm, but they certainly won't protest. The gesture is harmless, and almost touching, in a way. They allow her to arrange the blanket however she would like, until it well and truly has them covered.]
[A blink of their eyes, a moment of consideration, and a nod. Yes, they think they must be sufficiently tucked in.]
[Seto smiles brightly when Ren starts tucking the Drifter in, and if she keeps going he's not gonna stop her. If they wind up telling stories to a pile of blankets that's fine.
It's all good. And he'll keep explaining stuff.]
It's um....like going to bed but someone is helping you because they like making your heart warm. Ren did it for me when I couldn't sleep.
[After the Water, but he's not gonna bring it up.]
[That's right. The ultimate goal is making someone's heart fill with warmth and joy and there's no better way to do that than to wrap someone in blankets. Maybe in the middle of the afternoon isn't the best time? The glyphcave is relatively protected from the intense island heat though. It's fine.]
Now we tell you stories and you'll be very happy. That's how it works.
[She's intently matter-of-fact in a way that has now become familiar - this is how the world works, for her, and thus, that is how it will always work. Perhaps, in coming days or months, this worldview will begin to flake and crumble, as things as simple as blanket forts and stories fail to smooth away whatever might trouble someone else.]
[But that will not be their doing, if they can help it.]
ok
[That is what the children would like to do, and so that is what they will allow.]
[Maybe one day they'll lose something like this. Stories and blanket forts were a bandage against inevitability but it's something Seto will take if it means he can be with Ren and the Drifter right now.
So until then. It's story time now.]
Okay. I've got a story that my Grandpa really liked called Beauty and the Beast, if it's okay to start with that.
[He can't tell it as well as his Grandpa did because the older man liked using big words, but it's a nice story in the end.]
It's going to be scary, but it's okay because there's a happy ending.
[Says Ren, the walking spoiler, who has the common courtesy to not give away the entire plot because she doesn't know it yet. And now that she's done tucking them in, she's not longer interested in standing and plops down next to their blue bean burrito friend.]
[Yep, they have no idea what this story is, or why a caterpillar would be involved, but hearing the tales of others is a bit like recovering lost fragments of an old world’s history. Stories are an important part of how a civilization preserves itself, after all.]
[Despite the potential that a story might be considered “scary,” the Drifter has decided they’re amenable to it. They’ll brave it.]
[Yup. Stories passed on and through a filter from the imagination of two gremlin children. It's gonna get interesting.]
It's about a man who lived in a big, pretty castle. He had a lot of stuff but he wasn't really nice, so when a lady wanted to stay in his home and he didn't let her, she turned him into a monster. She gave him a rose and told him he needed to meet someone who loved him back before it fell apart to turn back. So that's why he's called Beast.
[There's some chalk lying around so Seto shuffles some blankets around to draw a monster and a lady with a rose between them. They're....well it should get the point across about the whole 'find love before the rose rots' bit. He points at the lady.]
He met Beauty later but things didn't go really good for awhile.
[The problem with this is that Seto's a good storyteller and she nearly forgets that she's supposed to be helping with this incredible tale. Right, assisting. She's ready. She can do that? He's told her this story before, but the pause between her moving away from Drifter's side to the chalk drawings probably makes it apparent she. Uh. Forgot.]
They weren't friends? And then they were friends and-
[IDK, here's an elf drawing. That's a good addition regardless of its true place in the story.]
Then this guy came by and they ate dinner together. Then they were happy.
[Yep, they’ve never heard this story before in their life. How wonderful that it’s being artistically rendered for them, right here and now. The Drifter looks on with mild interest up until Ren’s last pronouncement. That sounds like an ending to them, maybe.]
[A nicer ending than what they got, but nearly any ending would be.]
[Hey, it's a little abrupt, but they can agree that it is, indeed, a story. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. They were friends, and they were happy. What a nice ending.]
[That hardly needs any consideration. The Drifter shakes their head, no. No, they have not.]
But that's fine, she sorta knows this story? And she can make up her own ending, since the boy doesn't know the tale either.]
Three bears were hungry, so they ate porridge at a table. That's what a family does and-
[Something, something-a girl? Came in?]
Another person ate porridge too. Then the caterpillar came by to eat, because they were very hungry too. Then a drifter came by when they smelled the nice food.
[She doodles ALL OF THESE THINGS. The caterpillar (a snake??), Drifter, some bears (big cats). Horrible.]
They wanted to play in the sky, but no one knew how to fly, so they ate cotton candy and became clouds. That's how it works. [Pause] They lived happily ever after. That's what happened.
[It's a good thing the Drifter has no idea how the pacing of these sorts of elementary fairy tales are meant to play out, because the story kind of meanders and they're not sure what the central conflict is meant to be, or what the moral lesson one is meant to take away from it is, but by golly at least Ren is committed.]
[Yeah this story is all over the place. Not the first time it's happened - Seto's Grandpa had gone on a weird ramble mid-story once and it was probably the longest he heard the older man talk. Ren's story has easier to understand words at least. And it is neat in it's own way.
Unique is probably the word his Grandpa would use.]
Did they have more adventures after?
[Why yes he is encouraging more stories of the Drifter and bears and caterpillars. Hey, if Ren likes telling these kind of stories, Seto's going to encourage it.]
[Good stories come from the heart, you uncultured swines. Goldilocks is garbage, cotton candy Drifter is our new best friend. Eager to get into the riveting sequel, she nyooms into her next wild ride, acting like she's told it 10000 times before, despite how made up and Horrible it is.]
They became pirates and went to the moon on a bunch of pretty horses. Drifter said 'hello' to the ghost that lived there, the caterpillar ate all of the treasure and everyone came back to the island. [Maybe it's time for a trilogy]
Then there was a prophecy.
[S T O P H E R]
It said 'an angel will save you, if you pet many cats' so everyone did. They purred a lot.
[The Drifter, for their part, does nothing but watch and listen and nod approvingly as they sit there in their blanket burrito, aware of nothing being even remotely amiss. There is no plot, no story structure, and no characterization to speak of. But that's fine, as the Drifter is fully aware of who the characters are.]
what angel
[Please explain the nature of the "angel," Ren. They're so terribly ignorant and unaware.]
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[Despite finding a lot of houses back home, Seto and Ren didn't really find a lot of blankets. They either had rotted away or were in uses by people who fell asleep for the last time in their beds. The latter could still be used, but Seto didn't like disturbing bodies. Better to cover them up so they're not cold.
But here they could have blankets if they asked. It's really nice.]
And it's comfy so you can sit down for a long time and be warm too.
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We'll make you a nice fort next time.
[But for now, story time. She motions towards the ground with her foot and says-]
You have to sit right here.
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[So they sit, one knee drawn up with their elbow falling across it, the other folded beneath them.]
why is there a blanket fort
[they still have questions :|]
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A blanket fort is a warm place you can hide in and tell stories and sleep.
[That's the basics but it's a wonderful thing.]
You can make them alone but it's fun with a friend. And you can make shadows on the blankets too.
[He has a flashlight and all. Maybe they could try that later on....
More ideas for the Best Plan Ever. Sorry Drifter, hopefully you didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day.]
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So while he's talking to them, if Driftybean doesn't move, she's going to wrap a blanket around their neck like a cape, and drape the rest over their body, knee, and any other exposed parts until they're completely covered. Nice.]
Do you feel happy? Are you 'tucked in' enough?
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[A blink of their eyes, a moment of consideration, and a nod. Yes, they think they must be sufficiently tucked in.]
what is the purpose of tucking in
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It's all good. And he'll keep explaining stuff.]
It's um....like going to bed but someone is helping you because they like making your heart warm. Ren did it for me when I couldn't sleep.
[After the Water, but he's not gonna bring it up.]
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Now we tell you stories and you'll be very happy. That's how it works.
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[But that will not be their doing, if they can help it.]
ok
[That is what the children would like to do, and so that is what they will allow.]
we will tell stories
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So until then. It's story time now.]
Okay. I've got a story that my Grandpa really liked called Beauty and the Beast, if it's okay to start with that.
[He can't tell it as well as his Grandpa did because the older man liked using big words, but it's a nice story in the end.]
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[Says Ren, the walking spoiler, who has the common courtesy to not give away the entire plot because she doesn't know it yet. And now that she's done tucking them in, she's not longer interested in standing and plops down next to their blue bean burrito friend.]
The caterpillar is in this one too.
[It's not.]
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[Despite the potential that a story might be considered “scary,” the Drifter has decided they’re amenable to it. They’ll brave it.]
ok
how does it go
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It's about a man who lived in a big, pretty castle. He had a lot of stuff but he wasn't really nice, so when a lady wanted to stay in his home and he didn't let her, she turned him into a monster. She gave him a rose and told him he needed to meet someone who loved him back before it fell apart to turn back. So that's why he's called Beast.
[There's some chalk lying around so Seto shuffles some blankets around to draw a monster and a lady with a rose between them. They're....well it should get the point across about the whole 'find love before the rose rots' bit. He points at the lady.]
He met Beauty later but things didn't go really good for awhile.
[They were two different people after all.]
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They weren't friends? And then they were friends and-
[IDK, here's an elf drawing. That's a good addition regardless of its true place in the story.]
Then this guy came by and they ate dinner together. Then they were happy.
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[A nicer ending than what they got, but nearly any ending would be.]
that is a nice story
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Yeah it is. I think my Grandpa really like it.
[Seto didn't know why, but it was the one the older man told him the most so he guessed that was his favorite.]
Does anyone else want to go?
[Seto has a lot of stories but he didn't want to hog all of their time. So anyone else want to step up for a bit?]
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Do you know the one about the three bears?
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[That hardly needs any consideration. The Drifter shakes their head, no. No, they have not.]
what is the story of the three bears
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Can you tell us Ren?
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But that's fine, she sorta knows this story? And she can make up her own ending, since the boy doesn't know the tale either.]
Three bears were hungry, so they ate porridge at a table. That's what a family does and-
[Something, something-a girl? Came in?]
Another person ate porridge too. Then the caterpillar came by to eat, because they were very hungry too. Then a drifter came by when they smelled the nice food.
[She doodles ALL OF THESE THINGS. The caterpillar (a snake??), Drifter, some bears (big cats). Horrible.]
They wanted to play in the sky, but no one knew how to fly, so they ate cotton candy and became clouds. That's how it works. [Pause] They lived happily ever after. That's what happened.
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[So the Drifter nods approvingly.]
did not know i was in this story
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Unique is probably the word his Grandpa would use.]
Did they have more adventures after?
[Why yes he is encouraging more stories of the Drifter and bears and caterpillars. Hey, if Ren likes telling these kind of stories, Seto's going to encourage it.]
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They became pirates and went to the moon on a bunch of pretty horses. Drifter said 'hello' to the ghost that lived there, the caterpillar ate all of the treasure and everyone came back to the island. [Maybe it's time for a trilogy]
Then there was a prophecy.
[S T O P H E R]
It said 'an angel will save you, if you pet many cats' so everyone did. They purred a lot.
[And-]
It was happily ever after again.
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what angel
[Please explain the nature of the "angel," Ren. They're so terribly ignorant and unaware.]
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[W-wrong book Seto. Also he's asking Ren too. Please define what an 'angel' is. He's got nothing.]
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