Masa con Papas: - A Punch Clock Animal Story

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Charon: What was it like where you came from? You're from another world right?

Arabis: Mmm.. It was something. Far less kind to folks like me unfortunately. Myth and folklore tended be taken a lot more seriously and there was quite a bit of stigma around fiend kind. I don't miss it too much for the most part... but I think about my old place in the woods from time to time. The angel dragging me away from there though was far from the worst.

Charon: Speaking of... how did you manage to deal with the angel? You have to know something right?

Arabis: Zinnia had some sort of unique power that to this day I'm not entirely sure about. Some kind of.. proxy as it's called, much like all of you managed to stumble into on entering this world. Born of a pact, created from The Star. Final Starman.

Charon: Final Starman? Kind of a grand name.

Geezer: What's the deal with that?

Arabis: To be honest I don't know entirely how it worked but... it could bring down a angel down to mere mortal terms. Unfortunately Zinnia is not here with us so.....

Charon: So there's no way to repeat it.

Arabis: Not that I know of, no. 

Charon: So is the angel still out there? What would be a sign that it's near.

Arabis: Unfortunately it is and I'm suspecting that all of us being here means it might be a repeat of things which... is rather unusual? Angels do not hold these types of grudges normally so it's rather confusing if it is. It lines up too well though.

Erica: If it had a grudge wouldn't it have done something worse than just trapped us here?

Arabis: Possibly. I've never heard of angels behaving anything like the one we're dealing with before. Hopefully we can escape without having to directly encounter it.

Charon: Could we fight it off again?

Arabis: I don't know. Going up against a angel is incredibly difficult and risks your entire existence.

Geezer: Even worse with the cult around here.

Arabis: Cult?

You pull a book out of your bag and hand it to the old spider.

Charon: Geezer and I were reading through this a bit. Seems like there's some kind of weird religious order around the angel. 

Arabis: That's quite the worry. Something like that implies people have ended up trapped here for quite some time, enough for such influence to build...

Geezer: Why'd it take so long for it to track us down?

Arabis: Angels aren't all knowing, especially since we're scattered across time and space in the literal sense. For now I think we'll just have to lay low and build the resources to not only escape but ideally avoid having to directly confront the angel itself...

Charon: Won't it come back for us again?

Arabis: Only if it has a particular grudge... enough talk for now though, we should be eating. We need our strength up for tomorrow where there's plenty of work to do.

You nod and focus on your soup. After a little while everyone has finished up, Erica being the first one done, followed by Geezer, then you, and Arabis himself at the very end. For a large spider he sure takes his time...

Arabis puts his plate in the center.

Arabis: Pile them on so I can take them back to the kitchen in one go yes?

You all follow along.

Erica: So time for bed grampa?

Arabis: Mmm.... I just have one thing for Charon quickly. Would you like it now or after some rest?

Charon: Now if that's alright, though depending on what it is I might not be able to sleep much. 

Arabis: That excited?

Charon: If it's something I'll want to toy with, probably....

Arabis: Mm... 

He slides his hand into his sleeve and pulls out some kind of toy.

Charon: What's this? 

Arabis: Normally? A Toy. But with a little fine tuning it's a powerful weapon against other proxies. People in this world almost all have access to proxies in some form or another and are quite skilled in such after a point. This puts you all in a bit of a disadvantage and well... you I can tell don't have training in a traditional weapon. 

Charon: So.... how does it work?

Arabis: Well, it's normally just nothing but... when the ball segment is launched into a supernatural entity and returns to its base successfully, something amazing happens. We can practice in the morning if you'd like...

Charon: I'd kind of like to now so I can get a head start.....

Erica: Trust me, you don't wanna be doing this when you're tired. 

Charon: I mean.. I guess..

Erica: First thing in the morning, I'll help you train.

Arabis: Mm. I'd like to monitor for safety reasons of course. For now though you are all dismissed. It seems like you're done for now. I'll handle clean up.

Erica: Thanks for dinner Grandpa! Don't take too long to get to bed!

Charon: Thank you! Good night!

Geezer: Yeah for real, thanks!

The three of you shuffle off into your room. Geezer flops onto the bottom bed immediately. 

Charon: You don't want top bunk?

Geezer: Go ahead and have it, been a long day. Not sure if I CAN sleep though right now, got a bit of insomnia. 

Charon: Mmm..

You climb onto the top bunk.

Geezer: Night dude, I'm gonna try to catch some sleep. Days last way too frickin long in this world. 

Charon: Night.

You lay your head down.

Your dreams start to settle in, cocktailing all your many thoughts.

What are you dreaming about?