2017-05-20: Maybe That Will Be Enough
- Cutscene: Maybe That Will Be Enough
- Cast: Gwen Whitlock
- Where: Adlehyde
- Date: March 20, 2017
- Summary: After hearing a vague tip from the Seraph Ragnell, Gwen attempts to warn everyone she knows about the coming Metal Demon invasion using the best method she knows: the Memory Cubes. But how do you warn people about something you're not even sure will happen?
---BEFORE OPERATION GUNGNIR---
"Hey, uh-"
"Hey, you may not remember who I am, but-"
"Try not to panic, but-"
"Okay, so this is kinda important-"
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news n'stuff-"
"Please, I need you to listen-"
Gwen never really had an easy time with the Memory Cube, for all she used it to keep in touch with a rapidly shifting landscape. It was her lifeline to places she couldn't be, and her means of being where she can't. It was a source of irony, being a courier whose job depended on people exchanging mail, and that didn't always include packages. Letters were the true goldmine, being light and easier to pack around. Now she's staring at the weaknesses of this physical system of communication straight in the face, with only the Memory Cube as a vastly faster, if limited alternative.
The problem was that Gwen was only one person, and there was only one Memory Cube. That one Memory Cube served many who came into the tavern, and having one person hog it all up, especially for purposes they couldn't be forthcoming about, was difficult for Gwen to justify to the bartender. Even when she vaguely admitted it was to warn her friends about a possible nasty event happening, no one believed her. To be frank, Gwen didn't even believe herself. Her limited information came courtesy of Ragnell, who may or may not have done this all as a prank. Yet, Ragnell had claimed to the Shepherd Sorey himself that she was not the kind to do malicious tricks. The best Gwen could do was trust in that, and deal with the consequences later if it all turned out to be just a mishap in communication. One thing was for sure- even if Gwen couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea of metal demons being real and ready to attack at some point in the near future, the way Ragnell gave her words of ill omen was proof enough, for now.
And her faith in this strange acquaintance of hers was enough to go to tavern after inn after saloon, getting thrown out of one after another after managing to pass a few messages of vague warning to a few people at a time. Sometimes she'd pause for a quick nap, slipping under the tarp of her wagon before forcing herself up to find another Cube to hog. There were no mentions of Metal Demons in those messages, of course. Gwen might as well say that an army of flaming unicorns were prancing towards the castle. What was for sure was that there was some force that may attack, be it human or supernatural, and that people needed to be on their guard. Each message she sent had a slightly different tone to it, leading to more worn and direct as the evening worn on into night, and night into morning, and so on.
She even tried warning the king, but there was no famous Drifter to ask to help draw the king's attention once more. The gates stopped her. Though really, it might as well had been her past self that had stopped her, as it was that past self, so full of magnanimous pride, who said to King Justin to keep their previous meeting a secret. Thus, the soldiers, not knowing who Gwen is, did their sworn duty, politely turning Gwen away.
And that's why Gwen found herself here, just about to fall asleep before a bartender pushed her away and out the door. Stumbling to her cart one final time in an alleyway, Gwen collapses inside and rolls into one of her blankets, prompting a snort from her equine partner, Gulliver and the cart to squeak slightly at the sudden impact.
"Maybe," she slurs tiredly to her sleeping horse, Gulliver, "maybe this'll all just be somethin' we can laugh at later..." And Ragnell would never hear the end of it.
And it would be enough, for everyone. Just maybe.