EPISODE 2 - GO WITH THE FLOW: Part 1
Words of wisdom. Eyes in the dark.
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EPISODE 2 – GO WITH THE FLOW
SCENE 1
[Exterior forest at night
There is a small campfire. TALL GIRL is laying on the ground, head propped up on a smooth rock.
TRIFOO is pulling a mortar/pestle out of his Big Pocket, followed by some herbs, and begins to craft a poultice.
CUT TO him spreading the poultice on her cuts and bruises, she winces a bit each time.
CUT TO TALL GIRL and TRIFOO sitting around the fire, TALL GIRL has been bandaged up.]
TALL GIRL
This stuff you smeared all over me smells like a horse’s ass.
[TRIFOO simply grunts]
TALL GIRL
The pain is mostly gone, though. Thanks.
[TRIFOO pulls a smoke out of his middle hair puff, and starts smoking.]
[TALL GIRL is poking at the fire with a stick]
Smoking is bad for you.
[T Blows a smoke ring that settles neatly around her head like a halo– the implication is clear– “look at miss high and mighty”]
TALL GIRL
(shooing the smoke away with her free hand)
Aren’t you gonna ask who I am? How can you be so quiet?
TRIFOO
(Exhaling smoke again)
True knowing comes without effort.
TALL GIRL
(waving the stick around to extinguish it before it was burnt too much, then jabs it back in the fire)
What does that mean?
TRIFOO
You need rest. Your injuries are fairly severe.
TALL GIRL
Are you kidding?! I found the Order’s number one Mage: Tri–
[She starts to say his name, but a glare from him cuts it short]
I just mean I’m too excited to sleep. Where have you been? No one’s seen or heard from you in decades.
TRIFOO
(Sighing, resigned to the fact that she’s gonna keep asking questions whether or not he answers them)
Here and there. I go where the Flow demands.
TALL GIRL
[sitting up a bit straighter, wincing at her injuries, then looking straight at TRIFOO]
In my experience, people that go out of their way to sound enigmatic are full of shit.
TRIFOO
[small scoff]
[Finishes his smoke, flicks it into the fire]
TALL GIRL
[watching her stick, totally on fire now, burn all the way down now, as it gets too close for her to hold comfortably, she tosses it into the fire]
Why did those guys in the white hoodies try to stomp me out on sight? I’ve been in my fair share of scraps, but never seen any martial art like they were using… I barely got away.
TRIFOO
More importantly, how did you see my tripwires? They were hidden Between.
TALL GIRL
I dunno. I felt an urge to highstep my way to your front door, and my grandma taught me to always trust my instincts.
[Something in the far dark rustles,
TALL GIRL flinches, then winces as the action aggravates her injuries,
T simply cracks his neck]
TRIFOO
Took longer than I expected, considering the season. Stay near the fire.
[T stands up, slowly scanning the ring of darkness that is pressing in from all sides held back only by the light of the fire. He reaches into his Big Pocket, and pushes a pile of about 15 stones out the other side, all the stones are perfectly smooth and flat– perfect for skipping.]
TALL GIRL
[Struggles to her feet, head on a swivel]
You don’t mean… Wolfmen? I thought they all went extinct long before I was born.
TRIFOO
There are still many remnants of that time. As you will soon see.
SCENE 2
[Something horrible emerges from the shadows
It could only be loosely described as a ‘wolf’ or a ‘man’ – but it is clear that this is the creature TALL GIRL spoke of. It has gray mangy fur covering most of its body. The skin underneath is covered in sores that ooze. It is wearing a tattered formal vest and what was once a top hat, long ago. Now it is hardly more than fragments of cloth held loosely together in a hat-like shape. Canine ears, both nicked and misshapen like the rest of the body they belong to, emanate from holes in the hat.]
[As soon as he steps into the light cast by the fire, a ring of these creatures, none of them clothed, emerge from the shadows. TRIFOO and TALL GIRL are completely surrounded. The creature’s eyes are full of bloodlust, many are snarling and bearing their teeth. Teeth that, incidentally, are the only pristine thing about them. Long, sharp, and perfectly white.]
THE CLOTHED BEAST
(in a voice that sounds like it has not been used in some time, and was horrible to hear when it was brand new. It is loud. There is almost no inflection to it. It is as if snarls were put through google translate to english)
We have not seen one of you Orderlies for some time. Have you come to parlay? It cannot be a coincidence that you have come during the Season of Tribute.
TRIFOO
(calmly– in the same tone of voice he was using with TALL GIRL before)
I am not here voluntarily. I was pursued here. I will be gone in the morning.
THE CLOTHED BEAST
[Utters a rancid laugh that evolves into a nightmarish howl, the rest of the beasts join in. It’s almost deafening. When it’s over, The Clothed Beast is glaring at TRIFOO. Many of the beasts around the perimeter are looking at TALL GIRL and licking their chops.]
YOU TRY MY PATIENCE, HOODED ONE. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO GIVE, WE SHALL TAKE.
[As if this was the cue, a particularly large beast leaps towards CHIFFON]
Bonus Content!
Concept sketch of THE CLOTHED BEAST
Lao Tzu ❌🙅♂️ Trifoo ✅🙂↕️