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SILVER: Tales from the Fringes of Reality. Episode 27 – The Sleeping City.

ALEXANDRIA: So there was a person who remembered someone else falling into their reality?

SILVER: Yes.

ALEXANDRIA: And then your aunt?

SILVER: Yeah…

ALEXANDRIA: I… What do you think, Row?

SPARROW: I think it has to be Minerva, I just… I don’t know how or why.

ALEXANDRIA: Well, we know why. 

SILVER: She’s trying to bait me out of here.

SPARROW: But you’re more than able to resist this kind of bait. You’ve always been good at your job, Silver, and Minerva should know that better than anyone else. Why would you go into reality if you’re able to move people back where they belong?

ALEXANDRIA: That’s likely why she targeted Rosalina. If it weren’t for Opal, would we really have tried to stop Silver from going down to make sure her aunt was okay?

SPARROW: …Fair point, my love. It still doesn’t answer all of our questions though.

SILVER: Especially since she wouldn’t have known that I would be the one to look at those cases specifically. Unless she has a way of targeting our system–

ALEXANDRIA: Which she doesn’t. At least, Alasdair and Opal don’t think so.

SILVER: Then it could just be coincidence.

SPARROW: It doesn’t feel like it though, does it?

SILVER: You know it doesn’t. 

ALEXANDRIA: Even if it was a coincidence, you know we would’ve told you the second we found out it was your aunt who was missing. So if it was purposeful, then maybe Minerva was betting on that. Whatever it is, we’re going to figure this out lovely. I promise.

SILVER: …Yeah. Yeah I know. I think I might try to get some work done.

SPARROW: Are you sure–

SILVER: I’m sure, gran. It’s… It’ll be good, I think, to do something. And since the work rarely ends…

SPARROW: Just… Don’t work too hard, alright Sil? We’re still working to figure this out, you don’t have to do this alone.

ALEXANDRIA: You’ll have your family beside you every step of the way.

SILVER: I know, mama, I know. Thank you.

(footsteps)

(door)

Listening in again, huh Whim? You know, you could’ve just come in. No one would’ve minded, least of all me. (tapping) ‘It seemed like a private moment’ But not so private that you didn’t feel you could listen in? (tapping) ‘Fair point’. You’re always welcome in my conversations, you know that. I don’t have secrets to hide from you. (tapping) ‘Do you really think working right now is a good idea’ …No. But I don’t have a better one, so I may as well work.

(tapping) ‘You could just spend time with your family.’ They’ve got work to do, Whim. And so do I. People… People aren’t just going to get home on their own, right? Stars know I didn’t get home without a lot of work. (tapping that abruptly stops) Whim, really. I’m okay. At the very least I’m okay enough to work. And yes, I know I just said that I wasn’t sure if working was a good idea but– (sigh) I just need to. (tapping) ‘Okay.’ Thank you, Whim. 

Let’s see… This file appears to be for Tonia O’Shaunasy, she/her, from reality AN-FF.

TONIA: Jesus christ, how much did I drink last night? I don’t remember going home with anyone… All my clothes are on, which is good. Could just be the place Emma rented for the week, I know she didn’t choose to stay in a hotel…

KENT: Oh, good, you’re awake and standing. This means I don’t have to call the cops to report a dead body falling into my bed in the middle of the night.

TONIA: I mean, you should never call the cops–

KENT: Trust me, I didn’t want to call the cops. But when a random body shows up in your room at 4AM and they might be dead, it kinda becomes a ‘cops or shady friends’ situation and I don’t have the kind of friends who know how to dispose of a body. We’re d&d nerds, not criminal masterminds. But lucky for both of us, you’re alive and I don’t need to call the cops! I can just kindly ask how you got into my home and then request that you leave. 

TONIA: Answering your questions would require knowing where I am and how I got here, two things I don’t currently know. I thought maybe I had too much to drink at Susannah’s promotion party, but I’ve never seen you before in my life so you’re not a cute… Pronouns?

KENT: He/him. Man works for gender for me.

TONIA: You’re not a cute guy I saw at the bar who I ended up going home with. Especially since I know I was back and in bed well before 4AM. 

KENT: I suppose hoping you’d know how you managed to fall through my ceiling was a little much to ask.

TONIA: I fell through your ceiling?

KENT: That’s what it looked like, yeah. I was up late–

TONIA: 4AM is well past late–

KENT: I’m an insomniac, leave me alone. Anyway, I was up late working on some stuff for my next campaign and then it was like… Like the ceiling opened up into a world of swirling light and then you plummeted from that opening onto my bed. Then the crack in the universe closed itself up and there was just a… Pronouns?

TONIA: She/her. Woman works for me.

KENT: There was just a random lady in my bed. Which, given the whole gay ace thing, I never really expected to happen.

TONIA: (laughing) Yeah, I can imagine that would be kind of confusing for you, huh. Clearly I’m not your dream girl all things considered. Sorry for invading your bed; I promise I’m not usually falling through portals like this after nights out.

KENT: I can’t imagine anyone would be choosing to fall through portals while they’re unconscious. Can I get a name for not kicking you out of my bed though? I can’t keep referring to you as ‘Portal Lady’ in my head, it sounds too high fantasy.

TONIA: Did you not tell me you were a d&d nerd just a few minutes ago?

KENT: Listen–

TONIA: (laughing) Tonia. But if you want to refer to me as Portal Lady that’s fine too, I won’t put up too much of a fight.

KENT: Just for that, I should continue to call you portal lady but I won’t. I’m Kent. I’m also guessing that you’re not from some kind of futuristic society that you barely managed to escape from? That would explain the portal?

TONIA: Nope, just from New York.

KENT: That can’t be right.

TONIA: I think I would know where I live–

KENT: But we’re in New York. And we don’t usually have magic portals opening up at 4AM dropping random ladies into my bed. Maybe if we did I’d be straight– or bi, I guess I could still like dudes if random ladies were falling into my bed constantly.

TONIA: Or you could still be gay.

KENT: That’s honestly most likely but I’m getting off topic now. You’re really from New York?

TONIA: Moved here for college and just didn’t leave. I gotta say, this is remarkably quiet for a New York… Apartment? Condo?

KENT: Well, yeah. It’s the Sleeping City after all. Tends to be pretty quiet most of the time.

TONIA: …It’s the city that never sleeps, not the Sleeping City.

KENT: I think I’d know the catch phrase is for the place I was born and raised in.

TONIA: But that can’t be right, I mean we’ve all heard the song– Do you have a window?

KENT: Several, but this one has the best view of the city.

TONIA: …It’s so still out there. It looks like my city but I’ve never seen it this empty before. Is it always like this?

KENT: I mean I think so? I never really thought about it before you pointed it out. There are usually people walking around at the start and end of the work day but I can’t really remember it being anything other than quiet. My friend Vin swears it didn’t used to be like this. Ze thinks that it’s some sort of sound eliminating forcefield. I told zem that ze’s full of shit but–

TONIA: But you can feel it.

KENT: What?

TONIA: Can’t you? Can’t you feel the energy forcing down upon this place, like it’s trying to squish all the sound out of it? If there weren’t a ceiling above us, I bet we’d be silent too. Have you ever had a conversation outside?

KENT: No… But that doesn’t mean that I couldn’t! 

TONIA: But you’ve never bothered to try because you can feel that it wouldn’t work. I know it wouldn’t work. This isn’t my city, this isn’t the place I’ve always known and now I’m stuck here–

KENT: Woah, hey, easy there Tonia. If you’re right that the city is stuck in some magic silence bubble, then maybe I was right about the portal. And if I’m right about the portal, then maybe there’s a way to open it back up. 

TONIA: And if we can’t?

KENT: Then I get a new roommate who fell out of the sky and convinced me that someone is fucking with my memories and my ability to speak outdoors. 

TONIA: (laughing) Thanks, Kent.

KENT: We’re going to find a way to get you home, okay? We just gotta wait for a sign.

SILVER: …Whim, can you go grab Gran and MaMa for me? I have a feeling I know where Tonia has fallen and they’ll need to know if I’m right. (whispered) Gods, Minerva, what are you doing?

(footsteps)

(significantly more footsteps)

ALEXANDRIA: Silver? Is everything alright?

SILVER: Tonia was where I thought she’d be. Fuck. I don’t– I don’t know what to do, MaMa. I can’t…

SPARROW: What’s wrong, Silver?

SILVER: Reality 420-BI. That’s where Tonia was dropped, and I know she was dropped and didn’t fall on her own because this is the exact reality that I pulled someone from when I was– When Minerva was with me. Plus there’s the silence bubble and the memory tampering– it had to be Minerva. I just don’t understand why!

ALEXANDRIA: Why what, darling?

SILVER: Why she keeps antagonizing the same people and places that we worked in together. Why is she targeting these places? How is she targeting these places? It shouldn’t be possible–

SPARROW: We’re working on trying to figure that out. In fact, we were just talking with the others about what could be happening. 

ALEXANDRIA: There are no real leads to go off of right now other than the fact that this is definitely becoming more than a coincidence. But it isn’t your fault, Silver. Nothing that is happening now is your fault. 

SILVER: I never said that it was.

SPARROW: You didn’t have to.

ALEXANDRIA: You are a Council member, after all. If there is one thing we do, it’s hold guilt in our chests until we explode.

SPARROW: But my darling wife is correct: this isn’t your fault. Unless you purposefully put this person into this reality, then there was nothing you could’ve done.

SILVER: I could’ve– (sigh) I guess you’re right. It just feels like I should be doing more. More to stop Minerva, more to keep these people from being played with because she can’t get to me–

SPARROW: There’s nothing that you alone can do, kiddo.

ALEXANDRIA: Sparrow is right, darling. You’re just one person, you can’t carry the weight of all of this alone. And even if you could, there is no reason for you to do so. You didn’t cause this, Minerva did. She made her own choices, Silver. You didn’t force her to make those choices and you shouldn’t have to bear the weight of their consequences.

SILVER: If I had just stayed–

ALEXANDRIA: Don’t talk like that.

SILVER: It’s true, though, isn’t it? 

SPARROW: Absolutely not. Nothing would be better if you were still being held captive by a rogue AI.

ALEXANDRIA: People were still getting moved by Minerva when you were gone, Silver. You know this, you were helping put them back into place. You being gone wouldn’t fix this, it would just make you gone. 

SILVER: …You’re right. I know you’re right. So why do I still feel so bad?

SPARROW: Because you’re a good person, kiddo. (teasing) You get that from your mother, I’m certain. 

ALEXANDRIA: (laughing) Row!

SPARROW: Fine, fine, you get it from your father too. You care so much, Silver. It’s only natural that you would care about all of this too. That doesn’t make this your fault, it makes you human. 

SILVER: Technically I’m only half human.

ALEXANDRIA: You know what we mean, darling. 

SILVER: Yeah. Yeah I do. Thank you.

ALEXANDRIA: Of course, my love. Anything to keep you from spiraling. Stars know we have enough spirling between the lot of us. Now, come on. Marigold made hot chocolate, which I think we could all use at a time like this.

SILVER: We’ll catch up in a second. Don’t let my dad steal all the whipped cream!

(footsteps)

Whim? (tapping) ‘Yes?’ You don’t think I should’ve stayed with Minerva, right? (tapping) ‘Of course I don’t’ Okay, cool I guess I just… Wanted to check. We should go before my dad actually does steal all the whipped cream. (tapping) I’m fine, Whim, really. No need to worry about me.