It's the golden hour, the one where sunlight slants through the trees around the hanok, gilding the world one final time before dipping below the horizon and allowing night to consume the world. A melancholy time of day. One of farewells and parting pleasantries and an encroaching coolness that has Celine tugging her cardigan tighter around her shoulders.
She should go in soon; autumn is well upon them, and it nights are forgetting what it is to be friendly.
But she doesn't. She stays, in the garden by the tree, feeling the air turn chill.
This is her favorite time of the day. Because now, in the golden light, with the world winding down, on the cusp of twilight when things don't seem quite real...it's easier to remember them.
"Five laps around the house to cool down," their mentors would say as they turned to head inside. "Then in for dinner."
And they'd set off, her and Miyeong and Sihyeon, five laps around the house to cool down. A final bout of exercise to end a grueling day. But the sunset laps...were different, from the ones that started the morning, or the intensities of the sparring yard. Certainly a far different breed than the laps meant to teach them the evils of backtalk or carelessness.
Their mentors never stayed to watch; maybe tired themselves of wrangling three teenage girls all day, maybe hungry for the evening meal, or maybe...they still remembered what it was to be fifteen and sixteen and drunk on having found two other people whose souls knew their own. Whatever it was, the three of them were free to take the laps how they saw fit.
And oh, what they saw fit...
Laughing. Joking. Teasing. Daring each other to try running backwards or with their eyes shut or ride piggyback when they were out of sight of the house. Laughing harder. Stumbling and tumbling into one another. Miyeong begging them to stop before they made her pee. Sihyeon not stopping. Herself breathless in the dirt, she never knew she could laugh so hard.
Gilded in the last golden rays of the day, running their laps, they laughed without restraint. Because in those moments...they were free.
Of obligations.
Of expectations.
Of their mentors demands.
Of the Honmoon's weight.
Of...everything.
It was just them. The three of them. Just existing in the golden hour.
And now...now it's just her. Standing in the autumn chill, waiting for the night. Alone.
But that's fine.
The sun hasn't set yet, she can still pretend.
Still turn to the house and imagine that behind her, she can hear three sets of running footsteps.
characters whose philosophy is “if i cannot be wanted, i will be needed and if i cannot be needed, let me be used until there’s nothing left of me.” thank you for everyone’s attention. falls off stage and dies
obsessed with characters being saved against their will. being knocked unconscious and carried away from a danger they won't stop trying to fight. being shoved through a portal somewhere far away and safe right before it closes. trying to self-sacrifice only to have the exact person they're trying to save swap their places at the last second. getting the only cure to the disease or curse bc the person administering it loves them too much to give it to anyone else, including themselves. being thrown to safety right as they had accepted dying. someone else they thought had gotten to safety running back to drag them out of danger. it's so fucking tasty
playing a warlock is a metaphor for the imperfect moral decisions we all must make. playing fighter is a metaphor for being good at something and then you can decide to explore whether it's natural, whether it's taught, and whether or not you are proud of this. playing a druid is about existing in a parallel system to the mainstream but one with its own flaws and power structures. playing a druid is also about the balance of extremes and the validity of that balance. playing a barbarian isn't actually about anger but rather is a metaphor about surrendering to a flow state. playing a cleric is about belief in the existence of something greater than yourself, whether concrete or abstract. playing a paladin is about a conviction deep within you, whether or not the thing greater than yourself exists. playing a monk is an exploration of specialization and what it means to narrow your focus to a point. playing a wizard is a metaphor for the boons of scientific discovery and the consequences. playing a wizard is also a metaphor for academia. playing an artificer is about the sacrifices you must make in science and academia when you choose the applied over the theoretical. playing a sorcerer is a metaphor for the things about yourself that you cannot change. playing a sorcerer is also sometimes a metaphor for inherited wealth or other privileges of birth. playing a bard is very straightforwardly about the power of art and self-expression and communication, and is sort of a metaphor about how jealousy and self-interest will hamper you in those pursuits. playing a rogue serves to validate the truths explored by playing a bard. playing a ranger is a metaphor for having obscure knowledge and soft skills and working in the background.
thank you so Much tO @pebblefriend foR dEsigning THe wonderful cover Art for the show. Now there will be MorE announcEmenTS To come witHin thE nExt few days. keep an eYE out, my friends.
Soul Operator is a multi-genre, multi-season podcast that can be described as an actual play-narrative fusion. The podcast was created with the intention of highlighting amazing solo ttrpgs that exist in the space by presenting their gameplay as a fleshed out story.
Auditions are now open for the first half of season one of 'Soul Operator'. Actual play meets narrative storytelling as each season we explore the world of a different solo ttrpg! Queer and POC VAs encouraged to apply! This is a PAID opportunity, though on a very indie budget. This project is NON-UNION. Please submit auditions to the linked form!
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