Messy Addendums The Watch Party
A note from the author:¶
This is my characters reacting to my 'conclusion' of their story that I'd written back in 2024. I wanted SO BADLY to return to Realmspace, to give their stories some closure, and it comes across. This is rushed, sloppy, unfinished, and...not...great. Also, I hadn't given the characters space to grow and take root, to become their own personalities. Also, Shelia was a passing mention. That is immediate proof to this. Shelia, in the addendums, is defined as "being Zinc's assistant" instead of being surveillance co-officer. Nor did she have any family, or a connection to Zinc. I canonized this previous writing of mine as Copper writing while stuck outside of realm 04. He found a video recorder, and along with illusion focus and his own writing, imagined what his return would look like.
In reality, I just wanted an excuse to dunk on this old writing.
Messy Addendums - The Watch Party¶
(Zinc found a VHS of one of Copper reading out one of his old writings. Zinc tried to watch it, but had to invite the others. It was too good to not share.)
(Copper's leaning against the theater wall. Amethyst is sitting behind Zinc. Scott is in Amethyst's lap, Shelia couldn't get a babysitter for him but she wouldn't miss this for the world. John is sitting a seat away from Zinc. Cobalt has chosen to sit away from almost everyone. The person she's closest to is Amethyst. Saul is seated next to the projector. Plus, he fixed the VCR and he needs to be there if it breaks again. Zinc is sitting pretty much front and center. Luke's here, super confused, dragged here by his wife, Shelia. And Shelia's in the front row, legs up on a spare chair, bowl of popcorn in her lap)
(The tape starts. The title card reads "Copper's Journal Addendums". Copper knows IMMEDIATELY, and puts his hands on his face.)
(Sapphire, Copper's mom, walks into the theater.)
Sapphire: "Oh, we're watching this! Seems like Copper was about 16 when he wrote this. Well, maybe mentally. He looks about 18."
(She sits down for the rest of the presentation. Copper collapses and crawls in between the rows of seats.)
Zinc: "Aaand he's gone. Man down."
Addendum 1¶
It has been ten years since the uprising. I am now about 24 years old, I have had years of training with my focuses,
Modern Zinc: "The math isn't working here, by the way! That'd clock you as 14 at the time of the uprising!"
even learning some advanced focusing on my own and learning a new form, the ability to bind my focus to the ground or objects. Bound focuses don't take any energy from me to maintain, but they must be released for them to go away. Over the years, my energy has been pooling. My hair has gone from black to dark gray like dad's did. The replicas have found their way out of realm 4, but it's only one at a time. About once a month, I'll have to face off against one, regardless of which realm I'm in. I can't kill them alone, so I take to restraining them,
Modern Amy: (Covers Scotts ears)
then binding my focuses to the ground. It's a fate worse than death, slowly being bled dry of your energy, but the replica deserve it after what they've done. They deserve to get pinned down or held up and then bled dry. At least they'd have the mercy of killing me quickly. I won't. They deserve every ounce of what comes to them. They tore down an entire civilization, took my father from me and my mother, and forced me to become a realmspace nomad by cutting off realm 4.
Modern Amy: (Uncovers Scotts ears)
Modern Shelia: (Gives Amethyst a thumbs up)
I can't stay too long at my shack lest the replicas find it. It's my base, but it is not my house. I long for the comfort of an actual chair, but I must remain vigilant, often sleeping with one eye metaphorically open. One wrong move against a replica and I'm remnant. Powder in the wind. A body with no energy. Gone. That's one reason I bleed replicas dry. Us kni are creatures made almost completely out of energy. Wounds in our body is like popping a balloon in slow motion. We use energy to stabilize our wounds. These replica, if they fight to the very end, pinned like a trapped rat, they leave nothing but their remnant behind. Nearly no proof that they were there in the first place. I right end to something completely corrupt.
But that's irrelevant. The replicas coming over one by one have shown me that the realmspace to realm 04 is not completely severed. Though I can't see it, it might still be there. I've been trying for months now to open a realmspace portal directly to realm 04.
Modern Copper: ( ! Please connect an Xbox 360 controller. )
Addendum 2¶
I've done it. The rift is open. about 8 months since my last addition, and I did it. I can't see much on the other side, but I'm going to go through. I hope it's as I remember, not as the replicas made it.
Modern Zinc: "'Anyway, now that I've invented the flux-capacitor, we can now use the necronomicon to end world hunger.'"
Modern Shelia: "(I got that reference!)"
(Tape 553)¶
Zinc: "Hey, Zinc here. This is log number...Five hundred and fifty...three. Fifty-three. Uh...There's not much to report today. Regular fluctuations in replica numbers due to time. Yep. They still have to sleep. I'm surprised they haven't fixed that yet. Just kill off the ones that get tired, right? It's weakness after all. There's still the wolf replica groups going around. They're in the...South side of the city right now."
Modern Zinc: "Eyyy! Here I am!"
(An off-mic voice rings out)
Voice: "Zinc! Something happened!"
Modern Shelia: "WAIT"
Zinc: "What's going on, Shelia?"
Shelia: "There's a man in the marketplace. He just came through a rift."
Modern Shelia: "YOOOO"
Zinc: "What? Let me see...no way."
Shelia: "What? Who is it?"
Zinc: "I think it's an old friend."
Modern Zinc: "Classic."
(Sounds of running. Shelia trails off.)
Shelia: "Wait, what? That didn't answer my question!"
Modern Shelia: "So, who were you referring to, Zinc?"
Modern Zinc: "Don't know. Maybe he can tell you."
Modern Copper: (We're sorry. The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please check the number you have dialed and try again.)
(There's the sound of a heavy metal door swinging open, more running, then the door closes.)
Zinc: "No way. Hehe-He looks completely lost."
(Copper: "When I had come through the rift, almost everything was foreign. The streets, the walls, the air, the smell...The layout of the marketplace in the near center of the city was clear, but the people there were unusual. They were all wearing colored shirts, and there was the distinct smell of smoke in the air. I felt out of place. Guess this is what my home is now.")
(There's a bit of shuffling, then the sounds of some sort of struggle.)
Copper: "What- Whoawhoa!"
(There's more shuffling, moving into an area with more reverb. The shuffling then stops.)
Zinc: "Copper?"
Copper: "How do you...Zinc? Is that you? I thought you all had been claimed by now!"
Zinc: "We had the same thought about you, but some held out hope. Come, we can't talk here."
(There's the sound of the heavy metal door opening and closing again, but this time the footsteps are less rushed.)
(Copper: I didn't expect Zinc to grab me by the arm, much less anyone else, but I'm now glad he did.")
Zinc: "Hey Shelia! You wouldn't believe what the cat dragged in!"
Shelia: "I've told you before, Zinc, that's not exactly how that idiom is used!...Who is this?"
Modern Shelia: "Realistic."
Modern Zinc: "Yeah."
Zinc: "It's Copper!"
Copper: "..."
Zinc: "(Say hello, Copper.)"
Modern Zinc: "Gotta poke him."
Copper: "Oh, uh, sorry. Preoccupied by trying to figure out where I am. But hello, there. Shelia, was it?"
Shelia: "Yep! It's nice to meet you. I'm Zinc's assistant, and you're in what is effectively the resistance's headquarters, surveillance department."
Copper: "Oh! So what do you two do here?"
Shelia: (We...surveil.)
Modern Shelia: "BEST. LINE."
Zinc: "I've been keeping an eye on security and logging the amount of replicas roaming the streets day-to-day. She mainly watches the cameras, among other things. It's a good thing you came through when you did, really! The replica patrols and wolf replica patrol weren't over there at the time. If you had been seen coming through that rift..."
Modern Zinc: "We'd probably be cleaning your ash for weeks to come."
(Zinc exhales.)
Zinc: It probably wouldn't have been pretty. Especially in your monklike robe. Man, you look like you came through a time machine, honest. I haven't actually seen a robe in so long. All the kni have to wear these color-coded shirts so the replica know what you're capable of."
Copper: "Really? What are the colors?"
(Footsteps sound down a metallic hallway.)
Zinc: "Follow me. Replicas wear whatever they please, humanlikes are usually green or yellow, and over half of monklikes are red. But it's entirely based off your ability with focus. If they find out that you're not wearing your color, you could never see the light of day again."
Copper: "You're wearing a brown shirt, though."
Zinc: "Brown has come to mean humanity. After all, from dust, to dust. It's the color of the resistance. It's called...The Resistance. Also, John is horrible with names."
Copper: "John's alive?"
Modern John: "I'm pretty sure, yeah."
Modern Zinc: "Just a hunch?"
Zinc: "Yep. Honestly wish I could say the same for Jessie. They killed her and it drove him into a rage. He whipped up the rag tag team of refugee wranglers you left behind into a pretty good underground resistance. The replica still have no idea, and it's the only place that humans can live a safe life."
Copper: "So, if John's alive, then where's mom and Amy?"
Modern Sapphire: "Present."
Modern Amy: "And accounted for!"
Zinc: "Your mom lives in the underground. It's rumored that Amy went into the wilderness to look for you and never came back, but that's only a cover. She's here in the underground. She teaches the younger kni and the able humans the combat class."
Modern Amy: "Ok, actually? Smart."
Modern Sapphire: "I live in a cave? :("
Modern Amy: "We both do!"
Copper: "Able humans? What do you mean?"
Modern Amy: "Haven't seen one since Josh."
Zinc: "Well, now that kni and humans are living a lot closer to each other than we were, we've found that some humans can tap into the same energy that we can, and can use a weaker form of focus. Focus is illegal topside, but we teach what we can down here."
Copper: "That's really interesting, I thought that kni were the only ones that could use focus!"
Zinc: "Yeah, I did too, until Josh pulled a focus sword on a replica. He must've been practicing it somehow, it didn't look like he was new to focus. We've been trying to train the humans that display this ability, but none have yet managed that level of mastery."
Copper: "Who's Josh?"
Modern Amy: "SPEAK OF THE DEVIL"
Scott: "Who?"
Modern Shelia:
Modern Amy:
Zinc: "He was one of our best guys. He almost always knew how to position the people on the ground to establish a safe information network without arising suspicion. But now we've lost him. With that focus sword, he thought he could take on the replicas surrounding him alone. Unfortunately, he didn't account for blackfire. That's why we've been teaching all the able humans shield. It's their best defense here in the city. Without him, our information network has been caught a few times. Thankfully, I guess, the replica are more interested in torching those involved rather than interrogating them."
(The footsteps stop, and the sound of blinds being raised can be heard.)
Copper: "Is that Amy? It's hard to tell without the monklike robes and...purple hair?"
Modern Amy: "Not even just a streak, just straight 'no shame' purple?"
Zinc: "Yep. She tried dying it purple because she's our head focus teacher, but kni hair doesn't really take dye well. She's teaching the able humans and younger kni shield right now."
Modern Amy: "COPPER, I WISH I WAS HEAD."
Modern Copper: NO BOOT MEDIA DETECTED
Copper: "By shield bashing? Wouldn't duels be a quicker way to train such a focus?"
Modern Shelia: "I've actually found that realm 10's Avatar The Last Airbender's earthbending stance is actually really good for shield focus.
Modern Amy: "...might steal that."
Zinc: "We phased out duels a while ago. We couldn't secure appropriate armor, so too many people were getting seriously hurt. Besides, they still have a form of duels. They have to knock the other off balance with the shield. Not only does it train the focus, but it's resilience, persistance, and balance as well."
Copper: "Wow. Yeah, you can't risk people getting hurt over a tradition, so you do something that has little chance to hurt someone, but would be great for defense. That's actually pretty clever."
Zinc: "It was Amy's idea."
Modern Amy: "Wouldn't've been, but whatever."
...
Modern Amy: "Wait, that makes it sound like I want to hurt kids..."
(The blinds fall back down, and a knock is heard.)
Zinc: "Hey, Amethyst! Are you currently occupied? I have a friend I'd like you to see."
Modern Zinc: "'Yes, now f!ck off.'"
Luke: (LOSING IT)
Modern Shelia: (Elbows Luke, hard.)
Modern Amy, covering Scott's ears again: "Zinc!"
Amy: "No, you can- You can come in."
(A door opens.)
(Copper: "I'd never seen Amy in anything other than her monklike robe, ten years ago. To see her in a t-shirt, dyed hair, and almost covered in focusing-induced sweat glowing a faint, soft purple came as a shock. I hadn't seen her in so long, and she's here, in a red t-shirt and dark purple hair. It's obvious that Kni hair doesn't take dye well. I bet kni wear those red shirts as badges of honor.")
Modern Amy: "Red and purple?"
Modern Shelia: "You look a little like Kai from realm 10's Ninjago, if he was a monklike kni girl with purple hair."
Modern Amy: (Defeated sigh)
Modern Copper: INSERT RECOVERY DISK
(There's the sounds of a struggle, and then a thud.)
Amy: "You're getting better, Anders! Someday you might knock me down. But anyway, You wanted me, Zin-..."
Modern Amy: "Hey wait- I actually do have an Anders in my class!"
(There's a pause.)
Zinc: "Copper's alive."
Modern Zinc: "PPHPPHPPHHHHHPHP"
Modern Amy: (Puts Scott in a chair next to her)
Amy: "I can see that, he's right there! Class is dismissed for today, something's come up. Remember for next time, Quartz, you can't just stand when shielding, you need to brace. See you all the day after tomorrow. And remember to practice tomorrow, Lapis, I know you won't if I don't tell you."
(There's whispering among the students as they leave.)
Amy: "So, where have you been!?"
Copper: "I've been a realmspace nomad for the past ten years. I only recently figured out how to get back here."
Modern Amy: "The correct response to this should be 'I'm sorry, a WHAT'"
(There's a pause.)
Zinc: "Hey, uh...Amethyst? It's impolite to stare."
Modern Zinc: "Did you know that, Amy?"
Modern Amy: (Glares at Zinc.)
Amy: "Sorry, You said you were a realmspace nomad? How does that even-"
Copper: "I think it'd be easiest if you read for yourself. Entry 21."
Modern Zinc: "'Yup, here's my journal!'"
Modern Amy: "OH MY GOSHH"
Amy: "Your satchel? But that only contains your-...Your notebook. I-...you still have it."
Modern Amy: "Sweet. Mishandled, but sweet."
Copper: "Signatures and all. But I was talking about my journal. There's not much in the notebook that's recent. And as I can see, up to date."
Modern Zinc: "'Anyway, here's the chapter, page, and paragraph I want you to read.'"
Amy: "I'm touched, honestly...After all this time, thinking you've been claimed but trying to keep my mind off of it, and you still have that notebook..."
(A deep breath is heard.)
Amy: "Right, your journal. Entry 21?"
Copper: "Correct."
Zinc: "Oh, I've been recording all this time! Dang, that's another tape wasted."
Modern Zinc: "I've done that."
Copper: "Zinc, you know those are re-recordable, righ-"
Modern Zinc: "Yes."
(Click!)
I am Copper Steel. Alloy of Sapphire and Steel Bronze. I am a monklike kni from Realm 04. As I am a monklike kni, I wear a brown robe and have pitch black skin and hair. I have lived through the replica's hostile takeover of Crystallyne, and ultimately Realm 04. Afterwards, I was a realmspace nomad for ten years until I managed to open a direct rift back to realm 04. During those ten years, I sharpened my focus, as dad would've wanted me to. I have discovered a few advanced focuses on my own, like focus binding and using major illusion to mask my energy. They are weak, but I can perform them reliably. Several attempts on my life have been made by replica scouts, which taught me that my home is not gone. Here, in Realm 04, I have joined the resistance, creatively named "the Resistance," lead by Johnathan Hayes, brother of the late Jessica Hayes. My girlfriend is Amethyst Silver. My best friend is Zinc Lithium. With my focus sword in one hand, focus shield on the other, and allies beside me, I plan to fight against the replica and avenge my father.
Modern Amy: "Pretty confident headcanoning calling me your 'girlfriend' while being stuck in a cabin in realmspace."
Modern Copper: KERNEL PANIC
Modern Amy: "I don't hate it, but we're not there yet."
*(Amethyst is trying to take it seriously. Scott's not understanding more than half of the presentation. John is stroking his beard while trying to piece it all together, but failing miserably, but he supports Copper regardless. Saul is just happy to even be here, despite watching what he just did. Zinc is pointing at the screen whenever he's mentioned.
(And the presentation ends. It's been a...well, a journey.)
(Cobalt has sunken and leaned forward in her seat, the poor humanlike kni wasn't even mentioned.)
(Luke visibly doesn't want to be here. He'd even rather a smuggled copy of realm 10's Star Trek or Lord of the Rings.)
Shelia: "That was it? I was hardly a footnote in the addendums! Scott didn't even exist!!"
(She throws a handful of popcorn at the screen.)
(Sapphire is suppressing the thought "My word. Something I made made this. At least he tried." Cobalt is death-glaring THROUGH the chairs at Copper. Copper is lying prone, face down, with his hands on his head.)
Copper: "...I was lonely in realmspace! I spent five years out there!"
Zinc: "I can't decide if it's that you wrote fanfiction of your own life, or got so many details wrong!"
Copper: (Half-hearted moan.)
(Copper deflates, wishing this never resurfaced.)
Zinc: "You somehow predicted like 10% though, which is impressive. Don't know what the whole color-coded shirts thing was though."
Shelia: "Amethyst looked like someone's Power Rangers OC!"
(After a moment, Sapphire realizes that maybe her old writing doesn't stand up too well, either...)