Having defeated the inquisitor that chased them all the way to the shores of Mexico, our three heroes now embark on a ship sailing to Europe.
You can find more information, including our full cast list and transcripts, at DesperadoRadio.com.
Credits:
Written and produced by Samy Souissi.
- Elio – Samy Souissi
- Shinji – Tibet Boyer
- Talia – Tami Ige
- Samar – Kawtar Morchadi
Soundtrack:
- Mystery – Gosoundtrack: https://youtu.be/8TKy9bzrk24
- Desert Caravan – Youtube audio library https://youtu.be/q3lnxYoXmn0
Transcript
Please be advised the content of this podcast contains violence, murder, blood, smoking, alcohol, mentions of suicide and driving sound effects. Please avoid listening to this in a car. We also swear… a whole lot. So… there’s that.
TALIA
Once we were sure the threat was neutralized, the Path urged us to board the ship, and I didn’t have time to ask Shinji any follow-up questions.
We left the Americas without looking back, its shores soaked in blood. That boat was built like a tank and it moved at the same pace. It became clear that without us those people would have had no chance to escape on time. The sailors helped me find a room with a free bed to lay Elio on. We undressed him, dried him and inspected his body. There were no wounds, no fractures, nothing but he clearly had lost a lot of blood and… we had nothing to do a transfusion with so… we had no idea if you’d make it. The sailors went back to their posts while you were unconscious and I was about to check your temperature when you suddenly opened your eyes.
ELIO
What are you doing?
I saw you jump back, but it was only for a split second, really.
TALIA
I remember I kneeled by your side and tried to take your pulse like “what’s going on? How are you feeling? Do you need anything?” And you just grabbed my wrist and went:
ELIO
What part of “don’t move”… got you confused, exactly?
(Talia lets out a confused/relieved laugh.)
TALIA
I’m… I’m sorry, I wasn’t myself back there but… Thank you. You saved me.
ELIO
…You saved me. You and your little…knife-thing. You got the priest?
TALIA
He did.
I pointed at Shinji a couple steps behind me and you seemed really surprised to find someone else in the room. I saw you wince and painfully try to sit upright, back against the wall. And I was a bit freaked out, not gonna lie. I could see you breathing but your skin was… almost translucent.
ELIO
How’d you do it?
SHINJI
Small gun to a… big forehead.
ELIO
You shot a priest?
TALIA
Point blank.
ELIO
How’d you get so close?
SHINJI
You ask a lot of questions.
TALIA
Your clothes are completely wet. Do you have something to change into?
ELIO
Check the backpack.
SFX: Rummaging through backpack.
TALIA
There’s…a t-shirt and… You have no trousers.
ELIO
Well… should have stopped by the mall I guess.
SHINJI
I have a spare… if you need.
ELIO
That’d be nice.
SFX: Fabric lands with a soft thud as he catches them from across the room.
Oh wow, no bloodstains! They’re not even ripped! That’s fancy. Where do these come from?
SHINJI
Japan.
ELIO
You work with the Path?
SHINJI
No. No, uh… refugee.
ELIO
Wait, from Japan?
TALIA
I know right?
ELIO
Did you cross the States? And… with no bloodstains?
I remember you smiled like a kid and just… revealed your wings, hands in your pockets like it was no big deal.
SHINJI
And you guys were a… a terrible audience. I mean, you barely raised an eyebrow.
ELIO
Oh that makes a lot more sense.
TALIA
It does?
ELIO
Death spirits right? The Yokai.
SHINJI
…How did you know?
ELIO
Oh, I’ve been here before.
TALIA
Here?
ELIO
I’ve kept some memories from past lives. Now you as well I’ve seen before, but I just can’t…Oh. Hello Baron, I should’ve known you’d crawl your way back as well.
TALIA
My name is Talia.
ELIO
Well, good luck staying Talia.
SHINJI
Okay, who are you?
ELIO
Can you not sense it? If we’ve never met before, the things you carry within certainly have.
TALIA
They can’t speak to us.
SHINJI
Not so far from home.
ELIO
But they’re still here. And if you can’t access that potential it means you haven’t dared to. You haven’t tried. Why?
SHINJI
Why? You with bullet scars and cadaver skin? But you can’t fathom the risks?
TALIA
Okay! Should we get you something to eat? You still look really pale.
ELIO
If you can spare anything, I’m out of rations.
TALIA
We can share.
SHINJI
Oh, no. Please, don’t worry about it.
ELIO
And he opened one of his bags and it was full of sweets and protein bars and fresh fruits and I was genuinely about to cry when you put an apple in my hands, because all I’ve had for the past two weeks at that time were like… beef jerky and canned beans.
TALIA
Where did you get all this from?
SHINJI
Well as it turns out, you can do pretty much whatever you want if you have wings in the US.
The emperor has a private guard of winged soldiers, call themselves “The Angels”. Nobody bothers them… nobody bothered me. All I had to do is keep my hood down and folks would give me anything I asked for. My favorite thing was telling people I’d grant them a wish if they gave me their takeaway.
ELIO
Can we switch? Do you want blood powers? Do you ever feel like you don’t black out enough?
TALIA
What happened to you?
ELIO
…I’ll tell you if you take me to the bridge. I just need some air.
You know that first time the breeze hits you in the open sea? Do you remember how it felt?
TALIA
Cold.
ELIO
Free.
And it was so strangely quiet, It was just us, the waves, and whispers of conversation on the bridge.
SHINJI
People were staring.
TALIA
But they still wouldn’t approach.
SHINJI
Can’t blame them. Spirits are trouble.
ELIO
Yeah. Still, I felt safe that night. I think it took you guys a little longer but something within me knew already, that I was among friends.
SHINJI
I… definitely did not trust you guys.
TALIA
Same, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
ELIO
Okay, well it was still nice.
We sat on the bridge and started talking, Shinji passed some of his food to the other passengers and I learned about Talia, the Baron, and her… bone control thing, Shinji and-
TALIA
I can literally raise skeletons to serve me and you call it “ bone control”?
ELIO
You control bones, yes or no?
TALIA
It’s necromancy. Why don’t you explain how your masochistic powers work for a change.
ELIO
I didn’t really know at the time actually. It was all instinct. If I got in danger the shield would appear and if I didn’t have sacrificed blood to use, like on that first night, it would drain my own. And I think… blacking out was a sort of fail safe. I would always fall unconscious before the shield got me over the tipping point.
So yeah… my powers literally had to knock me the fuck out because I had no idea what I was doing. But uh… yeah. What else did we talk about?
TALIA
I asked you what your plans were when you got to Europe and you said:
ELIO
I don’t know. I have no idea what awaits me there. I’ve never even seen a witch before.
TALIA
The English ones can be… difficult.
ELIO
I’ll take difficult over genocidal.
SHINJI
I’m just looking for a bed and shelter, really. One I… won’t have to leave.
TALIA
That would be nice, wouldn’t it.
ELIO
And you? Anything in mind?
TALIA
Pfff… Yeah, I have- uh, well… I was given a year by the Baron to kill the Old Man in the sky so-
ELIO
(talking over)
Oh wow.
TALIA
Yeah- Otherwise he’d take full possession of me so that’s- That’s on the schedule.
ELIO
Do you have… a plan?
TALIA
Well I know step three is murder. I just have to figure out the other two are… I don’t know. I… thinking I’m supposed to get help from witches but…eh.
SHINJI
Seems like a good start. Enemy of… my enemy?
TALIA
Except they hate all of us. Any act of divine is a punishable offense so… Don’t steal people’s takeaways there.
SHINJI
Noted.
TALIA
But! My grandmother does have a contact at the destination. A man called Marcus who she said would find me a place to live and hopefully some guidance.
ELIO
You think he’d have room for one more because, I have something to settle with crusaders myself. And judging from tonight, you could use a shield.
TALIA
I wouldn’t say no to a pair of wings either.
SHINJI
I… can’t speak for killing a god, but… if you can find me a place to sleep I’ll follow.
TALIA
Boys, I get the feeling we’re going to do great things together.
ELIO
There’s… no way you said that. Y’know- Ok- Y’know what? Nevermind. Uh. The rest of the night was quite nice. We were safe, fed, and on our way to a better place. Oh! I forgot to ask you guys. What was your first impression?
TALIA
Of you?
ELIO
Everyone.
TALIA
Uh, Shinji, I don’t really… If I’m going to 100% honest, I wasn’t… feeling… it…
SHINJI
Oh same! You were- You were a lot. You know, you’re tall, athletic- you don’t walk, you– would advance- and your hair feels like a crown on your head. It’s all a bit intimidating.
TALIA
Good.
SHINJI
And you were- reckless, you had no notion of personal space – and… I appreciate it now but you’re a very… physical person, always with a hand on someone’s shoulder or something and I was really uncomfortable with it.
TALIA
…Okay, well I was just gonna call you shy but- wow.
SHINJI
I mean, you literally have super- strength. The only reason I can fly is because my bones are lighter so-
TALIA
I didn’t know that at the time.
SHINJI
Yeah, well… I was worried you’d crush my ribs.
ELIO
Is that why you hate hugs?
SHINJI
I. hate. hugs. I hate people touching me. It gives me so much anxiety.
ELIO
What did you think of me though?
SHINJI
I – Okay can I admit something?
ELIO
Goddess, please do.
SHINJI
I thought you were… really good looking, man, and uh… I’ll leave it at that.
ELIO
No-no-no, what was it, I wanna know the details, I wanna know. What’s my selling points?
TALIA
You have really nice curls man. I like your hair.
ELIO
I was gonna say the same to you. The new braids look amazing.
TALIA
Awww! Thank you!
SHINJI
Yeah, I don’t know, from the outside, Elio, you’re kind of scary, you have those scars on your arms, the tattoos, and that scruff you pretend not to take care of.
ELIO
Okay.
TALIA
Yeah I think you know exactly what you look like and you’re very careful what you present.
SHINJI
You’re like everything we’d expect a mercenary to be. But you’re so measured it’s… calming.
ELIO
Yeah. I just… don’t see the point in… agitation. But you Shinji- I- I thought you were kind of creepy at first actually.
SHINJI
Yeah I was skinny, pale, with a buzzcut and carried a gun. Nobody’s surprised.
ELIO
No, there was something that definitely held my attention and it’s… I think it’s the way you carry yourself. Y’know? You’re — unbound- it’s very hard to explain, it’s like… your steps take you a bit further than they should and… for a split second you’re flying and it’s- magnetizing.
SHINJI
Oh, thanks.
TALIA
I would advice you watch out for that. You don’t wanna get caught.
SHINJI
I- am not going to watch my every step, okay? That’s a jail of its own.
TALIA
Fair enough.
ELIO
So we spent about 7 days on that ship… Which should have been a much longer trip now that I think about it.
TALIA
No, the path had a wave-walker.
ELIO
Ohhhh-
TALIA
Wait, you didn’t know?
ELIO
No – I stayed in my cabin the whole time- I still had to recover.
SHINJI
I’m sorry. What’s a wave-walker?
TALIA
Honestly I’m still not sure- The Ocean is…different. Its spirits are so ancient, they’re almost a different species from the ones of today. And so a wave-walker is a lot like us, but they’re the bridge between humans, and whatever is going on under the waves. Fergus- that’s the guy from the Path. He was Scottish – so funny. And he explained to me that wave-walkers can command currents and winds, He mentioned shape-shifting, and incredible prowess in bed-
SHINJI
I’m sorry, what?
TALIA
Yeah, he was pulling my leg half the time so I don’t… actually know what’s true and what isn’t.
ELIO
Wait did you-?
TALIA
No! No, no. The man had gills. He smelled like a lobster!
ELIO
Haha. Hey, we don’t judge.
SHINJI
Since when?
ELIO
Hey also, we could have used a “sea wizard” the night we embarked.
TALIA
They refuse to get too close to the shore. They don’t trust landlovers.
SHINJI
Can’t blame him.
TALIA
He’s also the reason I could replace my dagger.
SHINJI
Really?
TALIA
Yeah. Losing it had me down for a while. It was the one thing my grandmother gave me and… holding it felt… safe. Every new trick I learned was like a secret she whispered to me. And if an inquisitor could take me down like that, what chances did I have against The Emperor? So… It was… long nights, for me.
ELIO
I would never have guessed.
SHINJI
Me neither.
ELIO
You were like a ray of sunshine on the ship! Like, always half- walking, half-dancing. You had jokes, you had banter — you were on a cruise, honestly.
TALIA
Samedi’s flair.
SHINJI
And you were a machine. You helped out with the crew, the food, the kids- I… I didn’t do any of that.
TALIA
That’s how we do back home. When the going gets tough, we get going.
Until one night, half-way through the trip- I got out of bed, went on the bridge, hoping I could talk to Fergus, and, sure enough… I leaned over the railings and he emerged from the water, floating on his back. He asked me what was going on and I told him about the dagger.
He said, “Why didn’t you ask me?” and I went “Ask about what?”
He just stared at me for a second and-
You know that kind of look you’d give to cute, but very simple creatures?
ELIO
Just say a dog.
SHINJI
Dogs can be smart.
ELIO
A baby then.
SHINJI
Babies aren’t cute.
ELIO
Actually yeah.
TALIA
Are you done?
SHINJI
Sorry.
ELIO
Yeah- He looked at you and-?
TALIA
He said: “The dead are many, beneath the tides.”
And he disappeared, way down below. When he came back, he had in his hand the biggest femur I’ve ever seen. A proper spear. He threw it at me with a wink and – He had tied some algae around it… kind of like a gift-wrap it was-
SHINJI
Cute.
TALIA
Dumb.
I didn’t even have to catch it. It stopped it in the air and it came floating to my hands. Fergus whistled in delight, pretending to be impressed.
He said “I’ll just… give you two some privacy”, and just went about his night, doing god-knows-what in the pitch black sea.
ELIO
Oh and I remember the next day! I came out to the bridge in the morning and you were already there, knife in hand carving a fucking human bone and I just asked you – “Uh…Where did you find that?
TALIA
Oh… I packed a replacement.
ELIO
Wow, really?
TALIA
Mhm.
ELIO
How does it fit in your bag, I mean-
TALIA
Hey, do you mind if I just… carry on, with my thing?
ELIO
Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.
TALIA
Did you?
ELIO
Sorry, sorry — So, why didn’t you tell me that day?
TALIA
I just… I didn’t want to make a thing out of it, I would have had to explain Fergus, the bones, my mood… And it was just… for the first time in weeks my mind was there, in that moment. Not back home, worrying about my grandmother being alone, or already in Europe, wondering how I’m supposed to get help there. No, it was just me and my sore hands after hours of carving. I felt present. And you just barged in trying to set up a whole interview. Of course I wasn’t going to say anything.
ELIO
Fair enough. Anything else we should know?
TALIA
Nope. That’s it.
ELIO
Do you remember when we finally reached Europe?
SHINJI
Yeah, it happened way too quickly. Less than a week and boom, shore on the horizon. I was the first to see it but I didn’t tell anyone the whole day. I didn’t want to be a fugitive again.
TALIA
Also, pebble beaches are the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.
ELIO
It’s so bad.
But that night, when they dropped the anchor far away from the beach and everyone was at the railings, eager to see what would be our welcome but… No one was waiting for us. And for a moment, there was this strange lull among the sailors and the Path and… something was wrong.
SHINJI
I don’t like this.
TALIA
Me neither.
I looked around the bridge and saw an agent of the Path repeatedly sending code through walky-talky. Nobody was answering him.
I could see the sailors getting agitated, fidgeting, glancing at each other too often, looking for reassurance… for someone to take charge.
SHINJI
We should go.
ELIO
It’s a bit sudden.
TALIA
What do you mean?
SHINJI
Out of the boat. Go.
TALIA
I can’t, I have to wait for my contact.
ELIO
I don’t think anyone’s coming.
TALIA
The Path brought us all the way here, they wouldn’t abandon us now.
ELIO
Yeah, but is it like them to be 5 minutes late? Do you think their scouts are on coffee break?
TALIA
…Fuck.
ELIO
Yeah. He might be right.
I turned to Shinji and asked: Can you take us to the beach? I don’t think we can borrow a lifeboat.
SHINJI
No. Too heavy.
ELIO
Okay, okay. That’s fine. Talia, can you swim?
TALIA
I’m from an island.
ELIO
Right… how fast can you teach me?
SHINJI
Oh.
TALIA
…You’re joking.
ELIO
Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to build a pool centre near my farm.
TALIA
That’s a lot of sass for someone who’s about to drown.
SHINJI
Get a life jacket. I can drag him to the beach if he floats.
TALIA
That could work.
ELIO
There’s one under my bed but we need to go now.
TALIA
I have some rope in my backpack.
SHINJI
I deployed my wings and dived in our quarters to get our bags. We strapped you up and thankfully nobody asked us anything or really cared about what we were doing. They were still desperately trying to reach their UK contact.
ELIO
Nothing else they could do without transport or fuel. We got to the railing and I looked down at the… slithering void I was about to jump into and-
TALIA
Ready?
ELIO
… I-Uh
TALIA
Yeah you’re ready.
ELIO
And she fucking pushed me.
TALIA
The way you screamed is still up there in my top 10 memories.
ELIO
Well it’s a pretty sad life if this is a highlight.
TALIA
Are you still mad?
ELIO
It was freezing! The last thing I needed was a cold.
TALIA
That’s not how you catch a cold.
SHINJI
And you were so panicked! You started yelling in Spanish and just whacking the water all around. You almost pulled the rope out of my hands.
TALIA
See? Fear is the real enemy here.
ELIO
No, I’m gonna be if you keep talking.
TALIA
I even jumped right by your side and grabbed you to tell you everything was okay.
“Just lay back like a plank and let Shinji pull you.” …It took a minute.
SHINJI
I jumped over the balcony and flew toward the shore. Before landing on the sand-
TALIA
Pebbles.
ELIO
Yeah, fucking pebbles.
SHINJI
My bad.
SHINJI
I looked back at the bridge and saw that barely anyone watched us leave. They seemed relieved more than anything else.
ELIO
I didn’t notice. I was busy dragging myself out of the water and… vomiting said water.
TALIA
I was feeling a lot better, personally. Keeping it moving felt like the right thing to do, after all. I didn’t like my fate being in the hands of someone else. And it was a beautiful night, the sky was clear. It felt like swimming amongst the stars.
ELIO
(bitter)
Oh… amongst the stars?
SHINJI
Yeah,I can’t relate. I was lost, in a new country, I had the vague feeling that something bad was going to happen and I now had two crawlers slowing me down.
TALIA
Crawlers?
ELIO
Wow.
SHINJI
I was this close to ditching you guys. I could have been miles away already. But before I could make that decision… this… woman appeared behind us. Literally, out of nowhere. I didn’t hear a thing, didn’t sense anything, she was just…there.
SAMAR
Hello!
SHINJI
I turned around, gun in hand and aimed for her forehead. She didn’t flinch, not one bit. Like this was perfectly normal. She was slightly shorter than me, silky dark hair in a french
braid and brown eyes like I’ve never seen before, like… I don’t know how to describe them. It was-
ELIO
Like sand under the sun. I mean, there was already something intriguing about her but when she smiled…it just made sense. Like the curve of her lips had been carefully designed to unveil her cheekbones, spark something in her eyes, like- it was subtle alchemy. It was like… tilting your head in front of a painting and suddenly it’s revealed- the genius of an artist. Anyway-
SHINJI
And she was dressed casually, with an oversized jacket, but there was something about her that froze me in place. I-I think it just was the first time I felt the presence of the other mind. It was like a single vibration, rippling through my body, spelling the word “danger”. It was pure, atavistic fear, and it was… petrifying.
SAMAR
Are you Talia?
TALIA
Uh- No. Sorry. But if you’re looking for someone we can help. Is Talia a friend?
SAMAR
I’m sure she will be. My name is Samar and I’m parked in the middle of the road so we have to go now if you want to join Marcus for dinner.
TALIA
Marcus?
SHINJI
She looked at me right in the eyes.
SAMAR
Is this your friend?
SHINJI
…and I lowered my gun, feeling stupid.
TALIA
Yes! Uh-
SAMAR
Wonderful. Shall we?
TALIA
What about the others? The boat?
SAMAR
Compromised. It’s the reason the Path isn’t there to collect you and the reason we have to go now.
ELIO
Wait what’s gonna happen to them?
SAMAR
They’ll be apprehended, and- most of them will be sent back to the Americas.
TALIA
What?!
ELIO
We left the beach and reached an asphalt road where, as promised, a car was waiting for us. If we didn’t pay attention we could have walked right past it without noticing. There were no streetlights and the moon was barely a crescent in the sky.
Wait- It’s a death sentence.
SAMAR
It is. And that’s why you should get in the car.
SHINJI
We can’t abandon them!
ELIO
And then we heard a noise high above. The ominous whistle of something diving through the air. Three dark silhouettes slashed through the midnight sky. They immediately started circling the boat and we heard their distant voices echo through the silence. They spoke only two sentences, each word at the exact same time, bound by the same will. A spell. And three gigantic ice claws rose from the sea to pin the boat in place.
SFX: The metallic scrape of ice against ice
It would not go any further. The ice had pierced through steel and plating but nobody had been harmed. And that meant caution and finesse. It meant mastery of a skill we had barely started flirting with.
And it all happened in less than 5 seconds, meaning they could have annihilated everyone on board even quicker if they wanted to.
SAMAR
FYI, those are just the first responders.
TALIA
And she got in the driver’s seat, everything was said.
SHINJI
She’s a killer.
TALIA
…So are you.
SHINJI
No, I can kill.
ELIO
Where is that coming from?
SHINJI
The way she walks.
ELIO
You never explained what you meant by that.
SHINJI
She moved exactly like the giant of Toshima. Every inch of her body under control. No movement without intent.
TALIA
Well, you can sit with Elio and if anything goes wrong you’ll have his shield.
SHINJI
I looked back at Samar and realized she was staring at us, a hand on the wheel.
ELIO
Shinji glanced at me and I gave him a nod. Whatever this woman was capable of, I knew I could take it. Talia looked back at you and shared the nod.
TALIA
Thank you. Come on!
And we got in the car, me in the passenger seat and the boys behind.
SAMAR
Thank god we’re not in a hurry.
TALIA
Sorry- we were-
SAMAR
Buckle up.
She turned the key in and started driving, lights off till we reached a highway.
TALIA
So… Where are we going?
ELIO
And I’ll never forget the way she just casually said
“Oh, the circus has set up right outside of Bristol, about half an hour drive from here.”
And there was a huge silence and I assume we all made a face because then she turned to Talia and asked
SFX: Car tires speeding along the road
SAMAR
You know, right?
TALIA
About a circus?
SAMAR
Marcus is a ringmaster! And he’s very excited to meet you. He hasn’t had a new act in years.