- This episode's going to be a sound experience. - Yeah. - Between that, Cooper's chewing on his loudest plastic bone, my air conditioner that I'm not turning off 'cause it's hot. - Oh, we cannot play that rock right now. - What am I doing, Mom? - Tara just turned in and what am I doing wrong? (laughing) - To see what criticism's about everybody right now. - Yeah. - Well, normally when I'm streaming and stuff, Tara will like tell me to mute myself for a second so she can just go, ah! - Sometimes you just gotta scream. - Sometimes you just have to scream. - Hello, welcome to .zip, a podcast about big games in small packages, my name is AJ. - Yay, oh, Fowler! (laughing) My name is Kim and this is Outlaw Summer. - Ah, holy shit! (laughing) - Raise them that there's cow, that cowboy coffee. Heat up your beans and get over here on this here podcast. We're talking about cowboy games. You hear? - You were rattled like a stake in the grass there for a second. - It wasn't, I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready, I thought we'd do the intro, then do like a hand, here's the thing we're doing, but I should've known. - You gotta be ready for Outlaw Summer, baby, it's here. - It's here, it's queer today. - Mm-hmm. - And yeah, I guess this is kind of a pseudo series we're doing, where we're playing games accidentally, we scheduled a bunch of games that have Western themes around the next like two months. So get ready for that. - Yeah. - And also pick the games that aren't Western themed, but. - Yeah, they'll be sprinkled throughout, just. - Yes. - Because we accidentally did it, and then we're like, let's add more, but we had enough stuff on the schedule. So enjoy that. It's Outlaw Summer, Star Wars Outlaws is also coming, so get excited, Outlaws, baby, yee-haw. - To kick off Outlaw Summer today, we are talking about Lookouts, a game on itch.io, available to run in browser, which is through. - Yeah. - But you can also download it for free, but you can also pay $5 to get the gold edition, which I did after I finished the game, because the game is very good and I wanted to give them money. - It's really good. - It was a game by Marble Claws, originally made for Gay Western Jam by Call and Hockey, and then when they made the full version, they brought on Jamie, also known as Fake Gamer Comics, to do the music. Links to all of their stuff, their socials, and their various works are in the show notes, and you should check them out, because this game is so good, and they are all very talented people, and you should support them. But Kim, what is this game that I am so effusive about? - Lookouts is a visual novel. It takes place in a version of the Old West, in which everyone is anthropomorphic animals. And it tells the story of a player character who is trans-mask. He is sort of the lookout for his gang, the Curly Wolf gang, and is sent on a little mission to scope out a town that the gang has heard rumors that this town struck gold. And so, a player character who you get to name, I named mine Ren. They, at least for me, the suggestion was Robin, and I was like, this is cute, but I'm gonna do a different name, but I'm gonna keep a different bird, because I liked the irony of it being a bird, which we'll explain in a moment. But so your player character basically goes off to do this mission, and runs into another lookout from another gang named Joseph, who is also a trans man. And the two of you basically decide to watch each other's backs while you're on this lookout mission, and sort of figure out whatever happens after that happens. And it sort of tells the story from there, which I don't wanna say too much until the spoiler section. - Totally. - But yeah, it has this amazing art style that looks, it looks like it was like drawn with markers or something. Extremely stylized, really, really cool art, a very good little Western soundtrack there by, who was, what was the name of that? - Jamie. - Jamie. And yeah, it's a great little adventure. It took me about like two and a half, three hours to play. - Yeah. - And yeah, you make a few decisions throughout, which I'm excited to see. - Yeah, I'm curious to see like what the, what the effects of those choices are. - Yeah, but otherwise, yeah, just like a nice visual novel with very cool sort of vibes and an atmosphere. - Yeah, I think the vibes in all of the games we've talked about so far on the show are like so on point, but this one, like this being a graphic novel and the vibes being what they are in terms of like how everything is like drawn and stuff is, it kind of makes it like a graphic novel in some ways, you know, where it's like-- - You said graphic novel twice, but you meant visual novel. Like I'm picking up what you found down there. - It's now all summer. I can say how I could talk however I want. - But there are no rules in the, oh, wait, wait, wait. - The character portraits are like him said, like very stylized, but they're just like these, basically black blobs of like people, or you know, anthropomorphized animals. That are just like, they're completely like scribbled in black and then they have like these like cream colored clothes over top of that. And then they are set against these like generally pretty kind of like orangeish backgrounds. And so it's just like they really like pop off the backgrounds in like a really, really cool way. The backgrounds are also just like very minimal. They're just like, they're exactly what they need to be to like get the point across of like this is a saloon. And it's just kind of like a sketch, I guess, for lack of a better word. - All of the art has this like level of abstraction to it that is like so stylistic and very cool. One thing that I mentioned in the Discord, we were talking about that I'm just obsessed with is the way everyone has tiny little cowboy hats that just sort of float above their heads. It's so cute, just really good stuff. - Yeah, the cowboy hats and then like, if anybody is wearing anything on their head, like there's a character that has glasses that are just like really, really tiny, first of all. And then just like floating off of his face. Like they're not, they're not on his head. They're just like next to his snout. Like it's just so funny. But you know, it gets the point across and it's just like absolutely incredible. I think, you know, we have a hard time, I think a lot with the games like talking about them without getting into spoilers. But this one especially is like, since it is a visual novel, like mechanically, it is so kind of bare bones that it's like, what do we talk about here? But I do think just generally like thematically, this is a story about two queer people finding each other, finding community within the two of them, but then also finding a larger community and kind of understanding like, oh, there are other people who have similar or like the same experiences as I do who can kind of empathize with me and like treat me like a person. I think the game like gets that message across so, so well in so many ways. Yeah, like it's, it is kind of a singular story in some ways in terms of like themes and stuff. Like it is just very much just about like being a queer person or being a trans person like in society and trying to navigate that. But like there are just, it visits that in so many different aspects from like, so many different angles. And I just think it's just like really, really great. And really, really just like struck chords with me and stuff. And just like in my, you know, my kind of gender sexuality journey, just very, very, very cool video game. Yeah, it's, I think it is, this is sort of early on in the game. So I don't feel like it's necessarily a spoiler to say that like these two meet each other. And it's very clear that they should be enemies, but realizing that they share this thing in common just immediately endears them to one another in a way that like they are immediately sort of not intimate, but there is like an understanding between them that like leaps off the page. The player character, like the thing that, that immediately has him like let his guard down is the fact that Joseph, the other, other lookout who he meets who is a bird. That's why it's ironic to name your character after a bird. The player character is a, yeah, sorry. Yeah, a canid, they say. I think it's implied that they're wolves. Yeah, canid is just like the general term for mammals that are of canine like classification. Yeah, so the player character, I guess we can call him Robin since the default. Did you, Yeah, I did Robin. Yeah. Okay. So the thing that, that immediately gets Robin's guard down is that Joseph calls him sir. Yeah. And it is clear that, and again, this is very early on in the game. So not really a spoiler. It is clear that like he does not get that respect with his gang. He's sort of like the lowest on the, the, you know, the hierarchy is frequently abused and disrespected by the boss. And, you know, they refer to him as tomboy. They don't truly see who he is or recognize him in that way. And so that is the thing that immediately makes him, you know, uninterested in sort of making an enemy out of Joseph. Right. There's a permit me to read a small, it's like two sentences. But I guess technically spoilers early game, but this is like literally the first like 10 minutes. So I wouldn't worry too much. There's a lot that happens in this, in this, in this story. But Joseph asks like, Oh, like what are you called asking, asking Robin, you know, wants to know Robin's name. But just as what do you call them, Robin says, most would say tomboy, I would think, or other things I wouldn't repeat in such polite company. And Joseph says, and what would you call yourself? The question takes you by surprise, something else no one's ever asked. And then you say, Aaron Robin says, I'd call myself a man. And then Joseph is like, I think we have more in common than we'd like care to admit or whatever. And just like immediately like, Oh, we are living similar experiences. Like we're both lookouts for this, you know, for gangs. And we are both the trans mask people who are not treated great. And I think it's really interesting later on. And you know, I won't get into it here. But like later on, there are moments of Joseph talking about his experience. Or I guess they're both talking about their experiences within their, their gangs like, you know, amongst the other, the other guys in the gang. And Joseph, the way that Joseph is treated and deals with his treatment is different than the way that Robin does, which I think is is a very, you know, it's a very interesting, like similar, but different, but also the same experience, you know, echoed in another person. Just very good. It's very, very good. Man, I don't know how much more do you think? Like, I don't really know what else we could touch on here in non-spoilers because like, I mean, you know, it's a visual novel. So the whole thing is just like, it's right that the whole thing is there, you know, like if we talk about anything else, we are just talking about the story. Is there anything else that happens early on that really like, like struck you? I think there's this like scene, or we get this first, like, you know, normally it's like a text box with two portraits of the people, or however many people are talking, of the people talking. But then it, the first time it goes to like a bespoke piece of art, I guess, is Robin and Joseph, like high-fiving each other being like, yeah, well, you know, we'll team up and we'll see what's going on in this town. And then, you know, we'll figure out what happens after that later. Yeah, I think there's a few of those throughout. And I think they're done in really great moments. - Yeah. - Oh, also something I think worth noting is that Robin is missing an arm, which does come up later on. - Yeah, I think that's it. Go play the game. - Play the game. Like I said, it took Kim, whoa, Kim said it took two and a half hours. It took me on and off today, and also taking notes like four hours, so somewhere between, somewhere around three hours, I think, if you're just playing it straight through. But, you know, it is like a visual novel, which means you are doing a lot of reading. And if that's a thing that you need to take breaks from, I guess keep that in mind. The itch page for once actually like overestimates how long it is and says like five to six hours, which I love that it's, we came in under that estimate. - Yeah. - Yeah, if you, you know, set aside five or six hours, read this story, look at this beautiful art. It's a great time, really, really good game, really special game, I think. - Yeah. - All right. - Okay. - Time for spoilers. - Yeah. - Goddamn it. I'm gonna have to put like gun sounds here instead of the OS sounds. Okay, welcome to the spoiler section. Yeehaw, bang bang, get along the doggy. We're gonna go through the story. It's good. Yeah, so we've already done the beginning of it kind of, you know, Robin is sent on this lookout. The very intro cut scene is like these, the shadowy cabal of people like having this conversation about this town that like might have gold in it. And then they're like, yeah, send tomboy. He'll, he's a great, he's a good lookout, whatever. And then we, we take control. And there's not really much that happens in the very beginning. Like you pretty much basically instantly meet up with Joseph. - Yeah. - He's like, hey, I'm in the same situation. - Yeah, it's mostly just sort of the player character kind of like having an internal monologue. And this is the part that like I could have done with a little bit less of that. The only criticism I have really of the game is like, they say explicitly some things that like, I think could have not said explicitly and you still would have gotten the same sense. 'Cause like there's this whole sort of like monologue at the beginning as, you know, I imagine it's supposed to be sort of like as Robin is riding towards this town where he's thinking about, you know, wouldn't it be nice to settle down somewhere where I felt like I belonged? It's like, I don't know that you needed to say that out, right? And I feel like it's sort of, it kind of for me, I was like, okay, I know exactly where this story is going. - Sure, sure, sure. - But yeah, I mean, it's not like a huge detraction. I just think it was not a necessary thing because I think that the rest of the storytelling is done in like enough of a effective way that like, you didn't need to lay out those stakes at the beginning. - Yeah, I do think maybe there's something to be said about like, Westerns maybe aren't everybody's shtick. And so if you're trying to get people to stick around for the story, you're actually trying to tell instead of like, hey, be here for a Western, you know? - Yeah, and I guess also you could necessarily assume that an outlaw does not wanna settle down. So maybe that's sort of like, you know, sickening that. - But I totally get what you're saying. But yeah, so you have this kind of monologue and then you meet up with Joseph and pretty immediately Robin is like, oh, like you can kind of sense the hesitation in the air because like you're a cannon and he's a bird, which just like, you know, I guess normal circle of life nature stuff like coyotes and wolves eat birds. And then, you know, Joseph is like very charming and it's like, hey, I'm also in a gang. I'm also the lookout like, oh my gosh, we're doing the same thing. Holy shit, maybe we should team up. And the moment where Joseph keeps calling Robin, sir, and Robin's like, hey, like, you don't have to call me, sir. Like I'm not like your like teacher or something. And Joseph just says, cost nothing to be kind on the trail I've found, which is so good. I love the way that Joseph's dialogue is written instead of I like 98% of the time, it's just A-H. So it's ah, instead of ah, it's really great. - It's very, very Arthur Morgan. - Very Arthur Morgan. - So that's, I basically heard Joseph's voice in my head as Arthur Morgan's. But yeah, I do love like, there's, that's an example of something that is like very effective communication of Joseph as a character. - Yes. - 'Cause he is sort of very unfailingly polite in that way, but also kind of like jovial and like, I think it's a very great way to sort of tell you who he is very early on. - Yeah, definitely. - Yeah, so they agree to watch each other's backs and I wrote down this quote that I really liked where Robin sort of internally reflecting says, it makes you feel seen being looked at rather than through. - Yeah, I also read that line down. - Yeah, feels like one of the core sort of themes of this game is like being recognized for who you are that starts with the very basic like, recognizing who you are at your core, like who you want to be in the world as basic as recognizing someone's gender identity is like, you are seeing them in a way that like, you are not if you refuse to acknowledge that. - Right, yeah, yeah, I also read that line. It's a good one being looked at rather than looked through is just so good. And there's so much of that like, as I was playing this game that I was like, man, like, you know, it's a visual novel and it's like called that for a reason. And it's just like some of it, just some of the stuff written in this game just feels very like, I don't want to say pros, but it feels like, it feels like I'm reading it in a book, you know? - Yeah, it's strong writing. - Strong writing. - It's really, really good. - The use of metaphor and similarly at some points is just so, so good in a way that like, I feel like games don't always get to do because there's not so much internal stuff happening a lot of the time depending on the game you're playing, I'm like, you're not always getting views inside a person's head. - Right. - But yeah, being looked at rather than looked through, God, it's so good. So then you basically come to the conclusion like, well, the best way to look out is to go down to the town and see what's up because basically what has been reported is that there's a mine in this town somewhere. But from what you can see from the cliff, there's no mine. It doesn't look like there's a bank. There's no gold stuff happening in this town. - And it doesn't look like they're particularly wealthy there either. - Right. - So you're like, is this good information? - Right, yeah. So you guys decide to go down and boots on the ground, check it out. And you just kind of, you know, you arrive and you meet up with Sheriff who is the Sheriff of this town. And basically you're just like, yeah, you know, we're just kind of traveling through, you know, if everything goes according to plan, we'll be out of your hair by the end of the night. You know, we're not hanging around. We're just kind of making our way through the desert and having to come across your town. And Sheriff is like, all right, well, have fun. Just, you know, feel free to, like, if you need a room, the saloon has rooms, but, you know, enjoy, enjoy your time in the town. And I think it's worth noting. - Yeah. - Oh, I was going to say Sheriff is a lizard. - Yes, that is what I was going to say. Yeah, Sheriff is a lizard. And then there's a priest that is a turtle. So we've got some amphibians. Kind of sad that a frog didn't show up. I mean, totally candid. Well, those are, I'm sorry, I'm going to say those are reptiles. - Oh, fuck me, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. - I just, I couldn't, I couldn't let that stand. - No, yeah. - Because the, the people would-- - Well, draw guns at dawn, you know. - Yeah. - Yeah, it's outlaws, we settle things by duel. - That's, that's right. So at this point, you get the option to sort of choose where you go first. - Yes. - Where did you decide to go? - I just went straight down the line. So the first place I went was the saloon. - Oh, interesting, I went to the town hall first. - Very interesting. I'm very curious to see if there's anything different. So I guess I'll talk about what happens in the saloon. 'Cause it's not, it's not a whole lot. But it does kind of, I think the saloon honestly does a really good job of like setting up kind of what these scenes are going to be. Because you, you arrive in the saloon and you immediately meet up with Bartholomew, who is the bartender here. And Bartholomew is very nice. He's a road runner or something. He's some sort of bird with like a big tail behind him. Also wearing a little cap. And he's the one that I was talking about earlier who wears glasses that are just floating off his beak. - Really good. - For a while, I was like, what are these little circles? And then I realized like, oh, they're supposed to just be like, spectacles, so good. Yeah, and you kind of just, you talk about Bartholomew and then you're like, oh well, you know, you're still trying to get information from these people. So you're like, oh, like, is there a mine here? Like it doesn't, you know, we heard tale of whatever. And Bartholomew is like, oh no, there's never been a mine here as long as I've been here. And I showed up eight years ago. And you're like, oh, that's a pretty long time. He's like, yeah. And then we get another one of these like fade to black to the portrait of Bartholomew like polishing a glass on the saloon and kind of just like telling his story. And basically he moved here with his fiancee. And there was, you know, there were no mines or work or anything. He says, Sheriff said they didn't, the town doesn't need any more of your kind. And I'm not a hundred percent sure if that meant birds or like people who are want to do mining, which maybe was a thing. - This sounds a little bit different than when I spoke to Bartholomew. - Very interesting. Okay, cool. - Yeah. - Okay, I'm excited. They said I'm basically done. Yeah. - Yeah, just to compare notes. - Sure. - Bartholomew says that he came here with his fiancee to get to, for a gold. Like they were aware that this was a mining town and they came for gold. And Sheriff was like, you can either leave or like stay and never talk about gold again. Essentially like, he told them to leave it first. But Bartholomew says, I think Sheriff could tell like what we really wanted more than gold was just like a place to start a new life. And so, you know, he invited us to stay and fix up the saloon. - Yeah. - So that is probably what the, we don't want your kind thing is about. - And I could have very well just missed him saying we came for gold because he does address that there were no mines or work to be found. And so I'm thinking maybe I just looked over the part where he said we came to like find gold. But he did say, I remember him saying, when he and his fiancee told like the town like, oh, we're leaving to go here. The town called him, like they called them foolish and like it was silly and whatever. - Okay, no, that's definitely different. - Whoa, that's definitely different. - Yeah, that's so interesting. - Yeah, so then they arrived at this town and don't want any more of your kind here, which miners, which makes sense. M-I-N-E-R-S, I guess to be clear. And it's basically like, yeah. So, you know, if you don't want anyone to get mad at you, don't bring up the mines. You're like, oh, okay, cool. And that's pretty much that scene. And then you go outside and talk with Joseph for a little bit. And you talk about like your time in bars with your gangs. And Joseph is like, 'cause you both order beers when you get to the saloon and then Joseph winds up drinking both of them because Robin doesn't drink beer. And then you're like, whoa, are you sure you can handle that? And Joseph is like, I've drank these guys under the table. More nights than I can count. And blah, blah, two beers ain't gonna affect me. And you're like, oh, wow. And then there's this little internal thought here from Robin. You briefly think back on the times the gang had gone to bars. You were always told to stay outside. Don't wander off. A dog on a leash waiting for master to come back. Staring into Lamplitz streets and hearing the braying crowds all around you, drunken strangers enjoying each other's company as much as their liquor. At first, they told you it was dangerous for you to stray too far. And then, oh God, did I not take a picture in the second part? No, wait, hold on. Oh, I didn't. Fuck. And at the end of that is like, and then you got in a fight and almost beat a guy to death and they wouldn't let you leave their sight. Which is sad. - Yeah. - Yeah. It's rough. - So yeah, was there anything else that happened for you in the saloon? - No, not really, except before you leave, Bartholomew sort of in an offhand comment refers to his husband. - Yes. - And both Robin and Joseph are like, okay, goodbye now. Like immediately like, holy shit, I can't believe we are in a place where this guy is just like openly, yeah. Can openly express that he has a husband. So yeah, another great, great moment of storytelling there. - Yeah. - Where are you going next? - I went to the town hall next. - Okay. - Which turns out to be a Quaker meeting house, a friends meeting house. Quakers and friends are interchangeable nouns in this context. - Hitting us with the Quaker. - Yeah, I've had a friend who's been a Quaker for a very long time. Yeah, friends meeting is the whole thing. And in here, you see pews and you're like, oh, like this kind of looks, doesn't really look like a town hall I've seen. - That's more like a church. - Looks more like a church. And then you meet up with Jacob, the priest, who is the aforementioned turtle to which Joseph is like, oh man, this guy has to be so old. So there's gotta be, he's gotta know about the minds. But basically you're just kind of, you meet up with Jacob and you're like, wow, everybody here is like, it's like a community and it's very nice. And like Jacob just talks to you about like, oh, welcome to Clemency, which is the name of the town, which I guess we forgot to mention. And chat for a little bit. And then Jacob's like, all right, well, I gotta go do something really quick so you guys can like hang out and pray and I'll be right back. And then you're like, oh, okay. And then Jacob leaves and Joseph and Robin are like, or Joseph is like, is this a meeting hall for prayer? Or the meeting house of a God? I don't get it. So like Joseph did not grow up religious, does not understand religion. And then in my notes here, I just wrote, gay, gay, gay. Yeah, there's this, I wrote, you know, all caps flirting in church. Well, there's also a moment where there's an internal thought. You lock eyes, Robin talking about Joseph. You lock eyes with him staring into his honey gold and brown streak rings of his queen gaze. Like, whoa, whoa, okay. Very, very good moment. The, yeah, I guess we could have said at the top that this is a romance because it's very explicit on the page. I didn't realize on the page. I didn't, I didn't read anything about it. I saw it and I was like, wow, this art style rocks and it's a Western, I'm gonna play this. And then they started falling in love and I was like, fuck yeah, it's a romance. But yeah, the, those moments of like building tension between them, very well done, very well done. Really, really well done. Even in the moments, even in like, there's a moment at the very end where they just continue to build tension in a scene and it keeps building it up like for the love of God. - It's a real, it's amazing 'cause it's like, it's not a slow burn, really. - No. - Because these guys have known each other for like a day. - A day. - Six hours. - But it feels the way that they like slow roll the romance makes it feel like one. But yeah, I loved the sort of internal reflection Robin did about like his own sort of religious past where he says something like, you know, I never enjoyed like the frills and you know, the Sunday dresses and things like that. But I loved the hymns and you know, talks about how his mother was like a beautiful singer. - Yeah. - It's just like such a, I don't know, there's something so like dreamy about like that memory. - Yeah, I don't know how else to describe it, but it's just very, I keep saying this word, but very evocative. - Yeah. - And you can just sort of imagine exactly, exactly what that looked like. - Yeah, I think it's, and it's also just like very, I guess for lack of a bit of phrase, human. You know, 'cause they're not, they're not humans, they're a dog and a bird. - Yeah, yuck. - But yuck, yuck, thank you, Chad. Call back to wide ocean, big jacket. But it's like a very human feeling of like having these, especially around religion, these like really complicated feelings of like, you know, Robin goes on to say like, I don't want to blaspheme, but God's done a whole lot of jack squat to help me all my life. I don't really feel like praying to someone who doesn't care about me or anyone like me for that matter. But then also in that same second, like in that same section, like you said, talking about how much he loved the hymns and like how beautiful his mother's singing voice was. And it's just like, it's these really complex feelings and emotions around these things that like maybe didn't serve Robin, you know, in his past, but like have kind of had an impact on him in one way or another kind of, I guess, whether he wanted to admit it or not, you know? - Yeah, there's also this beautiful moment where Joseph, even though he's like, yeah, I don't really believe in God. I don't believe in any of that. But he says he does pray for, because it reminds him of the things that are important to him. So he says he like, praise for his family and his loved ones and things like that, which is like a really beautiful conception of prayer that is like secular, but somehow still very sacred. I thought like that really struck me. - Very Quaker, it's very Quaker. Yeah, I mean, Jacob lays it all out here in a moment about how Quakerism is just like everybody has a little bit of God's light and is deserving of like love and compassion, et cetera, et cetera. But before we get to that, I do want to say, I think after Joseph is like, I like to pray. He says that stuff. There's this line here that I think this imagery around coals happens a couple of times throughout the story, and this is the first instance. There was a momentary silence between you. Like the subtle shift of coals in a long burning fire, now snuffed by the door rattling open again, 'cause Jacob comes back. But it's just, I just think, it's just like really beautiful imagery. And there are moments later on that coals come up in reference to like a heart and like feeling and stuff. I don't remember if I took screenshots of those, but maybe. So Jacob comes in and it's like, oh, like what can I help you gentlemen with? Which is another thing. The word catches you off guard a little the way it trips off his tongue so easily. No bitterness or mockery. Just like acknowledging that these two are gentlemen. - Yeah, earlier on too, it sort of flies under the radar because Robin doesn't comment on it, but Sheriff when they first get to town is like, all right, well, let me know if you boys need anything. And it's just like, it's immediately laying the groundwork that like everyone here sees them for who they are. - Yes, yeah, they're being looked at and all looked through. Yeah, yeah, we love recurring themes and ideas. And so then, you know, you kind of talk to Jacob about like, what is this place that we're standing in? And Jacob's like, oh, it's a friend meeting house. We're all Quakers. And you're like, oh my gosh, wow. And then we get a beautiful portrait of him sitting. You know, you ask like about his history here and like about the town and about the mines, obviously. And he kind of like sits down in a very contemplative pose and we get another portrait moment here, very, very nice. And this like blew my mind when he was like, well, I came from Pennsylvania. It's like, oh, we're just in the, like we're in the actual Old West like canonical American Old West not like something. - I love it. That's what got you not Quakers. - Well, I saw Quakers. I was like, oh, interesting that they're bringing up Quakers. But then just to see the word Pennsylvania, I was like, oh, okay, it's just very funny to me. In my notes, I just wrote Pennsylvania mentions. And you know, he just talks about how he came here like 30 years ago. And he calls it a godless place pretty much. And you know, it says like, there were miners here that were only here for the gold, but then Sheriff showed up and like, or Sheriff was here. And we kind of had similar ideals and with Sheriff's help, we, you know, fixed the town up and close the mine down. And you're like, oh, wow, that's cool. And then there's this, there is this bit of Jacob. Jacob says something about Sheriff about like how great Sheriff is and whatever. And there's this aside from Robin in his head that basically compares how Jacob is talking about Sheriff to how the priest used to talk about, like used to give sermons. Which to me was kind of like, maybe this town's not that great. And maybe like, there's some weird kind of like, the Sheriff is like, seen as kind of a deity in some ways. Not like literally, but like the seen this like elevated position, like better than the normal person. - Yeah. I think I just just construed that as because Jacob, you know, he basically says like, our views as Quakers is that like everyone has gods like within them. Like I just sort of read that as like a reverence for who Sheriff is in the same way that like you would have a reverence for God because that's like the Quaker, you know, sort of approach to viewing your fellow humans. - I guess I'm just too dystopia-pilled. - Yeah, this is gonna turn into a weird cult thing. - See, I immediately was like, oh, they're setting up this town to be like a very utopian ideal. Like this is the place that these two are gonna settle down. - Yeah, I don't wanna, I mean, I guess we're in the spoiler section, so hopefully you've played the game, but this is like very much the ideal of a queer commune where just like you and all of your queer friends can like get together and be self-sustaining and like not have to worry about like capitalism or commerce and like every three days, everybody leaves to go get the supplies that everyone needs or you know, once a month, whatever everybody goes in. But anyway, yeah. And I guess also just worth mentioning for those of you who haven't played the game and don't know about the tenants of Quakerism, pacifism is a big, big, big tenant of being a Quaker. And that's also kind of Joseph brings up like, oh, you know, it doesn't seem like, you know, it's the Old West and so like there's like guns and stuff and like people are bandits, et cetera. You are from a gang of bandits. And so you're like, how do you, you know, how do you like reckon that with your pacifism and Jacob is like, well, you know, sheriff cares about keeping the peace, but ultimately isn't solely responsible for it. We all are. And so it's this kind of, you know, again, communal response to like being the kind of stuff that you want to see in the world, I guess, like kind of making the place that you want to live a reality. And that's a town hall. Did you have anything else in there that you wanted to? - Yeah, just a couple of things. - Please. - One line that I wrote down from Jacob is he's talking about, you know, this town when he first arrived here, he says, I'd felt buried by the weight of the town's hate. Their convictions, like stone walls, I could not scale. - Mm, good. - Go off. So good. - Good, very good. - And the other thing that you sort of learn from, from Jacob is that the mines aren't dry. Like the miners didn't leave because, you know, the mines dried up and they went elsewhere. They left while they, this was still, you know, a functioning mine. So, you know, our lookouts now know, like, there is gold around here somewhere. - In them var hills, if you will. - In them hills. - And so, okay, so you went to the town hall first? - Yes. - And then where'd you go after that? - After that, I went to Sheriff's office. I did the saloon last because I was like, well, if I'm gonna stay there for the night, I should go there last. That didn't work out quite, quite right, which we could talk about. - Yeah, okay. So do you wanna talk about the Sheriff's office? And then we can talk about the thing that happens between the second and third place you go after that. - Sure, yeah. So, at this point in my play through "The Boys Know," this is a town that won't put up a fight 'cause they're pacifists and there is gold here, which is like kind of the dream for their gangs. And you can tell already that Robin is feeling not great about this. - Really quickly, it's like, oh, maybe this place isn't there? - Yeah. - So they decide to go to the Sheriff's office is the third place you can go. And I think it's Robin who comes up with the plan to say, look, why don't we just tell them that there are outlaws coming and that we just wanna warn them and then use that to kind of get more information. So, you go to the Sheriff's office and I didn't take notes on how this comes up, but very quickly you learn, Sheriff's name is Sheriff. That is what they go by and they are non-binary. They basically say, I'm not a man or a woman. - I'm Sheriff. - And I'm just Sheriff. And so you sort of tell Sheriff like, hey, we heard on the trail that there are gonna be, you know, that there are outlaws who wanna come here. So we wanted to warn you. And Sheriff is like so unbothered by this. And basically, the Sheriff tells you this town was a powder keg that the miners had gold fever and were, you know, it was like very violent here because everybody was sort of just like out to get theirs. And Sheriff says, I learned very early on that law and justice are not the same thing. And so, you know, I care about justice. - Real justice. - And so at some point during this time, there were people who arrived in a caravan who were traitors. They were, you know, just like good, peaceful people who were trying to make a living. And the miners did not like them. You know, accuse them of being thieves. At some point, a miner ends up stabbed in his sleep and a traitor from this caravan who was a Mexican man was, you know, blamed. And long story short, it turns out was not the culprit. It was the miner's friend who like killed them, killed them in a feud about gold. So Sheriff kicks the miners out and basically says, I did what I had to do. I have no regrets or weight on my soul. So not quite the pacifist that Jacob is, but very much focused on what is just and what is right. - Yeah. - And so Clemency was moved away from the mines and rebuilt. Sheriff says, it's a hard life here, but, you know, the people are grateful or Sheriff is grateful. Sheriff says, it's given me a somewhere to live. People don't see me as an oddity. And Sheriff tells you, one of the boys asks Sheriff, like, do you still know the marshals? Are you still, you know, involved with them? And Sheriff says, I quit after, you know, kicking the miners out of the town. So that's all I had from this scene. Basically, learn that Sheriff is formidable, probably not enough to stop one or two entire gangs, but certainly would put up a fight. - Yeah, Sheriff is like, the portrait of Sheriff is like this grizzled older person that uses a cane. It's like always carrying a flask of some alcohol, I assume, to kind of just like numb whatever pain Sheriff is in all the time. But, you know, it still comes off as this very kind of like, not threatening, but just like-- - Unfuck with a bull. - Unfuck with a bull is great, yeah. And I do think, I just wanna read that whole sentence of the people who don't see me here is an oddity. People here don't see me as an oddity. They don't fear me. They don't mock or interrogate others for how they live. And then Sheriff says, Sheriff brings up loving the town and Joseph is like, oh, I don't think a town can love you back. And, you know, Sheriff talks about how this is a community, but then says, this ain't just community, it's family. You know, and we're, you know, the thesis is found family. That's another great, you know, thematic drop. Yeah, that's all I had for the rest of that scene. So then you leave, and since Kim, you went here second, and then I went to the town hall second, but wherever you go second, the next scene after that, you know, you're just kind of walking along with Joseph and they're like, all right, well, we only have one more place to go, so we should go. There, it's just written very vaguely, which I think is funny. But, and, but like Robin this whole time is like, oh man, like my head feels weird. My feet feel really heavy. I like can't focus on what Joseph is saying. And I, you know, in this moment, I was like, are we having a heart attack? Like do we have a migraine? Like what's happening? And then we pass out pretty much. And Joseph is like, oh, okay, well, let's, let's go like, find somewhere where we can sit and like chill out. And then it's like, oh, I haven't drank water and literally all day, I'm just dehydrated. So there's a cute little scene of the two of them hanging out a bit. And I don't remember where, I don't remember what the, the line preceding it was, but Robin says something. And then Joseph laughs and Robin thinks he had a nice laugh, you thought, which. (laughing) Oh, there was also a moment I wanted to bring up. My first moment for the sheriff's office was that Joseph has to duck through the doorway because he's so tall. (laughing) Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's impossible. Listen, I'm just going to say it's impossible to end this game without having a little crush on him. A crush, yeah, of course. He's so charming. Yeah, but that line is, you know, he had a nice laugh, you thought, and then the follow up is maybe it's, maybe it was just nice to hear a laugh that wasn't done at you. Yeah. Jesus Christ, man. And so then they, you know, they're kind of just chilling, getting hydrated, and I don't remember how it comes up, but Joseph starts talking about playing cards with his dad, and about God. He loved to find stones in the river. He would try and find like the smoothest and prettiest ones, and then bring him back to his dad, and then they would play poker using those to bet with. Yeah, I think the, just with noting the way that this comes up is, you know, Joseph sort of says, hey, like, it's fine. We can take a moment to relax. What do you do to relax? And Robin, like, doesn't have an answer. He's like, I guess I play cards. And it's like, oh, okay. So you're just in a constant state of anxiety. Right. It's basically what we're learning here. Yeah, 'cause Robin plays solitaire, and Joseph is like, oh, do you ever win? And Robin's like, oh, not really, but it's not really about winning. It's just kind of to have something to do, like with my hands and brain. But yeah, the story Joseph tells about like playing cards with his dad is very touching. It's very sweet, yeah. So then he pulls out a pack of cards and plays the good-- You could try and say it if you want. I can try ving-tenen, which is just blackjack. Yes, yeah, I think that's 21 in some language. I don't know what language it is. And I don't know if it means 21, I'm just kind of guessing. No, that sounds right. 'Cause like in Spanish, it's like vante, you know, so it's like a letter, a word that starts with V, and then some qualifier, and then un, you know, but yeah, it's just blackjack. French. French. French for 21. We we, it's we-- No, it's all a summer. No, no, French, only one accent is allowed here. No, but written out, I think, wheat law summer works really well. Like, oh, you, and then the eye. We don't see all of you. Anyway. No, no. Anyway. All of our French listeners, we love you. Yeah, so then we play that. But it's not your time. It's not your time, it's outlaw time. So you play blackjack, did you win? Yeah. Yeah, I also won. I almost didn't. I was very close to losing. Here's the thing. I wonder if it's even possible to lose. Sure. Because I think, so part of what Joseph tells you in that story about his dad, his dad would almost always beat him, but occasionally let him win when there was a particular rock that he knew was Joseph's favorite. He always knew which one's about favorite and never wanted to see me cry. And so the thing that Joseph decides you're going to bet with is one of his feathers. And then if you win, Robin gets one of his feathers. I believe my read on this. I don't know if you can lose, but I doubt it because the feather comes up again. Yes. So my read on that is Joseph lets Robin win because he wants him to have that feather. Oh, wow. Romance. Romantic. Yes, let me get the feather. And then we're like, he, he, ha, ha, get fucked. Let's go visit the third place. Yes. He doesn't actually say get fucked, it's fine. No one says fuck in this game. Nobody says fuck, unfortunately. So then on your way back, no, so then you do the third thing. And then you leave the town again to go talk about like what to do next. And you're both like, there's got to be a mine around here somewhere, you know, Cher said they moved the town, which means, you know, the mines are wherever the old town was, but you know, there's really no way to find that. That was 30 years ago. And you know, you kind of go back and forth a little bit. And, and this is kind of where Robin kind of voices more of his apprehensions of like, well, you know, like, maybe we shouldn't even bring it up and blah, blah, blah. And then you're like, all right, well, we'll stay at the saloon tonight and we'll see if we can figure anything else out tomorrow and then head back to our, you know, to our gangs, whatever. And so you head back to town and you see Bartholomew talking to Sheriff and then Bartholomew goes inside and Sheriff starts walking toward you. And so the, but he, but Sheriff looks different. There was a tiredness talking about Sheriff's eyes. There was a tiredness in them, a fierce tiredness behind which was a wild look. You'd only seen the eyes of the newly grieving. Which fuck man, that's such a good line goes so hard. And yeah, basically is like, hey, I know your fucking deal. Get the fuck out of my town. Never come back. Like if you come back, it all we are going to shoot you on site. Like we're not even going to deal with it. And you're like, all right, well, fuck. I don't even think Joseph says anything here. I think Joseph. He just leaves. Joseph walks away and then Robin stands there for a couple more seconds and just says sorry and then leaves. Yeah. And Robin's internal dialogue there is like, you can tell he is just fully ashamed. Yeah. Yeah. God. Oh God. That's wild. It's so good. It's it's it's the definition of I'm not mad. Just disappointed. Yeah. It's like no. Yeah, it literally comes up later of Robin trying to think about like what, you know, what Sheriff looked like and it's like, I don't want my lizard parent to be mad at me. Sheriff wasn't angry. Just kind of frustrated. And then it goes away and there's just one text box that pops up. It just says disappointed period. Like, so then the two of you walk out of town in silence. You don't talk about anything. Robin says here, you know, you talk about like Joseph not saying anything. Robin says, you understood, of course, as much as you'd like to not think about it either, you couldn't ignore the small dread in your chest. Like it was in the cavities of your inside seeping around in between your organs, a creeping tar, not a suffocating tar, just making you feel heavy. Dense. If you stopped walking now, you didn't know if you'd start again. Oh. Yeah. So they've written it really well written. They arrive outside of town and, you know, you're just like setting up your stuff, you know, studying up a fire so you don't fucking freeze to death in the desert. And Robin gets his stuff all set up but then notices Joseph's having a bit of a hard time setting up his tent and I guess sorry, it's not like a tent. It's like a, it's just like a piece of cloth that they have like propped up on one stick. It has a different name. Anyway, but then there's a moment where Robin goes over and just like un hitches like a piece of cloth that was stuck and they're their hands touch gasp. And that kind of like shocks Joseph out of this like stunned silence that the two of you have been in this whole time. And then, you know, you kind of just start talking and start making food and whatnot beans, start making beans and and this is a Western without some beans. Yeehaw, baby. I was trying to think of like a fart joke that wasn't just like and then they farted a bunch. But that's as far as I made it. So then they then they farted a bunch. No, they they're making food and you know, they're they're just stirring the beans and and this is like one of the first times we see Joseph kind of like lose composure and you just kind of notice that his like he grips the spoon really hard and is just kind of like his knees bouncing and he's just like, you know, kind of like lost, but you know, you're talking about you're trying to you're trying to console him and you're like, look, it looks like there weren't mines here anyway. So it's like it didn't really matter if we tried to get more information like we were going to have to go back and tell them we didn't find mines and Joseph kind of snaps and it's like, Oh, yeah, that'll go over really well. Like I'm sure like I couldn't find it sorry. Yeah, I'm sure they'll understand that it wasn't my fault or something like that. Yes, yeah, yeah, just like, Oh, man, he's so sad. This guy is so sad. He's feeling so so so much. And then, you know, he he like apologizes and then, you know, he's he's freaking out stirring the beans. And so we take we Robin puts his hand on Joseph's hand and takes the spoon from him in a very tender moment. And love a hand to touch. A hand touch into stirring beans. But then Joseph starts preening, which, you know, the bird classic bird activity preening, but with his knife instead, just kind of like scraping off dead feathers and like dirt and whatever, which is, you know, normally a thing that birds do with their beaks. And so Robin is like, Hey, I don't want to be weird or like insensitive or anything. But like, why aren't you using your beak for that? And Joseph's like, Oh, you know, my mom always used to say, you don't use your beak for things around anyone other than family or lovers. It ain't polite for shadowing. And then you start talking about Joseph's getting the black vultures and like their reputation. And Joseph is like, Oh, you know, they're they're outlaws and blah, blah, blah, but you know, I they kind of suck. But like, I keep myself useful and it's worked out for me. Like, you know, as long as I as long as I am a good lookout who like makes myself useful, I'm not going to get like murdered or like left for dead or something like this is the best. This is the best situation that I currently could come up with. Yeah, he talks about the boss and says that he's like a backstabber and like fan sees himself like a gentleman outlaw. He was a city slicker. And now he's like pretending to be a cowboy, basically. And he mentions like, yeah, he's like a terrible shot and actually has like a shootist on the team, which is never for him. What I've never heard before, shootest, wild, Annie Oakley. You know, just throwing out whatever things I know about cowboys, which is truly not that much. We're going to run out in this episode. Yeah, for sure. I have to think of new outlaw words before the next time. Thesaurus.com and then Robin talks about Curly Wolf, who is his boss. And it's like, couldn't be more different. Like he's like, whatever, whatever reputation Curly Wolf has, I can tell you it's worse than that. Like he's afraid to even talk about it at first. It was like, he doesn't even talk at camp. He says, I've never talked about him. I wouldn't, which is fucking wolf. Yeah, yikes, yikes. There's a really good line after Joseph talks about just keeping useful and, you know, being kept around. Robin thinks, you know, it explains to you, I guess, you understood what he was saying, what he meant, what he really wanted to say. You understood how it felt to be that under that kind of looming shadow. No one for miles around, but don't say anything just in case. Like, fuck, dude. Yeah, I mean, and then it immediately goes into like, well, I have never talked about Curly Wolf, I couldn't, I would never. It's just like these things that you know to be true within yourself, that you're just like afraid to vocalize for X, Y, Z reasons. You know, the people who are normally around you. Yeah, there's also kind of a brutal moment where Joseph asks what happened to Robin's arm. Robin explains that the other members of the gang pulled a prank on him at camp where they took his bandana and shoved it in a horse's mouth and then encouraged him, not encouraged him, but like basically pressured him to like stick his arm and get it out. Yeah. And, you know, the horse obviously bit him and he ended up having to get his arm amputated and he plays this down and it's like brutal. It's so rough. It's really upsetting. It's like really, really sad because he tries to immediately like deflect, like, oh, but I got the bandana back, so it wasn't an autotally bad situation. It's like, yeah, yeah, you don't have to make a joke here. Like, that's just bad. Yeah, you're traumatized, dude. It's fine. Oh, my God. Fuck. It's so, it's so, so rough. There's also, there's also a moment here where they're eating and, you know, they're just kind of eating in silence and it says, you could tell he didn't want to stare, but his eyes took you in anyway with long glances. And I wrote, hey, I have to talk about this on a podcast because, hey, holy shit. Yeah. The tension. His eyes took you in anyway with long glances. Jesus Christ. Um, I'm flushed. Refertive glances above the beans. Yeah. My star is, and I've fanned myself. And then, you know, they're still talking about the town and like how the town is actually like nice and like if they could have, they would like stay there. And Joseph says, maybe in another life, we could have gone back there. It would have been nice, but this is our life, our only one. It is what it is we move on and that's how we live. You could feel the wind blowing behind you, ruffling your trousers, whistling past your ears as it seemed to push you toward the edge of the cliff. You shouldn't have talked back to him. You knew how that always went. It never ended well. You just made him feel worse like it was his fault. Why should he have to listen to your stupid concerns? It was your shit to figure out. He owes you nothing. You just met. You don't know each other. If it weren't for convenience, you would have shot each other hours ago, which is just the worst shame spiral. It's so upsetting. And it makes me really sad that Robin feels like that. Yeah. And then and then oops. Oh, whoops. Oh, there's only one blanket. There is only one blanket. So at some point, Robin fingers out, like, oh, fuck, I did not bring my blanket. And I always bring my second blanket, he says. At this time, baby. But yeah, you're you're in this, you know, sort of tense conversation. And finally, Robin admits to to to Joseph that regardless of whether or not there's gold, even if Robin goes back and lies and says, there's no gold here, Curly's going to attack the town. Yeah. And and that's when Joseph sort of snaps and is like, this is not my problem. Like what am I supposed to do about that, basically, which leads to the shame spiral. And it's, you know, Robin is sort of standing there away from the fire, looking out over the town, getting cold, not even really realizing it. And he hears behind him, Joseph stand up and he's like bracing himself. He's like, OK, this is it. Like where, you know, whatever, like good will we've had now is gone. And he's probably going to like try to like attack me or something. I don't know. And instead, what happens is Joseph just like drops his blanket onto Robin's shoulders and is like, you are freezing. Please come over and sit by the fire. And so I think at this point, like, apologizes to for snapping. Um, yeah, sort of like realizing that is a thing that he does. And so they go back and sit near the fire, but it's clear that like now, Joseph is cold even by the fire. And so Robin comes and sits next to him and they share the blanket. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's so nice. And then we get this, another portrait of them sitting, like holding each other around the fire, which God is so, so good. And they do the most romantic thing you can do. Plot murder. Yeah. Um, yeah, before we, before we plot the murder, there's the other coal line Robin thinks, why is this so warm? Why do you feel like this? Not warm, like you're around a fire, but like there's a fire inside you. Warm coals shifting round inside and embers spitting in your throat. Uh, yeah. Cole. Nice. Whoo hoo. Cole. We got to get, we got to get some more coal metaphors in here, uh, for outlaw summer. Uh, I hope so. Yeah. Start to start. And more murder. And more murder. Yeah. So basically the two of them were like, Oh man, I wish that we could just stay together forever. Uh, you know, like that the sun wouldn't rise and we could just like cuddle here forever. And, you know, it sucks that we have to ride back in the morning. Did they smooch here? I forget. They do not smooch here. No, no, no, no, but they, they, they nuzzle in each other's like shoulder neck areas. Uh, Joseph talks about, you know, I wish we could run away just the two of us. Uh, and then Robin is thinking and it's like, Oh man, what a great thought no one's ever wanted to do that with me. Oh yeah. Open it up, up another can of beans. Hold on. We just, we only drink. We're just drinking beans straight out of the cream. All every outlaw summer episode. That's what a real cowboy does a real cowboy does. Um, maybe this is the point where we should point out that we're doing a night recording. Yeah, it's a nighttime recording, everybody. If you couldn't tell by the immediate energy, it's not, it's not just outlaw summer that's got us, uh, rootin and tutin. It is that it is 10 30 p.m. on the east coast and I've had a, I've had a glass of wine. Uh, sorry. I've had a glass of beans, two beers already. Two beans, two cans of beans. I had a beer with dinner and then I was like, that's all I need. And then you said you were having wine. So I was like, okay, I'll grab another one and then another one for after that course. We're recording a ram after this to make sure to keep up the energy. Yeah. Uh, anyway, yeah. Um, yeah. So basically the two of you go back and forth, beating around the murder bush, I guess, like, Oh man, wouldn't it be great if black vulture and curly wolf just like disappeared and we could just do whatever we wanted. And then Robin's like, wait a minute. What if we kill them? It's just like, it's so funny. It's extremely funny, but like it is their, their point is like, we're never going to feel safe because we're always going to be like looking over our shoulders. It's, oh man. So you plot. Yeah. So we'll do that for sure. We'll figure it out in the morning and then you wake up and then they go to bed. Um, I didn't take a ton of notes here, but basically they decide to go back to town and surrender to sheriff. So they're sort of like a tense moment where they have to like sneak in the back of the town because if they just walk in, sheriff has told them like he will just shoot them or I'm sorry, sheriff will shoot them. And so the boys show up and they're, they sort of like surrender. Yeah. So they, they surrender to sheriff and are just like, can we just talk it out? Yeah. And so they say, look like what we told you earlier was true. There are outlets coming there from our gangs. We like want to help you. And sheriff says, why don't you just lie to them and say that the town is heavily armed. Um, we say, well, we could do that, but wouldn't it be better if we just murdered and, um, for some reason, in context, I guess, it is just really funny. That's like, well, we got to do this. Yeah. Let me do the murder. And also I think sheriff, like it's been established that sheriff is a compassionate person. And so sheriff can probably read between the lines of like, that's what they need to do, to ensure their safety. Right. And so sheriff suggests, well, why don't you hit the two of them against each other? Very smart. And explains that the, as Ajay mentioned earlier, the whole town, when they need to get supplies, because they're so remote, it takes the entire town to like go and get everything that they need for that month. Um, and it just so happens they're going on one of those runs in three days. So sheriff says, look, everybody will be out of the town. It'll be like safe. They'll be safe. Um, all of these townspeople who we super don't want to get in the middle of the murder. Um, so bring your gangs here and do what you got to do. And so that is the plan. Yeah. I think it's really cool. I guess I don't think that's the word I want, but at the end of that, like you make this plan and you're like, okay, we'll do this, sheriff says, and thank you for trusting me with this. You took a real gamble coming back here, which I just think is so interesting for sheriff to thank them for like, for like trusting the town, like trusting that like sheriff will hear them out and not shoot them. Well, I think it's probably to me, I think that that goes back to the idea of being, being looked at and not through. I think that's sheriff acknowledging like, you see this town for what it is. You see me for who I am that like you could, you could trust us to, to, you know, take care of you in this situation. Yeah. And also, yeah, also being like, I understand that you are under so much pressure and that this is a very hard thing to do. Yeah. And part of part of what it, what leads Robin and Joseph to, to even do this. And the first place is the memory of that, that disappointment that sheriff was feeling that he wasn't mad. Like, this is a person who has compassion. And so like, it just feels like they're, they have seen sheriff. Sheriff has seen them and, and it's like, okay, you belong here. And sheriff probably knew, I think from the beginning that like, it seems like these people are, are, you know, they're like clemency folks. Like people who, who belong here and will understand what this town is about. They get it. Um, they get it. Yeah. So we're going to murder in three days. We're going to murder. And then that means we got to depart. We got to leave each other. And it's so sad. It doesn't feel fair. The idea of losing something you only just found only just got the chance for. Fuck, dude. Yeah. Oh my God. It's a very, very emotional parting. I forget. I think it's Joseph who brings it up first, this says, if something goes wrong, like the two of them sort of make a pact that they will run. Um, yeah, yeah, because it's, what did they say? It's, they're like, it's better to, you know, run and be alive. Then like, you know, stick around and die or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then before you leave, it's the classic, like, all right, time to go. See you and then, you know, music swells. Actually, we're going to run into a hug, but the screen is just completely black here, twisting, pressing your face. Now over his shoulder, arms clinging around his side. You were holding him before you could think and then a portrait of them hugging. Um, that's so beautiful, dude. And I think, is this the part where, where Robin says, um, like he could hold you so tight. He breaks a rib and you wouldn't care. Yeah. Yeah. Cause then after the hug, Robin talks about feeling like the, the, the metal parts from, uh, from Joseph's outfit, like that we're pressing into Robin's skin, like can still feel the impressions, but, but Robin's like, I don't care. I would, I would hold, I would hold him forever. Fuck good. And then we move on to, they, they, they depart on their horses. Also just a classic world of anthropomorphized animals using horses. Maybe you would think about that the whole time. Um, just funny, the ones that, the, the animals that get assigned intelligence or not, uh, or sent sentience, I guess is the, whatever, sentience isn't even the word. Anyway, whatever, we get back to the camp, um, and get off our horse and we're like, all right, we got to go see curly wolf and we start walking that way. And then Robin's like, wait, hold on. Turns back around ruffles through, uh, the, the saddle bags. And it's like, Oh, I hope I didn't lose it. Uh, and then you find the feather that, uh, Joseph had given you. And, uh, then curly wolf calls you over and it's like, Hey, you're supposed to come right to me. When you get back, no fussing around with your little horsey. Um, like, okay, cool pushes Robin down. Um, you know, Robin's just like, you know, this is just the thing that happens. Everybody thinks it's funny. And at this point, I'm just too annoyed or like I'm just too, like over it to make a big deal about it. And then, uh, feed Carly the Intel. Yeah, you feed Carly the, the kind of botched intel of like, Oh, they're armed to the teeth, but good news is that they'll be gone in three days. So no one will be around and we can, we can go through the town. And Carly's like, ah, cool. Great. We'll, we'll ransack the town when no one's there. Uh, and then it's, uh, you get up this line. You went back to being invisible and just kind of like disappear for a couple of days in your camp. And then we are, uh, so it comes to the, the time to like the next day is going to be the, the, the ransacking of the town. And, um, we get Robyn's like night before that, um, of just like staying up with anxieties, thinking about like what could go wrong or like if everything, you know, what could go wrong in camp before they get there? What could go wrong when they get there? You know, what, you know, just all the stuff that could go wrong. And then he thinks about Joseph and the feather and is like, but it doesn't matter because I'll, you'll see him tomorrow. And then the final line of that scene is just you'll see him tomorrow. And it's Robin, I think in a, in a pose we hadn't seen yet, uh, holding his, like little hat over his heart, uh, just as you'll see him tomorrow. Um, so sweet. And so that is the next day. And curly wolf is like, I'm taking my 10 best guys. We're doing this thing. And then, you know, self professed, not best guy. Robin is like, I got to get on this crew. Um, and it's basically like, Hey, I have been there before. I know like the ins and outs of this place, you know, and you'll need somebody to keep a lookout just in case, like the people are supposed to be gone. But maybe some of them come back or something or like, maybe something, you know, whatever. So you're going to need to look out. Uh, and so curly wolf kind of like begrudgingly agrees to bring you along. I love the portraits of like the other people, like the other, the other cannons, I guess in this crew, they're like, they've got these like bandit masks on just, I mean, they, they all look basically the same, uh, like silhouette as a, as Robin has, but it's just cool. The art style is just good. And whenever there's like a new piece of art, I'm like, fuck yeah. Another piece of art. Good art. Um, yeah. And I guess worth noting like curly wolf is like constantly snarling. Like there's like always this like, you know, when, when dogs snarl and they like pull back their, their snout or whatever, and it like bumps up a little bit, uh, it looks like curly wolf, like always has that, which is fun, I guess. So then you depart, you make your way back to clemency with the crew. And no one's there. Uh, and you're like, accept, accept. You run into the black vulture. Yeah. And I think earlier on, uh, I, I think, uh, Robin had said like, that we're talking to Joseph about like the black vulture and curly and curly wolves, like reputations, like black vulture has said that he would kill curly wolf to like prove that he's the best. And Robin's like, I don't even think curly wolf even knows who black vulture is, uh, which is basically what happens in this thing. It's just like very good. Yeah, it's like black vulture who is clearly mostly bluster and curly wolf, who's the real deal. Yeah. And so there's this sort of tense standoff. And you can see Joseph in, in, you know, in among the other gang. And so this, at this point, you get a couple of choices. Yeah. Robin first remembers like, oh, yeah, black vulture has this like really talented shootest, um, who a funny word. Yeah. Who, you, you get the option of do you tell? Do you warn curly about this guy or not? I chose not to because I figured like curly obviously has the advantage here because he's like actually a talented like outlaw, like he's actually the real deal and black vulture is like kind of a clown. And so I was like, I think like, if you tell curly about that, I have to assume that like that would give curly like the advantage and you want them to be evenly matched. So I, I did not tell him, did you? I panicked as I want to do when a game in the last, uh, eighth of the game presents you with a choice. I panicked and did speak up about the shootest. Um, not really for any specific reason. Part of me was like maybe then, uh, part of me was like, well, when I speak up curly wolf will like draw, turn his attention to me and then maybe they'll shoot. I don't know. That didn't happen. And then as soon as soon as I was like, tell them about the shootest, I was like, what if Joseph is the shootest? Oh, I don't know why Joseph would be the shootest. But part of me was like, fuck, he is. He's not. So what happens if you, uh, basically you, you, you know, you, uh, get his attention and he's like, well, hey, like, thanks, like good, good going. I guess you're not totally useless pretty much is like the vibe. Uh, and that's, that's pretty much it. It's, it's, it's nothing like, like super crazy. It's just like, well, maybe it'll, maybe it'll cause a difference later. Yeah. Cause you see, you see curly wolf, see the shootest and like acknowledge that fact, but it doesn't affect the shootest shows up later anyway. Okay. So I, I don't know. So after that, you get the option to stay in the gunfight. That is about to happen or run away. And Robin's kind of like, I've never been like, I'm not ordinarily around for gunfights. Like if I stay, it's very likely that I'm going to die. And so I was like, listen, my bird boyfriend told me that if something goes down, we're going to run. So I decided to run in which case it's like you make eyes at Joseph and like it, you know, sort of like silently both understand, okay, we're going to, we're going to book it out of here. Yeah, um, you know, before this breaks bad. And so you bolt. Yeah. I also ran the music here is fantastic because it is this very like tense, uh, kind of soundtrack. And then as soon as the fight breaks out, it picks up with this like drumbeat that is so good, like really great at building the attention. And these last few scenes, like, like action scenes are fantastic. Yeah. So good. Yeah, it's, it's really, really well written, like fight scenes, which is a supremely hard thing to do. And like, you know, this is a visual novel. So there's a visual element to it, but like it's pretty minimal. Like really, it's like, oh, you're, you're struggling with Curly Wolf. And it's like the two character models have just been put next to each other. It's not like they're actually fighting or doing anything active. The writing is just so good that it feels so dynamic and like so tense. And the music is perfectly paced with everything. It's, oh my God, it rocks. It's so, so good. Yeah. So yeah, as you, as you turn tail, it's get this great sort of like you hear a gunshot ring out, but like you're, you're already running. And so I guess we don't know what happens if you stay. But if you run, Robin runs for a little while through the town and eventually finds Joseph, but Joseph is being chased by the black vulture. They end up sort of like tussling and sort of fall down a hill together. Oh, interesting. That's not what happened for me. Oh, really? Yeah. I don't think they tell. OK, so that that's the difference, I guess. And if you tell about the shoot us or not, I had a feeling that would affect what happens. Yeah. Yeah. What happens? We run away. Joseph also runs away and then we see Curly Wolf like hop into the alley. That's like adjacent to ours. Got it. OK, so it's like, I see you, fucker. So the, the gunshot that rings out as you leave, I believe, is the shootest hitting Curly. Oh, if you don't tell him about it. So, so that's why I got this scene instead. So yeah, why don't I all recount? Yeah, yeah, I guess through to the end is, yeah, that probably changes the whole. I have a whole, I have a whole scene that I imagine you didn't get, I guess. Probably not. Yeah. OK, so you run into Joseph, who's being followed by the Black Vulture. They, you know, end up sort of like tussling with each other, fall down this hill. Robin follows and together are able to get the upper hand on the Black Vulture. And Robin hands Joseph his gun, which, you know, Joseph aims at the Black Vulture and the Black Vulture is like, you know, like trying to convince Joseph not to kill him, but not like begging, just like, Oh, this is the thanks I get. Like, you know, I've always been a gentleman. This is how you repay me or whatever. And obviously nobody's buying that. So at some point he lunges for his gun. And Joseph shoots misses the first time as Joseph has basically mentioned, like, I'm not a great shot. And then the second time manages to to shoot the Black Vulture. So at that point, you're like, OK, we need to go like find Curly Wolf and take care of him. So you go back back into town where the fight broke out. And maybe this is the same. But I definitely have a different Black Vulture scene. So got it. So as you're sort of walking through the town, Curly Wolf, like sneaks up on you and gets the jump on you and stabs Robin in the side. Joseph attacks him and he also gets like a cut over his eye. Hot. Yeah. And so the two of you, you flee together to the saloon and sort of like hide in there. Curly's trying to find you. And while you're in there, it's like you hear shooting from the roof. And you're like, Oh, I guess like some of the Black Vulture gang like went up there and are sort of engaging with with the Curly Wolf gang members. And sort of as you're like peeking out through a window, Curly spots you and like comes into the saloon, you know, there's like a tussle between Curly and Robin. At this point, I forget where Joseph went. I guess like he just like went to hide somewhere else. And Robin was like waiting on the stairs up to the upper level of the saloon, like waiting with his gun. McCurley does get the jump on him. And that's when you, you know, you're sort of like struggling against him and notice that he's been shot. So Robin realizes it's like his like shooting his gun arm that is is injured. And so Robin realizes like, Oh, I can, you know, get the drop on him that way and kicks the gun out of his hand. They sort of struggle a little bit more. Robin like runs up the stairs and Curly follows. And eventually is sort of like on top of Robin, like with his knife, trying to stab him and Robin is like resisting with all of the strength that he has until finally Joseph shows up and shoots him. And he sort of like rolls off and there's sort of this like final showdown scene where like Curly is like bleeding out. And now Joseph hands Robin, his gun and Robin finishes it. Very poetic that we use each other's guns to kill our abusers. Yes, there's more, but I'm going to wait to see. Do you end up in the saloon at the end? OK, so I assume it converges there. So now what happened to you? So like I said, we run Joseph runs and then Curly Wolf like sees us run. And it's like, what the fuck? And then signals everybody to scatter, shooting starts Curly Wolf runs to the opposite alley that Robin runs down and is like gives Robin like I'm going to fucking kill you eyes and Robin's like, see you and runs away and makes it to like the, you know, makes that a dodge to like basically quote unquote behind enemy lines just by virtue of you're like weaving in and out of buildings, just trying to get away. It's like, OK, well, I got to be careful. I hope I hope Joseph is OK. And eventually we do find Joseph and it's like, hey, it's crazy. People get shot is wild. We got to get out of here and then we're sneaking through the town or we're sneaking through like the alleys and we see Joseph sees Curly Wolf like hiding in the shadows of this one building and then is like, ha, ha, ha, like jumps out, has a knife and, you know, like Joseph, obviously Curly Wolf doesn't know Joseph's name, but he's like, I'll let you go if you, you know, I have no beef with you right now. I just want to, I have to kill this like trader, whatever Joseph doesn't move. And so then gets like tackled and stabbed. And that's where his his stomach wound comes from in this. And this is sort of in this time. Like, so this time. Joseph gets yes, yeah. And so then there's like this really, really great fight scene back and forth. The, you know, he stabs Joseph and like throws him down and over. And we try and jump on his back and like choke him out. But there's like a, you know, there's a moment of like, like, can I, can I take him? Like he's like in these indestructible guy. Like I've never seen anybody beat him up. But then you see his nose is bleeding from where Joseph had hit him. You're like, Oh, he's just a person. Like I can, I can take him. And so jumps on jumps on his back, tries to like, I guess, like choke him out. But is just like doesn't have enough strength to do it perfectly. So gets thrown to the ground by Curly Wolf. Oh, sorry. I, I, this was the really good moment here was Robin was like frozen with fear as Curly Wolf was standing above Joseph, like taking out his gun really slowly, like opens the barrel to check how many bullets he has, like closes it back up. Like really slowly does the thing is like getting ready to like really reveling in getting to kill Joseph basically. And that's when Robin is like, he's just a person. I can take him. So then that happens. Sorry. And she says before Curly is about to kill Robin. Robin sees two figures in the back, like move. And Curly turns around and it like shoots at these two birds and then realizes like, Oh, Joseph ran like he left you. Like this guy doesn't care about you. He left like, isn't that like so you're you're so worthless. Like this guy, you know, blah, blah, blah, just like disparaging things. But then Joseph comes running up. It says you hear from a standstill. Someone starts sprinting up behind you as Joseph runs up behind and tackles Curly Wolf once again, knocking his gun out of his hand and just like holding him up against a wall. Basically, they're kind of in like a stalemate more or less. And then you use Curly's gun to kill him. Oh, yeah, Robin takes his gun and goes up and basically tells Joseph to move. And Joseph like throws Curly Wolf to the ground. And there's this like really kind of like harrowing portrait of this of these final moments of Curly Wolf's final moments, I guess, as Joseph like jumps out of the way and grabs the knife that he had previously stabbed Curly Wolf in the back with to like incapacitate him more or less. And then you Robin shoots him dead, rest in peace. Nice. And then we meet Vic and John. Hello? Yeah, more characters. Whoops. Vic and John are two birds from Black Vultures gang. Wow. And and Joseph is like, yeah, sorry. I had to rant, run and like grab my pals. You know, I told them we had Curly Wolf on the ropes and they, you know, they came and they helped him, whatever. And then he's like, but guys, I'm going to have to go kill Black Vulture now. And they're like, Joseph, no, like you can't. You can't do that. Like he's going to kill you. That's not how this works. And he's like, look, I we're going to do it. Whether you are like with us or not. And Vic and John are like, all right, man, like, I hope you don't fucking die. And they, you know, they let the two of you go. And we are kind of just like skulking around looking for Black Vulture. We get spotted by Black Vulture in the shootest and we run into the saloon. We give Joseph, because somewhere along that line, Joseph had lost his gun. We give Joseph Curly's gun. We still have ours. And then we're like, you know, sneaking around the saloon, how you were as well, look out the window and see the shootest, not, not Black Vulture. We see the shootest. Shootest fires misses is reloading his rifle. And then we get the shot in on the shootest as he's reloading. Yeah, which is sick as sick as hell. And then we see Black Vulture, he runs away. And then we're like, Oh, OK, where'd he go? I guess we're safe. But then it's seemingly he like teleported or something, not actually. But he was just like really fast, I guess. And like fast enough that we didn't realize that he like ran around the back of the tavern or the saloon, basically, and like came in the back with a bottle to then, you know, beat Robin over the head with it, knocking him to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand. And then it's like, you know, just talking about like, I'm the Black Vulture. I'm so fucking cool. And now I'm going to, if you know how hard it is to find a good shootest, now I have to smash your brains in with this wine bottle. And then there's this like really this kind of like really scary scene of Black Vulture on top of Robin, like he's got this bottle in his hand. And then there's like Robin goes through this like, Well, I guess this is fucking it. Like I can't believe I'm going to die like this. But then before we get our head beat in, because we told Joseph to hide, I guess, so that I don't really know 100% why Joseph specifically to hide. I guess maybe because he got stabbed. So we're like, you know, just go and, you know, don't get shot. But then Joseph comes out and shoots Black Vulture in the neck and he falls to the side. And then we're like, Oh my God, we're going to die. And then he looks at the Black Vulture and is like, don't worry. I'm going to give you a quick death, not that you not that you deserve mercy. And then shoots him in the head. Our boyfriend is so cool. And then, and then that's that's basically the end of it. Then it's like, OK, we, you know, they're both dead. We should make our way upstairs where it's safe and, and, and, you know, hopefully just kind of ride the rest of this out. And so then they go and do that. So we go hide upstairs. Yes, just sort of like wait out the rest of the fight. And you're hiding in a room, lock yourselves in, sitting together on the floor because you don't want to get any of Bartholom use bedsheets covered in blood. And they share a smooch. Yeah. Yeah, it's really, really sweet. The whole lead up to this. I just want, can I just, I just want to read like the lead up to this of like, you know, Joseph is, for me, Joseph is like kind of freaking out just like, you know, I hope everything's going to be OK and blah, blah. And, you know, you, you grab his hand to kind of like calm him down. And I'm just going to read, I'm just going to read. It was trembling as you stroked your thumb over the feathers, squeezing his hand back firmly. Your hands moved around each other, grappling and dancing, exploring each other's fingers and palms. A distraction of each other's fur and feathers, just the two of you. Joseph's arm being pulled away from him started to make him lean. His body subtly shifting inch by inch closer to you. He started to tilt and his head tilted too, laying on your shoulder with a comforting heft of weight. You laid your head on his. Feather ends tickling you through your fur. He untwisted his arm into a comforter position, keeping it near. You took a hold again, holding the back of his hand, digging your fingers in between his intertwining. Now you are both still, only the small movements of getting comfortable to disturb you. Hands fidgeting together. And then the kiss. The height of romance. Yeah, it's the actually the there's a couple more like lines in between that before they kiss and it's just like and then they get closer. And then your your faces are really close and you can feel each other's breasts. And then somebody says something funny and you both like lean back and laugh. But then you come back and are you closer now? And then you kiss. It just keeps going. I'm like, just kiss, please. Yeah, the slow burn of it all. Yeah, I didn't even like take notes on any of that. I was just like, just get to the smooth. Yeah, they did. They did. And then immediately afterwards, Robin is like, how was that? And Joseph is like, it was a very mammal kiss. Yeah. It's like a lot of lip. Birds don't have lips. And then shows you like how birds kind of like preen each other like face wise to like, you know, show that kind of physical affection and it's very sweet. I love my bird boyfriend. Yeah, I love my bird boyfriend. He slips an arm around your back holding you closer as your heart fluttered at the thought of familiar kisses, which is just like the idea of knowing somebody for so long that like their kisses are so good. Yeah. But then you hear footsteps. Uh oh. Mm hmm. Yeah, you hear footsteps and you're like, wait a minute, there's five steps and realize that it is Sheriff who walks with a cane and Sheriff has arrived with a hair who turns out to be Bartholomew's husband, Matthew, Matthew, who is a doctor, conveniently. It turns out they were on the roof sort of just like shooting as a distraction not to hit anybody, but just trying to help you. And so Matthew fixes you up, you stay at the saloon, sort of recovering, you know, there's some like really kind of sad recognition of like the fact that both of Joseph and Robin are like traumatized from everything that's happened to them. And both of them have nightmares. And so when that happens, they sort of like come into each other's rooms and like, you know, sleep in the same bed to sort of get through it together. But otherwise, they haven't like done a lot of like talking or whatever. And so we sort of skip forward a month after everybody's kind of started to heal and are well enough to join the folks downstairs for one of their nightly gatherings. You know, earlier on the when you first go to the saloon, you're kind of like, oh, it's kind of quiet here and Bartholomew says, yeah, you know, it's generally this quiet during the day, but at night, you know, everybody comes and, you know, we have a nice little like community gathering every night. So, you know, it's finally time for Robin and Joseph to kind of join for one of those. And we get this nice moment where they're kind of like, are you ready? No, not really, but like, let's go. So they go downstairs and Sheriff says, look, I don't know like what your plans are, but we would love you would stay in clemency and, you know, have this like nice sort of like drink with with all of the friends you made and and you're both kind of like, yeah, we haven't like talked about it. So we'll we'll think about it and get back to you. And then Joseph goes off to play cards, but Robert is like clearly anxious, like this idea of, okay, what are you going to do now doesn't seem to be something he's been focused on is he's just been like trying to heal and get better. And now he's like, holy shit, like, do I, you know, do I want to stay? Do I want to stay with Joseph? Do I even know Joseph that well, like, you know, we like have all this stuff in common, but like, I haven't really spent all that much time with him. And so he decides to get some air and like, oh, I'm just, you know, going to go outside for some fresh air and ends up taking a walk and walking all the way back to the cliff where he and Joseph first met and it's just sort of sitting there staring up at the sky thinking about what to do. I just really quick before they had before Robin heads out to the place where they met Jacob have some like, you know, I guess like pastor advice to give in some ways of talking about like, you know, like, if if your plan isn't to stay here, that's fine. Like you can do whatever you want, like you're free now to kind of whatever, like, obviously you are a different person than you were a week a month ago. You know, so like a lot of a lot of clarity can come from that. He says convening with your fellow people gives a great deal of clarity and substance to your character. So just like acknowledging the fact that like now that you're around people who can kind of like empathize and understand your experience, like, maybe that maybe that helps you now, but maybe it's maybe it makes you realize that you want to move on and do other stuff. And that's like totally fine. And then, you know, Robin's like, I'm going to go get some air. Yeah. And then there's this it's so pretty this little, this little scene. Yeah, it is beautiful. You know, Robin is just sort of like sitting there, reflecting on all of these questions and Joseph shows up. I love the detail that he shows up like with his beer and with Robin's glass of whiskey. It is like, Hey, can I sit here? Yeah. At the bar. And so they sit and drink under the stars and finally Robin admits that he is scared. He's scared, you know, of making the wrong decision. He's like, I have wasted so much of my life. I don't want to waste any more time. He says, I don't know you and you don't know me have done horrible things. I love you and I'm scared of hurting you. I'm scared that the man who hurt curly could hurt you too. And Joseph responds, I love you too. And I'm not scared of you. And I didn't take a ton of notes on the rest of this conversation except that that Joseph eventually says, listen tonight is tonight, eighth a night to worry about the rest of your life, which to me, I like I wrote down because it felt like one of the thesis statements of the game in a way of like, Hey, you don't have to have everything figured out. Like, you can like sit in the moment where you are at and and like, especially like, that is a that is something that can come from the safety of like being seen and being in the company of people who make you feel safe is like, you can just sit. Right. Yeah. Robin has this line, you know, when when he's going through all his feelings, he says, I feel like an animal that's been let out of its cage and gotten lost in the wilderness, which is just like, you know, this idea that like, sure, I was, I was imprisoned, but at least I knew what to expect there. And now that I've freed myself from that, now what, like, I can do anything, like, what am I supposed to do with that? Like, I don't, I don't know how to handle this. Like, I never saw my life outside of this cage. And now that I'm free from it, how do, how do I live this? And I think the game's answer to this is just like, you live it with other people who can understand your experience and you live it the only, you live it, however you live it. And it's not wrong. As long as you're out of the cage, you can do whatever you want. Mm hmm. Because that's like your actual real life. Yeah. Um, and the final lines of the game, unless there's anything else you want to touch on our art. You've spent so long looking out for yourself, looking out for people who didn't care about you. Now you can look out for each other. So good. I just love that, I love a thematic metaphor, you know, that's very good. Um, and yeah, again, is like sort of the recognizing that like when you reach a place where like you have a community that you can trust is like the moment that you can truly let go of the past and start moving forward. Right. That's a beautiful, beautiful game, beautiful message. Yeah. Man, we really, we really didn't async episode, anyway, the game is so good. The game is so good. It made me feel so many things. And I guess big takeaways now. Big takeaways. Right. Let's move to big takeaways. I mean, I do feel like we kind of, yeah, we, we've definitely touched on it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Like for me, I think the line that that sticks with me is tonight, eight, the night to worry about the rest of your life, that like that, that comfort of like not having to, to worry to like go through that process of rumination and anxiety because you are finally in a state of peace is like resonates a lot with me. And yeah, that's, that's the thing that I will remember when I think back on this game is like that image of the two of them sort of sitting on the cliff under the stars in that line. Yeah. It might be cold, but he's all the warmth you need. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think my, my big takeaway here is just like the general idea of community being the thing that people and specifically queer people need to thrive and flourish. And the idea that like just because the shitty situation is the only situation you've known doesn't mean it is the only situation you can know. And that like it's scary to do stuff you haven't done before. If it's going to make you the person that you're meant to be, you got to do it. Just the, the, the animal being let out of its cage got lost in the wilderness is really stuck with me. I think that's just like very much can encapsulate a lot of like just generally like the, the, the queer experience, the trans experience of like, sure, maybe I hate my body in the way that I look and feel and like I'm not right, like something always feels wrong. But like what, if I do anything about it, then a that means I was right, something was wrong and be now I have to figure out how to live life again, even though I've been like in this cage the whole time and felt safe in this prison, you know, being out of that prison can be just as scary as being in it, but it is the correct place to be is outside of it. Yeah. So that's my big takeaway. Yeah. Just one more stray thought as we wrap up that in reaction to, you know, your comments about like community, I think it's really impressive that this is a romance game where it's not, it is not solely about the romance. It is about the community and like, like what Robin and Joseph have found more so than just each other is also like an entire like place that they feel safe and comfortable. I just like love that like, like this is a romance, but romance is not like necessarily entirely the point. I think that that's like not probably not easy to do to like put those two things on equal footing and give them both like the space that they are given in this game and still feel important. Yeah. I mean, I think it all boils down to, I think that all kinds of boils down to like being looked at rather than looked through, right? It's all being looked at in different ways, like being looked at romantically being seen as just the person that you are, you know, having your experience reflected back in other people, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I, maybe I'm revising my big takeaway that like, like that is love, right? Like, regardless of what form it takes, whether it is the love of a community or the love of a romantic partner or the love of friends, like what love is truly is like being seen. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's really beautiful. Thank you, partner. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's lasso. Let's lasso this show. Let's hog tie the show up and then get out of here. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode, especially. I mean, I say it all the time, like play the game if you haven't, but like really, truly, I mean that genuinely with this one, like really like play this game and gobble it up. It's a supremely well made and I think important game to like play, especially if you're like myself, a queer person. So yeah, check it out. The itch page will be in the, uh, in the bio, the itch page will be in the show notes. Like I said, it's free in your browser. You can also download it off of itch for free if you want, but I would, you know, you should throw them a few bucks. If you get the gold edition, you get, um, additional like, not necessarily concept art, but just like additional art and like sketches from call who was the one who did the art in this game. You also get the soundtrack from Jamie or fake gamer comics, which is really good. And then there's also like a pack of wallpapers, mobile and desktop wallpapers, which you can get for just five British pounds, uh, it comes out to like $6 and 30 cents or something. So highly suggest checking that out. Also check out, uh, call hockey and Jamie while their links are in the show notes. And, uh, yeah, uh, if you want to tell us how the show is, look, hey, this isn't something we've said before, rate and review us on Apple podcast or Spotify, um, just kind of helps helps us get on lists and helps people see the show. I think, I think Spotify is more algorithm driven than, than Apple podcasts. But anyway, and also we just like to read nice reviews. Um, so come to our reviews and be nice, please, uh, be nice to me. Be nice to me. I like it. Um, you can also support the show directly, uh, at our coffee page. Uh, it's KO dash Fi.com/.zip that link also in the show notes, you can support us for five or $10 a month. Uh, and you'll get access to whenever we work, whenever we record a ram, you'll get access to that a few days early before everybody else does, as well as maybe some other stuff in the future. We've kind of noodle, noodled on a bunch of stuff, um, but we don't want to over commit and like have this all of a sudden become very much like a, uh, a part time job. So, um, that is in the show. I already have a more than full time. Um, you can also follow the other shows on the worst garbage network. Uh, we got into the eighth year, we got video game, we got pause and clause. We got can't let it go. We got frogga the week. That's all on the worst garbage dot online. You can find links to all of those shows there, you can find links to the shows, socials in the show notes, uh, and then maybe through there, you can find our socials. But, um, we don't, well, Kim posts more than I do. Yeah. So if you could, you could follow Kim on blue sky through the, uh, through the show blue sky. Uh, uh, and then, uh, but if you really want to talk to us, join the discord, uh, TWG online discord. It's a good place. It's a fun place to be. People are always sharing stuff. Uh, at time of recording, uh, Rob just shared his play through of artifact, which I'm supremely excited to read, um, so come there, hang out, let us know what you like about the show, I guess. And hey, we will, with the sun setting here on the old farm, uh, we'll, we'll, uh, get along to the next, the next outlaw summer, Kim, thank you so much for doing the show with me. You're welcome partner. Thank you. Uh, happy trails. Be seen. Yeah. Flippin pop. Flippin pop. Flippin pop. All right. See ya. Alright, see ya. Bye. Bye. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
