REARRANGED
Based on the video game series, Hylics, created by Mason Lindroth
and the musical Absent Moon, created by Chuck Salamone
INT. DEDUSMULN'S TENT
A cot sits center stage with a bright pink, helmetless suit of armor seated on it.
On the floor, downstage from the cot, is a smaller, helmetless, grey suit of armor, laying with the neck facing left.
Slightly stage left of the suit of armor on the floor sits DEDUSMULN'S head, roots splayed out around them.
A suit case sits in front of the cot.
A water cooler with a stack of paper cups on top sits upstage left.
PONGORMA enters, right.
PONGORMA
I apologize for dropping in without any warning Dedusmuln, however -
He pauses and looks around.
PONGORMA
Dedusmuln? Is everything-
PONGORMA sees DEDUSMULN'S head and for a moment, he forgets about the impermanence of death.
He runs to DEDUSMULN'S head
PONGORMA
Dedusmuln! Sages, what happened to you? Who did this?
He picks it up, awakening the Split Head.
DEDUSMULN
(rousing from sleep)
H-huh? Pongorma?
PONGORMA nearly drops DEDUSMULN'S head in shock.
PONGORMA
Frit!
DEDUSMULN
What ... what are you doing here?
PONGORMA
I ... Sages, Dedusmuln, what happened to your body?
DEDUSMULN
My seasonal molt came earlier than I anticipated so I had to make do and utilize one of the relics I located. Sir Pongorma, can you please place my bulb on the pink suit of armor on my cot. I believe there is still enough of a substrate inside for me to absorb into my imago.
PONGORMA
(confused and shocked)
Your bulb?
DEDUSMULN
What you are currently holding, my gallant companion.
PONGORMA hesitates, still stunned, before running to the suit of armor and carefully placing DEDUSMULN'S head on the neck of the suit of armor with the roots dangling inside.
DEDUSMULN sighs contentedly
DEDUSMULN
(relieved)
Thank you, Pongo. You have saved me several weeks worth of relying on the thigmotropic movements of my roots.
PONGORMA
(trying to reorient himself)
This ... happens often?
DEDUSMULN
Well, usually I am in the comfort of my home when this occurs but yes, this is how my cycle ends and renews. The seasonal molt occurred earlier this year, no doubt due to the changes in orbit and tides after our adventure to the moon. I shall have to adjust the scheduling of future excavations accordingly. I do not wish to flower while on a dig. It's hard to prune ones own flower without a decent mirror and you would be surprised at how difficult it is to work on a dig with your own sprouts. They may be clones but they are hardly perfect.
PONGORMA is silent for a moment, taking it in.
PONGORMA
So ... your old suit of armor ...?
DEDUSMULN
It was an excellent carapace for a season. I shall miss it but I needed to shed it and grow. I had no intention of inhabiting this particular carapace - the chromatic sensations clash horribly - but I suppose while I absorb the minerals and nutrients and form my new imago, I can document what I discover about its former inhabitant! It is a more roots on approach compared to my usual examinations of the remains inside of the relics I discover on ancient battlefields but as the ancient glyphs say, any port in a storm ...
PONGORMA
Absorb ... So ... that is what you looked like under the armor? A mass of roots?
DEDUSMULN
Well, somewhat. Split Heads are rather ... hmm ... literal I suppose? When my carapace is becoming cramped, I must untangle my roots from the clay body I created and make my way into a new carapace. My imago is quite teneral so it is indeed very fortunate that you arrived when I did. If a cone cultist or sauoplit had come in ...
PONGORMA
Slip ... Dedus, I-
DEDUSMULN
Oh, Pongorma it would have been dreadful! I can hardly gesture when I'm in this state so naturally I would have perished. I would have had to crawl out of the Afterlife and then find a suitable place to return to so that I could purchase a new carapace to inhabit - and Pongo, the ones with a substrate are so expensive in New Muldul! The last time I was in the afterlife, the Fronder didn't even know how to get me to the old archipelago, so going back there would be right out and the exchange rate of bucks to bones is quite ridiculous. Then I would have to take an airship back here and deal with the cultist-
DEDUSMULN realizes PONGORMA has barely been listening, absorbed in trying to understand this new world.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma?
PONGORMA
S-Sorry, Dedusmuln. I erm ... things were very, very different before I entered that vault. For instance, plants erm ... did not move. I did not even realize you were a plant-
DEDUSMULN
Plan-Oh! No, no, no, I am not a plant. I am a Split Head. We are ... hmm ... I suppose the pre-Accretion term would be ... an amalgamation? Yes. We are an amalgamation - much like many other sapient entities we have encountered in our quest to understand more about the Pre-Accretion and the Accretion that followed and led to the world we inhabit today. I am a vegetal insect, I suppose, if we wanted to attempt to classify me.
PONGORMA
Vegetal ... insect.
PONGORMA sits next to DEDUSMULN on the cot.
DEDUSMULN
Are you alright? I suppose I should have checked in on you more after our adventure, but I assumed you wanted to learn more about this world on your own-
PONGORMA
No, it is alright, Dedusmuln ... I ... Sages ... This world is so strange.
DEDUSMULN
Yes, based on what I have discovered from various depictions I have discovered in each dig site, the world has changed a lot. Speaking of ... Pongorma? Was it true that there were only a handful of sapient, dominant species on the planet in the Pre-Accretion?
PONGORMA
Well ...
DEDUSMULN
It is fascinating to me that there were not more societies of arthropods - Oh like that poor Clawman we had to fight in order to get to the moon - I found an interesting relic that implied that the Clawman's ancestors were considered a delicacy to the dominant land-based species ... I should have had Wayne let me save some of the Clawman's meat to see how it would be prepared-
PONGORMA
What? Dedusmuln, he was a sapient being! It was hard enough for me to grind meat from our enemies in the afterlife but to hear you suggest eating one outright-!
DEDUSMULN
Oh do not sound so surprised, my good knight. Life fed upon life during the Pre-Accretion just as much as it does now! I don't suppose you thought your vegetables weren't aware they were going to be consumed?
PONGORMA
To be honest, I never thought of it like that ... I'm sor-
DEDUSMULN
It is not a judgement, my friend! Far from it! It is simply a statement of fact! We Split Heads cannot judge after all. We must rely on the physical remains of others in order to grow. For instance ... hmm ... why, this former occupant seems to have a similar chemical makeup as you Pongorma! Was this a dread knight? I have never seen this armor before in Dread Knight crypts.
PONGORMA
As me-? Wait! How would you know that?
DEDUSMULN
Do not think that I would let your physical form go to waste while you remake yourself in the Afterlife, Pongorma. My leaves need the calcium and phosphorous and Dread Knight remnants have always been an excellent source!
It sinks in
PONGORMA
You ate me?!
DEDUSMULN
Just the bones that were left behind. Your flesh melted back to the Afterlife for you to reform around so there was no harm.
PONGORMA
How ... You don't have a mouth, Dedusmuln. Did you crawl out of your ... carapace to-?
DEDUSMULN
No, no, no. My roots are not the only way I get nutrients. If you look inside of my former carapace, you will see the dried remains of my leaves. Those leaves are covered in glandular hairs and are how I normally consume comestibles - as well as how I secrete the hallucinogens for my Panorama. Of course, I have to remove my gloves in order to absorb nutrients that way, but luckily my leaves are nastic and so I can eat on the go. Which reminds me ... I will need to find better gloves when my leaves grow. I can already tell it will be difficult to transpire in these ones.
PONGORMA is silent, taking it in.
DEDUSMULN
Once I have fully settled into this carapace, I shall need to decide where to take the old one. My former carapace might be helpful to another Split Head. There is plenty of substrate left and a smaller Split Head will be able to create a new imago from the nutrients after my shed leaves decompose.
PONGORMA
Your ... Slip, I can't believe you have leaves.
DEDUSMULN's head tilts slightly.
DEDUSMULN
What is so strange about my having leaves? It is how I have always been.
PONGORMA sighs.
PONGORMA
I suppose it is just because before the Accretion, plants didn't ... well ... move. Or speak.
DEDUSMULN
I am not a plant. I am a Split Head. A vegetal insect.
PONGORMA
(fondly)
The Sages' scientists would have been absolutely fascinated by you.
DEDUSMULN
It is always so surreal, knowing that there was a sapient, advanced society so long before ours - and that the only traces that they even existed are the recollections of whatever sages can be found and their relics that were left behind.
(shifting their head)
Pongorma? I require some additional assistance. My molt began so suddenly that I was not able to properly prepare the new carapace. Can you fetch a paper cup and fill it at the water cooler? The former occupant of this carapace is proving to be a somewhat difficult substrate to grow through. I fear their bones are already crystallized. This shall be quite difficult to stretch my roots into without more will.
PONGORMA nods, rises, and crosses to the water cooler, dispensing water into the cup.
DEDUSMULN
Thank you my friend. I am glad you are here. This part of the cycle is usually a quiet affair - One in which I am alone with my thoughts. I am grateful to have you here for a part of the process.
PONGORMA pauses and then turns with the cup.
PONGORMA
I am just glad I was here to help.
DEDUSMULN chuckles as PONGORMA crosses with the cup.
DEDUSMULN
After you pour the water into my new carapace, I think I'll be alright. I don't want to keep you from anything important.
PONGORMA
Nonsense! I'm happy to sit here with you.
DEDUSMULN
It could be several days, Pongo.
PONGORMA
(Fondly)
I stayed in a vault for several ages. I think I can handle a few days.
PONGORMA pours the water into the pink suit of armor.
DEDUSMULN
(Immense relief)
Oh concretions! I did not realize just how much I still needed to increase my will. Oh I can feel the root hairs finally break through the crystallized bone! Thank you, Pongo.
PONGORMA chuckles.
PONGORMA
Of course my dear friend.
DEDUSMULN'S head shifts as if they are getting comfortable.
PONGORMA
(Wistful)
I had a ... a very dear friend who would have been proud of me for successfully, well, re-potting you.
DEDUSMULN
Re-potting?
PONGORMA
Yes. My partner ... they were a scientist. One of the Sage's scientists. They were passionate about their plants and tried multiple times to show me how to re-pot them and would quiz me on their names ... There was a section of carnivorous plants in their office - they were their pride and joy. They had a water cooler with special water for the plants -
DEDUSMULN
Your partner had a water cooler? Exciting! Pongorma ... did ... have I ever shown you my thesis on water coolers? It was one I did in conjunction with my cousin Smuldunde. Sages, I probably have it memorized I rewrote it so many times!
PONGORMA
You wrote a thesis. On water coolers.
DEDUSMULN
Oh yes! It was the first artifact we discovered after waking up after the end of the Accretion! It was the most peculiar situation, Pongorma. Smuldunde and I woke up in a crypt and realized we must have lost track of time. We discovered it was nearly impossible to get out but then we discovered this very water cooler! It was in the corner with a small stack of paper cups. Oh we worked for hours to understand the pre-Accretion glyphs on the side of it but when we discovered the proper use and purpose, it quite literally gave us the will to escape the crypt.
PONGORMA
You were sealed in a crypt as well?
DEDUSMULN
Well, not purposefully. We had to dig quite a way through the clay to re-emerge, trying to discover what happened to us. To be quite honest, we didn't remember going to the dig site we had awakened at. Pongo? Can I share something with you that is strictly confidential?
(Pongorma nods)
When we woke up in that crypt ... we had forgotten our names! We had almost completely forgotten who we were - shocked at each other's appearance before we began to piece together who we were and what had happened. In my suitcase, there is an item that I carry with me at all times. Only Smuldunde has seen it, as they have one that is like it, but you ... you are my closest friend so I feel I can trust you with this knowledge.
Pongorma kneels behind Dedusmuln's suitcase and opens it, freezing in recognition as he stares inside.
DEDUSMULN
Do you see the placard that is in there? It was so smudged and torn - I theorized originally that Smuldunde's placard was the other half of this one however they insist this is not the case - but the pre-Accretion glyphs on the placards helped us to remember our names!
Pongorma lifts the torn name tag out of the suitcase, gingerly, as if it could crumble to pieces.
He knows this name tag.
PONGORMA
You ... this was their ... Desmund ... Dedusmuln, what else was in that room er-crypt with you?
DEDUSMULN
Well. There were broken pots that we determined were pre-Accretion in origin ... some other products made of paper that crumbled to dust when touched ... the shattered remains of glass - I theorized some belonged to the recesses on one of the walls ... the water cooler.
PONGORMA
Were there any plants?
DEDUSMULN
Hmm? No. Oh! There were signs of either Split Heads or our predecessor species in this crypt. For example, we did find one diagram of something that looked very similar to Smuldunde! And an anatomy diagram of what looked to be one of my fingers which I felt pointed to a sign that our clade has always been curious about what exactly makes us "tick". Smul, of course, feels it was a burial diagram since we were in crypt. However, what sort of crypt has evidence of possible windows? Why else would there be large recesses in the walls?
Pongorma stares down at the nametag, quietly.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma? Are you alright?
PONGORMA
Do ... what happened when you finally left the crypt?
DEDUSMULN
Oh! That was when Smul and I realized that everything had crumbled into Absurdity! We decided it would be better to split up for the time being. They traveled east while I traveled west. We kept in touch with letters sent via airship - it's how I learned this archipelago existed - and we continued to try to make sense of everything. Then I got trapped on that mountain and Wayne rescued me from those cone cultists and ... well, the rest is history I suppose.
Pongorma sets the nametag back into the suitcase.
PONGORMA
No ...
DEDUSMULN
Hmm?
PONGORMA
I'm sorry it's just ... the room you described sounded familiar ...
DEDUSMULN
It did?
PONGORMA
Yes ... And you do not remember anything before that?
DEDUSMULN
I'm afraid not.
A silence as PONGORMA tries to decide how to ask the next question.
PONGORMA
When you woke up, what was your carapace like?
DEDUSMULN
Oh I was still quite teneral. In fact, both Smuldunde and I were, however Smuldunde has always had more lamellar structures which are better at absorbing physical attacks. My imago at the time was only clay, root, and bone. It was surprising that I did not have a proper carapace. I suppose it was destroyed during the Accretion.
PONGORMA
Bones ... what ... do you remember who ... was the chemical makeup similar to ... to mine?
DEDUSMULN considers.
DEDUSMULN
I suppose in a way it was? I suppose it was the erm ... frame of reference for some of the most common of the former inhabitants of the types carapaces we use. Our reference specimen for Dread Knights and, really, any of the other bipedal former inhabitants of is based on what Smul and I observed in our bodies shortly after we awakened. However unlike the Dread Knights we found, this felt ... more like an extension of myself rather than a substrate that needed to be broken down? To be truthful, i was quite distressed during my first molt after the Accretion! Leaving that imago behind felt ... wrong ...
DEDUSMULN trails off.
The energy of the room has shifted.
PONGORMA is silent.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma?
No reply.
DEDUSMULN
I ... Sages I am sorry. I ... usually I am alone with my thoughts and this was the first time I've had someone here other than Smuldunde and ... I am so sorry Pongorma. I should have known what I was saying was troubling you but ... If you need to leave, I understand. And I will be alright, truly.
Your assistance so far has put me weeks ahead of schedule so I will be motile soon and if you decide it is too painful to be near me-
PONGORMA places his hand on DEDUSMULN'S.
PONGORMA
It .... it is alright. It isn't your fault. I ... I wanted ... I needed to know.
Silence
DEDUSMULN
Did ... do you know where I awakened?
Silence.
A confirmation.
DEDUSMULN
Your partner ... they were a sparring partner? I saw many reliefs of Dread Knights sparring-
PONGORMA
(Chuckling bitterly)
No ... they were more than that. They ... Sages how do I explain this to a plant?
DEDUSMULN
I am not a-
PONGORMA
Right, right. They were ... they were someone who was ... they were very important to me ... I knew there was a chance that they had perished in the Accretion. And we were ... I loved them so deeply ... and now they've ... you're ...
DEDUSMULN
I am afraid I do not understand.
PONGORMA grips the top of DEDUSMULN'S hand.
PONGORMA
It is alright. There is so much that I wish I could tell you but I don't even know how to explain it ... there is no frame of reference for you now.
Silence.
DEDUSMULN turns their head, with some difficulty, to look at PONGORMA.
DEDUSMULN
I am sorry, Pongorma, truly. I wish that I could understand. Instead I ... I chipped your will.
PONGORMA squeezes DEDUSMULN'S hand. He cannot explain this to a plant, but he can explain this to a clay hylic.
PONGORMA
No, my friend. You ... you still smooth out my edges and strengthen my resolve ... you ... they were my glaze, Dedusmuln. They kept me from shattering and dulling. They made me shine and held the color to my sou- my will ... much like you, Wayne, and Somsnosa have done.
A pause as DEDUSMULN considers.
DEDUSMULN
Your glaze ... Frit, I am so sorry Pongorma. If I had known -
PONGORMA cups DEDUSMULN'S face in his hand.
PONGORMA
Do not apologize, little bug.
DEDUSMULN
I'm not a-
PONGORMA
(Before DEDUSMULN can interrupt this moment)
You have given me answers to the question that was weighing down my heart. They are ... they aren't truly gone ... they simply rearranged.
DEDUSMULN
Like the seasons ...
PONGORMA
Hmm?
DEDUSMULN
The seasons. They change. They rearrange. They don't truly take anything. They will provide or replace ... Like when the stationary vegetal beings shed their vegetation and sleep through harsher times ... Or when I must shed my carapace and grow anew ... I'm still me, I'm just changed. They are still here.
PONGORMA
Just changed.
Silence.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma ... I am glad you were here. You ... you gave me a starting point on one of my biggest mysteries from before the Accretion. I can't understand all of it but ... it was an answer nonetheless. I owe you my deepest gratitude.
Pongorma chuckles fondly.
PONGORMA
You gave me answers, my glaze. And closure. I'm glad that I came in to check on you.
DEDUSMULN considers for a moment.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma, if they rearranged, perhaps we can find where their will reformed-
PONGORMA
I already know where they are ...
PONGORMA takes off his helmet and for the first time, DEDUSMULN sees his face.
DEDUSMULN
Pongo ... I ... this sounds foolish but I did not realize that was a helmet! Sages ... is ... how much did the Accretion change you? You look so ... interesting! Is this what the original form of the Sages- Scales and Venules! As soon as my leaves have full nastic movement, I shall have to record this image -
PONGORMA interrupts DEDUSMULN with a chaste kiss on their mouthless face. He ends the kiss and pulls away
A pause. DEDUSMULN is expressionless, confused.
PONGORMA rises, places his helmet back on his head, and leaves.
DEDUSMULN sits in silence.
Finally:
DEDUSMULN
Well now I just have more questions! Pongorma? Was that a pre-Accretion valediction? What is the appropriate response? I need to know!
Lights begin to fade.
DEDUSMULN
Pongorma?
END