Secure Transmission 0417

Transcript '''This is a Patreon-exclusive episode, available to all patrons contributing $1 per episode/month and up. It is not available in the regular podcast feed.'''

Date/Universe
April 9. No noticeable difference from our universe.

Plot Synopsis
"Holly is losing hope after a month with no response from Oak or anyone else on Yule Team. She doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing or why she's been put in her current situation, and she wants Oak to come give her instructions like usual."She's been thinking about giving up and letting herself be committed to a mental hospital, but she's afraid assassins will come after her if she's trapped somewhere.

Holly expresses her fear over the fact that she can't rely on Oak anymore, after always being able to before. She knows she and Oak were codependent, but they were afraid to break anything that was working, whether it was their relationships or Oak's drug use.

Holly reveals that Oak's drug usage was worse than she'd realized—or at least worse than she'd been willing to accept. She says she doesn't blame Oak for "what happened," but that she's still shaken up. And even more than that, she's angry—not just that Oak abandoned her at the party, but that afterward Oak sulked around, pressured her into filing charges, and made her assuage Oak's guilt instead of taking care of her own feelings. Holly believes Oak would have made up for it, given the chance, but it's a moot point.

Holly muses that there are several possibilities for Oak not answering, and that she can take some actions to eliminate some, but it will be hard on her.

She's been trying to find work online, but it's hard with limited library computer time. She's making a laptop her highest priority for the moment.

She says that although she must sound like a "complete mess" to strangers listening to her broadcasts, she was never this bad until December, and Oak was just as much of a mess. She wonders if Oak was faking being bad at dishes, paperwork, etc. She brushes that thought off, saying she finds it hard to believe, but then adds that she also finds her current situation hard to believe. She points out that Oak left her behind for drugs and then work, and wonders what she's being left behind for now.

As Oak
Holly sheepishly mentions that she made something to keep herself sane. She says it's stupid and Oak will laugh over it, but she plays it anyway.

Adopting a more chipper and confident tone, Holly greets herself and gives a firm but friendly pep talk. While pretending to be Oak, she repeatedly assures herself that she's doing a good job and that she's not as helpless as she thinks. She also assures herself that Oak is coming for her:"Just hang in there. I’ll set up an extraction as soon as I can. Both kinds of extraction. I’m not gonna let anything scary happen to you. I promise."