Welcome to town, Avra. I'm going to bother here for the greater good
of Crypti Kai, I guess you didn't tell them everything. Then it's not
a bad idea. Okay. I think we're gonna need a change of plans.
Season five, episode six, Public Opinion. Welcome, folixs. If
you are here for voting, please check in at one of the tables on
either side to receive your ballot and proceed to the ballot boxes. Hey,
Ben, working as the people wrangler today, I see yep, and security
and the person who tells everyone where the bathroom is. You know, it's
an important job. If you say so, here to vote, Yep,
Betty, to do my civic duty and get this shroud out of here.
I'm still so impressed that you guys were able to get this vote called so
fast. Well, Lizzie was organizing us, and you know her. If
she wants something done, it's gonna happen. Very true. Well, I'll
leave you to your job, see you later. Sounds good. Hi,
folks. If you're here to vote, check in at the tables on either
side and here's your ballot. Just make sure to fill in the bubble completely
and sign it. Here before dropping it into the bin. Thank you,
and take a sticker on your way out. Ovra. Hey, hey,
Juliette, Roxy, you're registered to vote? She better be. I'm pretty
sure I registered back when I first moved here. Yeah, what's your last
name? Nunyaz? All right, let me look so. Ha's the turnout
been so far? Great? We've only been opened for a couple hours,
but people just keep coming in. I don't know how many you've gotten total,
but it's got to be over one hundred by now, and we still
have eight hours until polls close. And it seems like people are voting to
take the shroud away that we don't know. We can't look at ballots.
Well yeah, but you can't gauge the room at all. Eh for some
people, I feel like you can. Some business owners who know they're going
to suffer when we don't have a regular summer crowd, people with families that
live in the human world, stuff like that. Ah, nunyez right here
and here's your ballot represent us humans. I'll do my best. Actually,
Roxy, do you mind if I text you about something later? Human kind
of thing? For sure? Yeah? Wait a second, are you sh
did you really not notice, Roxy, but you figured me out instantly.
It's not my fault that you made it obvious. Well, I will see
you guys later. Get luck with the rest of polling. Thanks see yu.
All right, let's see what we got here. We've never seen a
ballot so short, although I guess I've never had to participate in an emergency
vote. All done? Oh sorry, I a council member. Allow vo
Hello, the human is allowed to vote in this election? How intriguing.
Well, I am a resident of Water's Edge and I registered back in fall,
so I can Yes, I imagine you did everything correctly according to the
laws of the United States. I suppose for this vote. It is too
late to do anything about it, but I shall discuss with my fellow council
members about revoking these sort of privileges in the future. But I'm a permanent
resident here. You've already trapped me forever. Why shouldn't I get a say
in what's going on in my own town? Because it's not your town.
It is a cryptid town. And no matter what you do, or how
many rules you follow, or who you integrate yourself to here, you cannot
be a true member of this community. Hi, council member, Why are
you here, Ah Elizabeth, the organizer of this whole democratic process? Correct?
Yes, and security for today. I don't believe there's any reason for
you to be here, considering this is a vote for Water's Edge citizens only,
of which you aren't. Last time I checked my fellow council members and
I were simply curious about how all this was going. You can let them
know it's going very well, and that we will not tolerate harassment of voters,
so the rest of them don't need to come by. I see.
I will pass along the message. I don't know if it's friguer when they're
a hive mind or to see one on their own. You okay, Yeah,
I'm good. How are you? Have you slept in the last couple
of days? H not much, honestly, always more flyers to print and
messages to send out. But I think it'll be worth it. Sounds like
a lot of work for a single question ballot, Oh it is, but
it also might be the most important question this town has ever voted on.
Very true. Good training for that campaign manager job waiting for you on the
mainland too, I wish. I'm sure they already hired someone else now that
they've forgotten I exist. But there's a lot of people wanting to run for
something. I'm sure one will snatch you up once this shroud is gone.
What's up with you? Just a day ago you were sulking and making plans
as if you were going to be stuck here forever, and now you're talking
about when we can go to the mainland again, as if it's already been
decided. Well, I saw what you've been doing. You could move a
mountain, Lizzie. I'm never gonna bet against you when it comes to something
you're passionate about. What can I say? I'm stubborn in the best way,
Roxie, he came, yeah, And now I'm kind of regretting that.
Are you planning on taking me to a secondary location because I already told
Lizzie where I was gonna be. I'm not gonna kidnap you. I need
your help and I need to keep this quiet. Okay, huh. I
never seen the shroud up close before. You haven't come out here, nah.
I figured it wouldn't be the best idea when it comes to the whole
human flying under the radar thing. I'm sure you understand. Yeah, I
guess you're in the same position I was in when I first got here,
hiding the truth from everyone. Of course I wasn't stuck here. Then why
did you decide to stay? I mean, I've been coming here for ages,
and while they love their human tourist money, they definitely aren't as big
as fans of the people actually handing over the bills. Not all of them
are like that. You don't have to tell me. But you wouldn't have
known that at first, and you still stayed. Yeah, maybe I'm just
crazy. I don't know. Maybe a part of me knew that I was
tied to this place somehow. You believe in that kind of stuff, fet
and destiny and all that. I'm not sure, but a year ago I
didn't believe in cryptids fair enough, all right? So what's going on with
the shroud? Something strange happened the other night, Chyenne. I came out
here. I was pissed off about everything and wanted to throw some rocks at
it. But then I got curious about what happens if you touch it?
Don't you get burned? Yeah? What's under the bandage? Yikes? But
something else happened. You see, this spot here. Oh my god,
you put a hole in it? Yeah, no way. Has anyone else
tried it? Shaia did? It didn't do anything, just burn them.
Theirs wasn't nearly as bad as mine, though. So you touch it and
punch a little hole through it and it bites you back. But for everyone
else, just a minor burn and it stays intact. That's what it seems
like. And the only real difference between me and Shia is you're human.
Do you think I could get through it too? That's what I was hoping
to find out. You're asking me to stick my hand in a flame for
science, pretty much. I have Shia's first aid kit with me so I
can dress the burn after all, right, But I'm not using my hands.
I need those. I promised Lizzie i'd make dinner tonight. I'm like
got the restaurant. No I heard. I've been crashing on her couch for
the last few days. Not super interested in tiptoeing around my brother at Dad's
house right now. Oh, I didn't realize you guys were Oh no,
no, it's not like that. I mean, Lizzie's super cool, but
I'm not like into her or anything. I don't do this sex and romance
thing. I was just gonna say friends. Oh well then yeah we're friends.
But the shroud, how about the elbow? Whatever works? All right?
Here goes nothing? How long do I That's enough? You are right?
Yeah, didn't really hurt too bad? Actually, kind of like a
tattoo. Did it work? No? Not even a dent here? Let
me grab the first aid stuff. How do you know it wasn't just some
fluke thing, or maybe you found a hole that was already there. It
would be one hell of a coincidence, considering the shroud is supposed to be
impenetrable. You never know, So you're saying I should try it again.
Maybe I don't understand this shit you think I do. Look, the space
you made is big enough to fit your hand through. Why don't you just
try to test it out on your arm, Just see if you can make
it a little wider and then you don't have to fuck up your hand anymore.
Well, I'm not a huge fan of pain, and I have tattoos.
The burn I'm getting is way worse. Hey, you've got plenty of
burn cream in here for science. Fine, see wider? Holy shit,
you weren't kidding. That gives a hell of a burn. It's like,
I don't know, like you're absorbing the energy and the magic or something.
Why is it just me? Though you're asking me, doesn't yours do magic?
I thought Francie said that she does. Ah, I see a little
hypocritical tolling me to make up with France when you and your sister are having
issues too. We're not having issues. It's just complicated. I get it,
trust me. But you're gonna have to involve her if you want to
figure this thing out. I don't know what If her solution is to just
throw me through make a gap big enough for everyone else to get out.
Do you think your sister's gonna sacrifice you for the greater good? Well,
she either loses me or loses Kenny at this point, and I'm not too
confident about my odds or the vote that your best friend and I have been
working our asses off for will pass tonight and no one will have to be
sacrificed, and then we can deal with our sibling shit on our own time,
fingers crossed and toes and arms and legs and ice. Damn, half
the town is here. They won't even need to livestream the announcement. That's
a good sign. People clearly know how important this is. They better.
Oh god, I am nervous. What if people voted against taking it down?
They couldn't it's hurting everyone in some way, it would it makes sense
to keep it up unless we're really underestimating how much everyone hates humans. There's
nothing we can do about it now, so let's just wait and see.
Yeah, easy for you to say. All I've been able to think about
for the past week has been this vote. I didn't think it had a
shot at first, but seeing how many people actually voted, I am not
sure. Hey Avrah, Francy Shia, glad to see you here. Oh
hey, Kenny, I didn't think you were coming tonight. I didn't think
I was either, But Sybil seems so nervous before she left to go ballot
count and I didn't wait. Sybil's counting ballots. Yeah, they asked her
to be one of the out of town people that they need. She didn't
tell you, no, Oh, it probably just slipped your mind. Yeah.
Probably. Hello everyone, Thank you all for coming tonight and for participating
in this emergency vote. We greatly appreciate the involvement of our community in such
an important decision. As per local voting measure regulations, the ballots were hand
counted by the three pairs of citizens standing behind me, including two from out
of town. Each pair will now report their final ballot numbers as written on
the papers they hold. If all numbers match on one side has a majority
of at least fifty one percent, the election will be called. We counted
three hundred and forty six to remove the shroud and fifty seven to keep it.
That's one. We also counted three hundred and forty six to remove the
shroud and fifty seven to keep it. Oh my god, this might work.
Our count was three hundred and forty six ballace to remove the shroud,
fifty seven to keep it in place. The removal of the shroud has it?
Oh thank god they did it. I can't believe it. We want
we must speak, Please quiet. The High Council orders you to be silent.
The rest of the High Council could not make it, but I regret
to inform you that this decision will not stand. The shroud will remain in
place. While we find your efforts commendable, especially those of the Committee that
called for the whole vote. It was never authorized to occur in the first
place. I authorized it. You do not speak for us. What are
they doing if they don't honor this decision, any shred of democracy they might
be clinging onto is gone. Maybe that's the point. No, that's not
how this works. We followed all the steps. We did everything exactly by
the book. I have documentation right here that shows everything from the original drafts
of the ballot question to the sheets of signatures that we got so we could
bring the question to the mayor, of which we got twenty signatures more than
we needed. By the way, you can look through it all. We
did everything above board and followed every single rule. I made sure of it.
This vote was ensured by the mayor and the entirety of our local government
system, which, now that you cut us off from the world, is
the highest form of government we have left. This vote is legitimate and the
result will hold. High Council is the highest form of government the crypto Cape
towns have left. Therefore, we have all the power to decide what will
happen to the shrouds. We already decided when we deployed it. That's not
by the rules, though that's not fair. We are not here to do
what is fair. We are here to do what is correct. We run
a democracy here in Water's Edge. I am our elected official, put in
office by a council of people who were chosen by our citizens. That is
how we determine what we do in this town and what is correct, by
doing what our people want. We will not bend to your will simply because
you showed up here and told us to. We will use force if we
must to make sure this shroud is removed and the people of Water's Edge.
We can't take down the shroud. The magic is too strong. We thought
we might be able to, but we had never tried at such a large
scale. And now that it's but it's up for good. That doesn't make
any sense, But that's not how magic works. You put it up,
so you have to be able to take it down. I didn't put it
up. We use the essence of the witch who created ours. The remnants
of her was what created this ugly thing. That's why it burns those who
try to pass through it. We corrupted it somehow, and it's angry.
We can't take it down. We can only add to it with the other
towns and the vessels used to pass between them. I'm sorry, this is
not our intent. We never wanted to. Yes, go counsel. You
have heard the truth. There is no way to remove the fraud. This
is on the beston cryst of all cryptis. I suppose we have our answer.
We at city Hall will continue to do everything in our power to make
this on going transition as smooth as possible. If you need any help personally,
please come by a city hole in the mornings to talk to the Shroud
transition team. I'm I'm really sorry, folks, Candy, they're really not
going to take it down. I guess not. I've got to find my
job off. Okay, Oprah Shaya, Where did Kenny go? You're worried
about Kendy? What about you left out front? Okay, we'll talk when
I get home. You could at least let her go. Oh are you
okay? I mean that was? Can I stay your place tonight? Yeah?
Of course. Let's get out of here, Kenny, Kenny, way
up. I don't want to talk right now. Can you at least slow
down for a second. What do you want? Well? I wanted to
know if you were Okay, but I think that question has been answered.
I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? Maybe because the High Council just admitted
to stealing the only thing that was left of Hannah and destroying it. Because
now the people she was so desperate to protect are trapped and scared and stuck
forever in a prison that she never wanted to create. They took her life,
They sacrificed her once, but that wasn't enough. They had to take
every last bit of her, probably desecrated her grave to do it. And
I'm powerless to stop them. I know it feels hopeless right now, but
there has to still be a way to stop them. If we really can't
take the shroud down, then we could at least stop them from putting them
up in other towns. But then everyone will be trapped here we already are.
You wouldn't have access to other Crypti towns, though you never get to
see your mother again. I know if that's the sacrifice that we have to
make to keep other Cryptid towns safe, no more sacrifices civil. I don't
want anyone else I love to have to give up a part of themselves in
this awful game against the High Council. Did you say love I? I
guess I. Did you love me? I do despite my best efforts.
Wow, that's so little. That's not what I meant. Since losing Hannah,
I've made it a habit to keep people distant the loss of our It's
been hundreds of years and it still haunts me. I think it always will.
And I didn't want to add to that pain by losing someone else.
I know there's that colloquial saying of it's better to have loved and lost than
to have never loved at all, but I never subscribed to it. The
dull a like of avoiding attachments can never measure up to my grief. Then
I met you, and I don't know when it happened, but I let
my guard down and your smile started to charm me, and I started to
feel your laugh echo in that hole in my heart. And well, I
don't think that space for Hanna is ever possible to be filled, and I
wouldn't ask you to do that. You've been able to patch over it make
me feel again. And that's a lot of fluffy words to get to the
point of saying that I love you. Whoa you don't have to love me
back. Of course, I don't expect you to have the same feelings,
and it's absolutely okay. I love you too. I don't think I can
say something is pretty is what you just said. But I do love you,
really, really, and I know you don't want me trying to barter
with the High Counsel anymore or messing with the Shroud, but you can't expect
me to be able to just let you go with them, not when you
know how I feel. I don't know if there's another option. There has
to be. We'll dig through every book, test every spell, try to
make our own if we need to. I refuse to believe that the universe
took this long to bring us together only to rip us apart in a week.
You have a lot of faith in the universe. I have a lot
of faith in us. Thanks for listening to Season five of Cryptid Cape Public
Opinion. The show is created and produced by me Victoria Pereira. I also
voice Abera. The voice of Ben is Kyle Morphine. The voice of Roxy
is Amanda Manheim. The voice of Juliette is Amy Ossabato. The voice of
the High Council is McKenna Munna. The voice of Lizzie is Christina rose Hargas.
The voice of Shia is Angelique the Specchia. The voice of Francie is
Aubrey King. The voice of Kenny is Miannie Watson. The voice of the
Mayor is Tony Perella. The voice of Evi is Rebecca Writer. The voice
of Sibyl is Caroline Byrne. The voice of Officer Jenkins is Michael Vonalado.
Our story editor is Jennifer Wong. Our cover artist is Kit Dupre. Our
foy artist is Isaac Rodriguez. Our transcriptionist is Rebecca Writer. Our website designer
is Kyle Boyer. Our theme song is Pink Night in Ohio by Ryan Anderson.
The other songs featured in this episode were Sunshine Rain by Brendan Mohler and
Eddie by Vish Grooves. Be sure to subscribe to Cryptidcape so you don't miss
our next episode, we publish every two weeks. Also be sure to follow
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For some fun bonus contact and check out our coffee page at ko fi
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It means the world See you next time.