#StrexCorp synergists inc

[manynarrators]

Grasping Bloodied Hands

The kids aren't alright; five drabbles for the youth of StrexCorp, and one for after the fall of Desert Bluffs.

Read on AO3

[dcawritings]

Welcome to Night Vale, but Moon and Sun are Cecil and Kevin (respectively) and the reader (and the reader’s possible double) are their assistant.

(This is Sunny’s lil intro ficlet ;)c)

Bright. So… very bright. Scorching from the moment of its rising, the sun is unimpeded by the wants and preferences of those beneath its fiery glow, cursing them all to at least 12 hours of unending, unyielding light that seems as if to burn one down to the very marrow of their bones. Bright… bright… so bright…

“Good morning Desert Bluffs!” comes a chipper voice from over the airwaves, echoing out from the various radio speakers positioned around the town in big bulky boxes labeled with ‘STREXCORP SYNERGISTS INC’ — nobody could miss those silly things if they tried! “I sure hope that *all* of you got some worthwhile sleep last night, because remember: today is double-shift day!”

The owner of the voice can’t help but smile as he leans back in his chair, the old piece of furniture squeaking from the effort, and he glances towards the gentle amber light that pierces from the ‘NOW LIVE’ sign just above the doorway on either side of the recording booth.

“But more on that later; this is your *joyous* and smiling radio host Sun with all the news for the day! And boy do I have some great stories for *you*, Desert Bluffs!”

Smiling, the automaton leans forward in his chair and brushes away some bits of clutter that he’d been meaning to clean up since last weekend after the Strexcorp-funded employee summer party. There’s some candy wrappers, a few old receipts, bone fragments from a femur, and some loose change that Sun *really* needs to start tossing into a jar. He adjusts himself in front of the microphone, tapping idly at the surface of the desk, then continues in a sweet, dulcet tone.

“Starting with the most important: traffic! Yes yes, do be careful on your morning commute to work, Desert Bluffs, because I hear that route 65 has been closed for the next week or so— it seems like there was a little oopsie over there with a couple of cars and officials need enough time to get it all cleaned up. Blood can be rather annoying to get out of asphalt after all!”

Sun tilts his head to the side, feeling the tension in the corners of his ever-present smile simmer in his mechanical chest.

“And on an unrelated note Desert Bluff, please make sure not to do *any* mechanical work on your vehicles unless it is by trained, Strex-authorized personnel! We don’t want anyone to get hurt if they *accidentally* disable the odometer, air conditioner, gps tracker or any other silly thing that cars have inside them. That’s why I don’t have one!”

[mutxnts]

♫ I’m bringing Strexy back ♫

[kindcolors]

under the cut is a first attempt to write aliza leaving dbt nbncbn

A pain still pulsed through Aliza’s head, starting under the patch taped onto her face and ending at the tips of her fingers, which gripped bags as tight as they could. She trudged down the emergency stairs, an oxymoron and a leftover from what the office building had previously been- an actual place of proper business. No one checked the emergency exits anymore, leaving Aliza ample space to go up and down the many flights, quietly tucking bags into the trunk of a Strexcorp Synergists Inc. car parked on the ground floor. Aliza pressed her back to the door as she dialed Kevin; the weather should’ve been going by then.

“Liza?” Kevin chirped, finally taking the call Aliza had been trying to make for the last thirty minutes.

“You’re not on the air?” Aliza croaked into a phone older than her daughter, something so small and out-of-date Simon would pay it no mind when it was shoved into the back of her closet. She kept herself to a whisper, knowing her phone was old enough to lack a recording device but still being unnerved by the possibility of the walls around her harboring one instead.

“Nope,” He said, and Aliza heard the faint squeak of rolling chair wheels. “Why?”

“I’m leaving. Come with me.”

Kevin fell quiet. “I already told you, I can’t. I can’t leave Desert Bluffs, no matter how bad it gets.”

“Please,” Aliza’s voice dropped, on the brink of breaking the promise she made with herself not to cry. “Please. This is the last time I can ask.”

“I love you, Liza. I’ll see you when it’s safe again. I gotta get back to my show- go, don’t come back until this is all over. Tell Janet Uncle Kevin loves her.” The call clicked off before Aliza could open her mouth to speak, her hand falling limp as she put it back into her pocket. She pushed the door open with her back and threw the bags into the open trunk. Leaning against it, she took in a deep breath that reminded her of the weight on her shoulders, and how tight her ribs were against her chest that already felt like pins and needles. She hit the trunk closed with a metallic thump and ran back up the steps.

The emergency exit only went up to the fourth floor; Janet was on the fifth, gazing out a window and watching the blinking light on the radio tower as she tapped her finger against her desk. Simon had told her she could be whatever she wanted, within reason. Janet wondered if being a radio host was within reason. She had a list in her head of things she’d like to be, all with feasibility she had yet to ask Simon about. Her mother creaked the door open, and Janet smiled.

“Are we gonna play now?” She asked, showing her tiny tooth gap with her grin.

“I have another idea,” Aliza still whispered, crouching down beside Janet. “Why don’t we go on a trip?”

“Without dad? Dad said we can’t leave without him.”

“I know,” Aliza hummed, “But this is a surpise trip, and Simon will join us later, but we gotta go first so he’s properly suprised, okay?”

“Dad doesn’t like surprises.” Janet gripped her mother’s sleeve, and Aliza ran her thumb over Janet’s knuckles.

“He’ll like this one, I planned it special so that he’d enjoy it. You trust me?” Aliza held up her pinky, and Janet took in a tiny breath before hooking her own with her mother’s and shaking it in affirmation.

“Trust you, mom,” Janet nodded, and Aliza kissed her forehead before standing back up.

Aliza reached down and picked up Janet, who let out a confused whine as Aliza adjusted her hold on the five-year-old. “I have another chair in the car already,” Aliza said, and Janet calmed. A spare wheelchair was the first thing in the car, and Aliza was thankful she already had the car in order. “We gotta be real quiet so we don’t spoil the suprise, okay?”

Aliza brought a finger to her lips, letting out a small ‘sh’ that Janet mimicked. With Janet held tight to her chest, Aliza looked out into her flat for the last time, pushing through the door quickly in fear of backing out when she was so far in. Going down the only flight of inside stairs, Aliza took strained glances out into the floor, and before she could run for the emergency stairs, she spotted Daniel by himself.

“Daniel!” She called out, and Daniel paced over quickly.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, gesturing to Janet with a subtle nod. “Why are you holding her? Is your flat alright?”

Aliza’s shoulders tensed. “We’re leaving.”

“On a trip,” Janet whisper-yelled, and Aliza winced.

“A trip,” Daniel repeated, looking to Aliza’s scared eyes and matching their concern.

“If you want,” Aliza gulped, “You can come with us. On the trip.”

“It’s a surprise for dad!” Janet giggled. Daniel let out a light chuckle himself.

He ruffled Janet’s hair. “Well, I’d love to go, but someone’s gotta make Simon doesn’t get the surprised, spoiled, huh?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Aliza’s chest rose unsteadily, “The surprise is well kept, and- and we have room.”

“Well, I wanna make sure the surpise is perfect. You two go on, tell me all about you trip, okay?”

“But,” Aliza said, “You’re so young. Won’t you have more fun on a trip than here, in Strex?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Daniel said finally, patting Aliza’s shoulder and then stepping back, waving to Janet as she waved him goodbye, and Daniel disappeared down the hall. Aliza clenched her eyes closed, pecking Janet’s forehead with a flurry of kisses as she ran to the emergency exit.

Carrying Janet close to her chest, Aliza braced the stairs with the most precious cargo, and her feet ached as she made it to the ground floor, pushing the door open with a shoulder. She put Janet into the passenger’s seat and climbed into the driver’s. Starting the car was an odd feeling in her head; she hadn’t driven in so long, Simon mainly taking that job for himself whenever they went anywhere. She traced the steering wheel with her thumb as she went down the street, wondering how much of her agency and self was given to Simon as Strexcorp grew. She gripped the wheel, watching Janet wave goodbye to the rearview mirror in the corner of her eye.

Janet didn’t understand why they were riding for so long. They had turned onto Route 800 what felt like twenty minutes ago, sitting in a shared silence that Aliza broke occasionally with raspy breaths in and out.

“Uncle Kevin said he loves you,” Aliza said, and Janet nodded, thankful for the first real bit of conversation since they got into the car.

“I love him too,” Janet said, “I hope he shows up on the trip. Aliza looked back to the road, and Janet sighed. She eased her head onto the window as they went down Route 800, the funny flutter in her stomach twisting from giddiness to fear, as she took in the way Aliza’s jaw clenched and watched how tight she held the wheel. Janet saw that twist in a person’s face before they were fired and added to the decor, and she wondered if her mother had just done away with an improper employee before they left for their trip. It seemed the only logical reason why her mother was so upset. Aliza turned to Janet and softened, smiling at her as she pulled to the side of the road.

“I’m gonna do something a bit silly,” Aliza said, “I just need you to sit and be quiet for me, okay?” Janet nodded and watched her mother climb out of the car and go out to open the hood. Aliza waved down a truck, which pulled behind them. Janet huffed over the fact that she couldn’t turn enough to see who all was inside.

Aliza jogged to the truck, looking in to see a man and woman looking at her with a mix of confusion and pity.

“Where are you headed?” Aliza said before they could ask her first, and they snuck a glance at one another before the man spoke up. It didn’t matter where they were going, where they had come from, as long as it was far from Desert Bluffs.

“We’re goin’ back onto Red Mesa,” he said in a thick accent, and Aliza used her years' worth of pretending to seem as if that town name rang a personal bell.

“What a coincidence, I’m headed there too! But,” Aliza sighed, “Our car broke down. Would you be able to lend us a ride? I can pay!”

“No sense in makin’ you pay- you got a youngin’ with you! Let’s get that baby off the side of the road!” The man said, grinning as his wife smiled and nodded too.

“I got some luggage, if it’s no problem?”

“We got room in the bed of the truck,” The woman said, and Aliza scooted out of the way as they both went to get out. Aliza went to get Janet out of the car as the couple piled her few bags into the back of their truck, Janet more confused than ever.

“Awful fancy car,” the man laughed, and Aliza faked one back.

“Oh, you know how easy these things fall apart? I’ve been meaning to get an older one- more reliable!”

“You said it!” The man said, slamming the trunk closed and heading back to his own vehicle. Aliza settled Janet into the second row of the truck, and Aliza patted her head as Janet leaned against her. The bright yellow car almost blended into the sand as they set off and left it behind, the radio finally fading the alphabet channel on Desert Bluffs public access into unintelligible static.

[calsmusecollection]

Kevin- Extended About and Powers

My Kevin was developed prior to Episode 73 and I didn’t ret-con him. So he is canon divergent.

Kevin has no last name. He used to. But it’s gone now. A lot of what he once knew or had is gone now.

His eyes are described as black. Blank. Empty. Missing. Obsidian. He never really thinks about them very much. His mind often has trouble settling on one thing for very long.

His hair is deep, deep brown. Unless one looks at is closely, it might appear black.

There are stitches on his forehead. About 2 inches across, right in the center. They are wire. Thin, but effective. Sometimes, a pale lavender glow comes from the skin they are holding shut.

Across his back and chest and down both arms are scars. Extensive scars in the shapes of winding tentacles where tattoos he does not recall having were removed.

Aside from his eyes and the stitches and the scars, most notice his smile. That gaping, wide smile. Impossibly wide. Too large. Unnatural. Showing a mouth full of sharp and jagged teeth. He uses StrexSmileImprovers at home to make sure even in his sleep he is smiling. Always smiling.

The last thing people tend to notice is his apparel. A button up shirt. Slack. A pristine waistcoat. Not all really matching though he has been told his fashion is clever and colorful. There are stains on everything but the waistcoat. Rust colored stains.

He’s employed as the radio host of Desert Bluffs Public Radio, a subsidiary of StrexCorp Synergists Inc. Stex owns... everything... in the Bluffs. Kevin works 14-18 hour days, 7 days a week. Keeping him on the verge of exhausted is one of the ways Strex ensures that he remains under control.

He has a falsely cheerful demeanor both on the radio and in person. Overly cheerful to the point of frightening. He tends to threaten without threats and make light of horrible and disturbing situations. Often, he hides his or others true intentions or actions with false reporting (ie: saying it was a hug when in fact he tried to choke someone)

Powers:

Limited now and forever so long as Strex has control, the thing that Kevin is cannot be totally contained and power leaks out. Abilities that he never thinks of as special. A tendency to change the world around him without noticing such.

His sight is limited. He sees as a normal human does generally. Sometimes, he can see a little more. Into houses or businesses while he is at home or on the radio. He can see fractured moments of peoples pasts. Flickering instances of conversations or thoughts that are not his own but belong to others.

He is somewhat stronger than a normal man. Particularly one of his build. And heartier. He is much more difficult to kill than he should be. Heals from wounds he shouldn’t be able to and shrugs off blows that should knock him out.

His teeth are too sharp and no matter how often he cuts them his nails are always growing into rounded points.

When he is very, very upset or angry is when he is most dangerous. Strex has locked most of him away. But with enough emotion, real emotion, he can access it still. Shadows pool around him, dark and dangerous and coming from a place that is not our world. These shadows take form as six tentacles- jagged and jerking about rather than smooth. Movement as though seen through a strobe light or a poorly created stop motion film. His teeth become even sharper, his nails clawed. Those tentacles, despite how they form, can be used to interact with the world. If attacked they form sharp barbs. If hurt in this state, his screams can render human unconscious or insane. Calming him down or knocking him out cast the shadows away and it’s likely that Kevin will not recall the experience.

[ask-kevin-at-desertbluffs-blog1]

THE SUN IS BRIGHT THE MOON IS IRRELEVANT AND WE ARE LIGHT AND LIGHT ----- AND ----- STREXCORP SYNERGISTS INC IT IS EVERYTHING

[strexcorp-official]

Hello! We at Strexcorp Synergists INC. are absolutely Delighted to join the beautiful community on this beautiful website. Absolutely Delighted.

[manynarrators]

I’m always so amused when I can see the rabbit hole I went down on a playlist. Today’s edition is “how many songs called/about company towns can I put on the StrexCorp playlist?”

The answer is at least 4, and probably more. This is just so far!

[manynarrators]

//So I don’t know if any of you are Canadian/know the ominous Yellow^tm No-Name brand, but we got the wrapping paper as a joke and it just hit me that it’s exactly the sort of packaging StrexCorp would use.

All of their packaging is the same shade of yellow with a white sans-serif font. Sometimes you get fun descriptions of what it’s for! Just swap the “no name” for StrexCorp and you have yourself some Desert Bluffs stores decked out in nothing but this.