Archive of Our Own

Each redacted(n) word of dialogue is distorted and reused at the corresponding locationⁿ.

Cool-toned and blue imagery and animation as if one were hallucinating colours and shapes and bringing those feelings to the surface, as it were—visuals give way to a cool-toned bluish stage similar to the Game Changer stage, but reversed: Solo podium on the left, player podiums on the right, curtain in the middle. The camera seems to sit a bit lower than one might expect. Like a low-budget parody that’s trying too hard. The podiums are angular and asymmetrical.

NARRATION
Get ready for a Game Stranger! Tonight's guests: Voluptas est Veritas It's Nova Thompson!

A stout, medium olive skinned androgynous-leaning-femme person with large thin glasses, overalls, and dark curly hair tied up in two orbs enters and stops to gesture with both hands oscillating as if throwing a gang sign, but it’s ‘I love you’ in sign language.

• NOVA THOMPSON 5’2”
• They/Them

NOVA THOMPSON
Semper.

NARRATION
Not above engaging in a physical altercation to get an extension for filing her taxes, it's Rachael VanderSpek!

A thin light skinned woman with long dark brown straight hair worn down, wearing black capri pants and a floral top—black petunias on a deep red background—enters casually, brushing off the accusation.

• RACHAEL VANDERSPEK 5’10”
• She/Her

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I don't need(2) an extension, I'll get to it—

Rachael realizes it’s April 10^th.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
It's already April?!

Rachael approaches the camera aggressively.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
Let's go! Let's GO! I'll fuck you up!

NARRATION
And tonight's stranger, it's a guy called Phillip(44)!

Curtains part to reveal the back side of a pale skinned man in dark green skinny jeans and a sensible button-up grid-patterned shirt with the sleeves rolled up just below the elbow. The music cuts; disoriented he turns around. Phillip has a 5 o’clock shadow.

• PHILLIP 5’8”
• He/Him

PHILLIP
Uh...Hey.

There’s a pause and the camera cuts just as Phillip starts towards his podium.

NARRATION/JONATHAN STRANGER
And your host, me! I’ve been—stuck in traffic, sorry Players. I appreciate your patience.

A light-skinned thin man in a suit with long hair pulled back into a tight bun stands behind a dark podium. A beard adorns his face.

• JONATHAN STRANGER 6’2”
• (Jon/Jonathan)

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
We were all late, the(7) turnpike was closed.

NOVA THOMPSON
Yeah, you still made it here before me.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Be that as it may, as recompense for my tardiness, I'm going to give everyone a free steal.

All contestants' podium counters go from zero to one (1)

PHILLIP
Oh, it’s a stealing kind of game.

JONATHAN STRANGER
This, is Game Stranger, one of a great many, and ever increasing myriad of different game shows with varying consistency regarding theme and rules, "Like a different game, only...stranger." I am your host Jonathan Stranger. I am joined today by these three wonderful human beings. Have we thoroughly explained the rules of today’s game to you?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Kind of? Not entirely.

NOVA THOMPSON
You said it's like Deal or no Deal?

JONATHAN STRANGER
—But!

ALL (in staggered unison)
Stranger!

JONATHAN STRANGER
That's right, it's kind of like another popular television game show programme, but instead of playing for cash prizes—

Lights go dark, spotlight on the host

JONATHAN STRANGER (Aside)
It's funny. None of the contestants had heard of Deal or no Deal and we had to watch 6 full episodes before Nova felt confident enough to play.

Lights return to normal

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
—the prizes you'll be playing for are lost fragments of your own humanity(3).

PHILLIP
See, that's the part that I'm still hung up on.

JONATHAN STRANGER (to Phil)
Don't worry, once we get it going I'm sure you'll get the hang of it.

PHILLIP
But like, it sounds really...ominous? Maybe? Are we less human than we...could be? Did we lose humanity at some point?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Our lives are comprised of different instances where we’ve gained(18) or lost humanity, or our humanity might simply...change! This is just an opportunity to shuffle things around. Maybe you’ll win some back...or...give some away!

PHILLIP
Wait, what?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Listen, the important thing is that nobody will be taking anything from you. If you choose to trade something, it’s entirely up to you!

A curtain opens to reveal 13 briefcases arranged in a manner similar to Deal or no Deal; Three rows with 4, 5, and 4 cases.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players(1), here before you are 12—13 briefcases

Jonathan does a double take and corrects himself.

NOVA THOMPSON
Isn't it supposed to be 26?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I guess we only had half the budget—Players, if I could have you each pick a briefcase to start with.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
What do the symbols mean?

Camera shows that the briefcases have intricate symbols in place of numbers that don't resemble anything in particular

JONATHAN STRANGER
They don’t mean anything, really. They’re just symbols to differentiate between each case, designed to elicit a different physiological sensation; Similar to the kiki/bouba effect, but…

Jonathan tries to get the players to say ‘stranger’ but they won’t. It’s not catching on and the tension is palpable.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
...stranger—Let’s start with you Nova. Which case would you like to start with?

NOVA THOMPSON
Can I get the one with the...it’s kind of like a circle with a bunch of lines(29), but the one line(9) turns into a...teeth?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’m sorry, I don’t know which one you mean. Maybe if you described how it makes you feel...

NOVA THOMPSON
It...it makes me feel sick? Like I’m in trouble for something that wasn’t my fault.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Oh! Middle row centre?

Nova rolls their eyes, unamused for having been goaded into seemingly complicating the selection process beyond what was necessary. The camera hangs on them for an inordinate amount of time.

NOVA THOMPSON
Right. Middle row centre.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Excellent!

Paul Robalino grabs the case and delivers it to Nova’s podium

Paul Robalino exists in this interproximal dimension.

• PAUL ROBALINO
• [Everybody knows Paul Robalino, even people who don’t. Yes you do, I promise.]

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
Why don’t we have Phil go next?

PHILLIP (Trying hard to play along; to impress, to be good company. He’s grateful for the opportunity for a regular guy from nowhere like him to be participating in a game show, but more importantly, to be around interesting people who might accept him for who he is. There’s also a performance anxiety: Cameras be damned, he wants a place to belong in the world and the potential to unintentionally say or do something so irredeemable that he wastes his chance is, admittedly, not zero. Initially opting to appeal to his co-contestants, but already prepared to appeal to the host)
Can I(4) get the top row, far right?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil, I’m afraid I don’t—

PHILLIP
The one that makes me feel like I’ve buried my face in the shoulder of an unexpected friend during a time of grief—or at least a time that I should be grieving, but I don’t actually feel anything, which(40) turns into a sort of guilt for not feeling the way I should, combined with an inadvertent deception to this unexpected friend, and the anxiety of having it come back to haunt me.

JONATHAN STRANGER (disgusted)
What?! ABSOLUTELY NOT! You can’t have that one! Why would you pick that one? Fucking hell man! What’s wrong with you?

Phillip is speechless

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
I’m just kidding, of course you can.

Paul Robalino delivers the case to Phillip’s podium

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
Hmm. Phil, I like your energy but it could backfire on you. Try and relax a little bit.

Phillip exhales and shakes his arms out.

Nova pantomimes smoking a joint.

Jonathan stares intensely at Phillip.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
Hey, look at me. It won’t go without saying: Nobody is mad at you. You haven’t done anything wrong. We’re appreciative of your willingness to participate and be part of our show. We think you’re a good guy and we all want you here.

Rachael. Would you pick out(8) a case please?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Ooh, can I have the one that’s like trying to remember a smell?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Which kind of smell, there’s at least two there

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
The one that’s like trying to remember a nostalgic smell.

Paul Robalino begins delivering the case. Phillip is seen wiping tears away.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Yes! That’s a good one. Or maybe it isn’t! We won’t know until and unless we open it up!

Players, you all have your selected cases in front of you. Now it’s time to see what isn’t in them! Starting again with Nova, would you please pick a case to open up, thus eliminating it?

NOVA THOMPSON
Eliminating it?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Yes. Just Deal-or-no-Deal-style...Do we need to watch another episode?

NOVA THOMPSON (still not getting it, but giving up. It’s the sort of thing that they just have to experience in order to fully internalize the concept of. Brushing it off is effortless and convincing; they’ve had a lot of practice doing it)
Nah, I'm just messing with you.

Let’s do the one that feels like a homesickness for myself.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Paul Robalino, let’s open up ‘homesickness for self!’

Paul Robalino opens the case to reveal a pen and pad of paper.

Paul Robalino carries the case over to Nova who picks up both items.

NOVA THOMPSON
Holy shit.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Embarrassingly giddy with childlike excitement)
What is(48) it Nova?

Nova, unresponsive, begins scribbling with the pen and pad furiously.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Is it a special kind of pen or something?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, imbued in this pen and paper, is Nova’s handwriting before they started imitating anyone else’s

PHILLIP
This is humanity?

JONATHAN STRANGER
In a sense! Why? What do you think makes us human?

Phillip is once again speechless. Mouth agape, Phillip shrugs.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
I wasn’t challenging you Phil, I would genuinely like to know what you think makes us human.

PHILLIP
I...I don’t think I’m prepared for that. My initial thought is that tools separate us from animals, kind of, but wouldn’t that just be trying to define something by saying it isn’t what it’s not?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Astute self-awareness. Maybe another time then. I wasn’t trying to put you on the spot.

Phillip has to actively make an effort to not beam at the thought of there already being ‘another time’ lined up for additional interaction with some or all of these people. Nova has grown a neat stack of papers separated from the notepad.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
Players, while these cases don’t contain cash prizes, what they do contain is invaluable and extremely personal. Now, Nova, I hate to do this because it seems like you’re really dedicated to preserving what’s in the case, or maybe you’re simply enjoying it—

Nova tosses the pen to the side.

NOVA THOMPSON
I should know by now this means I’m about to be disappointed.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Unfortunately, by selecting this case you’ve eliminated it and once it goes into the incinerator, your handwriting will revert.

NOVA THOMPSON (starting to get it)
At least I’ll have the memory.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Actually that gets destroyed with the briefcase.

Paul Robalino opens a hatch in the floor and drops the briefcase into the glowing hole in the ground. Paul Robalino recoils as the flames surge. Paul Robalino closes the hatch.

NOVA THOMPSON
That’s a strange sensation. I remember remembering it, but not anything specific enough to reconstruct the moment. Also these papers I wrote on are blank now. Rad.

Nova raises the paper stack and pad and tosses them over their shoulder.

NOVA THOMPSON (Cont’d)
I mean, it was novel, but I’m not heartbroken about it. Is that it though? I’ll never get that back now?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Maybe not never! But definitely not now, now.

Following the arbitrary player order established at the top, let’s have you pick one Phil.

PHILLIP
Wow, okay...so are the feelings elicited from the symbols related to the contents?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Kind of sometimes!

PHILLIP
Then I don’t think I want this one I picked earlier.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Yeah, I mean this one is probably fine, but now that I’m really getting a feel for these other cases, I want to switch.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Now, now, players, you may very well get that chance, but for right now, Phil, just pick one you think might be less interesting to you and we’ll toss it in the incinerator.

PHILLIP
Okay. Let’s go with...Let’s have the one that makes me feel a sort of fragile…it’s not like happiness...

JONATHAN STRANGER (bated)
You can say it.

PHILLIP
But it’s not a word in my vocabulary...like a fragile…euphoria?

JONATHAN STRANGER (Excitedly rote, like impatiently finishing a commonly known phrase)
Like realizing the world might still be beautiful if you look at it sideways?

PHILLIP
Yeah, that one.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Why would you pick that one? We’re eliminating them! That felt like it was gonna be a good one!

Phillip begins feeling the shame of having publicly miss-stepped, but doesn’t want to vie for special treatment of getting a redo on his selection. He smiles sheepishly.

Paul Robalino opens the case to reveal a hefty paperweight sized prism and delivers the case to Phillip. Phillip picks it up.

PHILLIP
Oh wow.

Phillip begins looking around the room in amazement.

JONATHAN STRANGER
What are you experiencing Phil?

Unresponsive, Phillip looks directly into each stage light and traces the projected beam of light onto the floor, in turn. He runs back stage and begins flipping light switches, visibly flushing with excitement each time the light turns on. He runs to the exit and opens the door to look outside.

JONATHAN STRANGER (Cont’d)
Phil?

After a beat, Paul Robalino escorts Phillip back to the stage, Phillip’s eyes are back to looking directly into the stage lights.

PHILLIP
Sorry, what?

JONATHAN STRANGER
What are you experiencing?

Phillip adjusts the prism on his podium to send a rainbow across the stage. He can’t take his eyes off of it.

PHILLIP
Yeah, so...it’s like I’ve been overlooking how much of a miracle light is. Like what if I was blind, you know? What if I wake up blind tomorrow and I’d have taken sight for granted this whole time? Or, or what if our species had evolved underground and never developed ocular organs? We’d be surrounded by this miracle and never know it. What if we still don’t really fully know it?

NOVA THOMPSON
Jesus, this one sounds awful.

JONATHAN STRANGER
What? To be astonished by ordinary light?

Phillip looks up from his rainbow, nearly offended.

PHILLIP
There’s nothing ordinary about light.

Nova grabs the prism from Phillip’s podium, hastily throws it back into the briefcase in a way that keeps it from shutting entirely, kicks open the incinerator hatch and chucks it all in. Rachael places a hand on Phillip’s shoulder. Jonathan laughing in the background, astonished.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Phil? You doing alright? Are you still having a manic episode about photons or whatever?

Phillip closes his eyes and rubs his temples.

PHILLIP
Photons? Is that what I was on about? That’s embarrassing.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Hey, it’s good to have you back. I was wrong; that was actually a good one to get rid of.

Phillip feels vindicated.

JONATHAN STRANGER
So...you didn’t have to incinerate the prism. I know I said the objects were imbued, but it’s actually the briefcase that needs to be incinerated. The prism would have just gone(15) back to being a normal prism, like your pad and paper.

NOVA THOMPSON
Don’t care. Can’t be too careful.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Moving right along, I guess. Rachael, if you could finish off the round by eliminating one more briefcase.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Can I have the ache of remembering something that never fully belonged to me?

JONATHAN STRANGER
You can! But only for a moment.

Paul Robalino opens the case to reveal a photograph.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Oh god.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You already know what this is?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I kind of hope I don’t.

Paul Robalino delivers the case to Rachael’s podium. She picks up the photo and covers her hand with her mouth, eyes glued to the photo. She stares at it intently in silence for a while before speaking

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I was six.

My mom and step-dad took us to this obscure roadside theme park. It was weird, he wasn’t that interested in going, but my mom insisted, saying it was his favourite place when he was a kid.

At the time I didn’t think I had any reason to be in a bad mood, but in hindsight there were a number of reasons I hated it.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Like what?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
It was still the time of year I hated being outside. It hadn’t warmed up enough yet and I didn’t own a coat.

NOVA THOMPSON
Your parents didn’t insist on you bringing your coat everywhere?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Nova, I didn’t own a coat. We lived in Tennessee and anytime I told my mom I wanted one, she either said we lived too far south for coats, or tell me I wasn’t moving around enough to stay warm. Sometimes she’d say that we might get one next year.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Growing up poor sucks.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
We weren’t poor. Or at least, it seemed like we always had money for some new trendy thing, or there was always money for the lottery when the jackpot got big enough. Food and clothing were afterthoughts, if they were thoughts at all.

NOVA THOMPSON
Oh, so your mom was just a piece of shit?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
That’s one way to describe her...in a way that is(10) both accurate and with the appropriate amount of respect.

NOVA THOMPSON
Damn. Well now I feel petty for complaining about being made to carry a coat around—It’s like that saying, something about “I cried because I was overburdened with the responsibility of managing a coat I didn’t want, until I met Rachael who had no coat.”

JONATHAN STRANGER
I remember hearing that somewhere.

Rachael is still lost in the visage of her younger self crying.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
She said I loved it.

She said I had a great time and I really enjoyed myself. The only(5) picture I’ve seen was the one where she said we weren’t going to get food until I smiled for the picture, but she tried so hard to convince me that’s not how it went.

Tears well up in Rachael’s eyes, her voice trembles imperceptibly.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
AND IT TOO ME SO LONG TO STOP CRYING. Back when I thought I might have made it all up, the whole thing just felt like a really bad dream.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that she just casually mentioned her frustration in making me smile so she could have something for her scrap book, and about having to throw away this one of me crying when she got the pictures developed.

Rachael sniffles and laughs.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
I had almost convinced myself that I actually did have a good time, and I was just creating some false memory out of spite, or resentment or something.

JONATHAN STRANGER (apprehensively)
But, you learned the truth before seeing this photo, right?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Heh, yeah. I could(32) never explain away the part where my mom was splashing up water from a stream to ‘bring down the redness’ in my face for the other picture.

Rachael stares at the photo in silence a while longer.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
No. Sorry. You’re good. I don’t need this photo.

Rachael hands the photo back to Paul Robalino who had been there the whole time.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
You can take it away.

Paul Robalino starts toward the incinerator.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I made my peace with it years ago, it’s just so...visceral, to actually see it.

The incinerator flames surge in the foreground as Rachael stares across the set at them.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, that’s the end of round one! You each still have your original cases, and we’ve eliminated 3 more. It’s—

A phone is heard ringing.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Really guys? Come on. Everybody needs to silence their phones before taping. I say this every day. I was just getting some good momentum.

[BTS Style shots]

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (to Nova and Phillip)
It’s so weird to be crying about something and not knowing why. It’s like coming out of anesthesia. Was I crying about something stupid?

Nova and Phillip shake their heads and offer condolences for the discovery of a non-memory.

The phone continues to ring.

JONATHAN STRANGER (to non-mic’d crew)
Can somebody turn that off, or answer it or something?

What do you mean my dressing room?

Jonathan heads backstage, a camera follows him down a hallway. The ringing gets louder. Jonathan opens the door and finds a rotary phone on his vanity, ringing. He looks back at the camera, then back to the phone. He picks it up.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Hello?

The other end of the conversation is not audible. There’s a long pause.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Oh, you heard about that?

Jonathan looks into the camera and pulls comically at his collar while sporting the absolute cheesiest expression of guilt.

Cut back to stage where Jonathan is still absent. Nova and Rachael are talking. Phillip is trying very hard to be casual, despite the unorthodox turn of events that leaves things especially uncertain when things were already new and unfamiliar to begin with.

NOVA THOMPSON (to Rachael)
If you use milk instead of water to reconstitute it, it’s even better.

[/BTS Style shots]

Jonathan returns to stage

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, good news for those of you who don’t want to keep your originally selected briefcases. I’ve just gotten off of the phone with some guy calling himself ‘The Archivist’ and he’s very interested in trading with you.

PHILLIP
Don’t you mean he wants to ‘make a deal?’

JONATHAN STRANGER (defensively)
No!—No, he wants to trade! It’s legally distinct and different!

NOVA THOMPSON
Is he gonna trade(36) cash?

JONATHAN STRANGER
The Archivist has a different offer for each(17) of you:

Nova. You might think that nobody would be interested in a briefcase eliciting the feeling of being in trouble for something that isn’t your fault, but The Archivist is willing to trade you for the voice you used before you learned embarrassment.

NOVA THOMPSON (thoughtfully)
Huh...I don’t know if that’s something I’d really value. Embarrassment doesn’t affect me.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Doesn’t it?

The question is poised to evoke thoughtful contemplation, but it’s not very effective. Nova is immune.

NOVA THOMPSON
...but maybe that’s just a reflection of how there isn’t anything I’d want to keep in this case.

Nova shrugs casually.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You don’t need to answer right away.

Phil. Maybe you’re particularly suited to your briefcase. I don’t know that we ever intended it to elicit the complex amalgam you’ve detected. What all did you say it made you feel?

PHILLIP (eyes closed, hands on briefcase)
Unexpected(24) friendship. Misplaced empathy. Grief without feeling. The guilt of emotional absence.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Certainly a mixed bag, but we’ve learned that not all good feelings lead to desirable outcomes, and I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to say the opposite is likely to be possible as well. The question you’re presented with now is this: Do you want to go home with what’s in the case in front of you, or would you rather have return(39)ed to you an emotion you buried so deeply and so thoroughly that you’ve mistaken its absence for peace?

PHILLIP
What’s the difference between thinking you’re at peace, and actually being at peace?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Do you want to find out?

Half a beat, but it gets interrupted.

PHILLIP
...in this moment, I’m leaning towards the briefcase.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You still have time to decide.

Rachael. You’ve already mentioned that you’re interested in switching from your ‘trying to remember a nostalgic smell’ selection from earlier.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Yeah, it just kind of seems like it’ll lead to frustration? Or disappointment maybe?

JONATHAN STRANGER
But it might not!

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Yeah, but since there’s no way to know for sure, I just have to go with the information available to me which is that this kind of seems like a chore more than a good time.

JONATHAN STRANGER
And what will you do if it turns out to be something good?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
It seems like you’re fishing for a certain response, Jon. Do you want me to be mad at myself for making the wrong choice when(13) I’m being actively and intentionally misled? Do you want me to resent my past self for not knowing the unknowable?

JONATHAN STRANGER
The opposite, actually. I hate to see the pain of having been so close to something beautiful just to have it—

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (increasingly frantic)
Fuck you, Jon. You don’t hate it, you designed this whole thing for the express purpose of subjecting us to absurd dilemmas and watching us like caged animals trying to find the cheese at the end of a maze while you watch, and record, and, and—document your findings!

JONATHAN STRANGER (aghast)
I’m genuinely and sincerely sorry if I’ve pushed you too far Rachael. We can end this right now if you are uncomfortable.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Oh yeah, like I’m of a sound enough mind to make rational decisions after having the feelings I tried to convince myself weren’t real for 20 years finally validated.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You...weren’t supposed to remember that.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I DON’T, WHICH IS THE WORST PART.

JONATHAN STRANGER (to crew)
...guys, let’s cut the cameras and wrap up.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (suddenly calm)
No, no. I need to know what’s in the case that gives me a warmth on my collarbone as if it was lingering from an embrace long gone. Please, continue.

A beat. Jonathan and crew are frozen, unsure which of the two sides of the coin are flippant.

Rachael raises her fists to the sides of her head, index fingers extended into horns.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (goofy)
You mess with the emotional bull, you get the emotional horns.

Jonathan laughs in relief and the mood is tentatively lifted.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
But seriously: fuck you, Jon. What did the guy want to trade me?

JONATHAN STRANGER (Unsure whether things are actually okay or not, but has to defer to the only thing he has, which is direct communication, interpreted explicitly)
Uh, right then. The Archivist tells me that in exchange for ‘trying to remember a nostalgic smell,’ he is prepared to offer you the feeling of waiting for someone who will actually show up.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
GOD DAMMIT!

Rachael turns around and kicks the wall behind her. She hurts her foot but hides it in a way that is imperceptible on camera.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
Can I get a fucking second to breathe between these?! Did I tell some kind of fucking sob story or something?!

A wide shot shows Jonathan’s expressionless face, almost dissociative. Rachael continues pacing around, staring down at the ground. There’s an obvious vibe shift between this and the next cut.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, you’ll notice that your podiums are glowing green in the centre. If you’d like to take The Archivist’s offer, think intently of the offer you’ve been presented with, push down with both hands on the glowing spot, embrace the offer with your whole heart, and release.

PHILLIP
Hold on, if we take the offer, do we stop playing?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil, you sweet, sweet summer child. I know you’re not asking for your own sake. You’re not even considering it.

But to answer the question, no, pressing the podium’s glow and accepting the offer does not mean you quit playing the game.

Players, if you accept an offer from The Archivist, you’ll still continue to eliminate cases and who knows? Maybe The Archivist will continue to make you offers! It would make for terrible TV if you just sat and watched for the rest of the show.

...if the viewers...had to watch you...watching—there’s something there.

Jonathan tries to cobble together a joke but abandons it.

NOVA THOMPSON
Maybe he’ll make us offers? You’re not sure?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
This is just his allusion to mystery. He knows what’s going to happen, he just won’t tell(26) us but doesn’t want to outright say “I’m not going to tell you.” It would be too reflective of his real personality.

JONATHAN STRANGER (matter of factly)
I genuinely do not know.

NOVA THOMPSON (skeptical)
Is this improv then? Are you making it up as you go?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I hadn’t meant for it to be improvised. I had this whole thing planned with a Memory Banker, you know, like the banker from...the other show?

PHILLIP
So The Archiv(24)ist isn’t…

A beat as mystery and anticipation silently assails the players.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Who am I to exercise my own will over the universe’s?

NOVA THOMPSON
We exercise our own wills over the universe’s every day!

JONATHAN STRANGER
Is that how you all live your lives?

There’s a pause. Jonathan waits, but not for an answer.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Guessing what will happen is not nearly as effective as finding out!

PHILLIP
Are we still safe? Are we still acting, or are we only being acted upon now?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, you are all still safe! That was a condition I stipulated in allowing The Archivist to participate. What I’ve said before still holds true: Nobody will be taking anything from you that you aren’t giving away. Or whatever I said.

Now, if we could just get back to the glowing podiums...

Rachael slaps the glowing spot, then realizes her mistake and slaps it with both hands.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Rachael...you’re going to get a second chance to accept the offer, but please listen carefully:

First, think intently of the offer you’ve been presented with.

Second, push down with both hands on the glowing spot—and hold it!

Third, embrace the offer with your whole heart,

and fourth, release.

As Jonathan says each step, Rachael follows along, closing her eyes for step one, peeking from her dominant eye for step two, almost immediately releasing before Jonathan’s addendum stops her, and closing her eye back shut again for the remainder. Nova has their hands to their sides; Phillip’s are behind his back.

The podiums continue to glow.

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’m sorry Rachael, but it looks like despite your best efforts, you weren’t able to embrace the offer with your whole heart.

Exasperated, Rachael stands with her arms out wide. The podiums’ glow fades.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
What, like I didn’t want it enough? Like I wasn’t trying hard enough?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Like, for as much as you wanted to know how it feels to not only have someone show up for you in life but with the regularity and confidence that inspires surety that they will, at the very(25) last second the terror of knowing the feeling combined with the possibility of maybe never genuinely getting to experience it, consumed you and it was enough to negate the trade offer...or something.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Fine, keep your fucking feelings.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Rachael, I’m going to need you to follow your comments with memento consensum, or something.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
How about this: if I(31) don’t want to be here, I’ll kick down the fucking door on my way out.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Deal(43)—I mean, trade. Or wait. No...whatever.

Does that system work for everyone else? Anyone who doesn’t want to be here can leave at any point.

Nova and Phillip nod in agreement.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, it looks like the trade offers from The Archivist weren’t enough to persuade you away from your briefcases.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I’m just holding out for something better.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Moving into round two! Shall we continue to eliminate briefcases? Last round—

Nova interjects after the question mark, thinking the round introduction is complete and talks over ‘Last round—’ but stops themselves when they realize it.

NOVA THOMPSON
Okay I’ve been thinking about this—

JONATHAN STRANGER
Great initiative. Yes, I was going to continue with the same player order in case anyone wanted to hear me say it, but I would also like to add this:

Last round we experienced endowment from the briefcases; homesickness, euphoria, validation. This round will be different. There isn’t anything in the cases you’ll choose next, or rather, there’s an absence in them.

Nova, whenever you’re ready.

NOVA THOMPSON
I guess that’s supposed to make me doubt myself or something?

JONATHAN STRANGER
The only thing it’s ‘supposed’ to do, is introduce the next round. Proceed with caution—or reckless abandon. It’s up to you!

NOVA THOMPSON
...okay? Let’s see the case that feels like...like a

There’s a pause. Nova’s eyes close and they start almost wincing while trying to describe the feeling.

...vibration...behind(12) my ribs...It doesn’t hurt but it’s...persistent. Like a knocking

JONATHAN STRANGER
Let’s see ‘knocking from inside ribca—‘

Nova’s eyes open suddenly and they point as if having cracked the puzzle.

NOVA THOMPSON (Proudly, both of figuring it out and not having cried)
Like a tear I almost cried, but I didn’t!

Jonathan has a kind but almost sad expression. The case’s lid opens slowly as if it were equipped with an antiquated hydraulic system, though none is visible. It is completely empty inside. No sign of Paul Robalino in case you were wondering about him this round.

Nova’s expression normalizes and they wait for a beat before they seem completely unaffected.

NOVA THOMPSON
Was it a dud? Am I supposed to be feeling something?

PHILLIP
Isn’t it about what you’re not feeling?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
How are they supposed to know what they aren’t feeling? Aren’t they not feeling a lot of different things?

JONATHAN STRANGER
This one is less of a ‘feelings’ subtraction, and more of an ‘ability’ that you’re no longer in capable of.

Another beat passes.

NOVA THOMPSON
Well whatever it was, I must not miss it.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Are you sure you don’t notice anything?

NOVA THOMPSON
...gas? I thought you said this was supposed to take something away from me.

JONATHAN STRANGER
It’s not gas.

Nova makes a face.

NOVA THOMPSON
Indigestion? It feel(33)s like it’s moving up my throat.

Nova swallows.

JONATHAN STRANGER (with a corny and embarrassing over-the-top emphasis on ‘swallowing’)
That’s funny: swallowing your feelings is exactly what you’ve lost(20) the ability to do!

Nova exhales as if having held a breath for a long time. They begin crying, their eyes wide but dead inside, then their face turns into a scowl and they wail while tears are running down their face. They begin laughing, and then get angry again.

NOVA THOMPSON
DON’T LOOK AT ME!

Nova covers their face with their hands and slowly shrinks behind their podium.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You’ve spent years carefully curating this personality of someone who doesn’t care and isn’t affected by anything. It’s a strength, to you, to push any negative feeling down into ‘the pit’ as you refer to it, where it can’t hurt you or anyone you love. The ironic thin—

NOVA THOMPSON
SHUT UP! JUST, SHUT UP! STOP TALKING!

The opened briefcase violently combusts and is reduced to a pile of ash in an instant.

Nova sniffles from behind the podium.

NOVA THOMPSON
What the hell?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, I may have forgot to mention: In this round, the destruction of the briefcase does not destroy your memory.

Nova begins to stand back up.

NOVA THOMPSON
What. The. Hell.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil, you’re up next.

Nova stares into the middle distance, processing, face still a mess.

PHILLIP
I...kind of don’t want to.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Oh, are you deciding not to contin—

PHILLIP
I think I just need(6) a minute.

JONATHAN STRANGER
If you want, you can just pick an easy one, like ‘trying to remember the smell of a significant others’ favourite candle.’ I promise it’s innocuous.

PHILLIP
There’s one I think I can’t not pick.

JONATHAN STRANGER
It calls to you?

PHILLIP
It’s more like...I’ve been calling to it my whole life, but now that it’s here, I’m afraid I’m not prepared for it.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Huh, well if you’d like we can have Rachael go first and come back to you.

PHILLIP
No. It has to be now, and it has(14) to be the case that feels like a mirror that won’t stop mimicking even after you’ve turned away.

A smile creeps across Jonathan’s lips.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Let’s have ‘suffocatingly recursive mirror!’

The briefcase pops open forcefully, nearly knocking itself off of the podium; once again empty.

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’d give you a minute to process, but you’re a pretty perceptive guy—I’m learning. Do you know what this case has taken from you?

Phillip is glancing casually around the room, at the crew, at the players, at Jonathan. Phillip is visibly less tense than he has been all show; his body nearly melting.

PHILLIP
Yeah...

JONATHAN STRANGER
Should I—

PHILLIP
The mirror represents my intense and unrelenting paranoia of being perceived, but now, without being hyper-aware of every gesture and how it might look to someone else, I can see that everyone is too focused on how they’re being perceived to really notice something as minute as where my hands are and if it looks or feels natural to them.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Yeah that’s…

...Okay then. Quick. I guess, briefcase over. On to Rachael.

The briefcase immolates instantly, similar to the last one but somehow even more instant.

Phillip instinctively returns to a tenseness in both his body and mind.

PHILLIP
Fuck—oh, sorry. Are we allowed to swear?

Rachael turns to look directly into the camera, her mouth creased into a straight line, her eyes saying “Are you hearing this shit?”

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’m not going to tease you about how your contract doesn’t allow swearing, but all of ours do. I think you know that it’s fine. And if it wasn’t, we’d just edit it out!

PHILLIP
Is there any way I can have that back?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Have back? If you mean be free of your self-image centric anxiety, certainly! With a heaping helping of introspection, maybe some therapy—or pursue opportunities to make yourself uncomfortable in ways that will induce growth!

PHILLIP
What if I steal it?

The camera shows the podium counters each still have 1s on them.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Steal...the ash pile that’s left(11)over? I’m afraid it won’t have the same effect.

PHILLIP
I want to steal the ‘recursive mirror’ case from(30) the set as it existed 5 minutes ago.

NOVA THOMPSON
Fuck. I forgot we could steal.

The video tape tracks and glitches. When it normalizes, the shot is of the briefcases with 6 missing and one open. The opened briefcase violently combusts and is reduced to ash in an instant. Before cutting away, we see a figure dash towards the cases.

Nova sniffles from behind the podium.

NOVA THOMPSON
What the hell?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, I may have forgot to mention: In this round, the destruction of the briefcase does not destroy your memory.

Nova begins to stand back up.

NOVA THOMPSON
What. The. Hell.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil, you’re up next.

Phillip’s podium is vacant, the counter now reads 0. Phillip emerges from backstage straightening his clothing. Nobody asks about the missing case or the counter.

PHILLIP
Yeah, let’s have ‘trying to remember the smell of your significant others’ favourite candle.’

JONATHAN STRANGER
Uncharacteristically straightforward and, might I add... debonair?

Jonathan looks at the camera as if to convey something, but not long enough to establish what is intended to be conveyed.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Let’s have ‘remembering the smell of a significant others’ favourite candle!’

The case pops open. A beat.

PHILLIP
Oh damn.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You’re not allowed to swear!

Phillip is expressionless. The lack of rise out of Phillip deflates Jonathan.

Jonathan clears his throat.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Ahem—I’d give you a minute to process, but you’re a pretty perceptive guy—I’m learning. Do you know what this case has taken from you?

PHILLIP
Hard to say exactly what it is, but I’m finding it difficult to let go of a comment I made a couple weeks ago.

I thought we were all just joking around. My friend’s sister made a joke—or what I thought was a joke, about being addicted to porn. I followed with some sarcastic and—in hindsight, condescending remark about ‘sexaholics anonymous,’ which I didn’t think was even a real thing. Wouldn’t that mean you’re addicted to sexahol?

JONATHAN STRANGER (To the camera)
Fun fact: In the early days of Sexaholics Anonymous, some groups believed that meetings held in older buildings were more ‘effective’ because of the supposed effect of antiquated wiring on lustful thoughts. They would even sometimes list the amount of electrical interference in their meeting notes.

PHILLIP
I don’t remember reading that.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Oh, so now you’re a Sexaholics Anonymous expert?

PHILLIP
I mean, I was curious about it once I found out it was a real thing. Plus it helps to know about a topic when you’ve mistakenly offended someone by not knowing.

JONATHAN STRANGER
But things are copasetic now?

PHILLIP
I apologized, forgave myself, and moved on.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Now the real question is, did the case take the part where you were able to forgive yourself, or the part where you could move on?

PHILLIP
I’m not sure, but it seems pretty localized.

JONATHAN STRANGER
In what way?

PHILLIP
I’m not continuously stewing over all of the mistakes in my life. If anything, the focus on this one takes the pressure off of others.

JONATHAN STRANGER
So what you’re saying is that this briefcase was on the ‘less severe’ end of the spectrum?

PHILLIP
I guess? Was there more to it that I needed to garner? Is there a second wave that’s about to hit me(28)?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Not necessarily, we can move on if we all feel like that avenue is exhausted.

The open case bursts into flames and is reduced to ash, same as the first one or two depending on how you’re counting them.

JONATHAN STRANGER (smiling, apprehensively)
Rachael.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Jonathan.

Rachael revels in the power dynamic shift she has created.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Would you be so kind as to finish off round two?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
For you?

Rachael pauses for dramatic effect, but is unsure, herself, what she’s about to say.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
No. For me? Yes. I want the weight of the world.

Rachael shifts her weight to her back leg while enthusiastically pointing at the case with both index fingers.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Let’s see, the case that feels like the weight of the world!

The case pops open.

A beat.

Rachael slowly stands taller. She smiles serenely.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Oh, really funny guys. I thought this was going to be a tough one. I was going for a challenge.

JONATHAN STRANGER (In that knowing sort of way where you can tell he already knows the answer but he’s just facilitating dialogue to make it more telegenic)
Has this game been too easy for you? Why would you actively seek a challenge?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Because I have to prove myself.

NOVA THOMPSON
You don’t have to prove yourself to us.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I have to prove myself to me.

Rachael reaches out to Nova and grabs their hand.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
But damn. What a way to live life.

Rachael reaches out and grabs Phillip’s hand as well, but it’s visibly awkward for him.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (to Phillip)
No, I know I don’t know you that well. It’s cool, it doesn’t mean anything other than that we’re here right now sharing this time and space.

JONATHAN STRANGER
If I had to guess I’d say this one is having a comparatively pleasant effect.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I know I’ll probably feel silly after this passes, but I’m just going to enjoy it for now. I haven’t felt this warm inside...maybe ever. It feels like, instead of an additional burden placed on me—like I was so eager to do to myself—I had a weight lifted off of me that I didn’t know I was already(23) carrying.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Go on.

Rachael takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and is somehow even more relaxed.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
It’s so weird because I know...I know that myself from 5 minutes ago would think I’m stupid for letting myself relax or even just feel good about anything, but my now self thinks it’s insane to operate like that.

I know, and I remember, and I understand the justification for feeling the way I usually do about what expectations the world has for me—which, I know, “you shouldn’t let the world tell you what to do,” so I turned it into ‘expectations I have for myself…’

But holding high expectations for myself is just something(21) I did because I felt like the world expected me to; like it would make me more palatable than someone who constantly needed, and wanted, and couldn’t meet their own needs on their own time, in private, where other people wouldn’t have to see or think about it.

Rachael laughs to herself.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (Cont’d)
I’m just thinking about all the times that I, like, got to a point that others would consider having ‘made it,’ where I had cultivated relationships with people that others would kill for, and as soon as they offered to share some(25) burden in my life, I pushed them away. I was offended like they thought I was weak and couldn’t handle life’s challenges on my own.

NOVA THOMPSON
Like that time you tried to move the couch by yourself?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I did move that couch by myself.

NOVA THOMPSON
It was in two pieces by the time you got down to the parking lot!

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
And I couldn’t turn my neck for three days!

Rachael and Nova laugh.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
All because I couldn’t ask for help

NOVA THOMPSON
You didn’t just not ask for help, I offered to help you and you turned me down!

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Didn’t want to be a burden.

Rachael shrugs with an expression that says “I know, it was silly of me.”

NOVA THOMPSON
But I wanted to hang out with you! To spend time with you! Even just doing some lame ass chore! Rachael(45). I think you’re really cool and I’d move a couch just to exist in the same space as you for a little bit.

Rachael places a hand over her heart and smiles sweetly, touched by the thought.

The briefcase immolates.

Rachael is once again burdened by the weight of her world.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Oh god. No warning?

Rachael doubles over as if having been struck in the solar plexus. Her torso flops over the top of her podium.

JONATHAN STRANGER (caught off guard)
—Players, that brings us to the end of round 2...

A beat.

JONATHAN STRANGER
...and the next thing that happens is…

Another beat.

The phone is heard ringing. Jonathan jumps to attention.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Ah! I’m sorry players, I have to take that.

Jonathan scurries off to his dressing room. No camera follows him this time.

[BTS]

NOVA THOMPSON (to Rachael)
You’re moving again soon, aren’t you?

PHILLIP (to Rachael)
I know a guy with a box truck if you need it.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (uncomfortable)
Wow. Thanks, guys. I uh...I don’t know if I’ll go through with the move actually.

NOVA THOMPSON
Don’t. Don’t say that just so we quit offering help and then move without us.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK (defensively)
No! No, I just mean...that...maybe me moving again is just another way that I’m running away from help, or actively making life harder for myself.

NOVA THOMPSON (still reluctant to believe)
Okay. But you’ll let us know if you do end up moving, right?

...Before it happens?

[/BTS]

Jonathan returns to stage.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, I was expecting to have a new set of deals—trade offers for you, but The Archivist became discouraged when nobody took his offers last round. Instead he says he’d like to speak to you all directly.

A 17 foot tall, proportionally wide, humanoid figure in a blue tattered robed enters the stage from behind the cameras. The cameras try and adjust to him frame correctly, but are unable to so. The Archivist is cut off in any number of ways from each angle. He speaks slowly to the players in broken distorted fragments of dialogue spoken by Jonathan and the players throughout the show, pausing between each sentence because by using borrowed speech, he can’t use intonation to indicate the end of a sentence. A subtle machine-like breathing is notable between sentences. Subtitles will likely be necessary.

THE ARCHIVIST
Players¹, I don’t need² your own humanity³. I⁴ only⁵ need⁶ the⁷ out⁸line⁹ that is¹⁰ left¹¹ behind¹² when¹³ it has¹⁴ gone¹⁵.

JONATHAN STRANGER (desperately trying to maintain narrative control and relevance)
Is that what drew you(31) to us?

The Archivist does not acknowledge Jonathan’s question.

THE ARCHIVIST (Cont’d)
You have¹⁶ each¹⁷ gained¹⁸ and¹⁹ lost²⁰ something²¹. I⁴ have²² already²³ archived²⁴ some²⁵ very²⁶ rare and valuable²⁷ out⁸lines²⁹ from³⁰ you³¹.

NOVA THOMPSON
When did I say rare and valuable(27)?

Nova covers their mouth when the words they say sound exactly the same as when The Archivist said them.

THE ARCHIVIST
If I³¹ could³² feel³³ gratitude³⁴, I would³⁵. Tell²⁶ me²⁸: what is⁴⁸ left¹¹ that¹⁰ you³¹ would³⁵ trade³⁶, if I³¹ let³⁷ you³¹ choose³⁸ the⁷ return³⁹?

The room is silent.

Nova coughs.

NOVA THOMPSON (jokingly)
I can give you a bad habit.

THE ARCHIVIST
Which⁴⁰ one⁴¹?

NOVA THOMPSON (caught off guard, kind of offended)
Ah...this thing I do with my hands.

Nova raises both hands and presses with their thumbs onto the tops of their ring fingers.

NOVA THOMPSON (to Rachael and Phillip)
I’ll wake up doing this and(19) my hands will be sore all day.

THE ARCHIVIST
And¹⁹ in⁴² return³⁹?

NOVA THOMPSON
Oh, you can just have(22) that. I don’t want it.

THE ARCHIVIST
Deal⁴³.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Can we say ‘trade’ instead?

Jonathan is ignored again.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
That was your own voice, you’re the one(41) who said it earlier.

The Archivist approaches Nova and the cloak parts. An open, empty briefcase emerges held by 13 arms. A visual distortion in the briefcase indicates something and then closes. The arms pull the case back behind the cloak.

THE ARCHIVIST
Phillip⁴⁴.

PHILLIP
Ah, I can give you...my—the compulsion I have to say sorry when I don’t need to? Is that human enough?

THE ARCHIVIST
And¹⁹ in⁴² return³⁹?

PHILLIP
Can I have a hundred bucks?

THE ARCHIVIST
Deal⁴³.

NOVA THOMPSON
Woah, hey! I didn’t know we could ask for money!

The Archivist approaches Phillip and the cloak parts. The same open briefcase supported by 13 arms is revealed, but inside is a lone $100 bill. Phillip apprehensively reaches for and takes the bill. As he reaches out for it the same visual distortion in the briefcase indicates something. Phillip retracts his arm with cash in tow. The case closes and is pulled back behind the cloak.

THE ARCHIVIST
Rachael⁴⁵.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I don’t know. How about the guilt I feel when throw it away a birthday card that’s been on my fridge for 6 months?

THE ARCHIVIST
And¹⁹ in⁴² return³⁹?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
One hundred thousand dollars.

THE ARCHIVIST
Deal⁴³.

NOVA THOMPSON (in disbelief)
What the fuck?!

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
—in small, unmarked bills!

The Archivist pauses after the added detail, then continues. The cloak parts and the briefcase that emerges is spilling with paper money. Rachael rushes towards the moneyfall and begins frantically scooping it up. Paul Robalino enters holding a large burlap sack with a green $ symbol painted on it which Rachael begins stuffing.

Montage of stuffing a sack with money as energy begins to wane.

Cut to the last of the paper bills being stuffed into the sack. Rachael standing up straight and turning toward the briefcase. The visual distortion does its deal. The Archivist slowly turns and walks back off stage. Jonathan waits for the stage to clear before continuing.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, this time the cases will choose(38) you. Nova, are you ready?

NOVA THOMPSON (dejected, rolling eyes, still mad about missing out on cash)
I guess.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You’ll feel something from one of the remaining cases, but not from the others. Do you know which one it is?

NOVA THOMPSON
Yeah, I think so.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Then please, approach it.

Nova walks up to the remaining briefcases and fiddles with the latch mechanism.

NOVA THOMPSON
Is there a code on this?

JONATHAN STRANGER
It was set to the right code.

NOVA THOMPSON
Not anymore.

Cameras cut to a “PLEASE STAND BY” screen.

Nova cracks open the briefcase and peers inside briefly before opening it completely.

NOVA THOMPSON
Okay, it’s another empty case. You’re going to have to help me with this one again.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Are you sure it’s empty? Are you absolutely certain​?

NOVA THOMPSON
Yeah, I literally just looked.

JONATHAN STRANGER
What I’m trying to say is that maybe you should look again. Closer. Deeper.

Nova hunches over the case and stares blankly into it, going through the motions without the intent, but proper intent isn’t requisite. The case begins to seemingly grow deeper, and deeper, as if larger on the inside. The deepest depth of the case begins to ripple.

NOVA THOMPSON
I remember.

Nova’s eyes seemingly unfocused, or focused infinitely far away.

NOVA THOMPSON
The smell of the Ford Areostar (1988). The blueness of the kitchen light in(42) Vancouver at 2am. The weight of the gate I never fully closed. God, why didn’t I close that gate? ...I don’t...I don’t remember this poor hunched figure—wait. No. That’s not...

Nova reaches in as if to grab something but they draw their hand back.

NOVA THOMPSON
Is that...me?

Nova reaches deeper, arm buried up to the shoulder. Giant fingers extend from deep in the ceiling behind them. The stage lights get cocked sideways. Jonathan jumps and starts toward Nova but stops himself.

JONATHAN STRANGER (panicked)
Nova! I’d really recommend not...doing that!

Nova pulls themselves back from the case and turns around to look behind them. The lights are too blinding. They look back into the depths of the case.

NOVA THOMPSON
Is this case full of...me? Am I going to be incinerated now?

Spirit!

Nova runs to Jonathan, tight clutching at his suit.

NOVA THOMPSON
Hear me! I am not the person I was. I will not be the person I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this?!

Jonathan is about to explain but is not given opportunity. Nova begins to shake him comically.

JONATHAN STRANGER
You won’t be incinerated!

NOVA THOMPSON
Then what am I supposed to do with this?!

Nova starts to shake Jonathan again.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Do whatever you want!

Jonathan breaks free of Nova’s grip and straightens his suit.

JONATHAN STRANGER
It’s open to interpretation. It’s jazz. This isn’t designed to be a life lesson or anything, but if you need it to be, maybe you could afford to see yourself with a little more empathy? What did you call yourself, a ‘poor hunched figure?’

NOVA THOMPSON
I saw...a lot of things...but at the end I saw myself hunched over the briefcase and it’s like, I could perceive more than what I saw with my natural eyes. What made me look ‘poor’ was the way I—it just seems silly, looking from the outside—the way I hide...from myself?

A beat. Nova almost gets emotional.

NOVA THOMPSON
There, is that good? Is that what you wanted the moral to be?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I don’t want anything.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Then why are we here?!

JONATHAN STRANGER
Because I offered you money and you accepted.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Doesn’t that imply that you want something from us?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Not necessarily! Not to say I’m not grateful for it, it’s just that I don’t set expectations so I can’t ever be disappointed. If you had declined the offer, I would(35) have moved on; if you showed up and were a poor sport—or if the experience wasn’t especially interesting, I might have just cut the episode.

PHILLIP
That’d be a shame to spend all that time and energy on though.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Sunk cost fallacy will not steal anymore of my life force.

NOVA THOMPSON
But if you offered money, doesn’t that mean you’re hoping for an outcome?

JONATHAN STRANGER
It’s more of a ‘I wonder what would happen if...dot, dot, dot…’ Or maybe it’s more like when you’re a kid and you make a brew in a puddle with leaves and berries and stuff.

Phillip, would you like to open your case?

The thought of just being ingredients in an experimental slop sits uneasy with the contestants.

NOVA THOMPSON
Woah, what happened to my case?

JONATHAN STRANGER
You’ve absorbed it.

Phil?

NOVA THOMPSON
No, no no, you can’t just say I ‘absorbed it,’ whatever that means?

JONATHAN STRANGER
The briefcase was composed of the experience that you experienced; experiencing it consumed it; it’s in you now; it is you now.

PHILLIP
Do they all contain ourselves? Is this like the big climax?

Snickers from cast and crew. One crew member loses it entirely and has to go outside.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Yes and no.

Phillip waits for more explanation but does not receive it. He nods and heads over to one of the two remaining briefcases. As soon as Phillip touches the latch, it pops open effortlessly; smooth like a similarly invisible hydraulic system is equipped but it’s dissimilar in that it is maintained well and/or is new. He leans over and peers deep inside, following the instruction Nova received but is surprised when there is something readily visible.

The case contains threads, though the ends are hidden; silvery on the black background of the briefcase’s interior. As he lifts them, his limbs tighten and raise into the air. Though more confident than at the beginning of the episode, he panics.

PHILLIP
What’s happening?!

JONATHAN STRANGER
Relax—

Which is exactly what Phillip doesn’t do. His body tightens and he lets out a yelp.

PHILLIP
Yelp!

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phillip, you have(16) to relax in order to break free. It’s like one of those finger trap toys.

He relaxes his body, including the hand holding the strings. His body lowers.

PHILLIP
Oh, I get it. It’s because I used to think the world was watching my every motion; frustrated by the projections of society as to what I should be, and what I should be doing, I never considered that the audience was only ever my own cynicism, dressed in the voices of others.

JONATHAN STRANGER (itching to blurt out what he thinks should be obvious)
Good! ...but also kind of like—

PHILLIP
Like I was never the puppet, only the puppeteer pretending not to be.

JONATHAN STRANGER (elated)
Yes! Ha ha! Good form!

You know, Phil, sometimes I think my expectations for you might creep into the realm of ‘unreasonable,’ but you’re really making me proud.

Phillip, no longer desperate for validation, still appreciates the praise. He nods, but the words are not so forthcoming. He adopts a southern accent as if referencing something specific, but he is not.

PHILLIP
I aims to please.

Phillip looks back down and the case is gone. He pats his legs and then starts back to his podium.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Increasingly concise turns from Phillip.

Rachael—

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
So am I a leaf or a berry?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’m sorry?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
In your fucked up little puddle slop of a show: Am I a stick or a blade of grass, or what?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Don’t take this the wrong way, but every brew needs either one big rock or a bunch of little ones. I’ve always thought of you as a sort of ‘handful of asphalt aggregate from an eroded driveway.’

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Wait, so what’re Nova and Phil?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil’s a dead Mountain Pine Beetle, no offense—

PHILLIP
None taken. That’s actually pretty rad.

JONATHAN STRANGER
And Nova is a lost button.

The camera slowly zooms in on Nova. A response is expected—nearly demanded, but none comes.

NOVA THOMPSON (lying)
What? I feel normal feelings about that.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Rachael, would you finish off round three?

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Oh, I’ll ‘finish off’ round three.

Indignantly sarcastic, Rachael and makes a jerking motion with her hand as she walks over to the last briefcase. The crew is deadly silent.

She opens it up and unhesitating, climbs fully inside. The case shuts.

NOVA THOMPSON
Oh, so she can climb into her briefcase but I ‘can’t reach too far in?!’

Cut to the array now devoid of briefcases.

Cut back to all three contestants at their podiums. Rachael’s hair is wet and makeup is slightly running. She is wearing a new set of dry clothes.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Players, that brings us to the end of the game! Let(37)'s open up those briefcases and see what prizes you’re taking home!

Nova, would you show us what’s in ‘the feeling of being in trouble for something you didn’t do?’

Nova cracks the briefcase half-expecting it to open itself. They peek inside cautiously before opening it all the way to reveal a glass wide-mouth bottle with a cork. Nova picks it up and inspects it, but sees nothing inside.

NOVA THOMPSON
It’s air. I won air.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Nova, this isn’t just ‘air,’ this is the last breath—

NOVA THOMPSON
Oh god.

Nova, still holding the jar, holds it out away from themself in disgust.

JONATHAN STRANGER
...the last breath before a confession that was never confessed.

NOVA THOMPSON
Like a romantic confession? Is this...supposed to be meaningful to me?

JONATHAN STRANGER
Doubtful! You’ve never met this 70 year old woman who’s last breath before confession was in a parked car, to their adult child who stopped them because they did not want the burden of knowing.

Rachael’s eyes grow wide.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Is...is that supposed to be meaningful to me?

JONATHAN STRANGER
I’m starting to feel like a broken record. It’s not ‘supposed to be’ anything! It is what it is. If it’s meaningful, then it’s meaningful. If not, then it’s not!

This is a selection from The Archivist’s collection. You are now the proud custodian of this humanity.

NOVA THOMPSON
I don’t want this.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
Give it to me.

Nova suddenly becoming protective of it.

NOVA THOMPSON
...no? Maybe I do want it...

A beat. There’s a lot of freaking beats in this show.

NOVA THOMPSON
Am I supposed to—

JONATHAN STRANGER
Phil! Why don’t you show us what’s in the case evoking ‘guilt for emotional absence?’

Phillip opens his case to reveal a glass case with a library checkout card inside. The checkout card is over stamped; down the column and then in any free space available. The title of the book is worn and obscured but part is still legible: “—for Moments that Don’t Arrive.” Phillip picks up the case and turns it over and over. Both sides of the checkout card are excessively stamped.

PHILLIP
I accept.

JONATHAN STRANGER
This is where I’d usually give more information, but it doesn’t seem necessary.

And lastly, Rachael! What is represented by trying to remember a nostalgic smell?

Rachael opens her case to find something wrapped like a keepsake in wax paper. She carefully peels it back to reveal a dried orange cross-section, colour fading and edges slightly crumbling. She picks it up and raises it to her face to smell it.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
I don’t know why I thought there’d be a smell. The whole thing is about trying to remember the smell, right?

What’s the story here? Is this from some devastating Christmas tragedy?

JONATHAN STRANGER
There’s nothing here. It looks like maybe this orange slice was deliberately saved and then forgotten about, but now it’s yours to remember.

RACHAEL VANDERSPEK
This one is shit. I want to steal the unconfession breath.

The counter on Rachael’s podium changes to zero.

NOVA THOMPSON
Fuck! I Forgot we could steal!

I—I want to steal the bag of money from Rachael!

The counter on Nova’s podium changes to zero. The two exchange their physical items as Jonathan closes out the show. Nova begins to feel guilty and starts pulling cash out of the bag to share with Rachael and Phillip.

JONATHAN STRANGER

That does it for us here at Game Stranger! I am your host Jonathan Stranger, reminding you that humanity isn’t the perfectly preserved memories; it’s the small, messy fragments we carry, the outlines of what we gave away, the feelings we almost say out loud // a bunch of rocks! a dead bug! a lost button! The brew is made of whatever you find lying around.

Thanks for watching. Goodnight.

A phone is heard ringing. This time it’s Jonathan’s cell phone, he flips it open and turns away from centre.

JONATHAN STRANGER
Oh yeah, what’s up?

You want me to say ‘gratitude(34)?’

Oh, right, from earlier. Really? Nobody said gratitude? I’m sure I already did.

Oh you’re right, that was just ‘grateful.’ You couldn’t make that work?