Click for Content Warnings
- Background sounds and music
- Sounds of thunder
- Panning audio (audio will sound different in right and left speakers/headphones)
- References to death and dying
- Sounds of distress
- Loss of consciousness (non-violent, spontaneous)
- Implied threats of violence
- Manipulation (of a magical nature)
- Moments of mild panic/hysteria (rapid speech and heavy breathing)
Transcript
ANNA: Anything, anything different at all?
OLIVER: Nothing. He’s just. Sitting there. Like he has been all week.
ANNA: Maybe we shouldn’t have— [HER WORDS ARE CUT OFF IN A SOB]
OLIVER: No, no. I think this was. Right. The uh. I don’t know how much you understand about how all of this works but. The energy, around him. It’s been better. Since you brought her back here.
ANNA: Well that’s good. That’s good. Sam? Sam, darling? Can I get you something? Water? Anything?
OLIVER: Oh Anna, I wouldn’t—
[BRIEF, LOW HUM]
ANNA: [CRIES IN PAIN] You, he— they shocked me!
[RAIN GETS LOUDER]
OLIVER: You get within about a foot and that happens, yes. And of course.
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
ANNA: It hasn’t once stopped raining. All week, not for a moment. Except when I drove to– when I. For the arrangements. I. It was beautiful, like spring. Glorious sunshine.
OLIVER: I think it might be him.
ANNA: It rained the day he was born, you know. Wait, that. There, on the dresser, a microphone and the light is on. But.
OLIVER: It’s time.
ANNA: Time for what?
OLIVER: Welcome back to Spirit Box Radio.
[INTRO MUSIC]
[RAIN AND THUNDER]
ANNA: Thank you.
OLIVER: Hmm?
ANNA: For. Whatever you did, with the hospital. They. She. A heart attack, it says on the paperwork.
OLIVER: Oh. It’s nothing, really.
ANNA: And for Sam. Of course.
OLIVER: [WITH AN AIR OF FORCED OPTIMISM] You know, the broadcasting might be a good sign.
ANNA: What?
OLIVER: Sam’s mentioned before. They tend to feel a little more connected, when the show is airing.
ANNA: You say that like– like somehow Sam is making it work.
OLIVER: I think that’s exactly how it works.
ANNA: But he can’t be running a radio show. He’s— well. I don’t know what he is. Catatonic. In a state of shock. or. I don’t know. But whatever it is it’s not. It’s not right.
OLIVER: No.
ANNA: Why do I feel like you know more than you’re saying.
OLIVER: Your ‘thing’, as Sam calls it.
ANNA: Oh. The lying thing. But. Wait. Do you think it is right?
OLIVER: Not exactly, but.
[METALLIC THUNK]
ANNA: What’s this? Some weird telescope?
OLIVER: It’s an arcane seeing glass. It’s imbued with arcane energy. Paired with a True Arcanist Tarot deck you can use it to attempt to identify and categorise arcana you come into contact with.
ANNA: Only attempt?
OLIVER: I see why you make a good lawyer. It has intrigued me since Sam explained it to me, the nature of your gift. It’s concerned with actual truths and falsehoods. But the arcane does not deal in truth and lies. It’s perhaps why you’re so naturally averse to it. But it does beg several questions. They say today’s preternatural is tomorrow’s natural; science lives and dies on theories, bendable, changeable, flexible. Image what it was like to attempt to explain gravity for the first time. Now it’s a concept understood by children who can barely count. Knowledge isn’t static, so how can your gift be about objective truths?
ANNA: [THOUGHTFULLY] It stops working, sometimes. When people tell a lie often enough, it doesn’t become indistinguishable from the truth, but it does get harder for me to… see it.
OLIVER: Fascinating. I do wonder…
ANNA: What does that have to do with this seeing glass?
OLIVER: It can show you arcane energy, and as I say, when paired with a True Arcanist Tarot, it can be used to attempt to categorise arcana. But those distinctions aren’t clear. The ‘True’ is supposed to refer to the deck’s ability to show the truth of the arcana one encounters, but, of course, the arcane does not deal in truths. Only beliefs, or perhaps consensus.
ANNA: You think my ‘thing’ might be like that too?
OLIVER: I don’t know. It’s just a theory. Look through it.
ANNA: [GASP] Everything’s glowing!
OLIVER: That’s arcane energy.
ANNA: Sam, he’s. It’s like he’s on fire. Is it always like that?
OLIVER: No. He’s not usually so bright.
ANNA: But…
OLIVER: All week they’ve been getting brighter and brighter.
ANNA: Stronger. But. How? Why?
OLIVER: I don’t know. It shouldn’t be possible. It isn’t possible.
[THE MIXED STATIC OF INDI, BLISS AND INGRA]
INDI: Oi! I was sleeping!
BLISS: Some of us like to keep decent hours.
INGRA: I hadn’t even had a chance to close my eyes.
ANNA: You– you’re here, but– why?
INDI: He called us.
ANNA: Oliver?
BLISS: No. The Heir Apparent.
OLIVER: He holds their deals now, after all. And if there is one thing he’s made clear in this process, it’s that he certainly doesn’t hold mine.
SAM: [QUIET, BROKEN, WITH A RING OF MAGIC HUM] It’s my fault.
INGRA: Look, Ghost Maker, as much as I’m living for this doom saying shit, I really can’t appreciate the attitude you’re bringing to the table, to be honest. You get us to turn coat and then leave us without any fair instruction for an entire week, and we’ve got the damn Harbingers breathing down our necks. And that’s not to mention all the… weird stuff.
OLIVER: Weird stuff?
BLISS: I noticed first, which should be a red flag on its own, to be honest. Ignorance is what I am. But then the other day, I think it was Tuesday – you see? I knew that! It was Tuesday! That’s not what I do. I shouldn’t be able to!
INDI: It’s not the same for you, Unrelenting. It’s always been baked into your deal. It’s part of whatever it is that’s unrelenting about you, besides being a pain in the arse. You know, the other day, Ingra made me a cup of tea – that’s another red flag. And when I took a sip, I realised something. I didn’t like it.
OLIVER: They are originally American, they probably made it in the microwave.
INGRA: It’s faster!
INDI: Point is, I had a preference. And I don’t have ‘preferences’. I can’t have them. It’s not what I do.
ANNA: What the bloody hell is everyone talking about?
INDI: Oh, you’re the lawyer, right? Gods, Scourge has never had any taste. Couldn’t he have picked the other one?
INGRA: You did it again.
INDI: What?
BLISS: You had a preference.
INDI: Ugh, it doesn’t matter. Okay, princess, here’s the deal. I’m Indifference, she’s Ignorance, and they are Ingratitude. We’re supposed to embody those traits to their conclusion. I don’t know why. Don’t ask me why.
BLISS: My guess is it’s easier.
INGRA: See, look, Bliss is guessing! Hmm. Maybe this will mean card games will be a little more interesting?
INDI: Ingra! Was that. Gratitude? Were you pleased?
INGRA: [STROPPILY] No! Well. Maybe a little.
INDI: We’ll address that later. It’s something to do with him. When we transferred our deals, he never said anything about changing the terms.
ANNA: Sounds to me like you’re all a little better off.
BLISS: You don’t know anything about it. And I shouldn’t.
INDI: You can’t enter a deal with the One Who Walks Here and There without asking for something. And we all asked for something.
INGRA: We got it, too. Maybe it wasn’t exactly like we pictured it.
INDI: Can you remember what you pictured?
INGRA: No. But I imagine it was better than this. See! I’m fine!
BLISS: Are you, because you seemed awfully pleased about that?
INDI: Guys, can you please save your lovers quarrel for when I’m at least three miles away.
BLISS: Sorry.
INGRA: Sorry.
INDI: [DEEP BREATH] Good. Why isn’t he talking? Isn’t that supposed to be his whole thing? ‘I speak and will be heard’, ‘none can refuse’ and all that?
OLIVER: I’m afraid they’ve been like this all week. Except, those tiny words are the first I’ve heard out of him.
[PAUSE]
INDI: Gosh. She’s there. She’s very tiny in there, isn’t she?
ANNA: Please don’t.
INDI: It’s very sad.
ANNA: Yes, it is. Very sad.
INDI: I don’t like that.
ANNA: No. I don’t much like it either. But. There’s no– there’s nothing anyone can do.
[THUNDER]
SAM: Faithful listeners.
OLIVER: Magpie—
SAM: [WITH POWER] Quiet.
[SAM GETS TO THEIR FEET]
Do you hear me?
[DEEP BREATH]
DO YOU HEAR ME?
[THUNDER]
[WIND RISES]
fideles auditores, tu exaudies me, fideles auditores, tu exaudies me.*
ANNA: What’s he saying?!
OLIVER: He’s repeating himself, in Latin, I—
Per potestatem quam in me haeredem apparentem in sanguine rosa corona
in voce sanguinis rosa coronam iubeo surgis
in voce sanguinis rosa coronam iubeo surgis
in voce sanguinis rosa coronam iubeo surgis
in voce sanguinis rosa coronam iubeo surgis
in voce sanguinis rosa coronam iubeo surgis
non ibis, iubeo
non ibis, iubeo
non ibis, iubeo
oriri ortus oriri
oriri ortus oriri
oriri ortus oriri
mortem non recuso, ORIRI INQUISITOR!**
[ESCALATING SOUND AND THEN]
[SAM BREATHES IN, AND OUT]
SAM: Kitty. Please wake up.
[WIND HOWLS WILDER AND WILDER]
[THE MAGIC HUM OF SAM’S VOICE GETS LOUDER, LOUDER, LOUDER, AND THEN]
[SUDDEN SILENCE]
[THE PATTER OF RAIN.
KITTY: Gods, my head is killing me.
ANNA: Kitty! Oh my GOD!
KITTY: Oh, hugs, we’re doing hugs now, okay— wait. Why are you all– what is going on?
[ANNA LAUGHS WITH DELIGHTED RELIEF]
INDI: That was the most impressive piece of magic I’ve ever seen.
BLISS: Right?
INGRA: Sorta glad he called on us, but don’t you feel a little… tired?
BLISS: Actually. I do.
INDI: I think that might have been the plan. We’ve been used. And he didn’t even ask. Rude.
KITTY: Will someone please explain what in hells is happening. Are— are all of my windows broken!?
ANNA: I hadn’t even noticed!
KITTY: Why are you crying? And will you– stop bloody, petting my head or whatever this is?
ANNA: Sorry, I’m sorry. I just. We thought you were dead?
KITTY: I’m… sorry?
OLIVER: She was dead.
ANNA: [LAUGHS] No but. She’s fine. She. She’s fine I’m touching her.
KITTY: Yes you bloody are. Bathsheba, you know I’ve never known a hug to be this loud. Or snotty.
ANNA: Sorry I’ll. I’m backing off I–
[SAM LETS OUT A MASSIVE SIGH]
ANNA: Sam? Sam.
[SAM FALLS TO THE GROUND WITH A THUD AND A SWOOSH OF FABRIC]
OLIVER: Sam. Sam? Magpie. Look at me. Look at me!
INDI: He’s not dead.
OLIVER: I KNOW that. Magpie. Open your eyes, please.
ANNA: He’s cold.
OLIVER: He’s not dead.
ANNA: Oliver. What’s going on?
[PAUSE]
ANNA: Oliver?
[INDI CHUCKLES]
INDI: Oh, look. He’s got no idea.
KITTY: He’s going to be alright?
OLIVER: I– this is unprecedented. The dead can’t be risen.
INDI: Well apparently they can now. By him.
ANNA: He’s so cold.
OLIVER: He’s not dead.
KITTY: I’m really not a fan of how much you’re saying that.
OLIVER: I, sorry. Indi, do you see it?
INDI: Yes.
ANNA: What? What do you see?
INDI: We all cast an arcane light you can glimpse if you know how to look at it. The Heir Apparent’s has become an eclipse.
ANNA: It’s gone?
OLIVER: No. it’s there. There’s a halo of light there but at the core.
INDI: Shadow.
[END]
*faithful listeners, you will hear me, faithful listeners, you will hear me.
**By the power vested in me as the heir apparent of the blood of the rose crown, at the voice of the blood rose I order a crown,
By the voice of the Blood Rose Crown, I bid you rise
By the voice of the Blood Rose Crown, I bid you rise
By the voice of the Blood Rose Crown, I bid you rise
By the voice of the Blood Rose Crown, I bid you rise
By the voice of the Blood Rose Crown, I bid you rise
I command you not to go
I command you not to go
I command you not to go
Rise rise rise rise
Rise rise rise rise
Rise rise rise rise
I defy death, RISE, INVESTIGATOR!
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