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Season 1 Origins: Paper Phantom 1 · The Teamup Play Show Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a lily Pad production.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: This is the Team Up Play Show podcast. The great
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: metropolis of New Babel sits directly on the Colorado, Kansas
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Nebraska tri point. The goal was to build a city
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: from which humankind could reach the heavens. For that, we
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: needed a lot of empty space. The central Great Plains
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: of America happily obliged. We begin your story in the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Nebraska part of the city, which the locals call ask
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: ask is well, was the college district of the city.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: In its golden age, New Babel Tech University was where
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: some of the brightest young minds came to research and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: then offer their brilliant thoughts, ideas, and dreams to the
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: New Babbel Space barge program. Many wondrous discoveries of modern
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: science were discovered, shared, kept secret, and lusted over. It
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: was a race to hope to the next world. But
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: when you've won the race, what becomes of your shoes
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: and your jersey? What becomes of your gilded trophies. Ask
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: is full of old, abandoned laboratories and factories, dust covered
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: beakers and test tubes you can no longer see through,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: and old empty bars and with grimy windows where ghosts
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: of students passed, sing body songs, shit talking their professors,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and cheers to the great unknowns of space. There is
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: still life here, of course. The college is still accredited
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and functional, and ten blocks off campus is the pen
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Dragon Library. It stands a light and clean amid the
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: dusk and dust, a shining bastion of history and intellect.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: It revers things deemed outdated and unnecessary, like ladders.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: With wheels on them.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And creaky, yellowing books and glass cases. If you couldn't
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: find what you needed on campus, pen Dragon was the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: place to go. It may take more time, and it
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: might be a little bit more quaint, but you'd find it.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: It is all these things due to the maintenance and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: care of one Arthur Wright. Arthur is an elderly black
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: man with silver hair on his crown and ever watery eyes.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: He wears suspenders in a bow tie over a short
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: sleeve button down shirt. Every goddamn day, when it's cold,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: he'll add an elbow patched wool blazer. He smiles as
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: he looks down upon the clerk who is letting books
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: to be put back on their shelves pile up too
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: high as he's caught in his own book. Who do
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: we see here at the front desk? What does Jason
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: look like?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Jason is a twenty two year old young slender, auburn
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: haired young man with horn rimmed glasses, wears a T
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: shirt and jeans. He tucks his shirt into his pants.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: He's nowhere near the fashion icon that Arthur is. Yeah,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: he slumps, slouches, unconfident, hair, unkempt.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: We see this figure at the desk? And what book
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: are you pouring over? What do you think Jason likes
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: to read?
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, he's going over classic Sherlock Holmes collection,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Lost in.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: It, Lost in a collection of old stories. You find
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: yourself walking in the streets of London, mud underfoot. Who
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: does Jason see himself as in this story? Are you Sherlock?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Are you Watson? Are you the random police guy that sucks?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: He thinks pretty lowly of himself, but not Lestradlo. He's
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: definitely views himself as the Watson. He's like, not even
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the main character in his own story, but loves the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: idea of being able to solve crimes and help people,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and follows around a crazy man breaking violin, just trying
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: to keep it together. He dreams about having a beautiful mustache.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Right now he just has four hairs growing on his
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: upper lip.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Wow, twenty three and four hairs.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: He's doing great.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: As you are lost in this story, start to hear
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Sherlock calling at you. Watson, Watson, the Games of foot, Watson.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: We must leave, We must go. Ye.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Sorry, Let me just gather our things and will be
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: on our way.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Jason, Jason, Jason, Back into the real world.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: You wake up.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: To another dream page. Right, Arthur's grand niece. She just
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: finished kind of ruffling your hair and waking you up
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: out of your stupor as her arm pulls back and
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: she stands before you in her glory. She's twenty five,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: perfect light brown skin, cascading dark braids, and that smile,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: that brilliant, brilliant smile. Okay, Jason, what are you doing?
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Was like Dewey decimal system, Jason. You know the Dowey
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: decimal system backwards and forwards. You don't have to study.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Them just yeah, No, of course.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: All these books pile on up, are there's going to
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: be so mad?
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna put them away, Jude. Do you want
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to help me, I'll help sure, Okay, Jason just like
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: pushes a giant stack of books to Page and like
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: hides his blushing face behind another pile of books.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Together the two you start to kind of sort through
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: these Page will come back to your card and grab
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: a book from you and then go off to a
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: science section or you know, you know the Dewey decimal
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: system really well, the point seven hundreds cla, I hate
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: the points. I think that is I think that is science.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Page comes back, give me another book.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Almost there.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, here you go. I hand her pride and prejudice, and.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: In that moment you brush her finger. What does Jason
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: feel in this moment? What do you do in this
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: moment when you make contact with her skin to skin?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I think for a moment he reads into it and
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: thinks maybe there's a chance that she like notices him
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: and cares about him, but then immediately washes over him,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: just like, Oh no, she's twenty five, an older woman.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: She would never she would never even waste her time
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: with me. It's just an accidental fingertoed. Yeah, Arthur took
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you in when you were how old do you think,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: probably like sixteen, brought you.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Out of the foster care system into his care and
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you began working for him at the library. He lets
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: you live here. This is your home. He set up
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: kind of a it has kind of a you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: a communal kitchen and space like that, but he set
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: up kind of a living situation for you, almost an
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: apartment a top of this building. And you began to
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: know Page pretty well in lateeen years, as she started
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: coming around more, as she came of age and started
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: to explore knowledge and who she was. You know, she
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: works downtown, Downtown a new babel is interesting. It's called
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the Station. It's where these space barges used to launch,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: right out of the middle of the city. It's kind
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: of separated now from the rest of the city. They
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: still call it downtown, still known as the Station, but
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: it's not kind of under the regular laws of the
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: rest of the city. But you know, she works down there,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and she's incredibly smart, very brilliant. I'm exactly sure what
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: she does. She's tried to explain it to you from
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: time to time, but you kind of get lost in
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: looking in her eyes while she speaks. After putting away
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the last book, she says, all right, Jason, I got
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: some work to do. I'll be I'll be in the
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: cubbies upstairs. If you need anything.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Page, appreciate your help.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Your shoulders slump into a longing sigh as she walks away.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Your eyes trail Page in the sweet innocence of true
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: admiration until you hear behind you. Hi there, Jeez, Arthur
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: stands there with a sweet, mischievous smile. Hi Arthur, you
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: know Jason, I'm old. Oh I didn't know that. Wow,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: my sight falters. Oh no, way, that the first time
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: you've talked about it. But I can see the love
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: streaming off of you from upstairs.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Yead. It's so embarrassing. Stop you're watching us. Stop not
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: watching you, just noticing. Oh there's nothing in notice. Okay,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: you can chill out. Would you let me give you
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: a word of wisdom? You're gonna give it to me
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: no matter what.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Every day I turn another page closer to the end
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: of my own book, my edges are deckled and my
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: binding is worn gross. Soon I'll only be remembered on
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the page, Jason. Soon, I'll only be alive in a book.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: All I'm saying is that if you have to turn pages,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you like to turn that page?
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I guess. Look, we all want our stories to be good,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: have good happy endings, right, But I don't know, can't
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: be the author and the protagonist.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Perhaps that's true, except for in my book, I'm writing
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: one about me. You're writing a book about me. I'm
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: the author and the protagonist.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: It's autobiography. Oh cools it. How's that going? It's going great.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: It's called short sleeves but patched elbows. It sounds wise,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: But I don't know if there's anything behind it. We'll
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: think of something. Yeah, okay, I'll get back to work.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I have, like, playfully kind of taps your head. I don't.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I don't pay you here to drool over my grandniece.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Shut up skidting. Later in the day, it's a Friday.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: The library is closed on the weekends because Arthur lives
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: that way. Towards the end of the closing day, you
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: kind of have to, you know, shoe people off. Some
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: people that like to read and stay and you know
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: moms with their kids, big stack of books. Some avid
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: readers kind of hold up in cubbies.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I hate conflict. You notice a.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Library patron who has been hold up in one of
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: those reading cubbies, almost all day, still there, plowing through
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: an old stack of books. You know exactly who this is.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: He wears a tweed flat cap, you know, like a
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Newsy hat, glasses and a high collar jacket even inside,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: so that he can have a moment's peace to read.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: This is Manny Ellington. He's a famous billionaire and socialite
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: in the city. His face would be known. That's kind
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: of why he hides. He's famous for having tried to
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: do a lot of good to this city, a lot
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: of good with his wealth, unlike a lot of the
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: other aristocrats in New Babbel. He is the CEO of
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Ellington Electric, which is the only source of electricity in
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: the city, has its turbine plants on the outskirts of town.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: He has kept electricity costs low and available to everyone,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: along with making the electric railways to traverse the city
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: nearly free for its people. A good man on all accounts. Unfortunately,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: here you have to interrupt his reading and start packing
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: up his books.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to close at a decent time, I'll
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: start by just walking up behind him and hoping my
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: presence is known and he doesn't turn around.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Getting closer, you clear your throat, you look over at
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: his stack of books, and you see names Young nietzschee royd. Emerson,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: kind of more modern philosophers. These names don't surprise you.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: This is kind of the thing. He reads those in
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: more kind of ancient religious texts.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: He has you crawl around in.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Some of the dark spaces of the library to bring
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: him old books and old Bibles and strange old tones.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: He's flipping through these wildly, like he's trying to find
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: something he's lost.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: He turns as you clear your throat. Oh, Jason him,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: mister Elington libraries closing. I am so sorry.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: I do regret that I have to leave this classroom
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: of intellect, but I fully understand you have a job
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: to do.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Yep, Yeah, it's okay. You don't have to apologize libraries
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: for everybody. If you want, I can check some of
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: those books out. You can take them home. Oh I, oh,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't. I shouldn't. I worry I would lose them.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: You know, I can be.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Sometimes forgetful. There's too much on my head in my mind. Yeah,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: I get how that that could feel. Well, yeah, I
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: can put all these way for you if you're all done, yes,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: of course, quickly. Do you have to go. There's one
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: one thing. Maybe I can run by you something I
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: learned today from from Carl Jung.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: I guess so sure.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Here, he kind of flips to a page I'm afraid
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: might change the way I think about the world. You
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: have a good mind. Perhaps you would help me think
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: through this, Jung says, who looks outside dreams, who looks
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: inside awakes. He pauses as if this is the most
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: profound thing he's ever heard.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Looks at you.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Are you a dreamer, Jason, or or are you waking?
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Do you look outside or do you look with it?
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: M I guess I like to look outside. But that
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: means that you're inside looking out right. Oh so there's
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: no way to be inside and outside unless you're in
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: like a gazebo.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: It would be hard to be the author and the
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: main character is what you're saying.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess. I don't know.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: If he's talking about literally being inside or outside. I
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: think looking to the inside of oneself.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: The soul.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Always tried to do good for this city, be helpful,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: use the resources the power I have to do good.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: But sometimes when I look in, I don't like what
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: I find. Oh, I mean, you seem like a good
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: person to me. Yes, Well that's the point, isn't it.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I seem like a good person to you, But what
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: do I seem to myself? M Yeah, Sometimes it's harder
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: to look at yourself than other people.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: What do you find within Jason? I guess. I guess
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I'm a good person. I try and do the right thing,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. Sometimes it's hard not to be angry.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And what makes you angry? Well, you're one of the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: good people in the city, but not everyone is the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: same as you. That is true. I know Arthur always
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: says there's only so much a change, but just wish
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: there was more I could do. Arthur is a wise man. Well,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: I won't keep you. Continue your work and the good
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: work that you do here, and I'm sure i'll see
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: you again sooner. I like to come back at least
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: once a week to get some reading. Yeah, sounds good. Again.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: You can totally check these books out and read them
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: on your own property if you want.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'll take this one. He does give you the
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Carl Jung Compendium. Nice, I'll market is checked out. Oh,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: thank you, Jason. He kind of packs up his things,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: clips his collar high that's his hat on and shuffles out,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: no one knowing the fame walked through the door. It's
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: closing time. You have closing duties to Arthur kind of
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: allows you to live here and you know, room and
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: board for the work you do. Once a month kind
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: of on the third Friday, you're supposed to sweep, vacuum
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: and then mop kind of every square inch of the
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: floors here, which is a colossal task you kind of
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know does Jason like that? Does he dread that?
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Is it? Like?
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: What kind of what kind of a job like that?
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: What does it bring out in Jason?
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: I think Jason does like it. I think he will
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: grab the book cart and pop in some headphones and
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: just like basically skateboard on the book cart with like
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: a mop in a broom, just like having fun trying
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: to clean as it's just going to take hours and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: tries to get lost in it.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, put yourself in different world. It's a race
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: of flying a dragon, whatever kind of fantasy your mind
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: comes up with in those moments you come up to
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the door you're not meant to go in. Arthur calls
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: it his secret study. You're meant to mop right up
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: to the door, and you've never wondered about it. Ask
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Arthur's done so much for you, why worry about it?
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Then you feel.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: It different than every other time. It almost feels like
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: the cracks and crevices of this place, of this door,
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: a radiating need to devour, to end, to annihilate. For
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: a moment, you feel as though your soul is being
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: sucked from you.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: You grasp at it in this moment. What's going through
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Jason's head. I always assumed that was behind the door
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: was just adult books, but now it's pulling. I want
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to chase it. What is that? I'll put the bob
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: and broom aside, take my headphones out, Look around. I
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: opened the door, open the door. Hello. You know you're
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: not allowed to go back off limits.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: The feelings you get around Arthur are normally warm, inviting, safe.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: This feels exactly the opposite. And then you hear it, rattling,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: dumping at a distant scream. Your eyes adjust somebody there,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: you follow you, pulling of your soul into the room.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Smells strike you first, incense, citrus and sage, swirling aromas
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: of a distant world, striking.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: But calming. You see all.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Manner of bobbles around you, bearing occult iconography, bottles with
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: swirling liquid pendants and amulets with hanging gems and symbols,
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: ornate inlaid boxes holding powders and colored dusts, odd trinkets, feathers,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: and books.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, my books.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: You've lived around books your whole life, but in here
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: the shelves of color and weight overwhelm you. Then the
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: center of the room, on a little stand, the book
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: covered in bone white. The book throbs, it rattles, shakes,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: it's moving, begging you to let it feed.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: He reaches towards it. Here's his own heartbeat inside his head,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: a pulsing of the book. And then he pulls his
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: hand away and like quickly shuffles out of the room,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: closes it back up, tries to leave everything the way it.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Was, hoping that it will never be known that you
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: went in here. Jason skirts on with the remainder of
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: his duties. As you're kind of wrapping up, Well, what
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: are some of the other things Jason's supposed to do
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: in this old, beautiful library.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oil the ladders with wheels, you know, checking the
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: books to make sure some of them. You know that
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: are like, there's old sections of the library where there's
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: water damage, and so some of the books are kind
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: of beyond repair or in need of like recovery, and
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: they need to be restored, and so he'll pull some
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: of those to a cart and then he'll just kind
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of do a check. He'll make sure that the doors
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: and windows are closed as well as his kind of
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: just like general floor cleaning sweep. Yeah, it's probably pretty
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: late by the time he can turn in.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: As you're wrapping up, you see Page and Arthur kind
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: of standing next to the exit door, still around. Obviously, Arthur,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: let's Page stay here as long as she wants. She's
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: slept here. Before you know, they're kind of chatting about something.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Paige kind of has a concerned look on her face
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: and her hand on Arthur's shoulder. You walk up to them.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: You hear her saying, you have to take care of yourself.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: You're not.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: I just worry about you. I know you're strong, you're Oh, Jason, Hey,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: everything okay. Arthur looks at you, rolls his eyes. Oh,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: she's worried about me.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Oh is it because you told her the potential title
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: of your book?
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: No, no, no, that's a good one, Jason. Very funny,
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: we joke, we barb very good. Oh I I'm afraid that.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: I well, I I slipped, I fell off one of
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: the letters. Oh yeah, you don't. You don't need to
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: go up on the ladders. If you just seen a book,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: just let me know. I'll get it. Age looks it, Arthur. See,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: you don't have to do that. Jason's here, I'm here.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Just ask Well, it's hard, young lie. I don't want
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: to put you out.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I can do it.
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Kind of grumbling.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: What kind of what were you trying to get anyway?
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Just trying to get a book for a library, patron,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: No big deal.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, just next time grab one of us.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: It's not a deal. We can help.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I have fine, fine, Fine, He kind of grumbles and
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: walks off. Paige standing there with you. Thanks, Jason, just
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: look out for him as you can. He kind of
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: rolls her eyes. I just worry about him.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: I want him to be around as long as he
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: can be, you know, yeah, I mean I always sort
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: of thought you just live forever. She kind of giggles.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Man, I wish Jason he's meant so much to us.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Well, you're leaving, you've got goat. Yeah, yeah, I'm just
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: going home. Okay, it's really good to see you. She
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: kind of lingers in this moment. What does Jason do?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Do you like soup?
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: Beautiful laugh rings out in the foyer. Oh, Jason, she
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: kind of ruffles your head. Everybody likes soup, and she
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: x the building. God, damn it. Yeah, you are finished.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: You're starting to think about turning in. As you head
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: towards the kind of dormitory not dormitory or like the
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: apartment place that Arthur has made for you here, which
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: is upstairs on this first level, you hear some raised
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: voices in that kind of communal kitchen and eating area
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: behind a couple of swinging doors. And this is after
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: the library's closed, Right after the library's closed. Arthur kind
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: of trundled off this way, it seems. I'll start to
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: walk towards the sound, but I don't go into the
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: kitchen yet. Yeah, you walk towards the sound, get up
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: to the swinging doors.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Listen, Arthur.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: The next person that comes in ain't gonna be me.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: I tried to tell you they wanted back the sound
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: of fist against flesh. Just give me a little more
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: time with it. I only have begun to scratch the
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: surface of what it holds.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: You hear another strike.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm going to get in big trouble if
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: I don't bring it back. They found out about this
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: one and they want it back. I don't know why,
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: but they're really up in arms about it.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Arthur.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: Do just tell them I've done an in depth study
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: of it and it's been made inert. It won't do
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: what they think. Tell them I didn't find anything special.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Another strike. That's not gonna work, Artie. We've had a
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: good thing going here, but you know that's not gonna work.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: They know something's weird about that book, and they're gonna
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: come for it.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Just don't say I didn't warn you this whole time.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Jason wants to go into the room the whole time,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: but he's just frozen outside. It's listening. You hear footsteps
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: coming towards the door.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: I hide behind a pile of books, behind a pile
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: of books. Let's yeah, let's go ahead and make a check,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: our very first check of the game.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's delf, it's six. It's a six.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: Jason there's a huge pile of books right there that
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: you were supposed to put away that you didn't you
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: sneak behind it. You see walking out two men, black
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: bomber jackets.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: One of them kind.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Of shoves a gun underneath his jacket into his belt
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: or waistband. They walk out in a huff, kind of
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: go out the back door of the library.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: What do you do now? As soon as they're gone,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I go into the kitchen to check on Arthur.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Arthur, Oh no, no, no, no, no, Jason, what happened?
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Are you okay?
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: No?
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: What?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: He looks up at you.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Swollen eye, brow is cut and bleeding down the side
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: of his face, running into his eyes.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Oh jeez, hang on. I go into the Kitchenett and
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I grab some like paper tape from the drawer, grab
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: a old bag of peas from the freezer.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, Jason, I'm sorry. You shouldn't see that. You shouldn't
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: be you shouldn't see it. Hey, you've done the same
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: for me. I thought you were talking to Paige. Who
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: are those guys? Well, what's going on? Oh? I've gotten
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: myself into a little bit of a bad deal.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid. Okay, Well, what's wrong? Maybe I can help. Oh, Jason.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: He puts his hands on yours, old wrinkled hands, now
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: covered with streaks of his own blood. I'm afraid that
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: I do need your help. Yeah, anything, I need it desperately.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: You took me in. I'll do anything for you.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: There's a book, a book that holds power, Jason, power
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: beyond what you could know?
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Is it, by chance? The book in your special study? Jason?
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know it told you not to go in there? Yeah,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: but what did you think I was going to do?
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: You haven't for so long, right, have you?
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: No? I amn't. I just whatever you're talking about with
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: that book, it was doing something. Oh no, no, no.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: I tried to bind it, but it's too strong, too powerful.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: Maybe we could hide it.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, we will need to bind it, Jason, Okay, need
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: to get it out of this world. He looks at
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: you kind of with confused eyes, understanding that the words
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: he's using are foreign to you and strange.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: But what do we need to do? Or can I help?
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Books already bound and understand? There's a lot I haven't
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: told you about my family, about me. We can use magic, Jason. Okay.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: That was Ethan Goldman as the Paper Phantom and me
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Johnny Wilson as your game director. Thank you so much
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: for listening to the first part of the Paper Phantom's
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: origin story. I'm just here to tell you that the
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: story is not over. There are three more full episodes,
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: and if you want to hear those before jumping into
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: the main show, then head over to our patreon Patreon
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: dot com Slash Team UPRPG. That's patreon dot com Slash
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: Team Up RPG.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: We'll see you over there, heroes. This has been a
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: lily Pad production.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: MHM.