Latest / Dubious Creatures Presents / The Vampire With No Name 1.17 - Disremember

Transcript

The Vampire With No Name 1.17 - Disremember · Dubious Creatures Presents

1:18
A highway wanders through the desert.
1:22
A tumbleweed drifts past a dusty dive bar.
1:25
A coyote shrieks out to no one in particular.
1:29
Someone's bleeding out in a bathroom stall.
1:32
The stars tonight are bright, but not nearly bright enough.
1:38
This place does not exist, and yet here you are.
1:45
Welcome to San Arroyo Kindred. We here at Dubious Creatures
1:49
present to you the vampire with no name.
1:55
Rolly. Yes.
1:58
You're headed up to your room. I am.
2:02
You head up you as you get up to door of your and Taylor's hotel
2:11
room, you hear very faint like, but you hear voices inside.
2:19
Strange. Well, you know, it's my hotel
2:23
room so too. So I'm just going to put my key
2:27
in the lock and enter. You open up the door and you see
2:35
Taylor sat at like the tiny little sort of like side table
2:42
that all of these hotel suites have.
2:47
That's not what causes the lack of breath in your chest to
2:53
catch. It's who he's sitting across
3:02
from. And that would be.
3:08
The woman from the rave, The woman from the bar.
3:14
Fuck me. He immediately turns as he
3:20
opened the door and his face lines up, lights up.
3:23
He's like, oh, hey. Hey.
3:29
I didn't know you were. He looks back over to the young
3:33
woman who you can see has what looks like one of those little
3:37
analog recorders on the table, and with her off hand you can
3:45
see she has like a little notepad that she's holding.
3:48
It looks as though she was conducting some kind of
3:50
interview before you arrived. I am going to act like I've
3:55
never seen this person before in my life and I'm just going to go
4:00
over to Taylor and sort of wrap an arm around him and kiss him
4:05
on top of the head and saying everything wrapped up early
4:09
tonight. So do I come back and spend some
4:13
time with you? Really, give me a let's say
4:18
either charisma or Manipulation or Composure depending on how
4:24
you want to play it. Plus subterfuge, that is, for
4:29
successes. Yes, nothing's wrong and this is
4:32
fine and everything is fine and nothing is wrong, I think.
4:36
It's wrong. I don't know.
4:37
I don't know why you say something's wrong.
4:39
Nothing's wrong. Taylor certainly doesn't think
4:42
anything is wrong. He just kind of hugs you
4:46
tightly, says yeah, sorry, I really should have kind of
4:51
scatterbrained. It's OK, This is a, this is
4:56
Olivia. She's with the San Arroyo
4:58
Trailblazer. You know, all publicity is good
5:01
publicity and figured I'd just talk up the he was telling me
5:08
about, well, everything he could tell me about your upcoming
5:13
film, says Olivia. You know, we don't get as many
5:19
movies filmed out here as we used to, so you can imagine
5:23
we're maybe just a tiny bit interested.
5:27
Well, have you spilled all of our secrets yet?
5:31
You know me like a like a clever metaphor that I'm too tired to
5:36
come up with right now. That's fair.
5:41
You did fantastic in direction. I am very excited to actually
5:47
see the the final cut of some of those fight scenes because if I
5:50
have to say, you were inspired. If, if it's all right, Miss
5:56
Asher, I realize this is impromptu, she says.
5:59
I'm standing at the table. But I'd, I'd love to, especially
6:04
with Taylor here, I'd love to bend your ear just a little bit
6:09
about your most recent project. If you're here and all of that
6:18
and I'm not making any moves to like let go of Taylor at this,
6:22
sort of just wrap myself around him a little bit almost, I can't
6:26
help it being maybe a little bit possessive.
6:30
She she doesn't look like she's about to do anything, but then
6:38
again she's proven that she is also very graceful under
6:45
pressure. So the part of you that is full
6:55
public facing is boring with the part of you that is trying not
7:00
to freak the fuck out. Taylor, like the gentleman that
7:07
he is, pulls out the chair that he was previously sitting in for
7:10
you and then kind of drags over the Ottoman at the foot of the
7:13
bed so he has something to sit on.
7:18
Well then, ask away. Yeah, yeah.
7:23
So where were we? Right.
7:26
She hits the button on the recorder you were telling me
7:32
about, well, not to be crisp, but the development hell you two
7:42
were put through. Oh, yeah, man.
7:47
Yeah, That was, I mean, you know, lots of night shoots, lots
7:53
of shooting on location, you know, out in the desert, which,
7:58
I mean, even this type of time of year isn't exactly what you'd
8:01
call the most hospitable environments.
8:04
Yeah, kind of what, several 100° days at least.
8:11
Yeah, yeah. And you know, I mean, I guess I
8:16
should just get out ahead of it. There was a little bit of a
8:20
health scare. You probably already knew about
8:23
that part, but as you can see, she's all good.
8:28
Yeah, it was. It was a trying time, but we we
8:35
made it through. Yeah.
8:38
She looks back at her notes. You were admitted to a Sacred
8:44
Mercy Hospital a few months back if I remember correctly.
8:52
Yeah. Doctors eventually ruled it as a
8:59
form of shears disease. Yeah, that's that's what it was
9:06
apparently genetic. I've kind of just been a bit of
9:11
a ticking time bomb for a while. And I guess just the stress I
9:14
put myself under on the film kind of just caused a bunch of
9:18
things to happen. Yes, yes, it's a it's a form of
9:24
acute Horvira, if I'm not mistaken.
9:30
Symptoms including severe amnesia, difficulty digesting
9:35
most foods, extreme sensitivity to sunlight.
9:41
Do you feel as though this diagnosis might impact any
9:45
future work? I mean, who knows, honestly,
9:50
it's we're taking this one step at a time.
9:54
I know I'm going to be working with my agents and everything
9:58
once I get back into LA to figure out the stuff for my
10:03
contracts about. I'm probably going to have to do
10:06
majority night shoots. But honestly, with how
10:09
technology is coming now and the those stages that like use
10:13
projectors and things like that, honestly I don't think it will
10:21
interfere with things too much to the better.
10:25
I'm pivoting exclusively into horror films.
10:28
You did get your start sort of adjacent to that genre.
10:32
Everybody remembers the iconic Queen Babylon after all.
10:37
Yeah, no, I would not be where I am without that role.
10:42
Yeah, in fact, that's where you two met, if I'm not mistaken.
10:48
Yeah, we met at the The Wrap party.
10:55
This was they've got my timeline of events straight here.
11:02
This was post your official release from rehabilitation.
11:11
Yes, yes, it was a time that I'm very glad to have behind me.
11:19
In fact, you almost didn't get the role because of
11:26
complications that occurred before you officially checked
11:31
yourself in. Well, you know, luckily the
11:36
producers really wanted me, so they were more than willing to
11:39
work with everything that was going on and.
11:43
That, of course, had nothing to do with your father, Victor
11:49
Anderson, putting your name forward at the last minute.
11:52
I think you overestimate how much power my father has.
11:56
I don't know. I mean, the Andersons are
11:59
practically Hollywood royalty. They're up there with, well, the
12:06
city especially. I mean, your old man at one
12:10
point nearly gave the Josiah Crawford to run for his money.
12:16
Yeah, I know. So I I hear I sadly never met
12:20
him. He passed before I was born.
12:22
So, but I mean, my dad is sure, we're, we've been around in
12:29
Hollywood for a while, but we, we're not like we're not a
12:36
DiCaprio or a Kardashian or someone like that, someone who
12:41
has so much money and more money than cents, honestly.
12:47
Right, of course, Of course. Nobody's using you being overly
12:52
moneyed, especially considering, well, you know, the aftermath of
12:57
your last feature film. Yeah.
13:04
That's part of the reason why you're out here, right?
13:09
I mean many reasons why I'm out here, but is this have to do
13:16
anything with this questions about gasbug samurai?
13:22
Oh, we're getting to that. We're getting to that.
13:24
That's just, you know, like I said, we don't get as many film
13:31
crews here in D Town as we used to.
13:35
It is a little sad because there's so much natural beauty
13:38
around here and I absolutely love getting to spotlight it in
13:42
the film. Natural beauty.
13:45
That's that's one word for it. I mean, deserts are a bit
13:52
inhospitable, but they're certainly pretty to look at.
13:56
You find any of that natural beauty in Little Hollywood?
14:01
I mean, there's certainly beauty in the strangest places.
14:08
Like say for example certain laundromat.
14:13
I have no idea what you're talking about.
14:17
Really. Yeah.
14:20
You need to give me a composure or potentially with Placenci.
14:30
And I will be spending a willpower.
14:34
As you choose another 4 successes.
14:41
She's polite, she's pleasant, she's damn near conversational,
14:45
but you can feel the venom behind those words.
14:55
And you keep looking at Taylor, who's kind of lapsed into a bit
14:57
of confused silence as it feels like there's a conversation
15:01
happening here, but he's not party to it.
15:04
And he does seem a little quizzical when mentions
15:09
Laundromat. What?
15:11
What do you mean? Wait, like the one on TV?
15:17
Oh, I'm so sorry. Did she not tell you?
15:21
There's nothing to tell. Really, I'd imagine you'd want
15:25
to mention to your partner about a visit from the Sheriff's
15:29
Department. It wasn't anything important,
15:33
they were just following up. Babe.
15:40
It's as I said, wasn't important, they were just making
15:45
sure they had all the details straight.
15:48
You know what I'm going to ask for role wise.
15:53
Yeah, manipulations up to huge indeed. 3 successes.
16:03
OK. Like, like, what do you mean?
16:10
What, the Sheriff's Department? Why didn't you tell me?
16:15
I was going to and I just didn't want to have the conversation
16:18
over the phone. Oh, I'm sorry, did I?
16:23
I I I just assumed that you'd already discussed the oh.
16:28
I was talking with my legal counsel. 1st right, right.
16:33
Of course lawyers. They do tend to make situations
16:39
more convenient. Yeah, I, I think you have
16:46
enough, you know, information to go on.
16:51
Yes, this interview is is done. And if you say so, she taps the
16:58
recorder, puts it back in her pocket.
17:02
Well, so sorry to ambush you such a late hour.
17:09
I'm sure you 2 have a lot to talk about.
17:16
Yeah. That she's going to stand up and
17:24
walk. Out.
17:29
Going to close the door behind her and just kind of rest my
17:34
forehead against the wood for a second before I turn back to
17:38
Taylor and think, yes, I was going to tell you about the
17:41
visit from the Sheriff's Department.
17:42
It is not something you have to worry about.
17:45
But I cold Raleigh, why are the police asking you questions?
17:58
I'm going to tell you something and I know how it's going to
18:06
sound, but I need you to believe me.
18:11
Listen to me. I met that woman at the rave
18:17
that I went to. She tried to steal my phone.
18:24
Oh shit. I think she's trying to dig up
18:29
dirt. I think yes, I did get AI.
18:31
Think she fucking told them that I was there.
18:34
Oh. Shit.
18:39
I've don't know why this woman has anything out for me.
18:42
I have never met her before in my life.
18:45
Oh fuck, you think she works for like TMZ or something?
18:48
I wouldn't be surprised. Can I let her?
18:52
He sits down on the bed heavily. I didn't know.
18:56
God Amateur. It's, it's OK, I that's why I
19:03
was talking with legal counsel because just in case I need to
19:10
sense any sort of cease and desist or anti harassment or
19:13
anything. I'm so sorry.
19:19
I it's, it's OK. I've just been so strung out.
19:24
To be fair, I didn't actually know her name until now, so
19:28
that's good. That's good information.
19:30
Well, she said her name was Olivia Lamarck.
19:34
I think she she said she worked. She said she was a reporter for
19:40
the trailblazing of the local newspaper.
19:46
I mean, maybe she is, maybe she isn't, who knows?
19:49
It's, it's OK, you know, now can.
19:55
You give me an intelligence plus resolve check.
20:01
It's not a great role, but we'll see.
20:05
That's three successes. Olivia Riley.
20:15
Yeah. Before you, well, there's no
20:21
polite way to put it, got your shit together.
20:24
What would you say your lowest point was?
20:28
Oh God, I was. I was 19 and I was on some sort
20:41
of cocktail of coke and pills, just things that had I picked up
20:47
from my time on set and the last nine years of acting.
20:53
And I hate to be a stereotype about child actors, but, you
20:57
know, starting acting at 10 and then all of the things happened
21:02
and a lot of the things that they, the child actors come out
21:05
and talk about later happened. And sure, it was it was coke at
21:12
first just to get through the incredibly long shooting
21:15
schedules, just like to pick me up.
21:18
And then it was more and more and more.
21:19
And God, I barely fucking remember that night.
21:23
I think I was teetering on the doctor said later.
21:26
I was like teetering on like I could have overdosed and the
21:31
night is an entire fucking blur. Except the moment that name hits
21:44
you, something and that blur crystallizes a face, that
21:52
woman's face leaning down, looking at you with genuine
21:57
concern, saying, hey, are you OK?
22:05
And I probably laughed and tried to play it off like I was fine,
22:12
even though I'm pretty sure I couldn't even stand at that
22:15
moment. OK, let's just come here.
22:20
Let's let's get you some place that's not here.
22:27
And I think it was it was after was at a it was after a wrap
22:33
party on a project. I don't, I don't even remember
22:37
the film anymore. That's how fucked up I was
22:39
during the entire production. But he remember, he remember a
22:45
motel just outside of Studio City.
22:50
Oh, he remember what happened to that motel.
22:57
Yeah. It can't be.
23:01
That was years ago. Yeah, it was like 8-9 years ago,
23:08
but. That's her I.
23:14
Think it was a couple of days after that I I finally decided I
23:22
couldn't do it anymore, called my dad and aunt me checked in to
23:27
Cedar Sinai and I didn't look back.
23:32
You never saw her again. To be honest, you barely
23:35
remembered her until this exact moment in time where it all
23:43
comes rushing back at once. And I just sort of rest my hands
23:52
against my forehead and just go. I think I met her years ago
24:02
before we met. Taylor blinks.
24:06
I'm sorry. I'm I don't have to ask you if
24:14
you remember this around the time I checked into rehab, I
24:20
think I met her. She kind of at least made sure I
24:26
didn't overdose. OK.
24:31
That's still doesn't. Explain.
24:34
Yeah, that's I would. I would also like some answers.
24:37
I don't know what I did to piss this woman off.
24:41
I mean, granted, I know it's on on the same Interstate, but
24:45
that's still one hell of a coincidence Lay.
24:48
It is, and I wish I had an answer for you on this, but I'm
24:55
literally there about 3 years that my memory is is pretty
25:01
shit. From 16 to 19.
25:04
I remember bits and pieces, yeah.
25:08
You sure you need those? I can book a red eye right now.
25:13
You can just get the fuck out of here.
25:15
No, I, as much as I want to do it, I, I, I need to stay and get
25:22
this done. And I'll explain all of it once
25:26
I get back to LA. OK, OK.
25:32
Oh God, this fucking city. There really is God name.
25:39
Wrongly, your phone buzzes. And I'll look over at my phone.
25:48
It's from a number you don't recognize, but it just says he
25:55
doesn't know. How long.
25:58
Do you think you can keep that up, Winky face?
26:05
There's a brief moment where I think about throwing my phone,
26:07
but I don't. I've just sort of flip it over
26:13
on the table, the night stand, just so I'm not looking at it.
26:16
Say good. And I was in.
26:20
I was in such a good mood when I got up here.
26:23
It buzzes again. Sort of tilt it up just to just
26:28
to check. Back Ellie 5 minutes or I spill
26:35
all the tea and just. Sort of.
26:40
What is Taylor doing? He's, you know, holding you,
26:46
trying to comfort you. You know, it's Taylor.
26:50
He's always managed to be your rock.
26:52
But this is it's a whole new level.
26:57
I'm. Going to turn around I will call
27:02
him into a kiss and say well still want to try and salvage
27:12
this night but I need to go grab a drink.
27:19
Mind if I tag along? I feel like I could just a drink
27:24
myself after that whole thing. Well, I was just going to grab a
27:28
bottle of bubbly and bring it back up, you know, OK.
27:35
You have the finest Palmdale bottle service.
27:40
Yeah, well, it's been a while since, you know, we've gotten
27:44
time alone and I'm just kind of looking forward to that.
27:47
Yeah, that and you know, time alone, even me.
27:55
Seems like the night for it. Certainly does.
27:59
So I'll be right back. You stay there, you looking
28:08
incredibly attractive. We'll be right back.
28:12
And you? Leave.
28:14
I do plan on picking up a bottle, but first I got to make
28:17
a stop. With your hands bowled into
28:20
fists. Meanwhile, Astor, you're in the
28:29
car with Zach, who's just is driving in a direction you're
28:34
not really sure what direction. I hope it's towards the house.
28:40
I don't think this is towards your house.
28:45
OK. Sorry, yeah, I just.
28:51
I didn't want to go back to the house right now.
28:53
Just a lot of memories, I guess. You.
29:00
Want to talk about it? Not really sure what there is to
29:06
talk about. I kept the damn thing.
29:12
I don't know why I did it is. Yeah.
29:14
Why did you do that? That's.
29:15
I don't know I I really don't. I It's Been a night and remember
29:27
the sculpture park. Yeah.
29:30
Like. Vaguely.
29:32
In the one university city, yeah, I figured.
29:40
They told me in therapy that, you know, you need to find a
29:42
place where you could find your centre.
29:44
And since I don't know, just walking around there just kind
29:48
of reminded me of anyway. Staring at him like no, you can
29:54
say it, I'm going to wait until you say it.
29:58
It reminded me about when we first met and you were just
30:03
talking my ear off about art history and how all this used to
30:06
be a landfill that a bunch of protesters get together in the
30:10
60s and now it's a fucking it's a fucking park.
30:17
And it's beautiful and calming. Yeah, and it makes me, it makes
30:25
me feel better about the dumpster fire that is my life.
30:29
OK. So yeah.
30:37
How bad is it? And I, I mean really be be
30:43
totally honest with me so I know what I'm getting into when I
30:46
decide to make a bad decision. He swallows.
30:54
I think she's getting worse, Master, and I don't, I don't
31:04
know what to do. I mean, maybe the new
31:07
medication, but the the other antipsychotics she's been on,
31:11
they don't do anything. So I've turned her into a
31:13
goddamn zombie. Really, I wish I had something I
31:20
could tell you. I wish I had the words to make
31:24
it all better. I don't.
31:28
You can at least be here for you.
31:33
She kind of like, grabs his hand very gently.
31:38
There's a moment where he almost recoils, then he settles a bit
31:45
and you just hold his hand and for a little bit neither of you
31:50
says anything. Eventually find yourself
31:57
outskirts Streiber University been a minute the large the
32:03
large bowl shape of the Fitzsimmons Stadium occupying
32:09
the main horizon line. This public park notable in the
32:18
fact that every so often the they've been laid somewhat brown
32:22
for grass and scrubby trees are broken up by these odd bits of
32:27
metal sculpture. Some of it's sort of in the same
32:33
way that a lot of these metal artworks that are popular,
32:38
especially down in Anza Borrego or after local animals or
32:44
historical figures the intersperse every so often, are
32:50
these strange scrap metal configurations, these odd bits
32:57
of abstract art that don't look like anything in particular
33:02
until you maybe glance at its side.
33:04
Long like A, and like a partially rusted Rorschach test,
33:11
they resolve into something else entirely.
33:16
She's. Kind of like sitting there cock
33:18
headed just looking at it and it's like what is that?
33:22
I don't know what that, what is that so weird?
33:26
What am I looking at? Go ahead and give me a call.
33:33
Witsplus WHEREAS or Witsplus Craft.
33:40
OK, 3 successes. Their success as he glanced at
33:46
its sidelong and it almost looks kind of like a person, arms
33:59
outstretched towards the night sky like he's screaming out or
34:06
maybe like a tree. She kind of nudges Zach and it's
34:13
like, hey, what do you think that looks like?
34:15
Like I should have paid attention more in my humanities
34:20
course. Come on, open mind.
34:25
He gets out of the car. So what does it look like to
34:31
you? Promise you won't laugh.
34:37
I promise. It looks like somebody with
34:43
their arms outstretched. Screaming.
34:49
No, like they're kneeling down to give somebody a hug.
34:53
Kind of like trails off. Nope, no trailing off nunches at
35:03
the gun. Come on.
35:06
Like when I was a kid and M when M was just there.
35:14
All right, this is one of the originals, right?
35:19
A Max Musterman original. You know that just means John
35:25
Doe in German, right? She kind of giggles and who's
35:29
like, actually, I didn't know that.
35:31
But no, that's what they put on. You know, it floored me too when
35:36
I found out that this entire park, it might as well, they
35:38
might as well call it the John Doe Park because Max Musterman
35:42
is just what they it's what they assign bodies when they don't
35:45
have a name. You know there's a little fact
35:53
of a day for you. Learn something new every day.
36:00
You're not the only ones in the park.
36:01
Even this hour, it's a popular spot given its proximity to the
36:05
university. You can see small groups of
36:07
people, twos and threes. Asterisk going to actually just
36:14
like jump up onto the hood of the car.
36:17
What are you doing? Sitting on the car, what does it
36:22
look like I'm doing? You look like you're about to
36:26
give me one of those talks. Yeah, we used to have.
36:34
No, I do. And she kind of like twiddles
36:41
her thumbs a little bit and like, you know, when people are
36:44
nervous and they pick up the. Sides of the.
36:46
Skin on their nails. Bad habit that what?
36:58
What do you? What do you want out of this?
37:03
What are you looking for? Oh, OK, we're doing this now.
37:11
I I spent entirely too long in my life not asking questions and
37:16
it LED me down an incredibly bad path, so I'm going to ask
37:19
questions now. I it's like when I kept the
37:27
house. I don't know.
37:30
I don't know. I, I heard from you in forever,
37:34
and then there you were. And I, I don't know.
37:46
OK, I can respect that. Yeah, I don't know.
37:56
I just, I don't want you to think.
38:00
I don't want you to think I'm doing all this just because I
38:02
feel guilty. How much you feel?
38:10
Guilty. Your question and his response
38:16
is interrupted with vice. Sounds like almost a shrill
38:21
scream. It snaps.
38:31
It snaps Zach out of whatever contemplative state he was in as
38:38
he looks off in that direction. Is that coyote?
38:45
I have no idea. Crow.
38:53
Yep. A little further away, in this
38:58
exact same park, Sebastian, you asked him why, Why drive all the
39:10
way out here? And his exact words to you were
39:18
because I feel like peeing on someone's lawn.
39:24
And now he's got his neck buried in some humanities major.
39:32
Or rather, his teeth are buried in their formerly unsuspecting
39:37
throat. And there was nothing subtle
39:42
about it. He just drove up and he pounced
39:47
and he's eating out in the open like he doesn't give a damn.
39:54
I mean if we are out in like the middle of fucking nowhere.
39:57
Right. Not really.
39:59
You're right next to the university, the public park.
40:04
Anybody could walk around the bend at any moment.
40:07
I guess I will be doing my best to keep an eye out, let him get
40:14
his aggressions out and I'll just keep my eye out.
40:18
The noises he's making it, it sounds eerily similar to the
40:28
ones that Masaf made when he pounced on one of those ravers
40:36
that night. He's messy eaters.
40:42
Like I said, we both had a very long fucking night, so I don't
40:46
blame him for getting his emotions out right now.
40:51
That's an understatement. That's funny.
40:56
Hear a voice. Hey.
41:04
Hey, You all right? There's somebody walking towards
41:09
you. You never met Zach Crawford
41:13
before, but this 30 something gentleman who reminds you a
41:21
little bit of a compatriot of yours is walking towards you at
41:27
speed. And Sebastian's partially hidden
41:29
behind one of these sculptures, so he can see something, but
41:35
he's not quite in visual range yet, and the only thing between
41:41
him and this guy is you. I am not the most socially
41:50
apartment so is PO around? Can I get PO to try and like
41:56
Swoop at this dude? Yes, that'll alleviate
42:00
suspicions. I mean, I don't know what else
42:03
to do with either that or I'm going to fucking tackle him and
42:07
I. Asked her.
42:10
You see Zach stalk off in a direction.
42:15
Oh, I'm following 100% following.
42:18
So that's when you see Crow. Oh fuck.
42:26
Hey dude, he's talking to Crow. You hear something that could
42:32
have swore. Astor will like kind of jog up.
42:38
It's like Crow. Hey.
42:42
I'm glad you're OK. Yeah, I'm fine.
42:47
I just cracked my shit on the car, wasn't paying attention.
42:55
You 2 know each other. Yeah, her as another friend.
43:03
Bad. Previously.
43:05
Aren't you supposed to be like laying low or something?
43:11
Yeah. It's.
43:16
It's a lot. OK.
43:18
Listen dude, I'm I'm I'm nobody so us being friends is far from
43:27
breaking the laying low standard.
43:31
OK, one of you needs to give me either a persuasion or
43:34
subterfuge check. That is 3 successes on the
43:39
possibility of a bestial failure.
43:42
OK, let's see. Good news that you're not under
43:47
any immediate penalties because the beast marks have faded.
43:51
But at this point, so you look but as relatively normal as Crow
43:58
usually looks. OK, he seems more confused by
44:04
the fact that Astor seems to know everybody than anything
44:10
else, as you hear. Well, the sounds of separating
44:16
Gristle have stopped. OK, wow, it's, it's really late.
44:26
Yeah, I really want to take a shower.
44:29
Yeah, A. Lot of these questions are
44:32
better asked when Ash is around. I just kind of the.
44:39
Conversion point for all of this.
44:42
I don't want to. I'm just going to hang around
44:47
here if that's OK. Yeah, yeah, it's.
44:54
You at least Take Me Home. Yeah, sure.
45:02
I mean, unless you want to. Never mind, I'll go get the car.
45:07
And with that, he just turns on his heel and Ted's back to the
45:10
car. Oh.
45:13
Fuck. And then Sebastian peeks around
45:17
from the corner. I was about to say, as soon as
45:19
he got like out of your shot, Crow was going to be like,
45:24
Coasts clear babe. It was tall, dark and blandsome.
45:34
He's Sebastian, despite his casual tone, is covered in
45:38
blood. You Sir, should clean yourself
45:42
up before you ask any questions. We're working on it.
45:47
It's been a bit of a night. I'm really glad that you're OK.
45:52
I was super worried. I have to go cover story.
45:59
You're my drug dealer. Goodbye.
46:03
Deal. Cool.
46:06
What a type guest. Wouldn't be far off the mark
46:10
babe, let's be fair. Just licks his chops standing
46:15
over a body. They're not sure if they're
46:19
alive or dead. Crow, given everything that's
46:26
happened recently, could you just go ahead and give me a
46:34
intelligence plus resolve check? When success possible be still
46:39
failure. Again, this is this is Crow's
46:43
night. Well, you feel like you should
46:46
be bothered, but you're not. I feel like she just looks back
46:53
Sebastian and goes so is that a clean up or are they going to
46:56
wake up? No, somebody's going to come out
46:59
here and find it. It's my way of letting them know
47:04
I'm still in the neighborhood. Like, you know, leaving a dead
47:07
cat on their doorstep beats the hell out of a stripper, Graham.
47:11
Yeah, sorry, I totally forgot about this.
47:17
Speaking of being back in the neighborhood, ran into an old
47:26
guess you could say friend of yours.
47:30
I don't have friends. What's her name?
47:36
Creepy as fuck. That doesn't really narrow it
47:40
down. Said you guys used to run
47:44
together with the, I think the word she's a spot.
47:49
He grabs you by the front of your shirt and Rams you up
47:55
against the statue. Fuck babe, what the fuck?
48:04
Oh what the fuck have you been talking to?
48:07
We. We went to the Historical
48:12
Society to get some fucking thing for this whole massage
48:20
shit and they were there. I guess they were like the
48:24
caretaker or something like that.
48:26
Like they've been like house arrest situation they.
48:31
You talked to Marie? Yeah.
48:33
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was her name.
48:35
Sorry I blanked on the name because just everything tonight.
48:41
He drops you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.
48:46
It's. Been a stressful night for us
48:50
both. Now you want to keep digging up
48:57
the skeletons in my closet? Or do you want a free lunch?
49:03
I mean, I don't want to dig up skeletons, Sebastian.
49:07
It's I'm just this whole thing is so confusing to me.
49:15
Like I. Actually it's very simple.
49:20
Then help me understand, make it simple for me, because right now
49:26
I fucking the last just how many nights suddenly there's this the
49:33
tower is now up our ass and this fucking Anarch bitch apparently
49:39
wants you to use as a fucking bargaining chip and your old
49:43
friend is basically under house arrest.
49:48
And I like I haven't been running around blabbing your
49:51
name to everybody because I know that that's, you know, kind of a
49:54
big fucking deal that we just don't do that.
49:57
But why another? Intelligence plus resolve.
50:04
Two successes this time also potential of bestial failure.
50:08
He wants you to stop talking. You should probably do as he
50:13
says. Yeah, Yep, conversation for
50:18
another night. He.
50:20
Kneels down to where he dropped you next to.
50:26
Well, you're not really sure if it's a corpse or on its way to
50:31
being a corpse, but you like where you are right now.
50:38
I feel lost so. I'm not talking about the usual
50:44
eternal struggle bullshit. I mean, you right now.
50:47
You like where you are right now?
50:50
Yeah, well, I fucking don't. So what's the plan?
50:59
This whole prisoner exchange goes the way it's supposed to,
51:07
that I might just have something to bargain with.
51:14
But you and your friends have got to be on point.
51:18
You understand me? Yes, Sir.
51:22
Do you want to keep tucking my ear off or?
51:26
I'll take the free lunch. Add a girl.
51:30
I assume you're resolving too hunger.
51:36
Yeah. This is fine.
51:41
Everything is fine. You are happy where you are.
51:47
It's happy. Where he is.
51:49
There's not a single thing wrong with this picture, but when
51:53
you're done eating, licks the wound on his wrist clothes and
52:02
ruffles your hair with hands that are still thoroughly coated
52:06
in spilled human, you want a little less angry.
52:14
Much. Although I'm not going to lie, I
52:18
think this is probably the first night ever that I can say that
52:25
you weren't the one that I was wanting to drink off of tonight.
52:31
You don't want to mess around with that.
52:36
It's not all it's cracked up to be.
52:38
I used to be in something of a sharing is caring situation and
52:43
it fucked with my head and I got better but it took a while.
52:54
You didn't need to get the colt to your buddies though.
52:58
Fill them in on recent developments.
53:02
Yeah, I can do that tomorrow night, though.
53:08
No, you're doing it tonight because I've got shit that I got
53:12
to prepare for and I need all of you on the same page, Yes.
53:19
Sir. See, isn't it great when
53:25
everybody's on the same page? You can leave that there.
53:30
Clean up crew will be around eventually.
53:34
It's talking about the body, yeah.
53:36
Yeah, I assumed. Dropping you off at
53:41
What'serfuck's house. Hopefully then you can all stop
53:48
fucking around and we can find out.
53:52
That's the hope. And keep PO close.
53:59
You never know. Always.
54:05
The only time he's not close to me is when he's going for you.
54:13
Driving off, you pass by one of the large faculty buildings.
54:21
Striver you. Sebastian looks at it, his eyes
54:29
reflecting St. lights. I used to sneak into places like
54:35
this a lot. I didn't.
54:40
I didn't have a lot of public libraries.
54:42
I was growing up, so it was kind of the only place I like to
54:48
read. And one day, couple of varsity
54:58
types corner me, decide they don't much care for street trash
55:07
breaking into their vaunted holes of academia, making off
55:12
with overdue library books. That's how I got this, that.
55:16
He traces one finger down the scar on the side of his face.
55:24
They will walk all over you if you let them.
55:29
I would ask who but I feel like The Who in the situation is
55:32
everyone. Yeah, but like a lot of
55:43
beatings, came with a valuable lesson, especially when I
55:49
tracked them down later. If you're going to get into a
55:54
fight, don't fight fair. I don't think there's any other
56:00
way to fight honestly. See, you're learning with that.
56:11
He eventually drops you back off at Aster's place.