Transcript - Episode 14: The Right Stuff (Part 1)
Audio for The Right Stuff Part 1
The Right Stuff Part 1
Wed, Nov 12, 2025
“Push the Roll with Ross Bryant” is produced for the ear and includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
Ross Bryant 00:00
What a fun collection of people we have today. We got Nic, we have Paula, we got Matt, we got Cup in the building. Let's find a title and set off on our twisted adventure that I'm sure you will all survive unscathed.
Billy Baker (Paula) 00:13
We'll be fine. I have a good feeling about this one.
Ross Bryant 00:16
Yeah, we were chatting before. Matt Young is joining us, a pal from way back.
Matt Young 00:20
Hello.
Ross Bryant 00:21
Hello, Matt. Are you a roleplaying gamer with any kind of frequency?
Matt Young 00:27
Oh, I would say I'm more of a tabletop game player and less of an RPG player. Like I played lots of RPGs growing up on like Nintendo and Playstation and stuff, but like the actual in person experience, I've done it a couple times in college. I played Vampire: The Masquerade for about two months. And we all got mad at each other, and then I said something awful, and the DM just killed us all. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 00:54
Classic, yeah, classic.
cuppycup 00:55
So you're ready for this game.
Nic Rosenberg 00:57
Yeah. [laughter]
Matt Young 00:58
And everybody was like, great. We don't want to do this anymore anyway. And then through "Hello from the Magic Tavern," the podcast that I do, I've kind of picked up some one shots here and there. One of the most fun things I ever did was, Victoria from Broadswords created a Usidore character, my character from "Magic Tavern," which is not a real play podcast, but made like a sheet for him, where he's, like, insanely overpowered, but wildly uneven. So like, you can do crazy spells. But then I played a game with this group in Australia, "Dragon Friends," and I just, all I did was I wanted to talk to somebody, and I wouldn't use my magic at all. I was, like, I was totally useless. [laughter] So I know how to break a game.
Ross Bryant 01:40
Wonderful. You're a player after my own heart, where you just want to chat with people and not actually hit people with swords. That's great. And that does sound like the typical VTM experience, where all your creepy vampires come to blows or maybe end up in a big cuddle puddle. [laughter] Well, it sounds like you've played a lot of vampires and wizards, and magical knights errant. But none of that is happening today, or will it? [laughter] Because we don't know what's happening today. We have gotten a bunch of titles, a bunch of cool titles to sort of inspire our Call of Cthulhu one shot. So whatever this title is will inspire the sort of world, era, genre that it is set in, and we will scheme up characters on the fly, and then just get right into it, all made up on the spot. So let's turn to you, Cup, you've made sort of a dice table of some of the titles that you have sourced.
cuppycup 02:30
I'm a little nervous because I put the table together. I feel accountable for whatever comes up here.
Ross Bryant 02:35
Well, as those of us who do improv know, in this podcast, a title absolutely makes or breaks everything. It is the most important thing. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 02:45
This is it. It's all on you.
cuppycup 02:47
So whichever Patron's name I say here is responsible for how this goes. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 02:50
Absolutely.
cuppycup 02:51
Good or bad.
Matt Young 02:52
That's right.
cuppycup 02:52
And of course, Ross, at any time you can change the title. Just request to push the roll, and we'll roll again on the table. It doesn't have to completely change the story, but I think often you're just kind of sliding in the new information. And that's pretty fun.
Ross Bryant 03:05
No, I love it. I love the idea that this could have, like, several chapters that may live under different titles. But to get us started...
cuppycup 03:12
Shouldn't we have the guest roll?
Ross Bryant 03:13
Oh gosh, I like that idea. Should we extend the grace to you, Matt?
Billy Baker (Paula) 03:19
Don't let them shove off the responsibility onto you, Matt.
Nic Rosenberg 03:21
This is just passing off. Yeah.
Matt Young 03:23
No, no, no, no, no.
Paula Deming 03:24
Don't be their patsy.
Matt Young 03:25
No. Ross knows me well enough. I love to fall on a sword. [laughter] Here we go.
cuppycup 03:31
Roll up a d100.
Ross Bryant 03:34
Throw them bones.
Matt Young 03:35
That's a two.
Partygoers (Ross) 03:37
Okay.
cuppycup 03:38
A two, okay.
Ross Bryant 03:40
Well, luckily, as you probably remember, Matt, Call of Cthulhu is a game where rolling low is good. So, let's see what...
Matt Young 03:46
Yes. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 03:47
Let's see what two reveals.
cuppycup 03:49
So today's title comes from Samuel Prato, and it is "The Right Stuff."
Paula Deming 03:57
Oh, man.
Partygoers (Ross) 03:58
What kind of "right?" Is it w-r or...
cuppycup 04:00
Oh, sorry, it's R, I, G, H, T, like, (singing) "oh, oh, oh, ohhhh."
Billy Baker (Paula) 04:04
I was gonna say just like that New Kids on the Block song. Cup, I love you.
cuppycup 04:08
Some people think about astronauts. I think about New Kids on the Block. [laughter]
Paula Deming 04:12
(singing) "Oh, oh, ohhh."
Ross Bryant 04:13
[MUSIC: melancholic guitar theme] The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos, infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way? This is Push the Roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon suggestions to create improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures in real time with themes of eldritch horror, the weird, the transhuman, the transmundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anything punk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, anyplace, anything can happen when you push the roll.
Ross Bryant 05:05
I was also, yeah, wondering if it was "r, i, t, e" which seems a little bit more Cthulhian.
Matt Young 05:12
Oh, yeah.
Ross Bryant 05:13
Okay.
Paula Deming 05:14
(singing) "The right stuff." [laughter]
Ross Bryant 05:15
But I like that idea that it could be "right" as in the right-hand path, which is, you know, the alternative to the left-hand path, for those of us in... who are steeped in magical and occultic lore.
Matt Young 05:28
Sinister.
Ross Bryant 05:30
Yes. Sinister, as opposed to dexterous. But those of us who are also 90s kids, certified 90s kids, can't help but hear NKOTB in "The Right Stuff" and astronauts. So yeah, we have all these sort of, like suggestions and associations swirling around. Now, the tweedy son of my dad, who had a lot of, like, "Popular Science" books sitting around, is thinking, you know, 1950s space program.
Matt Young 05:55
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 05:56
But the kid who is myself, who rode the school bus an hour to a rural school in Virginia next to a girl who had a New Kids on the Block book that she would sit and make me memorize, like song titles and the various members. [laughter]
Matt Young 06:12
Wow.
Ross Bryant 06:13
As though it was itself a sacred and occultic tome. [laughter] Okay, "The Right Stuff." And, oh gosh. And, you know what I just watched recently was the movie "Help," the Beatles movie.
Paula Deming 06:25
Oh!
Ross Bryant 06:25
And there is, like, a sort of genre of thing where we follow a band, you know, through a bunch of like shenanigans. The New Kids on the Block, I can't let go of it. [laughter]
Matt Young 06:37
Ross, I hear what you're saying, but I'm looking through this list of characters, and I don't see "the cute one" anywhere. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 06:45
The bad boy, is that a....
cuppycup 06:47
That might be the Criminal.
Paula Deming 06:49
Yeah! I'll be the annoying little brother. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 06:54
So these are all to flavor as you wish, but this is my challenge to you. I would like the four of you to be members of or just only slightly removed from the members of a boy band. I would like you to be a 90s boy band.
cuppycup 07:08
Amazing.
Nic Rosenberg 07:09
Alright. Alright.
cuppycup 07:10
I feel like with "K-Pop Demon Hunters," it's good timing as well.
Ross Bryant 07:14
Oh yeah.
Matt Young 07:15
Oh, let's see.
Ross Bryant 07:17
So, yeah, think about those archetypes. As you said, you've got the cute one. You've got the the one who seems a little bit too old. [laughter] You've got the bad boy. You've got, um, the other one. You've got all those.
Paula Deming 07:31
I mean, should we all just take the Musician sheet and then tweak the personality traits?
cuppycup 07:37
Or maybe, if you're the old one, you could do the Professor or something.
Paula Deming 07:40
Oh, that's funny. [laughter]
Matt Young 07:42
I think the old one should be the Drifter. [laughter]
cuppycup 07:44
Oh, I like that.
Nic Rosenberg 07:45
Yeah.
Matt Young 07:47
So do you generally want to do, like, a little bit of backstory here, then too?
Ross Bryant 07:52
Yeah, as much of it as is fun for you, and we can all kind of brainstorm this out on the fly. I do like the idea that this is maybe set... Gosh, NKOTB is, like, early 90s, right? New Kids on the Block?
Paula Deming 08:03
Mm-hmm.
Ross Bryant 08:04
Yeah, why don't we set it then in, like, 91, 92, 93.
cuppycup 08:08
Okay.
Paula Deming 08:08
Great.
Matt Young 08:09
Ross, this was my heyday. This is... [laughter] you're talking about the years I graduated high school. Like, I'm ready for this.
Ross Bryant 08:17
These are the glory days, yes.
Matt Young 08:19
Yeah, never got better than that. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 08:21
You plateaued, yeah. Just to throw out some options for you. You've got, like, the heartthrob, the bad boy, the cute one, the sensitive one.
Nic Rosenberg 08:30
(laughing) I was gonna jump on the sensitive one, if that, unless someone else has, like, strong draw to it.
Matt Young 08:35
Go for it. I love that.
Nic Rosenberg 08:37
Nice.
Paula Deming 08:38
Yeah, be the sensitive one.
Matt Young 08:39
I'm gonna be the preppy one.
Nic Rosenberg 08:41
Ooh!
cuppycup 08:43
At the risk of being too real, I'll be the old guy. He doesn't quite fit in, and, like when they perform at the shopping mall, he really stands out.
Ross Bryant 08:52
Great. You're the one that has like, a goatee. [laughter]
cuppycup 08:56
Yes. Yeah, exactly.
Ross Bryant 08:57
Yeah.
cuppycup 08:58
In the music videos, I'm mostly holding poses like a deep crouch with steepled hands. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 09:06
I'll live a dream and take on the heartthrob, because we're in a fantasy world. I'm like the face, as you would say in a K-pop group, speaking of. But I want to be known for actually, how seriously I take my music. But everyone just like, "you're just the heartthrob." I'm like, "no, but also, I've written some songs." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Billy. Okay. Just go out there and make the girls scream." I'm like "no, but my poetry."
Ross Bryant 09:28
Mm-hmm. Yes, you're the pretty one.
Matt Young 09:30
Paula. I know this is impossible, but the rest of us talked about it, and we knew you were the heartthrob the whole time. [laughter]
cuppycup 09:38
I'm looking at the sheets now thinking, maybe we shouldn't all pick the Musician, because we need a variety of stats.
Paula Deming 09:44
Yeah.
Matt Young 09:45
I was gonna take... can I just say?
Paula Deming 09:47
Yeah.
Matt Young 09:48
Yeah, I was gonna take Dilettante.
cuppycup 09:49
I love that, yeah.
Matt Young 09:50
The preppy Dilettante.
Ross Bryant 09:52
(laughing) Awesome. One of my favorite parts of this is to start thinking about a name and like, ooh, just the most boy band names. We've got your Timberlakes, your...
Nic Rosenberg 10:04
Paula, were you thinking of being Billy? Was that an actual thought?
Billy Baker (Paula) 10:08
I vomited it out. And then I thought, maybe. But if you're feeling really drawn to something like that, then...
Nic Rosenberg 10:14
No, I was, for some reason. I don't know why, and maybe it's just because it was like, Jordan and Joey, when you said Billy, I was like, but I'll be Bobby, you know what I mean? Just like for that alliteration, yeah.
Paula Deming 10:23
Yes.
Matt Young 10:24
So I think I'm gonna be Nate "Style" Highland. [laughter]
Paula Deming 10:30
Yeah.
Matt Young 10:31
I'm fully loaded. I'm ready to unleash here. I think Nate's about 20. About six years ago, he was on a sitcom called "Ups and Downs," and his like, real big catchphrase was, like, "ooh, it's dirty!" And like, he was afraid of trash and things. [laughter] And he sort of carried that forward into his boy band persona, where he's, like, he's very preppy. He's like, everything has to be perfect. Sometimes he even has gloves on with his little v-neck sweater. But he's also had a bit of a scandal recently, a scandal for a boy band, just because it turned out he's been dating Christina Applegate for a couple of years. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 11:06
Oh my gosh.
Ross Bryant 11:08
Wow. Maybe some separation has taken place. I'd also like to say that maybe this boy band is a little bit on the come-up.
Matt Young 11:16
Oh yeah.
Ross Bryant 11:16
It's a pretty big deal that you've got an alumnus of "Ups and Downs" with you, which I'm imagining is one of the sitcoms that might have been on the Disney Channel or... [laughter]
Matt Young 11:28
Or just in syndication, like wasn't even really on a network.
Ross Bryant 11:30
Yes, yes. Fantastic. God, you met Applegate. You had a brief fling, but now... the kind of thing they talk about in "Tiger Beat."
Matt Young 11:39
Yeah, exactly.
Paula Deming 11:40
Oh, boy.
Matt Young 11:41
Is this too on the nose that the name of the boy band could be The Other Side?
Nic Rosenberg 11:45
Ooh.
cuppycup 11:46
I like it, yeah.
Ross Bryant 11:47
That's in no way too on the nose, that is perfect. Yes. The Other Side. Super prepped out in his rugby shirt and his gloves.
Matt Young 11:57
Yes, exactly.
Ross Bryant 11:58
His perfect quiff is...
Matt Young 12:01
Nate Highland "Style."
Billy Baker (Paula) 12:04
Oh no. This character sheet I've chosen is not very sane. Yee!
Ross Bryant 12:10
God, it's hard to be the heartthrob.
Paula Deming 12:12
It's so hard.
Matt Young 12:14
All the eyes are on you. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 12:16
So much pressure all the time, and I have to hide my real self.
Ross Bryant 12:20
I mean, it may be also because of an encounter that you had on a lonely road.
Paula Deming 12:24
Ooh.
Ross Bryant 12:24
Maybe years ago. What was that thing that you hit?
Billy Baker (Paula) 12:28
I tell people it is like a funny story, that it was Dogman, you know, if you're familiar with the cryptid Dogman, but I don't know what it was. It was definitely hairy and large, but also, like, every time I looked at it, it looked kind of different. Like, was it hairy, or was it bald? Was it like a little green man, or was it more like a zombie? Every time, like, almost like it was trying to present itself to me the way it thought I wanted to see it. So I'm not sure. But that's okay. [laughter] I've chosen the Actor character sheet because it has really high Appearance stats, and I'll go with everything else. It'll be great. And I'm...
Billy Baker (Paula) 13:14
I'm Billy Baker, but everyone calls me BB.
Ross Bryant 13:18
Yes.
Billy Baker (Paula) 13:19
I promise I can sing really well, and I do normally get given like the opening line to the songs, because it's good to have me starting the music video because of how hot I am. [laughter] But then a lot of times, I don't get to sing a lot more of the song. And I know there's more to me than just this pretty face. I'm gonna prove it somehow.
Ross Bryant 13:38
Great. I'm so glad that we have a member of this boy band with two letters as their name, because that's essential. [laughter]
Matt Young 13:46
Yeah, yeah.
Paula Deming 13:48
Inspired by JTT, who was not in a boy band, but, you know, was my 90s crush, so.
Matt Young 13:53
Sure.
Paula Deming 13:55
Like everyone else.
Ross Bryant 13:56
Wonderful.
Nic Rosenberg 13:57
I'm feeling like Bobby King.
Paula Deming 14:01
Yeah.
Nic Rosenberg 14:02
I was hoping that there was a Poet, but there's no poet, so I've gone Author.
Matt Young 14:06
Okay.
Nic Rosenberg 14:06
For my character sheet. This is a sensitive, poetry writing... I mean, I'm air quoting "poetry" here. He fancies himself like a writer, and maybe even had aspirations for college, but the draw of the limelight was too much. But I don't think Bobby's doing good with the pressure of the image. So I think that Bobby is handling some stress with overeating and, you know, like self medicating through food and over consumption in that way, and then also struggling with this, like maintaining a perfect image for the fans and for everyone. And I think that's kind of showing through more in the not-often-taken contributions to lyrics that he makes. But he's always trying. He's always trying to get his lyrics in the songs.
Matt Young 14:56
I like that we have Nate, Billy, Bobby. So far, it feels like it rolls off the tongue, like...
Ross Bryant 15:01
Nate, Billy, Bobby and...
cuppycup 15:03
Oh no!
Ross Bryant 15:04
Yeah, we got Nate, Billy, Bobby and...
cuppycup 15:06
Chris!
Paula Deming 15:08
Yeah, that feels good.
Matt Young 15:10
Yeah, it works. That works.
cuppycup 15:11
I actually had CJ, but I was like, we can't have two members with the initials as their name.
Paula Deming 15:15
Oh.
Matt Young 15:16
Sure.
cuppycup 15:17
Yeah. So I'm gonna go with Chris Hansen. Wait, is that the guy from the show? [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 15:22
Whoa.
Matt Young 15:23
No, no, it's him. It's him. It's him! We're doing a new... [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 15:26
Before he was on "To Catch A Predator."
Ross Bryant 15:29
"Rise of Hansen: To Catch a Cryptid." [laughter]
cuppycup 15:34
So it's Chris Holloway, now.
Ross Bryant 15:36
Okay.
Paula Deming 15:37
That's good. That's good.
cuppycup 15:38
Yeah, so Chris Holloway, and I actually also took Paula's character sheet, so I'm switching that very quickly here.
Billy Baker (Paula) 15:44
So I just ruined all of your plans, Cup.
Nic Rosenberg 15:46
You guys have mind meld.
cuppycup 15:48
No, I was copying off your screen. [laughter] So I'm gonna take the Accountant instead of the Actor.
Paula Deming 15:56
So none of us go with Musician at all.
Nic Rosenberg 15:56
Wow.
cuppycup 15:56
I assumed everyone else was going to take it.
Nic Rosenberg 15:57
We're a boy band, we don't have to be musicians. [laughter] Yeah.
Matt Young 16:00
There are musicians who make our music for us. [laughter]
Paula Deming 16:07
Yeah.
cuppycup 16:08
I'm Chris, and I'm 28 years old, so distinctly older than everyone else in the band. [laughter]
Matt Young 16:15
You have a down payment for a house.
cuppycup 16:16
Yeah, and I think a big part of his complex is going to be trying to seem younger than he is. And he has frosted tips. He's got this athletic build. He wears slightly more sophisticated outfits than the rest of the band. I think he's always in something that's kind of almost a suit, right? So he's got that formal boy band attire. He's struggling, though, because he's having difficulty with his dating life. People are starting to recognize him when he goes out. And he doesn't want that, right? He doesn't want someone who just wants him for the fame. He wants someone he has a real connection with. So he's been doing a lot of blind dates, trying to find someone who's just that soulmate for him.
Ross Bryant 16:55
Everyone's sensitive and needy in their own way. God, they're so beautiful, and they have it all, but do they? [laughter]
Paula Deming 17:00
I've just pulled up a 90s picture of Jordan Knight, and I'm gonna have it in front of me the whole time for my inspiration. [laughter]
Matt Young 17:06
It's a great move.
cuppycup 17:08
Ross, if you're okay with this, I'd like to think that Chris is actually older than whoever our producer is. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 17:15
Yeah, super. You're the only one who can rent a car here. [laughter]
Paula Deming 17:18
And that does come in handy.
Paula Deming 17:19
There's actually a lot of pressure, yeah, with being the oldest member.
Ross Bryant 17:23
Great. Y'all ready?
Matt Young 17:23
Y'all ready for this? [group vocalizes intro to "Get Ready For This"]
Ross Bryant 17:23
[SFX: TV static, music underscores, and effects throughout] Let's start on television static, so just see the hiss of broken static between two channels on a cable television. And it warps and you hear, (singing) "this is no ordinary love." Sade is playing. And it's Ross Perot like, "Can I finish? This is why our government is in gridlock," and we're off and we see the cold war ending. We see Greg Louganis hitting the back of his head on a diving board at the Barcelona Olympics. We see an eccentric preacher named David Koresh talking to his congregation in Waco, Texas. (singing) "Rhythm is a dancer. You can feel it everywhere." (as newsperson) "A shooting today at the Ruby Ridge compound escalated tensions between the government and militia groups with spiritually-inflected..." And then we see the face of BB Baker, and it is a music video of a song. [MUSIC: Boy band underscore begins] The corner of the frame has "The Other Side. New Jam Records. 1992."
Billy Baker (Paula) 18:57
Baby girl, you know, I want you. Because you're my baby girl. (singing) Baby girl. [laughter]
Paula Deming 19:07
You hear the tunes and the mid-song "rap" in quotes.
Ross Bryant 19:14
Yes, and The Other Side's hot new single, "Baby Girl" is playing, and we see Bobby, BB, Nate and Chris doing punchy choreographed dance moves in what looks like a big warehouse space with a giant industrial fan behind them, shooting light into a misty space. We see Nate Highland striking poses in front of a brick wall covered in graffiti that looks as though it has not been done by a real street graffiti artist. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 19:48
Baby girl, you're the only one, the only one for me. You gotta come over to my place tonight, and then I'll let you see (singing) all the secrets we've been keeping.
Billy Baker (Paula) 20:00
(singing) Secrets, we've been keeping.
Ross Bryant 20:07
We then see Bobby King dancing next to a banana yellow Jeep that is parked inside a garage. [laughter] He is dressed in overalls with one strap undone, revealing his chest. He's got a wrench over his shoulder, and the makeup coordinator has clearly kind of put some photogenic smudges of grease on his face as he pouts at the camera.
Nic Rosenberg 20:31
And then turns and looks dramatically and directly for the small spoken word section
Bobby King (Nic) 20:37
Girl, I know I messed up, but I've been thinking real hard about what I've done, and I'm ready to say (singing) I'm sorry. [laughter] Baby girl!
Ross Bryant 20:52
And then seated at a desk, [laughter] flipping seductively through a Rolodex and slowly rising to his feet because his knees don't move like they used to. We see Chris there, and he contributes his part to the verse.
cuppycup 21:14
He takes a puff on his pipe and then looks up at the camera and says,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 21:18
Trust me, baby girl, I've seen it all.
cuppycup 21:21
He sits down on the desk, like, sensuously. And he looks like he's about to deliver a verse, then smash cut back to BB. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 21:37
(singing) Ooooh, baby girl. Baby girl.
Ross Bryant 21:39
(singing) "Girl. Baby girl." [MUSIC: Boy band track fades to tinny television] And the audio of our song gets tinnier and tinnier as we pull back off of that television and see The Other Side's music video playing on this television that is mounted to the wall. And we're pulling back and we can see a Street Fighter II console that it's next to, and a bank of washing machines and dryers. We're in a laundromat, and as we continue to pull back and we see a little kid with an action figure staring up at the television. Parents and workers are puttering around. As we pull back out of the window and we are in a rural strip mall where all of this has been playing on the television. And then breaking through this suburban-looking scene, we see the members of The Other Side, Chris, Bobby, BB and Nate running by [SFX: running footsteps] pelting pell-mell past. A few moments pass, and then suddenly a group of teenage girls in hot pursuit, running past them. [SFX: group of girls screaming]
Ross Bryant 22:52
The Other Side has just done an in-store signing at a K-Mart, and you are running back to your van, which is on the other side of the parking lot. The girls are in hot pursuit. I don't want to do a full chase here, because in Call of Cthulhu, that requires a lot of math. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 23:10
So many dice rolls.
Ross Bryant 23:11
Can I just get a DEX roll? If someone fumbles or really badly fails, maybe something happens here.
Paula Deming 23:18
Well, I rolled an extreme success with a four under 70. So I am like former cross-country track star. You know, I'm good.
Ross Bryant 23:29
Amazing. You're going toward a bus. This is not a full tour van with, like, a beautiful vinyl wrap of all your faces on it. It's maybe more of like a 90s Sprinter van with "The Other Side" on sort of a piece of vinyl, more kind of bungee-cabled to the side. [laughter]
cuppycup 23:49
It's kind of curling.
Ross Bryant 23:50
Yeah.
cuppycup 23:50
I also have an extreme success. I rolled a five under 80.
Paula Deming 23:54
Wow.
cuppycup 23:55
So I like to think that Chris is like seated behind the steering wheel of the van, honking the horn as the others are, except for BB, the others are kind of scrambling to get over there. [SFX: horn honks]
Nic Rosenberg 24:05
I think Bobby's kind of... Bobby's put on a couple of pounds recently, been doing some stress eating, and so is not used to this new amount of weight to carry around. I rolled a 56 under 60, but it's just a regular success.
Matt Young 24:23
Yeah, and Nate rolled an 84 over 65. He sort of trips and lands like in the dust. And he kind of like, his gloved hands, he's kind of trying to clean them off because he doesn't like getting dirty. And then he turns and he sees everyone. He's like,
Nate Highland (Matt) 24:44
Girls, girls, I'm so sorry. I knew there were too many spoken word sections in "Baby Girl" and it was gonna drive you crazy. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 24:49
Yes, you rise up, perhaps, like there's some fluid on the pavement here. Guh, who knows what that is. And as you stand up the crowd that is pursuing you, a little section of it that was more hasty than the others, closes around you, Nate, as they're pressing posters against you and and cramming magazines and copies of "Teen Beat" and "Tiger Beat" up against you. [SFX: crowd of girls clamoring]
Nate Highland (Matt) 25:07
Okay, okay. I'll sign, I'll sign, I'll sign. It's okay. It's okay. Does anyone wanna take a picture with me where you hold the picture out and we kind of get a picture where we're together, but there's no word for that yet? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 25:25
Yeah, one of the girls has, like, a chunky disposable camera that she's holding up at arm's length, just hoping against hope. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 25:31
We should call this an armie. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 25:34
It's just gonna be the tops of your heads. That's it. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 25:37
Nate, man, come on. Come on.
Paula Deming 25:39
BB is like, holding the sliding door of the van open and being like,
Billy Baker (Paula) 25:44
You're gonna get stuck there!
Nate Highland (Matt) 25:46
I love meeting my fans, but I gotta go.
Ross Bryant 25:48
Nate Highland (Matt) 26:00
Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, I am. I am. I'm singing to all my fans, though. I love you all equally. I just, I gotta, (singing) I need some space. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 26:10
Yes. And as you make your way back to the van, extricating yourself, you see this girl, kind of staring into her eyes, her braces gleaming in the dying sun, her poster almost in ribbons in her hand as she's crushing it, like, (as crazed teen girl) "I want to be inside you!" [laughter] You make your way back to the van.
cuppycup 26:30
Can we be like, creeping the van toward the crowd, to get closer to Nate, like, almost trying to very slowly push them aside by driving toward them.
Ross Bryant 26:38
Yes. See the crowd begins to kind of move around the van as you bring it up, and you're able to tug Nate inside.
Matt Young 26:40
Oh, I make it inside? Okay.
Ross Bryant 26:40
Unless there's something else you'd like to do out here.
Matt Young 26:40
[SFX: teen girls chanting] Just to make it that much clearer, as much as it pains me, I'm gonna take off one of my gloves, my precious gloves, and I'm gonna throw it, like, away from me to send some of the fans in that direction.
Ross Bryant 27:04
Great. Like seagulls pursuing a thrown piece of hot dog, [laughter; SFX: girls scream] the crowd surges away in a murmuration of youthful energy towards the glove that you have thrown. The van door slides open. [SFX: van starts and door slide open]
Nate Highland (Matt) 27:26
(sighs) We've got to get back to the Best Western. I got to get another pair of gloves.
Billy Baker (Paula) 27:28
I thought you weren't going to make it in here, Nate. It's a good thing they let you go.
Derek (Ross) 27:31
No time for that, boys, I hope you saved some energy. We're going to be driving all night.
Nate Highland (Matt) 27:35
Derek!
Ross Bryant 27:37
Yeah, from the back of the van, you see Derek, who is not as old as Chris, but still quite old. [laughter] Derek is of indeterminate age, but he's in his late 20s, and unlike the rest of you, he is already completely bald. He's got the little, just a tiny, little wisp around his ears. He is wearing a large dress shirt and shorts because it's rather hot. He's got a big three-ring binder with a bunch of spreadsheets that he's printed out on it.
Bobby King (Nic) 28:09
Derek, I thought you were going to be providing some kind of security while we're still, you know, like developing our personas and fame. Those girls almost tore Nate apart. Did you see that?
Derek (Ross) 28:21
That's good, that's good, Bobby. Don't you understand? Like, we want to give the people what they want. Hey, they get a little taste. They're gonna be coming back for more. You know what I mean? Okay.
Bobby King (Nic) 28:30
Derek, he's a person, not a piece of meat. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 28:34
And then the most dramatic pout towards... just off to a corner of the van.
Billy Baker (Paula) 28:39
Yeah, I mean, think of what would have happened if I had been the one who had tripped and fallen.
Nate Highland (Matt) 28:44
Ah.
Billy Baker (Paula) 28:45
You know, I don't know if I would have been able to get out of there.
Nate Highland (Matt) 28:48
Billy, Bobby, I hear you, and you're totally right, and it's totally fair, but this is what we signed up to do. We are a piece of meat. You forget. I was an actor for years before I joined this band, and what we're selling is ourselves.
Billy Baker (Paula) 29:02
I don't know, I thought I was gonna be making quality music, but I guess I'm only here for my looks, my face, my hot bod.
Nate Highland (Matt) 29:10
Billy!
Paula Deming 29:11
And then a just slightly less dramatic pout.
Nate Highland (Matt) 29:14
None of us is even a musician. What are you talking about?
Bobby King (Nic) 29:17
That doesn't mean that we're not artists.
Derek (Ross) 29:20
By the way, I just got a fax from Trevor Knutson in Sweden. He's gonna be producing some hot new tracks that I think you might be able to hop on. Don't worry, the lyrics are already written. This is gonna be fantastic, boys. Once we get you in the studio, we're gonna have five new singles, I guarantee it. But as for now, you need to be like Nate and learn to take direction, okay?
cuppycup 29:38
Chris is staring out the window of the van at a bandana that he threw out the driver's side window, and nobody's going after it. And he's just like staring at the crowd waiting for someone to pick up his sweaty bandana.
Ross Bryant 29:51
Yeah, you can see the crowd of girls turning the glove that Nate threw into confetti [laughter] as each one of them is like taking little swatches of it, like holy relics and putting them into their fanny packs.
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:01
What's wrong, Chris? You thinking about buying a Saab?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 30:06
What are you even talking about, Nate? I don't... I don't get it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:09
You know, one of those safe Swedish cars that old people buy. (chuckles)
Chris Holloway (Cup) 30:16
Alright. I've had just about enough of this ageism from you, Nate!
cuppycup 30:18
And he's gonna step on the gas. [SFX: van peels out]
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:22
Whoa!
Ross Bryant 30:23
And you pull out. And just kind of, let's see our crane shot here from above as your van pulls out onto the street and onto a rural highway past a Hardee's and a Dunkin' Donuts and a McDonald's, leaving behind this crowd of youth there in the parking lot.
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:43
Wow, a sourdough burger.
Ross Bryant 30:47
Make a Spot Hidden for me, everybody.
Paula Deming 30:50
Oh my gosh, this character. Sorry, my Spot Hidden is so bad. How dare you try and become an investigator?
Matt Young 30:58
Well, that's a 98 over 35 for me.
Paula Deming 31:01
Oh!
Nic Rosenberg 31:02
This is good. You're getting all the high rolls out of the way early.
Matt Young 31:05
Yeah, right.
Ross Bryant 31:07
Great. Perhaps that little smug burn of yours, as you lean back in satisfaction, you don't see what's going on.
Paula Deming 31:14
BB looks like he's looking around or maybe looking at something, but what he's actually doing is looking at the reflection of himself in the window of the car and like kind of fiddling with the new little hoop earring that he just got for his 19th birthday because I rolled a 94 over 25
Ross Bryant 31:35
Okay.
Matt Young 31:35
Wow.
Ross Bryant 31:35
Yes.
cuppycup 31:36
And Chris also failed. Chris is looking up in the in the rearview mirror, and he thinks he sees a gray hair. So he's just like, he's just like, stroking his hair, and he's like, thinking about plucking it out, not watching the road at all, of course.
Ross Bryant 31:49
Yeah. As a matter of fact, as you're plucking it out, you see a billboard as you're pulling onto the highway that has a big smiling face that just says, "Just for Men." [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 31:59
Bobby, trying very hard to, kind of like, live in this pouting moment and distance himself from the rest of the group is actually paying attention to everything else. I did roll a 34 under 35. Regular success. Just staring hard out a window, you know, just like, ugh! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 32:17
I think, yeah, tossing your head, you see this, middle-American, rural-suburban scene as your eyes drift over it and back towards the parking lot that you just left tracks on the asphalt from peeling out here. [MUSIC: ominous drone] And you can still see that little crowd of young girls and their parents decompressing after their brush with The Other Side, and your eyes just catch just one young woman there who is not looking down at the ground, not ripping up swatches of the glove, but is just passively watching you. Watching you as you go.
Nic Rosenberg 32:55
Bobby might do the gracious idol thing and wave, like acknowledge.
Ross Bryant 33:00
When Bobby does that, she smiles impassively. And the last thing you see before Chris takes a corner, and you can no longer make her out, is that she makes a gesture almost like crossing herself, but it is a triangle. The last thing is like reaching a hand out towards you, reaching a hand out towards you, beckoning you to stay, or perhaps a promise that she will follow. [SFX: van rumbles]
Nic Rosenberg 33:28
Bobby shudders, but this is not that far away from other strange fan behavior, so I think won't necessarily call it out in this moment.
Nate Highland (Matt) 33:36
Hey, have you guys thought about other cool ways we could pose with our hands on our face?
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:40
Yeah, I actually think about it like, all the time. Like, sometimes I think, like, I want everyone to know I'm actually smart, so yeah, like a finger up to my temple.
Nate Highland (Matt) 33:48
Oh yeah, I like that. That's good.
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:51
Or, like, you know, definitely, like the one eye closed with, like, your thumb and forefinger, kind of like in an L-shape, but on your chin, like...
Nate Highland (Matt) 33:58
Yeah, you got to frame that face.
Billy Baker (Paula) 34:00
Yeah, but also, like, I look like I'm thinking. I'm pondering, you know? I'm pondering.
Nate Highland (Matt) 34:05
I like that, Billy.
Derek (Ross) 34:06
That's good thinking, boys. I'm always scheming up new concepts for photo shoots. How are the four of you on rollerblades?
Nate Highland (Matt) 34:14
Ah, man, I love rollerblades. I just got to be very careful. I like to go to, like, a clean skate park, not like one of those, like dirty ones. Yuck!
Ross Bryant 34:24
You see him kind of look at you quizzically and just jot down "yeah, clean skate park." [laughter] Okay. [SFX: van driving] You're now in a... moving along through a rural highway, tall stands of trees on both sides, around about sunset. You can see the sky overhead turning purple and pink as you're passing Chevy Luminas and other 90s automobiles as you cruise down the highway. It's evening, and then that's just smash cut to night. [SFX: coyote howl and insects] The van is parked. Of course, you have to go all night, but you've convinced them to maybe take a break and just take a little shuteye snooze. And just see our van parked on the side of a rural road, forest all around and the murmuration of frogs and crickets and cicadas off in the trees.
cuppycup 35:21
I think Chris is going to get out and roll up the band sign so that fans don't track them down on the side of the road. [SFX: van door sliding, and sign being rolled up] Because you said it's not like affixed to the van, right? It's kind of like hanging there?
Ross Bryant 35:32
Yeah. You can kind of strain to unhook it from the bungee cord that's holding it on its grommets, and you can detach the vinyl sign.
cuppycup 35:40
I'll bring that back inside and say, [SFX: van door closing]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 35:45
Hey, Nate, I was thinking about what you said, and I've been trying a bunch of different ways to frame my face. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm growing in a full beard now.
Nate Highland (Matt) 35:56
Well, have you thought about like, trimming it down to, like, kind of a goatee look, or maybe just a little van dyke?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:04
Well, that's what I had before. You really think I'm not thinking about my face all the time, man?
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:09
No, I'm just saying it might look a little edgier. It might help you fit in a little more. Look. Hey, Chris. I like you. You're an important part of the band, okay? And I want to help you, but you got to help yourself first. Now look at me. I went on two dates with Christina Applegate. I haven't talked to her in six months, but as soon as we get back to LA, I'm going to look her up.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:36
Damn, Nate, that's amazing.
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:37
What are you doing to advance your career? I'm trying to date Christina Applegate, what are you doing?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:43
I went on some blind dates, but...
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:46
Blind dates?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:47
Yeah, one of them...
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:48
Nobody knows blind people. You have to go on dates with famous people.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:53
I don't know. I mean, I feel like the fans can't relate to me. You know? Maybe, maybe I could write songs.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:01
Chris.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 37:01
I can write lyrics. I'm deep.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:03
The songs don't matter. The lyrics don't matter. What matters is the fans don't like you.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 37:11
Right.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:12
Or Chris doesn't like you? You've got to believe that you're already the popular one. The thing about Billy, the thing about Bobby, the thing about me is every single one of us knows we're the favorite.
Billy Baker (Paula) 37:27
Excuse me. [laughter]
Paula Deming 37:27
BB looks up from, he's got a little book light on a pocket dictionary. He's just going through reading words. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 37:35
Excuse me, I think we all know, though, that I'm the favorite.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:39
Yeah, of course you are Billy, you're the face man.
cuppycup 37:41
Chris sits down really heavily, and he's like,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 37:46
Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry I overreacted, Nate. What do you think about "Love Myself?" Could be our next big track.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:51
See, that's great. That's just an idea that doesn't mean much of anything.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 37:56
Yeah.
Nate Highland (Matt) 37:56
And we can really hang our star on that.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 38:00
(singing) I've been loving on myself. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:03
Okay, well, we can workshop it. We can workshop it. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:05
(singing) All night long. No, no, no, there's something there.
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:08
You like it, Billy?
Paula Deming 38:09
BB will, like, pull out a little notepad and be like,
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:13
I've been loving on myself.
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:14
Oh, Billy Boy.
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:15
All night long. Ooh, ooh. Ooh?
Matt Young 38:20
Yeah, you gotta have that last "ooh."
Bobby King (Nic) 38:21
It doesn't mean anything if you don't have the last "ooh."
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:21
Do you think we need one more "ooh?" Or do you think that's too many "oohs?"
Bobby King (Nic) 38:25
You don't want to give away everything right up front, BB, you know? Let's hold back that fourth "ooh."
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:34
You're so good at this, Bobby.
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:35
I'm just spitballing here. But what if it's, "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oooh. Bah, bah, bahhhh!" What if we go into, like, a total different sound?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 38:40
Wait, you're gonna use my idea, guys?
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:45
Well, I mean, we might like it, but that doesn't mean Derek's gonna let us use it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:49
Yeah, yeah. Derek's the real, you know...
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:52
Yeah, Derek's the real problem here. Do you guys think he's holding us back? Like he wants me to, like, act like I'm dumb in front of all of our fans, when what I want to do is prove to them that I know the word "perspicacious."
Chris Holloway (Cup) 39:04
Yeah.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:05
Maybe our next album should be called perspi... perspica... that word you said.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:10
That we all know. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:11
Yeah, it's having a ready insight into and understanding of things, because we're perspicacious, girl.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:18
You just read that out of your dictionary.
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:20
Yeah, well I'm learning. I know it. It's like you use a calculator sometimes. It doesn't mean you don't know math.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:27
Hey! No one saw me using that calculator. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:29
Yeah, okay, no one saw...
Ross Bryant 39:31
(makes creaking sound)
Bobby King (Nic) 39:31
What was that?
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:32
What was that?
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:33
Did you guys hear that?
Ross Bryant 39:35
God, it sounded like wood cracking, almost like a tree, probably being pushed by the wind.
Paula Deming 39:43
BB starts to have a reaction like you would not expect.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:46
BB.
Paula Deming 39:47
From just a creaking sound of like trees on the side of the road. (panicked breathing)
Bobby King (Nic) 39:52
BB, dude, remember, remember your box breathing. Come on.
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:53
Yeah?
Bobby King (Nic) 39:54
It's okay.
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:54
What if I don't remember it? I don't remember it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:58
Just breathe.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:58
We're all here with you.
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:00
I just remembered because of the time that there was a thing, and it was in my trunk, and then I took it home, and when I got home, it wasn't in my trunk anymore, but I swear it was there, guys.
Bobby King (Nic) 40:02
You're living in the memory, baby, come back to us. Please, buddy. Come on.
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:11
I was born in Brooklyn, and I grew up in LA. I'm gonna go check out what's happened in the forest. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:17
Yeah, you definitely, you can handle the outdoors.
Ross Bryant 40:20
Derek is sitting in the back seat of the van, his head almost like a 90-degree angle, tilted back over the seat, just snoring. (snores) He's got an enormous three ring binder, sort of clutched to his chest. He's out like a light.
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:34
Don't wake up, Derek, whatever you do. Let me go see what's happening over there. It's probably nothing. It's probably just like a bird farting or something.
Bobby King (Nic) 40:42
Man, you do know nature? Yeah. Wow. [laughter]
cuppycup 40:44
Chris stops what he's doing because he was over by Derek going,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 40:47
(singing softly) I've been loving on myself,
cuppycup 40:50
Trying to plant the seed in Derek's brain. [laughter]
Matt Young 40:55
Yeah, I'll step out into the woods and investigate. [SFX: van door opens]
Ross Bryant 40:59
Great.
cuppycup 40:59
Oh, I'll turn the headlights on so he can see what he's doing.
Matt Young 41:02
Oh, great. Thank you.
Ross Bryant 41:03
The headlights come on, [SFX: click; insects] illuminate the road that recedes off into darkness, and the side of the light moves into the trees, and you can see the tall stands of pine, low undergrowth just going off seemingly forever. You're out in a truly rural area here, that little sort of suburban strip mall you just played was maybe the last little bit of civilization for a while between two big southern towns.
Nate Highland (Matt) 41:39
(yelling) Hey guys, it's like a shitty arboretum out here. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 41:45
Make a Listen roll for me.
Nate Highland (Matt) 41:47
A Listen roll. Yeah, okay,
Ross Bryant 41:49
And you can call for these as well. If you want to listen, you could Listen. If you'd like to look, you could Spot Hidden.
Matt Young 41:54
Yeah, no, I like Listen. I'm gonna listen for a second. That's a 23 under 30.
Paula Deming 41:59
Yeah!
Nic Rosenberg 42:00
Nice.
Ross Bryant 42:01
Okay, sweet. Yeah. You hear it again. (makes creaking sound) There's something out there.
Matt Young 42:07
Can I tell which direction it's coming from?
Ross Bryant 42:11
It's deep in the forest. It's on the side of the road that you are pulled off on. It's off in the darkness of the woods.
Matt Young 42:19
Okay, I'm going to... I'm gonna follow the sound to the best of my ability.
Paula Deming 42:26
BB's got his face pressed up against the car window like looking like his nose is flattened against the glass, and as Nate starts to move into the line of trees, he's just going,
Billy Baker (Paula) 42:37
(soft and panicked) No, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it, man. Don't do it. Don't do it. What do we do? He's doing it. He's going in there.
Nic Rosenberg 42:48
Bobby has manifested a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos from just absolutely nowhere, and he's like, shoveling into his mouth. [SFX: bag rustles and chips crunch]
Bobby King (Nic) 42:50
Should we stop? Should we help him? Like, I mean it's just...
Billy Baker (Paula) 42:53
No, I'm not going out there, man, I'm not going out there.
Bobby King (Nic) 42:56
We can't just leave him alone.
Matt Young 42:57
And you said there was, like, a search or a look option?
Ross Bryant 43:01
That would be Spot Hidden. Yeah.
Matt Young 43:03
Oh, Spot Hidden again. Okay, yeah, let's do Spot Hidden.
Ross Bryant 43:05
But now that you moved into the forest toward the noise, in order to go to where the noise was, or where your successful Listen roll perceived it, you will be kind of moving out of the aura of that light. And it'll only be dimly perceptible. [SFX: crickets and branches] As you move deeper into the forest, your pants are getting snagged by little brambles and you're brushing past leaves. You have to kind of duck under a low-hanging branch that whips backward over your head, and perhaps very disturbingly to Nate, like a spider web is suddenly kind of in your ear and on your neck.
Nate Highland (Matt) 43:37
Eww nasty!
Ross Bryant 43:38
And the shadows of the trees stretch out like fingers off into the darkness since you're backlit by the headlights of the van behind you.
Paula Deming 43:49
Can we see him at all anymore, or is he fully out of our sight?
cuppycup 43:53
And can we creep the van behind him, like as far as it'll go toward the woods to give him that light for a little longer?
Ross Bryant 44:01
Sure.
Matt Young 44:02
There's a Drive Auto roll, just saying.
Nic Rosenberg 44:04
(laughing) Straight into a tree.
cuppycup 44:06
I have some skill in that, for some reason.
Matt Young 44:08
For doing some fancy driving.
cuppycup 44:10
And I think that while Chris is trailing, he's gonna look over at BB and say,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 44:14
Don't do that to your face, BB. You're gonna mess it up.
Billy Baker (Paula) 44:18
Oh man!
Paula Deming 44:18
I immediately pull back from the window and, like, start, like, trying to, like, feel my nose.
Billy Baker (Paula) 44:22
Did I ruin it? Oh god. No, okay. I think it's fine. It's fine, Chris.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 44:26
You're still pretty. It's okay.
Billy Baker (Paula) 44:31
Really, you think so?
Matt Young 44:34
Bobby's just sitting there [SFX: chips crunch] looking back and forth.
Matt Young 44:37
Since I'm a Dilettante, this makes sense. My Track is only 20, so I'm gonna roll for Track just to see if I can make any sense out of what I'm seeing.
Nic Rosenberg 44:41
You got this.
Ross Bryant 44:43
I love that. Track is like the ideal skill for this. It is as if you're attempting to track this thing that you heard.
Matt Young 44:50
I got a 62 over 20.
Ross Bryant 44:52
Great. That's a failure.
cuppycup 44:53
And I'm rolling Drive Auto, just because it was mentioned. I can't not. Can't not do that. I failed. 44 over 25.
Paula Deming 45:02
Do not wreck our van. We're gonna be stuck here now.
Ross Bryant 45:04
[SFX: insects and branches] Because of those two failures, I will say that Nate, you are aware of the light. It's off there behind you, but you're now fully in the dark. The beams of the headlights are sort of creating this column of light behind you, but you fully stepped out of it towards the source of where you perceived the noise to come from. [SFX: haunting drone] More underbrush, and you don't even have to make a listen roll to know that now you hear something else underneath the frogs from the ditch separating the street from the forest. The sounds of insects in the trees chittering up the bark. You also hear (makes ragged breathing sound).
Nate Highland (Matt) 45:55
Hello? Hello? I'm from The Other Side. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 46:06
That's when you feel something touch your leg.
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:10
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Matt Young 46:12
I try to run back towards the van. Is that DEX?
Annalise (Ross) 46:16
(softly) Help!
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:18
Huh, what?
Annalise (Ross) 46:19
(softly) Help me.
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:27
Who are you? What's your name?
Annalise (Ross) 46:32
Annalise.
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:34
Annalise, look, I can sign something for you, [laughter] or maybe we can give you a lift. I don't know what you're doing out here. Are you okay?
Annalise (Ross) 46:45
Lift? Help.
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:52
Yeah, let me go back to the van and ask my friends.
Annalise (Ross) 46:55
Don't leave me. Please.
Nate Highland (Matt) 46:57
Okay, okay, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving.
Ross Bryant 46:59
It's a voice coming from the ground near where you felt your ankle get touched. It felt like something was groping at you.
Matt Young 47:07
I kind of very gingerly get down on all fours.
Ross Bryant 47:11
Snap, snap, snap, snap. There are branches being snapped about like, eight feet off to your left, deeper into the darkness.
Paula Deming 47:18
No, no, no. I hate it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:21
I can't I can't quite see you.
Annalise (Ross) 47:23
Please help. It's still out here.
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:26
What's still out here?
Ross Bryant 47:28
And now that you're on your knees, resolving out of the darkness, as a hand is now touching your cheek, is the face moving up out of the darkness, scratched by brambles, smudged with dirt. The face of a teenage girl. Very wan, very pale, her eyes wide in the dark. It's now so close to your own.
Annalise (Ross) 47:55
Help me!