2-3 For Now, Inspiration Is A Fickle Thing

In which the newest members of the Story Creation And Development Program learn just a little bit more about one another.  

inc: The Podcast is:  
Allyson Levine as Bethany  
Raimy O. Washington as Jonas    
Ellis MacMillan as the Robo-Archivist  
James Allen as Sub-Director Jamison  
Katie Ploetz as Tomas  
Chase Guthrie Knueven as Jesse  
Joe Hanson as Desiree  
Jacob Pfeiffer as Nancy  
Stevie Faye as Over-Director Boris  

inc: The Podcast is written, produced, and edited, by Monte D. Monteleagre and Alexander Wolfe, and is a production of Wolf Mountain Workshop, which now has a Patreon! Join us at www.patreon.com/WolfMountainWorkshop to support our shows and get access to bonus content as well as our exclusive Discord: The Caves of Wolf Mountain.  

You can also find us on our website, https://www.wolfmountainworkshop.org/, which has links to all our socials along with more information about our shows, our merch, and whatever else we feel like putting there. Or you could reach out to us directly at wolfmountainworkshop@gmail.com.

Emotional support for inc: The Podcast is lovingly provided by: Birdie, Rodeo, Jasper, Luna, Artemis, Hazelnut, Gwyn, Jewel, Sakura, Gracie, Luna, Hazel, Kyo, Hamilton, Beau and The Slug. 

New episodes every other Monday. 

Ask yourself: how can M-E, work for me? 

Transcript

E3 - For Now, Inspiration Is A Fickle Thing
Theme Music.
Episode theme, fading into music for the Robo-Archivist.
ROBO-ARCHIVIST: File Request made. Genre: World Building. Sub-Genre: Exposition.
Sub-sub-Genre: Diegetic explanations of setting for an audience who can only interact through
this story by listening. Name: The Mental Ennervation Colonies. Suggested use: new employee
training, potential audience onboarding. Status: Slightly Under Top Secret.
The Mental Ennervation Colonies exist as a company building complex orbiting at an
altitude of approximately 800,000 meters above the surface and completely enclosing the planet
beneath it. What, if anything, happens beneath the Mental Ennervation Colonies’ Building
Complex is a closely guarded secret with any information, including the name of said planet,
tightly controlled.
The Complex itself is home to the numerous departments that make up the Mental
Ennervation Colonies as a whole. They include the Marketing and Distribution Departments, the
Story Creation and Development Program, Personnel Resources and Internal Structuring,
Janitorial and Food Production Services, and many others. Tours can be booked for certain
departments, but reservations must be made at least 6 months in advance.
JONAS: Okay, well, tell me more about the planet itself, please.
ROBO-ARCHIVIST: There has been an error. Senior Neophytes do not have access to the file
you requested.
JONAS: Okay but what if they ask really nicely?
ROBO-ARCHIVIST: Senior Neophytes do not have access to the file you requested.
JONAS: Pretty please?
ROBO-ARCHIVIST: Senior Neophytes do not have access to the file you requested.
JONAS: Stupid computer.
A door slides open.
JONAS: Good morning, Bethany.
BETHANY: (Yawning.) Oh- hi, Jonas, you’re up already?
JONAS: Sure am.
BETHANY: But you’ve never been up - wait - are you wearing glasses?
JONAS: Oh, these old things?
BETHANY: They don’t cover... like any of your eyes. Are you just wearing glasses to feel smart
right now?
JONAS: I’ve always had these, I can’t believe you never noticed!
BETHANY: They don’t even have lenses, Jonas.
JONAS: That’s because somebody sat on them in an escape pod.
BETHANY: And who would that be?
JONAS: Me, but it’s still frustrating. Hey, can you look over some of these story seeds for me?
BETHANY: Story seeds? Like the assignment the Sub-Director gave us yesterday?
JONAS: Yeah, obviously.
BETHANY: Those aren’t due for, like, a week.
JONAS: And?
BETHANY: And you woke up early to write them?
JONAS: I was feeling inspired, and, also, you know how we had that workshop where the
Sub-Director brought in a bunch of “friends” and those “friends” all really kinda went on for a
long time about how important their creative processes are? Well, this is my process.
BETHANY: Waking up early is your process?
JONAS: It’s part of it, but it’s mostly throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall even when most of it
sucks and actually fills me with a deep and lasting anxiety that someday, somehow, my
caregivers will find it and use it against me… What was I talking about?
BETHANY: Process.
JONAS: Oh, yeah. And then, you know, if you can channel that familial and specifically parental
dread sometimes you get a story idea out of it.
BETHANY: Okay, I don’t think I want to do that.
JONAS: And that’s okay, that’s process and like the Sub-Director’s “friends” said, “Everybody
has a different process, and that’s okay.” The only thing that seemed important was that the
process be personally haunting and when you talk about it with other people you gotta make it
sound really dark and moody even though it seems like it’s really just goofin’ around.
SUB-DIRECTOR: It’s good to see you two are keeping your door open.
BETHANY: Well, you disabled the “close” function, so, you’re welcome?
SUB-DIRECTOR: And I let you keep that function on your respective personal quarter doors,
because this corporate family is all about togetherness within appropriate boundaries. But I
didn’t just come here to dish out door compliments, I actually just wanted to let you know that
one of my “friends,” that talked to you about process in the workshop we all attended has had
their contributions to the fictional zeitgeist disacknowledged by certain powerful individuals, and
as such they have been disallowed from speaking with you. Please disregard whatever creative
information you might’ve gleaned from meeting them.
JONAS: Wait, which one?
SUB-DIRECTOR: They were very insistent on every process being valid as long as it produced
results.
JONAS: And... why shouldn’t we listen to that?
SUB-DIRECTOR: It’s been found to be detrimental to familial harmony in certain important
circumstances.
BETHANY: Circumstances like... what exactly- and they’re gone. Do you know if there’s
anywhere to eat around here? They had those muffin things on day one and they had to come
from somewhere. I’ve been living off Black Goo and the cupboard snacks and both of them are
starting to get pretty low.
JONAS: Oh I bet that’s in the packet.
BETHANY: The packet?
JONAS: Yeah.
BETHANY: Jonas, what packet?
JONAS: The orientation packet that they gave me two of.
BETHANY: I didn’t get an orientation packet, Jonas.
JONAS: Oh weird.
BETHANY: Go get me my packet, “Senior Neophyte”.
JONAS: That’s gonna be a tough one. I threw them both away after they got covered in lotion
due to…circumstances.
BETHANY: …Okay, so where have you been getting your food?
JONAS: (Typing.) Oh I’m not hungry.
BETHANY: Have you... been eating?
JONAS: Maybe.
BETHANY: Jonas, let me see your stomach.
JONAS: Bethany that is a completely inappropriate thing to ask your Senior. Also no.
BETHANY: Jonas you have to eat.
JONAS: Bethany, you’re not gonna lecture me about health -
BETHANY: This isn’t about me.
JONAS: Your diet is cupboard snacks, black goo, and repressing emotions.
BETHANY: I had moon cheese at the workshop!
JONAS: Well aren’t you just the medical miracle…
BETHANY: Eat something.
JONAS: I’m not hungry.
BETHANY: Okay. (Deep breath.) I am going to go find something substantial to eat, and I am
going to bring you something substantial to eat, and I am going to make sure you eat it and -
JONAS: Hold that thought, hold that thought - I think I got a story idea: “What if angels were the
bad guys?” Is that anything?
BETHANY: No. Goodbye, Jonas.
Episode music.
Elevator style hallway music.
BETHANY: (Muttering) Stupid Ennervation Colonies can’t even put in a cafeteria where anybody
can find it, just gotta make do with this vending machine that sells more cupboard snacks and
headphones and whatever an “Auto-alcoholic Injectable” is -
DESIREE: Talking to yourself about the vending machine, I see.
BETHANY: (Slight gasp - as DESIREE begins their line.) Oh, what? I mean- yeah, that’s... that’s
about what I was doing. Sorry.
DESIREE: No, no, it’s okay to talk to yourself. Kind of cute, actually, you’re Bethany right?
BETHANY: Yup, that’s me, Bethany. Good old Bethany. (Tiny pause.)Wait, what did you say in
the middle there?
DESIREE: I said it’s okay to talk to yourself, silly. I’m Desiree, by the way, Team Exceptionalism
Senior Neophyte.
BETHANY: Right, right, I knew that. Uh, I’m still just Bethany. Team Extraneous But Interesting.
Lowly peon, I think is my title probably…
DESIREE: (With a bit of a laugh.) You’re funny.
BETHANY: (Sarcasm.) Oh yeah, that’s me for sure. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where I
can get some food, would you? Like, actual food, not just little snack things?
DESIREE: Oh my goodness, this is so sudden, we just met after all -
BETHANY: Oh, no, sorry I didn’t mean, I mean it’s for me and my Senior whatchamacallit -
DESIREE: No, no, I like that. If I didn’t just eat I would totally be down. But if I leave Nancy
alone for too long they’ll start writing down some of their more... flowery ideas and that is a
garden which needs a bit of a prune, if you get my drift. (Small pause.) You know, sometimes I
wish my neophyte could be a little more like you, Bethany. I can’t remember the last time they
went on a dinner run for me. Lucky Jonas.
BETHANY: Uh, thanks, I think.
DESIREE: There’s actually a nice little coffee shop down that way a bit, just take the hall that
kinda curves to the left, there's a really sad looking person working the register. You can’t miss
it. Maybe I’ll see you there sometime.
BETHANY: Uh, yeah, sure, thanks.
DESIREE: Bye, Bethany.
BETHANY: Um, see you around, Desiree.
DESIREE: Oh, you will.
Footsteps going in opposite directions.
BETHANY (Under their breath.) Did I just make a friend?
Episode theme.
JONAS: Okay, here’s one, “A ghost is in a house, and the story is about that, but it’s told entirely
through snippets or sound and video that the characters capture so it’s told directly from
their perspective.”
TOMAS: (Clearly taking notes.) Jonas, I am loving this.
JONAS: Wait, wait, I’ve got another one. “Roommates are funny together.”
TOMAS: It’s so simple but it’ll be great for sure.
JONAS: And, and, “There’s a person in a mask and they kill everyone except for one person
who is super innocent.”
TOMAS Jonas, I am so glad I came to visit you today.
JONAS Yeah, me too, it’s great finally having other friends that are doing the same thing you’re
doing. At my other job it was just Bethany and me, and a bunch of other people who I’m trying to
forget because they’re…well…it was fun but, hey, ya know, I’m a people person.
TOMAS Yeah, yeah, sure. (A beat.) Anyways, I should get going before Jesse gets too lonely.
JONAS What did you need, by the way?
TOMAS Hmm?
JONAS Yeah, you said something about needing to talk to me about something?
TOMAS Oh, yeah…
JONAS And then we got caught up in all of thisTOMAS Honestly, don’t even worry about it, this was actually super helpful.
JONAS Oh, good.
TOMAS And like, I’m really sorry to cut out on you so soon but Jesse gets lonely so...
JONAS Oh, yeah, no, I get that. Bethany gets lonely too, but they’ll never say it aloud. Actually,
me telling you that is probably a huge violation of their trust. They haven’t even told me that, it’s
just obvious in the everything about them.
TOMAS Uh-huh.
JONAS And you’re probably wondering where Bethany is now.
TOMAS I’m really not -
JONAS They said something about food and something about cupboard snacks and something
about neither of us really eating since we got here which, now that I’m thinking about it,
is probably a trauma response of some kind given the kind of stuff that we went through
over the last however-long it’s been. Or, maybe, now that I’m thinking about this, maybe
I just have something that is actually grabbing my attention because on all my previous
jobs its been kind of, “do this right now,” and, “Jonas that’s stupid and dangerous,” and
here it’s kind of like... while it’s not exactly what I pictured which was me getting to do
nothing all the time until I felt like doing something instead, uh, it’s a little, “You have to be
here or else,” but the here isn’t, like, a soulless office where you’re not allowed to have a
chair for a year and the muffins they give you are weird. Does that make sense?
TOMAS (Lying.) Uh-huh.
JONAS So yeah Bethany is getting food but it’s taking a while because, uh, well, because I
threw away the orientation packet…because…honestly the amount of stuff I needed to know
was a bit overwhelming.
TOMAS So... you sent your subordinate to go get you food?
JONAS Yeah, well, no, but sort of. You know what, maybe.
TOMAS And you... didn’t tell them where the food was?
JONAS Uh... no. But only because I don’t know.
TOMAS That’s...
JONAS Yeah now that I’m saying it aloud it sounds like I might’ve screwed up a bit…
TOMAS No, no, it’s hilarious.
JONAS ...Really?
TOMAS Oh, yeah, I can just imagine Jesse stumbling around in the hallways, looking all
confused, I’m going to go try that right now. Dude, you’re like, hilarious. A+ hazing, seriously.
JONAS Um, okay. I’ve never gotten an A+ before, so, I guess, A+ to you for your grading skills.
TOMAS Jonas, you are an amazing person. Has anybody ever told you that? Am I the first
person to tell you that?
JONAS Uh, thanks, Tomas.
TOMAS Anytime, dude, anytime. Seriously, A+ dude.
Episode music.
BETHANY Hey Jonas.
JONAS Hey, Bethany, how’d the food search go? Only asking because something in the back of
my mind is screaming at me that I’m a terrible seniority figure to you by making you go out and
procure food for us despite the fact that ostensibly it’s worked out really well for me.
BETHANY Uh, Jonas...I left to find food on my own.
JONAS Okay.
BETHANY Also, I’ve been taking care of you since the literal first day I met you, so maybe don’t
get so worried about it. And yeah, I wish I had a map, but I didn’t and that meant that I actually
made a friend.
JONAS (Instant mood shift.) Wait, Bethany made a friend!?
BETHANY Yeah, I think so at least. We were going to meet up at a coffee shop later, maybe -
JONAS: THEY HAVE COFFEE HERE!?
BETHANY Don’t get your hopes up, it’s just a coffee shop in appearance. All black goo.
Although they did serve everything in those temperature control mugs, which I appreciated.
JONAS Oh, okay yeah that makes sense. Who’s your friend?
BETHANY It’s Desiree, actually.
JONAS Do I know Desiree?
BETHANY Yeah from Team Exceptionalism. (A beat.) The Senior Neophyte.
JONAS Oh, Desiree, I know Desiree.
BETHANY Of course you do Jonas.
JONAS And I made friends with Tomas, who is the Senior Neophyte on the other team.
BETHANY Alpha Alliance?
JONAS Yeah, that one.
BETHANY (Testy) Well that’s great. We’re all out here making friends.
JONAS You know, it kinda makes me miss Patricia, if I’m being honest.
Tiny beat.
BETHANY I brought food, let’s eat.
JONAS We haven’t really talked aboutBETHANY I got you this weird pastry filled with vegetable gunk and some protein pills.
JONAS Aw, Bethany, I love gunk.
BETHANY I know you do.
JONAS I’ll eat it after I come up with a couple more ideas.
BETHANY No, hey, eat it now.
JONAS But Bethany…
BETHANY Eat it. It took me almost two hours to find it. Now eat it.
JONAS But what are you going to eat?
BETHANY Oh, I got myself a nutrition slurry and drank it on the way back, It’s fine.
JONAS But why should I eat if you’re not eating?
BETHANY Look, I’ll have a cupboard snack if you have your pastry-gunk-thing.
JONAS …Fine… It’ll work this time, but next time you have to have food with me.
BETHANY We’ll see if you remember that.
JONAS Deal.
Episode theme.
A door slides open.
SUB-DIRECTOR Oh, Jonas, you’re…very early.
JONAS Sure am, 45 whole minutes.
SUB-DIRECTOR Uh-huh.
JONAS Bethany is early too.
BETHANY Hi, Sub-Director. Jonas said I was supposed to give you this Black Goo and I tried
my best to talk them out of it...
SUB-DIRECTOR I brought my own, but I appreciate the gesture.
BETHANY Okay. (To Jonas.) Jonas I told you this was stupid what am I supposed to do with two
Black Goos?
JONAS (To Bethany.) I don’t know, drink ‘em.
SUB-DIRECTOR I usually use this time before anyone arrives to meditate and balance my -
JONAS That’s fine. We won’t bug ya.
SUB-DIRECTOR I prefer to meditate in silence.
JONAS Can do, Sub-Director. (To Bethany.) Just give me another, we can make this work, I can
drink two black goos at once… Bethany, produce the straws.
BETHANY(To Jonas.) I didn’t bring your straws.
JONAS (To Bethany.) I thought I told you to bring my straws.
BETHANY (To Jonas.) Why would I bring your straws?
JONAS (To Bethany.) I’ve literally never brought my own straws to anything -
A door slides open.
TOMAS First here, just like we promised Jamison.
SUB-DIRECTOR I prefer Sub-Director, and you’re not.
TOMAS (Immediately put out.) Sure thing, Sub-Director Jamison.
JONAS Hi, Tomas.
TOMAS ...Jonas how long have you been here?
JONAS I have no idea. Bethany, how long have we been here?
BETHANY Too long.
JONAS We’ve been here too long, Tomas. Hey, you want a black goo? It almost came with a
straw.
TOMAS Uh, I’m good.
JESSE I’ll take it.
BETHANY You don’t want it, Jonas accidentally sneezed in it out in the hall and made me
promise not to tell.
JESSE You didn’t clean out the sneeze juice?
BETHANY Why would I ever do that?
JESSE Because you’re companions, you know, best friends 4eva 4 life.
BETHANY Okay, look, maybe I’m old, but that actually hurts me to hear. Also, does Tomas
make you clean their sneeze juice?
TOMAS Jesse volunteers to clean my sneeze juice. It’s an honor for a neophyte to help a
senior..
JONAS You know, I was just telling Bethany I’ve never cleaned anything in my life.
TOMAS How long have you been alive?
JONAS All my life. Why?
TOMAS Jesse, do not drink that Black Goo.
JESSE (Slurping.) Hmm?
A door slides open.
DESIREE First again, Sub-Director- Oh, crud, oh well, hi Bethany. Nancy say hi to Bethany.
NANCY Hi Bethany.
BETHANY Hi Desiree, hi Nancy.
DESIREE How was the coffee shop? Just as good as I promised?
BETHANY You know, I just wish there was coffee there.
DESIREE Don’t we all.
JONAS (Like a 6tth grader whispering.) Oh my goodness, Bethany, is this your new friend?
BETHANY Shut up, Jonas.
JONAS Hi Desiree, I’m Bethany’s other friend.
DESIREE (Flirting.) Oh, wow, Bethany, two friends, you little plaything. And here I almost
thought I had you all to myself.
BETHANY(Almost completely oblivious.) Ha, yeah. (To Jonas.) You’ve met Desiree before,
Jonas.
JONAS Desiree I will tell you literally anything you need to know about Bethany even the stuff
they don’t want me to say…
DESIREE You know, Jonas, I’ll take you up on that, please send that memo to Nancy and they
will make sure it gets to me.
JONAS Okay, and… which one of you is Nancy. Are you Nancy?
JESSE I’m Jesse.
JONAS Oh, weird, I thought you’d be lonelier based on the whole Tomas thing…
JESSE What?
TOMAS I just… I know you get lonely when I’m not around.
JESSE Dude…you like…totally know the interior of my psyche dude…
NANCY I’m Nancy, actually. Bethany, are they okay? We’ve met…a lot.
BETHANY It’s just Jonas.
JONAS Nancy, I will get my assistant to send you a note with everything I know about my
assistant.
BETHANY I will not do that. I know it’s insubordination, but I’m not doing that.
SUB-DIRECTOR (Interrupting.) Thank you all for the riveting meditation session and thank you
all for being just about forty minutes early to our story seeds workshop assignment meeting.
Team Alpha Alliance, I believe you volunteered to go first almost a week ago.
TOMAS Sure did coach
SUB-DIRECTOR Sub-Director. We’re a family here.
TOMAS Absolutely, Coach Sub-Director, sure did.
JESSE And we definitely thought we would be here first to read them to just you -
TOMAS You know, so we could establish the originality of our ideas -
JESSE So if the other teams would just leave the room for a minute...
SUB-DIRECTOR Team Alpha Alliance we here at the Mental Ennervation Colonies and in the
Story Creation and Development Program have a strict honor code of not stealing each others
ideas no matter how rewarding that would be, despite the fact that there is no formal
punishment system for doing so and almost no way to definitively prove that you’ve done it. So,
I suppose what I’m saying is, please proceed.
JESSE Uh, okay… (Looking for a que from Tomas.) Should I just start or...
TOMAS So, I want to say first that we’re both very proud to be a part of this program and we
spent a lot of time working on these story seeds. And that inspiration is a fickle thing. No
one knows where it comes from, no one knows where it’s going, no one knows where it came
from, no one knows where it’s Cotton Eye Joe-ingSUB-DIRECTOR We have a department working on the basis of inspiration, but their next
workshop isn’t for a couple months. For now, most of the people in this room do not know where
it comes from. Please, carry on.
TOMAS Carry on, Jesse.
JESSE Okay so first, and this is the weakest one we have, it’s, “There’s a person in a mask and
they kill everyone except for one person who is super innocent.”
JONAS Hey now…
JESSE And then, “A ghost is in a house, and the story is about that, but it’s told entirely
through snippets or sound and video that the characters capture so it’s told directly from
their perspective.”
SUB-DIRECTOR Kind of a dark sort of a horror theme going on right now.
JESSE Oh, yeah, ha, I guess so, I didn’t notice that.
TOMAS Inspiration is a fickle thing, Sub-Director.
JONAS Is it though?
TOMAS I mean, the Sub-Director said it is.
SUB-DIRECTOR For now, inspiration is a fickle thing and you do not know where it comes from.
I’ve been allowed access to some preliminary research on the subject, but that’s neither here
nor there.
TOMAS Yeah, see, Jonas doesn’t know where these came from. They just wanted to make sure
we all knew that.
JESSE And finally, and this is the big one, “roommates are funny together.”
SUB-DIRECTOR And those are your final three?
TOMAS Those are our final three.
SUB-DIRECTOR Generic, but acceptable.
TOMAS Generic? I don’t know the meaning of the word.
BETHANY: I believe you.
SUB-DIRECTOR Since they’ve been so talkative, I believe we have Jonas and Bethany up next.
Would you like to share your final ideas with us, Team Extraneous but Interesting?
BETHANY: Yeah, can we have a quick second to discuss the order?
SUB-DIRECTOR: I suppose, since you were early.
BETHANY: (Quietly) Jonas, those were our ideas, right?
JONAS: (Also quiet.) Yeah, the early crappy ones.
TOMAS: Hey!
JONAS: You can’t hear us, this is an aside, shut up. (Quietly) You remember my process, right?
SUB-DIRECTOR Even in an aside, we cannot refer to it as process anymore due to the
disacknowledgement of my former colleague and “friend” -
JONAS (Quietly) You remember my method right? (Loudly) Is method okay?
SUB-DIRECTOR Method is fine.
JONAS (Quietly) you remember my method, right?
BETHANY Why are we still whispering?
JONAS (Quietly) It’s an aside just trust me and follow the trope. I think Tomas might’ve stolen
some of our ideas…further investigation is needed. (Loudly) Bethany, if you don’t mind, I’m
going to take this one. Speaking of, Item One: An interactive, immersive dungeon-crawl
experience where the audience, a group of four individuals, are split up and forced to find each
other and escape before the asteroid they’re trapped in careens into a dying star. The caves of
the tunnels are decorated with art from an ancient civilization that developed teleportation
technology, and interpreting their art and messages will be the key to escaping.
TOMAS And if they don’t, what, they die?
BETHANY Welcome to the wonderful world of fiction, Tomas.
JESSE Hey, don’t you talk to Tomas like that.
BETHANY I believe this is our presentation time.
JONAS Item Two: a deck of cards, each one has a sentence or a paragraph, or a fragment of a
story on it. Two players draw five cards each and take turns playing them and drawing more
cards until a story is complete. It always ends with one of two cards. One says, “And they never
once saw each other again,” and the other, “And they lived together until only one was left.” It’s
a sort of a love story with new twists and turns every time, but always destined to end in tragedy,
as every good love story does.
TOMAS And do you have those cards written?
JONAS No, it’s just a concept, just a seed. Wait, that’s all we needed, right? Story seeds?
SUB-DIRECTOR And your last seed, Jonas?
JONAS Oh, that’s Bethany’s. Take it away, Bethany.
BETHANY (Not okay.) Okay, here we go. Number three. Big rule of three fans here.
So, it's about someone who deserves to die and does. But they’re the main character, and
they keep doing worse and worse things and hurting everyone around them until finally,
they die because of all the awful things they’ve done. So, it’s just, like, a revenge fantasy or
whatever. Everything works out for everyone else but not for them, even though they’re the main
character, so it’s kind of a flip on that whole thing.
Small pause.
SUB-DIRECTOR Very interesting, Bethany.
BETHANY: In a good way?
SUB-DIRECTOR Team Exceptionalism, it’s your turn.
DESIREE (Fading out.) Of course, Sub-Director. We here at Team Exceptionalism have been
hard at work coming up with three strong story seeds that will make you, this program, and our
Alma Mater proud. Nancy, our team’s neophyte, will present our first story seed shortly, but
before we begin please allow me to add some additional historical and cultural context that will
help illuminate our three story seeds, which are all connected thematically and narratively as a
quasi-triptych…
Episode theme.
In a dark office, somewhere distant.
OVER-DIRECTOR (Fed up.) You’ve given me your opinions and your feelings, but what is your
report?
SUB-DIRECTOR I have a story seed I’d like to bring forward for further development.
OVER-DIRCTOR Just one? Other pods have brought forward nearly a dozen by now -
SUB-DIRECTOR One for now. This one will require... special attention. It comes from Team
Extraneous But Interesting. The ones who survived an incorporation.
OVER-DIRECTOR: Tell me.
SUB-DIRECTOR: A card game, Over-Director. A story in a game, a love story, destined to end
in tragedy but worth playing all the same. Written by… neophytes, but powerful nonetheless.
Long pause.
OVER-DIRCTOR It will be considered.
Fade out.
Credits.