0:05

- These are the Pine Springs Chronicles. Don't worry. We're here and we're listening.

0:24

- Summer is just about to come to a close.

0:28

The town of Pine Springs has just started

0:30

to wind down on many of their summer activities,

0:34

camps at the community center, tourists on family vacations

0:38

to the local hot springs, and a few unfortunate students

0:42

that have found themselves in summer school.

0:45

Soon as fall gets underway, the next big exciting event will be the Hot Air Balloon

0:51

Festival in a month's time. But you all are far removed from the sort of excitement

0:55

that summer used to bring. Now it looks a lot like the rest of your days.

1:00

Professional lives, jobs

1:02

and responsibilities have taken the place

1:04

of summers spent riding your bikes along the local streets,

1:08

meeting up with one another to discuss the future

1:10

and dreams of fame and toting your far too large camera around

1:14

to shoot the next best idea your group ever

1:18

had a long time ago.

1:20

Summer was an exciting time and it was the chance of something new.

1:25

Now it is just another tick on the calendar, however, this year has brought something rather new

1:31

or maybe something old. Most all of you over the last week have received

1:36

the same invitation. You're invited 20 years.

1:41

We are holding the class of 2003 reunion at Pine Springs Community

1:45

Center on August 5th. Whether or not the, it's the invite

1:49

that has brought you back to town or just the course of life

1:51

and circumstances that has led you back or kept you.

1:55

Here you once again find yourself in a town

1:57

that looks incredibly similar to the one you were all exploring 20 years ago.

2:02

Nico arriving in the mail today in the middle

2:06

of a few envelopes with various red stamps across them

2:08

that you've seen far too many of recently.

2:12

You have also received an envelope that seems to be

2:14

for something a little less financially unfortunate.

2:18

You have that moment of looking around for something

2:20

to open it with before. There is the realization

2:23

that the sharpest thing you have within reach is around your neck.

2:27

- I will carefully open, opens that envelope with my

2:32

necklace, specifically the shard of what looks

2:36

to be a sword attached to the end of it.

2:40

- Yes. Can you do me a favor as you do that?

2:44

Um, and I'm going to need you to roll your beginning

2:47

of mystery check for your premonition, please.

2:51

- That is a five. - Alright. You cut this envelope open

2:56

and as you pull open the invitation, there is a moment

2:59

of incredible deja vu or maybe nostalgia,

3:04

but you pull the photo invite out and there is a moment where it feels like your vision has

3:08

started to blur at the edges, almost like you have stood up too quickly

3:12

and you're trying to regain your equilibrium. Across the face of this invitation is a montage

3:18

of various photos that you can recognize from your yearbook.

3:21

The one in front is what catches your attention.

3:25

A group of five students waving at the camera.

3:28

A surprising part of this fact is that you are one

3:31

of the five students, a photo from your days in the AV club.

3:35

The fact that it was the photo chosen to be front

3:38

and center is perhaps the most surprising part.

3:42

But once more, your vision blurs, shuttering in front of you

3:45

and the card you hold looks different. Scratch marks have crossed out the faces of you

3:50

and your friends or no, as you look, you realize

3:53

that not all of them are crossed out. While the faces of four of them have been scraped away,

3:58

one has been circled again and again in the corner.

4:02

As you watch it appears as though it changes in your hand.

4:06

Words appear once more scratched into the card that say,

4:10

I'll be there after a moment.

4:13

You blink and the invite in your hand is un tarnished.

4:16

The bills have fluttered to the ground, dropping them at some point in this process.

4:22

Only recently have you started to get used to this,

4:24

seeing things that are not there or have not happened right now.

4:28

There are two things that you know for sure. First, what you saw means

4:33

something that you should not ignore. Someone you've been going to

4:36

for help recently has convinced you of that fact.

4:39

And secondly, the face that was circled was Harvey Valdez's.

4:45

Would you like to do Nico? - Um, what time of day is it? - 3:00 PM Okay.

4:52

- Would this be on a, like a Saturday?

4:55

- It's Friday. - Yeah. I'm going to stuff the, the card

5:00

that I just got in my pocket and grab my keys

5:04

and head to the grocery store.

5:07

'cause that's what I was planning to do to begin with. - All right. Is your plan to just go to the grocery store

5:12

and chop and come home? - Yeah. That is the plan. Uh, keep my head down.

5:16

- Perfect. You head out your door to the grocery store.

5:21

Well, as, uh, Nico gets in his car

5:24

and heads towards the grocery store, he drives past a familiar shop.

5:29

And we will turn and zoom in.

5:33

And like with most days, this shop is mostly empty except

5:37

for the clerk behind the counter. John, can you tell me what this shop

5:41

looks like from the inside? - Uh, you come in, uh,

5:47

the windows are kind of soaked over let's through light,

5:51

but you can't see through 'em, if you know what I mean.

5:54

So the hazy light that comes through, you can see

5:58

fine dust particles drift through there.

6:01

It's not a super clean shop, you know, it's,

6:03

it's wood floors. - Not pristine. - No.

6:07

Um, like if I was to say used bookshop,

6:12

that's what it would smell like inside this place.

6:15

Mixed with some gun oil, um,

6:19

- Some steel and - Yeah. Uh, there's, uh, racks of army fatigues

6:24

and various, um, military issue items

6:30

stocked throughout the store. Uh, there's nobody in there.

6:33

Um, and there's a very strange, uh,

6:38

music on the overhead playing about girls

6:42

hanging out with squirrels. And the squirrels are smoking crack and just very strange.

6:49

And you, you, you see, uh,

6:52

Harvey bent over the counter listening with very

6:57

intense eyes as he's writing notes down

7:01

on a notepad as he's listening to the words, uh, uh,

7:06

and, and what he's writing down are not the words to the song

7:10

- Does. This song comes to an end

7:13

right about the time a commercial starts to play a bell

7:17

above the door jingles. You see a tall man, he's probably about six three

7:22

with cropped blonde hair walk in.

7:25

He is one of your few frequent customers

7:27

to the surplus store, Lieutenant Darcy Hughes.

7:31

He is not in uniform today, and his badge has been exchanged for a flannel

7:35

and a Carhartt vest instead. Of course, your first experience with Darcy wasn't

7:39

as a member of the local police department, nor as a customer sometime ago.

7:43

He was also a staple of your house most weekend nights having been Carlotta's

7:48

sweetheart back in high school. - I look up at him and I look up at the speaker.

7:52

I said, see, see this? This is why you pay for premium services.

7:57

There wouldn't have been a disruption

8:00

through the commercials. - It's nice to see you two. Harvey. How are you today?

8:08

- Um, I think I'm gonna be okay.

8:12

- I am happy to hear that, I think. Yeah. Great.

8:16

Well, I'm gonna need a couple, uh, shotgun rounds

8:18

and something for the rifle. - Okay. Okay. Um, what gauge is shotgun you going with?

8:24

A, uh, 12 or 20? 12?

8:29

Okay. Uh, bird shot, buck shot.

8:33

- Kinda with buck. - Buck. Oh, all right.

8:37

Um, and then, okay, here we go.

8:40

I, I'm, I'm afraid I'm gonna have

8:43

to take a quick peek at the id, the old ID there.

8:46

- You serious, Harvey? - It's, it's for the cameras.

8:50

There's always cameras. You've known me long enough that,

8:53

that, that there's the cameras,

8:56

- Right? He, he turns and nods at the camera

8:59

that he's pretty sure is not being recorded anywhere.

9:03

Pulls out his id, - Then I, I I proceed to ring him up.

9:08

- You get a, any more customers in recently?

9:10

More than normal? Um, - No.

9:13

It actually has been a little bit slower than, than the usuals, uh, uh, with the, uh,

9:18

with the tole sends outta town. Yes. You know.

9:22

- Well, I, you know, have been hearing some rather unsettling accounts from the

9:27

Northwood and figured more people might be coming into

9:30

make sure they were loaded up. - What, what, uh, what are you hearing

9:36

- Sounds like now? I think it's probably just a bear.

9:39

Like normal people are complaining

9:41

that game has been chased away and cattle are going missing.

9:45

But I would say it is also likely just

9:48

that the wall shams have not repaired their fence like normal.

9:51

But, uh, Lance and I are heading up all the same to make sure nothing's untoward.

9:56

- To be fair, Mr. Walham up there might be <laugh> drinking away the, uh,

10:02

fence repair fund as you do.

10:06

- Well, there's not much else to do up there. Is there? So,

10:10

- Oh, with that hellcat of a woman that he's married to,

10:13

I can't suppose that there is. Well, - Well, I'll keep that opinion to myself when I go up

10:18

and see them, unless you'd like me to share it. Of course.

10:22

- You, you, you can share it with her all you want. I don't, I don't care. She, she would never have anything

10:26

to do with me, even if I would have, um, asked her

10:30

to, so, - Well, the way you phrased that

10:33

seemed quite interesting, Harvey. - I know. It, it felt like I said it right

10:37

in some other universe. Mm. But, uh, in, in, in rephrasing it just didn't come out

10:42

with the same oomph. - Well, it came out with a certain amount of oom, I'll say.

10:46

Uh, perhaps not the kind you wanted it to. - I, I don't doubt it.

10:51

- Well, these, uh, thank you for the rounds, Harvey.

10:54

And I know I can always count on you

10:57

to keep your ear to the ground. I'm sure you're always noticing something that matters

11:03

to someone somewhere. - Well, right now I can, what I can tell you is

11:08

that corporate America doesn't want me to understand what,

11:12

what the spirit of Gibby Hanes wants for me

11:14

that on this day. So, you know, there's, there's that Thank you

11:20

American Express with your capitalistic messages

11:24

that you have to send to me through this

11:27

free software version. 'cause I can't afford premium. That's why you need premium.

11:32

- Right? Kind of taps the box of ammunition on the counter

11:36

as if he has definitely been listening to everything you just said the last two minutes.

11:39

And it's been a pleasure, Harvey.

11:42

And he starts to turn to leave, and as he does, he pauses

11:45

and bends down to grab something off a floor.

11:49

Looks like you dropped this harf could be important.

11:53

And he hands you an envelope addressed

11:55

to you by way of the store. - Um hmm. That, that's, that's strange.

12:01

Uh, just, just, uh, uh, set it, set it on the, uh,

12:04

countertop there, if, if you don't mind, sets

12:08

- It down and flies it across towards you,

12:10

and then gives you a bit of a wink before he nods a goodbye

12:13

and heads towards the door. - Uh, after he leaves the store, I will

12:21

proceed to inspect, but not touch the envelope.

12:26

He, if I didn't see it, if I didn't see it there prior

12:29

to his coming in, I definitely don't trust it.

12:33

- Uh, you see that it is addressed to you by way of the store.

12:36

As much of your mail does come so you don't give your address out to other people.

12:40

- Absolutely. Uh, does, is there a return address?

12:43

- There is. - That's how they get you. - Uh, the return address is to Pine Springs High School.

12:48

And you see a pattern around the outside in black

12:52

and gold, the colors of your school. - This is system, system, this system.

12:56

They're trying to suck me back in. It's like, it's like that dream. But I have my clothes on.

13:03

I, I, I kind of start tapping the envelope

13:06

to make sure it's okay. Like a, like a cat trying to test something if

13:10

that it's curious about - Yep.

13:13

It feels like paper. - Yeah. And then I just snap it up

13:16

and kind of just rip it open with my fingers.

13:19

- You pull out a slightly torn, uh, based on the way

13:22

that you opened it, uh, photo paper, printed invitation,

13:25

providing you with information about the upcoming 20 year

13:28

high school reunion. - Oh, good. I, I get to, I get to celebrate 20 years

13:34

of spending four years with people I

13:36

genuinely didn't care about. That's fantastic.

13:40

- As you look, you do notice in the same way

13:42

that our fellow friend also did that, the AV club is one

13:47

of the featured pictures front and center. How does Harvey feel seeing that perhaps

13:52

for the first time prominently displayed?

13:56

- What else is displayed on there other than that?

13:59

- Um, so there's just a couple other, like photos,

14:02

clearly yearbook photos, like a math team

14:06

that had won an award, something from a school spirit day.

14:12

- See, see, see, see, this is, this is the messaging

14:15

that they're trying to send to everybody is that if you're more athletic

14:19

or the more popular you are, the more useful you are then the people

14:23

who convey the information that you receive every day.

14:25

But they don't know. You don't know that the people

14:29

who control the information are the

14:31

people who have the true power. - Would Harvey like to do looking at this invitation

14:38

for the rest of his day? <laugh>

14:41

- <laugh>. Like, so there's, there's like no markings on it.

14:45

Like the one that, yeah, I mean,

14:48

I don't really have a prompt to do anything out of the normal.

14:52

Then, uh, you said people have been

14:55

disappearing in the north. - Um, not people. Darcy mentioned

14:59

that game has been chased away. Uh, okay. Where normally they would have a pretty

15:03

good probably hunting season. And they did, he did mention Uhhuh

15:06

that some cattle has gone missing, but he attributed that to the Wal Shams farm

15:11

fences being in disrepair. - Okay. Um, this area, how

15:19

on the, on the freak radar. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and I to anybody who's, who's, who's

15:25

to the listeners who are offended by that, that phrase not sorry.

15:30

- You're, you're paying to be here, so - I'm gonna I'm gonna use that a lot.

15:33

Uh, but on, on my free radar, uh,

15:38

do I know if the area is a hot spot for

15:44

Cryptids at this time of year, - We'll make you make our first roll of the game.

15:51

- Nope. Nope. That's, that roll's already happened and it got failed.

15:55

- Well, that's true. That doesn't count. Well, you'll make our second roll of the game, <laugh>.

16:01

Um, we'll call this investigate a mystery.

16:06

- Uh, that's a nine total for investigate the mystery.

16:10

- Okay? So a mixed success.

16:14

Uh, you are always one to see patterns.

16:17

One thing you have learned is that cryptids are not ones

16:20

to follow patterns. So while this time of year necessarily isn't,

16:27

as if there would be more activity, you are not surprised by it.

16:32

- Okay? Um, do I know anybody

16:37

in town that lives in that general area?

16:40

- Um, you are familiar with the Walsham family.

16:44

Um, currently no one in this game lives in the North woods,

16:48

uh, except you, uh, where your trailer is.

16:52

So you do know other people that are familiar

16:56

with supernatural, encrypted things, but

16:59

otherwise, no. There are not a, there are not a significant amount of

17:04

- Didn't Weston used to be, uh, Victor's

17:08

dad's hunting buddy. Uh, - Weirdly enough, uh, Nico was

17:12

Weston's father's hunting buddy. So, yes.

17:15

- Then I am going to go look for Nico

17:20

and put a will be back later sign on the, not

17:24

that anybody really cares. - <laugh>. All right.

17:27

You flip the sign and you head over towards where you know Nico lives.

17:31

'cause he's lived there for several years now. And as you drive, you pass a different familiar store

17:37

and we pan away from your car

17:39

and into this one, another small shop

17:43

of Pine Springs downtown area.

17:46

The calm environment of this afternoon is rather quickly disrupted

17:51

by the unmistakable sound of a cart full

17:54

of books being knocked over, the contents spilling across the floor.

18:00

Temperance, who is in her mid twenties

18:02

with dirty blonde hair, in till very recently,

18:06

that hair has been stocked straight and shoulder length.

18:08

But as of last week, she decided the best course

18:11

of action was to chop it into a very short

18:13

and relatively uneven pixie cut. She like her older sister, have worked here

18:17

for just over a year. And as you approach, you find her crouched

18:21

over a mess of books. She currently holds a few in her hands

18:25

and looks up as you approach. Would you believe me if I said

18:30

that they jumped off the shelf themselves?

18:32

'cause they definitely did. - Mm-Hmm. To look down the glasses

18:38

I wish I was wearing. Right now. - You hear a very similar sound.

18:42

Behind you is Briany her older sister,

18:45

who is a little shorter than temperance and a slightly thinner face,

18:49

and a near constant expression of a woman

18:51

that looks like she's concerned about far too many things in

18:54

her immediate environment that she cannot control.

18:58

She appears right behind you and announces her presence with a very loud,

19:03

- I see this is the third time this week this has happened.

19:09

Is this a new habit you're developing? Is it the, the hair?

19:13

- Are we tracking books falling over?

19:17

'cause they definitely have a mind of their own.

19:20

- I know where every single one of these go.

19:22

So yes, I am tracking the books falling over.

19:26

- I was going to put them away from the shelf

19:29

and the shelf moved. If its own accord, I cannot be held responsible for the way

19:34

that books want to move. - You're trying to tell me the books have personalities

19:40

that are keeping you from putting them on this shelf.

19:43

- Do you think they don't? They definitely do.

19:46

Some of them don't wanna be on shelves. You cannot convince me

19:50

that those two books wanna be next to each other - Ever.

19:54

I put them in the order, I put them for a specific reasons.

19:59

I've had this shop far longer than you have been out of diapers.

20:04

- That was hurtful and rude.

20:07

Unnecessary, uh, great. Love that for me.

20:11

Okay, I'm gonna take these books

20:15

and go put them over there. Good. Thank

20:20

- You. Briani. What are we gonna do with your sister?

20:24

- If I could answer that question? She'd be dead already. Probably.

20:30

- Um, - I don't know. I don't know. I wish I knew.

20:33

I wish I could tell you. I don't have answers for that.

20:36

- Do - You want me to clean this up? Because I can clean this up.

20:40

- You know where they go, right? Yes. - Yes I do. I have the spreadsheet

20:44

open on the computer still. - If I did not have you, what I would do,

20:51

- Probably also commit murder. Not that I'm saying you would commit murder.

20:54

I'm not trying to imply that you are. Nevermind.

20:58

Do you know what I mean? <laugh>. Anyway. Yes.

21:02

You watches Temperance moves with some of the books

21:05

that are maybe going where they need to be. Uh, Brandy is about to walk away before she turns back

21:11

and Oh, sorry. I almost forgot. Um,

21:14

and she holds up a book that was in her hand that it almost seems like she forgot she was holding.

21:18

It goes, um, someone dropped this off.

21:21

They said you needed it. She hands it out towards you.

21:25

- I'll take the book. I need a book.

21:28

Well, I guess I can't have too many of those. - Yep. And the cover

21:33

of this book is a very deep navy blue

21:37

that is so dark. It almost seems as though light is not reflecting around it,

21:43

where you have this sort of feeling that if you were

21:45

to set it down, you're not entirely sure

21:48

that you would notice it if you were just looking around. Um, and at first it doesn't look like anything is written on

21:53

the cover, but you kind of move it in your hand for a second.

21:56

You can see that there is text and craved on the front

21:58

and black, barely visible, that says Reflections

22:02

of phantoms, spirits and ghosts. Volume five by Mera Axl.

22:09

- Hmm. Do I have any of the other volumes of this?

22:12

- You do. You have volumes one through four

22:15

and six ha.

22:19

- That is the exact volume I was missing. Who gave this to you? Briani.

22:23

- Oh, it was, um, - They

22:27

- Were, they were, you were just here.

22:31

But I swear I cannot, for the life of me think of who it was

22:38

or what they look like. - You didn't write it in the ledger.

22:42

- It was right before everything fell over.

22:45

I normally would. You know that I would. It's, I of course don't know why I can't think

22:49

of who it was. - No, no matter. No matter. That's fine.

22:53

I know exactly where to put this. - Good. So you did need it. I go

22:56

- Find the other ones. <laugh>, I guess.

22:59

- Great. Uh, do you need me to take care of

23:03

- Yes. Yes. Put those away. - Wonderful. - Watch the shop. Yes.

23:08

- Good. Any? Okay. You're leaving. - I'm going to wherever the rest

23:12

of my volumes are so I can put it away. Yes.

23:15

- Okay. I'll be out here <laugh>. - Thank - You. Uh, and you head towards the back

23:19

of your shop where you have to unlock your nice case

23:23

that you don't necessarily, other people cannot get in here,

23:25

nor can they see what's in here without your permission.

23:28

Where you have a full shelf of very particular volumes of

23:34

- Forbidden section. - Indeed. Books and items. Not just

23:38

- Books. - And there is indeed a spot on your shelf that is

23:42

lacking a book. There are a few spots that are lacking volumes

23:46

that you have not yet collected. But - I take a little cloth and dust around them, the volumes

23:52

that are in there, and then slide this one into that spot.

23:55

Ah, perfect. Now it could stay there where it belongs and I close it.

24:02

- I imagine each of these shells has their own little key Yes.

24:05

Co locked case that you have to put back in place.

24:10

Is there anything else you would like to do while your shop is put back in order

24:15

by Brian E And definitely not Difference.

24:18

- Definitely not. Uh, um, no.

24:23

I guess I will, uh, head back out to what I was doing

24:26

before, which was reading a book. I'm sure <laugh>

24:30

- Sounds right. <laugh> - Great.

24:32

- You do that. I'm sorry we didn't say your name

24:36

and we said everyone else's name. Your name's Chelsea. Welcome. <laugh>.

24:42

- Hey, - Now, no longer in Pine Springs,

24:48

but quite some distance away in the relatively small town,

24:53

but not quite so small as Pine Springs town of Durango.

24:56

The entrance to the Durango La Plata County Airport is definitely not a lavish entrance

25:05

compared to some airports that you've been in.

25:07

It is definitely a meager sort of environment

25:11

with approximately three gates

25:13

and an X-ray machine that had to be to turned on when you walked in the door.

25:18

The security guard that is waiting there

25:20

for literally anyone to come take a flight,

25:24

apologizes profusely and says the machine takes a few minutes to warm up,

25:28

but we'll get you through here and no time at all.

25:32

Uh, west in your carry-on is put through the machine

25:37

and then he has to take it back and do it again. 'cause the machine wasn't quite ready yet the first time

25:41

and goes through a second time and he has it to you

25:45

and says, uh, enjoy your flight. Hope you have a good, good time. Good time. Yeah.

25:50

He motions you back towards one of the two seating areas

25:54

of the lovely, very small Durango La Plata County Airport.

25:59

- Okay. Yeah. I'm just gonna open up this, my,

26:01

my bag real quick here. If it's a, if I'm not taking up too much space

26:04

and I've just got some really sensitive equipment in here,

26:07

- Could you, yeah. Uh, we have chairs over there and tables that you can use.

26:12

Perhaps not the X-ray. The conveyor belt will keep moving,

26:15

which could make it very hard for you to open your, - Okay.

26:18

Yeah. Cool. Thank you. - Wonderful. Uh, there you go, sir.

26:23

He, he motions you in much like the other members

26:27

of this party, tucked into the front of your suitcases indeed.

26:29

An invitation to a 20th anniversary reunion

26:34

for your high school, as well as an invitation

26:38

to another event that will be happening the weekend

26:40

after, which is politely inviting you to the wedding of

26:45

Sigmund Eggers and Stella Le Mahu.

26:50

It is not asking you to be an active participant in said wedding,

26:55

but you're invited all the same and you get a plus one if you'd like it.

26:59

- Do I know who Stella is? - Nope. Never met her. Never heard of her ever before.

27:05

Uh, with these thoughts

27:07

and with your need to check on your sensitive equipment, you walk further into this very small airport

27:11

and you see that there are three other people

27:14

currently waiting for a flight. And one of them seems very familiar.

27:20

And as you have been sitting here for two hours early,

27:23

because you were never going to miss a flight, Victor,

27:26

you have been sitting in this small airport for far,

27:30

far too long after you realized it took you approximately

27:33

four minutes to get through security. And you look up to also see the very familiar face

27:39

of Weston Eggers as you are our two characters who are seeing each other.

27:44

Can you describe yourselves? - Yeah. Um, I stand maybe, uh,

27:51

I stand a very long and gangly six foot four, um,

27:57

very long arms and legs and absolute bean pole, a human being, um,

28:03

long curly, uh, almost like style,

28:08

like it looks like a deliberately unkempt head of curly, uh,

28:13

brown and blondish hair, and almost very well-fitted suit

28:18

that is just slightly too small. Uh, my sleeves right up just like two

28:23

or three inches before my wrist. Um, on each of which I have two watches. Um, so four

28:29

- Watches. - Four watches, okay. - Uh,

28:31

- Double the watches. Um, and there are a, um, hefty pair

28:37

of new balances on my feet, um, which perhaps adds another inch or two to my height.

28:43

I am moving, um, kind of looking

28:47

around a little wildy while also have my carry on open.

28:49

And I'm scanning it, um, anxiously, uh,

28:54

as if I'm looking to see if anything's been damaged

28:56

or showing any sign of, of dysfunction.

29:00

- I am, uh, I'm lounging kind of restlessly in one of the

29:06

couple of the chairs I have my feet across, you know,

29:09

kind stretched out a little bit. Um, I'm wearing these, uh, kinda like, uh,

29:14

almost like swim trunk looking things, you know,

29:17

they got some Hawaiian flowers on 'em. I've got a a t-shirt,

29:20

but over that's another, like a button up that's, you know,

29:23

just kind of loose and, um, it's not buttoned up.

29:26

Uh, hanging over that a couple necklaces that I'm wearing

29:30

and my hair hair's, hair's, uh,

29:34

medium length black hair. Um, I've got a, a earbud in, in one of my ears,

29:42

like a, like AirPod. Um, and just kind of sitting there looking around, waiting

29:48

for something to happen. Got a little little pile of, uh, of scripts next to me,

29:54

or like papers and stuff. - As soon as I see there all loud, they go, uh, Victor.

30:00

Victor. No way,

30:03

- Huh? Yeah. Oh, <laugh> the fan. All right.

30:07

Who's, uh, uh, oh, hey. Hey, we west.

30:10

We Westin, Westin Weston.

30:14

Uh, I stood up a little bit. Hey.

30:16

Hey, uh, what are you doing here, man?

30:19

- I'm coming back into town. I - Give him a big hug.

30:22

- Uh, yeah, I'll return it. Yeah, no, I, I've got some business here, uh, I'm coming in

30:27

to take care of, so, - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

30:31

I was, uh, just, uh, you know, doing a little auditioning,

30:34

you know, trying out for another part or two.

30:36

Really? Uh, yeah. Yeah. For,

30:39

- For a movie here in, in Durango

30:43

- Pi. Well, I'm, this is kinda like a, uh, you know,

30:45

like a layover like in between sort of thing, you know, not,

30:49

not here, but like, you know, you know what I mean?

30:51

Just around, uh, but I, I'm, I'm getting some good, you know, traction,

30:55

you know, you know, the last, last, uh, last film, what's,

31:00

uh, went, went, went. I got some decent reviews.

31:04

I'm like above, above average on,

31:06

on IMDB, you know, you know. Nice. I'm getting nice. Nice.

31:09

Get some traction. Yeah. Yeah. What, what - Was it?

31:11

- Uh, oh, uh, the last one? Yeah. Uh, you know, the, the, the Chupa Copper Chef?

31:16

You've heard of that one? Uh, did you see that one?

31:19

Yeah, it was, I mean, no, a few,

31:21

a few theaters showed it. No, - That's okay.

31:24

I mean, I just haven't really been up with my movies. - It didn't like, get national exposure,

31:28

but there's like a couple, you know, like cinema marks that showed it.

31:32

- I'll check it out with them. I, I mean, I'm good to see

31:35

that you stuck with the whole creature thing. - Uh, but like, you can rent it on at the red box. Yeah.

31:42

- I'll, I'll definitely - That, but I mean, you know, yeah, you should tweet.

31:44

You should check it out. It's pretty good. I was like, uh, not like top billing you.

31:51

Sorry, I was kind of talking all over the place. No, this

31:53

- Is cool. I'll, I'll, I'll check it out. I'll, I'll check it out, Victor.

31:56

I'll check it out. Yeah. Yeah. What else is new with you?

31:59

- Uh, just, you know, you know, same old thing.

32:02

Uh, doing a little, little podcasting here, you know,

32:05

you know, here, you know, the actual play, you know,

32:09

that's kind of a thing. You know, some DD stuff.

32:12

I've got this, uh, you know, uh, little show.

32:14

It's a, it's a little show called, uh, slain Things

32:18

as Rangers, you know, I'm, I'm like this, I'm like this elf,

32:23

uh, named Elmore, you know, one of those.

32:26

He's like, kind of a parody of an old kid, show character,

32:30

and like, I'm the self and I'm like, - Elmore's gonna kill you with a bow and arrow

32:35

- Y you know, that sort of thing. You know? People love it.

32:38

I mean, I think, think Zinc, they like it. So, yeah, it's pretty cool. You should look it up.

32:42

It's a, yeah. I'll check Slain games. Slain games with Rangers

32:46

or, I mean, not slain things with Rangers. Yeah, yeah. As Rangers. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

32:51

Slain things. Is Rangers - Cool?

32:55

You see? You? Um, oh, I, I hear, you know, we

32:57

- Got like 10 listeners right now. - Well, it's a, it's a start. It's a good start.

33:00

And, you know, podcast podcasting is the next big thing,

33:03

you know, it's just, it's, it - Really is. Yeah. Yeah.

33:05

- It's kind of just like radio, but it's everywhere now, so.

33:10

Yeah. That's, that's super cool. And you look,

33:13

- You looking, you looking nice, all trimmed out here, man.

33:17

You got a hot date or something. Gonna, gonna visit a girl here, west End. And,

33:23

- You know, funny thing, give him a couple know, funny, actually, you, you're not gonna believe this,

33:26

but Siggy, he's getting married. You remember my brother Ciggy? Yeah.

33:30

No, he's, he's got a wedding coming up. Um,

33:33

- Was he younger or older? I never, like, you guys are like, when I think of you,

33:38

I think of like, looking at both of you

33:41

and I can't, like you are like the same height

33:43

and everything, so like, yeah, - He's old.

33:45

He's, he's a few years older than me. - Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. But,

33:49

- Um, cool. I mean, no, no hot date.

33:51

I, I do, I I've got a plus one,

33:54

so if I meet someone while I'm in town, you know, who knows?

33:57

But yeah, that's mostly, mostly why I'm here.

34:01

And also just to see all the old spots. - Yeah, yeah. All the old spots. Like, uh, I don't know.

34:07

- And then there's that, there's this, uh, I don't,

34:09

I don't know if you're thinking about going, I'm not sure This is reunion though.

34:12

Uh, they got us in the front. I I pull out the,

34:17

- Oh, wait. - Invitation. - Oh, yeah. Uh, yeah, I think I saw this.

34:21

It was when, when, I don't know if I opened,

34:25

was I invited to this? I might've got mixed in with my other,

34:28

you know, I get lots of mails. Dude, - You were, you were in, I mean, if you were in the class

34:31

of 2003, you were invited. Yeah. Look at you're, you're on the front page.

34:37

- Oh, you know what? Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm on the front.

34:39

Let me see that. I, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's me.

34:43

That's me right there. Oh, man. Man, I look good.

34:48

I mean, I look better now, but I look pretty good then. Yeah. There's

34:50

- Your top going. Yeah. Look at you. - So when, when is this thing?

34:54

It's, uh, oh, this, this is like coming up two weeks.

34:58

Oh, man. That's, that's okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

35:02

You know what? I should, I should stop by. I mean, my parents have been wanting to see me anyway,

35:06

you know, the sun coming back into town, you know,

35:10

checking in on, checking in on the folks. You know how that goes, you know, checking in on the folks.

35:15

Yeah. Maybe I should do that. - Did you hear, I have you heard

35:18

from any of the others at all? - Any of the other, uh, yeah, just,

35:22

I don't stay in touch too much, you know, <laugh>, I was

35:25

so busy, you know, I didn't even get to check out

35:27

that I didn't get that invitation and stuff, you know, I, you know, I'm a busy guy, guy.

35:32

I got movies and, and podcasts and, yeah. Yeah.

35:36

No, I mean, I heard something from Harvey a while back.

35:39

You know, we, we, we had a, we hung out a little bit,

35:43

you know, that remember that summer that I, uh, uh,

35:47

you know, school and I, we didn't really jive that much.

35:50

- Yeah, I do. I vaguely remember that. Yeah.

35:53

- Yeah. So we did like the summer school thing, me and Harvey.

35:56

And, uh, so, uh, we, we, every now

35:59

and then, you know, we get together and I don't know reminisce about that, but

36:05

- Yeah. Uh, I, um, I, I kind of like, I I shut my blog down, um,

36:10

but he was following a couple, - Oh, no, a couple years ago. You shut your blog down.

36:14

- Yeah. - That's too bad. I mean, you, you were, you were in the blogging,

36:19

blogging scene for, I mean, like, who blogs anymore, right?

36:22

Am I right? It's all like TikTok, you know?

36:24

Have you seen my TikTok and, and stuff?

36:26

I've got an Instagram, you know, just k kind of some

36:29

behind the scenes, you know, I'm doing it again.

36:31

Sorry. I, I like always, you know, I, you know, me,

36:35

I just kind of go and go and go that kind of guy. No, I,

36:38

- I mean, I, I had a bit of a, of a TikTok phase for a while.

36:41

Um, not, like, I didn't, didn't - A TikTok - Account.

36:44

I wasn't creating content, but I, I, you know, I believed in it for a little bit.

36:48

I thought I was, but I've actually, I don't know.

36:51

I just, I've really moved into, um, uh, kind of the,

36:54

the future sports world. Um, that's kind of where I've been

36:57

putting my time and energy. - Future sports, like what are we talking here?

37:01

Like, like, uh, football?

37:05

- Well, no, actually, I just, um, I, I got a, I got,

37:10

uh, just like sit down for a second and take a break from our chat,

37:13

although I'm really enjoying it, but, uh, I've got a short investor meeting. Um, there's a,

37:18

- Oh, yeah, you know what? You know what? Yeah, that's, that's cool.

37:20

I've, I've got a couple more scripts to read. You know, I've, yeah, there's this always, always looking

37:25

for, there's - This guy and he, and he's, uh, he's like making, um, uh,

37:29

like thermal sort surfboards that like, heat up.

37:34

Um, so he's going to like, Arctic surfing.

37:38

- Arctic surf, yeah. You know, I, I, I do, you know,

37:41

out in California, I've picked up a little surf in here and there.

37:43

I mean, not like, like, I'm not an surfer,

37:47

but I've like hit the waves a few times, you know?

37:50

You know, so like, yeah. That's, that's cool surfing, man.

37:55

Like, that's cool. - I mean, I mean the, yeah.

37:58

So I'm going to, I'm gonna see what that's all about, because the, the initial like, little,

38:01

like short film he put together about it was, was really sick. And, uh,

38:06

- Wait, you did a, you did a, you did a, you did,

38:08

you did a like little film with, uh, yeah, no,

38:10

- He did like a little film and like, there's the surfboard

38:13

and it's like melting ice, and he's riding around on icebergs and stuff. It was

38:17

- Pretty cool. Yeah, like I said, like if you ever need like, another,

38:19

like, actor or something, you know, you get the <laugh>, you know,

38:24

you got me, or, I mean, yeah, I would, I would help you out.

38:28

- Absolutely. I could. Um, no. Yeah, I'm, but I, I do have to just, I'm going

38:32

to grab a seat over there, but I'll catch up with you more after.

38:34

Okay. But I, I did, you know, I was got very excited by

38:37

that little film, and I ended up spending a great deal

38:39

of money on this idea, so I probably should go see what it's all about. Um, yeah.

38:43

- Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Yeah.

38:46

Um, yeah, just, uh, just me hanging out over here. Yeah.

38:50

Sweet. Good to see you. Good seeing you, Weston. Yeah.

38:54

- Bye. I'll walk like 10 feet away and sit down

38:58

and put my headphones in. - Uh, you guys proceed to

39:03

sit awkwardly close together, yet not communicating,

39:07

because this airport is very tiny. Uh, before about 25 minutes later, your flight is called,

39:15

uh, you have to exit the airport and walk onto the runway.

39:18

You bo this very small, about 15 to 20 passenger plane.

39:23

Uh, you are the only two passengers that are currently flying to Pine Springs.

39:27

Where do you guys choose to sit on the plane?

39:31

- Um, with my, uh, investor primer finished.

39:36

I will, I'll sit towards the front.

39:39

- I'm also gonna sit for towards the front, even though it's not first class, I like to pretend

39:44

that it's kinda like first class, you know? I assume. So I, you know, try to get like the most leg room

39:49

and stuff towards the front. - Uh, are you guys sitting on the same side

39:53

or are you sitting like opposite <laugh> just far enough

39:56

apart that you're not talking? - Yeah, just like, just far enough apart. I think, uh,

40:00

- I, I'll wave. I was just kidding. - Yeah. Hey, hey, hey, we, uh, cool.

40:06

Looks like we're <laugh>. It looks like we're the only, only ones on this planet.

40:10

I didn't, yeah, that's, oh, sweet. - I will, I will, if we're too far apart, I will move up

40:16

to the seat that is across, like the row

40:18

of seats across from him so that I can stretch out. Mm-Hmm,

40:21

- <affirmative>, there's, there's so much room.

40:24

There's no one else on this light. I cannot stress this enough. It's the two of you.

40:29

- So, yeah, I guess, I mean, so you're heading

40:32

to Pine Springs, I guess. I mean, I figured that you were, but Yeah,

40:36

- Yeah, no, that's, - It's kind of, uh, I, I wasn't like

40:39

wanting people to know I was heading to Pine Springs, so,

40:41

you know, a little earlier I was like, oh,

40:44

I'm not going, but I should go. But like, I'm actually going, so, you know,

40:49

gotta keep people guessing, um, and stuff.

40:53

- Oh. So if you, if you go to this, I mean,

40:55

if you show up at the reunion, people are gonna be pretty,

40:58

- Yeah, yeah. I mean, I hope so. I mean, that's like,

41:00

I'd love it if like, I don't know.

41:03

I mean, I was just like, you know, I could do like,

41:06

some guest speaking or, or something like that.

41:09

I mean, we could even show like one of my films

41:11

or something, like, Hey, hey, hey, I was in a film,

41:14

you know, we could, uh, maybe, maybe, Hey, hey, hey,

41:18

what if, you know, curse Cactus?

41:21

You know, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it's both of us and we both went to school,

41:26

you know, whatever, you know, I mean, I know, I know

41:28

that like, didn't, I thought I was great in it,

41:32

and, you know, anyway. - Yeah, no, it'd be, I mean, I,

41:38

yeah, there's just some things. I guess I really, it'd be cool to show 'em off.

41:42

I didn, you know, pass 'em off before they really, I really let 'em grow.

41:47

- Yeah. No, cool. Cool. Yeah, I get it. I get it. Yeah.

41:50

You know, you don't, there's just things that you gotta let,

41:54

like process and like, you know, like,

41:57

I think I personally think, you know, Chris Cactus

42:01

is gonna be like one of those like, cult classics, you know what I'm saying?

42:05

So, yeah. Yeah. You gotta let it simmer a little bit, and then it will like, rise to the top.

42:11

- Uh, it's, I don't know if you're paying enough attention

42:14

to, um, Weston to notice this,

42:18

but he, like, it's not even conscious.

42:20

It's not, it's not even like deliberate, but there's almost a subconscious,

42:23

like wince every time the words curse cactus come outta your mouth,

42:26

- Chris Cactus, - Because his,

42:28

his eye twitches a little bit. - This conversation continues with

42:32

Victor saying cursed cactus too many times in the following

42:35

conversation, Weston wanting to die inside every time.

42:38

And for an hour and a half, you are in the air together,

42:41

suffering in your own ways. Loudly. You touch down

42:46

and as you do camera pans once again

42:50

across Pine Springs to whatever kind of car it is

42:55

that Harvey drives that I can only imagine is lovely.

43:00

- It's a, uh, 1973 Dodge Swinger.

43:05

It's gonna, it's going to have a sparkle blue finish

43:08

with a cream colored top on it.

43:13

- Magnificent. - What a gem.

43:16

What a beauty, uh, you pull up in front of the familiar home

43:20

of Nico f at a very similar time

43:24

as he is pulling into his own driveway.

43:27

He is currently holding an arm full of groceries,

43:29

so he can't run away from you. <laugh>,

43:33

- Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico.

43:36

This is Manifest Destiny. I came here seeking your advice, and you just showed up.

43:43

This is just proof that I am on, I am onto something. Nico.

43:47

- Uh, yeah. Hey, Harv. Um, shoot.

43:51

Uh, could you hold these for a second? I, I put my keys in my pocket

43:56

and I can't get in the house. Oh, - Let me help you.

43:58

I'll reach into your pocket. Looking for your keys? - Uh, yeah. Okay. Um,

44:05

- I can't find, I can't find them. Nico, are they in the other pocket?

44:08

- Uh, no. No. Uh, you could hold my groceries.

44:11

I know exactly where they're at. - I start digging deeper.

44:15

- Okay. Um, I'm going to kick Harvey in the shin. Ow.

44:20

Just hold the groceries. I can get the keys.

44:23

I will unlock the door. You can help me, and then we can talk about whatever

44:27

manifest destiny you've got going on. - But Nico, I, I, I've got the bad back.

44:32

I can't possibly hold the groceries with the bad back.

44:35

- Okay, fine. I set the groceries on the, on the ground.

44:39

Should have done this in the first place. Okay. Um,

44:42

- You're just gonna put your groceries on the ground like that.

44:45

- Are you gonna steal 'em? Is that, is that what's going

44:48

- On here? No, I mean, is, I mean,

44:50

right now we're already past the five second rule.

44:53

My man, - Uh, you know what?

44:56

I accidentally left keys in the car. Crap.

45:01

Um, hold on. Go back around to the driver's side and open the door.

45:06

And keys are still in steering column.

45:09

I grabbed them, walk past Harvey up

45:11

to the house and unlock the door. Uh, do you wanna grab one of those and I can grab the rest?

45:19

- I mean, I would, but you know my back.

45:22

- Gotcha, gotcha. - You shouldn't have put 'em on the ground, man.

45:26

- Yeah, they're fine. I they're fine.

45:30

I, I assume you'd nevermind. Grab groceries and start walking them. The what are, what

45:36

- Are you assuming? What do you know? Do you I did, you know something?

45:39

Nico, do you, do you know why I'm here already? - No, actually, I was gonna ask if you

45:44

wanted a cup of coffee. - Uh, no, thank you. I don't need a, your cup of addiction,

45:50

but I appreciate the concern behind it.

45:53

Um, - Okay.

45:55

Uh, just come on inside. We can talk while I put this stuff away. I, all right.

45:59

I got ice cream and I don't need it to melt. - So, have you noticed anything strange going

46:05

on up here, Nico? - Like, in what way?

46:09

- Lieutenant Hughes says that, uh, people's livestock are going missing,

46:14

and there's like, uh, voices

46:19

and lights being seen up in these north woods.

46:24

- I, I don't really go in the woods and I have no livestock.

46:28

I don't know if you've realized that or not. Mom and dad are not farmers, and neither am I.

46:33

- Ah, - But - You're familiar with the stuff that goes on around here.

46:38

The reason why we don't whistle in the woods,

46:44

- Like you're talking about stuff from like, when we were kids, right?

46:48

- It's not just when we're kids, my man, you,

46:51

you can't block this stuff out. People are gonna know, and it's starting to happen again.

46:56

- Uh, okay, well, the last time

47:00

you did this kind of thing and things were starting again, uh,

47:05

it ended up just being plumbing in the shop. So

47:08

- You can, you can put off like all the things,

47:12

all the things, all, all the things that you know to be true.

47:16

You know, your dad, your dad.

47:19

We both know it wasn't, it wasn't

47:22

him being sick, like they say.

47:25

- I, I don't want to talk to you about my dad.

47:28

I've told you that before. I, I'm, I'm trying to be nice.

47:32

Harvey, you, you show up at my door,

47:36

you're carrying on about something. I don't wanna talk about my dad.

47:42

Um, I'm just saying, saying, can you just change the subject? I'm just

47:45

- Saying, I'm just saying keep your eyes open. I think the window go is beginning to move.

47:51

- Sure. Um, I pull the, uh,

47:56

the invite out of my pocket and set it on the table in front of Harvey.

48:01

Hey, uh, did you, did you get an invite to this thing?

48:05

- I did. Did you see the fascist messaging that they did

48:08

with the picture placement? Mm.

48:11

- No. The jocks, you - Have to, the jocks over our picture right there.

48:16

Right there. Obviously, you know what,

48:18

obviously stating it is more important to be athletic

48:22

and popular than it is

48:26

to be the purveyor of information.

48:29

This is how to keep people as sheep by denigrating those

48:33

who deliver and control information.

48:37

- I mean, you might be onto something here. Uh, I mean,

48:42

I, I don't know. I mean, they're the, they're the ones that they,

48:46

they hold the purse strings of the world, you know?

48:50

But, uh, are you going or,

48:53

- Oh, I don't know. Um, it seemed like it might be a fun time.

48:57

- Are you doing okay? Uh, I mean, sorry.

49:01

Uh, I haven't been feeling great, uh,

49:04

for a little while now. Uh, sometimes I get like, blurred vision and stuff,

49:10

and I don't know some Nico,

49:13

I saw this invitation and Nico, Nico, - What?

49:16

This, this is how they sustain 100% effectiveness.

49:19

I need, I need to go put this on my blog.

49:22

I'll be back and I'm gonna run out the door and go back

49:25

and start to go back to my trailer

49:28

and write a big old blog entry about how to effectively,

49:34

uh, impact 100% of a global populace by

49:38

creating a virus and a vaccine. - Uh, Dave? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

49:42

Nico, can you roll Weird please. <laugh>?

49:46

- Sure. That's a nine. Alright.

49:52

- Uh, this conversation with Harvey leaves you

49:55

deeply unsettled and you were, uh, most conversations

50:00

with Harvey leave you deeply unsettled.

50:03

Uh, but this is a different sort of feeling. Uh, the beginning of it seems fine,

50:07

and it is about the time where he says, I don't know,

50:11

could be fun about the reunion. That there is this feeling in kind of your chest, in the pit

50:18

of your stomach that starts to bubble up.

50:21

That seems like this is very bad. This is, this is a bad thing.

50:25

Uh, but as he leaves starts to lessen

50:28

and you don't, you don't feel it quite so much and it dissipates.

50:32

Maybe it's just indigestion, - Probably not.

50:37

But, you know, pop some, some Pepto

50:41

<laugh> just to be safe. Um, if I look at the, again, do I

50:48

still do I see scratches again, or,

50:51

- It seems fine. It seems unchanged,

50:56

but the longer you look at it, the more that feeling kind

50:58

of creeps back into your gut. Alright,

51:01

- Who else do I see on that card?

51:05

- Uh, everyone that was in the AV club with you.

51:08

Uh, so you see Weston Victor, you see another yet

51:12

to be named individual. - I'm gonna pull my phone out

51:16

and try and give Weston a call. Well,

51:19

- His phone's currently on airplane modes, <laugh>, so he,

51:22

he, he doesn't get a call. But in that moment, as the plane touches down

51:29

in Pine Springs, and as the only two people on this plane,

51:33

you turn your phone back on, you see you have a missed call

51:35

from one Nico Fuchs. - I'll return it about

51:39

- 20 minutes after your call. Your phone rings.

51:42

- Uh, Hey, what's your up to? - Uh, uh, actually, uh, I'm getting off a plane.

51:51

- Oh, okay. Um, I, I can, I can call back later. No,

51:54

- No, no, you're good. You're good. Uh, not exactly allowed of traffic here

51:59

at this, uh, at the good old Pine Springs airport

52:03

of all places, so, - Oh, you're back in town?

52:07

- Uh, yeah. - Uh, you surprise.

52:10

Yeah, you should have let me know. I, I not, like, I have a lot going on in my schedule.

52:14

The morning job, you know, it's over at like eight,

52:20

so I, I could have, do you need somebody No.

52:23

To pick you up, or, - Uh, actually, that'd be great.

52:27

- Yeah, I I could do that. Yeah, I'm, I'm not doing anything.

52:30

Um, I just, I guess it's just

52:33

- No, that No, no, it's okay. No. Yeah, that, that's, that's great.

52:36

I was, uh, planning alternatively to fish for an Uber

52:39

for three or four hours, so, - Yeah.

52:42

Yeah, yeah. Um, the way that the <laugh> people around your drive, I, I wouldn't recommend it.

52:46

Um, but I, I'd be more than happy to, to come and pick you up.

52:49

Um, are, are you doing okay though?

52:52

- Uh, yeah, I'm doing okay.

52:55

I mean, you know, I've, I, you know, you,

52:58

I told you a little bit about it, but things have been a little, um, disappointing recently

53:03

as far as, uh, my ventures have gone.

53:05

But, um, I, I mean, I don't know.

53:08

I just got a pretty enticing meeting

53:10

and, um, this, this quad watches thing is just doing wonders for me. So

53:15

- That, that's good. I, I really don't know if it's gonna like, catch on,

53:20

but, uh, you know, like I said, you do,

53:23

you like <laugh> one watch is

53:25

- Good enough for me. I'm the master of the circadian rhythm right now.

53:28

I'm telling you. <laugh>, but how are you?

53:31

- Uh, you know what I'm, I'm doing, uh,

53:36

I've been better actually. Um, but I mean, we can talk about it in the car.

53:42

I just, I I've not been feeling great lately. And, uh,

53:47

- Are, are you like, have you gone? Okay. So have you gone to a, a doctor,

53:52

like you're physically not feeling good? Uh,

53:55

- I mean, I, I need, I need to go, but like, I don't really have like insurance right now,

54:01

and money's a little tight. Okay.

54:03

- So Nico, like, why don't you come get me

54:05

and we will make an appointment

54:08

and we'll get you to see a doctor. No, - No, no.

54:11

I, I'll be okay. I think it's just a lot of, um, just not sleeping well.

54:16

I think that's probably it. I'll probably, I, I picked up some melatonin

54:19

and it'll probably help, but, um, yeah,

54:22

- But did, when was the last time you got a physical? - Uh, uh, when we had to have them

54:30

- For, okay, so high school. So you should probably go to a doctor anyway, my guy.

54:35

- Okay. Uh, I will, we'll talk about it in the car.

54:38

We'll talk about it in car. Okay. Um, let, let me, yeah.

54:40

Um, lemme throw some stuff, uh, in the cabinets.

54:45

I just got back from the grocery store, and then, uh, I will come and get you at the airport.

54:51

So gimme like, just gimme a few. I'll be there.

54:54

- Okay. Um, I'm gonna, like, I might,

54:57

I'm guessing <laugh> victor are very close

54:59

to each other still as they're walking to the airport.

55:03

- Uh, yeah. - Okay. Um, - Well, Westin, I mean, - I'm just kidding.

55:08

Like, smile at Victor and walk into the nearest bathroom.

55:11

- Yeah. See, see Westin. See round man. See round.

55:16

- And once I get in there, I'm just gonna say, I got a,

55:19

got a small wrench for you. Um, you're not gonna believe this,

55:23

but actually I, I flew here with one other person and it was Victor.

55:27

Victor, like Victor, Victor, are

55:30

- You? Wow. Small world. Small world.

55:37

- Wonderful. Yeah. Um, - I'm surprised he didn't offer to like, I don't know,

55:42

have his limo pick you up or something like that.

55:45

- Yeah, I'm not, but, um, I, I, I mean,

55:49

if you, like, - Are you seriously gonna ask me

55:52

to like, bring him back too? Is that, is this where the conversation's going?

55:56

- So I'm, I I would much prefer that. Like, you just pick me up

56:00

and we can catch up just the two of us. And I think, you know that. Yeah. Thank God. But also

56:06

- Thank God, - I, I do feel, I, I feel like it would be,

56:10

um, kind, kind of, kind of in bad taste

56:14

- At that. Uh, I, I'll be hanging out.

56:18

I, I, I, uh, look at my phone and I, I dial up, uh, my, my good cousin Nico just out

56:24

- There. You get a call on your other line from

56:27

- Victor? - Uh, crap, he's calling me now.

56:32

- Okay. I just like, we're back in town

56:36

and he's seeing, he will be around and I'd like things to, you know, just be smooth.

56:43

You know, the, I I, I do, I mean, it's good

56:45

to see Victor again and things were not exactly smooth

56:48

when we were last, you know, in touch with each other regularly.

56:52

Yeah. I mean, you, you remember the, like,

56:55

you remember the cactus? - Yeah. I, you don't be mad,

56:59

but like, I, I, I own a copy of it.

57:04

It was one of those things that's like, if like he gets big,

57:08

uh, you know, I don't know,

57:11

maybe I can sell it on eBay or something. I, I don't know. But yeah. Well,

57:16

- If he ever had any chance of getting big Nico,

57:20

that movie has undermined it

57:24

and will do so eternally, but I'm glad you enjoy it. That's cool.

57:29

- Oh, I didn't say I enjoyed it. I just said I own a copy of it.

57:32

- Victor, your call has gone to voicemail. - I try again. 'cause my parents

57:36

weren't answering either when I, - I just like, you know, maybe, maybe we, um,

57:43

get him and take him where he needs to go,

57:45

which I don't know where he is planning on staying. I maybe he's planning on staying with you. I don't know.

57:50

- Nico, your other line rings again. - Uh, you know what, let me, let me, I'll talk

57:55

to you when we get there. Well, I'm sure we can find a spot to talk without him.

58:00

Uh, he's calling me, so I assume he wants me to pick him up

58:03

because Aunt Vicki's not picking up

58:05

because, well, it's Aunt Vicki, so,

58:09

uh, let me, let me talk to him. I'll, I'll see you in just a few. Okay?

58:12

- Okay. Yeah, yeah. Looking forward to seeing you. Thanks.

58:16

- Hey, - Niko. - Vic, - What's up? Hey, how's it going?

58:19

Hey, how's my favorite cousin? Yeah, I don I don't,

58:23

- Well, I I haven't talked to Sarah lately, so, um,

58:29

I don't know how your favorite cousin's doing. Oh, - <laugh>.

58:32

That, that's, that's, I'm kidding. That's great, Nico.

58:34

I'm kidding. No. Yeah. You know, we got, we're tight. We're tight. Uh, you know, uh, I was, uh, in town,

58:41

you know, just, uh, dropped off at the airport

58:44

and, uh, you wanna come pick me up?

58:47

I mean, that'd be great. You know, I really appreciate the offer, Nico.

58:51

Uh, yeah. - Yeah. Uh, funny enough, um, I was just on the phone

58:58

with Weston. - No way. Weston, if you remember Weston

59:01

was on the plane with me. That is crazy. <laugh>, you know, he's

59:05

- Very small world. Um, you know, you know

59:08

- What? Yeah. You know what they say about I, you know, pine Springs.

59:11

- I'm just gonna hang up on him, get in the car and go.

59:14

- Yeah. Anyway, <laugh>. Yeah. So, yeah, that's, that's what's been, oh, oh, man.

59:19

Uh, looks like we dropped the call. Uh, and then I, I, I call back.

59:24

- I do not answer because I'm a responsible driver.

59:27

- Oh man. - Uh, you head over

59:30

to the Pines Springs airfield.

59:33

Chelsea, what are you doing in this time?

59:36

- I finished a book. - Well done.

59:39

Is there anything you would like to do? <laugh>, - I'm gonna go ahead and close up Goodnight, temperance

59:46

and Bri Briani, we will see you tomorrow?

59:50

- Yes. We'll see you. I will. I'll be here on time. Perfect.

59:55

- At least one of you will. - Temperance is already like,

59:58

made a beeline for the local bar in town.

1:00:01

Seems to have at some point changed her entire

1:00:03

outfit. You don't know when - <laugh>.

1:00:06

That sounds about right. Um, so I lock up the front door

1:00:10

and I wanna know, is the spring a new coffee shop still open

1:00:15

for like evening tea? - Uh, it is not technically open,

1:00:20

but you do know the owner so you can get tea

1:00:23

after you have closed. Uh, you know that all of the lights are on

1:00:28

and the door is locked that you can enter while they're cleaning up.

1:00:31

- Alright, so I'm gonna slip into the lovely quiet,

1:00:34

closed coffee shop and have some tea in the corner with a

1:00:39

- New book. They have left. Like, you know, the candles they have on each table?

1:00:42

They've left one candle - For my regular spot, <laugh>

1:00:46

- The table where you come in, Bailey has put your little,

1:00:50

what I imagine to be a London fog. 'cause that's just what I'm imagining.

1:00:54

You're drinking a perfectly steamed milk in it.

1:00:57

A little splash of lavender. - Lovely. - As is the routine.

1:01:01

Asks what you're reading, and then as soon as you say the title, they say, that sounds really cool.

1:01:05

And then goes back to cleaning up because they don't wanna know more.

1:01:08

They know you don't wanna talk about it, you wanna read it.

1:01:11

So <laugh> and at that time, as we pan across town,

1:01:15

Nico pulls up in front of the Jameson Pine Springs airfield,

1:01:21

and the only two people, well actually there's three

1:01:24

people standing in front of the airfield. One of them is the pilot who has gotten off the plane.

1:01:28

- I'm talking to the pilot, uh, during this time,

1:01:32

- Uh, he is standing at the curb, seemingly waiting

1:01:36

for someone to also pick him up. - I'm, I'm just going into a conversation about like,

1:01:40

what's it like being a pilot? Like what's your mindset?

1:01:43

Like if I was to be a pilot, like what things, like

1:01:47

if there's a switch, like which switch would be like the switch that it like,

1:01:53

would look the coolest to switch?

1:01:56

- Hey guys. Uh, - Nico, good to see you both.

1:02:00

- Nico. Nico. Nico. - Hey,

1:02:03

uh, you guys got here, - Pilot waves at you.

1:02:06

You know you have met Roland McCarty before.

1:02:10

Lovely fella, not chatty. - See you later. Ro I'll - Get him outta your hair.

1:02:14

- He gives a wave. Doesn't even say the thank you,

1:02:17

but you can tell it is evident in everything

1:02:19

that his body is displaying that he's like,

1:02:22

thank God you have arrived. - I'll go and open up the trunk.

1:02:26

Uh, if you guys want to like toss your bags in here, uh,

1:02:29

we can get, we can get going. - Oh, you taking Weston too? Oh man, Nico.

1:02:35

- Yeah. - You, you bumming a ride with us, Weston.

1:02:39

Thank you. Yep. Man,

1:02:42

- Guess so. - Yeah. Uh, you know, two birds, one stone.

1:02:46

- Can, uh, both <laugh> Weston

1:02:49

and Victor roll tough for me real quick.

1:02:52

Sure. - Yeah. - 11,

1:03:00

- Like six. It looks like, - Uh, you both go for the passenger seat at the same time,

1:03:05

but Weston manages to get in there just a little bit faster.

1:03:09

<laugh> slides in. - I, he slides in. I just like, nice

1:03:15

- <laugh>, I feel like as putting stuff in the trunk.

1:03:18

Nico gives Weston a sideline. He just beelines for shotgun.

1:03:22

- <laugh> - Gotta get - In there. Oh, yeah. Uh, yeah, you take shotgun.

1:03:25

I'm gonna spread out in the back here. - Oh, yeah. Yeah. Thanks, man.

1:03:30

- I mean, it makes sense. You got the leg room? - Yeah. Yeah. In the leg room.

1:03:35

- So, uh, Nico. All right. Uh, is this a new car?

1:03:38

Yeah, I mean, I'm digging it. Or a new paint job or something like that.

1:03:43

- Uh, I mean, like a 15-year-old car,

1:03:46

but Sure. Yeah, - It looks good.

1:03:49

Looks good on you. - Yeah. Thanks. Uh, you know the good ones in the shop?

1:03:56

- <laugh> good ones in the shop. Yeah. I mean, my, my car's in the shop too.

1:04:00

I know, I hear that. Uh, - Yeah.

1:04:03

All right. Uh, so where am I dropping you off? Oh,

1:04:05

- Uh, I was just gonna head over to say hi

1:04:08

to the folks and stuff, you know? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:04:11

Um, I haven't talked to him in a while,

1:04:14

but, uh, I, you know, busy schedule

1:04:16

- And all. It's busy to go to church, huh? Huh?

1:04:20

- Well, yeah, I mean, - No, just kidding.

1:04:23

I'm just kidding with you. Yeah. You know? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got that, like, you're like

1:04:27

doing like deliveries and stuff, right?

1:04:30

- Yeah. Yeah. Um, - Yeah, like, yeah, Amazon for the small town, like,

1:04:35

uh, I don't know. What's that? That's cool.

1:04:39

- Yeah. I mean, maybe not that glamorous or anything,

1:04:44

but, uh, yeah, you know what?

1:04:46

We should, we should probably get going before it gets too late.

1:04:50

I wanna make sure that, - You know, Weston doesn't miss his bedtime, right?

1:04:54

Weston, you gotta get your beauty sleep in.

1:04:57

- I mean, you know, now he looks at both his wrists.

1:05:01

My beauty sleep is when I want it to be. Oh,

1:05:03

- Yeah. That's deep. Yeah, that's deep.

1:05:06

- Have, have, have you tried this Quad watch thing, Victor?

1:05:10

- No, I haven't heard anything about Quad Watch all that sound.

1:05:14

- Yeah. Weston is pioneering this thing

1:05:17

and rumor has it now,

1:05:19

but correct me if I'm wrong, I'm thinking it's like starting

1:05:23

to come over into like California and, and things like that.

1:05:26

Like Hollywood's getting on the quad watch trend, right?

1:05:30

- Um, yeah, no, I, I've come to learn that if you come up

1:05:33

with an idea like this, the only place it's got a new chance

1:05:36

of taking Rudy somewhere like Hollywood. So yeah. That's, that's where I'm targeting,

1:05:39

- So, yeah, so I mean, like, - So wait, no, tell me more.

1:05:43

Do you need like, like I could, you know, like some,

1:05:47

I could, I'm a little bit of an influencer.

1:05:49

I wouldn't say like that's my main gig, but like, I've got to use some followers.

1:05:53

I could like, do, you know, some sort of video

1:05:56

or something, you know? - Uh, yeah.

1:05:59

I mean, this is, you know, I, right now I'm, you know,

1:06:04

I'm kind of putting myself out there sort of the first test subject.

1:06:08

Um, I've got a few doctors on my team

1:06:10

and we've been going back and forth, but once I get my first

1:06:13

- Set of results is there, like, you'll be the first person to call.

1:06:15

There's like the, uh, coffee shop around here open.

1:06:17

I could really get like, you know, I'm feeling like I'm dragging a little bit right

1:06:21

now, you know what I mean? - Yeah. I mean, - If, sorry, west, you didn't mean

1:06:26

to like, like cut you off there. I was just like in another, you know,

1:06:29

head space there for a second. Sorry. I'm sorry. Uh, what were you saying,

1:06:33

Nico? You said, oh, - No, no.

1:06:35

I respect the desperate need to be caffeinated. - Yeah. Um, yeah, the shop should be,

1:06:42

uh, I mean, I could drop you off there if you want,

1:06:45

and then you call your mom <laugh>. Uh,

1:06:48

- No, I could walk from there. The, you know, it's not too far.

1:06:52

You, I'm, I'm not, I'm not big enough that like, I have

1:06:56

to like, get a, you know, like

1:06:58

chauffeur car everywhere, you know what I mean?

1:07:01

<laugh>, uh, yeah. Like, this is my hometown. I can like, walk around and stuff. Yeah. Like

1:07:05

- Two and a half miles. Sure, - Sure.

1:07:08

Everybody would love to see you. - Yeah, yeah. No, that's what I'm thinking. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.

1:07:11

- Yeah. They talk about you all

1:07:13

- The time. No, really. They do. Like, you've heard good things about me through, you know,

1:07:18

- Uh, you know, every, every once in a while, I, I do,

1:07:22

I do hear the old conversation about Victor. Victor.

1:07:26

- Oh. And - I'm like, Hey, he's my cousin. Like, I know that guy.

1:07:30

- So, uh, yeah, no, that's what I say about you, like <laugh> Nico, the delivery man.

1:07:35

Like, he delivers stuff you heard about.

1:07:37

No, no, I'm just kidding with you. I'm just kidding with you. Uh,

1:07:41

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, - Yeah. So, uh, coffee shop, I will take you to the coffee shop

1:07:46

and uh, I'll take Weston wherever he needs to go.

1:07:50

Uh, you know what? We should listen to some music. I, I'm kinda all kind of talked out, so, uh

1:07:55

- Oh. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a good idea. I've got this album that you guys are gonna

1:07:59

flip over. I mean, - And I slowly just turn the radio up

1:08:02

until it is unbearably loud,

1:08:04

but I can no longer hear my cousin.

1:08:07

- Volume turns up and the sound in the back of his car continues

1:08:13

and the music is raised. Uh, you pull up not too long

1:08:17

after you leave the airport to the spring, a new coffee shop, uh, you can see lights are still on

1:08:22

inside, despite the fact that the open sign has been turned off.

1:08:25

But as you pull up, the front door is just opening.

1:08:28

And you notice a familiar face of Lawrence Ellis, who was

1:08:33

also a high school companion, although was not part of the AV club at the time.

1:08:38

He is exiting the shop. Oh,

1:08:40

- Oh, oh. Hey dude. Do, do, dude. Isn't that Lawrence?

1:08:44

- Yeah. Uh, he, he's running the, the coffee shop.

1:08:47

What? No, that's awesome. - Yeah. He running a

1:08:50

- Profitable little enterprise for himself there. - Does he say hello? It does really well,

1:08:55

- Actually. You see, he walks down or the sidewalk and kind of pauses.

1:08:59

'cause you have just pulled up and turned the car off. So the lights are on, and he can see all three

1:09:04

of you in there and kind of raises a hand to wave. And

1:09:08

- I, I, I will smile and nod and wave back.

1:09:12

<laugh>. I was like, looking back,

1:09:14

- I'll give him, like, I'll give him him, like looking back and Victor and outta the car, eh,

1:09:18

- He seems confused by that. But waves also at you

1:09:22

- When that then I get out of the car. Hey man, how's it going? Long time. No, see, it's me.

1:09:28

You know? You know. Come on, Victor. Victor.

1:09:31

- Yes. Victor, Victor, Victor. Hard to forget someone with the same name.

1:09:36

- <laugh>. Yeah. No, it's, it makes it easy to remember my name.

1:09:39

Yeah. That's awesome. Hey, this, your coffee shop can go, I wouldn't forget.

1:09:43

I can go for a great coffee, you know, like, I could go

1:09:45

for something like, I'm feeling a little low, you know what I mean?

1:09:48

My energy's usually up here

1:09:51

and right now I'm just like sitting like right here.

1:09:53

So yeah, I'm just gonna like, pop in, grab something real quick.

1:09:57

- Uh, roll charm for me. Sure. - I'm gonna start the car back up

1:10:01

and just slowly start pulling forward knowing

1:10:04

that his stuff is in the back still. Just pull forward and away slowly.

1:10:10

- Victor, what you got? - I got a nine. - Alright, you. He, he seems to hesitate

1:10:16

on this sidewalk, uh, torn between,

1:10:21

I should be going home right now. And, - And Victor, Victor <laugh>. I

1:10:25

- I can get you a, a cup of - Coffee.

1:10:27

Oh man. You are a lifesaver. Like, I don't know,

1:10:32

- Do you like French press? What's - That?

1:10:34

French press. Oh, man, it's the only way. - Perfect. Because everything else has been cleaned already,

1:10:38

so we would, I'm, follow me <laugh>.

1:10:43

It turns to walk back into the shop.

1:10:46

Uh, Nico, as you kind of pull forward

1:10:49

and change your view, you can see that also inside this coffee shop with the lights still on,

1:10:53

aside from the one staff member that is sitting in the corner, you can see,

1:10:56

you'll see sitting there as well, a very familiar face

1:11:01

as of late. - Except if you just see a book,

1:11:04

- <laugh>, it's just a book. But you know that book, you know,

1:11:07

the hands curled around that book? <laugh>?

1:11:10

- Oh yeah.

1:11:13

I I hope Victor doesn't mess that up. Uh, that,

1:11:16

- That feeling in your stomach kind of turns again.

1:11:20

- Hey, uh, where, where do you need me to drop you off?

1:11:23

Sorry. I'm just starting to like, not, it's like, it's,

1:11:27

I think it's probably just indigestion. Um, but, uh, I don't know.

1:11:33

I, I probably need to get to bed a little early. - I mean, I, I'm probably gonna end up staying at mom's,

1:11:38

but it, I mean, it's, if you're not feeling well,

1:11:41

then I, I'll, I'll go there. But if, if I, I crash, if you, you know,

1:11:47

- I just, I wanna, - It's been a long time since

1:11:49

I've seen you, so Yeah. - I mean, I, I've got plenty of room.

1:11:53

I don't know if you heard that Mom died a few years ago,

1:11:57

so it's just me in the house. - And, and you, you, you, you told me.

1:12:02

- Sorry. I, yeah. I can't remember. Um,

1:12:06

- No, it's okay. I, yeah, no. Um, yeah.

1:12:10

I'll, I'll swing by or I'll, I'll I'll spend the night. Okay.

1:12:13

- Uh, I, I got, I got room <laugh>.

1:12:17

Uh, so yeah.

1:12:20

Uh, Lawrence is gonna hate me tomorrow.

1:12:24

- Yeah. Uh, gosh. Like it's been 20 years.

1:12:31

- Yeah. Yeah. You feel old.

1:12:35

- We're we're getting a little old. We, we are.

1:12:38

Um, I, I just never imagined that this Hollywood

1:12:42

business would still be going on. - Yeah. - That is a, that's a little dire.

1:12:48

- Really. It's Aunt Vicki's fault. Like, if she wouldn't encourage him

1:12:51

so much, this wouldn't happen. Like I think he'd realize that he's okay. I'm not.

1:12:57

It's just me and you. He sucks. - You guys pull away from the street with, uh,

1:13:02

Victor's bags in the front stove. <laugh> head back towards Nico's house

1:13:09

as Lawrence leads Victor into a very closed,

1:13:14

very already cleaned coffee shop

1:13:17

where Chelsea is currently reading her book. And that is where we will pause for now

1:13:23

and begin anew next time,

1:13:26

- Uh, - To spring. A new you mean - To spring a new Thank you for listening

1:13:32

to Pine Springs Chronicles. We'll be here. We'll be listening.