THE MOON CROWN

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EPISODE 03 TRANSCRIPT:

THE WRITING ON THE WALLS

INT. -  A ROOM OF AN INN

INTERRUPTING BROADCAST

SFX:

Tuning through channels, stopping on “Au Clair de la Lune” playing slowly. The tuning continues, then stops on a static broadcast.

SFX:                CLICK, STATIC

LOU

There are messages.

EVERYWHERE.

I have NO idea what you’re trying to tell me, my pen pal. I can’t figure out how you’re sneaking into the inn, unnoticed. How you’ve managed to write on the walls of this room?

A-and I’m getting these memories, recently. Memories about the old script. About being taught, day in and day out, how to read them.

Did you know, somehow, that this would happen? If you sent me these letters? That I would remember?

Dad and I — we’ve never even spoken to Arnel about any of this. Not since we came to stay with him, after getting away from the peninsula. We were supposed to leave everything that happened, including everything that Mom did for the new faith, behind.

Is this something you want from me? Do you need me to remember? Why?

Well, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to clear my CON-

SFX:                RADIO TUNING

LOU

(???)

distorted

So much I need to do.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING, STATIC

LOU

-NSCIENCE! I want to talk about the thing we found in those ruins. I don’t even know how to play these tapes back. I just find a place to broadcast them, and pray that I don’t get caught, or set off another trap, before it’s done. I’m only doing this - I just…

I want someone to know. What I-

What we saw… Down there.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING

LOU

(???)

distorted

Something greater, and darker.

SFX:                CLICK, STATIC

LOU

I was on edge. Not that I’m not a little on edge these days but I thought they might have been searching for me, after what happened with Benny. And I couldn’t afford the fines for harassing an entity.

Sorry, let me…

I don’t actually mean that. It’s a really bad joke… And I can’t tell jokes. I mean - I try, but I really, really can’t figure out what makes other people laugh. So, please don’t report me. I have enough to answer for.

We have rules. Laws that everyone follows. I’m sure it’s the same in the the Kingdom of Anapogee. I should be calling them citizens, yeah. My town has its own process.

When I first moved here, from the peninsula, I signed a form. A statement of History and Civility.

“This is where I’m from and who I am. I will not attack any citizen, be they human or entity.”

So, yeah. I fucked that up.

This isn’t to say that all entities are citizens. Take those that watch you from the liminal spaces of the world.

SFX:                MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYS

The things you can’t quite pin down. The ones that whisper, that watch, that graze against your skin when you’re alone—

Not.

A citizen.

Like those that call you to another room, patiently waiting for you as you move in a trance. You are certain you got up to do something.

You can’t remember what it was.

You stand there, shake your head with a laugh, with a, “Here I go again”. As it inches closer. Gleeful for that chance moment of soft, self-deprecating confusion. Expecting that you’ll stand still enough, long enough, this time.

I’m not sure about you, my pen pal, but I’m haunted by something that wakes me in the evenings, without reason. Flashes of consciousness, being greeted by a shadowed ceiling, and a cloak of empty silence.

I wonder if it’s an evolutionary perk. The same thing that turns you away from darkness. Waking you so that you can run.

Lately, sleep is hard for me. After what happened with Arnel, I… I have that same sense of being watched all the time. Being listened to?

LOU

I… I am never alone.

I haven’t been alone for a long time...

Hah...

Embarrassing.

What’s wrong with you..? Well. I don’t want to leave that in there. Where are those tapes?

Okay…

Okay.

SFX:                A SOFT CLICK WITH NO CHANGES IN STATIC OR RADIO INTERRUPTIONS

LOU

Um. The day I wanted to tell you about… Yeah. I, um, I was on the edge of panic.

It didn’t help that night winds continued in town, banging on the window telling me, this time, that THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND why I still won’t let them in!

Uh.

So. When the knock hammered on our door, a week after I’d met Benny — I ignored it.

Dad and I were in the kitchen. He was hovering over the stove, watching a pot of boiling milk froth. I always sit with him when he-

When he would do this. Making Arnel’s food.

The whole week I was so distracted though, I didn’t help as much as I should have. As much as I usually do. I just kept my mind on the sound of the drizzle, pattering on the rooftop, but the pounding on the door just kept going.

I think Dad had had enough? He set the spatula down, and I had to stop him, begging him to just wait for them to leave. Letting slip that it could be the sheriff. Yeah… I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.

Dad probably wanted to ask why the law would be at our door. Remember? Sheriff Kit? Asshole?

My saving grace, the knocking? It wasn’t letting up. Someone had to get it. Even if dad wanted to talk right then.

I opened the door to find Chess standing on the porch. I had no clue what Chess was doing at my house, but, well. He let me know before I could even ask. Guess that when I said that I wanted to get the truth out of Benny, I failed to mention the part about the garlic.

We argued back and forth, but at least I tried to be quiet about it. What else would I have used? Chess, uh, suggested, that I should have used a damn potion.

Asking how far off poison was a potion — didn’t really help my case.

It was hard to pay attention to what he was saying. Over his shoulder, I could see a stalker patrolling the street, its long black talon-legs wet and flashing in the lamplights. Its eyeless head dipped down, steam curling around its smiling mouth.

Chess seemed unaware, or entirely careless, about the looming creature behind him. Chess is like that, sometimes? He’s the only person I knew in town open to taking night shifts.

Well, he did work at a saloon...

I‘ve never understood how he wasn’t all that bothered by the things that shift under the moonlight. Especially then, while I was sitting there, watching that stalker lift its head, turning toward us. A pool of saliva gathered under the creature as it stood there, frozen, its breath still misting around its face.

Chess went in, when the the stalker seemed to sense us, its dark, tapered legs piercing the ground with each step as it turned toward my house.

Grinding the gravel underneath it. Mouth widening. Teeth glistening.

I shut the door.

Even though dad had waited, very patiently, for us… I could smell the curdled milk right when we got through the hallway. Dad already abandoned the pot, leaving the rest… The feeding part. To me. I filled a bowl with the paste of milk and flesh, then set it on one of my ornate souvenirs. It had these scales painted along the body of a serpent, winding around a sphere that sort of glowed in the moonlight.

THE CHORUS

The Moon, the Serpent.

LOU

We went up the stairs, Chess had finally calmed down, holding the door open. I went to the edge of the bed.

And all I could do, all I could ever do those nights, with Arnel? Was watch his chest rise and fall. Right then, I could almost pretend that he was just… Sleeping.

Until Chess told me that Arnel was not turning into a vampire. It probably took a little bit of bravery to tell me that we needed to go to the temple.

As soon as possible.

SFX:

A pen is clicked, then set on the table. Lou lets out an exhausted breath as a chair creaks. Papers are being shuffled, flipped through quickly at first, then slowly.

LOU

Great. I don’t know what your letters say. So, please…

Stop. Sending. Them.

SFX:                CLICK, RADIO STATIC, "AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE" PLAYS HEAVILY DISTORTED

LOU

Not sure who all is listening — but, uh… I know it’s been a little while. Oh, yeah, if I sound a little different, it’s probably the humidity. Maybe some kind of allergy? I don’t know. Anyway.

If you’re still out there, trust me, this is all related to the thing we saw in the ruins. This… Change…

In how we understand things.

Me falling off the face of the world? I – I had to rerecord that last tape about Arnel. So what you heard wasn’t the original.

It was a hard one to get through, but I think I’m doing better.

My memory isn’t great, and maybe I’m being a little optimistic, but the more I study the — uh — the letters? That I’ve been getting? The easier it’s been to remember. Not just the bad. The good is in there, in small pieces that are easy for me to miss.

So, hey, penpal. I still don’t know your angle. I hope your… Persistence? With the letters? Well, I hope you’re doing this because you plan to tell someone about the ruins, but… But you need proper evidence. And, yeah. Don’t worry, I’m getting there.

And… And I’m sorry. For pinning all of my frustration on you. How could you know that your writing would affect me like this? I guess I’m a little paranoid about things right now. Looking for answers where maybe they don’t exist.

Anyway, the temple.

See, most days after I’d finished feeding Arnel, I didn’t have much else to do. My work day was over, the town had a curfew.

We had to ask for permission to go out at night. The stalkers had free reign. You get the gist.

I stayed inside mostly. But that evening, the one where Chess said we needed to head toward the temple — I followed him, kind of numb to the rain spraying up around us.

Speaking of the stalkers. They always seemed to avoid the temple. The whole hallowed ground thing, as far as documentation goes. But they actually… They avoided Chess, too.

When he pulled open the gate, its creaking made the hairs on the back of my neck stick up.

So, YEAH. I was already primed to really panic when I heard a voice nearby – very clear, very familiar.

Benny.

He wanted to know if I was looking for the New Gen that I’d left for dead. In the cemetery? My first broadcast…?

By the way, he wasn’t dead. The new gen. Scared out of his mind, sure. But not dead. Probably better to clarify that.

Thank the Gods...

Benny leaned on a wall outside of the temple, watching us, water rolling off of his hat. Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether I’d have more luck running from him or a Stalker.

But that was the night that I learned… Um… Benny…?

THE CHORUS

The Moon, the Serpent.

SFX:                HIGH PITCHED RINGING, BELL TONE GOING OFF

LOU

That… Benny was… Teaching Chess about magic and history.

Gods, my head, sorry – you know that ringing you get when you stand up too fast? Well, sometimes I get it randomly, especially when things are hard to r—

Anyway, I thought about that. Chess practicing magic at night with Henrik? Really thought about it. About how I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Chess during the daylight.

I tried to set aside the thoughts circling around my head. I think some perspective is in order here, before I go on: I let Chess into my home without a thought, you know? Let him watch my brother lying there in bed. Helpless.

I… I just had this intense thought. That Chess may have had something to do with the infection, never once telling me, never even hinting at it.

And I probably looked like I was going to do something pretty stupid, because Benny shoved me away right when I took my first step. He just… Knew.

He informed me — loudly — that Chess was not a vampire. And he couldn’t be one if he tried.

Benny has always been Chess’ protector. The whole time I’ve known him.

Maybe Chess had this unearned guilt, realizing what I was thinking? The words poured out of him, like he’d been holding them in, ever since he’d seen Arnel. Turned out… The thing in my brother’s bed…

Was a doppelganger.

And we were out at the temple because Chess said it was the safest place for us to talk. Nobody would look for us there. Really loved when he told me I needed to relax if I want to hear what he had to say. Oh, I’m kidding — I didn’t actually love that. Uhhh.

My jokes might be bad but sarcasm isn’t my strong suit either? Maybe you got it, but sometimes I have to tell people outright when I’m joking.

But, yeah, while we were standing out there, it was pouring. The rain was relentless, trickling over my spine, cold. I mean, I actually like the rain—

Derailing myself…

Benny?

He seemed… He seemed out of breath. Barely standing, holding onto one of the spires on the iron gate. I had no idea why he’d chosen the temple to meet with Chess. Why he kept coming back. You’d probably think vampires can’t go into holy places, right?

But I’ve learned since then, the things I’m so sure of — the things we’re taught at the academy? They’re half-truths. Staff doesn’t always document the things that we should know.

And honestly, I’m not sure if that’s on purpose. I hope it isn’t. Because at the time, I didn’t know…

I didn’t know what a doppelganger was.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING, STATIC

LOU

I didn’t like the temple. I don’t like the town’s form of worship, at least. Or any form, to be frank. That’s why I figured taking a job as a transcriber would be the best work for me.

I’d rather think the creatures and entities that we live with are just a part of reality.

SFX:                STATIC DROPS OFF

Nothing to be worshiped.

SFX:                TICKING, VIOLIN MUSIC

LOU

(???)

distorted

Or feared.

They say monsters had walked among the Gods, long ago. Before humanity fucked everything up. Before the Gods took the torch of magic from the hands of humans.

Supposedly, beasts were more pure than any of us could ever be. They had never wronged the pantheon in the way mortals had. They had no control over the things they did.

They just were.

LOU

U-Until, of course… We intervened. It was an old tale. A story to make us behave as children.

At the academy, you generally don’t think about m-"monsters”. You classify things, organize them, tuck the notes away in boxes. Part of me was curious to hear about something outside of our local history.

You ever heard of Doppelgangers? Again, I hadn’t.

If there’s no documentation, they don’t exist. Not in our area, at least. That’s how it works. Need to know how to handle a stalker gone berserk? Academy Library.

Need to know what to include when making food for people that happen to be entities, and you’re too anxious to ask — and also you want to be nice and apologetic because you screwed up when you first met — understatement — and also you know they could have allergies that might not be common knowledge?

And also you happened to use something they were allergic to when you made something for them last and you don’t want to accidentally—

M-Maybe that’s a little too specific of an example.

But, Library.

Uh—

Well, even if there was documentation, if there were no recent sightings? The entity didn’t exist. Or they were extinct!

But… The doppelganger? Chess told me that the thing I’d been living with for a month wasn't even human. Arnel wasn’t in there.

I watched Benny get up, the pew squealing under him as he started pacing around. He didn’t bother talking, at first. His brows furrowed as he met my eyes. Somehow, I held the gaze longer. Which is saying a lot. I hate looking people in the eyes.

Benny glanced at Chess, first. Apparently, there was a big possibility that there could be a nest near town. We needed to check there first. I was lost. For a sec.

Something was pretending to be my brother. Arnel. And that something… Was with dad.

I probably sound like my memory is fairly clear, huh? I don’t know how long that will last. From what I can tell, other people seem to hold information pretty well. My memories have a shorter lifespan.

These tapes are kind of nice, or they would be, if I had an infinite supply of them and didn’t have to write over them. They’re artifacts, so finding somewhere that sells them is really left to chance.

It’d be nice if I knew how to actually play the tapes back, without having to walk from store to store, listening for my broadcasts, to make sure I’m not going over things more than once. Hoping random magical interference might help transmit the old recordings again.

But…

My memory.

There’s one thing in particular that seems like this brilliant light in the growing fog of my mind.

The altar at the front of the temple. A stone serpent curled around the orb of the earth. A sea snake with a mouth wide enough to eat a moon.

Here’s something I do remember, far better than the old script.

Back home, older folk called that serpent Bakunawa. And then there were the younger people, like my mom. Following their own sect. Their own bastardization.

I had a quick thought, this small spark… That maybe he was one of the Gods who could actually do something, if I asked.

Because I didn’t care who I had to pray to, to make offerings to, to undo what had happened to Arnel.

And… I wonder if Benny felt the same, in his own way, with his eyes trained so intently on the altar. I wasn’t sure then. I still don’t know now.

Whether vampires still believe in deities.

He isn’t a God. Bakunawa.

Not to our older generations.

LOU

(???)

distorted

They have their beliefs.

And maybe.

They’re right.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING

LOU

Benny seemed reluctant, but… Ruthless. To him, I’d be better off looking for a necromancer. Yeah, I was ready to knock him off his feet for talking like that. But… The doors opened, and Chess grabbed me, holding me in place. It was Dad.

Dad stood there, glaring over each of us, his eyes lingering on Benny with this cold, sharp rage. The rain had soaked through his clothes and he looked like a thin, sick dog.

Chess was nervous. He was usually nervous around my dad. But, that night… He was much worse. There was something in my dad’s eyes that I hadn’t seen for a long time. I’d almost forgotten what that looked like.

Hen…

No…

…ah…

…

Benny…?

Benny…

He walked past the pews, slowing at the doors, giving Dad this long look as he went for the temple’s gate.

It was still wet outside, about midnight, and the clouds had cleared. All around us, creaky houses were lifeless beneath the stars, forming a sort of tunnel.

At the end of it, silhouettes of endless talons passed through the dim light of the town. Stalkers.

And even from that distance, there seemed like so many of them. More than I remembered there ever being in Gods’ Peak. Excited about something. Like spider legs skittering over a window, nearly blocking out the sun.

Dad stopped in the middle of the path, glancing into the sky.

I wasn’t sure how he was able to get to us. Without being mauled in the street.

But he seemed so serene there. Drawn to the shattered faces of the moon triad and their glowing debris.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING

LOU

I wonder why Dad looked at them like an old friend. He probably still looks at them that way.

I don’t know what he saw, before we escaped [STATIC] Peninsula. But I wish I could tell him about what’s happening around me, in this room.

I need a moment. A moment of peace. Where I don’t have to worry about any of this… I need some time to think.

Do I even want to remember?

Something in my mind is telling me that someone does. Maybe they — maybe you – have the same questions I do.

Maybe your letters can give me some insight.

SFX:                MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYS

Maybe… You want me to remember that place? The place that made Dad the way that he is.

The place that made him?

Listen… I know it sounds… But he isn’t the father I knew, before the night of the eclipse.

With all of these memories, there’s a different voice, a different face, to him. I didn’t leave the peninsula with the father I’d grown up with.

And I don’t know who the person is, that I had lived with for all those years since.

It’s not that I was too young to remember. Not by a long shot. I… I just didn’t know. And now, I need to know what else I don't remember.

Honestly, though. I do have my reasons for being afraid of the things in our world that aren’t human anymore. Or that never were human to begin with.

Static drops off

SFX:                MYSTERIOUS MUSIC CONTINUES AS STATIC DROPS OFF SLOWLY

I… Um…

I wonder if Benny chose to be what he is today? After that last tape, I… I feel like a dick, for not asking if he’s been feeling ok... I can’t keep thinking I didn’t screw up when we first met. And yeah, again, that’s the understatement of all understatements.

Please – please, understand — if anyone else hears these recordings, these broadcasts, and you think they might help condemn me further, in a trial? A smaller string of crimes leading up to…

You know what?

Fuck this.

SFX:                CHAIR SQUEAKS, CLICK, "AU CLAIR DE LA LUNE" CAN BE HEARD OVER STEPS, SCRIBBLING CAN BE HEARD

LOU

Benny?

BENNY

Hm?

LOU

Listen...

SFX:                A CHAIR SQUEAKS, AS LOU'S FOOTSTEPS CREAK OVER THE WOODEN FLOOR, PACING

LOU

I wanted to ask how you’re holding up…

SFX:                THE CHAIR SQUEAKS AGAIN AND BENNY CONTINUES WRITING

LOU

Heh. Right. Forget it. Look, I know it’s long overdue — uh... Are you writing right now?

Could you stop?

I-I’m trying to apologize – I – uh…

SFX:                SCRIBBLING STOPS

LOU

I’m sorry I haven’t asked how you’ve been feeling. And I’m sorry about the tea, with the garlic flowers. At the time, I… I hoped that the pain might sway you to giving me the answers I needed. Quickly.

I didn’t think about how it could — would — be that bad. They were just flowers.

Can you… Say something…?

Benny, say something.

SFX:                A CHAIR SKIDS AS BENNY STANDS, STARTING TO WALK TOWARD THE DOOR

BENNY

Why... Are you calling me Benny again lately? I told you—

LOU

HEY!

SFX:                DOOR CREAKS

Hold. On.

BENNY

If this has been some other cruelty, after you just said sorry—

You know... I did kind of like the idea of going by my given name again.

LOU

What are you talking about?

BENNY

What you...

SFX:                A CLOCK TICKING

You really... Don't... Know...?

LOU

What are you talking about? I don’t remember you telling me anything about some other name...

BENNY

HENRIK, Llywelyn! Pri… Bjorn? Preben..?

LOU

Benny — H-Henrik? I don’t–

BENNY HENRIK

I don’t care! Call me whatever you want. It doesn’t—

LOU

Is that your radio? It sounds so distant…

HENRIK

I — No.

LOU

I’ve been hearing that song, so much, recently.

LOU

(???)

distorted

You can hear it! Can’t you?

HENRIK

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

SFX:                HENRIK CLOSES THE DOOR SOFTLY

LOU

(???)

distorted

Well. Fine. Where is that music coming from now?

Oh.

It’s you.

You’re listening to me.

Right.

Now.

SFX:

The clock’s ticking grows louder with each tick, cutting off mid tick. “Thumb” by Monophona is staggered, then plays as it usually would, panning to one side, as LOU’s voice pans from the other

The music and LOU’s voice pan, switching sides as she speaks.

LOU

(???)

distorted

Let me tell you a secret,

Friend.

I’ve been listening, too.

SFX:                RADIO TUNING, "THUMB" CONTINUES MONOPHONA PLAYING, CREDITS ROLL,