Tulip Olsen/Synopsis

Overview
**Synopsis**
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Quotes

## *Pilot*

Inside the Puzzle Car, Tulip, annoyed, asks why the number 53 was still on her hand after a week of being stuck inside an unknown train. One-One, atop a balancing scale, asks her what it meant, but the question was deflected back to it when Tulip said that it had lived its whole life inside the train and she has only been here for a short amount of time. To which Sad-One retorts that it may never be answered. Even as Tulip begins to become increasingly agitated by the number on her palm, she instructs One-One that the switch to open the door is a balance and that it had to be on both sides. One-One then separates to balance the scale, causing a platform to appear which causes a chain reaction from a contraption to unlock the door leading to the next train car. As Tulip picks up a now together One-One, it begins to pessimistically assume that the next car is going to be a "Fart Car" stating that it would be apt for its misery, to which the other personality happily agrees with the other. Tulip then reprimands Sad-One for being very pessimistic, even after 8 cars and that it was too unlikely. Tulip is then proven wrong when she opens the door to the next car, finding it out to be a Fart Car.
As she is exiting the Fart Car, Tulip releases her breath to breathe and starts to gag, stating that the car was gross and that she questions its existence. Sad-One then pessimistically assumes the next car is going to be a Burp Car. To which she optimistically retorts that maybe the next car is going to be a car of a Pizzeria that only serves cold pizza. As she holds the knob of the door to the next car, she says lowly that it could be a way home.
As Tulip opens the door, eyes closed hoping that it was a way home, she is greeted by the beautiful scenery of a sunbathed riverside vista filled with corgis, complete with buildings akin to Greek structures. Glad-One asks her if this was Tulip's home, she answers with a no. A horn is then blown by a corgi atop some pile of rocks, signaling the arrival of their king. The king sits on top of a litter carried by four different corgis. The king introduces himself as Atticus, King, and uniter of the Cardigans and Pembrokes, as he approaches Tulip and One-One. After their introductions, Atticus gives the trio a tour of his kingdom. Tulip then praises Atticus for their advancement in their society.

Tulip then shoots down Atticus's offer of a place to relax and tells him that she is just looking for the door so she can leave and eventually go home. Atticus reveals that the next door is locked but before he can tell her what he knows, a messenger corgi warns Atticus that the river is flooding again. Atticus then issues a command to go inside the temple, stating that the monster has returned. But before Tulip can question about the monster, a giant shadow looms over the sky, to which Glad-One assumes is a shadow puppet. Picking up One-One, Tulip then runs toward the temple wherein the other dogs are also seeking refuge.
As Tulip asks questions about the monster, Atticus answers her that he himself does not know. Glad-One then volunteers to go outside to check if the monster is still there and proceeds to separate from Sad-One and leave, even after Tulip's protest. Sad-One then volunteers to write Glad-One's obituary, to which Atticus comments on Sad-One's morbidity. Glad-One then pops into the room shouting, only to say that the monster is gone. Atticus then says that they should go outside. Tulip, groaning, from Glad-One's excitement and earlier unneeded outburst, begins to exit, only to go back inside due to Atticus not leaving the temple. After a scene where Tulip coaxes a skittish Atticus to go outside is finished, Atticus then reveals that the monster has been returning to their kingdom for about a week, the same time Tulip has been on the train. Atticus then enlists Tulip's aid in conquering the monster as there may be some correlation between numbers and the monster. Tulip disagrees at first due to the nature of the two events being unlikely to be related and as she is wading through the river, Sad-One reminds Tulip of the unlikeliness of the Fart Car, to which Tulip groans.

Tulip returns to Atticus's side and tells him that she will help. After a short scene wherein an antsy Atticus is carried to the other side of the river by a struggling Tulip, they then begin to traverse through a grassy field and climb a rocky mountain. Reaching the top, Tulip and the rest see the door, but as they approach it, the monster's shadow then begins to loom over the sky. The gang hide behind a boulder for cover, only to see that the monster was the just the shadow of a spider on a work light.
Tulip then approaches the light and picks up the spider as it dangles from its web, only to be eaten by Atticus stating that the monster has been destroyed, to the disgust of Tulip and One-One.
Tulip then looks at her palm, hopeful that it would change, only to angrily find that it didn't and begins to rant to herself about her misfortune. Feeling defeated, Tulip slouches into a sitting position against a boulder. Atticus then sits beside Tulip comforting her, telling her that she just needs to wait for a "push" to get her back on her feet again, the same that if it were not for Tulip, Atticus would've given up. Atticus saying that Tulip was his "push." Tulip then thanks Atticus for his encouragement and begins to give him a belly rub. As Tulip continues to rub, she begins to logically infer that if the spider was the one that caused the shadow, she begins to wonder what had caused the water to rise and why was there a work light, as she peers into a giant hole in the sky. Tulip then looks to her side, as there is light shining in the distance.
Inside a bush, Tulip, One-One, and Atticus see the "beast" working on a contraption, as water from a large broken pipe is flowing water overhead. Tulip infers that the beast broke the pipe, while Atticus that they attack to which Sad-One replies that they'll never make it. Tulip then asks Atticus questions on how to open the door, only to be given instructions on how to open any door. Glad-One then naively volunteers to talk to it, and upon doing so, the gang is assaulted by a barrage of bullets being shot out of the beast's eyes. As they hide behind another boulder, Atticus begins his charge towards the beast, dodging a hail of bullets only to be effortlessly flung towards a wall by the beast. Tulip, seeing Atticus hurt, shout his name, revealing her location to the beast and runs towards the door.

As the beast approaches Tulip, she is tripped by it and demands her that she return to her seat. Atticus, recovering from his flight, pushes a lever that stops the water in the broken pipe from flowing. This serves as a perfect distraction as the beast diverts its attention from Tulip, giving her enough time to slam the door on the beast's face, which is revealed to be a mask and reveals the inner workings behind the mask, composed of gears, wires, and a flamethrower that is spouting neon blue flames. The beast stunned, Tulip, picks up her bag and begins to make a break for it, only to be tripped again as the beast reattached its mask and coils one of its cables around Tulip's ankles. Her bag then opens revealing One-One and asks if he should start writing her obituary. Upon seeing One-One, the beast then uncoils its cables on Tulip's leg and leaves the cart through the hole in the sky.
Atticus returns to One-One's side. Tulip, still slightly dazed, is asked by One-One what is wrong. In response, she says that she got her "push" as the number on her palm changes from 53 to 49, looking through the hole in the car's sky.

## *Book One - The Perennial Child*

### "The Grid Car"

As Tulip returns home from school excited to attend game design camp in Oshkosh, she thinks about her parent’s divorce and rebuffs Mikayla’s attempts to console her. As she works on her game her mother informs her that, due to her father getting the dates wrong and her mother agreeing to work extra hours, she can not go to camp. She is angry at the news and locks herself in her room before running away to go to camp herself. On the way there she finds a train going to Oshkosh and gets on before blacking out.

When Tulip comes to, she finds herself in a snowy meadow and soon encounters a small robot named One-One and leaves the car to go to a Grid Car that she enjoys. However, she is freaked out by a Number on her right palm, 115, and asks One-One what it is. She exits the car to find someone being “vaporized” in a vortex and flees the train, only to encounter a group of Gohms and immediately runs back in. She fends them off and, after One-One mentions the conductor, Tulip decides to go to the Engine.

### "The Beach Car"

As she heads to the engine, Tulip becomes annoyed by One-One’s constant antics. She notices that her number decreased to 114, fearfully asking One-One what it is. He says she is dying and she freaks out. Soon they end up at the Beach Car and see a cat selling a pipe, what she calls a donut holer, to a mass of sentient water named Randall. The cat informs her that the number does not count down to her death and she gets mad at One-One. The cat agrees to take her case to the conductor if Tulip gives her One-One. She agrees.

However she later has second thoughts and has Randall go after the cat to get One-One back, shorting out her sphere in the process and leaving Tulip and One-One to reach the conductor on their own.

### "The Corgi Car"

As Tulip rushes through the cars in order to reach the engine as quickly as possible, she eventually ends up in Corginia, a car populated by talking corgies and meets its king, Atticus. She learns that they are terrorized by a monster and helps Atticus with the monster.

When it is revealed to be a spider on a light, she questions it before running into the Steward who starts attacking her. The three eventually fight it off and Atticus agrees to join them.

### "The Crystal Car"

The trio ends up in a car made of crystals and find the door in the middle of a cliff. They run into a man made of crystals named Greige, who informs them that they must sing a song that brings emotion to a crystal to get out. Tulip tries every song she knows but nothing works.

She then builds a ladder, but it crumbles before she can reach the door. After realizing that it has to be a song special to her, she thinks of a song her family sang on road trips and sings it, resulting in a Giant arriving to unlock the door and they leave.

### "The Cat's Car"

As Tulip, One-One, and Atticus exit one car and head to the next, another car moves in front of them and she becomes annoyed. When they enter they find the Cat who asks them to stay, but they choose to depart. The Cat knocks over a tape and Tulip sees her name on it. She then puts it in a VCR and watches memories of her family being happy.

However, something felt off and she saw the memories as they were; with her parents always fighting. Tulip then sees the memory of her parents telling her they are getting a divorce and remembers the fear she felt. After realizing her parents were never happy together, she leaves her memories. When she returns to her body she leaves the car with her friends and covers her number with her glove.

### "The Unfinished Car"

The trio head to the engine and end up in a car populated by talking turtles. Tulip looks around and sees that the car is unfinished, helping One-One complete it. However, this causes problems and disrupts the everyday lives of the residents.

She then finds the car in a near apocalyptic state due to One-One’s desire to fix it. She makes her way up to One-One, who is desperately trying to fix the car, and states that sometimes things cannot be fixed, reflecting on her parent’s marriage. When One-One calms down, the three leave.

### "The Chrome Car"

After departing a car full of jellybeans, Tulip and her companions enter a car with a reflective surface and when she finds the door, she tries and fails to open it. She then spots her own reflection not following her movements and soon realizes it is moving on its own. Her reflection tells her that *she* has to open the door with Tulip acting as her reflection. They step into each other’s worlds and open the door, however her reflection refuses to switch back and Mirror One-One calls Agent Sieve and Agent Mace, specialists who deal with rogue reflections known as Flecs. They apprehend Tulip, who they refuse to acknowledge as prime, and take her away as they ready to polish off her rogue reflection.

She picks the lock and escapes to find her reflection mourning her inability to escape the car without a reflective surface. She tries to cheer her reflection up, but she reminds Tulip of all the times she shut out family and friends after her parents' divorce to wallow alone in her room. When the Flecs return, she agrees to help her reflection live her life if they switch back. Her reflection agrees and they do so by using the mirror in her swiss army knife to give off a reflective surface anywhere she goes. They say their goodbyes and her reflection convinces Tulip to ditch her glove, revealing her number to now be 3.

### "The Ball Pit Car"

As Tulip starts off her day as energetic, she and her companions head to a Ball Pit Car where a stuffed rabbit named Khaki Bottoms has the three make their way through an obstacle course in an indoor playground to return an object to its rightful place. She makes it through with relative ease and they succeed.

However the Steward returns and catches Tulip along with her friends. The robot comes with another robot and the Cat, telling her she has disturbed the order of the train. Tulip demands to know who the robot is as it introduces itself as the Conductor. The conductor shoots Atticus with a ray from a cannon that turns him into a Gohm. The Conductor and Steward leave and Atticus chases Tulip until she traps him. After the incident is over, she breaks down in tears.

### "The Past Car"

After Atticus is transformed by the Conductor, her number starts to go up but she ignores it. The Cat asks her for help and promises to return the favor. Tulip reluctantly does so and the car shows her the conductor’s tape. She sees two people on the tape, Amelia Hughes and Alrick Timmens, as it goes through their lives as the two become romantically involved and eventually marry. Through one of the memories she believes Alrick to be the conductor.

However, they eventually learn that Alrick has died and Amelia runs away out of grief and boards the train, leading Tulip to realize she is the conductor. When they return, the Cat points out the cannons on the train’s engine, noting that it resembles the one that transformed Atticus. Tulip then yells at the Cat for dragging out telling her about the cannons and makes her feel sorry for Amelia. She realizes that Amelia was running away from her problems just like her and her number reaches 0 and a door opens to her home. However, she wants to undo the ray’s effects on Atticus and she decides to go to the engine to do so.

### "The Engine"

Tulip and the others make way to the engine and she learns she needs a corgi orb to cure Atticus. Amelia notices her and she traps the false conductor in her memory tape. When the Steward frees Amelia and she sees Tulip’s number is at 0, she threatens to send the portal to the end of the train and does so when Tulip refuses. She then releases Atticus, who attacks the Steward, while she and Amelia fight.

They fight through a car Amelia is working on as she searches for a corgi orb and finds it. Tulip misses several times before hitting Atticus as he takes out the Steward. As they fight Amelia reveals she was never after her but One-One, and Tulip realizes her companion is the true conductor. When One-One is reunited with the console and Amelia’s robot suit is destroyed, the two passengers have a heart to heart and she tells the older woman she can’t run from her problems. Just then, One-One opens a portal to Tulip’s house and she says goodbye to her friends and wishes Amelia luck with getting her number down before going home.

Seven months later, her dad comes over to bring her to game design camp.