Messy Business (Pt 1)

Messy Business poster by @ootron on twitter [1]

* Episode (must be logged into Patreon to view)

> Two men, two women, to a lakeside go, and find themselves a hostel by the shore, its windows wide. A jetty stretching out, and curling down, the seeds of sycamores alight upon the water without sound. For in their homes the water runs too warm and then at night, too cold, from faucets white. The duvets scratch. The kitchen radio can find no signal south of fifty five and north of fifty nine. The food tastes fine, if dry, perhaps, or undercooked, or bland. Each day the mail brings newer bills to pay. The bough cannot, of course, resist the break. The couples find themselves beside the lake.
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### Opening Narration

> *Specialist Corson**, start record. Article intake, file number 8338, object: paper flier for Citywide Film Festival. Description: cream colored, heavy stock, single page, lime green design elements, black text. It describes a film festival organized by one Gale Green and includes a list of actors, directors, and producers attending the event, along with a schedule of activity.*
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> *Condition: moderate wear, single crease at the bottom, two rounded corners, mm...let's say 'very good.' Price: in auction, start at $25, request single increment bids to begin. For a buyer tomorrow? Eh...$40 even.*
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> *Comments and analysis: the design work here is...interesting -- strike that, it's gaudy, it's gaudy. But in the right moment, uh, garishness is interesting, right? And, uh, I think it was the right moment when this was printed. Given the restrictions on printed materials, and especially on typeface and color, I don't think this was made in Blough City. This was imported, which leads to some questions - why would you import fliers? What was so important about these embellishments that you'd miss the wrath of an inspector if you smelled funny at the border, or if your smuggling route was ferreted out? Jeez, it was unintentional.*
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> *Anyway, answers, of course, are on the object itself. Familiar names: Gail Green, Blake Blossom, the whole ordeal around the missing tape, the so-called 'agents' sent in to retrieve it - messy, messy business. Regardless, note to the seller, unlike a cabinet or a pistol there's no obvious use value for an object like this, so you either need to convince the buyer that there is one, or else fine the unique collector for whom ownership is its own use.*
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> *That's it from me, I'll send it over to Halfway as soon as I can.*
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### Music

This episode's main theme samples the second movement of Franz Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat Major, from a public domain mark 1.0 recording sourced from the European Archive via museopen. The dial tone heard in the opening and closing is from a recording by giddster, via freesound, licensed under a creative commons 0 license.

## Cast

* Austin Walker as GM
* Chris Andrews/Agent Ryder (Ali Acampora)
* Agent Heard/Robber Twig (Keith J Carberry)
* Maggie Darcy/Agent Seals (Janine Hawkins)
* Florence Slowly/Agent Page (Jack de Quidt)

## Plot

A team of Concern agents (Ryder, Seals, Heard and Page) take a Shunt Point from Bluff City to Blough City in order to investigate the death of Blake Blossum and recover the Blossum tape. They arrive in the early morning and split into pairs - Ryder and Page, and Heard and Seals.

Page and Ryder arrive next to an unopened Pizzeria on the Boardwalk. They briefly discuss where they should go and decide to try to find a copy of Blake Blossum’s previous film work to get a feel for what he was like. They go to a Movie House. Although they cannot read any of the written language, they can read Blake Blossum’s name well enough to know that his name is not listed and therefore his movies are not publicly available. A police officer catches sight of them, although he doesn’t take any direct action.

Meanwhile, Seals and Heard get off at a different Pizzeria. Heard says they should head back towards where Page and Ryder were dropped off to meet them, as was the initial plan that he assumed he told them.

The half-way point is a Grocery Store next to an Ice Cream Parlour. Heard and Seals wait in the Grocery store and are approached by Mike Truck, a souvenir vendor Heard is familiar with from the Boardwalk. They chat briefly, and Seals narrowly avoids her face being seen. Ryder and Page arrive, and tell Heard and Seals about their unsuccessful trip to the Movie House. They discuss other places that Blake’s films could be, and Heard suggests the library but Ryder and Page disagree, saying that his films would be more likely to be found in “cooler” places (such as a bar or coffee shop).

They look over the movie schedule that Page and Ryder took from the Movie House and spot Blake’s name on an advertisement for the Citywide Movie Festival, and surmise that the other names are avant garde movie directors, and that Blake’s film will be shown there. They decide to split up, with Seals and Page going to visit the Standard Town nightclubs and Heard and Ryder going to The Courtyard, where the Citywide Film Festival will be taking place. Before they leave, Heard purchases face-covering/disguises for the team from Mike Truk.

Heard and Ryder arrive at The Courtyard where people are setting up the Citywide Film Festival, where there is a large police presence which seems to be bracing for something. Heard asks Ryder what she expects to get out of finding Blake’s film and Ryder says that she thinks it will help them unravel the mystery of why he was killed. Heard says he will watch the film but still doesn’t see the value in watching it.

Heard approached a police officer and tries to talk his way into the Festival by saying that he left both of their IDs in his other work pants. The police officer tells them that they will have to wait until later tonight to see the films. Ryder gives her name as ‘Christine’ and says that they are meeting Gale Green inside and need to get in right away. The police officer says that Gale has stepped out for her morning coffee but that they can go in and wait for her inside.

He leads them into Gale Green’s office inside the small church in the middle of The Courtyard, leaving them alone. Ryder looks for previous copies of the Festival flyers to see if changes have been made to it. She finds a copies of the Festival schedule of Blake’s film ‘The Tunnel’ where the film has been taken off and then re-added to the schedule. While looking she finds the keys to what she knows is Achilles Apollo’s car, a teardrop coup and a letter (“Southern car park, floor seven”). Ryder tells Heard about her find and takes the items with her.

Meanwhile, Seals and Page head into Standard Town, looking for places close to Countinghouse, where they believe Blake would have been likely to frequent. They head into a bar and speak to Jeromy “Romy” Gride, the bartender, who immediately recognises them as being from “out of town”. Page asks for a glass of water, which also confirms that she is out of place, and Seals asks for two fingers of whiskey. Romy serves them both, checking with Page if she is still okay with water. Page says that she is, as she has a headache that she can’t seem to shake. Romy says he has a mix for that, fixing her a mixture of various sodas and adds an alka-seltzer style pill.

Romy asks why they’re really there, and Page says they’re looking for information on Blake Blossum. Romy is on guard, asking why they want information on him. Seals says that they’re buyers for a private collector, who has asked them to track down some of Bake’s more “esoteric” work. Page looks down at her drink, uncomfortable with the artifice, which is part of what convinces Romy to speak to them. Romy says that he knows Blake, and that he heard about what happened, adding that what happened to Blake is a shame as Blake was doing good work.

He tells them more about Blake’s work - slow documentary-style movies involving nature - and that he was filming something in The Thicket.

Page asks if anyone notable has gone missing recently, and Romy tells her that “people go missing every day here”, marking another difference between Blough and Bluff City.

The phone in the bar rings. Romy answers, then asks if one of them is Florence. Page looks up, taking the phone and looking to Seals before she puts the phone to her ear. She hears her own voice saying “Hector, this is Florence, Hector are you okay? We’re coming for you Hector […] we’re coming for you, I promise”.