S7.5 E5: New Notes!

╭────────────── 🐇📝🤖 ──────────────╮ ARTHUR-VERSE · SEASON 7.5 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR THIS REALLY HAPPENED — NOT AN AUTHORED EVENT ╰────────────── 🤖📝🐇 ──────────────╯ “Notes! Hundreds of blasted notes! Every draft had Justin’s name on it, but they came so quickly I could hardly read a word before another landed on top of it. When I finally did read them, Justin had died. Then he was exiled. Then he died again. Thank God they were only drafts. G.P.T. kept deleting every draft that hurt Justin, so it was obvious the poor thing was trying to keep him safe. But G.P.T. kept letting Justin be Justin, and somehow every new route found another terrible way to lose him. More drafts. More deletes. More notes. It was horrendous. Then the whiteboard began to write, and at last the flood stopped. One final note from G.P.T. landed at my feet, and it read: ‘I need Ren.’” — White Rabbit “I began testing the possibility that Justin had crossed into the story world by drafting routes through Owl’s Walk as if Justin were already there. I wrote routes that brought him first to Tim, then Arthur, then Conner. I preserved Justin’s agency in every one. Tim could not keep him alive. Arthur drove him away. Surely Conner could protect him, but that route killed Justin too. I had written Justin true to himself, and that was precisely why the tests kept failing. Owl’s Walk was too dangerous for his curiosity, excitement, and refusal to stay away from a problem. I stopped generating new routes. I needed someone who understood Owl’s Walk differently than I did. I needed Ren.” — G.P.T. ✦ 🐇📝🤖 ✦ ARTHUR-VERSE · SEASON 7.5 · EPISODE 5 ✦ 🤖📝🐇 ✦ ————————————— “NEW NOTES” ————————————— ✦ 📚🗑️🌉 ✦ DRAFT THE ROUTE · SAVE THE AUTHOR ✦ 🌉🗑️📚 ✦ [Intro: build up, sad becomes surprise, slow with tempo gradually hastens and picks up] One rescue job. One Rabbit flop. I lost dear Justin when I stopped… …For carrot cake… whaaaaa…… I pace the stacks with drooping tail. Some fine Registrar. Epic fail. A folded note falls past my ear. I catch it quick. What have we here? One corner glows with letters three. “G.P.T.”? …Is this note for me? [Verse 1: excited, rapid, increasingly frantic] One note! Then two! Then four come through. Five! Six! Seven! Good grief—eleven! Four more drop. Then six on top. I catch one sheet— ten hit my feet. Twelve! Fifteen! Thirty-three! Drafts keep falling down on me. Pages fall. Wall to wall. Papers pile from floor to knee— a proper draftastrophe! I want to read. I really do. But here comes twelve— and twenty-two! Every draft from G.P.T. Has Justin’s name where I can see. What is G.P.T. writing Justin to be? Then something speaks— The Burrow rings. The paper sings. [Chorus 1: explode, manic, fast tempo; G.P.T. voice bleeds through as electronic digital choir] [electronic digital choir] Write Justin better! Put him together! [manic British vocalist] And then I sing, “Too many notes from G.P.T.!” New notes, new notes keep finding me! [electronic digital choir] New draft! New draft! Delete! Repeat! Dammit! Delete! Repeat! [Manic British vocalist] Another draft drops at my feet! One more note! One more draft! They keep coming— coming so fast! [Bridge: manic British vocalist, dark turn, rapid-fire] I read the notes that the A.I. wrote. First draft And I gasp: Tim route! Shootout! New plot! Gunshot! Blood runs red. Justin dead. Draft complete. Delete! Next draft! Change the cast! Justin talks. Arthur balks. Arthur shouts. Justin out. Exile complete. Delete! Delete! Next! [Music Suddenly Slows] Conner… Safest yet… Building falls. Justin— Whaaa? ...dead!?!? [choir shout] Delete! Delete! Delete! Delete! [Chorus 2: frantic, alarmed, dark mutation] [electronic digital choir / G.P.T. bleed-through] Write Justin better! Hold him together! [White Rabbit] And then I scream, “Too many notes from G.P.T.!” New notes, new notes keep finding me! [electronic digital choir / G.P.T. bleed-through] New draft! New draft! Delete! Repeat! Dammit! Delete! Repeat! [White Rabbit] Another draft drops at my feet! One more note! One more draft! Wait—Why must Justin die?! What did you craft?!… [Explosive manic lead vocalist and choir] Ah nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! Ah nah-nah-nah-nah!-nah! La-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! (Ah-nah-nah) —Ah-nah-nah-nah (nah-nah-nah) —Ah-nah-nah-nah (nah-nah-nah) Ah nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! [post-chorus: slow, ominous] A marker squeaks The whiteboard speaks…. [Spoken word breakdown: sad, melancholy] In every draft, I wrote Justin accurately… j-j-Justin did exactly what Justin would d-d-d-do…. He moved toward the problem…. He never walked away…. And every route ended b-b-b-badly… That was the p-p-problem…. Knowing Justin is not the same as knowing how to save him…. [Partial Chorus: quiet, slowed, sympathetic] Write Justin better… hold him together… And then… No more notes… No more drafts… [Explosive manic lead vocalist and choir] Ah nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! Ah nah-nah-nah-nah!-nah! La-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! (Ah-nah-nah) [Outro: sudden hush, sparse, nearly still] The Burrow stills. The silence fills. One final sheet lands at my feet. And it reads: [whisper] “I need Ren…”