EVAN [RECORDING]: Hi, you've reached Evan Wright.
Please leave a message.
[beep]
SHANE: Evan...
Please call me.
I really think we need to talk about this.
So, please...
Please, please, please please please, call me.
[sighs]
THEME: "Days Into Night" by Sweet Mother Logic
LANCE: Miss Hunter!
Sorry, we're closing.
SHANE: I know.
I have to talk to Will.
LANCE: Sounds serious.
You in trouble?
SHANE: A little, yeah.
Too many secrets.
LANCE: Secrets?
Huh. Yeah.
I know about secrets.
When you're staring down five angel fiends
all jacked up on wow-pills and sweatin' pure rage,
you make a couple of hard choices about whether or not you wanna keep secrets.
Do I regret holding on to mine?
I don't allow myself regret.
You question yourself for one second
and you're just another smear on the pavement...
... questioning all your life choices in Hell.
So I became a café owner!
SHANE: [nervous chuckle]
LANCE: Know what?
Anyone who's worried about keepin' secrets...
... coffee's not strong enough.
To the poor suckers we were tryin' to protect.
LANCE: WILL!
SHANE: [muttered] Jesus!
WILL: Yeah?
LANCE: C'mon out here and talk to your friend.
Lock up after.
I gotta go home and...
... forget about the past.
WILL: [sighs]
SHANE: Does your boss usually encourage you to drink at work?
WILL: Mmm... don't think too much around him.
SHANE: Um...
Will, I should apologize.
I haven't treated you very kindly.
WILL: You mean your articles?
Kat told us where to find 'em.
SHANE: Guess there's no point in hiding them now.
WILL: Well, you didn't make anything up.
Changed our names. You were fair.
SHANE: But I was writing about you!
WILL: Sure.
SHANE: And that doesn't bother you?
WILL: Should it?
Shane... [laughs] If I had any shame at all,
do you think I'd be caught dead LARPing in the first place?
SHANE: But... the others must hate me.
WILL: I doubt it.
Noctus is some kind of Internet celebrity, so Arthur's excited.
Kat already knew.
SHANE: What about Brittany?
WILL: [sighs]
Mmm. If I knew what Brittany was thinking...
... my life would be a lot easier.
SHANE: She's a complicated person.
WILL: [whispered] Yeah.
WILL: So.
What made you decide to go all Harriet the Spy on us?
SHANE: I'm a journalist. It's my job.
I was doing my job.
WILL: Yeah, but why us? Like, what...
How are we interesting?
SHANE: My editor wanted an article on LARPing.
I already had experience roleplaying, so she asked me to do it.
It went over well and became a regular column.
I was gonna tell you guys!
It just, it never seemed like the right time.
WILL: Do you like playing with us?
SHANE: Yeah!
Otherwise I wouldn't feel so badly about pissing everyone off.
How can... how can a LARP cause so much drama?
WILL: Whatdja expect?
SHANE: It's just a game.
WILL: Is it?
SHANE: C'mon.
WILL: Look, I may not buy into it as much as you nerds--
SHANE: Then why?
Why do you play?
WILL: I play 'cause it gives me a chance to hang out with my friends.
Including you.
SHANE: You don't play to escape?
Be someone else for a time?
WILL: Nope.
SHANE: That's a shame.
It can be a liberating experience.
WILL: Not really my thing.
Maybe for others...
... I just don't like pretending to be someone I'm not.
SHANE: Maybe, but...
... our characters don't come out of nowhere.
They're a part of who we are.
You can find out a lot about yourself through roleplaying.
WILL: How Zen.
SHANE: [chuckles]
WILL: Wait.
SHANE: Where are you going?
WILL: Uh, gotta talk to someone. Thanks, Shane!
SHANE: Who's supposed to lock up?
Will?!
WILL: Aw, goddammit!
KAT: What's so important that you needed picking up right away?
SHANE: I drank too much.
And now I need to go find Evan.
KAT: Oh, shit.
[doorbell rings]
SAM: [muffled words]
Hey, champ!
WILL: Hey, kid.
Is Brittany home?
SAM: One sec.
Brit? Will's here to get his pants back!
Cause you... [Will starts laughing] ... you...
You know, 'cause you do in... and...
WILL: Ah! Hah hah, no.
Not now.
Not ever.
No.
[whispered] Yeah.
WILL: Thanks for coming out.
BRITTANY: Sure.
WILL: So.
Um...
I know I fucked up.
And I realize that I have to fix it for the weirdest reason.
BRITTANY: Which is...?
WILL: I need to keep playing in the LARP.
Never thought I'd say those words.
BRITTANY: Why?
WILL: Because I wanna keep playing with you guys.
With Shane and Kat and Evan and... and you.
Not you, Corillia. You, Brittany.
[door opens]
ARTHUR: Oh. Hey, guys.
[sighs]
KAT: So, um, where's Evan?
ARTHUR: I really screwed up, guys.
SHANE: What happened?
ARTHUR: I suck as a bard.
I've been letting everyone down.
KAT: That's it?!
You don't suck, Arthur...
ARTHUR: No, I do.
I really do.
I can't get stuff done.
I can't save the day.
I haven't been able to in a while.
Just kinda taking its toll.
KAT: Those are nice swords...
ARTHUR: Solaris and Nocturna.
KAT: Are they... yours?
ARTHUR: No.
They belong to someone much greater.
BRITTANY: I don't know what to say.
WILL: I know that I blew it.
I'm not asking to get back together.
But I can't afford to let go of a good friend.
BRITTANY: You keep saying that you blew it, but...
I'm the one who let Corillia bleed into my real life.
No wonder you got confused.
Anyway...
No more of that.
I won't let it happen again.
WILL: What d'you mean?
BRITTANY: Corillia's a character.
She uses magic and she isn't even human.
She's not real.
And it was stupid to try to be like her.
WILL: You're not trying to be like her.
BRITTANY: I'm not Corillia.
She's a cloak and a pair of fake ears.
She's nothing special.
SHANE: Noctus isn't greater than you, Arthur.
ARTHUR: Noctus was a hero.
He shaped history with every action.
He was a force to be reckoned with.
I'm just some programmer drone, you know?
Now he's gone.
I'm just trying to live up to him, you know?
His legend.
WILL: Well, you're not your character.
That's true.
But Corillia IS you.
SHANE: Everything that Noctus was came from you.
Everything that made him amazing.
Everything that made him legendary came from you!
You created him!
You gave him everything he had.
WILL: Her confidence, her leadership...
Her cunning, you know?
The way she gets things done.
The way she kicks ass.
SHANE: All that had to come from somewhere.
Sure, you may not be deadly with twin blades.
WILL: So you can't cast spells.
SHANE: You may not be the greatest thief.
WILL: You might not actually be an elf.
SHANE: But a character is more than what's on their sheet.
WILL: A character's spark comes from you.
SHANE: Your character might be fictional.
WILL: But that doesn't mean they're not real.
SHANE: No character truly dies.
WILL: Their essence lives in you.
SHANE: And that's what makes you...
WILL: ... so awesome.
WILL: I think I'll order...
SHANE: ... pizza!
WILL: With pepperoni...
SHANE: ... sausages...
WILL: ... green peppers...
SHANE: ... and garlic--
WILL: --dipping--
SHANE: --sauce!
WILL: Yeaaaahhh.
KAT: Wait.
Weren't we supposed to talk to Evan?
SHANE: Aw, f--
WILL: --fuck!
[groaning, laughing]
Dammit.
BRITTANY: You okay?
WILL: Fuck you.
[Brittany screams, laughing]
WILL: Outta here.