---
layout:          post
title:           "MAG119 - #0170708 - Stranger And Stranger"
date:            2018-09-19 12:00:00 -0400
episode_type:      episode
tags:            [Nikola Orsinov, Sarah Baldwin, The Anglerfish, Timothy Stoker, Alice 'Daisy' Tonner, Basira Hussain, The Archivist, Xenophobia, The Stranger]
statement_of:    [Various]
recorder:        [Direct, Various]
voiced:          [The Archivist, Nikola Orsinov, Sarah Baldwin, Breekon, Hope, Alice 'Daisy' Tonner, Gertrude Robinson, Jurgen Leitner, Timothy Stoker, Basira Hussain]
categories:			"tma"
podcasts: ["tma"]
title_prefix:	"MAG"
prev_categories: ["tma"]
prev_prefixes: ["MAG"]
next_categories: ["tma"]
next_prefixes: ["MAG"]
prev_episode:		['118']
next_episode:		['120']
prev_episode_num:		['118']
next_episode_num:		['120']
prev_episode_title:		["The Masquerade"]
next_episode_title:		["Eye Contact"]
episode_title:   Stranger And Stranger
episode_number:  '119'
case_number:     '0170708'
statement_date:  2017-08-07
recording_date:  2017-08-07
event_date:      
summary:         "Unknown."
content_flags:   [direct violence, explosive violence, mental instability, emotional cruelty, undead, unreality]
acast_url:       https://play.acast.com/s/themagnusarchives/mag119-strangerandstranger
formats: 
  Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a2SWu5RmIE9D2ugIhHHHglfGiLFyKAjgO6C8MPb2hug/edit?usp=sharing
official:        false
youtube_url:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYA_7TV_65w
unofficial:      https://tmblr.co/molYyThmmvtsZ5OBctA3hnQ
unofficial_name: anatomyhouse.tumblr.com
wiki_url:        https://the-magnus-archives.fandom.com/wiki/MAG_119:_Stranger_and_Stranger
notes:          "Edited by @landscaping-your-mind"
---

##### [CIRCUS MUSIC PLAYS]

#### ARCHIVIST

_[echoing]_ Hello? I -- anyone? What's -- what's going on? What is this place? Where...

Help? Please? Anybody?

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

*I'm* somebody.

#### ARCHIVIST 

_[stammering]_ What? Who are you?

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

What an *excellent* question.

#### ARCHIVIST 

You -- you stay away from me.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

"Sarah", "Daniel"... sometimes I think I'm just not built for names. A hundred puppets, a hundred pointless names.

#### ARCHIVIST 

I-I don't understand.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Of course you don't. You *can't.* Not anymore.

#### ARCHIVIST 

What? I don't... I don't... who are you?

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

_[chuckling]_ It's me, John. It's Tim.

#### ARCHIVIST 

John. John?

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Yes, that's your name, and I'm Tim, your friend.

#### ARCHIVIST 

Tim?

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Yes. John, you can relax.

#### ARCHIVIST 

No -- no, no, no --

#### TIM!NIKOLA

_[overlapping]_ Everything is going to be alright.

#### ARCHIVIST 

No, Tim, we've -- we've got to stop it.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Stop what?

#### ARCHIVIST 

I...

#### TIM!NIKOLA

And how *are* you going to stop it?

#### ARCHIVIST 

_[stammering]_ I have, I have... I thought that this, this...

I -- I don't know.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Well, don't you worry. I'm sure we can work it out together.

#### ARCHIVIST 

Oh, yes. Yes -- Tim, I just I need a second, to... uh --

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Of course, John.

#### ARCHIVIST 

John. Yes, that's -- that's me.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Give it to me.

#### ARCHIVIST

_[disoriented]_ Yes, yes, if you could, I'd -- I'd value your input on it...

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Tim.

#### ARCHIVIST 

Yes, Tim. Tim.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Now let's take a look at this.

#### ARCHIVIST 

Please.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

Right now, what we have here is our handheld remote detonator.

#### ARCHIVIST 

A what?

#### TIM!NIKOLA

It talks to a bomb.

#### ARCHIVIST

Wait. Wait, uh...

#### TIM!NIKOLA

I imagine if you'd used it, we'd all have come to quite a nasty end.

#### ARCHIVIST 

That was -- uh, that was --

#### TIM!NIKOLA

_[giggling]_ Don't you worry, Archivist, it's all in good hands.

#### ARCHIVIST

I don't understand.

#### TIM!NIKOLA

And you never will again.


------


#### BREEKON

Hello, Daisy.

#### HOPE

You alright?

#### DELIVERYMEN (BOTH)

Daisy?

#### DAISY

No.

#### BREEKON

I'm sorry?

#### HOPE

Don't follow you.

#### DAISY

Leave... no.

#### BREEKON

Come on Daisy.

#### HOPE

Don't be like that.

#### BREEKON

It's me, Basira.

#### DAISY

No, you're not. Because nothing is anything. *Leave*.

#### BREEKON

And if I don't? 

#### HOPE

What will you do?

#### DAISY

I'll kill you.

#### BREEKON

Will you now?

#### HOPE

Ooh, pretty scary. If you *can,* that is.

#### BREEKON

You don't even know what a gun is.

#### DAISY

*I don't care.*

##### [SOUNDS OF GORE AND THE DELIVERYMEN GROANING IN SHOCK. DAISY BEGINS LAUGHING.]


------


#### TIM

Get away from me! 

#### BASIRA

_[slurred]_ It's alright. I'm not -- I'm not one of them.

#### TIM

*Everyone* is, this isn't -- just get back.

#### BASIRA

Okay, okay who -- who are you?

#### TIM

_[agitated]_ I don't *know,* do I?

#### BASIRA

What can we do?

#### TIM

It's too late. There's *nothing*.

#### BASIRA

There must be. We just need to figure this out. I -- I know I'm me...

#### TIM

So what's your name? Huh? Who exactly is "me"?

#### BASIRA

Doesn't matter. Names don't matter. I just... I know -- I know I'm me and I know I'm here.

#### TIM

Bullshit, "*here*" is just -- _[groans]_

#### BASIRA

There's things that -- that they're not me, they want to hurt me, but. I don't want to hurt you.

#### TIM

I don't believe you.

#### BASIRA

I don't want to hurt anyone.

#### TIM

Get back!

#### BASIRA

No, we can do this, I -- I can do this, I just need you to --

#### TIM

I *said* get away!

##### [SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE AND GRUNTING]

#### BASIRA

Don't... wait. I don't... I don't understand.


------


#### ARCHIVIST

It isn't -- it isn't real.

#### NIKOLA

What isn't real, John?

#### ARCHIVIST

I-I-I don't know. None of this is real.

#### NIKOLA

But it is! Just because you don't understand doesn't mean it's a lie.

#### ARCHIVIST

Who are you?

#### NIKOLA

_[unconvincingly]_ Why, I'm.... Tim of course! Who else would I be?

#### ARCHIVIST

You're not. You're not Tim.

#### NIKOLA

Oh, you caught me! I'm *Sasha!*

#### ARCHIVIST

*Shut up!*

#### NIKOLA

Really, it's me! Sasha... whatever-her-name-was! Back from the dead, just like you wanted!

#### ARCHIVIST

Get away from me or I swear, or I'll --

#### NIKOLA

Or you'll what? Hit me? Go on then, try it -- make a fist.

#### ARCHIVIST

I... I...

#### NIKOLA

Do you even know which of these hands is yours?

#### ARCHIVIST

Stop... stop, stand still.

#### NIKOLA

Do you even know what a hand *is?*

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

Pathetic.

#### ARCHIVIST

Wait. Wait, I -- I know you.

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

I would *hope* you do.

#### ARCHIVIST

How are you here?

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

Don't be obtuse, John. I'm here because you failed.

#### ARCHIVIST

I-I tried. I tried, I almost --

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

You almost what? You almost *didn't* doom the world? No, you *almost* let reality be the plaything of a lazy, foolish voyeur.

#### ARCHIVIST

No, no -- I would -- I could have stopped them.

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

How? You didn't even know what it was. Do you know how many people I killed to keep the world in one piece? The sacrifices I made, and you didn't even know what you were fighting.

#### ARCHIVIST

N-no, I didn't --

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

I suppose it's of no consequence now, it's far too late.

#### ARCHIVIST

What can I do?

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

_[gleefully]_ You can scream, I suppose. Weep, maybe. Have you considered curling into a ball?

#### ARCHIVIST

Why are you doing this?

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

I'm not. You know, it's probably for the best I'm dead. Can you imagine how I'd hate having to watch you fumble around as my replacement? I really cannot express how much of a disappointment you are.

#### ARCHIVIST

I'm sorry, I didn't even --

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

I fought for *years* to stop the Stranger in its tracks, you didn't even notice when they desecrated my corpse. And now look at me. You've made me part of their ritual. This is *your fault*.

#### ARCHIVIST

It is not. It's not, I didn't know. It's not my fault you died.

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

_[distorted]_ No, I suppose not. Me, on the other hand... *that* one is very much your fault.

#### ARCHIVIST

_[despairing]_ No, not -- not you as well...

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

*Oh, yes.*

#### ARCHIVIST

He told... why -- why didn't you warn me it would be like this?

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

I hardly had the chance, did I? Before you left me to get my head bashed in. I understand, of course. You needed a cigarette? I suppose you should have remembered that smoking kills. _[giggles]_

#### ARCHIVIST

That's not -- I don't know...

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

Come now, Archivist. Surely you know what a cigarette is. Or a pipe?

#### ARCHIVIST

It's hard to think.

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

If our earlier conversation was anything to go by, I hardly think you can blame your faults on the ritual. Your problems go far deeper than that.

#### ARCHIVIST

Just -- give me a moment, please.

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

You think that would help? Honestly, if I wasn't so dead I'd be impressed. I always thought my own hubris to be quite exceptional, but you've managed to somehow deliver more bad decisions into two years than I managed in a lifetime. But by all means take your moment.

#### ARCHIVIST

What do you want?

#### NIKOLA

I already have what I want, little Archivist! Now I just want you to join me for a dance!

##### [JOHN SCREAMS]


------


##### [DAISY GROWLS]

#### BREEKON

You killed him! Do you even know what you've done?

##### [DAISY BEGINS TO LAUGH]

#### BREEKON

You *stupid* animal.

#### DAISY

_[growling]_ Kill you...

#### BREEKON

No.

##### [DAISY CONTINUES TO LAUGH]

Shame you don't know your own coffin. But you will. _[chuckles]_ You *will.*


------


#### BASIRA

_[talking to herself]_ Don't panic. Don't panic. Just close your...

_[groans]_ Ignore it. ignore the uh... don't listen. Focus, think. This is a place. You are you and you're in a place now. If... if it's a place, and it's now, then... then... then it has an end. The other things, the... 

##### [BASIRA GROANS IN FRUSTRATION]

Too much, too much. There's -- there's too many. and they wanna hurt me so -- so... you leave the place. You leave the place and the now. No place is forever. You know how to move, so do it. Pick a where... then the move.

Good! Then -- then keep moving. Keep moving until you find another place. A place you know... just keep moving. Keep moving.


------


#### NIKOLA

Do you feel it, Archivist? it's almost there, the new day.

#### GERTRUDE!NIKOLA

A terrible new world. It is all your fault.

#### LEITNER!NIKOLA

Though I suppose you never really had a chance.

#### ARCHIVIST

I *see* you. 

#### NIKOLA

Do you now?

#### ARCHIVIST

Yes... yes. I see the sad clown, bitter and hateful. I see him finding his way into the circus where nobody knew him. I see him torn apart, becoming the mask, remade by a cruel ringmaster. Sometimes a doll, sometimes a mannequin, always hiding in somebody else's skin. Somebody else's name.

#### NIKOLA

_[petulantly]_ Not always. And it's far too late for any of that. Nothing you see can help you.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Not without the detonator.

#### NIKOLA

Really, Archivist! After all this preparation, all your research! All this magnificent grotesquery, and what -- you were just going to blow it up?

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Probably the hunter's idea. She killed one of the couriers.

#### NIKOLA

Oh dear, how sad.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

She was also the one that damaged this shell.

#### NIKOLA

You have hundreds of shells, Sarah! And soon you will have tens of thousands. You can have your little girl within every dark corner of the whole world!

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Not until you finish the dance.

#### NIKOLA

Oh, just let me enjoy myself for a moment! This is a once in an eternity event after all.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

This in-between is not as comfortable for all of us as it is for you.

#### NIKOLA

Oh, fine. Archivist, it's been a pleasure but I really must --

##### [TIM YELLS, NIKOLA GRUNTS]

#### ARCHIVIST

Wait, *no* --

#### TIM

I'll kill you. All of you!

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Will you now.

##### [SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE BETWEEN TIM AND JOHN]

#### NIKOLA

Let them fight! It's adorable!

#### JOHN

_[strained]_ Wait, Tim! What do you see?

#### TIM

_[angered]_ I see my asshole boss!

Or -- or... wait... wait.

#### NIKOLA

_[displeased]_ Spoilsport.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

Tim.

#### TIM

_[snarling]_ Grimaldi.

#### NIKOLA

Once. A long time ago, before Orsinov made me. And sometimes, even now, for special occasions. Like your brother. _[distorted]_ __*SHALL I?*__

#### ARCHIVIST

Tim, what's in your hand?

#### TIM

_[strained]_ It's... I don't... The detonator.

#### NIKOLA

That's quite enough from *you,* I think.

##### [JOHN YELLS]

And now *you.*

#### TIM

Go on, I'll race you. See if you can do it again before I can squeeze.

#### SARAH!NIKOLA

It's too late.

#### NIKOLA

The world is ours! That *toy* won't help you now.

#### TIM

So come and take it.

##### [PAUSE]

That's what I thought. 

#### NIKOLA

*I am losing my patience.*

#### TIM

Back! Get back. That's right.

John. I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can...

#### ARCHIVIST

_[faintly]_ Tim?

#### TIM

I don't forgive you. But thank you for this.

#### NIKOLA

You idiot! Do you really make the world will fare any better under the Watcher? You think you're saving anyone?!

#### TIM

I don't care.

#### NIKOLA

You can't even save *him!*

#### TIM

But I can hurt you.

#### NIKOLA

It will *not* end like this.

#### TIM

_[dryly]_ You sound stressed. You know I hear the great Grimaldi's in town. You should go see it, cheer yourself up.

#### NIKOLA

*That's. Not. Funny.*

#### TIM

I know.

##### [DETONATOR CLICKS, EXPLOSION GOES OFF BEFORE ABRUPTLY CUTTING]