Written by Tracy Hoida

Directed by Dylan S. Roberts

Sound design by Libby Lussenhop

Actors:

Iris played by Katherine Duffy

J. played by Amy Malcom

Jojo played by Ariana Gibealt

Intro: Auricle. Season 1 - Iris. This show contains adult content and strong language.

Sound: Old-school dial-up, followed by a cacophony of other connection/messaging notifications progressing toward contemporary and beyond. Tone.

Music: Commercially manufactured electronic music.

IRIS: The time is now. After nearly a decade of development, Iris has risen above other anonymous communication apps to provide the most comprehensive service utilizing ground-breaking artificial intuition and unprecedented technology to connect the disconnected and bring users together. If you have not experienced Iris yet, where have you been? The time is now. Download Iris today.

Sound: Tone.

J.: Iris?

Sound: Static.

IRIS: (distant and distorted) I’m sorry, I don’t know that.

J.: Iris, are you there?

Sound: Electric echo. Tuning.

J.: Iris?

Sound: Tuning.

J.: Iris, are you there?

IRIS: (distorted, but better) Yes, J.?

J.: Iris, can you hear me?

Sound: Tone

IRIS: (back to normal) Yes, J.

J.: Call Jojo.

IRIS: Calling Jojo.

Sound: Lo-fi music pulsing

JOJO: Jay you back?

Sound: Electric echo.

J.: (as if from far away) Sorry, I needed a few minutes. Um. What were we talking about?

JOJO: You sound weird. Like underwater or something.

Sound: Electric echo.

Sound: Electric whirl. Tuning.

J.: (closer but still distorted/static) Is that better?

JOJO: A little.

Sound: Electric echo. Electronic whirl. Tuning

J.: (normal) How about now?

JOJO: Perfect. Where were we?

J.: You were telling me a story...

JOJO: Oh yeah! I was in the middle of telling you about my most embarrassing memory per Iris’ suggestion.

J.: Yeah, freshman year in high school right? First day of school?

JOJO: Yeah, so first day I’m in woodworking class. God knows why we aren’t even using wood, who’d waste wood on a horde of pubescent pimple poppers ya know?

J.: What were you using then?

JOJO: What?

J.: If you weren’t using wood in wood working class what were you using?

JOJO: I don’t know, something synthetic. Hey, did you get to use real wood in your woodworking class in high school?

J.: No. I’m not that old, Jojo.

JOJO: Sorry! You said you were older than me.

J.: Not that much older.

JOJO: Okay. It doesn’t matter. So I’m in woodworking class and the teacher is trying to show us this drill press thing and I’m hiding in the back of the room cause I have some of the worst cramps I have ever had. And it's so heavy, I’m sure my pad is nearly at capacity. I want to bury myself in the floorboards, be anywhere but here, ya know?

J.: Yeah, sure okay.

JOJO: So I’m basically holding my breathe to keep from bursting and this mofo calls me to the front to try the press.

J.: He singled you out?

JOJO: Well. Okay, so not really. I mean, I was the only one at that point who hadn’t tried the press so I guess not really mofo behavior in retrospect, but at the time -ugh, I was pissed.

J.: So you...?

JOJO: I waddled up there, lifted my arms to grab the press handle thing, and at that very moment a cramp ripped through my lady bits, felt like I was stabbed and someone was twisting the knife. And I couldn’t take it, I just burst out crying.

J.: In front of the class?

JOJO: Just bawled. Mumbling and little bits of spittle coming out of my mouth or maybe they were tears, I don’t know, my face was just soaked and my nose started running too. Just - uuuuck.

J.: Wow. That’s... What did you do? I mean that -

JOJO: Poor teacher. Poor guy. Just leans over and swears up and down that he’s not mean and if I didn’t want to use the press I didn’t have to and I must have been pathetic past the point of being mocked cause everyone just looked scared. So embarrassing. (Jojo laughs.)

J.: What happened next?

JOJO: What do you mean?

J.: I mean, how’d you get out of it?

JOJO: Oh, I played dead.

J.: Haha, haha.

JOJO: Really, you don’t believe me?

J.: I didn’t say I didn’t believe you...

JOJO: I just possum’d. Fell over and closed my eyes and tried not to move an inch.

J.: That seems like it would escalate the situation instead of resolving it.

JOJO: Yeah. I didn’t think that far ahead. I ended up in the hospital.

J.: Shit.

JOJO: Yeah, so I was the girl who got picked up from her first day of high school in an ambulance.

J.: Did you get in trouble?

JOJO: (tense) No. For what?

J.: I don’t know... fake passing out?

JOJO: (back to relaxed) Everything was cool except for that teacher never asked me to do

another thing in that class ever again and I got an “A” for basically sitting quietly and not crying in his face.

J.: (amused) Poor Mr. Harris.

JOJO: Was his name Mr. Harris?

J.: Yeah, you said Mr. Harris called you up to the drill press and...so on.

Sound: Electric echo.

JOJO: Oh must have. Huh.

J.: (distant) What do you -

Sound: Electric echo.

JOJO: You’re breaking up again.

Sound: Electric whirl. Tuning.

J.: (better) Is this better?

JOJO: Almost.

Sound: Electric whirl. Tuning.

J.: (back to normal) How about now?

JOJO: Yeah, you’re good now. What are you in the middle of nowhere?

J.: No, I’m home.

JOJO: Must be a crappy signal in your area. You on data or wifi?

J.: It’s okay, just let me know if I start to sound weird again.

JOJO: Can do, can do.

J.: Uh, what do you want to talk about next?

JOJO: Oh you’re not getting out of this that easy.

J.: What?

JOJO: It’s your turn. C’mon fair is fair. What is your most embarrassing memory?

J.: I mean I don’t really have anything. Nothing like you...

JOJO: It’s not a competition, ya know? It could be something simple, just something that has stayed with you.

J.: I can’t really…

JOJO: C’mon. Fair is fair. My story had blood and tears and snot. Just tell me anything.

J.: I don’t like talking about the past.

JOJO: Well. Maybe... just tell me how you felt. Like you don’t have to say what happened, just how it...felt?

J.: Like... Like I was naked.

JOJO: You were naked?

J.: It felt like I was naked. I was embarrassed... and exposed. I had nothing between me and

...everything else.

JOJO: Wow. Uh. Okay.

J.:Sorry. That was a trauma dump.

JOJO: Well, in fairness I did push you to share...

J.: I shouldn’t have.

JOJO: It’s my bad.

J.: I should have kept -

JOJO: (laughs) Fine, we’re both wrong.

J.: Okay.

JOJO: What was the other one?

J.: What other what?

JOJO: The other thing Iris said to share...

J.: I don’t remember.

JOJO: Iris?

Sound: Tone.

IRIS: Yes, Jojo?

JOJO: What was the other thing?

IRIS: I’m sorry, I’m having trouble understanding what you mean.

JOJO: Uh, you asked us to share what our most embarrassing memory was and what our something-something, what was it?

IRIS: Please share your most embarrassing memory and your fondest memory.

JOJO: That was it. Fondest.

J.: So a memory we like?

JOJO: A memory we like.

J.: You go first.

JOJO: Nuhuh. I went first last time.

J.: The past. Like I said...

Sound: Electric echo. Whirling.

JOJO: I’m waiting.

J.: Fine. I had a cat. Well. A stray, but It lived in my neighborhood. It liked to do tightrope walks

along this railing outside. One of my first memories was watching the shadow of the cat walking back and forth along the railing. One of my first memories, I think.

JOJO: I like cats, too. Every neighborhood must have a cat like that. Mine was black. What color was your’s?

J.: I- don’t remember.

JOJO: But you remember -

J.: I just remember the shadow on the wall. Not the actual cat.

JOJO: Oh. That sucks. My black cat had those yellow eyes. Like real yellow like from a cartoon.

J.: Scary.

JOJO: Yeah, it was at first, but she was a sweetheart.

J.: Was your black cat your fondest memory?

JOJO: Maybe. I feels a bit like a cop out to copy yours.

J.: Just means we have something in common.

JOJO: Should we ask Iris for another prompt?

J.: What time is it where you are?

JOJO: Nearly eleven.

J.: What’s nearly?

JOJO: Uh 10:47.

J.: Nearly eleven.

JOJO: But I don’t have classes till like two tomorrow so I can stay up late no worries. And we still have more than an hour left on our session.

J.: I hope it's enough.

JOJO: Aw, are you getting attached to me, Jay?

J.: Maybe. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age.

JOJO: Neat. What did you say you did for a living?

J.: I monitor and study electromagnetic waves.

JOJO: Cool, I study telecommunications but more like, uh, cell phone stuff.

J.: Sounds interesting.

JOJO: With my grades I’ll probably end up strapped to the backside of a

cell tower until I can’t get my rickety ass up the ladder anymore. (Jojo laughs.)

J.: You’re smarter than you give yourself credit for.

JOJO: Not really. You know why I picked this major freshman year?

J.: Why?

JOJO: No windows.

J.: No windows?

JOJO: The student housing they have us in doesn’t have any windows.

J.: Sounds economical.

JOJO: Yeah, they may have saved a billion by putting ten thousand students in one mega dorm block, but I can tell you those student’s mental health is going to cost them in alumni donations.

J.: How does not having windows lead to studying telecommunications?

JOJO: Only the telecommunications students have keys to the roof, where the school's cell tower lab is.

J.: Are you on the roof now?

JOJO: No. It’s getting late. I would have gone an hour ago, but I might get in trouble now for getting caught up there so late.

Sound: Electric echo.

J.: (distant) Jojo go to the roof.

JOJO: What?

Sound: Electric echo. Sharper.

J.: (distant) I said go to the roof.

JOJO: The roof? Now?

J.: (distant) Go the roof now!

JOJO: The roof, the roof. Fine.

Sound: Door opening. Footsteps down hallway on tile.

Sound: Electric echo.

JOJO: Ya know, me getting a better signal isn’t going to fix things on your end.

Sound: Metal door opening. Footsteps up stairs on concrete.

Sound: Electric whirl. Tuning.

JOJO: You still there?

J.: (better) Yeah. Where are you?

JOJO: Stairway. Can’t take the elevator, that’d be the best way to get caught.

Sound: Static.

IRIS: (distorted) I’m sorry, the user has discon

Sound: Electric smack.

JOJO: What was that?

J.: (some crackling) Nothing.

JOJO: (chuckles) Ha, even Iris thinks your connection is shit.

J.: (back to normal) Tell me when you’re there.

Sound: Metal door opening and closing. Wind.

JOJO: Oh it’s nice tonight. The stars...I guess I can’t be mad at you for snapping at me.

J.: Promise me you’ll stay there until we finish talking.

JOJO: Ya know you’re getting a little weird.

J.: At least weird is interesting, right?

Sound: Electronic echo.

JOJO: Right... Huh.

J.: What?

JOJO: That’s what Grandma used to say. At least weird is interesting.

J.: All Grandma’s have a way of saying stuff like that.

JOJO: I used to call her a weirdo when I was a kid.

J.: Most kids find adults strange.

JOJO:She never left the house.

J.: Oh.

JOJO: I liked that stray cat cause it got to go outside wherever it wanted, whenever it wanted.

J.: I see.

JOJO: I shouldn’t have called her a weirdo.

J.: Kids aren’t always kind.

JOJO: And I never said sorry.

Sound: Electric static.

J.: I lost my grandma too when I was about that age.

JOJO: Senior year?

J.: Yes

JOJO: How’d you figure that?

J.: What?

JOJO: I didn’t say it was senior year.

J.: Oh. ...I just assumed.

JOJO: (soft laugh) Oh. You are weird. Grandma would have liked you. Weirdo.

J.: (soft laugh) I’m sure us two weirdos would have gotten along great.

JOJO: She raised me, ya know?

J.: That’s nice.

JOJO: (laughs) Most people ask what happened to my parents when I say my Grandma raised me.

J.: Not all kids are raised by their parents.

JOJO: How democratic of you to say.

J. clears her throat and sighs.

J.: Wow. I didn’t mean to dig all that up.

JOJO: (Jojo laughs it off.) That’s the point of the app though isn’t it? Not to feel bad about talking about this kind of stuff.

J.: What time is it now?

JOJO: 10:55. I’m on west coast time. In case you want to keep time on your own since its so important to you.

J.: Time there might be different then time here.

JOJO: What coast you on?

J.: Why don’t we ask Iris for another prompt?

JOJO: Fine. Iris?

Sound: Tone

IRIS: Yes, Jojo? Would you like to play a game?

JOJO: No, how about another prompt? Conversations getting a little too deep for us, weirdos.

IRIS: Okay. Here you go. Please share with each other your greatest regret and -

Sound: Cuts off with distortion.

JOJO: Shit, Iris! I said we’re getting sad over here and you ask for us to share our biggest regret?

J.: (shallow laugh) She does have a way of poking the wound, doesn’t she?

IRIS: (pop crackle static) Would you like a different prompt?

J.: Not sure we have time.

JOJO: (groans) We still have an hour, but whatever.

J.: Come on, what’s your biggest regret?

JOJO: How come I got to go first?

J.: I went first last time.

JOJO: (whine) Fine.

J.: I bet I can guess it.

JOJO: Okay smart ass, what’s my biggest regret?

J.: Something to do with your grandma.

JOJO: It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to figure that one out.

J.: Okay then, to be more exact. You let them take her out of the apartment. When she got sick. She didn’t want to go. Outside. She was sick and terrified and didn’t want to die in the hospital.

Sound: Electric echo.

JOJO: Fuck. That’s not. Possible. That’s a... good guess.

J.: You were only a kid

JOJO: I was eighteen. I was an adult.

J.: Eighteen is hardly an adult.

JOJO: She was crying, begging to stay.

J.: It wasn’t your fault.

JOJO: She died alone. Scared. In a place she felt... She wanted to be home.

J.: It wasn’t your fault.

JOJO: How the hell do you know? How the hell do you even know.... How?

J.: A good guess, I suppose.

JOJO: Fuck that. There’s no way you’re that good at guessing... who -

J.: My biggest regret -

JOJO: -the hell are you?

J.: Is the same is your regret. But it’s older. Set in. Like layers of paint, loneliness, grief, guilt.

All stacked up. A crust getting thicker with time. Made worse by every moment I spent alone. But I never felt more alone than in this next moment.

Sound: Electric echo. Static.

IRIS: (distorted) I’m sorry the user -

J.: (distant) After this. My regret will be I couldn’t do more.

Sound: Something like thunder. Crack. Cement cracking. Loud.

JOJO: What the fuck.

J.: (distant) Grab onto the cell tower!

JOJO: What is that sound?

Sound: Steel tearing moan. More cracking.

J.: (better) The building. It’s collapsing.

JOJO: I got to go.

J.: (back to normal) No, stay! Hold onto the tower.

Sound: Rumbling. More moaning. More cracking.

JOJO: I have to get out.

Sound: Electric echo. Tuning.

IRIS: (barely distinguishable) I’m sorry, I don’t know that.

J.: You won’t make it. The elevator won’t work. You’ll be crushed in the stairwell. Stay.

JOJO: (short breaths) I... what do I do?

Tone: Metal creaking.

J.: Hold on to the tower. They’ll find you.

Sound: Rumbling. More moaning. More cracking.

JOJO: What?

J.: You’re going to be buried. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to be... ...But you’ll be okay.

JOJO: What am I suppose to do...

Sound: Rumbling. More moaning. More cracking. Jojo screams.

J.: Stay with me. We’re doing it together. And we have time. I’ll stay with you.

JOJO: How did you know?

J.: I was there. I am there. (weak laugh) I’m you.

JOJO: Not possible.

J.: In ten years you’ll use Iris to call back to yourself.

JOJO: But -

J.: Listen. You have time after to figure it out. I did. You will figure it out.

Sound: Rumbling. More moaning. More cracking. Shifting.

JOJO: I’m going to die.

J.: You were going to live.

Jojo starts to hyperventilate.

JOJO: Why didn’t you warn me... stop it... save everyone...

Sound: Electric echo.

J.: It’s complicated. Space and time and changing a future already set by the past.

JOJO: You could try.

J.: I can’t change the past.

JOJO: You could try.

J.: I can’t. Anytime I get close the signal gets lost.

Sound: Crumbling. Cracking. Moaning

JOJO: But -

J.: Maybe it’s how it has to be.

JOJO: But -

J.: I know.

JOJO: So many people.

J.: I know.

Jojo panics, can’t breathe.

J.: Deep breaths, Joanna.

JOJO: The ground is... cracking.

Sound: Cracking. Louder.

J.: I know. Breathe with me, Joanna.

J. rhythmically breathes. Jojo slowly meets her pace.

Sound: Rumbling. More moaning. More cracking.

JOJO: Oh god.

J.: It’s nearly time. Hold onto the tower.

JOJO: Stay with me!

J.: I’m here.

JOJO: Can you tell me... so I know... how they save me?

Sound: Metal groan. Sirens.

JOJO: (panic resurfacing) Oh god!

J.: Uhh.. Ah.. A red firefighter’s hat... covered in powered sugar. Uhhh... gloves. Thick gloves. Yellow and reaching for you.

Sound: A long groan from the building. Steel snaps.

JOJO: Fuck.

J.: Here goes.

JOJO: Yellow gloves.

J.: Hold on.

JOJO: I’m alone.

J.: You are. But you’re not alone!

Sound: Crack. Crash. Thunder. Collapse. Muffled tumbling wreckage.

J.: Jojo?!

JOJO: I’m here.

Sound: Tone.

Theme Music

Outro: Auricle was created by Felicia Dominguez. Iris, episode 3: Signals, was written by Tracy Hoida. Direction by Dylan Roberts. Sound Design by Libby Lussenhop. With performances by Ariana Gibeault, Amy Malcom, and Katherine Duffy. Theme music by Troy Cruz. Graphic design and marketing by Shira Kresch. Special thanks to Tracy Hoida, Troy Cruz, and Maddie Wakely.. Auricle is made possible through donations from listeners like you. If you’d like to donate, please visit our website auriclethepodcast.com and view the donation page to make a one-time donation. If you are a fan of our work, please subscribe/follow/rate us wherever you listen, or follow us on instagram or twitter @auricle_podcast. For questions or pitches, email us at auriclethepodcast@gmail.com. Thank you, users.

THE END