RQ Network Feed Drop - Push the Roll with Ross Bryant: The Butterfly Factory Part 1 with Brennan Lee Mulligan

Summary

Podcast Summary:

The Magnus Archives / Push the Roll with Ross Bryant: The Butterfly Factory Part 1
Release Date: February 11, 2026
Guests: Brennan Lee Mulligan & cast

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode is a crossover "feed drop" introducing listeners of The Magnus Archives to a collaborative, improvised actual play session of Push the Roll with Ross Bryant. Set within a darkly comic and immersive Call of Cthulhu scenario, “The Butterfly Factory” explores themes of art, counterculture, Cold War paranoia, and cosmic horror, set in a stylized, Warhol-esque 1970s New York art scene. The story blends eerie horror, absurdist humor, social satire, and creative roleplay, with each player bringing a unique, vivid character to the table.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Character & World Creation ([00:44]-[21:58])

• Improvisational Setup:
  The scenario is chosen randomly from Patreon subscriber suggestions—a D100 roll (25) yields The Butterfly Factory as the title, submitted by user Klorpdonk.
  Quote – Ross Bryant [02:36]:
  “The title is the Butterfly Factory.”

• Thematic Juxtaposition:
  Players dissect the meaning of “Butterfly Factory”—contrasting images of beauty, fragility, freedom (butterfly) with industrial sterility, artifice, and consumerism (factory).
  Quote – Ross Bryant [03:57]:
  “The butterfly, this beautiful symbol of natural loveliness, freedom... And the Factory, choking the air with smoke and noise.”

• Setting Inspiration and Character Archetypes:
  The group riffs on Warhol’s Factory, the New York art world, and relevant cultural touchstones:

  • Margot Marceau: Overworked assistant/antiquarian, yearning for artistic legitimacy. (Paula)
  • Velvet Bloom: Pale, idle party boy/poet with fragile ego, driven by scene status. (Cup)
  • Willow: Fashionable, vacuous dilettante/model, always name-dropping and trend-chasing. (Nick)
  • Alan Clay: The enigmatic “art dealer”—actually a CIA agent using art to battle Cold War ideology. (Brennan Lee Mulligan)

• Meta Commentary on Art and Politics:
  Brennan Lee Mulligan weaves in the era’s real-life history: the CIA's covert promotion of abstract expressionism as cultural propaganda.
  Quote – Brennan [10:58]:
  “...I would like to be an American CIA agent…to promote abstract expressionism as a means of producing American cultural assets totally devoid of revolutionary or populist sentiment...”

• Luck Mechanics & "Pushing the Roll":
  Tutorial for listeners on Call of Cthulhu’s luck and “push the roll” mechanics.
  Quote – Ross [21:27]:
  “...if you fail a role, you can always spend luck... Or, per the title of the show, push the roll…if you succeed, you succeed, but if you fail a pushed roll, something terrible happens.”

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Immersion into the Fictional World ([22:21]-[26:44])

• Opening Scene:
  A highly atmospheric, sensory plunge:

  • Dim, dust-filled bookstore; a mysterious paperback titled The Butterfly Factory.
  • Vivid visual and olfactory details shift to the pulsing nightlife of 1970s downtown New York.

• Setting the Stage:
  The players’ characters are at an exclusive party hosted by top artist Bruno Banks, surrounded by pop art installations and wild nightlife.
  Quote – Ross [26:35]:
  “…hanging from the ceiling are...enormous vinyl boxes of Malta meal and Cheerios and detergent that are bulbously dangling from the ceiling…”

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Character Moments, Banter & Social Dynamics ([27:04]-[31:16])

• Individual Ambitions & Dissatisfactions:

  • Margot expresses veiled frustration at being the unrecognized labor behind Banks’ work.
  • Velvet seeks validation, pushing poetry and persona on the crowd.
  • Willow is constantly angling for social advantage, always looking for someone higher status.

• Alan Clay's Understated Power:
  Alan, coolly confident, scans the party for leverage—an outsider who “makes” the next big thing.

• Historic & Absurdist Humor:
  Brennan Lee Mulligan gleefully drops period-appropriate and referential jokes:
  Quote – Brennan [29:16]:
  “I knew him when it was just The Door.”

• Tickets to the Afterparty:
  The coveted tickets to “The Butterfly Factory” afterparty become a powerful social token. Willow cruelly refuses Cherry Coke entry.
  Quote – Ross [30:42]:
  “Willow, you don’t happen to have a plus one, do you?”
  Quote – Nick [30:57]:
  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Cherry…it’s just, you know, we have to keep it small, otherwise it’s not as fun…”

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Flashbacks: How Each Character Receives an Invitation ([31:20]-[46:43])

• Willow’s Scene – Model Casting ([31:20]):
  Details of the edgy fashion world, warbled jukeboxes, unsettling sculptures, and eerie bathroom setup.
  Willow is handed the invitation by a photographer, who reveals it’s not Bruno’s party but one thrown by someone new—Ivy Wyld.
  Quote – Ross [35:48]:
  “This is from Ivy Wyld…”

• Velvet Bloom’s Scene – Open Mic Poetry ([36:24]):
  Velvet’s performance is initially lackluster, but pushing the roll with confrontational poetry (throwing coins at the audience) wins over the crowd.
  Quote – Cup [39:13]:
  “The moon’s a nickel…”
  Quote – Ross [39:32]:
  “You didn’t have them at first, but the sky falling on them in the form of change... This confrontational act has really won the crowd…”

  Afterward, a mysterious, sharply dressed man gifts Velvet the invite, referencing Ivy Wyld.

• Margot’s Scene – In Bruno’s Studio ([41:09]):
  Bruno pontificates about supermarket angels; dismisses Margot’s efforts and ideas in a flurry of narcissism.
  Outside, after missing the bus, she’s helped by a stranger (the same mysterious man), who praises her talent and surreptitiously slips the invitation into her folder.
  Quote – Paula [45:11]:
  “I guess they’re not very good. I was just trying to capture the feeling of that something, you know, that thing you almost see and then you don’t see it…”

• Alan Clay’s Scene – Gallery Backroom ([46:52]):
  Alan is approached by Curtis Crockett, a collector (and likely government contact), who suggests Ivy Wyld might be a Soviet asset—an opportunity or a threat.
  Quote – Ross [50:29]:
  “We don’t know where this Ms. Wyld originally came from...she does definitely have artistic connections in Eastern Europe...”
  Quote – Brennan [52:06]:
  “Perfectly. I’m going to kill this woman.” (Redline: humorously pulled back as too dark, emphasizing the espionage paranoia.)

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Convergence and the Call to Adventure ([54:37]-End)

• Back to the Party:
  The crew regroups, realizing all have exclusive tickets—mystery and anticipation build for the Butterfly Factory afterparty thrown by enigmatic Ivy Wyld.

• Closing Words/Cliffhanger:
  Quote – Ross Bryant [55:35]:
  “...it may be time to go cross town, deeper into downtown to the Butterfly Factory and meet your estimable host, Ms. Ivy Wyld. Only the strange ones now.”
  Quote – Paula [55:35]:
  “Only the strange ones now.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Premise:
  Ross Bryant [02:52]:
  “The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos...Anytime, any place, anything can happen when you push the roll.”

• On Art and Espionage:
  Brennan Lee Mulligan [12:25]:
  “...the CIA and the American government promoting abstract expressionist art...as a way of promoting the American project of freedom while de-rescinating American art of its radical messaging.”

• On Scene Status:
  Nick (as Willow) [30:57]:
  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Cherry…it’s just, you know, we have to keep it small, otherwise it’s not as fun…”

• On Artistic VIPs:
  Brennan Lee Mulligan (as Alan Clay) [29:16]:
  “I knew him when it was just The Door.”

• On Pushing the Roll:
  Ross Bryant [21:27]:
  “If you fail a role, you can always spend luck... Or ‘push the roll’ – where you try what you are doing harder, maybe using a different tactic. If you succeed, you succeed; if you fail, something terrible happens.”

• On Cosmic Absurdity:
  Brennan Lee Mulligan [54:23]:
  “[Alan]...Got my hands around a big raw pumpkin, taking big ol’ chomps out of it, going, I love America.”

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Important Timestamps

• [00:44] Ross introduces the game, random adventure title selection
• [02:36] Title revealed: The Butterfly Factory
• [10:58] Brennan proposes CIA art agent character
• [21:27] Explanation of “pushing the roll” mechanic
• [22:21] Immersive, cinematic scene introduction
• [26:35] Party setup: Bruno Banks’ art event
• [31:20] Flashbacks: receiving the afterparty invitations
• [36:24] Velvet’s poetry performance (and “pushing” a failed roll)
• [41:09] Margot’s studio scene: dismissive boss, strange benefactor
• [46:52] Alan Clay’s backroom espionage meeting
• [54:37] Characters converge, heading to the Butterfly Factory afterparty

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Style & Tone

• The episode is playful, sharp, satirical, and deeply atmospheric, mixing dry humor with cosmic horror and 1970s art-world absurdity.
• Appealing banter, literary references, and a sense of improvisational creativity throughout.
• Players frequently “push the roll” both literally and in embracing genre fiction tropes.

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For Further Listening

• To continue the story with “The Butterfly Factory Part 2,” subscribe to Push the Roll with Ross Bryant or visit rustyquill.com.

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Summary prepared for listeners of The Magnus Archives and fans of actual play horror/comedy podcasts.

Transcript

[Karine]

Hi, everyone, it's Karine, the voice of Simon Fairchild from the Magnus archives. Today we're sharing a recent episode from one of the brilliant podcasts on the RQ Network, Push the Roll with Ross Bryant. Push the Roll with Ross Bryant is a weekly improvised comedy horror actual play podcast from the creators of the award winning 8 Slave Nobody podcast. Each episode features improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures combining cosmic horror, tabletop RPG and dark comedy filled with amazing special guests. This is part one of the Butterfly Factory and features a guest appearance from Brennan Lee Mulligan. To listen to the next exciting episode, which is out now, click on the link in the description or search for Push the Roll with Ross Bryant wherever you get your podcasts, or you can find more information on rustyquill.com or pushtherolle.com have fun and enjoy the episode.

[Ross Bryant]

Welcome to Push the Roll. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. The blank page lies before us. We stand vertiginously at the lip of chaos. Let's see where chance takes us. We got cup, we got Nick, we got Paula, we got Brennan in the building. Thank you all so much for joining us.

[Cup]

You're welcome, Ross.

[Nick]

Absolute pleasure.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

This is so fun and it's so exciting.

[Paula]

Happy to be here.

[Ross Bryant]

So we're going to improvise a Call of Cthulhu game right off the top, inspired by a title. Now, we've got a full table of titles as submitted by our Patreon subscribers. So I think we have 100 titles that have been submitted by our. Our friendly subscribers just this month. That's right.

[Cup]

I actually randomly picked a selection of 100 from the more than 100 that we received.

[Ross Bryant]

That's amazing. Wow.

[Paula]

What is wrong with you people?

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah, people are twisted and creative. So let's see what their sick minds have created. So would somebody like to do the honors and roll a D100 to see what figure we get which will then randomly decide which title will inspire our little adventure today?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I'll roll it.

[Cup]

Yes.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes. Brendan, do the honors.

[Paula]

I think that's the perfect solution.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

25.

[Ross Bryant]

All right, cup. 25.

[Cup]

Okay.

[Paula]

Okay. Interesting reaction.

[Cup]

Yeah. Oh, this is great. This is a great title. No. So this comes from Klorpdonk user Klorpdonk.

[Paula]

I know. Klorpdonk.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, Hello, Klorpdonk.

[Cup]

Okay, this is rigged. Paula knows.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Klorpdonk of the Long Island Donks.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes. Yeah, of course.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The.

[Cup]

The title is the Butterfly Factory.

[Paula]

Oh, okay. Interesting.

[Ross Bryant]

The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos. Infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way? This is Push the Roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon. Suggestions? To create improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures in real time with themes of eldritch horror. The weird, the transhuman, the transmundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anything punk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, any place, anything can happen when you push the roll.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Now that's a whimsical, delightful creature. But a Factory conjures images of industrial waste and sterility and grime. There's a thematic juxtaposition even within the title, and I think that's the direction Klorpdonk is pointing us in.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, this crafty Klorpdonk. Yes, this antithesis, that Corpdonk is so craftily placed into the title. The Butterfly Factory. Yes, the butterfly, this beautiful symbol of natural loveliness, freedom, its gossamer wings plying the sky. And the Factory, the choking the air with smoke and noise. What does this make me think of? The Butterfly Factory? Well, I hear Butterfly Factory. I'm instantly thinking just. Just butterflies thinking of, like, butterfly effect things rippling out, butterflies making me think just of beauty, natural loveliness and fragility, softness in contrasting with the Factory. The Factory not only makes me think of a giant cement structure with an enormous smokestack pouring smoke into the sky, but also Andy Warhol.

[Paula]

Okay, nice.

[Ross Bryant]

The Factory being, of course, what he called his art studio, where all kinds of artsy and fashionable eccentrics would gather. The Butterfly Factory. To me, just as a title, it sounds to me like a paperback. You're there at the sort of a spinet rack in your used bookstore, thumbing through the weathered paperbacks with cracked and faded covers. And the Butterfly Factory really seems like something that you'd see there printed in the 60s or 70s. I think this is where. This is where my imagination is just kind of like, pushing me here. I'd like us to all think of characters that would be in a Warhol esque, smart set in, like, 19, late 60s, early 1970s New York. We're thinking Edie Sedgwicks, young socialites. We're thinking rock musicians. We're thinking artists, weirdos, people from the Upper east side slumming it on the downtown scene.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Paula]

Well, my first thought. I don't know if this exactly matches what you just pitched us, Ross. So feel free to help me mold this. But my first thought is the like kind of put upon assistant who is there maybe really wants to be, you know, an artist herself. But right now, relegated to brush cleaning, canvas stretching, we are mining the depths of my painting knowledge. You know, really wants to prove that she could do that. Maybe she was just given a shot to do it.

[Ross Bryant]

That absolutely tracks with what we're, we're talking about, especially if we're thinking of that, that era in art and a Warhol esque figure in particular. You're, you're thinking of the, this sort of reframing of the concept of an artist from this, this person daubing paint on a canvas, but rather a corporate CEO managing a whole group of employees who are, who are pushing out material. You probably have a bunch of these sort of henpecked assistants doing the work.

[Paula]

Yeah, yeah. Let me see. What. I'm just going to dig into the old 1920s character sheets. I think those are my old reliables.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah. Maybe this could be an artist themself, a frustrated artist or craftsman or.

[Paula]

Yeah, I think so. Someone who was promised, hey, just take this internship. It'll lead to something. But it hasn't yet. How long do I have to do this before I am elevated to the position of artist myself? So yeah, I'm gonna find, I think an artist character sheet here. I'll consider. Names come back to me for names. I'm not sure yet. It's the hardest part of any character.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah, of course. Well, cultural touchstones, things like downtown 81 or I shot Andy Warhol or Basquiat or maybe some of the movies that he made. Or think of Lou Reed's song Walk on the Wild side. This is the sort of milieu we're cooking with. And if you're thinking of names, the Warhol superstars had some pretty incredible names that might get your, your mind going. Names like Cherry Vanilla or Brigid Berlin or Candy Darling or Ultra Violet.

[Paula]

Oh my gosh. Yes. Okay, that's, that's great.

[Cup]

See, I only have a name. I actually went into the Regency set and grabbed a poet. But I'm picturing someone who actually is just like super pale from being indoors all the time, working across different mediums for art, but isn't particularly good at any of them and figured that he could maybe get away with that in poetry. To say, maybe you're just not sophisticated enough to understand my poems. But I have Velvet Bloom and as my character name.

[Nick]

It's a nice one.

[Paula]

I love that.

[Ross Bryant]

That's absolutely Perfect.

[Cup]

Yeah. And he's like. He projects confidence, but he's quite fragile because he's surrounded by. Well, we'll see, right? Brilliant artists.

[Ross Bryant]

Potentially confident and striking, yet fragile. Not unlike a butterfly. Wonderful.

[Paula]

Yeah.

[Nick]

I'm kind of stuck on this Nico esque kind of artist too, but I feel like we might have too many artists, so maybe the kind of, like, aristocrat. Really leaning on the association with creative types. Kind of fancying themselves also, but. Or an artist as well, but not really able to produce anything. So just, you know, hanging out, waiting for inspiration.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah. I also also put out there that like. So the type of person you're describing is often just like the. These sort of, like, scene mavens, these scenius people who just have this kind of natural charisma and maybe even like a model.

[Paula]

Yeah. I was gonna say someone could be there whose job is to inspire the art being created.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah. So amuse.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Paula]

Yeah, that's the word I was looking for.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Paula]

Like Twiggy.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah, yeah, Like Twiggy or Eddie Sedgwicker.

[Nick]

I'm not sure which character sheet would work best with this. I mean, honestly, maybe just dilettant.

[Ross Bryant]

That dilettante sounds pretty good. Yeah.

[Paula]

I've actually grabbed the antiquarian.

[Ross Bryant]

I love that. The antiquarian, I feel like, is great. That gives me a picture that this character might have an art history degree or something like that, and they actually know a lot about the art of yore that maybe is being subverted in the new set that you're involved with.

[Paula]

Look, you gotta know the rules to be able to break the rules.

[Nick]

Mm, so true.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah. What are you thinking? What are you thinking, Brennan?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I would like to be. And this is a contentious point of history. There are differing reports on this. However, I would like to be an American CIA agent who, due to the Cold War initiative by the CIA to promote abstract expressionism as a means of producing American cultural assets totally devoid of revolutionary or populist sentiment. I think I want to be a, like, art dealer.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, A quote unquote art dealer. Yes, yes.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

One of those art dealers who's funding art and seems to have access to galleries. You're the one that can buy your art.

[Paula]

There's a lot of quotations happening here.

[Ross Bryant]

Where does that budget come from for all those artworks? What sort of arms deals are going on in the side? Yes, the galleries. We're big scare quotes here. Scare quotes flapping in the air, not unlike butterflies, wings. And yes, I too, Brennan, am fascinated with this concept. That's Floated up in a culture of the CIA and the American government promoting abstract expressionist art in particular as a way of promoting the American project of freedom while de rescinating American art of its. Of its radical messaging.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The 60s had this huge Woody Guthrie resurgence in folk art and folk traditions and folk music. And as someone who I feel like grew up in New York City and was often chided for a degree of culturelessness, but by not being moved by abstract expressionist artwork, I found myself giddy with elation when a connection was made between it as an actual weapon of government promoted meaninglessness. As I went, aha. My assumptions about this art were 100% correct. As a 7 year old, I went, I don't think this is anything. And they went, no, it's something. And then later I read the CIA promoted this because it wasn't anything.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, go. Go back into your history books and compare, if you will, a. The socialist realism of a beautiful 1930s WPA mural as compared with a picture of a can of soup.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Hell yeah.

[Ross Bryant]

But yes, these, the both of these are expressions of a particular relationship with commodity and industry. The sort of things that are made in factories.

[Paula]

Ooh, we're.

[Ross Bryant]

We're cooking with gas here, folks. I love this. I love, I love in particular Brennan, that bringing in a CIA agent, because that is all part of the stew of this time period. Also this Cold war paranoia and dancing on the edge of apocalypse that all of this scene has of like, yeah, my gosh, maybe we're, we're going to have our 15 minutes of fame because maybe 15 minutes is all we got because we have a lot of missiles trained on each other and who knows when it's all gonna go down. So, cup. Do we have a sense of who Velvet Bloom is kind of occupation wise?

[Cup]

Yeah, I don't think he actually has a real occupation. I think maybe like some of the others here, he's just kind of flitting about, going from party to party, trying to make an impression on everyone else. I think he walks around, he probably has some family money that's allowing him to do this. He came up to New York from New Jersey. He is often seen wearing a thrift store tuxedo jacket with no shirt on underneath, metallic scarves, really intricate sunglasses. Sometimes he wears those see through vinyl raincoats. He just wants to be seen. And he's always kind of pushing his terrible poetry on everyone, hoping that somebody finds deeper meaning in it and then can kind of push him up so that maybe he gets featured in like, these art Galleries or some of these really well known poetry readings that are happening around the city.

[Ross Bryant]

All right, excellent. Velvet bloom. Party boy, poet, scene maker.

[Cup]

Oh, and now that you said party boy, I'm thinking, like, floppy blonde hair that's, like, falling over his eyes as well.

[Paula]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nick]

Like emulating Warhol.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah, pretty much, yes. Paula, do you have a name for your overworked antiquarian?

[Paula]

Yes, Margot Marceau.

[Cup]

Ooh.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, love that.

[Paula]

And, yeah, I think she looks more academic and harried than she does this, like, kind of pop culture idea of what an artist looks like. Maybe more like what velvet bloom looks like. She doesn't quite live up to the glamour idea of someone creating art, but she knows within her she could. She could.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes.

[Paula]

They would just let me.

[Ross Bryant]

You're right on the cusp.

[Paula]

And Marceau is not my real last name, but if I go by that, people will think I'm more artsy.

[Ross Bryant]

What about this fashionable dilettante, Nick?

[Nick]

I think that she goes by Willow. Not her real name, but she's gonna be this, like, in the 60s, that whole, you know, emaciated aesthetic, how beauty was equated with basically, like, not really being there. She's always in latest fashion. So, you know, she's in the. You have to forgive me. I don't know anything about 60s fashion. She's always in the, you know, the latest Mary Quant or Yves Saint Laurent and is very concerned about the, like, aesthetics of things. And so she's a name dropper. She's everything you would expect from someone who doesn't have a lot of their own personality and relies on kind of like, subsuming everything around them that has been designated as cool or avant garde or cutting edge fashion. Cutting edge art, all of this. The takeaway here is insufferable.

[Ross Bryant]

Okay, all right. Maybe. Maybe to some we sound like perfect.

[Cup]

Pawns for the CIA, all three of us.

[Nick]

Which segues beautifully into great assets.

[Ross Bryant]

All of you. And. And please tell us more about our gallery owner.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I would love to. My character's name is Alan Clay. He is. And. Well, or at least that's the name he goes by. And I think that he appeared in town about seven years ago. He was a regional gallery art scene person who was a very big deal in the Twin Cities, although someone else heard that it was actually St. Louis, and someone else had actually heard that it was maybe Pittsburgh, but he was a big gallery dealer somewhere else. And I think that he has essentially come in to this scene. And the main role, he's like an Introducer. I think that's the main thing that he does. He buys pieces himself from time to time, but the main thing he does is make those connections and promote people. And I think that a lot of what he does privately is sort of market making is like the people that he. There's been a couple times where he'll have been someone's first big purchase. So, like, the first piece that someone sells for an enormous amount of money. And lo and behold, once you've sold one piece for a lot of money, typically the art scene for all of its visionaries tends to produce a lot of following. And all people need to hear is that someone sold a piece for a ton of money. And that sort of seems to imply that they're the next big thing. And art thrives on the next big thing. So Alan Clay is a next big thing maker extraordinaire.

[Paula]

Wow.

[Ross Bryant]

A spotter. Finding these blue chip artists, artists early in their career.

[Paula]

If I can just get Alan to look at some of my work, maybe I can get out of here.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think Alan has a little bit of that. He's a thin, reedy man. I think he's like 5, 10 or something like that, where everything about him is square but seems to be an affectation. So he's got, like, in the style of the time, like, thick framed glasses, wears a black suit or like a charcoal, a nice dark charcoal suit. But everything is always, like, a safe choice with a wink. Sort of that thing of like. Of like, well, you're the artist. Like, let me not be taking up any air in the room. But everything seems to be done with a wink. But there's this weird question of, like, is it being done with a wink, or have we talked ourselves into this square being important in this community? Hard to say. So that's sort of what he looks. It's sort of like. It's like, look at the hip square in the corner. Oh, he hasn't said anything funny or interesting all night. Oh, no. Like, oh, wait. Oh, this is just a guy with a lot of money. But again, things are tailored. It's nice. So he's not a total goon. In other words.

[Ross Bryant]

Great. Wonderful. These people have really come into focus. I love this.

[Nick]

Should we roll luck?

[Ross Bryant]

Let's see how lucky you are. Roll 3D6 and multiply that figure by five. And that is how lucky your character is. And you can drop that stat into your luck.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Ew.

[Nick]

Make smart choices.

[Paula]

Cup. Oh, boy.

[Cup]

I always do. 40. Oh, no.

[Paula]

Let's see. Oh, I did pretty good.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I have a 65. Luck.

[Nick]

Dang.

[Ross Bryant]

That's great.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yeah.

[Paula]

N. Oh, that's better than me.

[Ross Bryant]

So, of course, if you. If you fail a role, you can always spend luck to bring it down to the relative level of success that you would like. The other. The other method of attempting to succeed where you have failed is you can, per the title of the show, push the roll where you try what you are doing harder, maybe using a different tactic. You roll the same skill, and if you succeed, you succeed. But if you fail a pushed roll, something terrible happens to you. High risk, high reward.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Lovely. Cool, cool, cool.

[Ross Bryant]

Okay, here we go. Oh, dear.

[Paula]

I just got nervous.

[Ross Bryant]

What?

[Paula]

Because you didn't you just go? It made me ne.

[Ross Bryant]

Because I laughed. Good boy. Yes. Okay.

[Paula]

See, you did it again.

[Ross Bryant]

In darkness. Smell. Dust. The smell of dust invades your nostrils. It's palpable, like an atmosphere in here, hanging in the air. It's the smell of dust and paper. It's a bookstore. You're walking through teetering piles of. Of used poems. On either side of you down a long hallway. The topics, history, architecture, art, spirituality, occult. Moving deeper and darker to the back. And there is one. One turning rack. And just see your hand reach out and push it around and pluck out one weathered paperback on his cover. There is a beautiful oil paint illustration of a young woman in a body suit writhing either in pain or in ecstasy in dance. Lights strobe out in the darkness on this cover. And it seems as though a rather loesch man is lounging there in the darkness, looking at her. The title, the Butterfly Factory. And you can see some of the writing beneath the promotional copy. The dark beauty of the young set fluttered through the night. But something was waiting to pluck their wings. And as you look deeper and deeper into the. Just the black paint, as you kind of thumb through it, the price. Oh, steal only $2. It's a little bit damaged there in the darkness of that cover, there's something that seems to resolve. There's something else in the art there. The paint on the COVID Is that a face? No, it's just something there in the darkness that you can't quite see. Waiting there in the darkness as we move into that cover. Through the COVID into the COVID into that darkness. The darkness of the night. No longer in the bookstore. No longer the smell of dust, but the smell of wafting up from the Sewer grates of 1970 New York. Steam billows up from manhole covers. You can hear the yellow taxis rush by. You can hear sounds crackling out of a Zenith television shop that you're moving by. And you can hear like the Vietnam War continues as more of the war dead come through. Unrest in one continued today as more cars were set on fire. The President. As we're moving, moving through the city. Downtown. We're in downtown as we move down a flight of stairs into the lower level of a building as the music is getting louder. The smell is not of the night, it is not of dust, it is of sweat. And you're hearing bass, guitar, organ, tambourine, rock and roll music as we're moving into this smart set party. We follow two women in each other's arms, passionately embraced against a wall. A mirror ball throws light on them. A small, older bearded man with a cocktail kind of waddles by hand in hand with a young model. We move through the dance floor of a bunch of people doing the fruge and. Yeah, doing the fruge and cutting shapes in the, in the darkness. And we're moving through, through, through. And let's, let's land on our, on our party here. Perhaps all, all of you sitting together, let's say, in a booth off in a corner here. This is a party thrown by your boss, Margot Marceau. This is a. This is a party thrown by Bruno Banks, who is one of the hottest pop artists on the scene right now. And in fact, hanging from the ceiling are some of Brumino Banks artworks. They are enormous vinyl boxes of Malta meal and Cheerios and detergent that are sort of bulbously dangling from the ceiling. You know them well because you helped stitch them together.

[Paula]

Yeah, I actually did most of the work, but I am under strict, like NDA to never tell anyone that I did most of that.

[Ross Bryant]

Great. The music is so loud. There are five people in black leather up on a stage. They're all playing instruments except for one of them whose instrument appears to be a bullwhip that she is cracking at intervals and. But you are. You are in conversation.

[Paula]

I'm actually really lucky to work for Bruno. I'm learning so much from him and I know it's really going to really launch my career one of these days. And I take another big gulp of my drink as I say this over the din of the music.

[Cup]

You are lucky. He's a genius. How do you come up with ideas like this?

[Paula]

Boy, I guess just inspiration strikes or something and then you tell other people to do it. Drink.

[Nick]

Just disproportionately loud peel of laughter escapes from Willow as it becomes clear that she's not actually listening. But Rather keeping her eyes scanning the crowd to see if anyone more famous or slightly higher status comes by that she could glom onto and then go off and, you know, converse with.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah. Perhaps your eyes notice the actual Jim Morrison is shimmying by out on the dance floor there with his shirt off and beads around his neck. He looks on the verge of passing out, but he is. He is dancing out there.

[Nick]

Yeah. I think. I think Willow might be starting to scoot a little bit out of her seat in that direction.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think Alan is seated all the way in the corner of the booth and is doing that thing where you're sitting in the corner of a booth where you're tilting out to face the room where it's like. Rather than sitting with his back to the cushion, he's sitting with his back to the wall in that corner and has a cigarette that he's smoking indoors.

[Paula]

Oh, boy, what a time.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

And he sort of. I think he hits everybody with very warm eyes, that. The eyes are very warm, but the smile is very patronizing, you know, like, the mouth is sort of crooked, but the eyes are very kind. So he's like, look at all these little birdies flying hither and yon. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful scene, as always. Oh, Jim, look at. There goes Jim. I've worked with Jim.

[Paula]

You've met Jim?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Jim's an old friend. We go way, way back.

[Paula]

Wow.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I knew him when it was just the door.

[Paula]

Wow, that's.

[Nick]

That's so interesting. It's just that I've. I've also spent a lot of time with Jim, and, you know, he never really mentioned you. It's just. I guess we were just partying so hard that it didn't come up.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, I'm like a pair of drawers on the floor. Unmentionable.

[Paula]

Mr. Clay.

[Ross Bryant]

Yeah, your laughter, laughter, laughter. Almost drowned out by the fuzz guitar coming from the stage and the occasional bullwhip cracks. A young woman suddenly is, like, leaning against you, Willow. This is just a young girl from the scene. You know, she goes by the name Cherry Coke. And she is, like, kind of looming over you, like, oh. Oh, my God. Where. Where did you get those? Are you going to the after party? And she lowers her sunglasses and looks down at the table in the center of all of you, where each of you has set on the table. This is probably what started your conversation earlier, A ticket to the after party. And you can see the ring of the four of them making a little cross there in the center of the table. And on each one, stamped with a rubber stamp, it says the butterfly factory. Very, very exclusive. Willow, you don't happen to have a plus one, do you?

[Nick]

Oh, I'm so sorry, Cherry. It's just, you know, we have to keep it small, otherwise it's not as fun. But I promise I will tell you all about it when I see you next time.

[Ross Bryant]

You can tell that she's, like, dying inside when you look at her eyes. And then she just pushes her sunglasses up and leans in close. Is like, you promised to tell me everything but Besitos. And she kisses you on each cheek and shimmies back into the crowd.

[Paula]

Ah, she's the worst.

[Nick]

To everyone else at the table after she scuttles away.

[Ross Bryant]

It's a week ago. Willem, you are at a model casting. It's a pale white psych of a room. And let's just see, like, a photo of Willow. Bang. Standing with one arm above her head. Bang. Leaning on a bicycle. Bang. In a full leather jumpsuit unzipped to the navel. Bang. And see the photographer there. All right. Wow. Okay, Great stuff. We'll call by the end of the day to let you know.

[Nick]

That's fantastic. Maybe we could do just some extra, you know, slightly more risque shots just to pad out the set.

[Ross Bryant]

Like, wow. Something a little artistic.

[Nick]

You read my mind.

[Ross Bryant]

I would like each one of you. I'm loving this idea of, like, generative scene painting. What about this model casting office tells us that it is at the absolute bleeding edge of fashion, but is also a little, like, as we've already recognized, a little bit erotical and maybe a little bit cloying in its perversions.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I think that there are bronze sculptures that are exaggeratedly willowy. Human figures, like, dancing throughout. The sort of stick figure sculptures are supposed to be very featureless, but these ones have been left mostly featureless, except they all have very wide, empty eye sockets in a level of detail that leaves you, like. I don't know, it's just a little bit unsettling.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes. Yes, there is something unsettling about these figures. Anyone else have a detail to add to this room, to this office?

[Nick]

I think there is a box full of props to be used in different photo shoots. And there are some that you might expect, you know, like silk scarves and things like that. But then also there's a bunch of them that are strange and maybe a little out of place. Like, there's a bedpan and one of those, like, hand crank egg beaters and, you know, like, Just one random old shoe that looks like it's from World War I or a soldier's boot from World War. Just these very strange things.

[Ross Bryant]

Great. Yeah. What sort of photography are they doing here anyway?

[Paula]

I think the restrooms. It's just one room with toilets, no stalls. We have nothing to hide here. We have. We should be exposing everything.

[Ross Bryant]

Amazing. Okay, great.

[Cup]

There's like this constant drone of demo reels playing, like the most cutting edge music, but it's all like a little warbled. Like there's a broken jukebox in the corner. And if you ask anyone, they'll tell you that it's an installation. It's a work of art itself, and that's why it's broken.

[Ross Bryant]

Great.

[Nick]

Nice.

[Ross Bryant]

So, yeah, over this low hum of maybe a song by a band like the Strawberry Alarm Clock or the Chocolate Watch Band being played at. Just off kilter and warbly, the shoot has taken place that you suggested, and the negatives are well, in the possession of the photographer. And he looks at you, Willow, as always, a total groove. Willow. Say, if you're not doing anything next week, maybe you'd like to go to the after hours after Bruno's little shindig. What do you say? He reaches into a little cigarette case and he pops it open. And there are cigarettes of like five different colors in here, but in among them is a little ticket that he hands to you reading the Butterfly Factory.

[Nick]

Willow snatches it with a bit too much excitement. Bruno Banks. I mean, yeah, I.

[Paula]

That would be groovy.

[Nick]

And she's like clutching this thing, almost white, knuckled.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, it's. This isn't Bruno's official after hours, Willow. Oh, no, no, no. It just so happens to be on the same night. I know that this is Bruno's opening or whatever, a real happening, but this is from someone new, this. And he turns it over, revealing the address. This is from Ivy Wyld. And we just see Ivy Wylde's name there. And let's cut over to maybe like four days ago. Velvet Bloom. I want to see you delivering some of your poetry.

[Cup]

Of course you do.

[Nick]

We all want to see this.

[Ross Bryant]

Bookshelves on either side of you, the smell of strong coffee in the air. There's a huge poster on the wall with a picture of Ho Chi Minh on it. And you're on a little stage and a notebook in front of you. And several people are leaning forward to listen to what you have to say.

[Cup]

He does. Maybe he calls it demonstration poetry, but I think he's gonna bend down and he's gonna put the notebook on the stage, and he's gonna stand up and take a. A gum wrapper out of his pocket, and he's gonna hold it in his hand up to the audience and say, it's. It's just a gum wrapper in my pocket. It just looks like a gum wrapper, Right? A little bit of Wrigley's. But this gum wrapper is louder than the Subway. Right? It's louder than the. The Velvet Underground. If I. If I unfold. If I unravel the gum wrapper, look at the potential. Look at the silver horizon of the gum wrapper. Do you see it? Do you see the reflection? But if I fold the wrapper and he's carefully folding becomes a coffin. And then he just. He just steps backwards. He takes, like, five steps backwards on the stage as the lights dim.

[Ross Bryant]

Great. Do you have a poetry skill on your sheet there, velvet bloom?

[Cup]

I can't. I do. I do. I have a very generous number of 50.

[Ross Bryant]

Why don't we do our first roll of the game in this absolutely absurd way? Why don't give me a poetry roll and let's see how well received your. Your rather utre demonstration poem was.

[Cup]

I love it.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I love it.

[Cup]

Oh, man.

[Ross Bryant]

Wow.

[Paula]

Oh, no.

[Cup]

Okay. I rolled a 96, but I have a 50. Exactly, so it's not a fumblerous.

[Ross Bryant]

I didn't fumble your poetry roll.

[Cup]

I don't know if this is consequential enough to warrant taking the time to push the roll, but I am always happy to push the roll with a second poem.

[Nick]

Are you going to poetry harder right now?

[Cup]

I'm going to poetry harder.

[Paula]

Perfect. Just say it louder again, but louder and faster.

[Cup]

No, I think the idea that I have is that he was kind of trying to make this, like, illustrative scene of the gum wrapper, and he realizes it's not working, so he's just, like, rifling through his pockets, looking for more props to use in his next poem. And he pulls out, like, a handful of change, and he starts chucking it at people in the audience, and he's like, the moon's a nickel, and he throws it at somebody, and he's like, the sun is a penny, and he throws it at somebody and just starts pelting people with change as he kind of calls out all the celestial objects.

[Paula]

Wow.

[Ross Bryant]

Okay, let's see if this goes over. Well. This sounds like quite the push.

[Cup]

Maybe I missed my calling everyone as a demonstration poet, I think so.

[Nick]

If you roll 100 here, I'm just gonna be so happy.

[Cup]

All right, let's see. I passed 38 under 50.

[Ross Bryant]

Okay, wonderful.

[Cup]

It was just that good.

[Ross Bryant]

You didn't have them. You didn't have them at first, but the sky falling on them in the form of change has turned. Turn into them. This confrontational act has really won the crowd, and they applaud you.

[Cup]

Nice.

[Paula]

Oh, the violence of currency.

[Cup]

Yeah, nice. That's the name of the act now.

[Paula]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ross Bryant]

As you're on your way out, a man with a rather sharp Van Dyke beard kind of pulls you aside and it's like very interesting, very interesting poetry. I suppose it's rather gauche to even call it by that name. What you're doing up there doesn't have a name yet. It's so far out on the limb.

[Cup]

I know.

[Ross Bryant]

I caught. I caught the moon. So allow me to give you something in return. He reaches into his velvet jacket and he gives you the invitation.

[Cup]

Oh, this is wow. Worth a lot more than a nickel. Velvet Bloom, by the way, if you missed it, mister.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, I didn't miss it. I didn't miss it. I didn't. Nor did I miss this. He makes the coin kind of dance down his fingers. And trust that this is the Same Night as Mr. Banks opening. But the patroness of this after hours is someone new. And once again, he turns the. The card so that you can see the name of Ivy Wilde.

[Cup]

He'll slide it into his pocket.

[Ross Bryant]

Let's see you and Bruno Banks in the studio, Margot.

[Paula]

All right. I am busy, I think, like, sewing and stitching together the portions of this installation as previously described. I think I'm struggling with the. Maybe a detergent bottle and how I'm going to attach it.

[Ross Bryant]

And as you're working, like pricking your finger on sewing needles and getting rope burns from the various material to make this thing. Bruno Banks is keeping up a steady monologue of conceptual ideas as he's kicked back with his feet up on his desk. Yeah, they'll be sort of hanging from the sky. Bruno has a bowl cut like a jet black bowl cut. And he's wearing a turtleneck and a chain with a big monocle dangling from it that every now and then he picks up and looks at a piece of paper in front of him, lets it drop again. His beetle boots are kicked up on the desk. There are no angels anymore, so we are replacing them with today's angels. Today's angels you find in the supermarket aisle. Every trip to the supermarket is a walk through purgatory and we can only hope to meet an angel before we leave the door as he's yammering like this. As you continue to labor.

[Paula]

Yeah. So deep there, Bruno. Really, really deep. You know, speaking of angels, I had some sketches I wanted to show you of some wings that I've been playing around with, you know, trying to capture that, like, ethereal nature of flight and spirituality and therefore heaven and death and the afterlife. And she's just, like, spitting out, trying to sound artsy. And you would look at them, right?

[Ross Bryant]

Takes the papers from you.

[Paula]

Oh, thanks.

[Ross Bryant]

He looks at the first page, thumbs to the middle, looks at the middle, thumbs to the back. Looks at the back page of your drawings.

[Paula]

Mm.

[Ross Bryant]

Shuts it, Slides it back to you. Did you know, Marceau, that if you read the first page of a book, the middle page of a book, and the last page of the book, that you can totally absorb a book in under two minutes? Oh, I've literally read thousands of books this way. Well.

[Paula]

Well, this isn't really a book, though, is it, Bruno? It's sketches. Good. I thought you might, you know, because I've been working here for you for three years.

[Ross Bryant]

I'm the most well read person I know. Can you run to the store? Can you be a darling and maybe run to the store and pick up a purple swatch of purple vinyl? Oh, I'm having a vision. Oh, and sure.

[Paula]

Did you think they were good?

[Ross Bryant]

He's looking at something else through his monocle, which you realize is a headshot of himself. He's like, mm, very, very good.

[Paula]

Very, very good. Great. Maybe one day I'll have time to actually paint them instead of gluing together detergent bottles.

[Ross Bryant]

And outside, you've just missed the bus.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Of course.

[Paula]

Stupid book.

[Ross Bryant]

Excuse me. There's a man with a rather sharp and point pointed Van Dyke like goatee and like a dark overcoat who has hailed a cab, but he's holding the door open.

[Paula]

Yes.

[Ross Bryant]

You seem to need this more than me.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh.

[Ross Bryant]

Going uptown?

[Paula]

Yes, I'm on a search for purple vinyl.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, well, what's that in your hand?

[Paula]

Oh, my. Just some sketches I did. I guess they're not very good. I was just trying to capture the feeling of that something, you know, that thing that you almost see and then you don't see it. I don't think that makes any sense.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, to the contrary. He holds out his hand and is almost like helping you into the taxi the way like a turn of the century footman would while holding your little.

[Paula]

And I think, yeah, I'm being Like I'm kind of in the taxi before I even realize that I'm allowing him to lead me in.

[Ross Bryant]

It's like, yes, you show great promise. Oh, wow.

[Paula]

Really? Thank you.

[Ross Bryant]

I have to say, this is all too new. You can hear like a little pop as something falls into your folder of papers. I hope you do continue on this journey and know that there are patrons that could assist you if you make the right connections. Yes, connections are everything in this line of work. He whistles again and shuts the door.

[Paula]

Oh, wow. Thoughts racing through my mind. No one has ever been this nice to me on the street of New York. And wow, he really liked my stuff. And I think he got me and what is in my folder. And I look and I see, of course, the invitation.

[Ross Bryant]

Hey, lady, where we going? We gonna sit here all day, says the driver.

[Paula]

And I give him the destination.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

The first guy in this story I have liked. The first guy in this story that I have had a positive reaction to. Lady, this guy over here hails me.

[Ross Bryant]

You hop in and nobody tells me nothing. Where we going, lady? Uptown. Downtown.

[Paula]

Oh, yes, uptown. To the vinyl store. But not records. It's material. I give him the address to the vinyl store.

[Ross Bryant]

Good gravy. You gotta be more specific. I know a place. He pulls out.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I know a place.

[Ross Bryant]

We're in the back of an art gallery. Splatter paintings on the walls, swirls of neon colored paint, non figurative designs. Alan Clay. You see a collector walk through the door.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I observe him waiting to see if he approaches any of the pieces with interest.

[Ross Bryant]

He's looking at a floor to ceiling painting that is all white except for five blue lines that just run through its center.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

I see you're admiring number 13.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, it is a beautiful thing.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

It's a completely unique shade of blue. Never been created before.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, novelty is half the battle with artwork. I suppose that's the sort of novelty that freedom and free enterprise can afford one. Don't you agree? He looks at you very hard.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

In addition to speaking to the character of the human spirit, art's greatest achievement in some ways is its ability to appreciate in value. Free enterprise being what we're after here. My name is Alan Clay. I'm the proprietor of this gallery.

[Ross Bryant]

My name is Curtis Crockett. I was wondering if we might have a little conference back in your office. If I can impose upon your time.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Mr. Clay, I'd be more than happy to meet with you, Mr. Crockett. Right this way. Would you like a cigarette?

[Ross Bryant]

Why, certainly. Nothing better than a fine Virginia Leaf to get the day off to a good start.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Oh, sure like to keep it nice and mellow. And I only eat one meal a day and I'm gonna walk into my office with him.

[Ross Bryant]

Well, let's just. Swell, swell. I myself had my boiled egg already today.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

All I want to do is walk into our office and have us both turn to each other and go like weird fucking.

[Ross Bryant]

The nick. Tating membranes of our eyes open and shut.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

God, I hate communism. Let me lick your eyes.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, all of that happens, of course. You reveal your lizard faces to each other and. No, no, no. He sits down and rests a little case next to him on the. On the chair. All very sleek Eames chairs. Modular design and all. I wonder if you don't get out into the field much anymore, Mr. Clay. Seeking new acquisitions, I mean.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Well, I find these days I'm connected enough that the field comes to me, but I'm always looking for a new hot thing.

[Ross Bryant]

Wonderful. Well, maybe I can put you on to an exclusive. Mr. Clay, as someone who's well known in the artistic markets, I think it would be best if you made the connection to the individual that I am eager to. To collect with. He opens up the case, and you can see that there are photographs in the case. Kind of moves one aside and it seems to be like a woman getting into a car. And then there's another of the same woman kind of coming out of a. Out of a. What looks like a brownstone. And then he lifts out a little ticket. Yes. Very, very hard to come by. We don't know where this Ms. Wilde originally came from, but she does definitely have artistic connections in Eastern Europe.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You don't say? Well, I would love to make her acquaintance. I try to keep tapped into. The entire scene out here gets harder and harder these days with all the comings and goings. But a pretty little thing like Ms. Wilde escaping my attention seems rather unusual. How long ago did she make her way to this glorious metropolis of ours?

[Ross Bryant]

It seems she's very good at escaping attention. She kept quite a manor, it seems, in East Berlin for a time. Apparently also had some connections on the rather avant garde dance scene as well. Into the plastic and performance and corporeal arts. As lovely as they are, I find that they are not as remunerative in the realm of free enterprise as collectors like you and I tend to admire.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Unfortunately, those works of art, which are ephemeral, do leave something to be desired in terms of the acquisition of assets.

[Ross Bryant]

Well, let's see if this is an asset worth our acquisition. Mr. Clay, do we understand each other?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Perfectly. I'm going to kill this woman.

[Ross Bryant]

Sorry.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Red line, red line. Redline, red line. Easy, easy, easy. Yeah, I think we understand each other perfectly well.

[Ross Bryant]

You get the sense that you believe that he's informing you that this Ivy Wild may or may not be an asset of the Soviets?

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Yes.

[Ross Bryant]

And this means that one, that this may be an asset we wish to acquire. Could this be someone that we could turn and make an agent of our own? Or if they're engaging in active measures, perhaps what you said in jest is more to the point.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

You know it's always a big risk anytime someone comes over and sees the quality of life. Blue jeans and cheeseburgers have done more recruiting for our cause than any agent could ever hope to. I wonder if Ms. Wild couldn't be persuaded to open up a new line of credit and perhaps take on some additional employers. After all, this is nothing if not the land of opportunity.

[Ross Bryant]

Well, do your best to extend an opportunity. Since it seems you've had such good luck with so many other artists, perhaps you can add one more to your roster. And if she doesn't find the seductions of the cheeseburger and the frankfurter beguiling, then I think we both know there are other ways. The art market is very dog eat dog. Here today, gone tomorrow, Mr. Clay. What's that your friend Warhol says? Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. You just go and find out whether hers have struck.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Let's see if this carriage is about to turn back into a pumpkin. I'm gonna leave, being like I actually am pretty hungry. You talked a lot about cheeseburgers and hot dogs. I might get a hot dog on my way. Pumpkin, Pumpkin pie. What time of year is it?

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, you walk, oh, delicious pumpkin patch. And we see Hunk Clay eating a delicious, delicious hamburger.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Got my hands around a big raw pumpkin, taking big old chomps out of it, going, I love America.

[Ross Bryant]

Oh, beautiful for spacious.

[Brennan Lee Mulligan]

Bleeding from my gums as hard pumpkin.

[Cup]

Shell goes into my mouth.

[Ross Bryant]

Yes, pumpkin goo falling down under your gray flannel suit. Great. And it is with that that perhaps we now bring ourselves back up to the present, where you all have revealed that you all have tickets to the after party. And as things are wrapping up here at Bruno Banks's little happening, it may be time to go cross town, deeper into downtown to the butterfly factory and meet your estimable host, Ms. Ivy Wild. Only the strange ones now.

[Paula]

Only the strange ones now.

[Ross Bryant]

Only the strange ones.

[Karine]

To listen to the next episode that's out now you can click on the link in the description or search for Push the Roll with Ross Bryant wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can find more information on rustyquill.com or pushtheroll. Com. Thanks for listening.