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Group’s Research Notes

The Original Free Writing Text for My Persona — Time Traveling Tour Liaison

The tour liaison
Okay, count them again.
11? no 12.
Glasses on, keep them close, don't let anyone wander.
Lobby is always the easiest part. Everyone still thinks this is funny in the lobby.
Ryan better not start talking before cue again.
There she is, yellow coat right on time. good.
Don't let them get too close to her. They always want to get too close once they realize she's real.
No touching, no talking, no changing anything, same speech every time.
I should've had more coffee before this.
This group is quiet. thats either very good or very bad.
Parapsychology aisle next. I hate that aisle. Smells like dust and old carpet and wet sleeves.
There, phone call started.
Mother on cue. audience listening. good.
Who said that.
"help her"?
Who the hell said that.
Don't turn around too fast.
Could be one of the guests trying to be funny. Could be someone stupid. Could be worse.
Just keep moving.
She always starts looking worse around here. hands first, then face.
Ryan is enjoying himself already. gross.
He always talks like he's in love with the end of the world.
Just do the route.
Stairs. escalator. bridge. top floor. done.
Bathroom stop. hold the line.
No one follows her. Make it sound polite.
Lets give her some privacy.
Everyone always listens better when you say it calm.
Three thousand people in this building and half of them don't even know they're already standing inside a story that's killed them before.
There. note on the ground.
Perfect.
She's off route.
No, not just off route. watching.
I should pull her now.
Why am I not pulling her now.
Okay, second bridge. wristbands still on. good.
keep the tourists looking where I point them.
keep Ryan from saying something insane.
keep the woman in the yellow coat from dropping too early.
keep the future from tearing open in the middle of the library.
Easy.
Ryan can take them upstairs. He likes the sound of his own voice anyway.
Top floor. last phase. last stop.
Hold them at the ledge.
Don't let them crowd.
There she is again. with them this time.
So she really did come to do it.
Jesus christ.
Alarm in a second.
Don't run.
Don't let them run.
Go get her before the cameras decide you helped.

The Unseen Character Work

This is the stuff I came up with for Vincent that doesn't all need to go into the actual script, but it helps me know what he wants, what he notices and why he's so controlling all the time. Some of this is just backstory, some of it is there so I know what he is hiding while he acts calm in front of the audience.

I'm from the year 2115.
I work for a company called Voyuer Tours as a time travelling tour liaison.
I've been doing tours for 3 years now and this specific route for most of that time.
My whole job is basically crowd control, customer service, security and making sure no one does anything stupid enough to alter the timeline.
I say "nothing shocks me" at the beginning of the tour because that's what the guests want to hear. It makes them feel safe and also a little impressed.
On tours I just go by Vincent. The company likes simple first names because it sounds trustworthy and easy to remember.
I don't think Ryan is professional at all. The company keeps him around because guests remember him and some people like being made uncomfortable.
Ryan treats the whole thing like entertainment. I treat it like procedure.
I tell people the glasses and wristbands keep them hidden. They do help with identification and tracking, but honestly half of it is just to keep people obedient.
The future I come from is heavily controlled and very clean in a way that feels dead. People pay a lot of money to come back and feel something real, even if what they're paying for is other people's suffering.
Voyuer Tours sells access to the past, but really it sells permission. It tells people they are allowed to watch and not intervene.
I grew up in a quarantine housing block just outside New Westminster.
My mom worked sanitation. My dad did supply transport between containment zones and died when I was young.
I had an older sister who broke protocol once and crossed a line she wasn't supposed to cross. She never came back.
Because of that, I have a thing about rules. Not because I love rules, but because every time someone breaks one I can already see how bad it can get.
I used to work transit security before Voyuer Tours hired me.
The pay at Voyuer Tours is better than most other jobs and the housing is better too, which is part of why I stay.
I do not think of myself as cruel. I think of myself as practical. I know that isn't much better.
I know the Patient 0 route so well I could walk the whole thing with my eyes closed.
I know exactly when Paige starts to shift. I know where the mother phone call lands. I know where Ryan gets too excited. I know where the guests always lean too far over the railing.
The library is one of my favourite routes even though I would never say that out loud.
I like how the building still feels used. I like that it still has books and soft chairs and dust and too much glass. Most places in my time don't feel like they belong to people anymore.
I noticed almost immediately that Lou didn't feel like a normal guest.
She was listening too hard and not in the usual way.
Most guests stare at Patient 0. Lou was watching the structure of the whole thing.
When she speaks out the first time I know something is wrong.
When I arrest her at the end, part of me is angry because she broke procedure and part of me is angry because she actually tried to do something.
I think Vincent has spent so long telling other people not to interfere that he doesn't know what he himself believes anymore.
My biggest fear isn't actually zombies. It's losing control of a crowd in a place with too many exits.
My biggest secret is that I kept something from one of my early tours. Just a tiny scrap of paper from the past. Totally illegal and completely pointless. I still have it.
Another secret is that I don't know if I believe the timeline is as sacred as the company says it is.
I wear black because it's the uniform, but also because it makes me feel less visible.
I wear sunglasses because the guests do too, but on me they work like a wall.
I think Vincent is the kind of person who is always scanning rooms for problems before anyone else has even noticed them.
He doesn't really relax.
Even when he's standing still he feels like he's monitoring five things at once.
I think he gets headaches a lot and doesn't tell anyone.
He probably sleeps badly before tours but always shows up looking put together.
He would never admit it, but sometimes after a tour ends he stays in the building for a minute just to listen to how quiet it is.

Persona Questions

Age: 29

Occupation: Time travelling tour liaison for Voyuer Tours

Where were they born: just outside New Westminster in a quarantine housing block

Who are their parents: my mom worked sanitation and my dad did supply transport until he died on a route

Where do they live: company housing. very clean, very small, very grey

What do they do for a living: I walk paying guests through other peoples worst moments and make sure nobody touches anything

What is their greatest achievement: getting promoted off transit detail and onto tours before I turned 27

What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to them: I threw up during a training simulation and tried to blame the ventilation

If we searched their name on Google, what would we find: not much. a company profile, a fine notice, maybe an old training photo if you dug hard enough

What is their real name: Vincent Alder, but on tours I just use Vincent

When was the first time they fell in love: with a medic in training who was too patient for me and way funnier than I was

Did it work out: no. she got transferred and I never went after her

What is their biggest secret: sometimes I think the resistance might be right

What is their greatest regret: the last thing I said to my sister was basically fine then go

What's the worst thing that's ever happened to them: hearing the containment gate lock after she crossed it

What's their favourite movie: probably Alien. It feels less like fiction and more like a workplace video

What's their favourite food: cheap dumplings when I can get them. otherwise instant noodles and bad coffee

What TV shows do they watch: old cop shows and procedural stuff where everyone stands where they're supposed to

What music do they listen to: mostly whatever is already playing in transit stations and staff rooms. I don't pick music on purpose that often

What do they wear every day: black uniform, tinted glasses, earpiece, too many pockets

What's in their pockets: spare wristbands, a route card, penalty slips, mints, and a headache pill I keep forgetting to take

What do they smell like: coffee, stairwell dust and that weird company soap

How do they want other people to see them: calm, reliable and not worth testing

What do people usually get wrong about them: they think I enjoy the tours. I enjoy when nothing goes wrong

What is their greatest fear: losing a group in a live route

What makes them angry: guests who laugh too loudly, Ryan improvising, and people who think procedure is optional

What makes them soft immediately: scared kids and anyone trying too hard not to look scared

Do they have friends at work: not really. work friends at best

Who do they trust the most: almost nobody, which is probably part of the problem

What is one thing they would never admit out loud: sometimes I want someone to break the route just to prove it can be broken

What do they think of Lou/Loralei: trouble instantly. then something worse than trouble

What do they think of Ryan: useful, disgusting, impossible to fire apparently

What do they think of Patient 0: officially she's a route. unofficially I try not to think about her too much

What do they think of the audience/tour guests: mostly bored rich people looking for a feeling

Why do they stay at this job: the pay, the housing, routine, and because after a while procedure starts feeling safer than having opinions

What would they be doing if they didn't work for Voyuer Tours: probably still doing security somewhere and pretending that was different