Prelude I: Dream - State

Prelude I: Dream State (stylised in all capital letters) is the prologue to the Myth SMP, though it was filmed after the first episode.

Summary
The video begins with an opening shot of the Green Room, a vast and seemingly cosmic lobby surrounded by red curtains over a black and white chevron floor. Ozma Goodwitch appears, complaining of a headache and asking aloud where she is. As she progresses into the room, she discovers 97 sitting there. They inquire after the Goodwitch bloodline, but Ozma ignores the question. 97 then asks about the Wizard, causing a burst of anger from Ozma who then begins to take the piss out of them for seeming pretentious and their formal speech. The two argue, asking each other questions neither knows the answer to as Ozma becomes progressively more sardonic. She begins monologuing back at 97 on and off before saying that their pretentiousness is beginning to rub off on her. Frustrated, Ozma begins to verbally abuse and threaten 97 before insulting their height, at which point the video ends.

Script
This is a slightly edited script copy, but any typos, misspellings, or oddities in format are pre-existing and have not been changed.

INT, UNDETERMINED.

Hallway outside of the Green Room. Curtains hang from a seemingly endless height above OZMA, one of our two protagonists. Confused, she walks forward down the hallway and enters the Green Room. It is also vast, and feels somewhat ominous. In the ‘centre’-ish of the room are a couch, a chair, and some other shit or whatever. A stranger stands in the centre of these props.

OZMA

What the f–what the hell is this place?

It’s fucking huge. Jesus, my head fucking hurts.

97

Are the Goodwitches really destroyed?

OZMA

What? Who the fuck are you?

97

I’m afraid not even I know at this point. - Are you here to see the Wizard?

OZMA

(detecting the philosophy major energy)

The wizard. God, the wizard! There isn’t any wizard! Wizards aren’t real! Can everyone shut the fuck up about wizards?

97

Everyone? There is only you and I here.

OZMA

Believe it or not, other people exist in other places. There are things – goddamnit, I’m going to start sounding pretentious soon, aren’t I? You have that terrible type of energy.

97

Who else shares the same fortune as you?

97

Left behind?

OZMA

You don’t know anything about me. Who the hell are you, alone in this room?

Pause.

OZMA

Or at least alone with me?

97

Oh, no. I'm really a very good person, but I'm a very bad Wizard, I must admit.

97

Don’t speak so loud.

97

If there are others, we will be overheard. And I’m supposed to be a Great Wizard.

OZMA

Oh, so you’re delusional. Wizards aren’t fucking real! Also, you just said we were alone. If we’re not, then what’s it matter?

97

If magic is not real and wizards are not real, then where are we, girl? Who cast us here?

OZMA

I’m not your ‘girl’. I’m Ozma the Great and… I’m Ozma. This must be a dream, if it sucks so hard and makes zero fucking sense. Dreams always suck.

97

The Great? Who gave you that title? Your friends? I must be surprised if you have any.

OZMA

Have you ever heard the expression ‘I want to hit you so bad my dick’s hard’?

97

You’re not answering the question.

OZMA

(mocking)

You’re not answering the question.

What’s the question? Everything’s a question and all the answers are backwards. The solution to the first problem is hidden in the question of the last. The only certainty is doubt, and

(catching herself)

I’m getting pretentious. What I mean to say is fuck you.

97

Are you a good witch or are you a bad witch?

OZMA

I’m an excellent doctor and a bad bitch.

Witches. Aren’t. Real. Wizards. Aren’t. Real. And magic is especially fake! Made up fakey-fake nonsense for children.

97

. ..

OZMA

Go suck my fucking dad’s chode and everybody shut the hell up about wizards.

OZMA begins looking for an exit.

OZMA

This shit sucks. Get out of my brain. Let me have the dreams I usually do and fuck right off back into the depths of my subconscious.

Pause.

(mocking)

Pwease.

97

You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from yourself, you possess wisdom, that you are brave.

OZMA

I’m not very brave, and I’m not very wise. I am very smart, and I am very lonely, and I am not very good with people.

(beginning to giggle)

You think you’re awfully fucking smart but you don’t know shit about me, 97.

97

What happens to being an excellent doctor, if you’re not very wise? Do you actively desire to hurt other people?

OZMA

The doctor part is the very smart part. A doctor doesn’t have to understand the ins and outs of the world, be streetwise, be streetsmart. A doctor only has to understand the body, what kills, what heals, and what does both or neither.

You can’t hurt other people if there are no other people to hurt.

Pause.

Jackass.

97

Wizards may not be real, but the belief in them are. Guises assumed and discarded at will. (muttering) This can work in my favor. - Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. (regal, assuming a broken face of uncaring will; visibly, somewhat, disturbed by the implication that this summoning has) You aspire to redeem what others have lost, what has wounded them, in your role.

97

What have you lost, Ozma?

OZMA

You cannot miss what was never possessed.

Fuck, I’m being pretentious again! You’re rubbing off on me. Stop it. Speak normally. Like a normal dude. Like hey, hello, nice to meet you! Not (odd voice) guises assumed and discarded at your mom’s house.

97

I am not a person, but I have many faces. A player for all parts. I make a living by counterfeiting, and to do so is to be no counterfeit - but the true and perfect image, the omniscient Oz. (unsettled, deeply, deeply anxious) You destroy this reassuring symmetry.

OZMA

I hate this ‘Oz’ bullshit. I feel like someone just ran up to me, grabbed me by the shoulders, and said “THE REST OF YOUR LIFE STARTS NOW AND EVERYBODY IS FUCKING CRAZY AND BELIEVES IN FAERY TALES!” Oh, wait, that’s exactly what happened when that dumb fucking bee elected me leader of the idiot parade.

97

You are a faerietale. You are not real. And nobody will believe you when you say otherwise.

97

They still do not believe you when you say Oz is a lie because they all share the same faithful devotion.

97

And will continue to.

97

They wish to believe that Oz is real, and so it will be.

OZMA

The only certain thing is uncertainty and I want to shove my foot so far up your ass your tongue can taste these curséd fucking shoes.

And if I’m not real, what of you? A lie? Whatever your bullshit was about disguises? You’re a ‘bad wizard’ because you aren’t a wizard at all. You’re a guy in my dream who sucks and I want you to go away.

97

I have played Wizard for so many years that I may as well continue the part for a little longer.

97

You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?

OZMA

You’re terribly short, aren’t you?

END.

Making the Video
Casey and Tabris originally went to improvise the scene, but neither knew what to say. The two came up with some bullet points and wrote a quick script together live. Due to timezone differences, Ozma's lines ended up being recorded at three in the morning for Casey.

The video was originally intended to be done in a Machinima style, but became awkward when there was no reason reason to move. Tabris substituted this for an establishing shot of the room itself and a stationary shot of Ozma and 97 after discussing the potential use of sprites and text.

Ozma's sprite was later used for the OzMae adventure server.

Trivia

 * Despite the only colour in the Green Room being red, it's called the Green Room as a reference to Ozma's deuteranopia (red-green colourblindness) and the green of the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. There is also a single emerald block tucked under one of the curtains, which Tabris and Casey joked is how it got its name.
 * Tabris modelled the Green Room after the Red Room from Twin Peaks, which is an extradimensional sort of dream space where spirits can appear.
 * Ozma refers to 97 as 97 (their canon name) at one point despite not seeming to know it. She also calls herself by the Wizard's title - the Great and Powerful - on accident.
 * 97's final line is a reference to the creepypasta known as Ben Drowned, about a dead boy haunting a video game.
 * The fonts used in Casey's test still are Big Noodle Tilting, the title font for Welcome to Night Vale (A sci-fi horror comedy podcast featuring a mostly LGBT+ cast) and Typostuck, a font from the webcomic Homestuck the plot of which is about a video game that ends the world and forces the players to create a new universe.
 * The original Ozma of Oz wears two large poppies in her hair. The Goodwitch sprite has multiple poppies growing from her body.
 * Mae hollowed out the area for the Green Room while Opal built it.