40 Writing/Chasing The Rhino/TP4
Step Two
Leon knows he needs to get into ImpCorp, fast, but the team are not willing or ready. He enters the ImpCorp reception and struggles to gain entry and is assaulted by an enraged Princess. He wakes in security. He is interrogated until his bioscan, just implanted by Fix, appears. He frees Princess from her cell by linking his mind pocket to her, but struggles with The Abstract interrupting his perception of The Real, casting doubt on his ability to connect to The Abstract, or return his mother to The Real. He must find his mother’s body and a way to stabilise the connection to The Real.
Sequence One
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Leon draws out his ‘skin’ and enters reception. Suunto tells him they are not ready, but he has to dispel her to concentrate on the skin. He is confronted by security as his bioscan does not match, and he manages to pass it off as a glitch, although he is not allowed to enter, despite being recognised visually by the guard. He realises he has been too hasty and should have waited for Fix to insert the bioscan. An enraged Princess arrives and assaults Leon. He falls heavily to the ground and struggles to remain conscious.
Central Dramatic Question
Will Leon gain access to ImpCorp?
Sequence Two
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Leon wakes, secured to a medical bed, ironically, inside ImpCorp. If it was a plan to aid him, it worked. A security guard and doctor look over his biological scan. There is a strong physical resemblance, but no record of his enhanced biology. Leon contacts Suunto and is told Fix is trying to insert the bioscan, but is having difficulty. Leon is interrogated by the security guard, and they prepare to do a mind scan. Leon knows if that happens, it will confirm he is not the skin. Leon must find a way to avoid the mind scan.
Sequence Three
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Hamelin’s rat delays the mindscan equipment. Fix insert the bioscan and Leon manages to talk his way to being freed. He discovers Princess is held in a more secure cell and must find a way to free her. He knows he will be tracked as a person of interest, by the AI security now - something he was desperate to avoid. He draws an irate Jem and Princess into his mind pocket and facilitates the opening of Princess’s cell lock, with the aid of Hamelin’s rat. He struggles with the connection and it leaves him exhausted. Leon knows he must figure a way of avoiding detection by AI Security.
CDQ Answer
Yes, but it is not as smooth as he planned and is now being followed by AI security.
Character Arc
Leon moves from determined and overly confident — to — annoyed with himself for attracting the AI security and feeling somewhat helpless at being tracked by security, but also determined to overcome his difficulty.
Moral Dilemma
Does he leave Princess behind and continue moving though ImpCorp, or help find her a way out? Forcing his team to work under pressure by triggering their grief of his recent death, or waiting for them to be ready?
Ms. Penumbra Sequence One
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Rakin, her old friend from the Executive, tells her they will be coming for her today. She despairs and gives the orders to the Shadow Bishop to start the executions. She, at least, will have her revenge while she has power, and maybe some more time. Leon arrives at her apartment, alive and tells her that he plans to infiltrate the building this morning. She must find a way to assist inserting Leon’s bioscan into the skin’s file before he enters ImpCorp.
Central Dramatic Question
Will Ms. Penumbra find a way of inserting Leon’s bioscan into the skin’s profile?
Ms. Penumbra Sequence Two
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Ms. Penumbra makes contact with a ruminates on her consciousness being copied, until Suunto calls and says she needs help inserting the bioscan quickly. Ms. Penumbra makes contact with a technical advisor and exchanges her freedom, to insert Leon’s bioscan in the skin’s file. She becomes frustrated, as they are only able to weaken the security. She facilitates Fix’s access to the security flaw in exchange for his attention on avoiding copying her conscious. He agrees, but offers no guarantees he will be able to solve it. He is her last hope.
CDQ Answer
No. She is not able to access it, but manages to weaken the security around it for Fix, in exchange for assistance with finding a way of avoiding her conscious being scanned on transition.
Character Arc
Ms. Penumbra moves from despair and thoughts of revenge — to — energised by the possibility of her plan working, but also concerned about her imminend conscious scan.
Moral Dilemma
Ordering the execution of the executive member who have pushed for her transition, which effectively is attacking the organisation that helped her gain power. Using her knowledge of others to blackmail them to do what she wishes, which ultimately involves risking their own lives.
Create a shell - transfer everything else to Leon. He smuggles it in to you after you transition, if they find you there. Leon will know it all though. He will sense that she was involved in his mother’s betrayal?
Ms. Penumbra makes contact with a technical advisor and offers his freedom to pull apart the security around a file. He cannot do it totally, but can peel back AI security elements. She will need to authorise it though. She knows it will expose her somewhat, be she does it. There will be little complications. She asks him to fake the work timestamp for this afternoon, but do the work today and fake the job order for a week ago. Someone in her department forgot to update his bioscan and she needs to do it quickly. The usual process will take a few days. She only has a few hours. He does it in exchange for a release of her hold on him. She agrees and thanks him for his service. She will not call on him again.
She considers her moves. She has exhausted her options for stopping them copying her conscious. No matter what she does from now on, there is little chance of stopping them. She has tried all her sources. They did not even know it was possible. It must have something to do with the portal to the ImpVerse. If it moves through the portal, then they must have a way of taking it from her.
She considers wiping everything from her mind before she transitions. She could do it. The AI could wipe her clean of the past twenty or so years. She could be that girl that she was again. In love, ignorant to the world and everything in it. But where would the power be in that? She knows so many things. They wouldn’t be able to wipe her from the ImpVerse. She has too many failsafes for that to happen. They hope to wedge her, or contain her, by knowing what she knows. But as she has leant over the decades, it is not about what you know, it is about how you leverage with what you know. She has few secrets, and Emmet has been the greatest of them, open and exposed, but no-one had thought to exploit it. She wires up an automated AI message to tell her contacts - those she wishes to keep safe - that their information has been compromised, and schedules to trigger it with a word. It should give them enough warning to create a defensive play. Or run. But from what she can gather, her position will not be replaced. They want a clean corporation once she passes. They want to bury the past and pretend it never happened - wipe their blood on the mat and sit down for Sunday dinner at Grandma’s.
Leon arrives just as she returns from her memory refresh. She realises she may have been too hasty again. This situation is making her sloppy. First Variel, now the executions. Still, the ball is in motion now. He is alive and plans to infiltrate ImpCorp this morning. She is astounded at his return and realises she has set something in motion that she cannot stop. But with Leon back, she has a shot of getting Emmet back. She realises he has just returned and is confused as to how. He says he rode back on a rhino, and she tells him to keep his secrets if he wishes. He tells her he may be doing it alone. He has not convinced Suunto yet. She tells him she will do what she can to convince her. He tells her not to worry, he thinks he has a way, and will let her know. He wants to guarantee that if he fails, the team will still get paid. She tells him that is not the way things are done, but reconsiders. She does not need the money anyway, and if it means they are convinced to participate, then she will do it. She agrees. He tells her he will be going in at 9am, at the change of shift to ensure it is busy enough not to be noticed. Her plans are in tatters, but it is what it is.
He says he will need help to insert the bioscan. She will need to take a few risks to open a hole for Fix to insert it. It will happen quickly. She tells him she will do what she can, but there are lines she cannot cross. He tells her that Fix only needs a few layers open. He can do the rest. She says she will see what she can do.
He asks her what they are stealing and she tells him it is something precious. She knows he wants to access his memories, but it appears to be something more at stake. There is a hardness to him that was not there before. She tells him that there will be time for him, when the lock is being opened, for him to look around a bit. He surprises her about asking questions about the founders. She starts to tell him the common story, and he tells her to tell her the real one. So she does. She tells him of the real story. How Emmet was a scientist, researching for new ways to source energy. The world was in crisis, faltering, and the team had discovered what they thought was a new source - something complex to do with physics - that they could exploit. There was an unexpected consequence of the experiment, and Emmet died. His body continued to live for a few days, somehow, but he was not there. For all purposes, he was brain dead, but his body was teeming with the energy the tried to extract. He was a battery source all on his own. It was in his biology. It took them less than a day to resume the experiment. The energy source was connected it seemed, to his body, through to the hole they have punched through to something else. It was not what they have intended to look for, or find, but it was something that they know could solve their energy problems. And when they stabilised the connection - connected it some months later to machines to stabilise the flow - that was when they discovered he was still there, on the other side. The revelation was beyond anything humanity had experienced. Had they punched a hole through to heaven? His body was laying in a bed in hospital, attached to life support, and his consiousness was somewhere else. This was heaven. It had to be. They managed to communicate to him through the machines, and all he wanted to do was talk to me. We had been together for years at that stage - just fit where others had not before. He made it seem like we were always going to be and in reality, had always been. But as you have gathered by my living alone. It was never going to last. He helped them establish and maintain a connection from the other side. There were hopes of getting him back. I hoped for that. But it was not to be. His body eventually failed. Even the life support could not sustain him. I wept for him then. He would not be coming back to The Real. But he was not gone. His conscious was still there. Everyone was waiting for him to fade. At first, we thought he might have been an echo, but he wasn’t. He kept on working, kept on being and eventually, I told him his body had gone. He said he already knew. He could not feel it there anymore, but he was OK here. He would keep working on a solution and she could come to him one day. He told her of the marvellous things he could do with his mind. He coined the phrase ‘Imp’ for impression. He was always clever like that. They stole that from him, of course, but he would have given it away, anyway. We existed like that for years. I worked my way onto the project. I was just in resourcing at that stage, but moulded myself into a ‘fixer’ and found them things they needed through alternative channels. I needed to stay close. Every day, he would come up with something new they could attempt to stabilise the connection further. He said time worked differently there. They had teams of scientists working in shifts and he would take them through new theories and calculations. It was like the longer he stayed there, the more he mangaged to manipulate time. I felt him change slightly, but we were always the same. We would talk of memories, and he said when we talked, he would relive them again, as if he were there the first time. The Abstract, he called it, would mold itself around him and he would be there again. With their help, he managed to stabilise the connection. I was one of the first though. I could sense the change in him. He was somehow older than he should have been, but he was the same Emmet when we were together. We relived moments in The Abstract that I did not remember. And we changed adapted them into new moments. I tasted what The Abstract had to offer. And then it changed again. When I returned, the connection destabilised again. They needed a way to stabilise it, so they used his conscious in a way he did not intend. They used him to create a bubble in The Abstract. I am not sure how they did it, but they trapped him in there. His conscious is the connection to the ImpVerse. That carnival of an entry is built on his prison. All that hope and joy above him, and he has no way of accessing the world he helped build. She takes a moment to compose herself. Leon is silent. This was not what he expected, but he is glad to have heard the tale. ‘And the founders?’ They are the ones who came next. They were the ones who helped to build the structure around him. They were the ones who locked him in his prison. Or, at least, they were the ones who facilitated it. I am not sure if they knew what they were doing or not. They were called the Abstratects. They build the space that the ImpVerse inhabits. Slowly at first, they expanded the stability that Emmet’s sacrifice provided. The bubble expanded to fill a space for billions of consciousnesses to exist. And look at us now, we are approaching the capacity of that existence soon. I am not sure what they will do when they need to expand. Perhaps another bubble, built on betraying those who created it? ‘What of the founders?’ She stops a moment, puzzled by his enquiry. ‘Why them?’ ‘I am interested, that’s all. There is the legend, but I think we both know that legends are usually PR in overdrive.’ ‘Indeed.’ Like all things ImpCorp, there was a cold analysis of profit and power and less concern for the people who helped create it. The plan originally was to allow the Abstatects to play for a few years, really test the boundaries of what was capable, but as the competition started to get sense of what was going on in the rapidly growing company that used to just be about theoretical energy sources, decisions were made to launch and dominate before the competition could get a foothold. And in hindsight, they were right. They did dominate. But that came at a cost to the founders. They were betrayed, as ultimately everyone of importance to ImpCorp is (reflection), and when they were trailing the final iteration of their bubble, ImpCorp trapped them within. She is not sure how, exactly, but it was absolute. Their consciousness were locked into the bubble tehy created and their bodies kept in their stasis pods. She has leveraged a few favours from knowing what happened from members of The Exective. Many who have passed already undergo purification or absolution (make it a religious term and the corporation religious as well.) Leon asks about where they are now, and she is curious. They are at the conduit source, of course. Most of them are there, she assumes. She has not been in there for years. Why would she visit a morgue? She can see the last of her words have stung him. She wonders why. Is there something about the founders she is missing? As soon as she sees the flash of a sting, it is gone. As if he caught himself half way. Maybe it is returning to his body after all this time. Anything is possible, considering he has just come back from the dead. She sees him falter a little, as if his body is not obeying his commands. She asks him if he is ok, and he says he is getting used to having a body again. She asks about what it was like. He says if was everything and nothing at the same time. He has trouble with his memories, and she tells him she does as well, but hers is a sign of her age. He tells her that in The Abstract, if you dont have a lot of memories with you, it could be a lonely place. She balks at his statement. She knows she wants to have her memories with her when she transitions. She wants to have them streamed to her from her machine when her body goes. She has a way, thankfully to do that… or does she? He thanks her for her time, and leaves. He has a lot to prepare for in the next few hours. She does as well. He says he will be going in at 9am, and she will need to prepare things from her end regarding the bioscan security and provide more security elements to him. She tells him she will assist when he makes it through. He must avoid a mind scan at all costs though. If he is caught, they will scan him and everything will be exposed. He says if everything goes according to plan, then it will not be a possibility.
He leaves, and she quickly starts runnign through the logistics. There is so much to organise and little time to do it. She is going to have to call in a few favours and set a few people free from her grasp. It will be worth it. If they can open the lock that binds Emmet, then she can be with him again, even if that means condemming billions of consciousness to death.
maybe that is the price she is willing to pay - but she ends up getting it in her own, destroyed mind, or in pergatory instead, locked away somewhere, with her memories of Emmet to keep the girl she was - and transforms into - company for eternity. Effectively, Ms. Penumbra dies, and the trauma is erased that caused the Ms. Penumbra to exist. She returns to the girl in love with Emmet for eternity. She becomes her memory.
She sits and contemplates her next move. The Catholic plot is underway and things will get bloody, but it may result in tighter security. If he can get in the building before the first assassination, then he should be able remain undetected. If security is heightened, then he will have little chance, especially with a dodgy biological scan. She checks her watch. They are coming at three, but she also knows that the time they give you is never the time they come for you. That is what she would do, anyway.
She calls Suunto, who tells her that it appears the job is back on. Suunto is not impressed. She tells her she has a way of inserting Leon’s bioscan quickly, but it will expose her greatly. She does not care at this point. She wants him to get in. Suunto asks if she can just walk him in, but she says that even she cannot push someone through security. The security of the building is its own independent facility. There is no way to manipulate someone who has to go through a daily mind scan by an AI. Suunto asks if Leon will require a mind scan, but she says it is unlikely. They only do security from what she has experienced. There is no use doing it for everyone. There are too many people working in the building to do it for the regular workers. It is better to just ensure an AI watches the place and the security on hand can be relied on. Another few years though, and things will likley change.
Suunto tells her to stop ruminating and to get on with it. She says that no matter the result, everyone gets paid. She will forward the agreed payment to her account and will requests that Fix work on something for her as a matter of priority after Leon’s bioscan is inserted. She says she will ask him, but Ms. Penumbra tells her it is something to do with her episode a few night’s before as manipulation. Suunto agrees to tell fix to do it, as long as it does not risk the job, or compromise them. She tells her that it should be fine and asks for his direct contact. Suunto does not provide it, but agrees to patch her in to him. They talk and he manages to evade a few levels of security. It will speed things up dramatically, but he still will be pressed for time. She watches as he, Hamelin and the rats works furiously on it. They are good. If she were around longer, she could bargain with security to ensure a few favours, or perhaps save this security flaw for another time.
What is Princess doing there?
Sequence Three
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Hi
CDQ Answer
Character Arc
Moral Dilemma
one
Rakin, her old friend form The Executive arrives. She was not expecting him. He has a bottle of whiskey and she suspects he comes with bad news. They sit and he shares that she will transition tomorrow. The Executive do not wish to delay her transition and risk her mind going into total collapse. She starts to deny that her mind is an issue, before realising it is not going to make much of a difference. She becomes resigned instead. He wishes her to come peacefully to her death, and she says she has a few thing to tie up first. She may be able to squeeze it in in under a month. He tells her, even though he should not be telling her, that they have a time booked for tomorrow. She protests - too soon! He tells her he fought hard for more time, but they are concerned about her health. She tells him it is all bullshit and he laughs. They want her gone so they can move on from the past. He suspects, being her junior of five years, that he will be next. He is approaching sixty, and he has noticed his role is getting smaller each year. As he talks, she realises it is all over. She has no chance of getting Emmet back. He will be gone to her. She has exhausted her supply of infiltrators and there is no way she can risk her time in the ImpVerse, even without Emmet. If she cannot have Emmet, then she will have to take the power before she goes. And if she cannot have power, then she will have revenge. She knows who the main conspirators are in the Executive against her, and she has already given over the names. She will attend to them quickly, tonight. She warns him that she has heard rumblings of Catholic desperation. He tells him he raised it with the Executive, who did not hear the same things. She tells him she listens to different things. She warns of violence. They have done it in their past when cornered and he should be wary. He tells her that he has seen the reports. She tells him they are not her reports. Her reports tell them to expect pushback in the next few days and weeks to come. She tells him she knows that they plan to break their own rules regarding scanning the minds of those who transition to The ImpVerse. He says he has not heared that and she believes him. Although he has been involved in the expansion of ImpCorp for many years, he is a numbers man, and would not be involved in that side of it. She says that her head is full of information that created this corporation and information she has given assurances would only stay with her. There are those on The Executive, including himself, that will suffer if they get their hands on her collective conscious as she transitions. He does not mind if they know his information, but he can see why she would be concerned, given her line of business. He will see if it is true. She tells him not to bother. She knows it is. She just wants him to stop them doing it. He agrees that it is not ideal and he will see what he can do. Although they both know that there is little he could do. But it is nice to hear his reassurances. He says his goodbyes and embraces her. He will let her know when the team is ready for her. He will get her personally. She tells him not to bother. She appreciates his visit, but this is an apt goodbye. She has appreciated his friendship - and she has.
When he leaves, she calls the shadow bishop and tells him to start the killings immediately. She is going to cause the most disruption she possibly can. She trades a name of a high ranking archbishop in the Vatican, and the information he provided to her, in exchange for targetting one of the Executive members. She tells him she needs to give some indication it is a Catholic plot. He is unsure until she tells him the name of an secretary in the Vatican as well. She regrets handing both names over, but it will be a bloody night for everyone. She needs to prevent them scanning her mind and the only way to do that is to give them something else to worry about, until she can figure a way of avoiding them scanning her conscious at transition.
Her only way at this stage is to transition without them by taking her life in her way. She has rigged her memory machine to be wiped remotely at her death. She knows if she transitions though, that they have likely already set up protocols to copy anything that moves through her connection. She has tried to secure an alternative connection through to The ImpVerse, but that is something that she has been unable to overcome. She may try Fix. He seems resourceful, although she does not know how he will be able to do it from within the ImpVerse itself. She will talk to him, just to be sure. Although, she has seen his ImpVerse conscious - there is nothing there he could use to manipulate him. Although, she could always use Jem to bargain with him. She could offer them many things in the ImpVerse. It will have to be a pure transaction and will something so huge at risk, she does not like dealing that way.
40 Writing/Chasing The Rhino/TP4
Sequence One
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Leon is overwhelmed to find his mother and she shares her memories of him. Leon is grateful, but they are not his own. Leon despairs at his betrayal of the team and disconnection with his memories. He discovers his mother and the founders were trapped by ImpCorp: their bodies held in statis in The Real. Although, the founders are being consumed by a biological upgrade. Leon must find a way to return to The Real and win back the support of the team. Only then, does he have a chance of returning his mother to The Real.
Central Dramatic Question
Will Leon find a way to return to his body in The Real and get the team’s support to enter ImpCorp?
Sequence Two
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Leon has lost his tether. He learns he was connected to his mother when they were torn apart - the Jade Rhino is a manifestation of his trauma. He connects to it and is warmed by his memories of riding it through is imagination. He uses the Jade Rhino to locate the residual of his tether and feels Nort and his acolytes reaching out for the Jade Rhino from The Real. He subconciously influences Nort to stimulate his tether and manages to return to his body, amidst his funeral service. Sunnto hugs and slaps and hugs him as he struggles to feel the physical world.
Sequence Three
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Leon’s body feels foreign, but he understands it in a new way. He discovers he has been conciously gone for four days, his body dead for one. His perception of The Real is distorted. The team is angry and relieved. Suunto is silent. Leon wants to do the job. Suunto draws attention to their ordeal and how they’ve had to stop Princess from killing him. He asserts he can get in, but not out without them. Jem and Fix say they will prepare, but Suunto says the job is cancelled. He knows he has to force her.
Sequence Four
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] He calls Suunto to tell her he is having breakfast across the road from the ImpCorp building, ‘dressed’ as the skin, following the plan. He asserts he is going in, preferably with them, and she has the duration of his breakfast before he enters. She tells him his bioscan is not inserted, so he won’t get through, but he is determined to go anyway. He knows he is extorting her recent grief, but he can think of no other way. She chastises him, before telling him she will get the team together, if she can locate them.
CDQ Answer
Yes. Leon finds his way back to The Real, but he has been gone much longer than he anticipated so he must rush his entry into ImpCorp, and force Suunto’s commitment by manipulating her grief.
Character Arc
Leon moves from a mixture of joy at finding his mother and despair at abandoning the team — to — reassured and determined to infiltrate ImpCorp, with or without team. He also feels some guilt towards manipulating Suunto and the team.
Moral Dilemma
Leaving his mother, who he has just found to return to The Real in a long shot to save her. Bullying Suunto and the team to return to the job by extorting their grief over his recent death.
Ms. Penumbra Turning Point Four
Sequence One
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Ms. Penumbra seees Leon’s body, hooked up to life support, his consciousness gone. She is enraged. Without Leon, she will not be able to get the team to open the lock. A distressed Suunto arrives and Ms. Penumbra is reminded of the devestation of losing Emmet prior the forming of The ImpVerse. She needs Leon to find him. She pressures Nort and the acolytes reconnect, but Leon is gone. She needs to buy herself more time to train another infiltrator to work with Suunto, or decades of planning will go to waste and she will live an eternity without Emmet.
Central Dramatic Question
Will Ms. Penumbra manage to find a way to postpone her transition so she can find another way to get an infiltrator into ImpCorp?
Sequence Two
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Ms Penumbra feels deep despair, but casts it aside. She needs time to find a new Leon. She returns to the priest and continues her interrogation, this time with more venom. She asks him about the Bishop’s Shadow. He denies a role exists, but Ms. Penumbra reveals she knows of his existence. She knows that within the good, there is always an evil lurking, like her. She extracts a way to contact him, and Ms. Penumbra makes the call.
Sequence Three
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
The Bishop’s Shadow arrives at her apartment in the night as she is finishing up recording her day in her memory device. They talk of good and evil, loyalty and memory, where he freely admits being responsible for her poisoning. She resists the barb, and instead offers him the name of her informants in the Vatican in exchange for the timely execution of some Executive members. They debate the ethics of what they do, and agree to terms.
CDQ Answer
Yes, she has a plan to postpone her transition into the ImpVerse, but it involves utilising the Catholics to execute members of The Executie and betraying her contacts in The Vatican.
Character Arc
Ms. Penubra moves from curiosity, anger and despair — to — a contemplative sense of hope that her new methods, although terrible, will get her what she desires.
Moral Dilemma
To betray her contacts in The Vatican for her own personal gains To execute members of The Executive in order to delay her transition.
They ae going to scan her mind before transitioning her. She needs to find a way to stop this. She has the Catholics to seek revenge on - she has to do this, but maybe use them to damage ImpCorp and run as a distraction? She has to have a situation desperate too - that is Leon not being alive, and being out of options…
Thoughts
ONE PART TWO Nort tells her Leon is gone. She is enraged. She is the first to arrive at the church - she reveals herself as the person funding the church and having controlled Nort for years. Nort says he has been taken. She tells him to get him back. Her world comes crashing down. How will she get through the lock now? Her Emmit is locked behind it and she does not have time to recruit and train another before they transition her. Or does she? Money buys everything in The Real. She can offer a ransom for any likely teams.
She needs a bounty and some likely targets for her manipulation.
THREE She needs a distraction. A big one. She needs an enemy to strike. The Catholics are fresh in the Executive’s mind. She needs the Catholics to make a mess and cause a distraction. She needs them to make some noise, to give her some time. She returns to the priest and asks him to send a message up the line. She tells him that she needs a favour. A big one. And in return, she will be quite generous.
TWO She calls Suunto and tells her Leon is gone. Suunto loses her shit and races around there. Leon is gone, the job is off. Suunto is not interested in anything she has to propose. She contacts Suunto a few days later. There is nothing she can do to figure it out. Nort tries to get him back, but they are all exhausted. His tether is there, but he is gone. Leon had the knack for reaching out. He can’t do anything about it. He can’t find him.
ONE Interogating the Catholic priest that heard Variel’s confession. She is ruthless and he admits that there are those that hear the confessional apart for the priest. She knows that too. It is her. He says there are others who deal in the secrets of the confessional - the Catholics realise they are in a war with ImpCorp. They realise that praying to God is not the only way to fight evil. She says she knows what they have attempted to do to her mind. They have failed, no matter what Variel has told them. She has found a way to circumvent their little poison. She wants to know who told Variel to do it.
Ms. Penumbra gets a call from Nort, but she ignores it. She can sense his urgency. She knows where he is, and she leaves to find him, and asks the priest to stay where he is until she returns. She says she will be back in a moment.
ms. P - three outtakes.
She knows he is the one responsible for destroying her memories - he pretty much reveals that, but he is doing it to bait her, so she does not respond. She reveals that she wants him for a private matter, and in exchange, she will provide them with the means to put ImpCorp on the back foot regarding their infiltration of the Vatican. He is interested, but wants to know more. She says she will provide more when she can. She offers to supply names of her informants in her organisation and in return, they will assist in sending a few Executive member to hell - the ImpVerse that is. She will supply the names and locations of who and when. The Bishop’s Shadow asks why, and she says that maybe God is at work in her. He laughs. No. The hand of God brought them together, but he is firmly on his side. She laughs - it’s always about sides, isn’ t it?
Leon eats. He tries to reforge his connection to his body. It feels like a foreign place, but his new perspective enables him to know it more intimately. It is a tool for him to use, much more than it ever was. The team sit in the lounge, both relieved and angry at his return. Suunto stands by him, silent and watching. Leon is unsure as to what she is feeling, but he is always worried when she is silent. She looks like grief has taken her for days. He discovers he has been gone for five days. His temporary life support was turne
d
off a day ago. She does not understand how he could return to a dead body. Leon does not understand either, but only knows that his conscious tether remained in The Abstract longer than his body remained alive. He has no answers. She asks about his time away, but he finds he cannot articulate it. He says he was taken by the Jade Rhino, but falters and apologises for abandoning them. He asks about the timing of the job, but Suunto says the job is off. They were meant to be going in tomorrow, but they dont have a plan. He died. They stopped planning. Leon asserts he is going in. He has to repay them. Suunto and the team dismisses him. Suunto lets him know that Ms. Penumbra foiled his last job, and that he does not owe them anything. Leon shakes his head. He feels he does owe them. His latest moves has resulted in the loss of their biggest payday ever. He insists the job must be on. He needs to get in there. Suunto tells him it is impossible. He says he is going in anyway, and would prefer it if they would be with him. Suunto tells him he is impossible, and the team do so as well. She tells him it is not happening, he needs to rests and asks if he needs someone to stay with him tonight. He says he does not. He just needs to feed himself. He tells her to get ready for tomorrow. He will be going into ImpCorp with or without them. Suunto chastises him and tells him he is not the boss of the operation. He may take all the risks, but she is the one still in charge. He acknowledges that, but lets her know that he without them, he will likely die in the attempt. With them, at least he has a chance. Suunto sighs and tells him that she will talk about it with him over breakfast. He tells her he will call her in the morning. The team leave, each in their own unique way.
Step Five
TP / Step / Sequences Leon drinks a coffee and relishes it. He calls Suunto and tells her he is already drinking coffee and the cafe across the road from the ImpCorp building and tells her he is going in when he finishes his coffee. Suunto loses her crap at him and tells him to wait. She needs to talk this over. They do not even have a functioning plan. Leon tells her he has been up all night. He slept enough when he was dead. He can’t wait anymore. His mother is in there and is about to die. Suunto tries to catch up, and tells him to shut up a moment. Her head is still spinning from drinking last night. She needs a moment. He tells her she has until he finishes his coffee. She swears at him and tells him if he survives, they are going to have a long talk about the chain of command. He tells her she is in, but he has to wait a while. She nees to get the team together. He says he will wait a little longer. He has a few calls to make anyway. He calls Ms. Penumbra, who is startled to hear that he is still alive. - From Ms. Penumbra’s perspective??? He tells her the job is still on, and that he is about to enter ImpCorp. She admires his guts and asks about the team. The team is getting ready, but things are a little rushed. She tells him things are a little tense at the moment, and that she is dealing with a few other things at this stage, but he should give her a call if he gets past reception. There are a few things he will need to know. He says he has to renegotiate the terms of his agreement with her. She is impressed by his courage. He says he knows his mother is held in stasis. He wants her safe return to The Real in exchange for his share. Ms. Penumbra asks who his mother is, and he tells her. She says she remembers her ands asks questions of him, and tells her she will let him know where she is after she gets what she wants. It will be no concern of hers once she has what she wants and will give her freely to him. She knows what it is to long for something that is lost. He warns her thought that if she is a founder, she may not have long left. Her understanding, which is limited by her position, is that the founders have been willingly being set free into The Abstract and are being replaced by another artifical biological solution. Leon knows they are not being set free, but consumed. He does not say anything though, as Leon does not want to reveal he has talked to his mother.
Leon finishes his coffee and thanks the waitress as his ‘skin’. She says she didnt recognise him and he tells her it is alright. He was not himself this morning. He thanks her again, and walks across the road to ImpCorp.
Step One
Leon despairs at his leaving The Real. He meets his mother: she is trapped in fabric of The ImpVerse. He discovers he was connected to his mother when she was trapped by ImpCorp: the Jade Rhino is a manifestation of their separation. He manages to reignite his tether with the assistance of The Jade Rhino and by subsconsciously influencing Nort. He wakes at his funeral and struggles with his physical connection. The Abstract bleeds through to The Real. He must find a way to reconnect, access ImpCorp and find his mother.
CDQ
Will Leon find a way to return to The Real and find his mother in ImpCorp and return her to The Real?
Step One
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Leon is overwhelmed to find his mother and she shares her memories of him. Leon is grateful, but they are not his own. Leon despairs at his betrayal of the team and disconnection with his memories. He discovers his mother and the founders were trapped by ImpCorp: their bodies held in statis in The Real. Although, the founders are being consumed by a biological upgrade. Leon must find a way to return to The Real and free his mother, repay the team and find his missing memories.
Central Dramatic Question
Will Leon find a way to return to his body in The Real and find a way into ImpCorp before it is too late for his mother?
Ms. Penumbra a couple of steps here - while he is gone…
Step Two
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Leon has lost his tether. He learns he was connected to his mother when they were torn apart - the Jade Rhino is a manifestation of his trauma. He connects to it and is warmed by his memories of riding it through is imagination. He uses the Jade Rhino to locate the residual of his tether and feels Nort and his acolytes reaching out for the Jade Rhino from The Real. He subconciously influences Nort to stimulate his tether and manages to return to his body, amidst his funeral service. Sunnto hugs and slaps and hugs him as he struggles to feel the physical world.
Step Three
[[TP / Step / Sequences]]
Step Four
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Ms. Penumbra conversation from her end here - early in the morning.
He calls Suunto to tell her he is currently drinking coffee across the road from the ImpCorp building, ‘dressed’ as the skin, following the plan. Suunto asserts there is no job. He asserts he is going in, with or without them, and she has until he finishes his coffee to be ready. He knows he is extorting their recent grief, but he can think of no other way.
Step Five
[[TP / Step / Sequences]] Leon drinks a coffee and relishes it. He calls Suunto and tells her he is already drinking coffee and the cafe across the road from the ImpCorp building and tells her he is going in when he finishes his coffee. Suunto loses her crap at him and tells him to wait. She needs to talk this over. They do not even have a functioning plan. Leon tells her he has been up all night. He slept enough when he was dead. He can’t wait anymore. His mother is in there and is about to die. Suunto tries to catch up, and tells him to shut up a moment. Her head is still spinning from drinking last night. She needs a moment. He tells her she has until he finishes his coffee. She swears at him and tells him if he survives, they are going to have a long talk about the chain of command. He tells her she is in, but he has to wait a while. She nees to get the team together. He says he will wait a little longer. He has a few calls to make anyway. He calls Ms. Penumbra, who is startled to hear that he is still alive. - From Ms. Penumbra’s perspective??? He tells her the job is still on, and that he is about to enter ImpCorp. She admires his guts and asks about the team. The team is getting ready, but things are a little rushed. She tells him things are a little tense at the moment, and that she is dealing with a few other things at this stage, but he should give her a call if he gets past reception. There are a few things he will need to know. He says he has to renegotiate the terms of his agreement with her. She is impressed by his courage. He says he knows his mother is held in stasis. He wants her safe return to The Real in exchange for his share. Ms. Penumbra asks who his mother is, and he tells her. She says she remembers her ands asks questions of him, and tells her she will let him know where she is after she gets what she wants. It will be no concern of hers once she has what she wants and will give her freely to him. She knows what it is to long for something that is lost. He warns her thought that if she is a founder, she may not have long left. Her understanding, which is limited by her position, is that the founders have been willingly being set free into The Abstract and are being replaced by another artifical biological solution. Leon knows they are not being set free, but consumed. He does not say anything though, as Leon does not want to reveal he has talked to his mother.
Leon finishes his coffee and thanks the waitress as his ‘skin’. She says she didnt recognise him and he tells her it is alright. He was not himself this morning. He thanks her again, and walks across the road to ImpCorp.
CDQ Answer
Yes. Leon finds his way back to The Real, but he has been gone much longer than he anticipated so he must rush his entry into ImpCorp
Character Arc
Leon moves from a mixture of joy at finding his mother and despair at abandoning the team — to — reassured and determined to infiltrate ImpCorp, with or without team.
Moral Dilemma
Leaving his mother, who he has just found to return to The Real in a long shot to save her. Bullying Suunto and the team to return to the job by extorting their grief over his recent death.
step four ramblings Leon eats. He tries to reforge his connection to his body. It feels like a foreign place, but his new perspective enables him to know it more intimately. It is a tool for him to use, much more than it ever was. The team sit in the lounge, both relieved and angry at his return. Suunto stands by him, silent and watching. Leon is unsure as to what she is feeling, but he is always worried when she is silent. She looks like grief has taken her for days. He discovers he has been gone for five days. His temporary life support was turned off a day ago. She does not understand how he could return to a dead body. Leon does not understand either, but only knows that his conscious tether remained in The Abstract longer than his body remained alive. He has no answers. She asks about his time away, but he finds he cannot articulate it. He says he was taken by the Jade Rhino, but falters and apologises for abandoning them. He asks about the timing of the job, but Suunto says the job is off. They were meant to be going in tomorrow, but they dont have a plan. He died. They stopped planning. Leon asserts he is going in. He has to repay them. Suunto and the team dismisses him. Suunto lets him know that Ms. Penumbra foiled his last job, and that he does not owe them anything. Leon shakes his head. He feels he does owe them. His latest moves has resulted in the loss of their biggest payday ever. He insists the job must be on. He needs to get in there. Suunto tells him it is impossible. He says he is going in anyway, and would prefer it if they would be with him. Suunto tells him he is impossible, and the team do so as well. She tells him it is not happening, he needs to rests and asks if he needs someone to stay with him tonight. He says he does not. He just needs to feed himself. He tells her to get ready for tomorrow. He will be going into ImpCorp with or without them. Suunto chastises him and tells him he is not the boss of the operation. He may take all the risks, but she is the one still in charge. He acknowledges that, but lets her know that he without them, he will likely die in the attempt. With them, at least he has a chance. Suunto sighs and tells him that she will talk about it with him over breakfast. He tells her he will call her in the morning. The team leave, each in their own unique way.
Theme is the universal truth that your story communicates about life and how to live in the world.
To thine own self be true. Love conquers all. Honesty is the highest virtue. All lies catch up with you. A life of service is more meaningful than a life of success and ambition. Great strength can be found in the most unexpected of places. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Finalised Workflow
Google Keep for Quick Notes and reminders in family calendar Transfer those to Evernote (easy to publish), but not markdown friendly. Amazing Marvin, linked with Google Calendar for organisation tasks. Still have to check out Amplenote to see if it can replace both Obsidian, Evernote and Amazing Marvin. Obsidian - for something - not too sure as yet.
Milanote not required at this stage.
Investigate to convert md to html Pandoc for zettir?
Pandoc plugin Emacs
https://dev.to/ar2pi/publish-your-markdown-docs-on-github-pages-6pe
Publishing - Hugo, Zola, pandoc,
https://github.com/ozntel/ozanshare-publish-plugin
Subscribed to https://blot.im/ Login onesixeight@mail.com Password : usual $4 us a month. Subscribed, so cancel is a better alternative is found. It seems to be terrible for style.
Investigate then cancel… cancelled 18/7
Nimbusnote
Currently subscribed. Cancel subscription Export issues and slow app.
Concentrate on creating a work platform - likely Amplenote for organisation capability, but perhaps a platform designed for creating for classroom.
Milanote - visual style One six eight account S3w?4 letters Seems to be desktop focussed - the app is limited.
Y!Note - investigate
Allows notes and timestamps then time you pause. Can transfer to Google Doc for easy transcript copying into Obsidian.
Airr (for airrquotes) - on Android? Takes audio snippets, transcribes and allows you to write down your thoughts too. Exports to MD.
Distil ideas from that.
Evernote - archive - cancel. Use for 2022 for class notes - already paid. Cancel for next year.
Obsidian - note creation and creativity.
Todo - Amazing Marvin or ToDoist or Obsidian, or ToDo - trial it through work.
School Publishing options:
- OneNote?
- Nimbus?
- Evernote?
- Milanote? - app limited - can it share links
Chasing the Rhino Obsidian? Through folders, Masterlist and back links g GC BB ? Ginkgo writer? Scrivener? - investigate usability
https://textsniper.app/?ref=petermarkusjones207
Ginkoapp - writing tool. Hierarchical, columnar.
Ideas Worth Implementing:
Goals each day:
- what are your achievable goals?
- what will stop you achieving them
- how will you avoid or overcome the things that will stop you?
Track personal friendships and relationships.
- Keep notes on interests, stories, dates and times.
Journal and offload thoughts before bed
For curated reading articles - Damn good for 5 a month. https://thebrowser.com/
Each Class has a set of tasks of things to remember Linked to the timetable that come up as reminders at the start of each class. Section for Administration Section for communications section for things to find out
Personal section - life, interests, writing progress. The ability to make it personal only.
struggling with Marvin. Need to establish what I need it to do for me
View with just writing, nothing else
A view that puts all my events aligned in the day, including work meetings and Bea pickups and jobs that need doing.
I need a work outline that just has all my work stuff from 8am to 3pm - ideally a list of events and tasks - maybe my timetable as time blocks, perhaps.
I need a list of tasks - possible timeframes to complete the tasks and a way of moving them around and slotting them in into my day.
Reminders that work on Windows and Android are essential - they need to show me what it is on my phone and make it vibrate.
I want to be able to see everything on a calendar as well. Ideally as a day and week view - this is not a deal breaker though.
TP THREE
TP THREE
Leon meets with Variel, a biological adaption specialist, who informs him his upgrade extends his diving capabilities exponentially. He suggests seeking out Nort. Leon is surprised by Ms. Penumbra and informs Suunto, who is nearby. Ms. Penumbra and Leon talk of memory before Suunto arrives to reassert the boundaries of their arrangement discuss the job. Frustrated by a shortened timeline, Suunto tries to end their arrangement before Ms. Penumbra mentions a word that makes her pale. Leon interviews the mark and breaks into his apartment, trying to get a link to the mark’s memories, but struggles with the lack of time. Leon seeks out Nort at his Jade church and is unnerved by the iconography and the junkie’s awe of him. They talk of the Jade rhino and Leon’s close encounter on their last dive. Leon dives and struggles to maintain a link to The Real. He attempts to ground himself by focusing on his memory. His new connection reveals a possible sibling, which feeds his desire to dive deeper and Nor has to pull him back to The Real again. He is shaken by a sense he is being watched and is ripped from The Real to find himself bound by ImpCorp Security.
STEP ONE
Leon visits an associate, Variel, a biological adaption specialist, about his upgrades. Leon realises his capacity for diving deeper and the urge to abandon The Real will be greater. They talk of his new memory, The Abstract and The Jade Rhino and Variel informs him his old diving partners are dead, apart from Nort, who is part of a Jade Rhino cult. Leon must now seek out Nort to help him test the capacity of his upgrades and prevent him from abandoning The Real.
CDQ - Will Leon be able to resist the urge to abandon The Real with Nort’s assistance?
SEQ
STEP TWO
Ms. Penumbra surprises Leon by arriving at his consultation. He immediately informs Suunto, who is in the bar around the corner, waiting for him with Princess. Ms. Penumbra talks to Leon’s memory loss, and they ruminate on memory. Ms. Penumbra is surprised by Suunto’s arrival and Princess’s efficiency in dispatching her security. Suunto reasserts the protocols of their arrangement, but Leon senses she is not tamed. They discuss the intricacy of ImpCorp security and Leon is frustrated by not knowing what what they are stealing. Ms. Penumbra informs Leon he has a meeting with his ‘mark’ in an hour. Suunto pushes back against her interference. Then Ms. Penumbra reveals the timeframe has changed from a month to week. Leon knows it is impossible and Suunto asserts the job is off, until Ms. Penumbra mentions a word to her that turns her pale. Leon reaffirms their commitment to the job. He knows he must protect Suunto absorb the personality of their mark quickly and seek out Nort, his old diving partner. He knows it is not enough time, but must do what he can to be ready.
SEQ
Ms. P SEQ ONE
Ms. Penumbra reflects on her reaction to Princess’s arrival and her first thought of it being an Executive ordered transition team. She realises she is not handling the pressure. She chastises Variel for not letting her know Leon was there also and considers the unlikely possibility he has betrayed her. They talk of her dementia corrupting her mind. Every day, she loses viable brain matter to reprint her memories onto. She purges segments of her life to make room, but will not diminish her memories of Emmit, her dead lover. Variel offers a temporary biological addition that will enable her to enhance her capacity, but likely speed her decline. She agrees, knowing that she does not have much time. As he works, she asks about the upgrade he performed on Leon. He is satisfied, but suggests dampening the one strong memory Leon has, as it will make him too inquisitive and strengthen his addiction. She knows he is right, but she need to feed Leon’s desire for ImpCorp. When she has what she wants, it will not matter what happens to him. Her main concern is stalling the Executive and finding out who has her medical information.
SEQ
STEP THREE
Leon tries to talk to Suunto about what Ms. Penumbra has on her, but Suunto tells him it was all an act. Leon knows she is lying, but he gives her space. Leon arrives at the bar at the base of the mark’s apartment. He conducts a face-to-face interview, pretending to be an ImpCorp consultant. He takes note of the external aspects of his personality and leaves Princess to slowly go through the finer details of his imminent relocation. Jemmy assists Leon in gaining access to the apartment and bypassing the security on the mark’s Abstract port, but Leon does not want to risk accessing The Abstract without Nort, so he gets Jemmy to extract the information herself. Leon tries to get a better sense of his mark through his memory laden items in his apartment, but he is warned by Princess to get out. Leon realises he will have to work with what he has and hopes it is enough to fool the ImpCorp AI security. He must now find a way to fast-track his preparation by diving with Nort.
SEQ
STEP FOUR
Leon drifts to Nort, still unnerved by the meeting, feeling the pressure of the short timeframe. He needs to find out what his new upgrades can do, and if he can resist the pull of The Abstract. He meets Nort at a semi-legal diving den, at his ‘church’. Leon is unnerved by the Jade Rhino iconography and by the awe of of the junkies in the church who meet him. They dive and feel the pull of The Abstract and Leon struggles to remain tethered to Nort and The Real. Leon attempts to ground himself and they talk of Nort’s new faith he adopted after their close call with The Jade Rhino in their last diving venture. Leon hopes his break from The Abstract means she has lost their scent. Leon grounds himself by diving into his only memory. His enhanced connection with The Abstract fills the details of his mother’s face, and Leon catches a glimpse of a small hand in a doorway. A sibling perhaps? Again, he slips too far and Nort has to pull him back. He gets an unnerving sense he is being watched before being ripped back into The Real, to find himself handcuffed by ImpCorp security. The den has been raided.
CDQ Answer - Yes, Leon is able to resist, but only with Nort tethering him to The Real. Leon knows he must find a way to resist the pull before he has to do it alone. He may not get the chance though, as ImpCorp security have him bound.
CA - Leon moves from excited and nervous –- to –- in awe of the possibilities and dangers of his upgrades, and angry that he has been caught by security.
Moral Dilemma - Leon has to choose between protecting Suunto and taking on a high risk infiltration, with little preparation.
SEQ
Leon visits the underground ‘doctor’. They greet like old friends. They have a history together through Nort. His doctor is amazed and tells him some of what it looks like his implants do. He asks how he knows, and he says his ‘big sister’ is all over ImpCorp tech. His limits are no longer his limits. His capacity for diving is profound now. The implant - a mix of the aquatic - quite lovely in its construction - a genius must have mixed this together - it is designed to replicate and repair the connection in times of stress. When did he have it done? Surely not. It must have been at least a month. This is ready to go already. Amazing. Not tried it yet, huh? How comes he went to someone else for this? He would have found a way to get it for him? Does he have a new competitor in town? He thought he had the only trade in the city. This biological stuff is hard to get and highly illegal outside of ImpCorp. He recalls his situation and the doctor says he will need to be careful. Someone has given him a gift here. Gifts are rarely given for free. He will have to watch himself though. He has dampened as much of his additive tendencies as he can. It will become easy to get lost in The Abstract. He suggests not to dive alone. Given his tendencies, he will need a strong tether to keep him bound to The Real. Leon asks about his memory again, and they have the conversation about it again. He is wiped good and proper, although there seems to be a brightness there, surrounding some aspect of his memory. Leon says The Abstract returned it to him, and the doctor says that is maybe how The Abstract works - he sees the junkies here. They do more than worship that Jade Rhino of theirs. They ruminate on the nature of The Abstract. Nort, his old diving partner was here just a few days ago. He was part of a new cult it seems - worshiping The Abstract as some sort of being, symbiotically sustained by our consciousness and memory. Maybe he should talk to him about it. He was always a smart one, until The Abstract got him. Leon comments that he will seek him out. He need to test his implant out and there is no-one else he would trust to keep him tethered. He remembers a time when Nort was the only reason he did not drift off. The doctor tells him to be cautious. He will burn brightly in The Abstract. You don’t want that Jade Rhino coming to get you. He jokes. Leon does not. He knows how precarious his situation is. He will burn brighter in The Abstract now. He remembers a moment before he left for the wilderness, where a tinge of green infiltrated his dive. He had the feeling of being watched. He knew it was likely the Jade Rhino. It likely had his scent, but he had been away for so long, she would likely have found other prey by now. He hopes. There is the drama for his diving…
Overview possibilities
They talk of memories and the nature of remembering. Would he have been a different person if he was able to remember his past? The nature of forgetting. If you could not remember the things you have done, would that make you a better person? Are we tied to our past, and the things we have done, or should be just work to living in the future, and deciding who we want to be? She thinks he has it easy. He can be whoever he wants, and he can make it so. He is not weighed down by the past. She has to sit with the things she has done, although she knows there are a few regrets, it is not over the decisions she made. It was that she did not go hard or fast enough. If she had started earlier, she would not be so rushed for time - spend more time here to refine the theme
the mark is a few blocks away in the newer parts of the city. It was hard to get him that far from his apartment and had to be coerced. Suunto insist the man gets a nice surprise, instead of being hospitalised or go missing for a few days. Leon says he will let her know what he promises him when the meeting is finished. It will likely be something nice. They decide plane tickets to a lovely tropical island - not many left that do tourism now. Some places, but not many. Bali is still going. Send him there - to hang out with some fun people when he realises the job doesn’t actually exist. Maybe a tour guide arranged as an apology from the company. He just needs to be gone for a few days, then shifted to another building so the timelines don’t look out. Ms. P laughs and agrees. She will be nice for a change.
they push back against Ms. P, thinking they have the upper hand. They think she has just visited Leon’s doctor to check up on Leon, rather than seek her own treatments. Or maybe the get her as she is on her way to see him? They think she is tracking Leon, trying to find out what the doctor knows, but really, she is going to see him about her own needs. Maybe Suunto and the team are arriving to pick him up to meet Ms. Penumbra again, when Princess decides the security detail is light enough and their opportunity to reassert themselves is now. Keres says it is a good time. Suunto agrees. Ms. Penumbra seems surprised, and starts to say they were not due to meet for another hour. Princess knocks out two of her three security, before disabling a third with zip ties. Ms. Penumbra claps and says if she wants a job, she has one. Suunto approaches with Princess and Leon. Suunto suggests they have a chat in the vehicle, and Ms. Penumbra obliges. Suunto wishes to establish the boundaries of their working together, and Ms. Penumbra is non- committal, saying that she rarely has to ask permission of anyone. In her world, she has control. She promises not to operate on anyone else without their explicit consent, but also asks Leon if he has tried it out yet. Leon shakes his head. She asks Leon if he was visiting the man inside - she says she has heard he has an illegal workshop - is that right? Leon says he is harmless, but has a good body scanner. She says she was going to check that out for herself. What he has inside him is official ImpCorp technology - not seen outside the building. She was passing and was going to make sure that none of those scans made it out of his office. Leon says she should not do anything to him. He just does a few odd jobs to help the community out. She laughs. She does not care about him. She was just going to ask him nicely, with lots of cash, to hand over the scans. He should not be so dramatic.
They talk of the job, their requirements of silence from Ms. P, unless they have a question or she has essential information from them. Ms. P is non-committal, but will see how the meeting goes. They need a mark that physically matches Leon. He needs to modify his though patterns as well, by setting up a meeting in Leon’s mind pocket - a working thing - he will need recordings of his meetings, interactions in ImpCorp to assimilate the sayings, the gestures and such. She is impressed with the thorough nature of his work, and Suunto reveals that he does not use AI to infiltrate. It is all Leon. The AI only looks for irregularities externally. If he can look and act like him, the AI will ignore him. A few small body modifications as well, and the AI will think it is him. She is impressed. She matches his body characteristics with seventeen employees regionally. One is perfect, and local, but no bioscan. One is required to access the areas she needs him to go. Suunto calls Fix and asks him if he can find a way to put in a bioscan. He says it should not be a problem, as long as he has enough details and a key to the lock. A three second window is all he needs. Ms. Penumbra verifies it is possible. When the mark is integrated into Leon, they can do the bioscan, supplement it with the pre-upgrade one, and he will be that dude. Ms. P says she will arrange for the mark to disappear so they can do what they need do. Suunto says he should only disappear if he is going to someplace nice. Ms.P laughs and asks what she has in mind. She was thinking short hospitalisation, but if they have a better idea, then go for it. They suggest he is called on a last minute job somewhere tropical - only to discover it has been an administrative error and has to spend a few days, relaxing in paradise - but the company is so sorry, that they arrange a fun filled few days - snorkeling, plenty of drinks, a bit of romance… Ms. P laughs and says she will see what she can do. Sedatives is usually quicker and easier. Suunto says, ‘but not as fun, or kind.’
Security - friendly front desk that hides multiple scanners - If Leon is as good as he says, then he will get through. The AI will scan him as an employee. Once in Ms. P will guide him. No way, there are too many variables there, and they do not trust her with his life? This is the option available for him.
She wants to be part of the mission, and this is the only way she can see it working. He needs to access sensitive areas, and she can’t divulge any more to them. She can tell them the floor, the port, but where he needs to go, only a few people have access - this will help me figure out what is going on as I progress.
The mission needs to be sorted here - at least in some form. She can provide some things, but there are parts ImpCorp she has not seen in decades.
only to find out they are well and truly trapped by her. She has them in a noose, already, but she is not surprised or offended. The little fish always seem to think they are bigger than they are. She uses the opportunity to leverage a bit more from them and tell them they need to move on the job in weeks, not months. They say it is impossible, and she asks if it will take more manpower. It wont. It is the difficulty of the job. There is no other choice. Ms. P will arrange the information they need. They just need to do it, and do it well. Suunto and Leon realise they are caught tighter than they would have liked, and have no other option but to get it done. Leon tells her he will meet her at the bar - The Abstract one - to discuss it. They are going to need to use the time advantage provided by The Real to figure out how to make it work.
MsP -She reflects on Princess’s approach and her foolish thought that they were coming for her. She is getting jumpy and distracted. She curses herself for that. She visits the same techy guy as Leon - the real reason she was coming here. Let them think it was all about them. He is treating he dementia (slow reveal in the scene) and she asks him about Leon’s implants. All has gone to plan. He says he has found a new biological enhancement and can help out with a physical aspect as well. It is an illegal tech he is offering, and Ms. P says she does not have anything to lose at this stage. He injects her with it and tells her that she may have a few side effects - mild aggression perhaps, and she will sleep quite well tonight, maybe a bit groggy tomorrow morning. She thanks him and she leaves. Does she know him? Yes. Then they will talk of their relationship over the years. This is where we see the dementia in her and the controls she has gone to. He says she may have a couple of years, maybe more, but only if she lives a life of no stress. He says she should probably transition before she loses too much of her memory. She tells him of her implanting her memories each day and he comments that it will only work for so long. The materials fade with each copy, only slightly, and what she is copying onto - her brain - will not be able to manage soon. She asks him if the memories from her vault have degraded at all. He says they are in amazing condition. If she were to let them degrade a little, she could have another few years, yet. They are taking up much of her resources, to enhance a few years of her life. She says they are fine as they are. They define her, and she will not have them removed. She asks for an old favour and he automatically says he will not tell a soul. She laughs and knows he will not. He never has. He has enough secrets already to sink her. She asks for any dna modification technology - the type he most definitely does not deal in - that could help her. He does, but it will likely reduce that two year timeframe he spoke of. She is not fussed. She is getting old and he protests. She knows he wants her around to guarantee his business survives. She mentions that it may be time to try something else. She cannot guarantee her protection after she goes. She asks of Leon and he tells her that the upgrade went smoothly. He is curious as to what he can do now, and he guided him to Nort, as always. Ms. Penumbra says they will likely have to push him a bit more now. He says it may not be safe - he has addictive tendencies, that boy. He is brighter now. The Jade Rhino may find him. She says that it is unlikely. There are so many junkies in the system now, that I’m sure the Jade Rhino will be way too full.
Too soon to kill him and for her to find out who did it. He needs to come under some pressure, but she knows he has not said a thing. He is heavily monitored by her. She knows every move he makes. His former boss, the one she used to work for, implanted him with a recording device. She has seen everything, and can see everything he has been up to since that day. He knows his place and has been nothing but respectful. He has not even uttered her name. She knows the leak did not come from him.
SEQ THREE
Leon tries to talk to Suunto about what Ms. Penumbra has on her, but Suunto tells him it was all an act. Leon knows she is lying, but he gives her the space she needs. The mark has been summoned to meet in the bar of his apartment building. He sets up his AI protocols using his keyboard, triggering recording and data analysis for voice and mannerisms. The mark arrives and Leon steers him through an interview designed to draw out personality aspects and a range of emotional responses. Princess arrives to ‘distract’ the mark and go through details of the job Leon has set him up with to get him out of town, while Leon meets Jemmy at the mark’s apartment. He looks through the apartment, noting personal items that define him. He examines his porting chair, and Jemmy cracks the code, and she connects to the port to collect an impression of his Abstract history and memory. She is curious as to why Leon has declined the opportunity. He says he is busy with examining his apartment, but he is really hesitant about connecting to The Abstract alone. He practices the mark’s voice and mannerisms as he walks, sitting in chairs, examining his entertainment devices and kitchen cupboards, getting a better sense of him. Princess tells them that he is on his way, so they leave. She reckons he must be gay - she flirted her arse off, but he did not respond. Leon realises he is likely asexual, and some unusual elements of his decor become clearer. He visits the more ‘interesting’ fringe worlds. They do not have everything they need, but Leon has to work with what he has to create his mindset for the job. Time is too short to truly become him.
Leon finds Nort in an underground gathering. There are emaciated junkies in full view. Leon tells him that some have not been out for days. They are not sure if one of them is coming back. He is part of the church and is searching for The Jade Rhino. They do a dirty, nasty drug referenced moment of fluids and dirty tech. He ports in and we get a first glimpse of The Abstract, as filtered through Leon’s conscious - exiting in his new memory - tapped into ImpCorp, until they pierce through the illusion to what lies beyond. ImpCorp gateway is overly commercial - he can see the consciousness lining up to get access - a dome funnelling them in at incredible by varied speeed. They break from it by grabbing a memory - Leon’s burns brightly now and they peel that back too - to access what is beyond memory. The Abstract rushes through him and he experiences it in a new way. He is ripped from The Real, but Nort has him tethered. He tells him he needs to resist a little more and Leon strengthens his connection to his heartbeat again. Nort gradually reduces the tether and Leon stabilises himself. The Abstract is unbelievable and Nort can feel it too. Nort and Leon float in Leon’s vast expanse. It is so huge, they can’t sense the end of it. Leon’s worlds appear in amazing detail, and Nort is impressed, just like Leon. He imagines and creates creatures and worlds, flicking forward and backward through time, watching evolution unfold in a microcosm. Nort and Leon feel the rush of it - his new ability and power to manipulate The Abstract.
Leon wants his memories, but he cannot feel them, just like before. He pulls Nort deeper and they search through something. He let’s his subconscious lead him and they find themselves in his kitchen back at his only memory. Nort and Leon are confused. Why back at his memory? They are meant to be journeying through his subconscious, and yet they are back where they started. Leon plays the memory back as an observer, and Leon sees the face of his mother for the first time. She is like him, but not like him at the same time. He sees himself as well, as a child. There is another child in the background, as a movement in the gap of a door. It is new and he moves towards it. It plays through again, but it is just a finger and a hand. He cannot push it any more. He realises that he must have had sibilings as well. The small fingers are smaller than his. He burrows into them - he can sense what they have touched, a smell, and he goes deeper into them. He flows deeper. Nort pulling on him and he is tugged back to his memory.
Nort is distressed and Leon realises he has dimmed his connection to his heartbeat again. He strengthens it through Nort and tethers himself to it again. Leon wants to go again, but Nort tells him they should work on Leon tethering himself. Leon says his usual technique is not working. He tries to tether himself to his mother, but his subconscious keeps getting drawn back to the fingers and he finds himself pulled deeper again. Leon get’s frustrated and Nort calms him. He just needs to feel it, rather than fight it, just like old times. He talks of his new faith, the Jade Rhino and the endless expanse. Leon tells him that he was always the one not to mention the ‘green bitch’ in The Abstract, for fear of summoning her. He says he was wrong. He has found a better way. Life is meant to be fleeting, not eternal. If the Jade Rhino decides that it is his time, then he will go willingly. He has the faith. She wont devour his soul. She will take him to a new existence, where he is one with The Abstract. He will be part of the eternity that exists here. Leon says he likes his philosophy, but he can’t believe it. He prefers to avoid having his soul sucked into oblivion, or at least until after he has found his memories and has a better sense of himself. If he let the Jade Rhino take him now, Suunto would hunt her down and get him back. She doesn’t like it when one of her sheep is hurt. She is too mature and too protective. She never had kids - they were too much of a burden and she could not face the burden of not drinking for nine months - so her team are her substitute family and she is protective to a fault. Still, it has kept most of them alive.
Leon feels The Abstract once again, concentrating on his heart beat and the tethers that bind him to The Real. The vastness of The Abstract restricts a little and he can sense the borders he once knew to his subconscious. Nort says he can feel the pressure easing for him. He can stay a while longer now. Leon fights the urge to snap the tethers and fly, and Nort can sense it in him. They are connected by blood. They talk of his addiction and need to control it himself - reflection on junkies. Nort is not interested in becoming one - he has seen too many go that way, but he also feels the pull through Leon. Leon feels The Abstract pulling at the core of who he is. The deeper he goes, the more he senses he is part of the fabric of it all, much more than before. He has seen the face of his mother, and knows she worked for ImpCorp - there is maybe a sister or a brother there. He is part of something and he needs answers. His drive to dive grows deeper, and Nort tells him to be careful. He can feel it growing in him. The darkness gets a tinge of green to it, the response to a distant light. Leon notices it, before their connection is ripped apart and they find themselves back in The Real. They are in the middle of a raid.
He senses that he is being watched, but is it in his mind, or just a sense of Nort with him?
this scene needs to have The Abstract fleshed out as a process. The experience needs more definition. It should be a new world, created and imposed by Leon’s subconscious, entwined with Norts as well.
note - the heartbeat thuds throughout the scene. They dive between heartbeats, so the body is silenced and the subconscious is free. The beat will appear in moments mixing between the paragraphs. When Leon dives deeper, the beats spread out further to represent losing connection to The Real and time. When he is taken by the Jade Rhino, the beat stop