STEP ONE (REVISED)
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 cult. Leon must return to Nort to help him test the capacity of his upgrades and prevent him from abandoning The Real.
Sequence One
Leon arrives at Variel’s shopfront to find an Abstract Junkie in the alley outside. Leon sees him with both compassion and concern. He knows the junkie’s struggle and if things do not work out for him, it is likely his own fate. Leon makes his way though Variel’s ‘shopfront’ - a collection of antique, iconinc rarities from the eighties onwards to his real, almost legal business - biological enhancements. He must talk to Variel, and find out about his implants and the new challenges he will likely face in accessing The Abstract.
CDQ
Will Leon discover the nature of his new upgrade and how it will affect his deep diving and addiction?
Sequence Two
Leon is greeted like a returning son and Leon feels the guilt of leaving so quickly last time. Variel presses Leon about the circumstances of his upgrades but Leon remains quiet. He trusts Variel, but he is not a member of the team. Variel is fascinated by Leon’s new memory. He offers to enhance the tendrils of his enhanced memory that seek out other memories to connect to. Leon hesitates, but agrees. He needs to find his memories. Variel’s initial test show little, apart from a fascinating enhancing of his central and peripheral nervous system. Variel insists on invasive analysis methods. Leon is reluctant, but he must agree to find out more.
Sequence Three
Variel extracts flesh samples from his nervous system and discovers he has an enhanced capacity to absorb more of The Abstract and will likely difficulty in maintaining a tether to The Real. Leon and Varel talk of the nature of The Abstract, creation, faith and Leon’s old diving partners, all of whom, apart from Nort, are dead. Leon realises that without Nort to help him establish a stronger tether, he will likely succumb to temptation and abandon The Real.
CDQ Answer
Yes, Leon finds out more about his upgrades, but realises with his increased capacity to dive will also mean he will find it harder to tether to The Real. He realises he must find Nort to help him.
Character Arc
Leon moves from reminiscent of his time with Variel, to compassionate for the junkie in the alleyway — to — hesitant about seeking out Nort, but resolved in it is his only way forward.
Moral Dilemma
He junkie reminds him of his own addiction and weakness, and likely his own end, but he knows he has to pursue The Abstract, in order to repay the team for his past mistakes.
Leon is unnerved by the Church of the Rhino, with its fringe philosophies of salvation though being consumed by the Jade Rhino, but he knows seeking Nort there is his only way to develop a stronger tether to The Real.
He is torn between doing more invasive testing and finding out more about his upgrades.