8FOLD/HCC: Journey Into # 20, "Her Face In My Mirror"

[Andrew Perron]

On 2/7/2015 12:02 AM, Tom Russell wrote:
> On Friday, February 6, 2015 at 10:56:42 PM UTC-5, Andrew Perron wrote:
>> On 2/2/2015 10:15 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
<snip>
>>> She had been relieved, at first. Four days ago, when Snowden leaked
>>> the DSHA List of Known and Confirmed Secret Identities, it had gripped
>>> her in sudden terror.
>>
>> Interesting - I knew you'd mentioned him doing something superhuman-y in this
>> world, but I didn't remember what. Has it been said why?
>
>No, it hasn't-- I think the idea is that it was part of a larger leak that
 > resembled the materials leaked in "our" world.

Ahhhhhh. So splash damage.

>>>      "Let me count the ways, my love.
>>
>> Hmmmmmm~?
>
>Women who are close friends sometimes call each other "my love" in a
 > completely platonic way. At least, they do in the Midwest.

Just checking~

>>>                  III. SCHERZO
>>
>> Ohshi Gallifreyan body horror--
>
> ??

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121217222626/tardis/images/d/d8/Scherzo_cover.jpg

It's apparently pretty disturbing! <3

>>>      Her first suspect in the easiest to cross off her list; turns out
>>> the third Kickflip Kingpin was captured two days before the attack by
>>> his regularly-scheduled nemesis, Rainshade of Naperville.
>>
>> OFF THE RAIL!!
>
> Not the first time either of these characters have appeared, by-the-by.

Really. o.o But in which identity, I wonder.

>>>      Whereas Bethany put some work and some thought into her somewhat
>>> plausible "genetically manipulated by rogue scientists" backstory,
>>> Rainshade's nonsense about having a psionic link with umbrellas is
>>> bat-crazy and dumb on its face. It's like she's not even trying, and
>>> the thing that irritates Kate, and that goes double on those nights
>>> when she had both the law and the baddies chasing after her, is that
>>> Rainshade actually gets away with it.
>>
>> Innnnnnnnteresting. I assume someone out there has a policy not to look into
>> thin excuses too hard.
>
>I'm not sure if we'll see much about Rainshade in future stories, but she
 > definitely has some connections that are ensuring the people enforcing
 > Fitzwalter don't look too hard. Much like Trimmer and Bethany protecting
 > Kate post-2010.

Ahhhhhh, very interesting, very interesting.

>>>      Also, she's a tramp.
>>
>> Hm. Are you using that as a synonym for "promiscuous woman"? Because in my
>> mental dictionary it's filed under "hobo".
>
>The former. The line originally read, "Also, she's a slut", but I thought
 > it was too harsh for a story that, grotesque disfigurement and fratricide
 > aside-- which, okay, are pretty major things to set "aside"-- was /mostly/
 > all ages. So I went with the softer "tramp".
>
> Though my own mental dictionary immediately goes to Chaplin.

Yeah, I just don't think of that meaning first or even second. But it's 
definitely out there.

>>>      "I thought you were dead," says Pinochle. He opens a pack of cards.
>>> "Or dying."
>>
>> Hm, I wonder if he's related to... um... wossface.
>
> ??

Hm. I think I might have been thinking of Gallery? I'm not sure.

>>>      That was until two months back when Dr. Metronome phased her hand
>>> into the dentures, slamming them shut, permanently.
>>
>> Ewgh. Speaking of body horror, you seem to be a fan. (Well, NHOP confirmed that.)
>
>I don't know if I'd say that I'm a "fan" of body horror, per se. I'm
 > actually extremely squeamish, and I find the whole genre deeply unsettling.
 > I certainly do have that in mind with NHOP, which I mean to be unsettling
 > without being gross, and where I am trying to extrapolate Maggie's own body
 > image issues via genre elements.

I dunno, it seems to be something you go for pretty often, in terms of trying 
to make characters disturbing.

(Also, NHOP gets. Pretty gross. @.@)

>In this particular case. I was trying to come up with something that felt
 > like a "scary" villain, as opposed to the more colorful sorts of villains
 > that, for example, Knockout Mouse or Darkhorse might tangle with. I was
 > going more for "darker Batman villain" than consciously evoking any
 > elements of body horror, though of course there is some overlap between the
 > two (e.g., Two-Face).

Interesting - honestly, I was thinking more of that whole 
hand-phased-into-mouth thing as being the most body-horror part.

>>>      "Apparently she wanted out of her life," says Bethany. "Away from
>>> the kids, from the husband. She saw her sister, single, free. Wanted
>>> that life for herself. And when the List came out last week, she
>>> thought she saw an opportunity. She killed her sister and took her
>>> place, hoping we'd be looking so close at the Metronome angle that she
>>> wouldn't be a suspect."
>>
>> So... why did she lie about it in the first place? `.` I wouldn't think
>> random, compulsive lying would line up with calculated, remorseless lying..
>
>That's a good and perceptive question-- and there's a couple of reasons for
 > it, one of which is hinted at in the story. I chose not to spell them out
 > both to keep the focus on Kate, and to keep the Evil mysterious and
 > unknowable. The latter is an intentional echo of Kate's origin story, in
 > which her mother tries to drown her shortly after catching her
 > masturbating, with no apparent motive or explanation.

Hm. I dunno, this kind of thing pushes my buttons, because crime stuff has a 
real problem with "unknowable evil"; implying that criminals, and especially 
murderers, are Evil in an alien way that has no relation to the problems and 
pressures of us Normal Folk.

>>> After all, you are my favorite Bethany."
>>>      "Except for the other one."
>>>      "Well, yeah."
>>
>> "Except for the other one" for Favorite Running Gag 2015.
>
> Yes!
>
>A little background: before I wrote the Metronome-Knockout Mouse team-up
 > story, I re-read Kate's origin story. (Which has some nice moments, but
 > maybe doesn't hang together as well as I'd like.)

I think it's pretty good-- a good beginning for Journey Into, to be sure.

 > And when I noticed
 > Bethany Proust, I figured I had to have Kate mention upon meeting Knockout
 > Mouse that she had a friend also named Bethany.

Ah, a sustainably-grown organic gag! Very good. <3

>>>      "So I noticed something," says Bethany. "Ever since Paige Pond was
>>> arrested, no one's seen Dr. Metronome."
>>>      "I noticed that, too," says Kate.
>>>      "Does that mean that Paige Pond was Dr. Metronome?" says Bethany.
>>> "Who will be remembered for all time as both a plucky heroine, and
>>> also an unrepentant and violent psychopath?"
>>
>> Hmmmmm! Would people make that assumption, necessarily?
>
> Well, if you look at what's known by John Q. Eightfoldian...
>
> + Paige Pond was confirmed by the government as being Dr. Metronome.
> + Paige Pond murdered her sister and was arrested.
> + Dr. Metronome hasn't been seen since.
>
>....I think it's a fair assumption for a large chunk of the public. There
 > would be those who doubt its veracity-- persons who think, for example,
 > that the government was wrong (which, in fact, they were). I think,
 > however, with the List being verified as correct in most if not all other
 > cases that this kind of theorizing might be met with skepticism, and that
 > the mainstream belief that Paige Pond was Dr. Metronome will hold.

See, I thought that fact #2 would cancel out fact #1-- but then, it really 
depends how it's reported, isn't it? Hmmmm...

>> Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, hmmmmmmm
>
> I seem to be leaning towards "hmmmm" these days. Not sure how I feel about that.
>
> Hmmmmm.

It means you're being experimental and trying different stuff! <3

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, hmmmms!