Easter

Storyline

{Notes: (1) 'Easter' consists of direct-to-consumer downloadables that utilize augmented reality. (2) Content is released under a UUelcome License for further free distribution. (3) See 'Did you know -> Trivia' section about important disclaimers.} ¶OLD HABITS... Neo-noir moving picture adaptations of detective novels - starting with various eponymous entries as a source of inspiration/speculation - is independently succeeded here. Their literary motifs of tumult, claustrum, revenge, paranoia, and distress are further incorporated into this tragedy - an honest attempt to interpret the biblical Books of Genesis and Revelation, albeit in a medium that addresses the needs of our dramaturgy. As such, the central character is atavistically brought back to his roots; carefully avoiding the regular-turned-superheroic trend that has been critically panned in recent productions. ¶The storyline follows an ordinary man of law enforcement (here his name is "Pascha", which is a generic substitute nomen for Joseph/John) who continually rises to the occasion when he finds himself in precarious situations/circumstances where he becomes the focal point for warding-off potentially grave threats where the stakes are raised throughout the progression, racking up considerable destruction in his wake while getting his clothes filthy in the process. ¶The hardnose behavior and sardonic temperament of our maverick detective is risque, to say the least, and has been valued as an asset among fans. He has been used to represent the everyman who perhaps could not say and do things that were otherwise unfashionable. His exploits and adventures have touched on sensitive topics, such as homophobia, racism, xenophobia, and large-scale domestic terrorism. The audience knows what they are getting with Pascha; it revels in vicariously helping him sort through the predicaments he faces with the expected outcome of disaster being averted because he just surmounted the odds. ¶Parkinson's underlies the tragedy of our eponym's neurological disorders. ¶The underlying theme here is that loops in life are purposed to resolve debt(s) at the cost of death (in other words, people are supposed to put themselves in a position to help, and then help those less fortunate). For even religion predicts the end of itself; all signs point to a sacrificial pawn as the inflective change agent. ..An elegiac send-off for the character (Joe/John) was requested, paying attention to his age+health. In that regard, this piece's content relies heavily on forensics where it is devoid of stunts. Still (for fans of the action genre), how utter chaos devolves from Helter Skelter compensates for delayed thrills. ¶As a spiritual successor to many a classic detective series, this offering considers all the prior rough-and-tumble that Pascha (Joe/John) has been through - and while structurally embracing said suggestions - envisioning he would, today, tenably be suffering from serious deterioration attributed largely to Parkinson's disease (medically, alpha-synuclein plays integral parts in PD development and regulating dopamine), probably a diabetic factor resulting from his lifestyle choices of heavy alcohol+tobacco consumption. ¶This opera gives an intense purview of the human spirit, touching on the finer points of mental, physical, and emotional illness. In it, Pascha's troubled past has finally caught up with him, and our tragic hero finds himself at his nadir needing all the help he can get. Given that the stakes are incredibly high here, his task is to find clues scattered about which hint at solving a larger biochemistry puzzle: a vaccine for halting the spread of a latent contagion (virus) contaminating the microbiome. ¶He is not alone; in 'Easter' the viewer experiences things from Pascha's first-person perspective (to provide a sense of what it would be like to have a cocktail of neurodegenerative diseases), with the interface - "Stu(art)" - serving as his medical guidance companion. This is accomplished in-stream using augmented reality, which is central to decision-making as well as the outcome itself. And, yes, 'Easter' still has its share of those do-or-die hard scenarios we all know and love. ¶--- ASSIGNMENT A hero to many, OR-6/PO1 Pascha is sadly now sick with Parkinson's disease and in (for) the fight of his life. //The idea here is that the detective's infliction with Parkinson's disease is a research clef. The dramaturgy of 'Easter' has Pascha policing a synthetic storyline set in a hyper-modern world. ¶For the past forty-plus (40+) years, Pascha has put himself out there in the line of duty and saved many lives. Now he needs your help. We're not sure how much time he has left, but this doesn't look good. ¶On a positive note, an artificial intelligence is being developed to find a cure or therapies for Parkinson's and similar pathologies (eg. Huntington's chorea, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, etc.). ¶Our goal is huge: piece together scattered bits of information teasing a potential cure for neurodysfunction that is being held hostage in a militarized zone by the infamously mysterious 'SAINT BERNARD'. We have been warned that a few major figures are masquerading as upstanding citizens, but can see for ourselves that corruption is a local effect of relational dialects. Immediate societal turmoil and systemic pollution are symptoms of our absence and/or failure here. Remember that people are resources; taken by themselves, alliances may be more valuable than friendships or even family. ¶In bringing this gaiden to requiem (ie. concluding entire arc), proposed were a few things: (1) the exploration of a backstory for the sake of character study, and (2) the introduction of substantive dramatic elements. Logic dictates that, if either of those things is missing from a closure piece like this, an opportunity to tie up loose ends in the narrative would have been forfeited. ¶In the piece we have an overarching plot with a lot of smaller substories. And in those substories are front-facing characters with tie-ins to real-world happenings. It features a number of times where the protagonist/antagonist must revisit his past in order (for the audience) to piece together present-day clues. Take, for instance, late August 1978, where in Brandywine we find a young Elsewhere-grown Pascha, full of hope+aspirations, caught between his military friend's personal strife, and his own ambitions of perhaps someday becoming a renown comedian under his alter ego "Bruno". ¶--- NARRATIVE After a six-year city-mandated hiatus, Brandywine's famed Temple Theater is having what it calls its 'Easter Week': a one-off weeklong revival showcase ("The Jukebox") before it finally closes its doors due to increasing blight in the north part of town; the neighborhood is no longer as safe and vibrant as it was just a decade prior. The African-American (B1) community is still feeling the effects of the Civil Rights Movement, compounded with first Chief of Police and then-Mayor Luigi's antics and policies frozen in place during that decade. Turning inward, the Community becomes increasingly activist, self-destructive, and simultaneously self-expressive. In the middle of all this we have some blue-eyed soul, a young Pascha who is also struggling to find his place in the world as he chases his dreams, follows his heart, and succumbs to destiny. This part of the story (fictitiously what transpires in the aftermath of the Amateur Night held on Saturday August 5, 1978) is the most pivotal in telling because the events define who and what our eponym is (to become). ¶Newly appointed District Attorney Ember Libitina has seemingly ignored peril in the rest of the City to focus ruthlessly on Aegypt, an eccentric freedom fighter whose community-building efforts are taken to be a direct threat to the Brandywine Police Department. Aegypt is rebellious against law enforcement and high-technology, but not in a demonstrative way; he'd much rather tend to his 'anti-pollution' lifestyle with his followers in their own small section of town. His group, GO, recently purchased a block of houses in the university district, and are intent on converting those into a spiritual health cooperative for Black people. GO's ideologies speak to racial harmony and financial discipline for all, but city codes are intolerant of communals boarding convicted criminals. ¶The BPD attempts to evict GO and serve arrest warrants, but is met with self-defense crossfire. In response, bombs are dropped in a residential area, resulting in death, destruction, and lies. ¶Due to his background of investigative work in the private sector, Pascha had been personally courted by Mayor Luigi to surveil the group and monitor its movements. Because of the assignment, his espionage has him feeling like a traitor; the wife of his colleague, Alven - who is also his best friend, is a member of GO, and the three of them are part of a four-person band that has advanced to the finals in the local talent show. He must now ask himself if it is worth risking his one shot at making it big in Hollywood? The answer to this question will shape the rest of life. ¶Maundy Lindros is a shipping magnate from Old Dominion who has taken up the Naval Shipyard as a permanent base. Moving quickly, she abused her status to essentially buy controlling seats on the City Council. Maundy seizes the power vacuum to strike a recompense deal with the jurisdiction's Black (B1) demographic that leads to the creation of a new sector called 'Meroë'. On paper, this district's main function is to act as a separate-but-equal establishment to carry-out Aegypt's would-be vision. But in reality, it's used as a proxy for Lindros' clandestine business dealings. Coincidentally, Lindros was Pascha's employer in Elsewhere before he too settled in Brandywine. ¶All of these characters pull our Coastie in directions that overlap each other. ¶... and that is where we find Pascha today, an elderly man with one more trick up his sleeve on the brink of receiving his due pension, but genuinely unsure of whether the odds are still in his favor. Since becoming a sexagenarian, he's done plenty of self-examination, and has grown sick of the life that he has lived as an adult. Losing his religion, his insecurities stem from years, decades of having rubbed people the wrong way in order to answer the calls of duty that may never add up to anything more than a thankless job. He now despises everything that the security industry stands for, and is starting to side with those who have been historically oppressed in this country, especially at the hands of what his chosen profession represents. Self-inflicted incredulity has him feeling almost ashamed to have ever been involved in the capacity that he was. At this stage, he is an über-seasoned veteran at the end of his journey anxious to tip the fedora. A miserable alcoholic, he drinks away personal demons which are the result of posttraumatic stress disorder, thus becoming his own worst enemy in geriatric anger, and now, in an effort to salvage his sanity, must be the hero in his own rescue. ¶In today's current social climate, pockets of once-latent animus are manifesting+spreading across the globe - be it from shifting politics, stances on immigration, bigotry, or what have you - engendering bunches of armchair heroes and keyboard warriors; cowards in need of a figurehead they can galvanize behind until their version of order is restored or parturitated. ¶Unless things are under control, then things are out of control. What we have here is a major urban area (Brandywine) on the brink of chaos. ¶What has induced panic in the opera is a number of things. For starters, collegiate Black athletes are finally negotiating their self-worth (ie. B-genes) at the pro-am levels, an innovation that tips the balance of the sports landscape by dramatically shifting the bulk of advertising revenues from PWIs to HBCUs. Now schools of the latter will have the funds to do quality research and development with competitive outcomes. To stopgap the labor drain in an effort to maintain an advantage, conferences are modifying the rules in the 11th hour. More broadly, as an embarrassing admission that these changes take precedence, Speaker Henza Turtl has, in response to the mobility, introduced legislation on the House Floor titled 'Cotton & Chains Act', which aims to - among other things - reduce non-compliant subjects to non-profit status in the name of "education". Also snuck in the bill is a mandate calling for refugees from the Eastern Bloc to be relocated to Mississippi. Turtl and her conservative cohorts have designs on "getting things back to the way they were". ¶In addition, the entity named 'SAINT BERNARD' (SB) has made a number of under-the-table deals over the course of the past few months with religious sects worldwide to force either the demolition or removal of the Al-Aqsa Mosque so that the prophesied Third Temple can be erected. Meanwhile, a worldwide pandemic in the form of a viral neurotoxin (biowarfare?) has crippled the global economy, and the anticipated aftermath of a recovery has sparked fears of a hegemonic shift between the Western and Eastern hemispheres; potentially resulting in a clash of cultures and an inevitable world war. SB's deliberate attempt to invoke the Second Coming tickles the diabolical beaks of war hawks, but not without consequence. ¶In the midst of this outbreak that has quarantined large swaths of the population, there has been yet another sensationalized incidence of fatal violence committed toward an unarmed and presumed innocent minority at the hands of law enforcement, this time, they belong to Pascha's own partner, Bunny. This miscarriage has put the whole town - already fragile from previous similar occurrences across the country - on-edge. Unfortunately for said law enforcement, the difference between other jurisdictions and the City of Brotherly Love is that she lives up to her reputation as being the most blue-collar, no-nonsense town in America, totally intolerant of brutality towards its citizens by those who have taken an oath to protect them. They have social media and a backlog of public case studies replete with examples of no justice being brought to officers in the courts of law. Now, where there was hope and maybe even expectation of a drawn out trial that could potentially result in an acquittal, certain neighborhoods - exhausted from fighting for very limited resources, have other plans for dealing with the perpetrators and the interrelated corrupt justice system. ¶Now, with a special political election underway, the town's entrenched power elite are out to protect themselves from this rising menace (potential civil enmity) at considerable cost. Their tentacles run deep. Pascha's entire flotilla [spearheaded by Admiral Lent Goode] turns against him (forcing him into absolute fugitivity), leaving him embroiled in a search for the truth about his colleagues, the city, and own future. ¶Micha "Bunny" Petrakis is an ambitious NCIS officer who is fresh off of a murder case she just helped solve. There is a new assignment for the talented young officer who is being quickly promoted through the ranks of the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS): a dragnet is on for "Theo", the mid-Atlantic's most dangerous gang leader. Bringing Theo to justice could lead to great rewards and coveted recognition that comes along with it. With the assistance of her connections to the city government and dubious ties to the criminal underworld, this shouldn't be a problem, and wouldn't be if she can just do things her way. Having been recently partnered with retired lieutenant Pascha (who is supervising as part of his community service exit interview requirements so that he can expunge his prior dishonorable discharge and thereby receive his full pension and health benefits that include copay treatment [L-DOPA] for his Parkinson's/diabetes package) for port security, Bunny surmises that the most opportune time to test the limits of her authority without askance will and has come while under the tutelage of one of the most controversial officers in this country's history. On a routine traffic stop, and doubtedly 'fearing for her life', she opens fire on a seatbelted father and his young daughter, killing them both. With no witnesses other than an unwitting Pascha, the precincts and city are left with the difficult task of explaining and defending this tragedy to the public. Questions arise: is there innocence in this case, and where to place the blame? -- and are answered quickly: blame is placed squarely on Pascha, framing him. Furthermore, because of what appears to be a curtailing of a kingpin's business dealings, a hit is put out on the detective's life, endangering him. ¶An old rivalry is rekindled as the mysterious Mr. Alphabet and his conglomerate, Nile LLC, steadily move into town from Portland, Oregon in search of a second headquarters. As an unorthodox method for talent scouting, he creates a city-wide tournament for artificial intelligence development. The local magnate, Maundy Lindros, feels that her business dealings may be threatened by the arrival of the new enterprise, and looks to act quickly. In opposition to her, the city's mayor, Ember Libitina, seeks to oblige the requests of Mr. Alphabet, which entails expediting cleaning up the streets of crime, poverty, and foul activity to go hand-in-hand with his investment. Maundy, who has puppeteered thugs and drug lords to do her bidding in the past, once again encounters her legal nemesis, except that this time - in the midst of an important political election - the stakes are much higher. Meanwhile, Theo is on the hunt for city personnel who could thwart him. The DA's office responds to the very serious potential challenges posed by the kingpin by placing Ember in the care of Pascha for the time being. ¶Enter Egg. ¶In the wake of this, we have a disgruntled civilian named Egg, who, having been disillusioned with authority after his own recent encounter with the legal system moved him beyond reproach, devises a plan to carry-out what he sees is the only logical solution to stop and prevent any further foul play against his community - the extermination of all police departments, fire stations, hospitals, regional National Guard, and the dismemberment of local officials (eg. those elected, ombuds, prosecutors, etc.) for whom they serve. ¶To make matters worse, he is even willing and competent enough to take his cause further - carnage: orchestrate an all-out war against anybody who is in disagreement with his self-reliance/self-preservation, protectionist philosophy. Inevitably, random persons are made at fault and no one is a safe target, but by billing himself as the "crown of light", this 'manifestation of abuse' - akin to the Grim Reaper - can rationalize being his own judge+jury (however sadistic) by using the survival of the fittest evolutionary tactic so that he can 'bring a new dawn'. ¶Before being sentenced to a hospital for a non-violent offense, Egg was firefighter employed by the City on loan to the Brandywine Water Authority, which is a subsidiary of Lindros FlyerCast & Irons, Ltd.. He was working specifically under a federal grant (a weeks-long hackathon sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service) to build+research urban watersheds for a statewide 'green' ("healthy") initiative. His findings were that somebody was 'poisoning the well', so to speak; for decades there has been foreign particulates (neurological agents) deliberately placed into the drinking water of targeted African-American (B1) neighborhoods in Brandywine and Bucks County. His investigation led him to discover that this had been done perhaps intentionally by an intra-organizational coalition. ¶When he went to report his findings to his superiors, he was immediately re-assigned, and the project spec dismantled. He was later labeled mentally incompetent, timely laid-off, and then framed for three counts of tampering with federal equipment. Each count held up to one year as punishable by law. Because these were minor trespasses, the authorities decided to ship him interstate to a psychiatric ward in Deer Lodge, Elsewhere for his sentence. ¶Whatever happens, happens, and for a reason. That mode of thinking catapulted him into the depths of anguish and back again, taking him to the brink of death, where he began irreversible experiments of self-mutilation. These actions ended up costing him his arm in the process, which was later replaced with a bionic prosthetic. ¶While on the inside, with his freedoms gone, he did plenty of introspection. He may have tried to find religion to some degree, or at least what it means to be 'religious' in the midst of Hell, by sampling the unit's library. But then decided that he's actually not a coward; that it's actually against his best interests to seek false protection from others who were legitimately sick. ¶With all of his learning and understanding, he found some things about the Bible to be astonishingly peculiar to him. After reading the good book from cover-to-cover, he began to believe that he was blessed, not cursed. His psychosis became more potent over the course of his sentence, and had gotten to a point in schizophrenia where he totally converted to his own belief system where he interprets the Bible as one big tarot card reading. ¶And like all people on the journey seeking mental resolve, he found a distant source, and then nit-picked that source to get closer to it, selecting what sounded most interesting to him and in-line with his feelings. What he found came directly from three books in the Bible: Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Revelation (ie. the first, the fifth, and the last). He would use all three to make his case that B1 are the true people the Book, and thus, can be justified in doing biblical work. ¶Chapters+verses from Revelation especially convinced him of Brandywine (his hometown) (as) being the last remaining of the Seven Churches, and that his followers would come from her when called. Figuring that the first slaves were brought to American (Virginia) shores in August 1619, that time (+400 years) is now, he thinks. ¶So, when we get introduced to Egg in the church scene alongside Dominique, we know that he's at the tail-end of his spiritual journey. From his personal failings, he has arrived at the inevitable delusion: that because he cannot thrive under oppression, he should not co-exist with his oppressor(s). ¶Back in Brandywine, he returns home to find his wife making drastic lifestyle changes, his young daughter having lost respect for him, and he himself an extremely bitter person. With little to lose, no time to waste, and realizing that he must act quickly if he is to self-fulfill a prophesy (of Armageddon and thus ending the curse), his plot for revenge begins. He goes on the hunt for Theo (it was the kingpin himself who helped frame him; giving the police the planted evidence that sent him away), Maundy (his former employer whom he holds responsible for oppressing his 'people' [B1]), and every active law enforcer. Accomplishing this is no small feat, as he sees enemies in gangs & street thugs (à la Theo's comrades) as well as the corporations (viewing America itself as a corporation) -- all shareholders in corruption, and which are equally as guilty in oppressing him over time. Certain targets are harder to hit for reasons that are out of his area of expertise, but that's not going to stop him from trying. ¶Every so often a wildcard (in this case, Egg) is drawn that comes along and turns the game on its heels; completely changing the status quo, more often than not for the better/best. This is why it's so difficult to pin labels on these characters when you can clearly see from where they are coming, and to some degree, going. However, being a mystery, the mastermind behind all of the drama won't be revealed until later (per usual). ¶To reiterate, it's impossible to point to a person and say "they are without blame" in this piece, for both sides have selfish interests. The opera explores the facets of personality disorder so well that it's futile to identify the concepts of 'good' or 'evil'; everybody is a spectrum of behaviors conducive to circumstance. ¶As we dig more into the detective's biography, we learn that perhaps because he's been working in a private capacity for most of his career that he's become used to having an air of privilege and faux immunity. Even though he may think that he is just in 'lending a helping hand', his inclination for careless destructive behavior (massive property damage, etc.) and homicidal tendencies show that he is really no better than the other side of the coin, figuratively speaking. ¶What we do get to see, though, are the real detective skills of Pascha. Dramatically, his character is fully developed here. There is clear and present danger that, for the most part, only he can address, and if he does his job, he ultimately resolves his issues. If he fails, then we are left to ask what constitutes a 'good guy' anyway(?), and moreso, are task forces really necessary in today's world where cognitive technologies are so prominent? ¶In 'Easter', Pascha faces easily his greatest test yet from a myriad of angles; he is under siege from a number of threats: Egg, the SAINT BERNARD, Theo+Gruber, Maundy+Ember (who embody the municipality's perfidy), Bunny, his own family, past haunts, the uphill battle against substance abuse, and, sadly, the debilitating effects of senescence (specifically his deterioration from Parkinson's). This is serious. -Lnq ©Link Egglepple Starbureiy