TM Topic #318 What does your future look like?
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win. -Stephen King
There were times when being the dregs of humanity was kind of a bitch. Like the night of the opera. Sure, it was going to be broadcast, but there was a difference between watching it on one of the monitors in the sky and actually attending. But somehow GeneCo managed to lose his invitation to the ball and left him feeling like Cinderella.
Normally he'd just sweet talk Amber into tossing him a pass, but she'd already come and gone with an expression on her latest trainwreck of a face that said the bitch was in NO MOOD for any of his shit. So he found a comfortable spot to sit and watch the mayhem from. For all of the damage wrought by Rotti Largo's cloven hooves, Grave Robber had to hand it to the man - he knew how to throw a party. He suspected even Caligula would have been impressed by the over the top atmosphere at the opera house.
It doesn't go the way he thought it would. But very little ever does.
Mag's Chromaggia never failed to make the hair on his arms stand on end. It was worse knowing what was likely to happen after her performance. But it doesn't go the way he thought it would, very little ever does. Mag's final act is horrifying and at the same time possibly the single greatest act of defiance he's ever witnessed, a "Fuck you" so mighty and resounding that he can hear the very foundation of the world shift. In the seconds between her final note and the suspension lines snapping, Grave Robber would swear her smile was pure joy.
There's no surprise when Largo's voice comes on, Grave Robber figured he had to say something. But what he says doesn't go the way he thought it would, but very little ever does.
Stay tuned, folks!
You don't want to move folks,
‘Cause there's more excitement coming!
As an encore,
GeneCo will cure
A very sick and needy young girl!
She's been caged up,
Like a monster,
By her overbearing father!
But tonight we're going to set him right,
And for all your viewing pleasures!
It doesn't take a genius to know what Rotti's got up his sleeve. There was only one sick, needy young girl that he was dying to sink his teeth into. And just like that he was on his feet and moving through the underbelly of the city towards the opera house. If asked he couldn't give a coherent answer about what he planned to do once he got there. But killing Rotti seemed like the best bet. At the very least he could get Shilo out of the center of the colosseum before Rotti let loose the lions.
By the time he gets to the oper house there's a mob already gathered out front. It's so thick that he can't even see the doors and GeneCo security are having to literally beat people back to keep them from busting in. There's more than one way in - but they're all under heavy guard.
There's a small window of opportunity when a group of Rotti's guards are busy dragging out two of their own who are unconscious or dead, that he makes a move. Over the rail, through the backstage door - he's halfway up the stairs before Delta hauls him back down by the back of his coat. He can tell even Rotti's lackeys are distracted by what's going on upstairs on the stage since they only give him a cursory ass kicking before shoving him into a locked office to be dealt with later.
It takes a few minutes for him to catch his breath before he starts flipping on the monitors and when he does he wishes he hadn't.
Rotti Largo in all his corrupt and corpulant glory flaying everyone alive in front of a screaming crowd. Secrets slice through the air with a skill and a precision that surpasses anything that Repo ever accomplished. One after another after another until it's a wonder that the only blood on the stage is Mag's until Shilo collapses in on herself and the scene ends.
Someone please please help my daughter!
The frame around the door is beginning to crack a little bit from where he's been kicking it but not enough.
If it were a book or a movie there'd be a moment where it all turns around and the girl would get saved, she and her father would be fine, the bad guy stopped and everyone would live happily ever after.
But it's not a book. It's an opera and it ends exactly how it's supposed to for once in Grave Robber's life: everyone dies.
When he can't look at the gore on the stage for another minute, he tries to follow where Shilo's gone with the outside camera shots. The doorframe doesn't give out until there's no one left to care. Repo's crew comes and takes him out. The GeneCo minions can't scramble fast enough. They start trailing after Amber, Luigi and Pavi like a pack of puppies to make their statement to the press.
While they do, he makes his way up to the stage. There are bloody footprints and slicks through white fake snow. Nathan's gone, they're taking Mag out, and Rotti remains. Anyone else might bow their head, offer a moment of silence. That's how it's supposed to go in the face of the death of a giant.
But that's not how it happens.
Grave Robber takes the opportunity to go through Rotti's pockets.
It won't be until much later that he'll realize he's got the future of the world in his coat pocket and it'll be even longer before he can bring himself to care.
Goth opera, blood saga
Sometimes I wonder how we ever got here
Old grudges, scorned lovers
Sometimes I wonder why we all don't move on?
Cause we all end up in a tiny pine box
A mighty small prop in a mighty dark plot
And the mighty fine print hastens the trip to our epilogue
[EPILOGUE?]
But the little girl fled and the King is dead
And the castle is left for the taking
But GeneCo may survive if it undergoes surgery
Surgery...surgery...surgery
There were times when being the dregs of humanity was kind of a bitch. Like the night of the opera. Sure, it was going to be broadcast, but there was a difference between watching it on one of the monitors in the sky and actually attending. But somehow GeneCo managed to lose his invitation to the ball and left him feeling like Cinderella.
Normally he'd just sweet talk Amber into tossing him a pass, but she'd already come and gone with an expression on her latest trainwreck of a face that said the bitch was in NO MOOD for any of his shit. So he found a comfortable spot to sit and watch the mayhem from. For all of the damage wrought by Rotti Largo's cloven hooves, Grave Robber had to hand it to the man - he knew how to throw a party. He suspected even Caligula would have been impressed by the over the top atmosphere at the opera house.
It doesn't go the way he thought it would. But very little ever does.
Mag's Chromaggia never failed to make the hair on his arms stand on end. It was worse knowing what was likely to happen after her performance. But it doesn't go the way he thought it would, very little ever does. Mag's final act is horrifying and at the same time possibly the single greatest act of defiance he's ever witnessed, a "Fuck you" so mighty and resounding that he can hear the very foundation of the world shift. In the seconds between her final note and the suspension lines snapping, Grave Robber would swear her smile was pure joy.
There's no surprise when Largo's voice comes on, Grave Robber figured he had to say something. But what he says doesn't go the way he thought it would, but very little ever does.
Stay tuned, folks!
You don't want to move folks,
‘Cause there's more excitement coming!
As an encore,
GeneCo will cure
A very sick and needy young girl!
She's been caged up,
Like a monster,
By her overbearing father!
But tonight we're going to set him right,
And for all your viewing pleasures!
It doesn't take a genius to know what Rotti's got up his sleeve. There was only one sick, needy young girl that he was dying to sink his teeth into. And just like that he was on his feet and moving through the underbelly of the city towards the opera house. If asked he couldn't give a coherent answer about what he planned to do once he got there. But killing Rotti seemed like the best bet. At the very least he could get Shilo out of the center of the colosseum before Rotti let loose the lions.
By the time he gets to the oper house there's a mob already gathered out front. It's so thick that he can't even see the doors and GeneCo security are having to literally beat people back to keep them from busting in. There's more than one way in - but they're all under heavy guard.
There's a small window of opportunity when a group of Rotti's guards are busy dragging out two of their own who are unconscious or dead, that he makes a move. Over the rail, through the backstage door - he's halfway up the stairs before Delta hauls him back down by the back of his coat. He can tell even Rotti's lackeys are distracted by what's going on upstairs on the stage since they only give him a cursory ass kicking before shoving him into a locked office to be dealt with later.
It takes a few minutes for him to catch his breath before he starts flipping on the monitors and when he does he wishes he hadn't.
Rotti Largo in all his corrupt and corpulant glory flaying everyone alive in front of a screaming crowd. Secrets slice through the air with a skill and a precision that surpasses anything that Repo ever accomplished. One after another after another until it's a wonder that the only blood on the stage is Mag's until Shilo collapses in on herself and the scene ends.
Someone please please help my daughter!
The frame around the door is beginning to crack a little bit from where he's been kicking it but not enough.
If it were a book or a movie there'd be a moment where it all turns around and the girl would get saved, she and her father would be fine, the bad guy stopped and everyone would live happily ever after.
But it's not a book. It's an opera and it ends exactly how it's supposed to for once in Grave Robber's life: everyone dies.
When he can't look at the gore on the stage for another minute, he tries to follow where Shilo's gone with the outside camera shots. The doorframe doesn't give out until there's no one left to care. Repo's crew comes and takes him out. The GeneCo minions can't scramble fast enough. They start trailing after Amber, Luigi and Pavi like a pack of puppies to make their statement to the press.
While they do, he makes his way up to the stage. There are bloody footprints and slicks through white fake snow. Nathan's gone, they're taking Mag out, and Rotti remains. Anyone else might bow their head, offer a moment of silence. That's how it's supposed to go in the face of the death of a giant.
But that's not how it happens.
Grave Robber takes the opportunity to go through Rotti's pockets.
It won't be until much later that he'll realize he's got the future of the world in his coat pocket and it'll be even longer before he can bring himself to care.
Goth opera, blood saga
Sometimes I wonder how we ever got here
Old grudges, scorned lovers
Sometimes I wonder why we all don't move on?
Cause we all end up in a tiny pine box
A mighty small prop in a mighty dark plot
And the mighty fine print hastens the trip to our epilogue
[EPILOGUE?]
But the little girl fled and the King is dead
And the castle is left for the taking
But GeneCo may survive if it undergoes surgery
Surgery...surgery...surgery