Chapter 1 - Homecoming
Cover
Title
The Technosexual
Sequence 1
Chapter 1 | Homecoming
Scene
Melissa is pictured from behind has her bag dropped to the ground, she's gazing up at the urban forest in front of her.
Bright neon lights and advertisement boards cast a harsh and brightly coloured light on an otherwise dull and grey scene.
Page 1 (4 panel square, 1 panel wide)
Panel 1
Scene
A dock slowly comes into view, the grey water barely contrasting with the grey city above it and the grey sky above that. A grubby orange vulpine in combat fatigues with a drab olive bag slung over her shoulder stares over the bow of the boat she is on. Others are milling about, but appear to be giving her a wide berth. Their appearance is hard to make out at best.
Dialogue
[Narration] "New Bright City... anything but bright, at least the mood anyway. The most densely populated metropolis in the whole of the Eastern Union."
Panel 2
Scene
The dock is closer now, lights in port-side buildings visible, bright neon signage visible on monstrous skyscrapers behind the low buildings around the pier.
Dialogue
[Narration] "A troubled place, more so than when I left it, filled with all society has to offer. From the scummiest of the scum, to the kindest and most virtuous. Not that the latter lasts very long."
Panel 3
Scene
Melissa is now looking down at the mirror-like waters, calm if not for the bow-wake of the boat she is on. A tired face, warped by the water, looks back at her.
Dialogue
[Narration] "I didn't choose to leave, but my prior augmentations made me a 'Prime Candidate' for the 'Cyber-Soldier Project', so I was drafted."
Panel 4
Scene
The boat pulls up at the pier and lowers its boarding ramp, the crowd shuffles off en-masse.
Tired faces, exhausted posture, all in grey and undefined, apart from Melissa, her colours just standing out from the crowd.
Dialogue
[Narration] "Now I return home. Years of fighting. An empty victory. Nothing to show for it apart from some cosmetic damage and military grade implants."
Panel 5 (Wide Scene)
Scene
Melissa is pictured from behind has her bag dropped to the ground, she's gazing up at the urban forest in front of her.
(Cropped Cover Page)
Dialogue
[Narration] "I think I remember the way to my apartment from here..."
Page 2 (2 panel, wide)
Panel 1
Scene
The Dockside Bus Depot, what can only be described as "a tin shed, with glass walls".
A drab and dreary place with litter on the ground next to empty bins and uncomfortable metal seating built to prevent the homeless sleeping on them.
A wall of electronic departure boards casts a harsh glow onto the departure hall floor as people stare at them like zombies.
The whole place has a distinct odor of stale urine.
Melissa, again pictured from behind, joins the masses in staring at the departure boards simply trying to guess which one would take her closer to home.
The harsh lighting highlights her fur colour in greater detail (see supporting documents).
Dialogue
Melissa (muttered): "Nothing ever changes... except the bus numbers..."
PA (announced): "The.. 38A.. to... West Side... will depart from... Stance 3... in... 5... minutes."
Melissa (muttered): "Close enough..."
Panel 2
Scene
Viewed from a CCTV-like angle, Melissa walks across the departure hall, people seeming to part out of her way as she does so.
Dialogue
None
Page 3 (4 panel)
Panel 1
Scene
Melissa steps onto the 38A bus, a double-decked affair adorned with adverts. It looks like more money was spent on making the ad-spaces look good that ever was on cleaning the bus.
Dialogue
Melissa: "Excuse me, Driver, does this bus pass through the Central District still?"
Driver: "Yes it does, a ticket to there will be..."
The driver shoots her a foul look,
Driver: "Get off my bus."
Melissa: "Excuse me..."
Panel 2
Scene
The driver is pointing out the door, passengers are looking on from inside and outside the bus at the scene unfolding in front of them.
Dialogue
Driver: "I said get off. I've heard enough horror stories about you combat cyborgs going haywire to know I don't want you anywhere near me or my passengers. Off!"
Panel 3
Scene
The first proper look at Melissa's face, as seen from the driver's side. 6ft if not more, orange fur, murky brown hair, heterochromatic blue/green eyes with an orange focus ring set on dull white sclera. She appears disgusted at being ordered off public transit. Especially as pretty obvious ex military.
Dialogue
Melissa: opens her mouth to talk
Driver: "Leave the bus or I'm calling the police."
Panel 4
Scene
Melissa, once again viewed from behind, stands at Stance 3 as the bus drives away. The driver has put his arm out of the window and has extended his middle finger at her.
Dialogue
[Narration] "I guess I'd better get used to that..."
Page 4 (3 panel, wide)
Global
Melissa is taking the long walk back to her apartment, bag slung over her shoulder.
It's a damp and dull day with patches of water on the ground around her.
No matter where she goes, people seem to be giving her a wide berth resulting in her being the only highlighted and in-detail character even in busy scenes.
Panel 1
Scene
Melissa is walking away from Stance 3 towards the exit across the Bus station concourse.
The bright departure boards harshly lighting the scene.
A nearby newsstand shows a variety of newspapers with various anti-cyborg headlines.
She is positioned on the left of the panel, walking left to right.
Panel 2
Scene
She walks past an electronics store, the various displays in the window showing clips from different shows.
Several are showing a news report, the ticker and headline reading something disparaging about military cyborgs.
The news-reader has an ill-defined face.
Melissa is positioned near the center of the panel, walking left to right.
Dialogue
Newscaster: "... with an anticipated civilian death toll of 128. The cyber-soldier involved was reported to have "malfunctioned" after a ..."
Panel 3
Scene
A run-down neighbourhood made up of crushed together tenement style flats, trash blows about the street, shadowy figures watch from windows and doorways.
Melissa is positioned near the right of the panel, walking left to right.
Page 5 (Single full page)
Panel 1
Scene
Melissa stands in front of her apartment door, a white PVC affair.
The Mail slot is clearly stuffed with junk, the door itself is rather tatty.
A set of tarnished brass numbers sits above a small peep hole. 11/A. (11th Floor, Apartment A)
Dialogue
[Narration] "Home Sweet Home..."
Page 6 (4 panel)
Panel 1
Scene
A dimly lit view of the door from the inside, it's not quite as scruffy from this side as it is from the outside. A multi-year mountain of junk mail and threatening looking brown envelopes sits in front of it.
Dialogue
[SFX] CLICK
Panel 2
Scene
The door opens a bit and then stops, the mountain of mail has jammed it.
Dialogue
Melissa: "Fuck..."
Panel 3
Scene
The door has opened further, Melissa's hand visible around the side of it, she appears to be putting significant force behind the door to open it.
Dialogue
[SFX] Tearing Paper Melissa: "Just a bit more..."
Panel 4
Scene
Melissa now stands in her hallway, pressed up against the wall, the door clicked shut behind her. It's quite clear that she had to squeeze herself through a rather narrow gap. She looks at the crumpled pile of mail with a mix of disgust and frustration.
Dialogue
Melissa: "So... that's where all my 'Redirected Mail' ended up... I hate to think what kind of mess would have been waiting for me if I hadn't stopped the milk deliveries..."
Page 7 (4 panel)
Panel 1
Scene
Having stepped over her mountain of mail Melissa taps a panel on the wall, and nothing appears to happen. The electricity has been cut off.
Dialogue
Melissa: "So much for my direct debit to the utility company as well..."
Panel 2
Scene
Her eyes appear to glow slightly as she activates her night vision implant allowing her to see better in the room.
Visualise this by making the scene a bit lighter but with thick "highlights" around key objects (think the Deus Ex UI).
She approaches the router sitting on a small wooden table, next to it is a lamp. Neither have any signs of illumination.
Dialogue
Melissa: "I wonder if my DataNET access has been cut off as well..."
Panel 3
Scene
She has pulled the data line out the back of the router and connected it directly to the back of her neck, no other visual difference occurs.
Dialogue
Melissa: "...yup."
Panel 4
Scene
Proposal 1
First person view, Melissa turns to look at the pile of mail on the floor in front of her door. The scene is clearly, but flatly lit, obviously a form of software or hardware image enhancement.
The identification box around the pile simply reads "Unsorted Mail".
In a bottom corner of her vision the image of an old-timey telephone reciever appears crossed out with the error "NO CARRIER" next to it.
Proposal 2
Third person view, Melissa turns to look at the pile of mail on the floor in front of her door, she has not bothered to remove the data connection from her neck. The mail is highlighted with a box reading "Unsorted Mail".
Dialogue
Melissa: "Better sort through this pile of crap..."
Page 8 (2 Square, 1 Tall, 1 Wide)
Panel 1 (Square)
Scene
Melissa is sitting back on her sofa having changed into civilian clothes and removed the armour plates on her arm, they have been placed on the sofa next to her for lack of a better place to put them. The room now illuminated by a high-powered portable light source sitting on her coffee table, scattered around it is piles of sorted mail and a few cans of (warm) cola retrieved from her powered down fridge. Fortunately it had been cleared out of anything particularly temperature sensitive before she left. The remaining block of cheese did appear to be gaining sentience though...
The threatening brown envelopes include large red warnings like "PAST DUE" and "FINAL NOTICE".
At the top of the "Junk" pile is a flyer for "The Technosexual" a club and strip bar that had opened locally a few years prior.
She takes another swig from her cola can and pulls a face.
Dialogue
Melissa: "That took longer than I wanted... but now I need to get Net access to pay all of these..."
Panel 2 (Square)
Scene
First Person, her eyes are drawn to the flyer for "The Technosexual". Her implants scan the cyborg friendly barcode printed on the flyer.
"All cyborg dancers", "Free Wireless DataNET access for patrons", "21:00 - Late", "Extended Liquor Licence", "1338 Buchanan Road", "All welcome".
The time on her HUD is shown as 20:38
Dialogue
Melissa: "All-cyborg strip joint huh? Probably as friendly a place as any to try and get some Net access these days... I wonder if it's even still operating..."
Panel 3 (Tall)
Scene
Melissa stands and stretches, arching her back backwards, her oversized shirt draping itself across her breasts and stomach showing off some of her shape. She's also wearing a pair of loose fitting boxer shorts.
Panel 4 (Wide)
Scene
Melissa pictured from behind has turned to look out her panoramic lounge window, the view from the 11th floor is pretty spectacular. Whilst not looking down on everything, she still has a great overview of the concrete, steel, glass and neon city spidering out in front of her. Melissa can be seen partially reflected in the glass.
Dialogue
Melissa: "No time like the present I guess... I could do with a cold drink anyway..."