Eik Script V.2

I'll probably update this post later, but for now, here is the latest version of my script. Now includes page #s.

Eik

Description

The world works like this: people are born fairly shapeless, a sort of generic mass of flesh, a sphere with a single eye and a fish-like mouth. As they go through childhood and gain experience/personality, the people are able to manipulate their exterior form as they please, ideally to match their interior identities and aspirations. Although they are physically capable of taking pretty much any form and hypothetically can do so, government and societal norms mean that no one uses this freedom. Most gravitate towards certain forms due to their associations in society – a youth changes for a while but inevitably steadies into one particular type of form. So really, although there is infinity of possibility, they self-limit to variations on say, 5-7 types of forms. Their bodies are not human, exactly, but are based in geometric shapes or organic forms, etc. with a generally bipedal structure. Upon reaching a certain age, they cease to transform (haven't decided whether this is natural or imposed) and are given careers and life paths based upon their exterior. I.e. all people with a given type of form take certain job or are treated a certain way, somewhat like a caste. Their shapes are grouped based on personality traits and aspirations which translate well to the given spots in society. Occasionally there are mismatches, but on the surface the system is a smoothly-running, government-lubricated machine.

Script

ONE, TWO

Eik is running through frantically through streets, then side streets, then cramped alleys. At first we don't see the pursuers, until Eik themself looks back and we see a horde of police enforcers and the beginnings of a mob of citizens on Eik's heels. Eik only looks back this one time. They turn a corner and...

THREE

Finally Eik comes to a dead end –SHIT! – and their head swivels looking for an exit. A door in the brick building! But it’s locked, Eik discovers, after tugging on the handle. The voices are getting louder and flashing lights approach. Eik sees a loose grate labeled “CAUTION – HAZARDOUS WASTE” (or the equivalent in pictograms). They drag it open and dive into an unknown space, pulling the grid into place securely after them.

FOUR

Eik crouches, panting, inside some sort of vent or tube, as in a sewer, they watch their pursuers enter the alley. The mob stalls, confused, then pounds down the door (the one Eik found locked) and charges into the adjacent building, thinking Eik took that route and locked the door after passing through. Eik closes their eyes and covers their face with their hands, shaking their head. How could it have come to this? Their eyes squeeze shut so tight, tight. The kind of tight where stars and galaxies of colour appear on your eyelids.

FIVE, SIX

There is an abstracted interlude page or two where we are rewinding in time, not explicitly through words but in a visual way – perhaps with snippets of image that suggest that we are going backwards…A sort of dream/nightmare sequence. Panels optional. Another option is that there are clips of the future as well as the past, making the transition more ambiguous. In either case, it shouldn't really be too clear what's going on, save for that we are changing locations/times/types of storytelling.

SEVEN

The interlude ends and now we are in a darkened classroom with the silhouettes of the backs of students’ heads. The presumed teacher, perhaps also in silhoutte, at the front of the room starts a film. It is a propaganda piece, the kind that plays in health classes/career planning classes in high schools. A voice like Cave Johnson in Portal 2 (http://youtu.be/OmH7tAJ0SfA) narrates – the voice is patriotic, stereotypically male, authoritative but slightly humorous unintentionally (note: I will develop a specific font for his speech). He begins a spiel about how the society functions for the benefit of the students, who are on the cusp of choosing their forms. This Voice-of-the-Culture begins (italics). Note that this voice is the only real speech/narration in the comic. Everything else is communicated in pantomime or through speech bubbles filled with images or some sort of made up glyphs.

Welcome, young ones! And Congratulations! You’ve reached the final stage of your education as freeform beings! As you know, today is a very big day – the day of decision.

EIGHT

But before the main event, let’s review all the amazing details of how our Great Society of Fangsen functions so smoothly for you happy people.

A view of a thriving city from a distance. Closer view to Industrial/Futuristic environment of people like ants, lines of people of different shapes in the streets. A factory type building with workers streaming out and in, but they are only of one or two types. Gestation tanks in this vast birthing factory.

NINE

Each and every Fangenser is born alike, into the base form. Everyone starts equal and from the same birthing place. We are all made as moldable as clay, with infinite opportunities in the future! A nurturing agent is assigned to each child and will raise them through adulthood.

We see the gestation tanks closer, then the ejaculatory birth of blobby, spherical babies. They are like tapioca balls, with one eye and a blubbery wet mouth. They are transported one or two at a time down an assembly-line type apparatus into the loving arms of a pillow-y soft parent-figure, like a Pillsbury dough-boy mother (or father…). These nurturers all trot off with their new babies, but we follow one specific pair. There is nothing distinguishing about this child except that it’s markings are perhaps slightly different from the others to imply that this is a character to pay attention to.

TEN

The love and care bestowed upon children of Fangsen is without match! Children are endowed with spunky creativity – their forms change with every mood!

The nurterer brings Eik home in the first panel, and then time passes: Eik changes in every panel as they grow older. We know it is the same character because the location or surrounding characters are the same. Eik goes from age 0 to age 13 or so. Each change happens when Eik tenses, curls in upon themself, and POOF transforms with a sparkle or some sort of recognizable/consistent visual effect.

ELEVEN

You may remember what strange and silly shapes you assumed in your younger years. What fun!

Eik gets in an argument with their nurturer, shouting, and is banished to their room. They have shifted to the volatile diamond shape in anger (we don’t know the meaning of this shape yet). Eik escapes out their window and runs through the streets and under a hole in a fence. The fence is clearly marked no entry, hazardous, but it’s clear that it’s been accessed before, probably by Eik. Past the fence is a toxic sewage disposal pool, something like this sewage plant (http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/235183/235183,1264000281,3/stock-photo-cleaning-construction-pool-for-sewage-treatment-44903152.jpg) but with walls more like a dam…steep but not vertical (http://measuringchanges.lnec.pt/img/pedrogao.jpg). Eik would be in deep shit if anyone knew they were in there.

TWELVE

This type of self expression is very rewarding and fun for children and promotes healthy socialization!

Eik screams and thrashes in anger (It’s all very juvenile and emotional), kicking at the crumbling concrete of the walls of the pool-more like a lake. Crumbling concrete which seems to be crumbling more with every kick. And –shit!- Eik loses their footing as the concrete crumbles away further, tumbling into the sewage pond, screaming.

THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN

As children begin to build their own identities, a desire for stability and safety emerges.

A page or two of submerged desperation. It’s important that this really seems like a life-changing event and not just another event. Eik is drowning in waste. They are at first sucked under, bubbles from the mouth, thrashing limbs, full-bodied pain. Waste fills Eik's mouth and burns their skin. Eik is fading, perhaps hallucinating, but seems to get a spurt of energy from the attack of a sort of toxic-waste sea predator. With a last-ditch effort, Eik kicks it away and swims blindly, breaching. Eik manages to drag themself out by a rusty maintenance ladder and collapses, panting, back on the lip of the concrete wall.

FIFTEEN

They may find satisfaction in staying in one shape over another as time goes on. This is the shape that matches most closely their internal identity.

After crying dejectedly in a pool of slime, Eik attempts to change form to something more passive, but opens their eyes and realizes that they can’t. They are stuck in diamond-form. This is conveyed by Eik tensing in the previously established way, but with more of -FWRRPT- if it were a sound effect or a sort of gross looking visual effect to convey the failure to change. Also, eik's increased confusion. Perhaps also thought bubbles of a shape.

SIXTEEN

This is normal and expected behavior for a healthy growing Fangenser!

A quiet panic ensues, Eik tries and tries again to change but nothing happens. Eik returns home, crawls back into their window and flops into bed, still frightened. Eik stares at the ceiling for a beat or two and then curls up into a ball, wretched. As in the sewer, Eik screws their eyes shut and there are some visual effects, perhaps.

SEVENTEEN

In fact, all mature social interactions require a level of formal consistency. If everyone changed their shapes on a whim, it would be very confusing and chaotic.

In school, Eik is avoided by the others. It is not explicitly stated yet, but it is clear that the diamond form is associated negative things, dangerous things. Possibly Eik tries to explain that they don’t feel this way, don’t feel it’s right, but are trapped. The others can only understand what they see and don’t believe that Eik is incapable of change. Exterior = Interior, Eik must just be the manipulative psychopath nut that their shape implies. This may be to complex to do in pantomime, so a few instances of Eik being shunned or hidden from (in fear) by other adolescents may be sufficient. By this point, Eik's peers are grouping themselves according to similar shapes.

EIGHTEEN

How would you know how to appropriately treat your fellow citizen?

Eik resigns themselves to a life of misunderstanding, and becomes a loner. They walk the halls alone, through cliques of shapes. The seas part, but not from respect, but from social judgment and perhaps discomfort. Eik takes a seat at the back of a classroom and puts their head their desk.

NINETEEN

Which brings us to your big decision today. As you have likely discovered on your own, there are a certain number of finessed shape types used by Fangen adults. We have calculated for you the perfect balance of individuality and order for a harmonious society! Every Fangernser has their shape, and there is a shape designed for every Fangernser. Simply choose the shape which represents you the best, and you’re all set to begin on your life path and career.

Eik sits at the back of the classroom, disconnected, morose. The lights flick off. They look up and forward, and it becomes clear that it is the same classroom as before. We watch the film as it wraps up and an enforcer representing each type enters the room.

TWENTY

Please refer to the guide your instructor distributes, carefully consider your choice, and report to the corresponding form agent…and take your spot in the beautiful machine that is Fangen! Your form-freezer injection is waiting. Remember – this shape’s for life, so choose carefully! Welcome to society and thank you, you are the future cogs of Fangen!

The lights are flicked on and Eik stares down at a pamphlet. We get a close up view of it, and it shows the available types/roles along with short descriptions for each. Eik flips through. The last role listed is the diamond type – and its meaning. This type is for those unfit for other positions that are seen as a danger to society and are sent on “exciting” military missions.

TWENTY-ONE

Eik reacts, eyes widening. Meanwhile, the other students are filing towards their chosen agents. Eik protests, standing up at their desk and yelling out in fear and protest. This obviously doesn’t help the situation. The diamond enforcer advances after making hostile eye contact with Eik.

TWENTY-TWO

Eik sees trouble coming and flees, as angry citizens and police follow. The chase begins in the building and proceeds out onto the street. We follow the chase, this time abbreviated, until we’re caught up to the starting scene, where Eik is crouching behind the grate.

TWENTY-THREE

Eik follows the pipe in a twisting maze, down, down into the darkness. They enter a larger tube like a waterslide and are shot into the air amid a waterfall of filth. Freefall begins...

TWENTY-FOUR

...and ends with Eik landing with a splat in an underground city built amidst the filth of toxic waste – perhaps the same type as from Eik’s childhood. Doesn’t matter. The underworld is filled with the rejects of society – like the mutants in futurama (http://theinfosphere.org/images/b/b4/Sewer_Mutants.jpg ). They all sport forms that are either unchosen and grotesque/frightening or unrecognized by society’s few categories of possible being. Perhaps just too creative. Eik wanders through the crowd, at first just observing, nervous.

TWENTY-FIVE, TWENTY-SIX

Eik runs into a few locals and figures out the situation (it’s possible to leave this place, sure, but no few choose to do so. They’re all happy to be free of the restrictions of society, even if it means living invisibly, unrecognized by those above). He asks first about the surface. The local(s) laugh and shrug, expressing satisfaction with their current circumstances with a sweeping gesture at the undercity and a smile. Eik asks again. This time just shaking heads. They welcome Eik. But Eik has no interest in staying, and just wants to find a way out. Eik is insistent, and finally asks about changing forms. It is a general question, it could apply to Eik or the undercity people. Either way. He gets a guarded reaction, and something about pills, with a gesture in a darker area. Eik continues to wander, wander, always choosing the seedier looking route.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Eik ends up in an underground of the underground – a dark corner with a rotting door, Eik enters and inside it is tight, a closet. There is one occupant, a shady figure. Eik explains what's wrong with them and that they want to be able to change again and go back home. The shady dude sells Eik a drug, after much convincing, that he promises will incur great change, but with great risk.

TWENTY-EIGHT

He explains with picture speech bubbles how the drug works and that there have been…side effects reported, including fatality. Eik doesn’t care, they give the dealer everything they have. Money is of high value in this place with few arrivals. Not much to circulate.

TWENTY-NINE

Eik finds an isolated place where they can take the drug away from prying eyes. It is a dark, empty room. They hesitate slightly, staring at the capsules, then gulp them down.

THIRTY

At first it seems nothing is happening. Eik is disheartened. But as they are about to give up, a series of changes begin to occur in succession. First Eik becomes the formless mass, square one (success?), but then begins growing.

THIRTY-ONE

Their body transforms uncontrollably into an enormous writhing, organic form. It fills the room first, bulging at the panel borders.

THIRTY-TWO

It then bursts forth from the underground. I imagine it like an alien beanstalk, with tendrils of shape-changing form. Eik is at first conscious and resisting but loses control completely as the mutation continues. The Eik-growth explodes up into the central part of the city, waving above the heads of the terrified citizens.

THIRTY-THREE

They freeze in the streets, heads turned up. The Eik-thing screams and emits some sort of spores/magic stuff that snows down upon the citizens and they claw at their skin, run for cover, but to no avail – the spores are sticky and find their targets.

THIRTY-FOUR, THIRTY-FIVE

The effect begins. The spores cause all the citizens to revert to their neutral states, melting into gooey tapioca balls, but with limbs attached. Perhaps a couple pages for this to convey the terror of this change and how all the separate forms are returned to square one. Everyone is the same, the streets are filled with identical beings. They look around and panic initially, for they cannot judge each other based on the established visual categories constructed over time.

THIRTY-SIX

Panic turns to exhaustion. Their uncontrolled fear spends itself and the running stops. A circle has formed around a single person who has sprouted into a new shape. They stare.

THIRTY-SEVEN, THIRTY-EIGHT, THIRTY-NINE

But one-by-one, they find something incredible has occurred - they are again free, like children, to take any form! There is an explosion of beauty and diversity in their now unrestricted exterior expressions. A sort of psychedelic outburst of shapes and bodies floods through the city, the bonds are broken. A writhing, chaotic creative mass of people in celebration.

FORTY, FORTY-ONE

Eik, though, was drained completely by their transformation/growth/etc. and melts back into a formless puddle, clearly dying and too weak to change shape. From their position squashed on the pavement, Eik sees the revelry and smiles faintly. They are about to say something but are crushed accidentally and unknowingly by the foot of a passing celebrator. The party goes on. The hero's sacrifice has freed society but at the cost of the individual once most oppressed.