Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Six Weeks Ago...
Video excerpt from a Project Utopia entrance interview with Johnathan Blackmore:
[Blackmore is a lean, but well-built white male in his mid-20s. His hair is a little shaggy, but not long and relatively clean. He wears an unbuttoned work shirt over a white t-shirt and jeans. Even though he's inside, he is wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.]
My mother was a whore and a junkie. My father was one of a dozen or so men that had her the week I was conceived. She left me with a "friend" of hers when I was eight. That was the last I saw of her.
I grew up on the streets and back alleys of New York and I'm lucky to have made it. That was back before Utopia and novas cleaned the place up a bit. Not that the back alleys are that much better now. I was more or less on my own for a few years... some petty theft to keep fed, a little B&E for a place to sleep at night. Nothing too bad, y'know. I saw too many people get hurt trying to hurt others early on. I didn't want to go out like that.
I almost did. Thyrese saved my teen-aged ass from a serious beat-down one night. He threw those 'bangers around like they were nothin'--didn't even break a sweat! He took me in to the Y and helped me clean myself up. Then he taught me some of those sweet Aikido moves he had used. Rese volunteered at the Y and pulled some strings to get me a gig on the custodial staff, so I could get some real money to live on and maybe get an actual education.
It worked. Got my GED by the time I was 20. Rese taught me how to protect myself and how to teach myself. I owe that man my life.
I even had the chance to make good on that debt.
It was about six months ago when some real bad characters busted in to the back office at the Y. Caught Rese completely off guard. I don't know what they thought they were going to find there--it ain't like we're a fuckin' bank keeping money around. But they busted in and got the jump on him.
By the time I made it back there, he was unconscious and bleeding on the floor and these five dudes in ski masks and gang colors were ransacking the place. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I attacked them. I mean, damn, I was outnumbered six to one and they had already beaten Rese within an inch of his life--and he was a lot better at brawlin' than I was. But I managed to take down two of them before the third one cracked my upside the head with a pipe or something.
Man, it was like fireworks going off inside my head. Didn't help any that I had been having migranes on and off for a few weeks. That crack to the skull just piled right on to the one I'd been nursing all day. I went down hard onto the floor and rolled over just in time to see the dude hauling back to put my lights out permanently. He brought it down again and got me right in the gut. Now my head and my body were throbbing.
I begged him to stop... to just take what he wanted and leave. The bastard laughed at me and took another swing. Caught me in the shoulder. Hurt like seven kinds of hell. That's when I realized neither me or Rese were getting out of that office alive.
And that's when it happened. The room was dimly lit but then, even through the pain, everything looked brighter and crisp. Then the pain faded and I could concentrate again. The next time he swung that pipe at me, I caught it and threw him across the room. I was pissed.
The other two tried to jump me. I managed to dodge one of 'em but the other landed what I thought was a pretty solid punch. Except I didn't actually feel it. It kind of bounced off the air in front of my face. I think I was as surprised as he was. Then his look of surprise turned to fear. I didn't know why until after it was all over. It was because of these...
[Blackmore takes off the glasses, revealing a pair of softly glowing white pools of churning energy where his eyes should be.]
Yeah, I totally freaked when I first saw them, too.
[He puts the sunglasses back on.]
So that dude just takes off running, leaving his buddies behind.
As I'm watching him go, the one with the pipe tries to land one on me from behind, but it bounces off. I spin around and yell at him to just stop--and this is where it gets really weird--and he's, like, paralyzed for a little while. Dude can't move at all. And he's got this odd texture on him, like he's wrapped in plastic or something.
So I just heave his ass out the door.
I didn't even have to sneer at the last guy. He took off running all on his own.
I got Rese to the clinic and after he was better and didn't need me to help him anymore, he said I should probably come and see you guys. Said that you could help me. That maybe I could help you.
**End of Clip**
[Blackmore is a lean, but well-built white male in his mid-20s. His hair is a little shaggy, but not long and relatively clean. He wears an unbuttoned work shirt over a white t-shirt and jeans. Even though he's inside, he is wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.]
My mother was a whore and a junkie. My father was one of a dozen or so men that had her the week I was conceived. She left me with a "friend" of hers when I was eight. That was the last I saw of her.
I grew up on the streets and back alleys of New York and I'm lucky to have made it. That was back before Utopia and novas cleaned the place up a bit. Not that the back alleys are that much better now. I was more or less on my own for a few years... some petty theft to keep fed, a little B&E for a place to sleep at night. Nothing too bad, y'know. I saw too many people get hurt trying to hurt others early on. I didn't want to go out like that.
I almost did. Thyrese saved my teen-aged ass from a serious beat-down one night. He threw those 'bangers around like they were nothin'--didn't even break a sweat! He took me in to the Y and helped me clean myself up. Then he taught me some of those sweet Aikido moves he had used. Rese volunteered at the Y and pulled some strings to get me a gig on the custodial staff, so I could get some real money to live on and maybe get an actual education.
It worked. Got my GED by the time I was 20. Rese taught me how to protect myself and how to teach myself. I owe that man my life.
I even had the chance to make good on that debt.
It was about six months ago when some real bad characters busted in to the back office at the Y. Caught Rese completely off guard. I don't know what they thought they were going to find there--it ain't like we're a fuckin' bank keeping money around. But they busted in and got the jump on him.
By the time I made it back there, he was unconscious and bleeding on the floor and these five dudes in ski masks and gang colors were ransacking the place. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I attacked them. I mean, damn, I was outnumbered six to one and they had already beaten Rese within an inch of his life--and he was a lot better at brawlin' than I was. But I managed to take down two of them before the third one cracked my upside the head with a pipe or something.
Man, it was like fireworks going off inside my head. Didn't help any that I had been having migranes on and off for a few weeks. That crack to the skull just piled right on to the one I'd been nursing all day. I went down hard onto the floor and rolled over just in time to see the dude hauling back to put my lights out permanently. He brought it down again and got me right in the gut. Now my head and my body were throbbing.
I begged him to stop... to just take what he wanted and leave. The bastard laughed at me and took another swing. Caught me in the shoulder. Hurt like seven kinds of hell. That's when I realized neither me or Rese were getting out of that office alive.
And that's when it happened. The room was dimly lit but then, even through the pain, everything looked brighter and crisp. Then the pain faded and I could concentrate again. The next time he swung that pipe at me, I caught it and threw him across the room. I was pissed.
The other two tried to jump me. I managed to dodge one of 'em but the other landed what I thought was a pretty solid punch. Except I didn't actually feel it. It kind of bounced off the air in front of my face. I think I was as surprised as he was. Then his look of surprise turned to fear. I didn't know why until after it was all over. It was because of these...
[Blackmore takes off the glasses, revealing a pair of softly glowing white pools of churning energy where his eyes should be.]
Yeah, I totally freaked when I first saw them, too.
[He puts the sunglasses back on.]
So that dude just takes off running, leaving his buddies behind.
As I'm watching him go, the one with the pipe tries to land one on me from behind, but it bounces off. I spin around and yell at him to just stop--and this is where it gets really weird--and he's, like, paralyzed for a little while. Dude can't move at all. And he's got this odd texture on him, like he's wrapped in plastic or something.
So I just heave his ass out the door.
I didn't even have to sneer at the last guy. He took off running all on his own.
I got Rese to the clinic and after he was better and didn't need me to help him anymore, he said I should probably come and see you guys. Said that you could help me. That maybe I could help you.
**End of Clip**
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