Waking on the beach in the dawn ~
Grainne - Watching him stand and dress, "So what's your war ?"
Gunner - A short laugh, "Dragons. Apparently."
Grainne - " ... dragons ... "
Gunner - "Yeah. Dead dinosaurs. We're all with them for some big
guy. A greater demon apparently, they fall hard. Some say they're old
gods, some even say the old giants of myth ... like titans or
something."
Grainne - " ... dragons ... "
(0:15) The soldiers walk the long dock plank up to the Dirge in the low sun rising, while a grappling hook lands on the aft deck. They line up to their guns and stations, the Gunner takes his.
____
Ms. Grainne climbs the rope in her cloak, gathering it to a loop it behind her, then ducks low behind the ammo stores.
(0:34)
The Dirge draws its plank and turns to join the rest, a fleet of all
kinds, some seemingly old and torn ghost ships of history, others hard
iron as the Dirge, forged for these battles specifically.
(0:44) They port into battle, immediately opening fire with the rest, on
the infesting biosphere. Grainne peers over the edge with wide eyes
while the
ship fires at the beasts below, a swarm of flying demons forces her
to duck, chased by pterodactyl.
A heard of herbivore dinosaurs
charges beneath them, riders pulling hard to guide, knocking all
aside as they flee a pack of predators behind without drivers, tearing a
path (this is how they 'motivate' a charge).
The Dirge deck ~ "! AMMO ! Heavy chain !"
"! AMMO ! Cannon shot !"
She ducks behind the crates as the pile starts shrinking.
"! AMMO !"
A hit rocks their flight as they lose one of two forward deck gunners.
"! GUNNER !"
The Captain jumps from his chair and heads for the ammo store and grabs Ms. Grainne pulling her up to his toothy grin.
Ms. Grainne - "... Timmy ... ?"
Captain - Grin growing, "Hiya teach. Yer up." He throws her to the gun
next to her Gunner. He throws himself back into his
chair and takes the controls. "All right ! We got us a big one Now ! Time for surgery."
Ahead
a giant beast climbs from a ground pit, teeth in it's stomach, sucking
souls, while breathing them out as fire all around. It sees the Dirge
and charges forward.
The gunner looks at Ms. Grainne, and sees
her terrified. "Just shoot." He stares into her eyes and nods, smiling.
"You and me." She smiles back, looks forward, eyes wide.
Beneath the herds roar, guided by riders to clear the beasts at it's feet.
Captain - "Now Hit him in the eye ! Gimme Left ! MY Left. YOUR left."
Fire focuses on the eye, making it raise its hand, turning slightly to protect.
Captain - Steering the craft around the right, "Right shoulder high ! That's mine that's Yours !"
It begins to twist with the impact, throwing it's head high and bathing the Dirge's underside in flame.
Captain - Spitting back over the edge as the ship turns it's nose downward, "And whose back a right knee is that ... ?!"
The
beast twists and falls before finished in a barrage.
A massive blade
drops from chains at the ship's underside, through the beast's heart. A
static discharge flies through the ship as the beast roars it's last and
the crew cheers, carnivores gathering at the carcass, herbivores
turning off to clear the last.
Smaller beasts chase off, pursued
by new arrivals as the city becomes recognizably New York, people going
about a pleasant day in the sun.
______________
Voiced over as
the soldiers load across the field in the setting sun, porting out at
Lucretia's direction, indicated by her map in the tree. Grainne speaks
with three unknowns.
Grainne - "They say it takes ten ghosts to trip a man walking. And three to drive him mad. But it takes only one to make him fear the dark. They say."
Airships and walkers port into another city, completely covered.
Grainne - "And they say it takes one to make a child laugh, three to keep an eye but it takes ten
to trip a man who wants to do that child harm. So we learn to work
together. Some of you are living and some of you are not, but it's all
the same here.
"In this world, we're all just ghosts."
Student - "Is that magic ? How it works ?"
Grainne
- "Part of it. All things have at least the power of a ghost and even the
mobility. But you have to know where to go and how to see. What to
do. And how, to work together."
Another - "To do what ?"
Grainne
- "Right now the army loads. They're our soldiers and they're good
people and things. But they are completely loyal to the nameless and I
don't know
how much they'd ever care about his reasons why. So we don't leave it
all to them to do, or they will do it all."
"And he's okay with us doing this ?"
Grainne - "He's specifically requested it."
____
Three
soldiers gather in an infant's room, gun's held high checking windows
while a fourth uncomfortably attempts to be cute, trying to dance around
the confused baby. All are very 'serious'.
Outside the suburban home, ten more commando roll around, pointing their guns at every sound in the peaceful night.
The quiet neighborhood covered with such soldiers in front of assorted houses.
A worn naming dictionary is randomly opened and a greasy finger jabs an entry from the middle.
Woman with a horribly fake 'British accent' - "Mariposa !" Suspiciously, "Means 'butterfly' ..."
A dart hits a world map on the wall.
A man with an equally horrible accent - Eyeball peering close at the
tiny writing, "Liddell, California ..." They look at each other with
equal disgust and concern ...
The name 'Mariposa Liddell' is scrawled across the orphanage page.
____
Grown up Mariposa, in an office staring angrily from a chair on the bad side of a desk, "No relation."
____
Dictated
by the woman looking at the baby, "Mum was a crazy and Da was an opium
sot !" She pokes a finger at the angry looking baby.
____
Mariposa (grown up, no accent) - In the office, "I'm here about the janitor position." She stares.
The
man behind the desk looks at the bottom of the aged and stained
orphanage document (stupidly
voiced over by the orphanage man's voice), 'Do - Not - Allow - Near - A - Broom'.
Mariposa stares.
Her eyes
slowly go to the mechanical pen on the desk, followed by the man's eyes
with curiosity. He looks suspicious then to her eyes which had been
staring back.
Mariposa - "The janitor position."
The man realizes he's on the wrong side of the desk. "Oh ! Of course !"
Mariposa get the keys from the desk drawer and rises. "And make
sure to leave no dust bunnies. Can't stand them, you know."
____
Young Mariposa chasing across the orphanage with a broom over her head screaming "! Dust Bunnies !" while the children watch from their beds, the orphanage couple looks tired.
____
The man in the office - Sweeping away in a terrible accent, "No one can, mum. No one can."
She
closes the door to the office as he sweeps in a jumpsuit and hat, then
looks at himself afraid when he hears the door lock, dropping the broom.
The door shows the reverse write 'Pre-Admission Evaluation'.
He immediately hears his car and runs to the window seeing her dive away.
She
crashes his convertible through the asylum front gates while the guards
wave, shouting 'Bye ! Have fun in Sanctuary !'.
"Remember when we all were so sure, remember when everyone knew ? The storms in the sky and the quaking at feet, the rain and the flood, we knew ? We swore on our knees before Her we'd change our wicked ways and so the destruction ceased."
"She forgave us."
The further she drives, the older the buildings, the more cloaked walkers and carts. The streets becoming lined by shanties and sellers, surrounded by taller buildings and overhangs as the shadows increase to darkness.
"So quickly we forgot but She remembers us still, and now She's back to remind. All the world is a liar to the Goddess, that world which we call ours ... concrete and wire. Stupid man, where did they come from ? You're a liar and your world a lie, the copper is Hers and so is the stone."
The road ends with bars blocking as into a park, past appears as a ren-fest, cloaks selling to history's shoppers.
"Hers the Earth and Hers the sky, Hers your life until you die. Then go to God and tell Him your complaints. Tell Him all about how you despised Her.
She parks the car and enters the marketplace, the first sellers in the line selling cloaks. She tosses the car's keys as trade and takes one agreed, putting one on walking fast into the crowd.
"Go tell God how you hated the woman He loves."
