The Enlightened

"Things Done Changed"

PAGE ONE (1 panel)

Panel 1: The scene is a French Quarter bar in New Orleans. On stage is a rock band. The focus should be on the guitarist, who is Joe Oranto (he has on jeans and no shirt, he has ear-length wavy brown hair), one of The Enlightened. There are people standing in front of the small stage and we can also see at least one row of tables. Seated in the middle of the front row is Katherine (Kit) Clarke, another of The Enlightened—she is dressed nicely and has long black hair. She looks out of place.

1. CAP: THE PLACE IS THE SHIPYARD, AN AVERAGE SIZED BAR IN THE FRENCH QUARTER OF NEW ORLEANS. JASMINE SMOKE FILLS THE ROOM, ACCOMPANIED BY THE BLARING OF SOUTHERN HARD ROCK, MIXED WITH THE HOWLS OF EXCITEMENT FROM THE CROWD NEAR THE STAGE, AND THE ROAR OF CONVERSATION FROM THOSE PATRONS MORE INTERESTED IN OTHER THINGS.

2. CAP2: THE GUITARIST AT THE CENTER STAGE, RIPPING OUT SOARING RIFFS AND MELODIC CHORDS, IS SMOKIN' JOE ORANTO. THE BAND IS CERES, AND CERES IS JOE. CERES IS AND HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR BANDS IN NEW ORLEANS AND NO ONE WOULD DENY THAT JOE WAS THE REASON.

3. CAP3: HIS GUITAR PROFICIENCY IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES JOE SPECIAL. LESS THAN A YEAR AGO, JOE WAS FOUND BY A MAN NAMED GILLUAME REMBEAUX. GILLUAME SHOWED HIM HOW TO ACTIVATE THE LATENT SUPERHUMANITY, BURIED IN THE RECESSES OF HIS DNA. GILLUAME TOLD HIM THAT IF HE WANTED IT BAD ENOUGH, HE WOULD FIND IT. HE DID.

PAGE TWO (6 panels)

Panel 1: The focus is now on Kit and we can see her light brown eyes, her black hair is falling over her back. She is sipping from a wine glass (filled with red wine). In the background are other patrons, but she takes up almost all of the panel.

1. CAP: JOE IS NOT THE ONLY "ENLIGHTENED" PERSON IN THE ROOM. THE WOMAN SITTING IN THE FRONT ROW OF TABLES WAS ALSO FOUND BY GILLUAME—ALTHOUGH SHE WAS FOUND UNDER QUITE DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES—AND IN GILLUAME'S EYES, HAS BEEN HIS ONLY REGRET.

Panel 2: We look over Kit's back as Joe plays the Guitar next to the singer, who is dressed simply in a long-sleeve button up shirt that is open and jeans.

2. SINGER: YOU WISH SOMETHING DONE WITH / YOU WISH TIME COULD MOVE FASTER / BUT YOU DON'T KNOW / HOW VALUABLE EACH LIVING MOMENT IS.

3. SFX: CLAP CLAP CLAP

Panel 3: A roadie is left holding Joe's Guitar as he leaps off the stage, right towards Kit. He ignores the people reaching to greet him. We are still looking at Kit’s back.

4. CAP: HER NAME IS KATHERINE CLARKE, OFTEN CALLED KIT. THE TWO MAKE AN ODD DUO. JOE IS A DRUG ADDICT; MOST OF THE TIME HIS MIND RESIDES IN A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT WORLD. KATHERINE HAS THE FEEL OF EUROPEAN NOBILITY TO HER, AND IS QUITE SERIOUS IN ALMOST ALL INSTANCES; AT HER BEST, SHE IS A DOWNCAST REALIST, AT WORST, A MALICIOUS SOUL.

Panel 4: Joe pulls out the seat, as if to sit down. He smiles at Kit, who returns his smile, but differently. Joe looks wasted and is happy as a result, Kit smiles as a cynic does when something goes wrong—exactly as one predicts. He’s off to the right of the panel.

5. JOE: YA LIKE THE SHOW, KIT?

6. KIT: YOU WERE "SMOKIN'" AS ALWAYS, JOE.

7. JOE: YEAH.

Panel 5: Joe is sitting now, he only shakes his head at his friend. He is still on the right.

8. JOE: Y'ALL GOTTA LOOSEN UP A BIT, KIT.

9. KIT: AM I NOT "LOOSE" ENOUGH FOR YOU?

10. JOE: YOU FOOLIN' WIT ME?

Panel 6: Kit raises her eyebrows and Joe smiles still, holding up his hand for the barmaid. We look over his shoulder at Kit, but his head is turned to look for the barmaid, and we see his face.

11. KIT: ME?

12. JOE: WHY DO AH WASTE MAH TIME?

PAGE THREE (5 panels)

Panel 1: Joe takes a beer from the barmaid, without looking at her. We see them from the side, and from this angle, Joe is on the left.

1. JOE: HOW'D THE CROWD LIKE THE SHOW?

2. KIT: THEY APPEARED TO ENJOY IT QUITE A BIT.

3. JOE: SCREW YOU. SCAN 'EM.

4. KIT: FINE.

Panel 2: Kit closes her eyes and appears to concentrate (using telepathy, but with no visible power signature). The panel focuses on her.

5. KIT (thought): WHY DO I BOTHER TO INDULGE JOE? OH WELL, I SUPPOSE IT CAN'T HURT. IT'S EASY ENOUGH TO SCAN A CROWD OF INTOXICATED FOOLS.

Panel 3: Joe sips on his beer and Kit opens her eyes again. He is on the left, we see a side view.

6. KIT: THEY ACTUALLY ENJOYED IT. AND SO DID I.

Panel 4: Holding the beer in mid-air, halfway to his mouth, Joe looks skeptically at Kit. This view is more on Joe,

and is seen over Kit’s shoulder.

7. JOE: TO WHATTA AH OWE SUCH UNABASHED FLATTERY?

Panel 5: The two stare at each other. A side view, where Joe is on the right of the panel and the focus is on their heads.

8. KIT: WHIM.

9. JOE: HUNH.

10. KIT: WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THAT?

11. JOE: YOU'RE JUST TRYIN' TA GET ME INTA BED AGAIN.

PAGE FOUR (6 panels)

Panel 1: His face partially in shadows, is Gilluame Rembeaux. He sits in a dark brown, plush, leather chair; we can only see part of his black hair and black eyes (that is, so dark brown that they almost appear black). While Gilluame reclines in the chair, partially slumped—in a regal manner—Laval Pitt sits on the edge of his chair, his forearms resting on his knees. He is sitting on a smaller, wooden, chair. Laval is a large (in height more than build) black man, with short black hair, and dark green eyes. They are in Gilluame's study. To the reader, Laval is on the left, we see his side, and Gilluame directly.

1. CAP: THE MAN SITTING IN THE SHADOWS IS GILLUAME REMBEAUX, ORIGINATOR OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT THEORY. IT IS HE WHO HAS GATHERED THIS GROUP: BOTH TO TEACH THEM HOW TO AROUSE THEIR POWERS, AS WELL AS TO TEACH THEM RESPONSIBILITY. THE OTHER IS LAVAL PITT, ARGUABLY, HIS FINEST PROTÉGÉ.

2. GILLUAME: I HAVE HEARD DIS BEFORE, AN' I STILL DISAGREE, WIT YOU, LAVAL.

3. LAVAL: NO, I DON'T THINK YOU ARE LISTENING TO ME, GILLUAME.

Panel 2: Laval now spreads his arms out questioningly; Gilluame does not move. However, now we see Laval straight on and Gilluame's side; Laval is still on the reader's left.

4. LAVAL: I'M MUCH MORE QUALIFIED THAN SEBASTIAN TO BE TEAM LEADER. I'M MORE RESPONSIBLE, MORE TRUSTWORTHY, AND CERTAINLY MORE RELIABLE. YOU CAN'T EVEN FIND HIM HALF THE TIME; HE'S OFF GALLIVANTING WITH LOTUS OR THE REST OF HIS FRIENDS!

Panel 3: Laval stands, and now we see both of them from the side.

5. LAVAL: I DON'T SEE—

6. GILLUAME: DAT'S ENOUGH, LAVAL. YOU DON'T SEE, PERHAPS, BUT I DO, AS DOES SEBASTIAN. HE IS UNPREDICTABLE, HE IS UNORTHODOX, BUT BOTH OF DOSE TINGS DAT YOU CRITICIZE FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES ARE WHAT MAKE HIM SO VALUABLE—

Panel 4 : We see the same view as the previous panel, but closer up.

6 (cont.) GILLUAME: —BESIDES, DERE'S NO WAY TO DESCRIBE IT. HE JUST HAS IT.

7. LAVAL: AND I DON'T?

8. GILLUAME: NO.

Panel 5: Gilluame and Laval stare at each other: Gilluame grimly confident and Laval disappointed.

Panel 6: Gilluame suddenly holds his head in pain and screams. Laval rushes forward to aid him.

9. GILLUAME: POWER!

10. LAVAL: GILLUAME!

PAGE FIVE (5 panels)

Panel 1: Sitting on a bench in a workout room, doing dumbbell curls, is 6', 215 lb. Anthony Carver. He is a very fit, muscular man with short, brown hair. Having just walked in through the door behind him is Tracey Haller, a 3'6" man, who has long brown hair (chin length) tied behind his head; he has hazel eyes. Even though Tracey speaks, Carver seems to ignore him.

1. CAP: ELSEWHERE IN GILLUAME'S HOME, ANTHONY CARVER WORKS OUT, CONTINUING HIS DEDICATION TO BECOMING AN ABLE COMBATANT. ENTERING THE ROOM IS TRACEY HALLER, NICKNAMED "DWARF" BY HIS TEAMMATES, A PLAYFUL REACTION TO HIS OWN SELF-DEPRICATING BRAND OF HUMOR.

2. TRACEY: I CAN'T FIGURE YOU, ANTHONY. ONE MINUTE YOU'RE WRITING POEMS ABOUT FLOWERS, THE NEXT YOU'RE IN HERE TRAINING HARDER THAN A MARINE.

3. ANTHONY: AH'D KICK THE CRAP OUT OF A MARINE.

4. TRACEY: I BET.

Panel 2: Anthony, still sitting, drops the weights, and turns to face Tracey (literally).

5. TRACEY: I JUST WISH YOU'D OPEN UP TO SOME OF US, INSTEAD OF CLOSING YOURSELF IN THE WEIGHT ROOM OR THE TRAINING ROOM ALL OF THE TIME.

6. ANTHONY: JUST WHAT IS IT YOU'D WANT ME TA SHARE, DWARF?

Panel 3: Tracey shrugs.

7. TRACEY: I DON'T KNOW. MAYBE FOR STARTERS, WHY YOU'RE SO MAD AT THE WORLD.

Panel 4: Anthony returns to the weight rack, to find another set of weights. Tracey speaks to his back. Tracey is off to the right.

8. ANTHONY: WHY DON'T YA JUST ASK KIT? AH'M SURE SHE'D BE ALL TO HAPPY TO CRACK MY MEM’RIES.

9. TRACEY: BECAUSE I'M NOT LIKE HER. YOU KNOW THAT.

Panel 5: Standing, Anthony begins curling two dumbbells, alternately, while we see Tracey's back.

10. TRACEY: IF IT'S REALLY THAT BAD, HAVE KIT ERASE THE MEMORY.

11. ANTHONY: YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND.

PAGE SIX (7 panels)

Panel 1: We see Tracey, a calm, eager expression on his face as he continues to question Anthony. Behind him is more gym equipment.

1. TRACEY: IF I DON'T UNDERSTAND, IT'S BECAUSE YOU WON'T LET ME.

Panel 2: Anthony's eyes flare up, and the dumbbell begins to sizzle with energy conducted through it.

2. ANTHONY: DAMMIT, DWARF!

Panel 3: Anthony punches the bench he was standing by with the super-charged dumbbell, breaking the bench in half. Tracey, on the fringe of the panel, jumps back with surprise.

3. ANTHONY: AH CAN'T LET GO OF THE PAIN!

Panel 4: Anthony falls to one knee, beside the broken bench, in front of a wide-eyed Tracey.

4. ANTHONY: IT'S WHAT DRIVES ME TO STOP MAH NIGHTMARE FROM HAPPENIN’ TA ANYONE ELSE. CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?

5. TRACEY: I THINK SO.

Panel 5: Tracey sits down next to Anthony on the floor, we see a side view of the two.

6. ANTHONY: YOU REALLY WANT TA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?

7. TRACEY: YES.

Panel 6: Both of them look over to the intercom on the wall, which is squawking at them.

8. ANTHONY: FINE. AH --

9. INTERCOM: ANTHONY, THIS IS LAVAL. FIND TRACEY AND GET UP HERE IMMEDIATELY. SOMETHING'S HAPPENED.

Panel 7: Tracey and Anthony look at each other and shrug.

10. ANTHONY: ANOTHER TIME.

11. TRACEY: LET'S GO.

PAGE NINE (2 panels)

Panel 1: Six sub-panels are arranged in an arc over this panel, as if they were six playing cards spread out; these show Sebastian and Lotus kissing -- the first of which has Sebastian completely on the left of the image, and Lotus on the right (it is just their faces), and each picture rotates their image in the approximately same pose so that the sixth sub-panel has Sebastian completely on the right. The picture underneath is the end shot of an old-fashioned canopy bed. It has ornate wood posts reaching up and above, of the two in the bed, we can only see a slight bump under the covers, as the intention of this under-panel is not to show them, but to create a setting. Both have green eyes, but Sebastian has chin length black hair and long sideburns, whereas she has long brown hair. They are both very good looking and have muscular builds.

1. CAP: ELSEWHERE, IN THE HEART OF THE FRENCH QUARTER, MINDS AND BREATHS ARE DRAWN IN DIFFERENT KINDS; THOUHTS AND DEEDS LINGER ON MORE AMIABLE IF NOT LESS EXCITED RELEVENCES.

Panel 2: Their faces looking at each other.

2. CAP: THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO ENLIGHTEN ANOTHER. IT MOSTLY DEPENDS UPON THE NATURES OF THE PERSON INVOLVED AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP JUXTAPOSED WITH THEIR VIEW OF REALITY .

Panel 3: Sebastian Duvalier, is on top of Lotus (Margaret DeMorgan), in the act of intercourse. The sheets cover him and her from the waist down. He is propped up on his arms (which are spread out perpendicular to his body, and he's above her torso so his arm blocks her left breast; he is slightly off to her right (or our left) and is kissing her neck, her head is arcing backwards with pleasure -- with her eyes closed (important). We can see his black chin-length hair, and her long, brown hair. The lighting is dark.

3. CAP: SEBASTIAN WAITS, HOLDING BACK UNTIL THE TIME IS RIGHT, UNTIL SHE IS READY, LETTING EMOTION AND SOFT WORDS SEDUCE HER UNCONSCIOUS, AND AT THE MOMENT WHEN HER MIND, BODY, AND SOUL ARE LINKED IRRETREIVABLY, SHE GASPS, AND HE WELCOMES HER INTO THE FOLD.

PAGE TEN (5 panels)

Panel 1: A similar view as the last panel, only the panel focuses on their heads, his head is still to the side of hers, only he is now staring intently at her, while her eyes are open wide, caught entirely by surprise.

1. CAP: THE WORLD WE LIVE IN IS LARGELY PERCEPTUAL AND THE WORLD SHE HAS LIVED IN HER ENTIRE LIFE HAS JUST BEEN TORN DOWN BY SEBASTIAN.

Panel 2: She bolts upright, to a full sitting position, which we see from her feet, Sebastian lies by her side, his hand across her chest, holding her from going out of control (also covering her breasts for our friendly censors.) She has a look of a person terrified.

2. CAP: IN THE GAPING, SMOLDERING HOLE THAT WAS WHO SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS IS SOMETHING NEW AND FRIGHTFUL, AN UNEXPLORED REALM—

Panel 3: Sebastian has sat up and is holding her from behind, his arms around her (one over her shoulders, the other under. We see this from a backwards-diagonal angle, so we can see them, but her chest is still out of view.

3. CAP: —WHICH HAS ONLY TO BE SOUGHT OUT BEFORE IT IS MASTERED.

4. SEBASTIAN (whisper): LOTUS.

Panel 4: She turns to him and claws at his chest, scratching him hard, raking him in confusion, at what she feels is an attack on her person, and indeed her very sanity. His hands are trying to catch hers, to stop her. She is still incoherent, her brain is so fried.

5. LOTUS: UHHHN!

6. SEBASTIAN: LOTUS!

Panel 5: From the viewpoint of her own eyes, Lotus sees her hands and arms; they appear to be only muscle and tendon, dripping with blood, as if the skin was ripped off. Very uninvolved in the panel, but nonetheless there, Sebastian is in the background, still appearing as he does to the normal eye.

7. LOTUS: AAAAEEEII!

PAGE ELEVEN (6 panels)

Panel 1: We are still seeing out of Lotus' eyes, only now she is reaching towards Sebastian, and she sees her hands and his body, both of which are completely skeletal.

1. CAP: THE CHANGE IS NEVER SUBTLE AND IS ALWAYS A RUDE AWAKENING TO THOSE FEW THAT UNDERGO IT—

Panel 2: We see both of them from the side, as they sit on the bed, both completely made up out of spiraling double-helixes of DNA.

2. CAP: —THEIR LIVES FOREVER CHANGED; A NEW REALITY IS OPENED FOR THEM AND THEIR EYES DRINK—

Panel 3: Back to "real" sight, Lotus drops into a fetus like position, on her knees and holding her head, while Sebastian reaches out to comfort her.

3. CAP: —FROM THE NEW CUP OF LIFE THAT OFFERS THEM UNIMAGINED POTENTIAL, NEWFOUND WONDERS, AND DANGERS: TO DO WITH AS THEY PLEASE.

Panel 4: Lotus looks up to Sebastian, who holds her shoulders; we are looking over his shoulder.

4. LOTUS: WHAT—WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?

5. SEBASTIAN: IT WAS WONDERFUL WASN'T IT?

Panel 5: Lotus looks into Sebastian's eyes, we see them from a side view.

6. LOTUS: I—NO—YES—I MEAN—I DON'T KNOW. I JUST DON'T KNOW. WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT WAS THAT?

Panel 6: This panel offers us a close look at the two lovers' faces from a side point.

7. SEBASTIAN: YOU'VE JUST JOINED US. YOU'VE JUST BECOME ONE OF THE ENLIGHTENED.

The Enlightened (Issue 1 of 3)

"Things Done Changed"