This commentary covers the following posts:
Caper's Capers
Untitled
Interview with Caper. Again.
Who was William?
Interview with Alex
From Zero to Hero to Zero
Messenger's Report (The Last Refuge of a Dangerous Man)
A lot of posts to cover this time, but a few of them aren't as important to the story, and the next few posts are a lot denser.
Basically, these posts are where you get to see Caper do what Caper does.
Even back in the first post about him, Caper had a certain flair to him. He liked dark comedy and was very rarely serious, and that transferred into "Caper's Capers" directly. It's also where The Messenger started conducting the interviews that became such a big part of the blog.
The story Caper tells in "Caper's Capers" was suggested by Alex. It is, essentially, Batman's backstory mixed with some phony bit about Caper's quest to become a comedian. In fact, I think parts of it may be inspired by Batman's arch-nemesis, the Joker. I'm not too familiar with the character, but it sounds like a story he'd tell. Either way, the "Multiple Choice Past" that Caper used was, in fact, inspired by the Joker's.
"Caper's Capers" was also when the Messenger's nickname of "Messi" showed up. The spelling is taken from Lionel Messi, the Argentinian football (soccer) player. I liked the look of it and it didn't have the implications of messiness that "Messy" or "Messie" have.
The untitled post about trust was largely some exposition, brought about on Messi's part by reflection on Caper's lies. He figured it was better to open up than to hide behind walls, since he was still determined not to lose sight of who he actually was. I think it was also as a leadup to sharing about his brother Kyle, as he knew people would start figuring things out eventually.
"Interview with Caper. Again." was me returning to Caper again to build him up more. He was a fun character and people seemed to like him well enough, which was what I was hoping for. This is where Messi started using the transcript form he used for conversations throughout the blog. It's also where I started actually delving into the operation of the organization he was part of. I introduced the concept of "Trackers," at this point, and though the idea that the mole-like nature of the job made absolutely everyone in the blogosphere close to untrustworthy never caught on, I really liked the idea. In my head, there's still a ton of runners that get caught that way and there are a ton of runner blogs written by proxies--you just never see them because they only exist within that universe.
This is where the indication of Caper using this as a coping mechanism started shining through more, with his "guy jumping from a window" speech. It's also where you get the first hint that Poe's not what you think she is, with Caper's statement that she's "not really an agent."
Caper's "backstory" in this section references LOST, as the bit about him being a balloonist named Henry Gale references Benjamin Linus's original story and the bits about his father parallel Ben's actual backstory on the island. The bit about the tentacles, though...well, as hesitant as I am to admit it, that's my own creation, brought about by joking around in a chat with some other creators. I've found that the internet urges me to be profane in some new, creative ways.
I switched things up a bit with "Who was William?" showing Caper's joking around and storytelling as less comedic. It shows that he's a compassionate person to some, as he gave some of the Husks (here still referred to as the Broken by Messi) an identity. The story that William tells is a Ghost Rider reference. Looking back at the post, I could have easily set up an arc focusing on William and who exactly he was, but I ultimately decided not to pursue it. It remains a mystery, and you can come up with your own answers if you'd like.
The interview with Alex was pure filler, but one I wanted to do. I liked the concept of a persona based on A Clockwork Orange. It also sort of helped give Poe a bit more prominence in the story so that she didn't come out of nowhere. It was fun to write, but ultimately served no purpose, and I ended up killing off Alex offscreen with only a small, casual mention later on.
Finally, I wanted to talk about the report for Zero. I was glad to work with him since it ended up bringing me a fair amount of traffic, and it was my first time actually using the Messenger to end someone else's blog (instead of my own). My character blasted his pretty hard for the choices he made, but it was fun to write. It also helped complete a cycle. He helped me end one of my blogs, and I helped him end one of his.
Anyway, this segment of posts just helped me solidify what I was doing even more, and helped me set up for the next set of posts: the conclusion of my first arc.
