Number: 59 Title: Please Rewind! Type: Original fiction ---------- Synopsis: ---------- Jason Thomas, an insecure college student looking for summer work, is hired by Durankov Video. The only video store in a place called "Citytown," Durankov Video is open 24/7 and the largest selection of movies, CDs, comics, video games and related electronics on earth. ---------- Dat Plot Tingy: ---------- The New Hire - Jason shows up, meets some of the crew, works a few shifts. The Difficult Day - Two of the staff are out and Jason's working a double shift. The usual flow of idiots wander through. The rest of the crew help him out emotionally. Beggars and Chooser - James and Jason talk girls and life and mourn their place with/in both. Women Troubles - James gets smashing drunk, hijinks ensue with both Carrie and Lisa. The Day in the Yard - Kat teaches Jason some self-defense, building on what Carrie and James have thrown at him. The Things We Can't Escape - After two eighteen-hour shifts, Jason crashes in the break room. He wakes up to an unusual arguement between a bizarrely somber James and unusually hot-headed Dave. The Doctrine - Kat demonstrates a kata during a slow Tuesday afternoon. Dave pulls Jason into his office and explains the who/what/how/why of Durankov Video. The Way - James takes Jason out back and explains their philosophy and theory to him, and forces the youth to make a decision. The Bell That Never Tolls - John shows Jason some of the hidden features of the store and talks about the hidden pasts of the other employees in detail. The Disillusion - Jason contemplates his place in life, alone, while the others take turns trying to pry open his shell. The Resolution - Jason finally comes to terms with what he is a part of. For a change things are moving in a positive direction for him. The Promise - Jason's family, what little remains of it anyway, asks him to come back to them. Knowing what he knows now, he eventually decides to side with the video store. The Assault - A midnight attack by agents in black finally demonstrates the crew's true colors. The Atonement - In the aftermath of the attack on their sanctum, Jason reflects on what he means to the group, what they mean to him, and how the mission has become a driving for in his life. He has known evil, he has walked the path, and now he is setting out to do good in the world. You see, Dave has this saying. It's worded to talk about James, but it really refers to all of them in some way. "Some people walk through Hell and come out demons. Some people walk through Hell and come out angels. James walked through Hell and came out James." ---------- Da Crew: ---------- "Jason Thomas" The new hire who isn't sure about the crew he's working with. Jason is shy, reserved, and lives a bottom-of-the-ladder existence without confidence or intent. Merely drifting where the wind will take him until the zany group at Durankov Video decides to take matters into their own hands and craft Jason into a man the world can be proud of (and fear greatly). "Dave" "James" "Ed" "Kat" "John" "Carrie" "Lisa" "Hiroshi" ---------- De Bekernd. ---------- They're always short one person, Dave is there practically all of the time, and two clerks are supposed to be on staff at all times. Of course, since one or more are ever-so-frequently on vacation, those who do work are in for some gruelling hours. The pay and benefits are awesome, but there's one problem with the place... The group is in their early twenties, the lot of them. There's a little mischef between them all, and lots of drinking. Since things are only revealed to the reader as they're revealed to Jason, first we just see what insanty goes on in the store. Then James takes him out for a round of drinking. Then one of the girls has a birthday party. Then Jason becomes very good friends with them and James starts teaching him Nothing Rahn. Jason, by this time, notices that these people have few, if any, other friends. They have no family here, and are virtually social outcasts. The few people that will associate with them are extremely paranoid. Eventually Dave sits Jason down and explains...which is where we the reader get to see how this story deviates from COW. Just before high school starts, Lisa's parents are killed. This information is slipped to James, along with the hint that someone is putting Lisa under 'protection.' James spills his beans to Dave, sans information. After four months of intense research, the two have come to realize the truth. James becomes evangelical of his position on the conspiracy and slowly bends his friends to the same line of thinking. The school tries to dissuade them. Their family tries to dissaude them. The students back them up, and then black-clad soldiers start assaulting them in the middle of night, threatening them at gunpoint. James takes Dave and John on a daring rescue mission and manage to free Lisa from a tyrannical foster family at the end of their freshman year. All three are summarily kicked out of high school. Eventually their friends choose to join the outcasts. Freed from the institution, they advance their knowledge of the conspiracy at a frightening speed. Their families try to stop them, but the four simply run away from home. Forced to grow up faster than those they know, by sixteen they're doing marks for cash. One by one, they manage to extracate their friends from high school and by the time they turn eighteen, the group is constantly being hunted by government agents. Deciding they will not lay down quietly and let those in power simply smother their dissenting opinions, the group sets up Durankov Video and within a year and a half has run every other video store out of town. Randy and Sherridan (involved for reasons I'll make up later) get killed over the next eighteen months. Though they handle the store and their many "missions" well, the group is hard pressed to publish their opinions, covert people, and keep the store running. They're looking for a few good people to help them spread the word. In comes Jason. Durankov is never formed. The group is using society's addiction to pop culture against the conspiracy that spawn said culture. People are, at the beginning of the story, beginning to believe what the clerks here tell them. The police harass them, and at the 'end' of the story, mercenaries assault the video store in a 'big showdown.' Things go badly for the mercs. Their motto isn't "And remember, beee afraid!" it's "Please rewind!" ---------- Dem Seens: ---------- Jason Thomas stood at the entrance of Durankov Video. He was somewhat nervous of starting this job today. He'd been hired after a short and highly confusing interview which he felt went badly. He felt that his present situation was an accident waiting to happen. Either there had been a mixup and they didn't intend to hire him, or this video store was a horrible place to work, and he was the only one who bothered applying. The first theory didn't seem to fly. Sure, the people here seemed bored and exhausted, but hardly unhappy in the 'my job is killing me!' sense. So, a case of mistaken hiring, was it? Jason decided he would just explain to the manager what happened, they could cut some paperwork, and he'd be on his way. He didn't want to be a burden to anyone. Then the manager entered. ---------- "Well, what happened to his parents?" "They're dead." "And?" "He killed them." "How? Why?" "That needs some explanation." "What does? The how or the why?" "Both." Jason sighed. This was going to be a looong day. ---------- James entered the Itty Bitty Bar with a slouch that fit him so well it appeared that he was born with it. Finding his way to the counter by memory, he flashed his ID (which the bartender barely glanced at), and asked for the usual. A bottle of decent vodka hit the counter three seconds later, followed shortly by a chilled glass. James poured himself a shot and took a short sip. "Ah...nothing quite like the tingle of my liver quivering in anticipation of a night of heavy drinking." "I don't think it's quivering so much in anticipation as in fear." The bartender said. "Yeah, could be that." James paused, contemplating the wooden counter top with a blush that had nothing to do with his first drink of the evening. "Could I get a second glass." "I've seen you do quite enough drinking with one, thank you very much." "I'm expecting company." The bartender raised an eyebrow, but dropped another glass on the counter nonetheless. Before he moved down to put away some clean glasses, he paused. "You like you drug your problems in here with you. Who're expecting?" "Carrie." "Ah. Carry on then."