-- a notorious retired ensign[description:= α White male, late 60s years /// character:= heroic, a first-rate 👮🏻♂️detective of extraordinary ability with an irascible militant itch, gunslinger, country at heart, hard-headed, southpaw, claustrophobic, aged+diseased, grossly flawed and deeply insecure, oft-soliloquous, has an affinity for Greek mythology, drunk and suffering from chronic blackouts, funny, habitual yet improvisational, lucky but unfortunate (the only son of Jake and Rachel (both deceased) - his paternal half-brother, Benjamin "Benny" is a lost soul), instinctive, experienced, seasoned, now at the stage where he is remorseful, relocated/switched cities (Elsewhere→Brandywine) for professional purposes, a severely skeptical 🍀Scots-Irish Catholic, our random walker, modeled partially after John McCain, Roy Rogers, 🕵♂️Sherlock Holmes, and Brett Favre]Conveyed with ventriloquy and allegory.
concept artwork is bing ai-generated, these are not prod. images
Who killed Egg Pascha?
-- That question is the tagline. For reference, 'Pascha' is the generic name (meaning 'Easter') being used here for none other than that dude from The Detective series. --For legal purposes we have to remain generic, but we can recognize that there's only one person that fits the description.
"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!" - Egg Pascha
Anyway, our guy's in trouble...
Bruce Willis* had mentioned over the years that he'd be open to acting a conclusive telling of his most well-known character if done right. There were other writers that made their submissions 'somewhere', but since I'm an arrogant s.o.b., mine obviously made the cut. Bringing his story to conclusion was challenging because I wasn't sure where to start.
We know that he's older these days. Entering old age for him has been especially painful because of his yesteryear heroics. He's been bruised, beaten up, escaped near-death situations, and he also is/was a habitual chain smoker🚬. Coupled, those things alone are enough to have serious (side) effects on the body (and mind). I figured he'd probably be an 🍺alcoholic, as well, to cope. That right there may be a precursor to diabetes, which Type-3 of the disease is essentially Alzheimer's. So, now he has a 'natural' progression into declining mental+physical health.
He's slower, too, which is normal. But here it's noticeable because he's scared, and retired. Egg Pascha did a lot of dirty things in his past, and now he has to own up to them. He's a responsible person, but his demons are occupying nearly all of his emotions. It's hard to live life full-throttle when you're constantly looking over your shoulder (metaphorically-speaking). Was there something he missed? Is there anything worthy to look forward to? These are serious questions.
Our guy is depressed.
Depression can lead to 🧠brain cavities, which can cause dysfunction in basic neurological activity. Poor 🧠brain health is a possible contributing factor in neurodegeneration, of which Parkinson's may be a symptom. You see where this is going.
He doesn't like himself very much these days, but, he's in good company. He's pissed off so many people over the years, he just assumes he has enemies wherever he goes. As decorated as his career may have been, Egg Pascha never felt that he deserved 'thanks'. He's at the realist point in his life - nearing its end.
Hospice nurses have reported patients seeing loved ones only revealed to their 👀sights in the time leading up to their deaths. There's also the so-called 'rally'; where a patient who is otherwise dying, makes one last hurrah for a brief period of well-being before passing. We're not quite sure what Egg is experiencing, but he damn sure is hallucinating (an actual symptom of Parkinson's).
That said, he's still one of the world's finest detectives. He's still a fighter. He's still a pain in the ass. He's still Egg Pascha. And most importantly, he's still alive.
Easter is lnq's story narrated from Egg Pascha's perspective. The viewer will see Egg move throughout isometrically in the first-person relaying events, while Egg does so in the third-person. Remember that Egg is having severe hallucinations at this point in his Parkinson's diagnosis and this tale is based heavily around artificial intelligence (ai). Without giving too much away, I will say that everybody is on the hunt for the one called "John McClane".
For comparison, most people assume the xenomorph is the villainy in the Alien franchise, but, if you think about it, the android is the real villain in each outing. The xenomorph was engineered as a virus programmed to do nothing more than re-populate; whilst the android was created by The Corporation to retrieve said virus so that it can be used as a biological weapon. Being a non-biological humanoid, it slyly blends in with its crew, only to willingly let the crew be murdered in order to fulfill its objectives. Humans, then, would become equal parts host and parasite. In either analysis, the xenomorph and the android are both 'aliens' on a mission solely for self-preservation, which is exactly the mindset of both Maundy Lindros and Egg.
We've grown accustomed via conditioning from the likes of Hollywood and books to look at people who save our lives as heroes without consideration to the possibility of them having ulterior motives. To offer another perspective, my personal thesis is in agreement with Lex Luthor: Clark Kent is an alien of great power that must be contained, if not eventually destroyed, because he poses a grave threat to humanity altogether. I mean, suppose he's having a bad day or views the foibles of mankind as enough to decimate it? Here, Pascha's done some good in-between the rolling credits, but can we really trust a person who is not even trusted by their own?
Since Pascha's a detective, let me share my unsolicited analysis of the Batman comics (maybe you'll be able to draw some parallels), which is that Batman / Bruce Wayne is just as crazy and insane as the very sick people that he continually tries to apprehend. Every single one of the patients at Arkham Asylum needs more help than punishment, but Batman / Bruce Wayne in his privileged spoiled-brattiness takes it upon himself to 'police' these deranged patients in a twisted game of catch-and-release to ward off not crime, but loneliness. Batman / Bruce Wayne will rein these mentally ill individuals in and allow them to break out of incarceration, just so he can fuck with them again all in the name of 'justice'. He is able to get away with this in large part because of his wealth and status, and to a smaller degree because his competence affords him insight into the innerworkings of an unstable psyche that Gotham City law enforcement finds valuable, even if it comes from a guy dressed in a bat costume.
-- There is a slight chance that some people may make it through the opera and not know what's going on. For them, I want to state that the story (its arc) centers around re-birth or renaissance after dealing with the repercussions of careless vice. We must stay mindful that Pascha is both - at different times - the antagonist and the protagonist (a duality). From the jump, the detective is in a fight with himself ("Joseph" versus "John"). His challenge is to remove the mental and emotional shackles (ie. the evils of alcohol) that have been holding him back from being a healthy person since he was a young man. To accomplish this, he has to accept that his choices made him who he is - for better or worse - and then he can get off the road to perdition. As a hint, Egg and Pascha have a definite connection. They both want the same thing for themselves, to remove the weak link that is keeping each of them from reaching their full potential.
This concept of 'J vs. J' (an internal struggle) is partly due to listening to Usher's song, 'Monstar', off of his Raymond vs. Raymond album (the dopest track on there, in my opinion). Although his circumstances and reasons (ie. Kramer vs. Kramer) for creating that music are completely different from what I'm doing here, the germ is identical: each person is their own worst enemy; there's a monster in all of us that needs to be addressed and destroyed, if possible. Additionally, I've been rocking Lalah Hathaway's 'Separate Ways' since 1995 (I had visions of making something like this from back then), and that song and its lyrics (Keith Crouch produced a gem) kind of underline my thinking process.
"I was a fool to think otherwise .. the only thing that matters in the end is what loves you back." - Egg Pascha
"All things being equal, I'd rather be in Brandywine." - Egg Pascha