Shade - The Living Shadow

Shade#241 (S12): Snapshot

CUT TO: EAST VILLAGE

EXT. WOODS - NIGHT

SHADE TACKS DOWN ASTERIO WHILE BEING SUNKEN INTO THE GROUND. AS ASTERIO HIDES BEHIND A TREE SHADE GETS BEHIND HIM AND STANDS UP. SHADE THEN GRABS ASTERIO AND THROWS HIM TO THE GROUND. AS ASTERIO LOOKS AT SHADE HE TRIES TO FOCUS ON HIM BUT SHADE REALIZES WHAT HE'S DOING AND JUMPS OUT OF THE WAY. ASTERIO THEN BEGINS TRYING TO FOCUS ON WHERE SHADE IS BUT LOSES HIM WHEN SHADE SINKS ONTO THE GROUND.

[Asterio]

So I assume you heard about what I was up to and you came running right.

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

You can say that. What are you doing?

[Asterio]

Nothing that you need to be concerned about.

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

When people disappear off the face of the earth without so much as a trace I feel like that's something to be concerned about.

[Asterio]

Disappearing? No, you have everything all wrong. If anything I'm recognizing them. Their pain, their plight. It doesn't go unnoticed with me like it does with the rest of you.

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

What are you talking about?

[Asterio]

There's a story that can be told with every picture. I can make people see the underbelly that they deny with this visor. I can capture an event as it happens and project it onto a canvas as if I were developing film from a camera.

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

What good does any of that do? Seems pointless and like you're neglecting the real issues.

[Asterio]

It cements the pain. It shows that both parties have something that they are fighting for. No matter what the situation you must recognize that every entity needs something from another to reach a level of satisfaction that first drove them into action in the first place, which leads to a tragedy for some and victory for others. However, tragedy isn't necessarily a bad thing. Given the context often it's the most prominent lecturer. It can produce more potent relations and supply the duration of life with purpose.

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

And what about your victims?

[Asterio]

Victims? Ah, are any of us really victims? Would you stand between a leopard and a gazelle because you feel the gazelle is helpless? No, you would let the event play out. After all, the gazelle has a 50% chance of living to see another day until time claims it's life anyway and the leopard mustn't go hungry, should it?

[Shade]

(From a hidden place)

What happened to the people you abducted?

[Asterio]

That is none of your concern. There will come a time when their pain will be transformed into art but right now I have a bigger project that I'm working on. They are nearly an inspiration to the grandness that will be one of my biggest pieces yet.