#because i think that... maybe we could make revachol better

[andwhentheangelscome]

go off about the DE debrief pls

Okay okay okay okay SO - gosh, where to even begin.

Okay, so: You're standing above the Whirling-In-Rags (which - by the way - is an INCREDIBLE name for this particular location, as Harry is quite literally caught in the storm of his own hopes and failures and responsibilities and poverty BUT I DIGRESS ALREADY), and you're invited to take in a view of the square which will comprise a central location for the game's central drama, and here, at the end of your first day - for a new player, spent running around haphazardly, talking to people who hate you, who have strong opinions about you and about this world that you barely understand - both as the player AND diegetically as Harry - and right before you try to pack it in and give it another go tomorrow, Kim does something important: he invites you into the story in a way that frames not only what you have done in a way that is encouraging (something needed as a player after all the disorientation) but also deeply personal for this character.

This moment isn't just about the narrative gameplay utility of taking the player aside after they've finished Chapter One (so to speak) and making sure they understood the major components of the story that they're in. It's about giving the player a chance to see Kim Kitsuragi - a character who is deeply straight laced, and particular, and necessary for Harry's potential to heal and to move forward from this point where he's found himself - in a moment of genuine vulnerability, and also genuine power.

Kim pulls a cigarette. His minor vice, his personal challenge, one of the markers of his Cool. He takes you through the days events, making sure that as a new player, you aren't completely lost as to what your goals are here, and what's central to achieving them.

(I had forgotten about this until I've been watching it back - he also compliments the snakeskin shoes!!! The green does compliment the orange!!! And those SHOES - one of the many things that makes me headcanon Harry as a closeted-even-to-himself bisexual, like - Kim KNOWS that it's a bold fashion choice and admires it, okay I'm veering off what's just in the text itself now here)

And then he "zooms out," so to speak. We get a discussion of the RCM, an organization which is core to Kim's belief system, which I read as being a steadfast commitment to the ideals of self-governance, of propriety in the social order, of there being a right way to carry a weapon, and a right way to protect the things worth protecting.

He talks about having been a Moralist (a political ideology coded as being similar to specifically European Liberalism), when he was younger, and falters when trying to articulate why he moved on from their beliefs, except for throwing in a comment about how their motto is more about "what they want you to think about them" implying that, for all their talk, they fail to truly meet those values of "Love, Compassion, Self-Discipline", a statement which the situation in Martinaise genuinely supports.

And it's hard to understate how good the music is in this scene too. Breathy and expansive and yearning and defiant and sad.... It's everything that the story is set up to make you feel. It's big, and it's aching, and musically it's all about how it isn't time to give up yet, not now, not while there's still some way to stand on your two feet and do something about all the problems in the world.

And what's insane about that feeling and that idea is that it's actually the central thing that Harry and Kim deeply share. It's what makes them good cops. The story tells us - both directly through text, and through their actions (assuming that you're not playing Harry as a fucking fascist) - that they get up, every day, broken as they are, and try to Do Good in a world that is beautiful, and hostile, and complicated, and impossibly hard to see clearly through all of the ideologies, and the daily grind, and all the pointless pain, but you still have to try to do the right thing. Because it's worth it. Because that's what you owe it.

Harry has been beaten down by this challenge. He's tried to be good, and smart, and tough enough to take on the problems of the world, and of his community, and he has been brought here: to his last leg, to the Whirling-In-Rags, certain in his heart that he's been beat.

But Kim refuses to accept that answer, and so does Harry's soul (a stand-in for us, as the player), he refuses to accept that nothing can be done, just because the problems seem so large, and intractable.

And then Kim does the best thing that he could for Harry, and for us, who are facing the same exact questions in our own, much bigger, just as complicated world:

He stares the challenge down with courage. And despite what he believes through the clarity of his sight, he hopes for a better world:

It's this line, this Perception check, that I always come back to, when I think about what this game really wants me to take away from this whole story. There's more to it than just that, of course, this game is full of lessons about money, soldiers, workers, sex, power, honor, and beauty,

but this is the thing that I need the most, when I'm trying to find my own way forward. I need to be able to acknowledge that maybe I won't see the world become more kind, more loving, and more honest before I die. Maybe it'll still be just as hard and bleak in 20 or 50 or 100 years.

But still.

I still have to believe that the struggle won't break me down. That the work, the very belief that trying is worth it, will drive me forward,

that it will make me look young. when it should make me look tired.

And then just like that, it's over. It's time to go back inside, to let the moment fade, and to take that courage as far as it will take you.

There are so many good scenes and interactions in this incredible masterpiece of gameplay and storytelling, but the Day One debrief will stick with me forever, I think.

[binomech]

this is another long meta post about kim kitsuragi. mostly.

i just talk about shared themes with scott summers (x-men) + matt murdock (daredevil) because 1) i like those characters 2) i really do think they're a good parallel lens -- feel free to engage, or not. i realize the overlapping audience for these three dudes is 0 people as far as i'm aware

i find myself once again haunted by the recurring Themes of the characters that i like and i worry that in my search for intertextual relations i might accidentally tropeify and corner these beloved blorbos into a collection of traits separate from their circumstance and medium. which would be very un-historical-materialist of me. but this is a fandom post, so here's a disclaimer about it.

things that i could have made into a shitty venn diagram graphic but didn't:

they're all repressed assholes

whose repression is so big they're only capable of getting into relationships with people that are mildly to severely psychic

eye-related trauma

their childhood was taken from them

their personal and societal value comes from the ability to enact violence

their moral code is held together with duct tape

scott + kim

here's a quote from uncanny x-men (2013) that haunts me

[WHAT WAS THE REVOLUTION SCOTT?] OUR LAST CHANCE. OKAY? We have nothing left but threats! We fought for them and they hate us! We fought alongside them and they kill our children in the streets! We pack up and move to an island and they destroy it! We move to another island and the fucking avengers storm the fucking beaches. We’re supposed to be the next step in human evolution yet we’ve become an endangered species. We’re everything they are not and we’re a shadow of our former selves. All we have left is threats. The threat of revolution. The threat of a fight we hope they dont want. So, yes, I got in front of any camera that would show my face and I looked their world in the eye and told them – they better leave us alone. I stood on the bridge of the helicarrier and I threatened them. because nothing. else. has. worked.

thinking about the RCM in le retour as a sort of liberal intermediary between revachol and the coalition being sort of like the x-men mediating between humanity and the mutant brotherhood, and generally how both kim and scott are Finally fucking ready to admit that maybe their own contributions defanged the negotiation. by cooperating with the liberal mediator they took all the leverage the revolutionaries had to liberate all of the mutants/revachol.

i have mentioned before that i think kim's itchy trigger finger is an overcompensation: "if i work hard enough my eyesight won't make me a target. if i have a lethal weapon i can hit back" -- and he's in a permanent state of alert about everything and everyone because he has painted a target on his back (through his enlistment) only to be able to say I Told You So. and then scott being left behind because of his disability denying him control over his own destructive power. both xavier and the RCM recruit with the promise of control and the upper hand and scott and kim, respectively, destroy their sense of self over and over for The Cause because the cause is synonymous with personal worth and safety from their own failings.

user @askaniritual has expressed an idea that i find relevant as well very eloquently:

i think the ppl [Scott] attracts to him tend to be people who like. believe themselves to be monsters and see how hard scott is trying and how much he cares about doing the right thing. and tend to pin all their hopes for salvation onto him. like i think jean and emma and logan all believe that if they follow scott, and if they help him achieve his goals then they'll achieve some sort of partial redemption by association. (...)

kim and scott being isolated from the world, yes, but also from their own desires in their sublimation of their selfhood for the x-men/the RCM = only a mind reader can see my true self = the only self i have is what is reflected to me by the mind reader = the reflection is dehumanizing and it fits poorly into my sense of self = oh god i'm hollow there is no real me

and of course, the obvious reading of Harry as someone who in many ways believes Kim to be a beacon of justice and kindness and in that way dehumanizes him and feeds into the 'my self is an empty hall of mirrors.' but also, I think, different because Harry can come to understand Kim as someone flawed who's trying to do good, breaking the illusion of saintly behavior and pushing through the friction. Maddy is a flawed parallel to Jean, and Harry is a flawed paralel to Ambrosius Saint-Miro: it's their flawed humanity and not the psychic quality that allows for genuine connection.

matthew + kim

[note for the hypothetical daredevil fan reading this: i do not think catholicism is a core of matt's moral code, much like i don't think moralism is at the core of kim's adult morality. i think both of them spent enough under spaces that valued it to realize its limitations which is precisely why they turn to violence-as-a-means and view it like some kind of slightly cringe-but-fond memory. i think the important remainder of its influence lies in their incapacity to reconcile their mistakes with their capacity to do good -- when i say they think of themselves as just, i don't think they believe themselves to be just. i think they are in a sunk cost hellscape where they can't tell themselves anything else unless they want to have an existential crisis.]

the violence of dogma and the alienation from your body due to disability and, in kim's case, race sits at the core of this parallel.

i don't think moralism and christianity have a clear-cut parallel but i think the beliefs that guide them as they do most religions of unity, redemption, collective identity and moral guidelines are blatant traumas for these two.

when matt gets interested in law depends on the timeline just like his sight loss but my timeline of choice is sight loss - law interest - dad death. like sure, yes, you're raised casually catholic and everyone tells you about god's mercy and all-encompassing justice beyond human action and then you get blinded by essentially an OSHA violation.

i don't think that warrants enough of a faith crisis especially when you're like, 12, but certainly it makes you think a little bit about cosmic justice and why me and we could do things better by the book because by the book is the bible and the bible says the world is just and magnanimous thanks to god. and also workplace safety sounds like an extremely good idea right now. so you sink yourself into law as a moral arbiter.

and you start noticing like, hey, uh, my dad is doing some shady business huh -- and you're a 12 year old boy so you go: dad this whole mob bribe thing this whole... selling your body as a weapon. sounds a lot like harlotry to me. and your dad is like. this is the only reason we have enough to eat, ever think about that?

and then he gets killed because he didn't want to be a disappointment to you, because he was also catholic and he did not want to feel guilty for selling his body to survive.

and you're taken into a catholic orphanage so you're mulling this shit over until college. was dad's death divine punishment? is god kind? does god exist? if he doesn't then my dad's death was senseless. if he does my dad's death was cruel. is the universe just? can i make the universe just?

i'm going to gloss over all the Mentor plotlines because they are different depending on the universe and largely irrelevant except for the way they all have the 'give matt moral OCD' common denominator.

now imagine kim kitsuragi in a potentially-dolorian definitely-coalition approved orphanage thinking: were my parents really terrorists? why does the theory of communism and the reality of the war clash? will it happen to me? will it happen to people i love? can i change this? am i part of something good?

so matt goes and studies law and starts a bureau because he has faith in doing things by the book, until the book fails him, and then he decides he has to do right by his values, so he turns to vigilantism and violence in the name of the law. / so kim goes and enlists in the rcm and climbs through the ranks because he has faith in the collective, in being a piece of the sky that approaches justice with a slow step until the collective shows him again, and again, that it's counterproductive and then he turns to vigilantism and violence in the name of the law.

and both matt and kim are in a perpetual crisis of faith, and they know. matt goes to confession booths and sardonically tells priests about him beating people to death. kim smokes a cigarette and tells you about stealing hubcaps and the electric chair and the dire consequences of handing a fine with a smile on his face saying he doesn't think he's a moralist anymore.

but after matt gets out of the church, he is at ease, he does it again because if he doesn't, how can the world go on. but after, kim will tell you he believes in the RCM because he has to believe that he can do something, anything, or the world falls apart.

matt murdock isn't matt murdock, he is daredevil, he is justice. / kim kitsuragi isn't kim kitsuragi, he is a lieutenant of the rcm, he is justice.

if you're not matt/kim, you can't get it wrong when you do your best. god is wise. the coalition is wise. and if they aren't, you are. because if no one knows what to do then the world falls apart.

so what if you're blind and/or seolite? you can beat people up. you can shoot them. you can ruin their lives in two seconds. it's not personal, and they can't make it personal. you didn't do it because you're human or because of your trauma, you did it because you're justice incarnate.

you know what's good and what's more, you can make things good again, if you do it by the book. if their book is wrong, tweak it. if your mistakes haunt your dreams, make better ones.

[isindismay]

Wow. Finished DE. I didn't expect it to wrap up so quickly. I feel regret for all of the things I missed and didn't see to the end. I was repeatedly hit in the face with case-related things I'd screwed up, but it was already too late. But despite all of that, I'm not entirely dissatisfied with my ending.

I was merciful to suspects, which Kim was supportive of (not that I need approval to know I did right, I mean to say it made me like him more). Some people died despite my efforts to save them and that's hard to take. But I didn't kill anyone or directly cause anyone's death, things I was very worried about in a game where you play a cop. I'm devastated that Kim got shot because of me, but he was trying to help Harry at the time and... no that just makes it even more devastating. I thought we were both dead. Then I thought he was dead. Then Cuno's account made it sound like he was doing okay, but what Jean said... I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel bad or if it really is doubtful he is going to make it. Despite missing Kim, it was fun having Cuno as a partner for a short time, and seeing Cuno's rage turned around to support Harry was really something. Convincing my colleagues to recruit him felt like the right thing to do.

Apparently marriage is not a thing in Revachol so probably adoption isn't either, so I imagine Harry will just let Cuno live with him in his run-down apartment. Cuno seems proud of being off drugs, so I think he'll end up being a good influence on Harry, more so than Harry setting a good example for him. I don't think Harry would be the perfect dad, but he'd try, and he'd do better than Cuno's actual dad. Lena will be happy to hear the Phasmid is real, and the story itself will be enough for her. If Kim doesn't make it, I fear Harry won't be able to cope with the guilt and would spiral the drain even with the responsibility for/support of Cuno. So let's just say Kim survives at least. Kim would be amused/appalled at Harry taking Cuno under his wing. There is absolutely no way Kim will believe they saw the Phasmid, no matter how emphatically Harry and Cuno describe it for him. Harry will keep on making excuses to call/go see Kim. And when Kim's recovered as much as he's going to, the three of them will make another trip to Martinaise to see how everyone is holding up (neither of their precincts will approve of this waste of time, but who cares?) Cuno will go visit his biological dad and maybe confront C again. And what about that hole in the church? Is there enough hope in Martinaise to keep it at bay, or is the pale seeping in? Did Ruby's machine cause further damage to reality? Maybe their visit will not end up being as short as they intended.

I was very tempted to click New Game right after the credits rolled. But I had to debrief first. I want to play again with the skills weighted differently. There's different avenues I want to explore, paths I started to walk but never reached the end. There's also options I won't take, ones I know I could never live with.

I don't think I'm ever going to stop thinking about DE. It's more than a game, it's an experience.

[nonbinaryeye]

What exactly is Le Retour about?

The obvious answer of course is that Le Retour - The Return is the revolution that is about to happen in Revachol in about two or three months in the future from events of the game. However what I feel like some players are missing is that Le Retour is *not* connected to any ideology in particular and trying to interpret it as second Communist revolution (something I keep seeing way too often) is really missing the the point of what the event represents.

First of all I love the aesthetic of the game I love the mix of France and Soviet Russia scenery. I love what a terrible mess the city of Revachol is, occupied by The Coalition of Nations with their MoralIntern "democracy". But now looking at history what geopolitical unit this all reminds you of really?

The Coalition of Nations is - I would dare to say - quite obvious metaphor for Soviet Union. Which makes Revachol into any country of Eastern Bloc - Estonia or Poland or Czechoslovakia or Romania or so on it does not really matter. The important part is that there is occupied state by foreign power who got to the rule there through questionable means under the claim of bringing the better regime and stability.

And so really in does not so much matter if you are communist or ultraliberal or nationalist or if you are really trying not to think about politics too much because you have one common enemy nonetheless.

And we *see* it through the game, we *see* the bitterness from the rule of The Coalition of Nations from nationalist like René, we see the bitterness in ultraliberal like Joyce it is not an ideology thing, it is not a communist thing. Because your beliefs are not everything and sometimes you have to put your differences aside and unite because of the common goal.

Le Retour is about freeing Revachol. And if you want to be hopeful about the chances you could assume that the year 1951 in the world of Disco Elysium is what is for us the year 1989 (in Baltic Nations it's called Spring Revolution, I could make my whole case on just that.)

Maybe I'm just Eastern European trying to fit narrative too much on my own experience. Or maybe I'm just spelling out something that is clear to almost everyone and overanalysing stuff unnecessarily. But then again I feel like lot of connections that might be really obvious to me thanks to my specific background and historical knowledge might be going over the heads of others as I do not really expect people to have deep knowledge of life under the Soviet regime.

[yanderetrash]

I swear ill shut up about it but

It may be that im just white knighting for Kim. I completely understand and acknowledge the possibility because otherwise it would be hypocritical

But. I feel like that one post is simply unfair, purely based on information we get in canon. Now, two things. Game is mostly what *you* make of it and one single playthru may not give you sufficient information which means you will substitute stuff based on your own personal bias

First off, based on my absolutely limited and flawed understanding of the world and with the caveat that at my best i can only half pay attention, revachol is an occupied state. Previously it was a monarchy and briefly a communist state but now its basically no national government or any other state branches but rather controlled by the coalition. In text this occupation is seen as "temporary" but also as, most likely if the status quo is not (heavily) hinted to change absolutely permanent. There are foreign military forces stationed in their airspace ready to strike at any moment should they try their whole independence thing again.

So yes ok this is a state under military occupation.

The RCM answers to the coalition such as it is because unfortunately that's the boss of this country now, they have been defeated and conquered. But like, RCM literally is the "citizen's militia" (in the name), and as Kim explains it its been set in place by the citizens (yknow) to take care (hey, let's say police) their own people. The coalition is not happy with this because the RCM is a house brand, not part of their structures. Shivers tells you that there is no need for the RCM in the rich parts of (the city? Its a city state, right?) so really they are only there to help the poor. Wouldn't the rich have better protection, coalition appointed? Bro i dont know either

The RCM does pretty much anything from cleaning up the streets of garbage to performing field autopsies, and it's underfunded and understaffed, with adherence to their ranks being voluntary. Sorta like the union appointed guys only tolerated by the occupational forces

Would also like to say that maybe as an american these very strong feelings don't translate as well but im east european so brother i feel so so so much. I understand their hope and hopelessness and probably have a more mellow, affectionate view of the whole situation. Of course that's part of my personal bias the window thru which i see the whole thing but i cant help but feel im closer to the shape because of it

Now the disaster of a main character youre playing as. I have to say first and foremost that this avengers good guys vs bad guys black and white mentality is sooooo boring and seriously detrimental to everything from worldview to personal growth. Blame whatever you want to blame for it (twitter, pop media, capitalism, idk). People don't necessarily have to fit into one of these two neat boxes labeled good guy and bad guy because by god people don't. Its not a storyteller's fault that their characters are not one or the other, bro thats good writing actually.

Hes a mentally unstable drunk who carries a heavy sadness and a strong air of failure and defeat. He's an overly sensitive little man who can barely face life one day after the other medicating this sadness with alcohol and drugs in a spiral of self destruction. And he really can't let go. The case, the love of his life. It's eating him away from the inside. Like, sometimes mental illness is not cute and its not pretty.

Bit sad that if you wouldn't wanna fuck a guy or whatever then hes tossed into the bad character pile. Wonder if he was good looking how much of this shit would have been overlooked, something to think abt.

So yea, he beat the shit out of that one guy. And he wasn't fired for it. Consider this however, the issue was ongoing for years, no one could find any solution, this wreck of a man was also drunk out of his mind, the only reason he wasn't reprimanded is because tallying things up his outburst solved the case and people (not the cops i mean the people complaining abt the drunks) were happy with the result.

But two things: i dont think that him being a cop made a difference here, harry would have done the same thing had he not been a cop but in the same mental state

And two, Kim would have never ever done this. I mean, no one else did all these years. It wasn't a strategy, it was a drunk's outburst

And three, harry felt very guilty afterwards (i know this doesnt excuse anything but does say something about him, no?), so much so he drunk himself into a mini mind wiping stupor. "Those two cases weighed heavily on you"

Lets be serious here, we've all met this person. Or could imagine this person. It makes me incredibly sad. Imagine to have to wake up being that person every day, i couldnt do it

Now onto the other guy. Completely agreed that Kim would walk around with any tolerate harrys whims if he wasnt a cop. I mean, why would he? I dont think they would even interact at all. The game wouldn't have happened. Null point.

His apprehension to interact with children is completely explained in game, and its not because hes an asshole but i think it would be better to just play the game and find out.

Besides, its not just harry hes patient and understanding with, its everyone. He plays second fiddle to your whims because you would play as Kim if that wasnt the case, but he never appears as anything but compassionate and understanding. He offers a prayer to the dead man. He treats the murderer with compassion. He agrees that letting Ruby go was the right choice and is heavily impacted by the loss of life after the tribunal. Maybe the choices made in game may affect the way he reacts (and honestly ive only done two playthrus so i dont know if hes secretly a bitch if you become fascist or something)

Sure hes a tiny little guy sometimes too rational for his own good, a cynic and a skeptic. Bit of a killjoy. But he's not an irredeemable asshole, and he's not a flawless saint either. He's a funny little weirdo and of course you want to please him since he's likeable and has an opinion on what you do (then again when games give me a little guy with opinions i always want to please them so maybe im not the best person to answer this one)

I think its very easy for strong feelings to swing from one side to the other (from love to hate) but i still don't believe this game is in any shape or form an allegory for modern day america or a commentary on the police institution in the US. Maybe its a bit of cultural dissonance at play. I dont know the remedy sad as it is because im not affected by it

[urjabhi]

Kim’s getting in touch with his Drama skill

00:00 - La Puta Madre's peones & Racist Lorry Driver

00:52 - the pre-eminent spousal surveillance firm & Plaisance

01:29 - the Boogie Street shakes & Acele

Transcript:

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — "Listen up, fuckwit. You don't scare me. You cops don't run Revachol West. You don't run Martinaise. You don't run shit."

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — "You're all bark and no bite. The real dogs are up in Jamrock. Everyone knows that."

KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant turns to the lorryman. "You mean *La Puta Madre*."

INLAND EMPIRE — The name resounds like a bell in the air -- a dark gong. You get a bad feeling about it. ENCYCLOPEDIA — A legendary -- and not in a *good* way -- crime boss from Jamrock. Controls what is probably the most powerful organised crime outfit in Revachol West.

ESPRIT DE CORPS — Looks like the lieutenant has a plan. Let him do this.

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — For a moment the lorryman is silent. Then he spits on the pavement. "Yeah, him."

YOU — Cross your arms and nod.

KIM KITSURAGI — "Then I presume you're familiar with his *peones*?"

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — "Yeah," he says, unsure where this is leading. "They're his little bitches. He's got them all over the unions."

KIM KITSURAGI — "Not just the unions. He has peones *everywhere*. Some say he even has them in the RCM." He gets closer to him. "Dirty fucking peones who'd do *anything* for him. Multi-ethnic drug addicts..."

DRAMA — The lieutenant adopts a rodentine quality. Be cool, sire. He's getting *into* this.

YOU — Say nothing.

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — "You're not peones," he says. "You wouldn't be investigating a drug-thing, if you were."

KIM KITSURAGI — "No. Of course not. *We're* not peones. But *if* we were... and one of Madre's drivers were to be stealing from him -- then it's a good peone's job to find out who that is."

DRAMA — He's surprisingly good at this. Not bad at all... Look at him lurching.

KIM KITSURAGI — "It's not a hard job. It won't take a long time. It won't make Padre Madre *angry*." He looks at him. "But a stupid fucking racist is standing in the way, *protecting* this fucking thief..."

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — His eyes dart between you and the lieutenant. "I'm not scared of you -- or the mob. I'm under the protection of the Lorrymen and Carters Guild."

KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant raises one eyebrow. "You've seen the corpse in the yard, yes? You took a peek. I *know* you did. Did his shitty little guild protect *him*?"

RACIST LORRY DRIVER — "Nah. You wouldn't just leave him out there if you..." He tries to light a fresh cigarette, but his hands are shaking now. The sentence simply ends.

KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant turns and gives you a barely perceptible nod.

ESPRIT DE CORPS — I've softened him up. As best as I could. Now it's on you to finish the job.

***

DRAMA — Time to fire up the old lie machine!

YOU — "Ma'am, I am a renowned private investigator, a paragon of law and a specialist in all things criminal." KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant shoots you a sideways glance. "And I am his private partner, John... Shao. Together we run the pre-eminent spousal surveillance firm in Revachol."

ENCYCLOPEDIA — Shao is what the Seolite Empire was called in the Occident, back when far less was known about the people. It was a barbarian Other, ever so mystical, on whom you could project any kind of exotic fantasy. The legend of it persists and a lot of people still think the 'Shao' is a thing.

YOU — "We are truly private in our partnership." KIM KITSURAGI — "Once we've caught our client's spouse *in flagrante delicto*, we blackmail them and pocket the money ourselves, because that's what private investigators do. Now, I see that *you* are a married woman..."

RHETORIC — Some penetrating sarcasm from your colleague there.

PLAISANCE — "What nonsense are you two going on about? This is not relevant at all. And besides," her lip curls in disgust, "*my* husband would never do such a thing. We are proper people." YOU — "Mind your manners, John. This isn't the great Shao Empire, where you can talk about sex stuff so openly!" PLAISANCE — "This is preposterous, a waste of my time and of no help to anyone." She looks displeased. KIM KITSURAGI — "Our sincere apologies, ma'am. No more nonsense. We're offering to assist you with your troubles, *pro bono*." Despite his apologies, there's a twinge of amusement in the lieutenant's eye. YOU — "It's a good offer, ma'am. I urge you to accept our help, it may be the only chance to save your business!" KIM KITSURAGI — "That's right. When not spying on the love affairs of the ultra-rich, we solve unusual mysteries by the lorry-load." YOU — "What better way, than to ask us --" PLAISANCE — "Oh my god, will you stop with the incessant yammering? It's too much." Her palm goes to her face. "If you wanted the key to the back door you could have just asked for it." YOU — "Fine, I'll ask for it. Can we have the key?" PLAISANCE — "Absolutely not!"

***

YOU — (Say it again louder, she might not have heard you over the wind.) "DO YOU WANT TO PARTY?!"

ACELE — "Yeah, I heard you, but what do you *mean* by 'party'?"

KIM KITSURAGI — "Yes, what *do* you mean?" The lieutenant sounds serious.

YOU — "I mean: we get drinks -- and we also get drugs."

KIM KITSURAGI — "Yeah, man..." The lieutenant suddenly appears to your right with his collar popped *insanely* high.

KIM KITSURAGI — "Got any dope? We need some dope bad." He scratches his nose, then his armpit through the jacket. "I got the *Boogie Street* shakes."

DRAMA — He's really shaking and everything!

YOU — "Wow!"

KIM KITSURAGI — "Tryin'a score some *dope*, man. Tryin'a score some smack -- you got any?" He hops from one foot to the other.

ACELE — "What's *smack*?"

KIM KITSURAGI — "The *D*, man, gotta hit that D!"

ACELE — "What's... 'the D'?"

YOU — "Kim, she seems legitimately confused. Tell her what this *D* is."

KIM KITSURAGI — "*Diamorphine*, girl. Quit clownin'. We need a hook-up for that D..." He breathes in through his teeth.

ACELE — "Diamorphine? But that hasn't been around for years -- five or more, like, seven years maybe? Everybody just does *hunch* now."

REACTION SPEED — Interesting.

KIM KITSURAGI — "Really? What's that?"

ACELE — "Hunch is like ten times stronger than diamorphine and *waaay* more lethal. I think the name is... B-hydroxy-something."

ENCYCLOPEDIA — B-hydroxy-phenothiazine. Somewhere in the soggy remains of your factual memory, you know the name. From the streets.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — It's the dark lord himself, put into chemical form. Even I don't suggest it.

KIM KITSURAGI — "Okay." The lieutenant stops hopping. "That's... that's real bad. Someone should definitely look into that..."

KIM KITSURAGI — He rolls his collar down to normal human level and pulls out his familiar notebook. "We're from the police, by the way."

ACELE — "Oh, of course." She doesn't look surprised.

REACTION SPEED — C'mon. She must have known it the moment you walked up to her.