News of a local matter sends Gaze after information the government will not release. He begins the search from the farm, then heads for a military base. There, a Marine brings out Vi0ut. Wanting something so much that he does not see he is being taken advantage of, Vi is used and pushed close to Grey.

A White flash brings Gaze back. He gets the information and releases copies, keeping his own. He also takes the Marine’s boots, military kit, and baseball gear, leaving him to wake for an inspection with only a white T-shirt and boxers. That night, back in the crystal housing, the boots are on the bed. StarS puts out the light; Vi looks up in the faint UV glow.

The Story

Breakfast at the farm

“YES! MINE!”

The Story

Breakfast at the farm

“Forager made omelets with the mushrooms from the swamp… they do make Forager smile.”

Specs hears about something happening locally in the news. Gaze takes over and starts hunting for information from the farm.

The government will not release it. Gaze can get it and release copies. The information will still be his, too.

Specs is a free agent, unaffiliated with any big team.

“YES! MINE!”

“Spectrum, you appear to be familiar with this process.”

“YES! MINE!” snaps Gaze.

He quickly slides to IndiKid. The Orange Light Computer is still projected; the orange trinket bag holding Gaze’s collected broken power rings glows.

“Sorry, I get a little hyperfocused on what I want sometimes… I… did some research…”

A sigh.

“Back when I first started turning into a disco ball.”

Through the wall

Gaze finishes the data search.

“GOT IT! I’m out!”

He flies straight through a nearby wall, phasing through it and leaving Forager and Halo in the kitchen.

“Forager did not know a Lantern could do that.”

“Neither did a Halo. But, he did say that he can have a one-track mind when he wants something sometimes, yes?”

Forager and Halo exchange a look that says, without saying it: I don’t always get humans.

Moving faster than Orange should move, Gaze finds his target: the base.

The Marine

Gaze is on a mission. Then he encounters the Marine: in uniform, six feet nine, size-sixteen boots. Tall, big boots, Alpha.

The Marine brings Vi0ut out.

The UV shimmer passes from the crown down.

There is no visible movement of the head bowing. As the glow passes, Vi’s head is already down.

Specs already knows this about himself. He has explored the hues; this is why he would not discuss Ultraviolet with the Guardians on Oa. This one is hard with the wrong person in the room. It takes him, and it is harder to shake because behind it is a desire—a want for it.

Vi is on his knees. At his most UV, he wants something so much that he does not see he is being taken advantage of. The Marine uses him—not sexually, but through that wanting.

Vi comes close to Grey.

The goods

A White flash.

Back to Gaze.

“MINE!!!”

Gaze gets the goods. He gets the information and releases copies, keeping his own.

He also takes the Marine’s boots. His whole kit. The Marine is a baseball player: more gear. Gaze takes the military equipment and the guns, too.

He knocks the Marine out. He leaves what he knows no shade of Specs would be interested in and takes the rest, for spite or for hue.

Inspection

The Marine wakes to a room inspection.

All he has is the stupid white T-shirt and ugly-ass boxers Gaze left him in.

The boots are gone. The baseball gear is gone. His military kit is gone.

His guns are gone, too.

The boots on the bed

That night, back in the temporary housing StarS made, there is another momentary flash of Grey.

Gaze appears, takes out the boots, and sets them on the bed. He sits beside them.

Vi appears. He looks at the boots and licks his lips.

The small space is crystal, except for the very comfortable bed. There is no constructed floor, just the grass underfoot.

“Walk barefoot outside!!! I’m Southern, honey!”

On the crystal bedside stand, a glowing Star Sapphire crystal serves as the light.

He slides to StarS, reaches over, and touches it.

The light dims to solid black.

Then Vi.

His head is down as he appears. His blindfold, collar, and the key at the back are constructs. The blindfold glows, but it cannot be seen through. No eyes are visible.

The room stays mostly dark. Little responds to the UV beyond the bed, some specks on the grass, and the light bouncing off the boots. The crystals look matte.

A flat line of UV crosses his hidden eyes. The collar lights his head. Behind him, the small glow of the key reflects a spot on the wall.

Surrounded by a manifestation of Love, Vi looks up.

“You live with what you can get sometimes.”

About The Story

Gaze’s mission and Vi0ut’s vulnerability

A civil-rights concern draws Gaze into government records. “MINE” applies to information and to the rights at stake. He can take the records and release copies while keeping what he has acquired. His independence from a larger team is part of the approach.

The Marine brings out Vi0ut through his particular presence: tall, imposing, in uniform, with size 16 boots. Vi’s desire makes him vulnerable to being used. The exploitation described here is that of wanting something so much that he cannot see how he is being taken advantage of.

Gaze’s return brings both the information and the material aftermath: the Marine’s kit, sports gear, boots, and weapons, leaving the white tee and unwanted boxers. The encounter carries into the quieter scene with the boots that evening.

Vi0ut’s transition

Most slides can change clothing and color without a change of pose. The change travels from the crown downward. When it passes Vi0ut’s head, his head is already bowed; the viewer does not see a bowing motion. The later upward look gains its force from that held position.

Specs knows this response from his own exploration. Vi can be harder to shake because the desire is part of what holds him there. The same transition later reveals him kneeling before Guy, where trust changes the encounter.

Seeing and being seen

The zero in Vi0ut marks the distinction behind his visibility. A decreasing state, with eyes closed, is described in the writer’s notes as “going sub.” His presentation adapts through empathy and connection to the person bringing it out.

The later explanation allows Guy to be seen if he wants to be seen, or to admit another person to view while remaining unseen himself. Those possibilities describe how the connection responds, beyond the few encounters shown in the story.

Mushrooms, research, and the farm

Forager’s shared mushrooms bring Joy through things associated with The Rot and The Grey. That irony sits in the breakfast scene before the investigation.

Gaze’s familiarity with hacking comes from the research Specs began when his changes first started. IndiKid can apologize for the hyperfocus while the Orange interface remains active through the glowing bag of broken rings. Forager and Halo’s puzzled exchange follows the phasing departure through the wall.

Surrounded by Love

The temporary room is made from Star Sapphire crystal, with a comfortable bed and grass underfoot. A crystal on the bedside stand serves as the lamp. StarS touches it and dims it to solid black.

Vi’s constructs supply the remaining UV glow: the opaque blindfold, collar, and key. The room stays mostly dark. Small responses on the bed and grass, a little light reflected by the boots, and the key’s reflection behind him define the space. The blindfold has form and light without revealing his eyes.

He sits with the boots, literally surrounded by a manifestation of Love. The setting gives the final line—“You live with what you can get sometimes”—its particular context.

Writer's Notes

Why telling Vi’s story matters

The early planning note explains the importance and difficulty of the subject, including a concern about falling into a cliché. It remains the writer’s stated concern rather than a requirement for how the scene must end.

From the writer’s notes

Vi is an important story, but a very very delicate one… I want to push the limits (cause 1A baby!) but I do want to write as if it’ll be consumed by mass media/fans… which means I can’t go hard core… Sin pushes limits, but that’s what he does, so it plays as schitck … but Vi, that’s a part of one’s self that most people don’t believe can be real… let alone “right” or “normal”… which makes the telling of the story that much more important to me… but I have to be delicate… sadly, as much as I hate it… I fear I’ll have to fall on the dagger of cliche: the gay guy gets used but he straight dude, then hung to dry… cause, well: straight guy.

Gaze and Vi in one story

The combined concept gives the investigative action and the personal aftermath a shared sequence.

From the writer’s notes

I just figured out the Gaze and Vi stories are the same… Gaze is sent in, but a Marine… on a base… in unfirom… he’s 6’9! he’s a size 16 boot!!! I am Vi0ut… and I’m being used, and not sexually… but in the way that happens when you want something so much you don’t see you’re being taken advantage of… and when Vi is here, and Vi is at the most UV he can be, then he’s going to be taken advantage of…. but at least Gaze gets the goods in the end (so story arc: Gaze on a mission, ill met Marine, Vi on his knees… then close to Grey… but a White flash back to Gaze will make it MINE!!! And the fuckers boots too!!! And his whole kit!!! The last panel is the Marine waking up, having been knocked out (Gaze can be mean, too) waking up to a room inspection… only to find he only has the stupid white tee and ugly ass boxers Gaze left him in (he of course took the good stuff: all the gear, dude was a baseball player: bonus gear!, all his military kit hehe… guess he got some demerits that day, huh… wait till they realize his guns and shit are gone too… Gaze left what he knew no shade of Specs would be interested in lol… and took the rest, either for spite or for hue. That night, again, flashing Grey for just a moment, Graze appears and takes out the boots and sets them on the bed and sets beside them as Vi appears, looks at the boots, licks his lips, and turns off the light. “You live with what you can get sometimes”

Rights, information, and “MINE”

Gaze’s attitude connects the information he takes to the civil-rights action.

From the writer’s notes

OOH!!! Gaze! Yes!!! to the readers who don’t read more, this is just a cival rights action… Gaze says MINE to those, too…. If the governement won’t release them, Gaze can get them and release them (well, copies… MINE!)… Specs isn’t affiliated with any big “team”… no forced, implied, or expected morals here - Specs is a free agent! And Agent Orange 2.0 just logged in!!!

Journal pages and the descending transition

The possibility of occasional journal pages accompanies the visual idea for a slide. The movement passes downward and reveals Vi’s head already bowed.

From the writer’s notes

I’m so tempted to rethink when the journaling starts… I like the idea of occsioanlly (in comic form anyway) seeing things like that written in the journal and in the frame, off to the side, we see the page entry …

Showing the transition

In the DCAU-style crown-down change, most hues can appear without a change in pose. With Vi0ut, the effect passes the head and reveals it already down. In the later scene with Guy, the descending shimmer crosses empty space until it reaches him kneeling.

The image moves from eye contact to that lowered head without showing a bow. When Vi looks up and speaks, the change becomes especially striking. The earlier refusal to demonstrate UV on Oa comes from Specs already knowing how strongly someone’s presence can draw him into this state.

Breakfast: Joy through the Grey

The mushroom omelets begin with an irony: things associated with The Rot and The Grey bring Joy when shared. The opening concept also supplies Gaze’s research scene.

From the writer’s notes

okay, so S4… hear about a thing happening in the news, maybe over breakfast that morning “Forager made omelets with the mushrooms from the swamp… they do make Forager smile” (writers note: this is an irony play: mushrooms/The Rot/The Grey is bringing Joy via being shared)

Gaze takes over! Mission hunt, start by hacking from here… “Spectrum, you appear to be familiar with this process” “YES! MINE!” snaps Gaze, quickly sliding to IndiKid, the Orange Light Computer still being projected, the orange trinket bag with Gaze’s collected broken power rings a glowing “Sorry, I get a little hyper focused on what I want sometimes… I … did some research …sigh back when I first started turning into a disco ball”

Finishing up the data search, Gaze “GOT IT! I’m Out!” Gaze flies quickly right through a near by wall, phasing through it, leaving Forager and Halo in the kitchen “Forager did not know a lantern could to that” “Neither did a Halo. But, he did say that he can have one track mind when he wants something sometimes, yes?” Forager and Halo offer each other a look that says, without saying “I don’t always get humans”

Gaze, moving faster than orange should move, has found his target: the base!

The last light

The initial ending concept develops the lamp, the change to StarS, the darkening crystal, and the return to Vi. Its question about physical UV behavior is part of the visual exploration.

From the writer’s notes

lets expand the ending a little while its on my mind… We can assume we’re in the temp housing forged by StarS… the “light” that we have to turn off, is a glowing Star Sapphire crystal (like the rest of the small space, except the very comfy bed), the one on the crystal made bed stand, the one serving as the light, can be turned off by either IndiKid or StarS… so.. the looking at the boots… slide to StarS to reach over and turn off the light (touch it and make it dim to solid black)… then Vi (a reminder, Vi has a blindfold, the key at the back… these are constructs … which means… the room lights up with UV light, little glows, the color of the crystals becomes matte, something that happens when some crystals are exposed to UV light (fact check me on that)… the boots reflect the light a little) and then the line.

Love around him in the dark

The intended image is mostly darkness, with small reflected glows and the opaque blindfold defining Vi’s presence.

From the writer’s notes

the point of that is I want it to still feel mostly dark, with little repsondding to the UV other than the bed, some specs on the grass (cause StarS wouldn’t have made a floor when they could safely”walk bare foot outside!!! I’m southern, honey!“) and what’s bouncing off the boots… but this is also to give that striking moment: not totally dark, bit close, litteraly surrounded by a manifestation of love, with the blidfold glowing, no eyes visible, it’s not a construct you can see through, but it’s not like the cotton like clothing Vi wears, it’s real, but glows… and here you see that flat line or UV blidfold, that collar glowing lighting the head, and behind the small glow of the key relfecting a spot on the wall behind…

Vi0ut’s empathy and visibility

The character notes explore what his connection lets another person reveal or withhold. The familiar term for the decreasing state is “going sub.”

From the writer’s notes

I had forgotten about the fading stronger the stronger the male inspiring… this is a great example of more things I know: he can, and has been Vi before and can get there… when he’s… Gentleman’s Time! Lol (if that’s not in my cannon already, then see: United States of Tara’s husband in the shower) - so, if he were say, home alone, and “reading” … alone… he might slip into that… the point is, it’s not Was, he’s in control (he knows he has chain and rope constructs normally)… and he knows he can spot a dude who brings it on, but how strongly is a different story… that’s why it would have been nice to know that open eyes is a sign (remember, Specs is connected and knows more than he knows, that’s an example eof how empathy plus that alters his mechanics… and why testing was is important.. -Another writer note on Vi - if Guy wanted to be seen, he’d have been seen; had Guy wanted to bring along another and wanted them to be seen, but nothing else, or everything except Guy, then that’s how it’d happen - again, empathy plus connected = auto-adapting presentation, which is part of Vi’s whole thing

Gaze’s pockets after an encounter

Gaze supplies the pocket space for what remains after Vi’s encounters. The boots and sneakers shown are only the few known examples; the number of other items in those pockets is unspecified.