31 Aug 2017

The Devil You Know - Commentary 6

Another explosion in France sent Ione out to clear her mind, but Jack won't give her the time she needs, in The Devil You Know Chapter 6.

Not all cats move as fast as Diesel when it's time to be fed.  Some will run.  Others will just get far enough in front so they can keep turning back to make sure the staffer is following.  It all depends on the cat.  Even the type of food eaten is cat-dependent.  Sure, you can buy the expensive fancy wet food, but I've had cats that would turn their nose up at it and prefer the cheap, smelly food, in part for the added floor show.

Ione is having a typical morning where she doesn't have to go in to work.  Feed the cat, drink coffee, watch some TV.  The problem is, she's not in a slice-of-life story.  The news story is about her mission that started the story.  And now what was in the warehouse is known to the world - illegal arms.  Ione's mission wasn't a complete failure; all those weapons will never get to their destinations.

One of the problems of being in a city where the primary industry is government is that most people understand how the bureaucracy works.  There is a method to the madness, and most people in Ottawa understand that.  The rest either are newcomers or deliberately obtuse.  The question isn't whether someone works for the government but which department.  So, if one works or even applies to one of the more secretive agencies in the National Capital, it's a little harder to brush off the question of where one works by answering, "a government analyst".  Even if one can say, there are still times when something interesting happens at work and can't be told because of secrecy and security.

Media conventions in Ottawa is a relatively knew thing.  Sure, Cangames has been around for forty years, but other cons fizzled.  The mindset wasn't really there; Ottawa was more a sports town than anything else.  Rough Riders would see large turnouts, even during their worst season and only dwindled when it became obvious that the ownership didn't care about the team.  However, with more attention being paid to comic cons of all sorts, there's a new interest.  AC Cubed, of which I was one of the exec, saw large turnouts, far more than expected.  Can*Con has returned.  And, finally, Ottawa got a pro comic con.  Fourth largest city in Canada here, and it gets treated like a bloody backwater at times.  The biggest problem the city has is a lack of space for conventions.  The hotels here are set up for smaller events.  The lack of space was one of the reasons AC Cubed folded; the con was about to burst from being a small convention to being a medium one or larger, and there really wasn't anywhere to expand.  So, the mention of a new media con was news in 2013.

The last scene at the intersection made a good spot for a chapter break.  Who is this daredevil who dared to cut off Ione in a dangerous yet flashy manner?  The answer should be obvious and will be revealed in Chapter 7.

Friday, Jack makes Ione an offer; can she refuse?  The Devil You Know Chapter 7.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, when an adaptation isn't an adaptation.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Mutant X.

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