30 Jul 2015

Unruly - Basketball Night in Canada Chapter 11 - Commentary

A meeting of bitter rivals and a standoff.  Welcome to the commentary for "Common Ground".  Please read the chapter first before continuing.

The opening scene with Laura and Camille is meant to work out the issue of the class swooning over Mr. Baker.  Not all girls there are interested in him.  Camille isn't, for reasons of her own that she chooses not to reveal.  Probably still not enough, but Laura's limited point of view won't see any of the others just yet.

The making of lunch let me get the girls to try to set Caitlin straight on Laura and show that Caitlin isn't that great with people.  Autumn and Skye act as the redhead's conscience and social skills.  Sometimes, Caitlin needs to be told to be friendly.  Hurricane Caitlin tends to ignore niceties when she's on a mission.

With no solution to finding whoever is behind the fixing of the Simcoe game, the Unrulies are prepping for something similar during their game against Oshawa Western Collegiate, a team that has been district champions over the past few years.  Caitlin is going to have to get specific when she tells Laura to work out a distraction.  Laura's fixated on the gas grenades, and if she can put in her gigglesmoke, the people affected get very distracted and giggly.

The idea to enmesh Verity into the plot came late.  Caitlin would never have thought of it; why give good intelligence to her enemy?  It took her a moment to think the idea through and realize that Verity could be of use.  Autumn makes a very good point, though Caitlin is already thinking about how the Unrilies could turn on Verity's people.

Over at St. Dymphna, Verity and Mackenzie had the very same conversation.  Mackenzie, like Laura, has other plans that were steamrollered.  Verity's assumption of a boyfriend comes from being in a Catholic school.  It's very unlikely any girl there would come out of the closet while there, though secret trysts and the confessional afterwards would happen.  Laura could admit to having a girlfriend over at the Academy; Autumn might have issues, but Camille wouldn't.  Laura would still have to be circumspect about who her girlfriend is, since Mackenzie is at the rival school.  Mackenzie has to keep everything a secret, at least for now; no having a girlfriend over at the Academy made public for her.

When I first worked out the uniforms for both the Academy and St. Dymphna, I forgot about coats.  I did the same in Subject 13 when Nasty started at Fieldson, and she had an overcoat then.  However, with fall comes cooler weather, and out comes the cold weather gear like trenchcoats.  The grey trenchcoat lets Caitlin feel like a spy, an added benefit for her.

I wanted the ending to start building up to what would be the prelude to a gunfight in a Western.  The two gunmen, starting at each other while everyone else in the bar goes silent, waiting for the inevitable gunshot to ring out.  Laura doesn't watch Westerns, allowing me to complete the Rule of Three.

Tomorrow, the new Unruly chapter, Chapter 12, "Scorpions".
Also tomorrow, over at Psycho Drive-In, still on hiatus.
Saturday, over at MuseHackSeventh Sanctum, Lost in.Translation returns with the history of adaptations and the Eighties!
Also Saturday, check out Comics Bulletin for comics-related reposts of Lost in Translation.

2 comments:

  1. I think the inclusion of Verity was a good idea. She's been mostly in the background (even with Laura's mentos, we didn't see much), yet is integral to Caitlin's personality. And the common enemy creates a natural expansion of the universe. Gives more than Mackenzie as a window into the other school.

    Also, hm, "Autumn might have issues, but Camille wouldn't." Did you mean to say "Skye" there? Is Camille the sort of person to fall for Mackenzie too? ^.^

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  2. Oh, good, my thinking worked out. And Verity needed screen time. A rival is just too good to waste off-stage.

    I think I meant Skye. Camille could be, though, but she might not be Mackenzie's type.

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