Watchmen fic: Last Days of an Unreal City, prologue - Sound and Fury
Title: Last Days of an Unreal City - Prologue - Sound and Fury
Rating: G
Word count (this section): 755
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Chapter Index.
===
October 25, 1985.
Ladies and gentlemen, performing in aid of the Indian Famine Appeal, we present Adrian Veidt, the one, the only... Ozymandias.
Adrian Veidt has always been a showman, and it is his hour upon the stage, so to speak.
He bows, and smiles for the audience. In the boardroom, his stupider enemies tend see him as a logical chess master sort, but he's not, he's really more of a poker player: the persona of Adrian Veidt, ruthless businessman, is just another bluff. There is little to be gained by making people think that you are cold and calculating, and perhaps that is why he wants the media to know him as a flamboyant hotshot. As he unfastens the gorget from around his neck, he says something cute and self-depreciating about needing to warm up, and everybody laughs, on cue.
Adrian leaps up and grabs the horizontal bar without assistance, and swings his legs up to build momentum. The friction of the bar against his bare palms does not bother him. People are often taken aback by how calloused his hands are - no-one really expects a sandpaper handshake from a man in purple silk - but Adrian is a man of many surprises.
He swings himself up into a handstand, and holds it. It is only a simple thing, but it always seems to impress people. Adrian does not have many friends, but he does have a lot of acquaintances through business - and, at social gatherings, their children sometimes ask him to do things like walk on his hands or balance on one arm. Adrian always obliges, although he's told that it is very surreal to witness a forty-something business mogul in an Italian suit effortlessly walk upside-down.
He's aware of the audience's eyes on him, as if their gaze is a physical force.
It is not an easy thing, for a human body to fling itself through space and still hold on, maintaining composure. Like most things worth doing, gymnastics can be dangerous and, as with martial arts, you have to understand your limitations, otherwise you may end up doing irreversible damage.
Five years ago, Adrian was training and he tore a ligament in his ankle due to a bad dismount. He swore a lot, and limped off, having been reminded the hard way that perhaps he did not know his limitations as well as he thought he did.
The World's Smartest Man is not necessarily the world's smartest man all of the time.
It would be ridiculous to say that his torn ligament was the reason why he later liquidated Dimensional Developments and used the reclaimed money for other projects instead, as nothing is ever quite that simple. But, self-doubt is insidious. There is only one thing that Adrian is certain of, and it is this: he can not be certain of himself.
Whatever happens, he will still wonder if he did the right thing.
He swings back down from the handstand and soon follows through with a Jaeger full-twist, moving in denial of physics, and the rising cheer from the audience ripples over him like a shockwave.
===
The man who pretends to be Walter Kovacs watches the performance on bank of television sets displayed in a department store window. His expression is one of quiet disgust... But then, that's how he always looks. He still clutches his 'THE END IS NIGH' sign, tempting fate, as if he's playing a personal game of Chicken with a god that he claims to not believe in.
===
A greying Edward Blake, living proof that the good die young, watches the performance as he packs his suitcase. For some reason, he doesn't find Adrian's antics terribly amusing on this particular night. He tried to phone Sally, just to warn her that they were in for nasty weather, but she hung up on him, and his instincts tell him that things are going to get worse before they get better.
===
Hollis Mason half-watches the performance on a black and white television set that will never be replaced by a color one. He feels his eyelids grow heavy - although, fortunately, there's no one around to see him if he chooses to fall asleep in his armchair and snore loudly with his mouth open, as his father used to do when he was Hollis' age. The noise of the television set is strangely relaxing. These days, it's silence that keeps him awake.
===
Laurie Juspeczyk and Daniel Dreiberg do not watch, as they are otherwise occupied.
===
Adrian lands neatly on both feet, to a storm of thunderous applause.
Rating: G
Word count (this section): 755
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Alan Moore.
Chapter Index.
===
October 25, 1985.
Ladies and gentlemen, performing in aid of the Indian Famine Appeal, we present Adrian Veidt, the one, the only... Ozymandias.
Adrian Veidt has always been a showman, and it is his hour upon the stage, so to speak.
He bows, and smiles for the audience. In the boardroom, his stupider enemies tend see him as a logical chess master sort, but he's not, he's really more of a poker player: the persona of Adrian Veidt, ruthless businessman, is just another bluff. There is little to be gained by making people think that you are cold and calculating, and perhaps that is why he wants the media to know him as a flamboyant hotshot. As he unfastens the gorget from around his neck, he says something cute and self-depreciating about needing to warm up, and everybody laughs, on cue.
Adrian leaps up and grabs the horizontal bar without assistance, and swings his legs up to build momentum. The friction of the bar against his bare palms does not bother him. People are often taken aback by how calloused his hands are - no-one really expects a sandpaper handshake from a man in purple silk - but Adrian is a man of many surprises.
He swings himself up into a handstand, and holds it. It is only a simple thing, but it always seems to impress people. Adrian does not have many friends, but he does have a lot of acquaintances through business - and, at social gatherings, their children sometimes ask him to do things like walk on his hands or balance on one arm. Adrian always obliges, although he's told that it is very surreal to witness a forty-something business mogul in an Italian suit effortlessly walk upside-down.
He's aware of the audience's eyes on him, as if their gaze is a physical force.
It is not an easy thing, for a human body to fling itself through space and still hold on, maintaining composure. Like most things worth doing, gymnastics can be dangerous and, as with martial arts, you have to understand your limitations, otherwise you may end up doing irreversible damage.
Five years ago, Adrian was training and he tore a ligament in his ankle due to a bad dismount. He swore a lot, and limped off, having been reminded the hard way that perhaps he did not know his limitations as well as he thought he did.
The World's Smartest Man is not necessarily the world's smartest man all of the time.
It would be ridiculous to say that his torn ligament was the reason why he later liquidated Dimensional Developments and used the reclaimed money for other projects instead, as nothing is ever quite that simple. But, self-doubt is insidious. There is only one thing that Adrian is certain of, and it is this: he can not be certain of himself.
Whatever happens, he will still wonder if he did the right thing.
He swings back down from the handstand and soon follows through with a Jaeger full-twist, moving in denial of physics, and the rising cheer from the audience ripples over him like a shockwave.
===
The man who pretends to be Walter Kovacs watches the performance on bank of television sets displayed in a department store window. His expression is one of quiet disgust... But then, that's how he always looks. He still clutches his 'THE END IS NIGH' sign, tempting fate, as if he's playing a personal game of Chicken with a god that he claims to not believe in.
===
A greying Edward Blake, living proof that the good die young, watches the performance as he packs his suitcase. For some reason, he doesn't find Adrian's antics terribly amusing on this particular night. He tried to phone Sally, just to warn her that they were in for nasty weather, but she hung up on him, and his instincts tell him that things are going to get worse before they get better.
===
Hollis Mason half-watches the performance on a black and white television set that will never be replaced by a color one. He feels his eyelids grow heavy - although, fortunately, there's no one around to see him if he chooses to fall asleep in his armchair and snore loudly with his mouth open, as his father used to do when he was Hollis' age. The noise of the television set is strangely relaxing. These days, it's silence that keeps him awake.
===
Laurie Juspeczyk and Daniel Dreiberg do not watch, as they are otherwise occupied.
===
Adrian lands neatly on both feet, to a storm of thunderous applause.