What happens? Hunter deploys into WWI as an infantryman. Though he gains experience across numerous deployments as a loyal soldier, he finds himself discomforted by the dehumanizing military environment and unsettled by the weapon he is becoming. Aware he has made a mistake in coming here, Hunter admits he would like to return to Ms Leading, and conceives to return to the City at the first opportunity.
He gets no such opportunity. Instead, a string of particularly horrific encounters with a tank, a poisoner, a thief, and mustard gas progressively expose Hunter to the worst aspects of war. Each erode his idealistic worldview and jade him morally. He sustains grievous injuries in a mustard gas attack, and is left to die.
Hunter is rescued by an allied soldier who looks remarkably like himself. This soldier is the Son of the leader of this unit, who is the General. While Hunter is recovering at their camp, in the downtime, the General tells the unit the story of how he raped a hooker at a brothel called the Dime. This hooker’s name was Ms Terri.
Hunter is furious. Alongside the disgraceful uncovering of Ms Terri’s secret, he deduces that the General is his father, and that he resembles the General’s Son because he is also the General’s son. He is doubly furious, and gobsmacked, when the unit’s reception to the story is uniformly positive.
Hunter snaps. Ashamed of himself for profaning and betraying Ms Terri’s memory, regretful of having ever pursued her secret, and tortured by the knowledge of what he is, Hunter falls into deep self-loathing. He begins to contemplate abandoning his life to assume a new identity, and restart himself as someone better and happier than Hunter.
The unit fights in the Battle of the Somme. The General’s Son dies in the battle. Seeing an opportunity, Hunter swaps his dogtags, clothes, and possessions for the Son’s, deciding to steal his identity and live as him instead. Particularly, he thinks he can fool the Son’s Mother into doting upon him, but not that he can fool the General. To this end, he kills the General.
With no obstacles between him and a happier new life as the Son, Hunter greets the end of the war, eager to return to the City and put his plan into motion…
What happens? Hunter returns to the City under the stolen identity of the Son. He resolves to use this identity to become a stronger, better, and less flawed person, seeing opportunity to build himself with proper agency, without being hampered by his old baggage. He also decides not to return to Ms Leading, as he determines his feelings for her were rooted in trauma, hence, not real love, and merely part of that unhealthy ‘baggage’.
Hunter goes to the Son’s mother. She is overjoyed that her ‘Son’ has survived the war and accepts Hunter. Hunter spends several years being doted upon by her as he adjusts into this new persona. He grows more comfortable, and accustomed to feigning the ‘Son’, surprised at his own success.
Hunter goes out to town, where he is ‘kidnapped’ by the Son’s friends. Hunter did not know these friends existed, and they are curious why the Son has not spoken to them for so long. The group decides to reconcile by taking Hunter barhopping. But they soon notice something is off about Hunter. Hunter manipulates them into dropping the issue by pulling their attention back to the fun of barhopping, which works. The friends become too joyful and drunk to remember their suspicions towards Hunter.
It occurs to Hunter that he has become an immoral person, willing to lie and manipulate to sustain his Son persona. He resigns that this is simply his lot as he continues barhopping with the friends.
In the course of this barhopping, the group encounter Ms Leading, who is now working as a bartender. She is alarmed to see Hunter acting so out of character, and expresses her concern, but Hunter rebuffs her. Hunter passes out from heavy inebriation.
Hunter awakens hungover. In this odd state of mind, as he thinks about last night, he suffers a severe identity crisis. He assumed the Son identity to become a better person, but his behaviour last night was worse than how he would act as Hunter. Further, he has lost his agency in how he may shape this persona, as its behaviour is now dictated by the testimonies, expectations, and routines of the Son’s associates. This is frightening, and the point of this persona is becoming hazy to Hunter.
While Hunter struggles with these thoughts, the Son’s Fiance comes to confront him. She is angry about the years of radio silence, but is accustomed to such hijinks and softens upon seeing him hungover. The Son was quite a troubled person, needy but unwilling to marry or settle down before the war, which bothered the Fiance. She could not tell if the Son truly loved her and seeks an unambiguous answer from Hunter.
The Fiance soon realises Hunter is not the Son. Exasperated, but curious of this prospect’s potential, she offers that Hunter become the Son for her and they enter into a relationship. Aware that she has seen through him, but is not hostile towards him, Hunter accepts the offer. He hopes the relationship will give the persona purpose and distance him from his frustratingly persistent feelings towards Ms Leading.
The Fiance brings Hunter to church, as she and the Son are churchgoers. Hunter dislikes this environment, and especially dislikes the Priest, who he pegs as a conman. Hunter’s intuition is correct, as the Priest is secretly also the greedy Pimp who runs the Dime. The Dime, however, has been closed due to tightened legislations, and the Pimp must now rely on his Priest guise for his moneymaking schemes.
The Priest pressures the congregation to buy indulgences and make offertory donations. Hunter tries not to draw attention, but refuses to give the Priest money. The Priest notices his resistance and is concerned. He recognizes Hunter from his time with Ms Leading, and thinks he could become a problem, but also that he presents an opportunity.
The Priest invites Hunter to the confessional. By aggravating Hunter’s insecurities around not having done anything worthwhile with the Son persona, he manipulates Hunter into running for Mayor. Hunter is told he will be able to rout out the City’s corruption as Mayor and act as a force of good against evil. The prospect thrills him and fills him with purpose.
Hunter proves outrageously popular and wins the mayoral race. Elated that he has finally found a good use for himself, Hunter discards his old identity and commits fully to being the Son. Some months pass as he adjusts into his new role with wholehearted commitment, which includes more routine visits to church.
This heightened exposure to church forces him to reconsider himself morally. He realises that, overall, he has not been a good person, and that his attitude towards Ms Leading has been unjustified. He reconciles with her and takes her as a lover, even though he is now married to the Fiance. This failure to commit leaves him uneasy about his choices, and nervous about his future.
Hunter attends church. The Priest ushers him into the confessional, reveals he knows about Hunter’s identity theft, and reveals his own identity as the Pimp. Hunter is shocked and despairing as he realises he has been set up. The Pimp and The Priest threatens to publicly reveal Hunter’s true identity if Hunter does not do what he demands, securing control over him with this blackmail.
Hunter is crushed and defeated. As the Mayor of the City, he has not become a saviour, but a slave, trapped under the thumb of his enemy and twisted into an agent of corruption…
…with seemingly, no escape.
What is the purpose? fake life big fat no running hunter
What’s in a name? ay tone you ever notice this casey fella, he got a thing for circles?
What happens? Hunter is the corrupt Mayor of the City. Forced to deceive his constituents, project a persona of false piety, and live as a fake person even in his home life, Hunter has lost his self. Rendered powerless by TP&P’s blackmail, feelings of fear, uncertainty, and emptiness too paralyse him, but he knows he detests the wicked force he has become and feels he has betrayed himself by becoming so corrupted.
Time has passed since Act IV. In that time, Hunter has adopted an opium habit to cope with the pain and emptiness of this false life. The opium comforts him, but also allows him to speak with an Apparition of his younger self. The Apparition tells Hunter that he can reclaim his lost self, redeem himself for his wrongs, and escape the clutches of evil by embracing his desire to aggressively combat TP&P.
TP&P has noticed Hunter becoming vaguely inspired to resist. Seeking to destroy these thoughts promptly, he demoralises Hunter with a cruel sermon, which tells him he has sinned so greatly that he is too evil to redeem. Though hurt by the sermon, it also gives Hunter confidence, in that, if he is evil, then perhaps he can use evil tricks to escape TP&P. Hunter’s mindset shifts into one of waiting for a good moment to act.
TP&P reopens the Dime, even though brothels are now illegal, with Hunter’s help as Mayor. Hunter is disgusted by his part in enabling this and feels responsible for it. Seeking comfort, he goes to Ms Leading, with whom he has maintained a loving relationship. He feels able to be himself around Ms Leading, and has accepted his feelings towards her as genuine love, bringing him happiness, warmth, and a connection to his self amid the darkness of the rest of his life.
The Dime’s reopening catches the attention of a wicked businessman and ex-politician, Mr Usher. He determines that Hunter, the Mayor, must be corrupt to allow this reopening and can likely be manipulated. Seeking to claim the City and industrialise it, he goes to Hunter and encourages him to begin this industrialisation, noting that Hunter could repurpose Dime workers into factory workers, boost the City’s economy, attain more money and power than TP&P, and from there dismantle TP&P. Mr Usher hopes such dismantling will inspire TP&P to retaliate, so that he and Hunter destroy each other, leaving Mr Usher to fill the power vacuum.
Hunter utterly rejects Mr Usher’s proposal. So disgusted by Mr Usher’s heartlessness that the very existence of someone so cruel baffles him, he reclaims even more confidence in himself as a good person able to rebuff evil. Sensing that things in the City will soon come to a head, Hunter sends his wife and son safely to the Lake and the River.
Hunter shoots up on opium again and has another encounter with the Apparition. The Apparition encourages him to shed the Son persona entirely, and embrace his true self by moving against TP&P, as this is the path to redemption. Hunter is becoming openly confident and unfearful of TP&P’s blackmail.
This confidence terrifies TP&P. Mr Usher exacerbates this fear by telling TP&P that Hunter will surely kill him at this rate, and encourages TP&P to kill Ms Leading before that happens. TP&P is reluctant to do this, but is ultimately convinced when Mr Usher argues that Ms Leading’s death will destroy Hunter’s last connection to himself, and demoralise him beyond repair, making him susceptible to TP&P’s influence again.
TP&P kills Ms Leading. Hunter is not demoralised, but stoked with righteous vengeance. Feeling virtuous and liberated, he sets the Dime on fire. The fire spreads to the Church and burns both buildings down. Hunter knows that the burning of the Church makes this a public issue, but feels, because he has done the right thing, truth will exonerate him and he will be able to live a virtuous new life under his true identity as Hunter.
TP&P is furious. He gathers up townsfolk, themselves angry at the burning of the Church, and reveals Hunter as the arsonist. He also reveals Hunter’s identity theft and paints him as a murderous villain. The townsfolk accept TP&P’s words and become eager to oust the evil Hunter. TP&P brings the angry mob to Hunter’s house, then goes inside to negotiate privately with Hunter.
TP&P offers to call off the mob provided that he and Hunter work together again. Hunter has nothing to particularly gain from resisting TP&P anymore, but principle forbids him from entertaining the idea of allying with him. Hunter considers manipulating the mob himself by doubling down on his Son persona, but rejects this course also. It then crosses Hunter’s mind that he might simply be an evil person, and that is why he has been cornered into such an evil crossroads again, but resolves that if he will be evil, he will at least take out TP&P. Hunter kills TP&P.
Hunter knows he has signed his death warrant by killing TP&P. The mob outside will surely kill him now. Rather than let them, he decides to kill himself, and pauses to consider what might happen to him after he’s dead. Though initially fearful of facing eternal punishment, and then resigned to face the void of nothingness, Hunter wonders if there’s a chance Heaven could actually be real and he could get there. Staking everything on this hope, he pleads for absolution and forgiveness, and kills himself.
The Apparition appears to Hunter in his last moments, announcing that he will be venerated. Hunter goes to his final place, and so his story seems to end…
…as the story of his son, begins.
What is the purpose? battesimo
What’s in a name? I’M SEEING FORGOTTEN FORMS FROM A DIFFERENT AGE casey got good at lyrics come back l8r
空劫罰 祟りネコ | JP -> ENG / TDH 