Time Lady of L.A. #12: Pages 5-6

Page 5, 6 Panels- Secret Free Tahrir Compound, 1985 Cairo Egypt Panel 1: Same setting/layout as the last panel of the previous page. Giana is seated in the same position that we saw her in that same panel, reaching a crescendo in her sobbing. Amanda can be seen already passing her friend to the left and beginning to crouch down to the floor. Her arm already lifting out to her side in a pre-emptive act of consoling. SOUND EFFECT [Off-Panel, from the right of the panel view]: tika-tika-tika-tika... AMANDA [to Giana, very concerned]: What's up?... Panel 2: Cut to a slightly closer shot from the side of Giana and Amanda a few seconds later. You can see Amanda's arm now firmly over her friend's shoulder. The length of the hallway as it bends toward the right visible in the background. For the first time, we also see Giana's head in the foreground of the shot lifting up from her knees, providing a slight hint of reddened tear-soaked eyes to the reader. AMANDA [Cont., to Giana]: I've never seen you like this before. GIANA [voice cracking, struggling to find the words]: It's...[sighs] It's something I...try to keep...under control. I... Panel 3-4: We move to a front shot of Giana a few beats later. Her head now fully up in a normal position, staring out in front of her. You can now see both of her reddened eyes in the shot, along with the cheeks which glisten with dried tears and part of Amanda's arm coming from the left of the panel view. In Panel 4, she shifts her gaze to the left in her friend's direction as she ends her thought formally. GIANA [Cont.; Panel 3]: I just wanted to...give my mom...a gift. A cool surprise...for Christmas...to show her...how much I loved her. Now we got rebel groups and...and some shadowy organization at war with each other...which is completely different from the timeline I know. I want to help them, but...with Mona and--- GIANA [Cont., under heavy breathing; Panel 4]: If anything happened to her...and she actually turned out to...to be my Ummi, I...I... Panel 5: Action shot of the two of them hugging each other with a great deal of warmth. The sound of crying coming from Giana. Amanda's head rests on the shoulder of her friend, listening to her cries with a degree of empathy and concern in her eyes as she watches the front door back to the room they were previously in. You can see Feli9's head next to them pop briefly into view, purring lovingly and gently in the background. AMANDA [to Giana]: You're scared of being McFly'd. That's...entirely understandable. Panel 6: We pull back slightly a half-minute later, showing Amanda slowly lifting Giana back up to her feet. Feli9 takes a single step back with her back legs to compensate for the shift in movement from the humans. You can see a little bit of the descending hallway that was visible in the beginning of the page in the background. AMANDA [Cont.]: But you can't let your head dwell on that. Not if we're gonna get back to the 21st century in one piece. GIANA [crackling, wiping tears with her right hand]: I know... AMANDA [Bubble 2]: What do you usually do when your brain goes all-- GIANA [interjecting; Bubble 2]: Explodey? Well... Page 6, 6 Panels- Secret Free Tahrir Compound Panel 1: We move to a close-up on Giana's face a few beats later as she regains her footing. She glances up to the ceiling slightly in a ponderous fashion for a moment. Her left hand going up to her corresponding side of the face, wiping another section of tears from her face. You can partially see Amanda's face looking on from the right of the panel view moments before stepping away. GIANA [Cont., regaining her composure]: Usually, I try to clear my mind...and think about what's bugging me. Panel 2: Cut to Amanda a second later, after taking a single step to the right in the direction of the off-panel door. She has a look of encouragement in her eyes, trying to help her friend continue on in her thought processes. You can see part of the wall in the background as she's speaking. AMANDA [encouraging, to Giana]: Good, good G...there's plenty of crap here to fill that quota! Panel 3: Back to Giana a moment later. Her eyes look back down from the ceiling toward her friend. She slips her right hand into her jean pocket and starts to make her way back to the room her and Amanda had left. You can hear a set of footsteps walking off around the right side of the panel view. GIANA [following on along her friend's train of thought]: Oh yeah, like how technology popped up in a region twenty years early. Or who the E.o.M. are, not to mention what are they... Panel 4-5: In Panel 4, we see Giana freeze in place for a moment, staring out with glazed eyes. Her brain flashing into an immediate stroke of genius as her mouth opens agape in silent realization as to some of the answers to her previous questions. In Panel 5, she's locked in the same stance that we saw in the previous panel. The lone difference in terms of the background noise lies in the fact that the sound of footsteps that were heard in Panels 3 and 4 has suddenly stopped. AMANDA [Off-Panel, to Giana; Panel 5]: I know that look...