Old Scars, Chapter 2: Part 3.1

Page 37 Panel 1: We see the two of them in the middle of the conversation a short time later. There's a part from that period that catches Mr. Allen's attention.

GREM

Huh. Part of me's quite sad I've never come across magical creatures like yourself before. Well--nice ones anyway.

SYM

Don't be too hard on yourself, Mr. Grem. We keep to the shadows quite well. Besides, from the looks of you, I imagine there's plenty of life for you still to lead.

Panel 2: Close-up on Grem taking a sip of his Guinness, giving a slight head nod toward the question.

GREM

(chuckling)

Aye, that's true- depending on the light of day.

Panel 3: We move to a similar close-up on Sym, absorbing the question and shifting on to the bulk of the question.

GREM

(Cont., Off-Panel) So, anyway...how did you come to call Groznny home?

SYM

That is a...

Panel 4: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. After a short pause that bridges both panels, we see the background behind their face change to a flashback image of an emaciated Sym and a young girl dressed in gray striped uniforms meeting a young Soviet soldier following an escape from Crevni Krist.

SYM

(Cont., emotional) ...a very long story.

Panel 5: A three-part set of panels that jumps to a few months before we meet Sym, trying their best to fight a small contingent of KGB officers as they're dragging their partner away.

Caption

(Cont., Sym)

"I can mention how it ended though. How someone left a tip to the local KGB precinct after seeing my daughter out in morning prayer."

Panel 6: In the second part, we see them taking away their child who is pistol whipped to the back of the head by one of the officers just before she could land a blow.

Caption

(Cont., Sym)

"How, the following day, I had my heart ripped out in a matter of minutes...'A subversive threat to the State,' they said."

Panel 7: In the third and final part, we see a bruised and bloodied Sym watching their family being drawn into a dark van parked at the end of the walkway.

Caption

(Cont., Sym)

"Like I said, it's a..."

Caption

(Grem)

"I'll take on your case."

Page 38

Panel 1: Back in the present, we see Grem with reddened eyes a few moments after the end of the story; his left hand wiping off the trail of tears that swerved down, thinking about his long departed family.

SYM

(Off-Panel) I haven't said whether it actually was a case or not.​

GREM

(choked up, but still wittily) Didn't have to. Beating up thugs to reunite a family...I'll do that in a heartbeat.

SYM

(Off-Panel, Bubble 2) What about your other business in Finland you mentioned?

GREM

(Bubble 2) That can wait for a little bit.

Panel 2: Cut to a shot of Sym, reacting with a degree of foreknowledge connected to the question at hand that's thrown their way a beat after the end of the previous panel.

GREM

(Cont., Off-Panel) Now. Where in the city is this KGB precinct your kiddo's being held?

SYM

On Ulitsa Magomedova. There's something more about the precinct building you should know though, if you plan to barge in.

Panel 3: Mr. Allen scrunches his face slightly, hunting for a deeper meaning behind their statement.

GREM

How bad are we talking here? Though looking at your face, it...

Panel 4: Focused on the same profile of his face a short time later, inside Sym's apartment, we see him reacting to the answer behind said question from the previous panel.

GREM

Ah. "Vukodlak on their payroll" bad.

Panel 5: He looks over at Sym a beat later, flashing a curious glance at them as they walk by after having used the bathroom. You can see in Grem's hand a grainy black and white photo of a kind of werewolf with a man's face, dressed in a KGB uniform on top of a stack of other documents.

GREM

(Cont.) Did any officer spot you when you took this photograph?

SYM

Not a one. I used an old invisibility spell a former Romani lover taught me decades ago to evade them.

Panel 6: Cut to a shot of the piece of paper underneath the photo that the immortal Irishman turns over to find a beat later: a detailed layout of the building.

GREM

(Off-Panel) A former lover give you this shiny map, too?

SYM

(Off-Panel) No, just a sympathetic contact.

GREM

(Bubble 2, Off-Panel) Ah.