Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil

Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil is a machinomic short story from Dozerfleet Comics, first inceived in the late fall of 2018, but with screenshots toward its creation beginning in January of 2020. It is part of the Legacy volume of The Gerosha Chronicles, serving as a follow-up to Blood Over Water and a prelude to Ciem: Inferno.

Synopsis
It was a simple task: kill the more convenient minion of Clyde's, Mike "the Pencil" Javelin, so that Clyde would be forced to take a risk with sending the dangerous Frank Morvel to Gerosha for his next great evil plan!

Chris "the Purge-Flare" Kennal, now on his third year of impersonating Extirpon to cover up his own murder spree against Clyde's Gleeful-N'-Young nationwide network of brothels and human trafficking; was now more determined than ever to hunt down, sabotage, and kill every single last member of the cartel - until Clyde himself was the only one left! And then, he'd avenge Ashley Phillips personally!

In theory, that was what he'd do. Yet, while killing Pencil at the Cincinnati Airport proved easy; nothing else in the Purge-Flare nor Don "Module" Glotine's anti-Clyde conspiracy goes according to plan! With a little help from Lisa Mackensale-Glotine and Miriam "Sniperbadger" Flippo, Purge-Flare and Module are able to avoid detection and capture by law enforcement (and rival gangs) just a little bit longer.

However, when Emeraldon inadvertently interferes with Chris' single easiest escape plan; leaving the airport alive and without being captured will require fast thinking - and a lot of violence!

Plot
It's now late September of 2015. Chris has been the Purge-Flare officially for the last 3 years, having started his crusade against Clyde Spendelworth and Gleeful-N'-Young six years prior. Still having not forgiven himself for what happened to Ashley Phillips, he's now determined to sabotage Clyde in any way possible - before eventually killing Clyde himself!

In the last two years, Chris has become effective at fooling law enforcement (and even some of his enemies) into thinking he's really Extirpon. However, rumors of the ruse - and of Chris' identity - begin circulating within some local Cincinnati gangs. The Finneytown Ferrets' leader, Daran Phillips, suspects Chris is involved with the fake Extirpon attacks on Gleeful-N'-Young. He reasons that this is because some of the less-fantastic Extirpon-ish assassinations of Gleeful-N'-Young operatives bear the handiwork of the same Chris Kennal that rescued his cousin Ashley in 2009 from a Kentucky brothel.

After hearing rumors of a pending assault on Gerosha, Chris decides to force Clyde to send the reckless and violent Frank Morvel to oversee Gleeful-N'-Young's rounding up of young women from the Gerosha area. He figures that this way, it will be easier to get the National Guard involved.

Clyde wants to send Mike "the Pencil" Javelin to Gerosha instead, so that he can find quieter ways of kidnapping teens from the small town - avoiding not only the National Guard's attention, but also that of the local police and of the town's local centipede defender. Chris feels he can't allow Clyde to have an easy way out; so he must make Frank essential. To do this, Chris and his sidekick, Don "Module" Glotine, track down Pencil in Cincinnati.

Don poisons Pencil's drink at a coffee shop with RFID dye, when Pencil goes to the restroom. He then sends Chris to the airport, where it's revealed that Pencil is awaiting a private jet that will escort him to Indianapolis. From there, Pencil will head to Gerosha with Lava Tigre and the Pyro Panthers in tow. Chris and Don conclude that if they kill Pencil at the airport, then steal his jet, Chris can make a clean getaway.

However, Melvin Markus deduces where Module has a hidden lab beneath the city, and sends thugs to silence Module - permanently! Module escapes, making his way to the subway tunnels. He runs apps from his phone, though he realizes Melvin will figure this out.

Suddenly, Melvin gets locked out of Module's private network. Sniperbadger calls Module directly, to warn him. Module's frustrated and nosy interruptions of her message lead to her carelessly divulging details about her and her sisters' personal lives, which results in Module deducing her to be Miriam Flippo.

After annoying Module to get back at him for being so nosy, Miriam finally warns him that Emeraldon's interference with the private jet's flight path led to the pilot, Bert Mongale, getting arrested for possession of snuff porn. Since the private jet isn't arriving at the Cincinnati Airport, Chris can't steal it.

Pencil, paranoid that either Extirpon or an elaborate imposter may be hunting him, begs Clyde and Frank over his phone for answers, while also contemplating on how impossible it is for him to ever have a normal social life due to being a wanted pedophile. Neither proves particularly helpful; until Frank finally warns Pencil that the jet has been intercepted. Frank warns Pencil to quietly sneak out of the airport, and to then head by foot across the bridge. From there, Pencil would need to get a bus to Indianapolis. There would be no plane coming for him.

As soon as Frank and Pencil hang up, Chris assassinates Pencil. Module tries to advise Chris on what to do next. However, Module runs into his wife, Lisa, at a subway terminal. Chris waits for the two to finish up their conversation, and then for Don to call him back.

Lisa informs Don that she is having difficulty securing an OB/GYN appointment, to determine if their child is a boy or girl. She also states that she'll be grateful when Chris can switch over to his Nebraska camp with Hank "Tacky" Tack. She worries that if the Purge-Flare is seen near Module too often, SCALLOP will deduce that the Glotine family is harboring Chris. She has no desire to give birth while in prison. Module assures her that in short order, Chris will be heading west, and will be out of their hair. Don explains that he is helping Chris out of gratitude; since Chris saved his life - and the life of one of the Glotines' nieces - from Gleeful-N'-Young traffickers.

After Lisa heads home, Don calls Chris back. Don and Chris finally settle on stealing a helicopter located near a an open hanger. Chris narrowly escapes being captured by a security guard, and has to assassinate the guard. He steals the helicopter right before emergency vehicles arrive on the scene.

Right when Module and Purge-Flare believe they are in the clear, however, a corrupt officer in another helicopter chases after Chris; trying to shoot him down! Chris finds a "Cold Digit" label inside the helicopter, and Module explains that Cold Digit is an Icy Finger front, pretending to be a construction company. He lists their involvement, both with Epstein Island and with Senate Democrats. In other words: Chris just stole from a cabal of pedophiles even more dangerous than the cabal of pedophiles he was already murdering and stealing from!

Module tries to reroute the flight plan for the helicopter, to keep the FAA from noticing anything. However, Melvin Markus is able to change every input that Module makes. Realizing that lying to the FAA is no longer an option, Chris uses his pyrophoric pellet gun to destroy the enemy helicopter. He grabs a parachute out of the backseat of his stolen helicopter, as instructed to do so by Module.

Right before it's too late, Chris jumps out of the helicopter, and activates his parachute as instructed. Chris is able to safely land, and then is told to escape into the hills of Kentucky - and to relocate his hidden black van. He is told to hide in Rockholds until things quiet down, as the two helicopter crashes will no doubt make the news.

Chris only takes a nap in Rockholds. He ignores Module's advice to stay put there until further notice, and instead drives to Tennessee. He goes hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and promises to himself that he will make life hell for Gleeful-N'-Young in Gerosha when he gets there - to honor his promise to Ashley. He acknowledges that his own bloodlust has made union with her impossible; but vows to punish those responsible for her being kidnapped and raped six years prior.

Protagonists

 * Padua Network / Team Purge-Flare
 * Chris Kennal / Purge-Flare
 * Don Glotine / Module
 * Lisa Mackensale-Glotine
 * Amelie Glotine
 * Henry "Tacky" Tack

Antagonists

 * Security-Centric Alliance Lending and Learning Of Phaelites


 * FBI


 * Officer Richard Morling


 * Helicopter Officer Bob Yentimer


 * Senate Democrats


 * Jeffery Epstein


 * Triumvirate
 * Phaletori
 * Society of the Icy Finger
 * Warren Buntine / Lord Rappaccini
 * Hebbleskin Gang
 * Duke Arfaas Hebbleskin
 * Gleeful-N'-Young
 * Clyde Spendelworth
 * Bert Mongale
 * Mike "the Pencil" Javelin
 * Frank Morvel
 * Pyro Panthers
 * Antonio Frenze / Lava Tigre
 * Hebbleskin thugs in Cincinnati

Supporting cast

 * Flippo family and associates
 * Miriam Flippo / Sniperbadger
 * Candi Flippo / "that one centipede girl"
 * Danny Loffin
 * Erin Flippo
 * Tyrone Menster
 * Corey Mogen
 * Finneytown Ferrets
 * Daran Phillips


 * Sleet Mountain survivors
 * Ashley Phillips


 * Donte McArthur / Emeraldon


 * Eric Stanley Opendi / Extirpon


 * Kylie Drimmon
 * Ophelia Drimmon


 * Order of the Oraphim
 * Isitoq Sundue / Anarteq
 * Jissika Sundue / Nemara


 * Kennal family
 * Jamal Kennal
 * Anisha Kennal
 * Grandpa Terrence "Roji" Kennal

In the Ciem: Inferno preview strip

 * Interrogation officer
 * Candi Flippo / Ciem
 * Antonio Frenze / Lava Tigre
 * Danny Loffin
 * Chris Kennal / Purge-Flare
 * Frank Morvel
 * Julie Saffins
 * Officer Mandy Jolina
 * Lonny Factor / Drop-In
 * Imaki Izuki

In main story

 * Ohio
 * Cincinnati
 * Beneath city
 * Module's data center
 * City subway
 * Glotine family's house
 * Finnneytown Ferrets crackhouse


 * Kentucky
 * Hebron
 * Cincinnati International Airport
 * Rockholds


 * Tennessee
 * Gaitlinburg
 * Great Smoky Mountains National Park


 * Michigan
 * Big Rapids

In Ciem: Inferno preview

 * Indiana
 * Evansville
 * Vanderburgh County Jail
 * Gerosha
 * Construction site
 * 510 E. Walnut St.
 * 209 N. 2nd St.
 * Posey's Market
 * Parking lot
 * Main Street Grace Baptist Church
 * California
 * Los Angeles
 * Open streets

Locations used in game engines as doubles

 * San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto V)
 * Blaine County (as Kentucky)
 * Los Santos (as Hebron and LA)
 * Los Santos Airport (as Cincinnati Airport)
 * Chilead Mountains (as Great Smoky Mountains)


 * SimNation (The Sims 4)
 * Newcrest (as Gerosha)
 * Willow Creek (as Gerosha)
 * Magnolia Promenade
 * Eminent Domain Lot (as Vanderburgh County Jail)

Works alluded to
The following works are set before the events in this story, and are referenced or implied throughout:


 * The Tragedy of Lord Zeras (Set in the 1st century AD. Abdygalis Shards' significance)
 * Feud of Three Worlds (The Phaleel-Metheel War, and Phalite-Meethlite rivalries, giving birth to SCALLOP and the Hebbleskins, as well as Phexos and Meethexos.)
 * The Battle for Gerosha (Set in the 1950s - 2000s. Origins of Stan and Shalia Flippo, as well as the Flippo triplets.)
 * Of Emeralds and Sapphires (Set primarily in the late 2000s. Origins of Emeraldon, and his feud with the Icy Finger and Hebbleskins.)
 * Blood Over Water (Set in 2009. Where Chris Kennal originates, and shortly before he became the Purge-Flare officially.  Also the origin of Clyde Spendelworth.)
 * The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition (Set in late 2012. Modern Society of the Icy Finger, rise of Rappaccini to power and prominence in rank.)
 * Extirpon (Set in late 2012. Origin story of the monster Chris is impersonating while being the Purge-Flare.)
 * Cherinob (Set in early 2015. Destruction of the Earth Abdygalis Shard in Romania, hence, the arms race for another Abdygalis Shard.)

Works set up by this story

 * Ciem: Inferno (Set later in 2015. Numerous involvement of the Flippos in the background, as Miriam directly helps Module, and explains Candi's situation with Danny.)
 * Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo (Set later still in 2015. Wishpon is referenced, as well as there being a reference to "some Eskimo mermaids," implying Izzy and Jissika.)
 * Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance (Set in early 2016. The Critter Resistance Network is referenced a few times, and Miriam gets directly involved.  Tamperwolf and DeathDachshund are also mentioned.)
 * Ciem: Ash Cloud (Set a little later in 2016. The Sodality Church is referenced.  Also, some Triumvirate villains already suspect that Don Glotine is Module.  Which will play into the Battle for Cincinnati later.)
 * The Horrorday Gang (Set in 2018. Brett Mongale's jet contained snuff porn, hence why Miriam claimed he'd get three consecutive life sentences.  Some of that was from a Belgian brothel, the same one that turned Polly Ann Wilson into Perchta.)
 * Sodality: Instigation (Set in 2018 and 2019. The Sodality Church and Exodus Agenda help bring about the Sodality of Gerosha.  Chris' exile is in play by the end of Ash Cloud.  Also, there is plenty of reference to Decolarent eam, eviscerate eum throughout.  Along with reference to Miriam's already-established hacker rivalry with Melvin Markus.)

Inception
Shortly after the founder of Dozerfleet gained possession of a copy of GTA 5, there was a strong desire to utilize it for reimagining characters that had previously never been depicted much outside of Sims games. In late 2018, there were many experiments done on this, involving Ciem, Sniperbadger, Purge-Flare, MODM, Lemon Witch, Volkonir, Kayla Tarington, Semaphore, Black Rat, Stung Hornet, Cupric, Extirpon, Taterbug, etc.

The GTA Online character creator proved most effective at importing Purge-Flare, Plum Bixie, Lemon Witch, Stung Hornet, and Cupric, with Purge-Flare and Cupric's immorality proving a solid match for the game's relatively lawless online environment. (Plum Bixie had previously been interpreted with Far Cry 5, long before a version of her for The Sims 4 was also made.)

Before the Chris Kennal / Purge-Flare Sim was removed from the online character list and replaced with Cupric, it was decided that GTA 5 in Director Mode would be the perfect opportunity to give Chris a proper story as the Purge-Flare, before his guest appearances in Ciem: Inferno and Ciem: Ash Cloud. Likewise, this would give Chris a much-needed follow-up to his early vigilante career being implied at the end of Blood Over Water; filling in plot gaps between that story, and the events in Ciem: Inferno - set six years later.

Screen capture
An early attempt was made in late 2019 to shoot the story; but that attempt was eventually replaced with a new shoot in early 2020. By April, the screenshots were finished for Stickin' It to Pencil. However, the story remained on standby while Dozerfleet Labs was brought online. The Purge-Flare's solo adventure in GTA 5 was finally published in late October of 2020, along with several immediate translations to other languages. This halted progress on the production of both Blood Over Water and Ciem: Inferno; although chapter outlines were finally deduced for the latter.

To produce each scene, several cheats were entered in. Chris was alternated between the online character's appearance, and a similar-looking Townie figurine, for his civilian appearance. Various Townies, normally NPCs, were used to make up miscellaneous members of the cast.

Due to the limitations of characters' actions regarding non-violent activities, most depicted activities that didn't involve stealing vehicles or shooting became limited to aiming weapons, standing still, or talking on the phone - sometimes while running. Therefore, the story needed to rely heavily on exposition.

Scenes were shot using the PS4 version of GTA 5, which led to added difficulty in pausing time on events. The Share button was often used, in tandem with Triangle, to save stills to the PS4's library. These still screenshots were then transferred via USB drive to the Dozerfleet Main PC, to be edited later.

Editing
Screenshots recovered from the PS4 unit were edited on PC using Adobe Photoshop Elements 2019. While the screenshots were permitted to maintain their independent file existence, in the off chance of a slideshow video adaptation in the future, they were also embedded into Microsoft Word 2016.

The short story consisted of the images, plus story text functioning mostly as captions to each image. This was to mimic the online forum storytelling format previously utilized on Mod The Sims for telling Ciem in 2007 - 2009 and Volkonir Meets the Power Rangers in 2017. Stickin' It to Pencil was not also adapted via Flickr to Mod the Sims, since the screenshots were shot with GTA 5. No GTA equivalent to Mod the Sims could be found for hosting GTA machinomics and fanfics.

After the story was finished being compiled in Word, it was converted to an Adobe PDF file - to ensure it would display quasi-accurately on e-readers such as the Kindle Fire.

Artwork was edited for the alternative language translations as much as possible, mostly using Photoshop.

Translation
As the first multi-lingual short story in its series, Stickin' It to Pencil was selected to be translated into a limited number of additional languages. The first was Chinese, so the author's friends from China could read the story with minimal inhibition.

This created some difficulties, as many of the insults in English didn't translate well. Sentences and references had to be entirely rewritten for nearly every single sentence and paragraph, to replace what was written in English with material that would make sense in Chinese culture. Module's cursing Miriam for hacking his phone, calling her such things as "Daddy's little hardened cyber-criminal" didn't translate, leading to multiple references to huli jing mythos.

A similar treatment was required to translate the work into Spanish. Some of the euphemisms in English didn't translate, making Module and Miriam seem much more foul-mouthed in Spanish than their English-speaking counterparts are.

Russian also proved difficult to work with. Instead of being called a "wuss" by Daran, Pencil is called a "wet chicken" in that version. Sleet Mountain is referred to as "Wet Snow Mountain." Instead of Daran calling Chris a "freakin' beast," he calls him a "full Arctic fox." Miriam is labeled by others as a "мирма" throughout, as calling her a блядь (blyad, meaning "slut") outright would make the story illegal for distribution in Russia under Putin's 2014-established rules. The text finds numerous ways around this. Curiously, there's no ban on saying "horned goats" ("cucks") under the Russian law, and Chris continues to use the analogy of cuckolding to describe how Miriam is abusing Module's network to turn Purge-Flare and Module into her little puppets. Most of the romance languages had significant difficulty with this analogy, some of them discarding or replacing the analogy altogether by necessity.

Ratings system
The Dozerfleet rating system is in play for most of the world, rating the story at 16&#8593; in most nations.

Russia
It's cousin, the Dozerfleet Russian Rating System (БPPC) is the system in play in Russia, given its stricter guidelines. In Russia, the story is rated 18+. This is because the villains that the Purge-Flare is stated to be hunting down are accused in no terms of being "pedophiles."

Therefore, discussion of implied non-traditional sexual interactions, even in spite the lack of explicit content, constitutes the highest rating possible in Russia. Villains also allude to rape and decapitation during a phone conversation, and two other characters discuss the lesser-considered pitfalls of teen sex during a phone conversation, proving it to be far less glamorous than Hollywood often traditionally depicted it to be. Characters frequently use crass insults against each other during phone conversation, and Chris' killings make it very explicit that he incinerates his enemies.

Given how strict Russia is on content, many other Dozerfleet works would be reserved for older audiences than in the US and most of Europe.


 * While 3-13, for example, makes fun of drug PSAs and shows the drug dealer Gambino Penguin get punished rather quickly, the mere presence of powdered sugar pretending to be cocaine would result in this puppet sketch getting an 18+ rating in Russia automatically, even if the cartoonish nature of things would get the short video demoted to a rating of PG-13 or even possibly PG under the MPAA.
 * While Ciem 2007 can skate by with a DRS-13↑ rating in the US and most of Europe, its implications of nudity and sex and implication of Don the Psycho's foiled attempt of rape in one scene would easily earn it a 16+ minimum rating. Other scenes strongly implying that Musaran is decapitating victims, or Miriam's implied past promiscuity being a line of discussion in chapter 2, would possibly earn the story an 18+ rating under Russia's stricter guidelines.
 * When Bikes Argue 2 was able to get by with a rating of ANY in the US. But Hilo's genocidal insanity may very well earn the story a 16+ rating in Russia.  Barry's strongly implied obsession with the idea of his backseat being used for sex could also earn the story a 16+ rating.  Colly's being a mockery of feminism may also earn the story such a rating, especially since an unamused child bike is subjected to her feminist tirades.
 * Replox: Abstract Foundations makes clear that Kevin and Anyce would have a hard time consummating their marriage until Kevin can be released from his Abstra-Matri bond. It's also strongly implied that the villain Molarity had a sexual relationship with Andrea Schlemming at some point in their past.  Given that this creates a dilemma for a couple's desire to have a traditional relationship, the Russian rating may be higher.  While the story is easily in soft-PG-13 range for an American audience, about a Russian 12+, post-2012 Russia may consider it a 16+ range story.
 * While taking pains to avoid graphically describing any specific sex scene, Ciem: Inferno' s plot revolves around how a single indiscretion plays a role in ruining Candi's life and endangering the city. Given Candi's age, and the fact that she is involved in a war against human traffickers, the still PG-13 material would be considered "adult content" by Russia's standards.  As such, it'd get a minimum rating of 16+.
 * The same would go for Ciem: Ash Cloud. Implications of Korsicht about to rape Mapacha del Fuego "offscreen", plus an implied subtext that Candi and Paul have a crush on one another all notwithstanding, there is otherwise no sexual content.  However, the subtext is enough to warrant a 16+ rating, especially since it'd be considered a "non-traditional" relationship if a guard hooked up with a convicted minor.  The fact that Paul and Candi are even tempted to court one another, even though they never do, puts the story in this territory.
 * The Horrorday Gang would possibly get the highest rating possible in Russia, given that the antagonist villains are child abductors pursuing a satanic ritual. While their crimes are in no way glorified, the fact that they are strongly implied to be sexual deviants is enough to earn this rating. The violent anti-heroes would, in any other context, easily make good villains for a slasher film.  So while the story aims for a hard PG-13 or a soft R rating for a US audience, even softer than Deadpool 2, which got 18+, Russia would most likely consider this work to be NC-17 material - even with no explicit nudity or sex in it! This means that Krampus, Luca, and Jerry's Icy Finger enemies are just deviant enough to make them worse than the villains in Sony's Venom, which would be the nearest equivalent monster movie to what this story intends to be.  Venom received a 16+ rating in Russia, making that the minimum possible age rating for The Horrorday Gang.

Distribution
The standard English version of this story was given an early release on October 27th of 2020, where its MediaFire link could be accessed directly from Facebook. The official link via the blog was made complete on November 14th of that same year. Small proofread edits and fixes were made, until a version of it was released on November 25th - with the most glaring errors removed.

Foreign translations
Various attempts were made using Google, WordHippo, and any site with slang advice offered, to make a plethora of foreign translations, to bring Purge-Flare into an international market. In spite all these resources, the story proved very difficult to make universal. Early in the morning on February 1st of 2021, a Context Guide edition of the original English version was released. This fills in readers on all the behind-the-scenes details that were essential to creating the story. It also aids for ESL teachers who may wish to make a class exercise using the story as material. It was proposed as material for the Lansing Community College ESOL program later that same day.


 * &dagger; Crude attempt at Chinese
 * &dagger;&dagger; English-Cebuano-Tagalog hybrid

Advertising
Around 5:10 AM EDT on September 12th of 2021, a trailer was submitted to YouTube, promoting the story.

Trivia

 * This story is the first multi-panel machonimic short single story from Dozerfleet Comics ever to be told entirely using panels shot in Grand Theft Auto V.
 * This machinomic is the first directly-officially adapted Dozerfleet work ever to be translated into multiple languages. The first two translations were from English to Chinese, and then from English to Spanish.  Polish, Japanese, Bisaloglish, and Portuguese translations followed, with plans for French, Russian, and Korean to follow in 2021.
 * "Module" is intended to be a parody of Micro.
 * In the Korean version, Module is referred to as "Macro," since the joke reference to a Microsoft Office file having a "module" didn't translate well into Korean.