“So, I’ve been reading about Guy Fawkes.”
Non sequiturs, especially ones delivered with energetic enthusiasm, where to be expected when dealing with a hyper genius alien city defender.
“Oh?” his reporter girlfriend replied, almost not looking up from her laptop (catching herself in time to remember how sensitive he was to being ignored).
“It is FASCINATING!” Megamind exclaimed, gesturing to the bank of monitors in front of his high backed leather chair. In addition to multiple reference pictures, there seemed to be several different articles and other written documents.
Including at least two Roxanne suspected were historical, if the fact she couldn’t tell if those were “s”s or “f”s was accurate at this distance.
But what caught her attention was the image of the giant bonfire, with what appeared to be a man made of straw and old clothes burning at the top.
“Oh?” she repeated, actually a little interested now.
“I mean, there’s just so many LAYERS! On one hand, Fawkes was far from the most responsible for the entire Gunpowder plot, and yet he is the one to live in infamy. On the other hand, his actual involvement is so interesting, especially in light of his military past. Taking into account what the treasonists were protesting - especially in the context of the multiple religious and political upheavals since Henry VII, and one really cannot blame their frustrations at the prosecution of the Catholics - although the king later had the GALL to claim where ‘falsely and slanderously’ called ‘Cruel Laws,’ including TAXING Catholics that didn’t attend Anglican services!”
Taking a small breath, Megamind had to grimace slightly.
“Granted, the idea to BLOW UP the entire PARLIMENT while the king and lords were IN SESSION MIGHT have been a TOUCH extreme...”
Roxanne coughed at that, glad she hadn’t been drinking anything.
“But then! THEN! After executing every conspirator they could find, the goverment LITERALLY passes a LAW REQUIRING citizens to attend ANNUAL RECOUNTING of the DIVINELY INSPIRED interception of the plot! Seriously, even as Overlord I could not have been this utterly petty!”
Roxanne wasn’t - entirely - certain about that, but she had to admit what she could pick up from his ramblings did not seem to paint a flattering picture of the “good guys.”
She finally realized where she recognized that peculiar white and black mask on one of the monitors from - that movie a while back, something about the fifth of November? No wonder Megamind was obsessing about this right now...
Roxanne blinked, suddenly, then her eyes darted quickly between the image of the mask and her boyfriend. Narrow, pointed chin with the black stripe, prominent black eyebrows, dramatically straight nose...
She stared at Megamind for a bit, trying to picture him with a moustache.
He noticed her gaze, and pulled his shoulders in a bit, embarrassed. “What?”
She blinked, embarrassed herself at being caught. Fortunately... “What, I’m not allowed to look at my gorgeous boyfriend?”
That earned her a reprieve, and a delightful blush from her beau.
But seriously, the parallels really were kind of rediculous when taking into account. She was rather glad he would never notice them, else, well...
Even if he wasn’t exactly petty, given his flair for the dramatic - Roxanne didn’t want any bonfires of Metro Man, even as a joke.
His success rate with large blazes wasn’t always the best.
So, yeah, I find the story behind the Gunpowder Plot really interesting. There are just so many layers to it, from Henry VII’s decision to cut from the Catholic Church to the wild swings in the English monarchy following his death, the points on both sides, and the plan to literally BLOW UP PARLIMENT...
But it’s the aftermath that’s just so telling about human nature.
Most of my timeline comes from this insightful introduction to the idea, up to the British equivilant to Hallowe’en: Bonfire Night.
Wayne hovered over the effigy of white, gold and straw, focused.
“Hurry up with those marshmellows! We want S’mores!”
“Perfection, like justice, must come in its own time!”
