September kicked off with 1,550 new words for He's There!
It... wasn't as much as I would have preferred... I was just experimenting with the scenes I was hesitating to write months ago, the ones where Lily and "Erik" meet in person for the first time. I'm still not sure how to bridge what I have so far with this night: I felt in chapter six I was struggling to properly piece together Lily's experience on her performance nights, which lead up to what I was writing yesterday.
So far, it's pretty dramatic in a subtle way, though. I've set it up so that she's attracted to him in pretty much every way but physically: the way he writes, his elusive mannerisms, his voice, his touch... But here they are, walking on a very dark forest path together, where he purposefully keeps out of sight (save for a silhouette) while engaging her in conversation and complimenting her. He stretches away the branches at the edge of the trees so she can step out, and once she knows he's behind her, and she will be able to see him, she almost can't turn around!
And then, uh oh: she can't decide if she's attracted to him. She can't even make out what she's seeing or why she's seeing it. She wasn't expecting a mask, and because she's afraid to make eye-contact it takes her forever to realize he has such long hair and it isn't a cape over his head. XD Lily isn't into Goth guys by default, let's just say. Even while he is sharply dressed, I think he gives that vibe pretty easily.
At this point, she's feeling kind of sensitive, though, and his charm is sticking out more than his weirdness. Her parents have bailed on her and cancelled seeing the production on the last night like they were supposed to, she's disappointed it's already over, and he's the one at least giving her attention and making her feel like she is still in a surreal state. "Erik" is purposefully poking at her because she can barely take a compliment -- one thing she says is all it takes for him to use her shyness and self-consciousness to draw out why she's even an actress. She says it's the one way she knows how to get what she wants while still hiding her true self from people, and he already guesses along those lines. It's the whole reason he's come to her like this. I'm still stuck on how exactly he will suggest a roleplay without being too straight-forward.
I suppose he might say he has some idea of what she wants, or he'll ask if she sees something in him she wants. Or perhaps that he sympathizes with her need to experiment without coming in direct contact. Something that has an unmistakable connotation that he's making himself available to her. I don't think she can really wrap her brain around the idea that he plans to simply not tell her who he is at all. Right away, he doesn't draw a line between a possible game they might start and the real world. He says she's gotten to know him very well, that most people never see him in person, and that she may call him Erik. She can't say that his seriousness during this discussion means anything, because he could just be good at pretending. He is simply going to pull the rug out from under her, and with Thanksgiving break starting the next day, and nothing really to distract her, and with relatives coming in and disrupting the house, she cannot stop replaying these interactions trying to get a grip on him. She doesn't know how to admit what happened to Mariam, who's busy anyway, so who's there to ignite her enthusiasm? Paulina. Paulina's there, ready to call him "THE PHANTOM!", "YOU HAVE A PHANTOM!"...
And to make it worse, she got close enough to him to catch his scent, which by then had rubbed off all over her book that she has been secretly whiffing nearly every night. He's set up her brain to associate him with all kinds of things she's drawn to, and he will continue to do so.
Phew! I should really just write this. I think with some work I could finish chapter 6 and half of 7 and then finish plotting, because I kind of sort of didn't nail out a complete plot... but it's... almost there. Kind of. I mean the main events are there. I-It's really weird reordering events, I must say.
Here I go.
It... wasn't as much as I would have preferred... I was just experimenting with the scenes I was hesitating to write months ago, the ones where Lily and "Erik" meet in person for the first time. I'm still not sure how to bridge what I have so far with this night: I felt in chapter six I was struggling to properly piece together Lily's experience on her performance nights, which lead up to what I was writing yesterday.
So far, it's pretty dramatic in a subtle way, though. I've set it up so that she's attracted to him in pretty much every way but physically: the way he writes, his elusive mannerisms, his voice, his touch... But here they are, walking on a very dark forest path together, where he purposefully keeps out of sight (save for a silhouette) while engaging her in conversation and complimenting her. He stretches away the branches at the edge of the trees so she can step out, and once she knows he's behind her, and she will be able to see him, she almost can't turn around!
And then, uh oh: she can't decide if she's attracted to him. She can't even make out what she's seeing or why she's seeing it. She wasn't expecting a mask, and because she's afraid to make eye-contact it takes her forever to realize he has such long hair and it isn't a cape over his head. XD Lily isn't into Goth guys by default, let's just say. Even while he is sharply dressed, I think he gives that vibe pretty easily.
At this point, she's feeling kind of sensitive, though, and his charm is sticking out more than his weirdness. Her parents have bailed on her and cancelled seeing the production on the last night like they were supposed to, she's disappointed it's already over, and he's the one at least giving her attention and making her feel like she is still in a surreal state. "Erik" is purposefully poking at her because she can barely take a compliment -- one thing she says is all it takes for him to use her shyness and self-consciousness to draw out why she's even an actress. She says it's the one way she knows how to get what she wants while still hiding her true self from people, and he already guesses along those lines. It's the whole reason he's come to her like this. I'm still stuck on how exactly he will suggest a roleplay without being too straight-forward.
I suppose he might say he has some idea of what she wants, or he'll ask if she sees something in him she wants. Or perhaps that he sympathizes with her need to experiment without coming in direct contact. Something that has an unmistakable connotation that he's making himself available to her. I don't think she can really wrap her brain around the idea that he plans to simply not tell her who he is at all. Right away, he doesn't draw a line between a possible game they might start and the real world. He says she's gotten to know him very well, that most people never see him in person, and that she may call him Erik. She can't say that his seriousness during this discussion means anything, because he could just be good at pretending. He is simply going to pull the rug out from under her, and with Thanksgiving break starting the next day, and nothing really to distract her, and with relatives coming in and disrupting the house, she cannot stop replaying these interactions trying to get a grip on him. She doesn't know how to admit what happened to Mariam, who's busy anyway, so who's there to ignite her enthusiasm? Paulina. Paulina's there, ready to call him "THE PHANTOM!", "YOU HAVE A PHANTOM!"...
And to make it worse, she got close enough to him to catch his scent, which by then had rubbed off all over her book that she has been secretly whiffing nearly every night. He's set up her brain to associate him with all kinds of things she's drawn to, and he will continue to do so.
Phew! I should really just write this. I think with some work I could finish chapter 6 and half of 7 and then finish plotting, because I kind of sort of didn't nail out a complete plot... but it's... almost there. Kind of. I mean the main events are there. I-It's really weird reordering events, I must say.
Here I go.
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