Arc II, Chapter 78: Late Casting

Arc II, Chapter 78: Late Casting

"Having a conversation with ghosts makes me feel like a crazy person," Dina said as she sat back on the concrete ledge next to the river. She wasn’t wearing her usual leather jacket and cut-up jeans. She wore a loose floral blouse tucked into high-waisted mom jeans, reminiscent of a housewife in the early nineties. Her hair was styled long and straight, with a hint of makeup that made her look like a hippie who grew up.

I was sure that look was Carousel’s idea. Or maybe it wasn’t. I had never really known Dina, not the Dina who had a kid and a life before tragedy struck.

It was like the difference between Sarah Connor in Terminator I and Terminator II. I had missed out on the helpless waitress and only knew the paranoid resistance fighter.

I felt like I was seeing a bit of her old self now. Normally, I tended to just accept whatever people showed me. I assumed that if I didn’t try to figure them out, they wouldn’t try to figure me out. It usually worked.

Gale, the tall, handsome ghost who had seemingly spent time playing lovebirds with Dina for the flashbacks to before his accidental death, looked at her with an adoration that seemed too perfect. But beneath the surface, I sensed he might have just been a charmer.

Isaac leaned over to me and whispered, “Just because there are actually ghosts here doesn’t mean she isn’t crazy.” He giggled to himself. I didn’t take it as a dig at Dina so much as a silly little retort. I would never discourage him from leaning on humor. He would need to practice whatever wit he had for future storylines.

“So I woke up in 1983 the day of my wedding to Gale,” Dina said. “We took pictures, went on a bunch of dates, had a honeymoon at Snowblind, that sort of stuff. I played my part. Then Gale died,” she said. I swore I heard her voice crack. “Excuse me,” she said, clearing her throat. “Anyway. Carlyle Geist sent a bunch of men to ransack our home. They threatened me to take a settlement and sign an NDA. They bought me a place in Snowblind to move to. They got me a job at the resort. I guess he died under suspicious circumstances so they wanted me out of the picture. That’s where my character has been for the last eight years. Except, of course, every time that the possessing spirit came around, I started seeing Gale’s spirit. Eventually, he convinced me to come back here and help put him to rest.”

“How romantic,” I said. I got the sense that she was glossing over some things, like an explanation for how close she had seemed to the ghost when we showed up.

Gale didn’t pass my message along.

Instead, he said, “I can regain control of my body from the spirit, but it requires a dramatic scene between myself and Dina. We need you and your teammates to help us set it up. Do you understand?”

I did understand.

All in all, it was good news. Really good news.

I was worried about how we were going to defeat the Die Cast a second time. Normally, an enemy got more dangerous when it returned from the grave to wreak havoc.

But this opened up an opportunity. We weren’t having a fight against the Die Cast like last time. We had a new way to defeat it. Dina and Gale’s love subplot was going to beat it somehow.

I sure hoped Dina was prepared to cry on command.

“How did you guys end up dying already?” Dina asked. “Gale said no one has to die in First Blood. Was Second Blood that hard?”

Second Blood was actually hard. I was thankful that I got to be dead for it.

“Tell her I didn’t want to die at first, but Carousel insisted,” I said.

I could give her a real explanation later once I had a more flattering way of describing it.

Gale relayed my message and then said, “Yes, Carousel is a trickster.”

We talked some more about the final battle. There weren’t many specific details that Gale could give. It was possible there weren’t specific details to be had. Love Beats Evil is not the type of finale that is heavy on specifics.

As much as I wanted to stick around and pick Gale’s brain about the Tutorial, a path opened up in the glowing fog. It was time to leave.

When we went to go, Gale and Dina stayed behind. She was going to find his grave. Gale said she had a scene where she mourned him.

I longed for the days of old when we just all went to fight the bad guy together.

Bobby, Isaac, and I wished her good luck and then went on our way.

Dina’s role in the story would not be a surprise to the audience. They would have seen the love story play out so that there could be a payoff in the Finale. Interestingly, Antoine had not seen Dina yet. He was supposed to be Gale’s best friend. Was he not at their wedding? Or Gale’s funeral? Either Carousel was getting sloppy, or those scenes were all close-ups used in a montage.

Antoine’s arc began in medias res. He was informed about his past but had reenacted little of it. I had overlooked that. Dina had actually lived a lot of her character’s story. There had to be a reason for that.

The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that victory was not guaranteed in the Final Battle.

If Dina failed, Carousel was setting things up so that her entire side plot could be cut from the final movie. That’s why she was kept away from us, and that’s why we shared no scenes. Dina was either going to step up and be a main character of this movie, or she would be cut from it entirely.

Carousel always had its contingencies.

As I walked along the foggy path, I wondered if I should develop a contingency, too.

~-~

We walked for hours, maybe. All I saw were neighborhoods surrounded by glowing fog.

Eventually, we reached our destination, a row of cheap houses in a bad part of town.

Ramona was standing outside. She wasn’t moving. She stood still with her eyes closed. She wasn’t dressed the same way she had when we had met. She was dressed like some kind of wannabe rocker from the early nineties, which, technically, she was.

She didn’t move when we arrived.

It wasn’t until she heard a voice behind her that she budged at all.

“Ramona?” a young girl called to her from behind. “What are you doing, Ramona, just standing there?”

Her eyes opened. She took a deep breath and looked around.

When she looked at the girl, she was shocked beyond belief. Then she started to cry.

“Phoebe,” she said softly. Ramona jumped toward the young girl and wrapped her in a hug.

Phoebe Mercer.

Ramona hadn’t seen her in an incalculable amount of time.

Phoebe Mercer. Plot Armor 3. An NPC. An ordinary one at that, save for whatever meta-knowledge she was permitted to keep. My best guess from Ramona’s stories was that she knew a lot, but I couldn’t begin to understand how that would work with a young teenager. How long did she know about her situation?

I expected Ramona to ask her sister about the storyline or the Centennial.

She didn’t.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just so happy to see you. Let’s go inside.”

Phoebe played along.

Isaac and I went to follow. When we did, I saw Bobby running away. He gave no explanation, but a path did open up for him, so Carousel must have been okay with whatever he was doing.

Inside the Mercer apartment, things were cramped. Isaac and I barely had a place to stand. There were magazines, music equipment, textbooks, and an old television. The furniture looked like it had been through several sets of owners.

It was small, but it had the touches of home. Ramona looked absolutely thrilled to see it.

They talked about mundane things for a while. Ramona asked Phoebe about school and boys. Phoebe answered with an embarrassed giggle.

Ramona asked her what she wanted to eat.

It was macaroni and cheese.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Ramona delighted in preparing a box of neon orange noodles on their tiny stovetop. Phoebe helped.

Where others see fear as a hindrance, you transform it into a weapon, steering the course of events with your visceral responses. Your stubbornness and strength of will are shields as strong as steel. But beware, for the line between harnessing your hysteria and succumbing to it is perilously thin...

Will your raw emotional power be the key to survival, or will it lead you and your allies to the brink of madness?

Base Stats

Mettle-For Feats of Strength and Offensive ability

0

Moxie-To make your performance convincing

3

Hustle-To be Quick, Deft, and to always hit your mark

3

Savvy-For Intelligence, Planning, and Deduction

3

Grit-For Durability, Toughness, and Endurance

1

Plot Armor- Mastering all five aspects of plot armor will make you a master of horror.

10 (total of all stats)

Just Us Monsters

Type: Buff

Archetype: Hysteric

Aspect: Defiant

Stat Used: Moxie

Violence boils just under the surface of some characters. Others are better trained at keeping their darker tendencies and the trauma that caused them hidden from view. But if no one that matters is looking, where’s the harm in letting it out?

When the user is alone with an enemy, they may drop their civil façade and reveal a normally hidden violent or malevolent nature. Buffs Mettle and Grit.

Could you imagine if the other mothers in the PTA saw you now?

Afraid for Others

Type: Buff

Archetype: Hysteric

Aspect: Craven

Stat Used: Moxie

Fear can be a chain around one’s ankle or a sword in one's hand. It just depends on what you are afraid of and who you are afraid for.

With this trope equipped, a previously fearful or anxious character may channel their fear for an ally into the will to act. Allows the user to use their Moxie as Mettle in the pursuit of protecting a loved one until the character’s loved one is safe or dead. Requires a strong bond between the characters.

Sure, you’re still afraid, but the enemy should be too.

Pride Before The Fall

Type: Rule

Archetype: Hysteric

Aspect: Defiant

Stat Used: Moxie

Sometimes, to be brave is not but a simple lack of humility.

When the user triggers an Omen intentionally out of cocksureness or stubbornness, and this attitude carries forth into their character portrayal, they will guarantee themselves to be the target for Second Blood.

“How was I supposed to know what would happen?”

“We told you!”

Before you get us killed

Type: Rule

Archetype: Hysteric

Aspect: Defiant

Stat Used: Savvy

Many horror films would not have such disastrous endings if the characters in charge had made better decisions. A maverick's decision to diverge from the group or defy orders may be what keeps them alive.

When the user splits the party under the pretense of believing the current course of action is a doomed plan, the group without the main viewpoint character will go Off-Screen except to show their deaths or milestones until the two groups’ plotlines re-converge.

When one group “fails,” the other group will be guaranteed some limited success and longevity. Players can survive being in the failed group, though there will be consequences.

One of us just made a really dumb decision.

Well, that answered some questions.

Before I could discuss the tropes or the Archetype itself, the room went white with fog.

I couldn’t tell if I was falling or flying, but before I knew it, Isaac and I were alone outside in the grass, surrounded by an impenetrable wall of bright white fog.

Though we could not predict why at the time, we would be trapped in that bubble of fog for what felt like days with nothing to do but talk.

Even as we walked in circles, waiting for a path to open up, I did not start to understand what was happening, or what had been happening.

I didn't understand, that is, until Isaac and I really got the chance to talk.