8FOLD: Darkhorse # 6, "Colder Day By Day"

[Drew Perron]

On 7/4/2016 9:46 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
> On Monday, July 4, 2016 at 7:48:40 PM UTC-4, Drew Perron wrote:
>> On 6/12/2016 10:12 AM, Tom Russell wrote:
<snop>
>>>    "Melody," says Medusa, "are you going to tell her? She should know
>>> what's at stake. It's her life. Her body."
>>>    At super-speed: "No, she'll just wig out. We don't need that drama
>>> slowing us down."
>>
>> YES SHE SHOULD. AGENCY >:I
>
> Agreed! MEDUSA AND DREW KNOW BEST MELODY

Heeheehee

>Cal's lack of agency at this point in the story is very much on purpose (and
 > very frustrating for her!).

Oh, I could tell it was a Theme. :D

 > It's important to her that she gets to be who she wants to be (once she
 > figures out who that is), and that she gets to make meaningful choices about
 > her own life. And she feels that she's never really been allowed to. She's
 > right to a point-- certainly recently, from her shrinking on, her agency has
 > been quite literally diminished. But she also has the larger sense that from
 > her childhood on she hasn't been allowed the same freedom that, say, Melody
 > or Kate has.

Yeah, I get the feeling that, while Kate's been raising her, she's been a bit 
overprotective - though I don't think we really got to see that in detail?

 > The rub of course is that, to one degree or another, Melody's agency and
 > Kate's are compromised, for lack of a better word, by circumstances beyond
 > their control-- Melody by her disease, and Kate by all the years of abuse, as
 > well as the assumption of responsibility for her younger siblings. I think
 > Melody and Kate are better able to exercise "freedom within the reigns"
 > because they're both fairly sure about who they are and what they want, at
 > least in reaction to those outside circumstances, while Cal's never been
 > quite at home in her own skin.

It feels like she's the type of person who needs a lot more exploration to find 
what she wants in life, and the people who don't need that don't realize that it 
*is* a real need, rather than Just A Phase.

 > This is something that gets addressed more explicitly in number seven.

Yes, that had a rather good speech. :D

>>>    "Nah, I'm just going to call you Kate's brother, if that's okay."
>>>    He shrugs.
>>
>> Dooooot. XD Be nice.
>
>I think if my characters would listen to you, they all would be much happier
 > and healthier.

Awwwwww. :> (well then perhaps I will continue to introduce characters who share 
my basic ethos even if they express it in different ways, mwahahaha)

>>> Derek, I'm the right person for
>>> this. Don't screw with me on this."
>>>    "Alternatively," says Derek, "we send Rainshade.
>>
>> DEREK >:| AGENCY
>
>Well, yeah, but on the other hand-- he's kinda the boss, and so it's kinda
 > his job to decide who goes after what. And it's not like his suggested course
 > of action is a bad one, working from the facts he has available-- Kate's not
 > in the best of shape, Rainshade has experience with magic, etc.

Yeah, but Kate's suggestion is way better, for all the reasons she details, and 
it's clear that his judgment is impaired by a perceived need to protect people 
from their own decisions, which is why I say again, AGENCY >:I

Drew "Agency of SHIELD" Perron