ᴊᴇssᴇ ғᴀᴅᴇɴ | ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᶦʳᵉᶜᵗᵒʳ. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
outlierdirector) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
synthneon2023-12-08 03:31 pm
outlierdirector) wrote in synthneon2023-12-08 03:31 pm
oceanview || ❝ made a promise i'm coming out alive. ❞
Through the waves, I break
The nightmares finally over
no subject
[ But just how much she can reach into the Dark Place, even Alan isn't sure of. The darkness is powerful, but so is Polaris. He just doesn't know which one is technically stronger. He'd probably say the darkness, but he's been in it so long that it just seems stronger than most everything. ]
I think... if I remember it right, Polaris resonates with light. She makes things brighter. And she's helpful, like you said. [ But how much of that comes from Jesse asking her guide for help with things? ] Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she wants to help, because it helps her too. At least, that's my theory.
[ Polaris doesn't think like people do. At least, Alan believes human characteristics don't apply to her. Maybe they don't apply to the Dark Presence either. What he thinks of as good and evil might look different to both entities. ]
Well, whatever he's up to and whatever he's doing, he can't do it forever. When you catch up to him, maybe you can give him a taste of his own medicine, however that ends up looking. Or maybe you just manage to escape this place.
As for what I'm looking for... I don't know. Ideas, maybe. Inspiration. Something to help with writing. [ He shrugs. Maybe he's not looking for anything. It's hard for him to say. ]
no subject
This guide... isn't really the North Star. Is it?
[ Something tells him that falling into the information about that is just as complicated and large as the Dark Place. Though, it seems to be something Alan can handle. He doesn't seem bothered by Jesse's guide at all. ]
Resonates with the light. Huh. Not sure how she can do that when there's barely any here. I mean, other than the lamps on the walls. Televisions. Street lights. Neon signs. I wouldn't think ambient light would be enough.
[ And here he was thinking he was getting a handle on things.
Still, he grabs a pen, and adds "POLARIS" next to Hedron and Jesse's names. ]
What sort of inspiration for writing? I know you're always writing, but, dunno. Maybe I can help?
no subject
But, in this case, yeah. Polaris is another name for the North Star, but she's not literally the North Star... a guiding star, sure. A helpful beacon, I guess. I wonder if you could sense her too. Sorry, I know that's a lot of wondering, Tim.
[ He pauses for a second. ]
About that... Sure, there's not much light around here, but- I don't know how to explain it. When Polaris is nearby, she- resonates with something inside me. Light, I think. Don't ask how that makes sense, but she can kind of connect with the ambient light inside me, if you want to call it that, and make it brighter.
Honestly? I'd take anything at this point. Anything that'll get the story to an ending. [ Because I want to go home. ]
I wish it was as simple as writing myself using a powerful weapon to destroy the Dark Presence, which ends the loops and lets everyone who's been dragged in go free. Including you. But I tried something like that once, I think, or maybe more than once, and it failed. I just don't know what to write, or how that ending has to look.
[ He scrubs his face with one hand, with a little force behind it, pointing to his frustration. ]
If you were the writer, what would you do, Tim?
no subject
[ Tim is perceptive. He picked up parts of that concert. Jesse is in control of some group of people, and Alan somehow contacted her there. They had something of a working history before all this started at the '23 Deerfest. Hell, maybe it was even fated or something.
Which just makes him wonder even more as to why he has had dreams about her. ]
I'm seeing this Polaris around apparently. Not sure why she'd bother with me though. Maybe it's because helping me helps you? [ Tim shrugs. ] She resonates with light? So, like, making things brighter?
[ He feels he's missing a lot of context. A lot. That seems to just be his luck. Everything is over his head or he just doesn't have the info he needs to fully grasp the concepts. Supposedly he can find the answers here in this not New York City, but he's starting to wonder if even that's true.
Still. They're his problems. Alan has enough on his plate. ]
If I were a writer?
[ Tim looks back at the board. His crazy board. A frown is on his face. Well, he isn't a writer, so he isn't sure anything he can say would really help. Then again, Alan has been stuck in this place for thirteen years. Countless of those manuscript pages came to the surface of the Lake. Most of them never fit together in a coherent fashion.
He's quiet for a long moment as he turns different answers over in his head. Then, he looks back at Alan, half-turning to the missing writer. ]
I guess it starts off with questions. Sort of like an investigation.
[ He reaches up and flips the whiteboard over. He grabs the dry-erase pen from his pocket and begins writing. ]
First: what's the crime?, or in this case, what's the purpose of the story?
Second: where did the crime take place?, or, what's the genre and setting of the story?
Third: whose involved?
So, a few answers even I could tell you. Just based on all the times we've met and talked. "Purpose: get out of the Dark Place." "Genre and Setting:" well, I'm not sure your genre, but it obviously takes place Bright Falls. Given everything happening before I left.
"Who: Alan Wake, Agent Saga Anderson, Agent Alex Casey, Federal Bureau of Control, and Bright Falls citizens."
Sound right so far?
no subject
Maybe I'm wrong, but Polaris seems opposed to the darkness, and the bad things that the darkness brings. Maybe anyone who's not working with the darkness is potentially useful to her, so she just reaches out. Or maybe she just likes you. [ He offers a half smile but it's his tone that sounds lighter and a little happier for just a second. ]
Making things brighter, making the darkness less... dark. Jesse could explain it all a lot better. That's probably another reason why you should meet her.
[ Alan just stands there quietly while Tim ponders his question. He watches the sheriff glancing back at the crazy board, watching and waiting as Tim processes the question and forms an answer.
Part of him thinks Tim wouldn't have gotten as lost in the darkness as he has. He'd think it through, looking for the different possibilities and angles and take what looks like the most straightforward one. He probably wouldn't have created so many loops and turns for himself. Not that it matters, as thinking in theoreticals doesn't change Alan's present reality. ]
Yeah, that all sounds right. The genre, though... is it my genre or the genre that the story wants? I'm not really a horror writer, you know? The story is a horror story but I wouldn't write it that way.
[ He pauses and rubs his forehead. ]
Maybe it needs to be a horror story in order for it to work, but... what if it didn't? It doesn't matter, because that's the story we have, but what if it was a thriller adventure story instead?
I don't know. There's no point in speculating about it, really. I just have to work with what I have.
no subject
[ And he hopes he can find him before he starts going stir crazy. Well, crazier than he already is. ]
I doubt it's because she likes me. [ A smile is given in return. He's not sure how he feels about some weird alien ... light thing liking him. Probably better than Door hating him for whatever reason. Still, one thing at a time. Too much weird makes his brain feel like it might explode. That wouldn't be pretty. ] Makes the darkness less dark. Huh.
Horror would make sense given everything. Didn't you write crime noir books? [ He casts a glance back at Alan with eyebrows raised. ] I guess they are dark like horror. Maybe not as dark.
So... now we need to work on the information we know beyond the three questions. We'd call them clues, but, story beats for you. Right? I'm not a writer. [ He holds the magic eraser up for Alan to use. ] Tell me what you've got.
no subject
[ He knows that Tim sees the Dark Place differently than he does; at least, it doesn't seem nearly so horrifying for the other man as it does for him. He doesn't really understand how it can be nightmarish for him and be completely different for Tim, but he doesn't want to even imagine what it'll be like if the Dark Presence ever turns on him and Tim finds himself in a hellish place like Alan's been for the last thirteen years. ][ And obviously, when Jesse is there too, but maybe not for the reasons anyone would think.
Alan smiles a little bit to himself at the thought of Jesse. ]
Crime books, yeah. Maybe they weren't dark enough. [ He shrugs. He knows that he thinks of his books as dime store fiction, or books people buy at airports and leave on the plane when they're done with them. They're not the kind of books that get read and then re-read. ]
Story beats. Clues. What I've got. [ Alan shakes his head, because what he has doesn't feel like much, and part of him wishes he had his plot board so he could show Tim what he has. ]
I don't think what I have is going to get me out of here. I thought the story had to be dark, to fit what the Dark Presence wants, but I don't see how that's supposed to end the story, fix the things that I made happen, and get me home.
[ Maybe there is no going home. ]