Book Five, Chapter 29: Rise and Shine
I was finally getting a good understanding of how Dina’s trope actually worked.
I could read all I wanted from the Carousel Atlas, but it wasn't until I started this storyline that it really came together and formed a complete picture in my mind.
We were cut off from the story.
Sure, we were there, and it was possible that some little indication of our existence might end up in the final film, but we were not really characters. We were warm bodies that happened to be in the same vicinity of the story, and I was clueless as to how we were going to fix that without causing bigger problems.
I had some idea of how to direct the action of a storyline when I was a character in one, and even though I was usually a secondary character—or at least I started as one—that was worlds apart from what I was here: a nameless voice over an intercom.
I had to imagine that the isolated nature of this storyline played into how Dina’s rescue manifested.
I could see that Dr. Andrew Hughes, or at least the NPC playing him, as well as Michael Brooks and Lila White, were On-Screen most of the time. That was a problem. As NPCs, they didn't need Off-Screen breaks. This storyline could end up being very quick. Even when we spoke to them, and they went Off-Screen to respond, they didn't stay Off-Screen long.
How were we supposed to make our presence known enough that we could affect the final film? Could we really pull this off from the shadows? I didn’t know.
Lila White was a Wallflower, and the NPC playing her was living up to that name.