This wasn't originally meant to be two chapters. However, it was meant to represent one post charge, and that's the way it's coming out: the composition emerged in such a way that there was a natural break point, and I didn't want to ruin the flow by going into a mere {hr}. So two chapters, totaling out to roughly 7200 words, as a single update.
After this, we're going to swing back to Snowflake: AJ's been in the spotlight for a while, and it's time to see what the other side of the -- debate? Trauma? Dance team? -- story is doing. And given the timing of that switch...
I've frequently been accused of working with white space: things unsaid, scenes that aren't quite shown. There's a degree of accuracy to that. But it's also about what does wind up being directly portrayed, and when it comes to that --
-- sometimes, the cruelest thing the cinematographer can do is moving the camera.