Blood & Chlorophyll Ch. 22 - Reflection

When writing this chapter, I really wanted to spend more time digging into Alicia's POV regarding Roxy. However, this did end up breaking a bit of an informal rule I've been trying to stick to with these chapters; I normally try to alternate POV between Kat and Alicia, and that didn't happen this time.

Since this isn't an ironclad rule, I really didn't mind breaking it, but it was still an interesting switch for me. The decision was largely practical, honestly. I knew that Kat wouldn't be getting up to much that night, and I wanted to give everyone a quiet night of rest after nearly falling in battle to that mean old monster bear.

It was also really nice to spend some time with Alicia away from all the fighting, at least for a little bit. It's during these slower chapters I really get to dig into the subtle ways the Change has affected her, and personally I'm a big fan of how blind she is to the passage of time. Not only does it provide a fun little joke, and I'm quite pleased with the thought of Elias staring at Alicia like "is she awake or not?", but it's these types of tiny traits that really bring characters to life in my opinion.

Speaking of Elias, isn't he great? I'm really happy to show his friendship with Alicia here. We don't see a lot of it, but it's simple and sweet and I love it. I'm also now realizing that I have a bad habit of taking my token male characters and making them the emotional support of the group, and I promise this is entirely by accident.

Clearly, whenever I write that non-canon crossover, Nick and Elias would get along famously. I'll bet Nick enjoys swimming, they could just spend a bunch of time at the University pool hanging out!

I should get back to the point.

I really feel that bigger plot points hit harder when we have time to process them. Obviously this isn't universal; sometimes a lack of time to process can do wonders for the vibe of a story, but I'm a huge fan of character-focused narratives, and that reflection is key to a strong character. Alicia didn't have as much to say during the conversation in Chapter 21, it was mostly Kat and Tab expressing their concerns, which is why this chapter exists in its current form.

To me, it's interesting that Alicia still has a few sticking points about Roxy, even though she's obviously the most trusting of the group. If I'm doing my job right, I've seeded an appropriate amount of doubt regarding this new character.

This quiet scene also gives us more time with Roxy. It was important to show that she's a character in her own right, she has wants and needs and fears like everyone else. It would be really easy to focus the narrative entirely on "can we trust her" and forget to give her a voice in everything, and I'm glad I did. Sure, we don't learn a bunch, but I'm happy I gave her more time to have opinions and be with the group outside of combat.

This also makes Tab's appearance more interesting, in my opinion. Regardless of whether or not you think Roxy can be trusted, I wanted it to be clear that Tab is being pretty hard on her. Our resident camgirl is more than capable of being a calm, nurturing sparring partner, but it's obvious she's not doing that with Roxy.

When the sun finally sets, Kat gets to rejoin the party!

The group decides to take it easy tonight, opting for a quick run inside the dungeon just to start practicing as a group, and I'm really happy with this decision.

The whole point of this chapter was to start showing how Roxy fits in, after all. We see her hang out with Alicia, do some sparring practice, and I thought it would also be just as interesting to show her in combat.

Not only is a quick delve a potential chance for Roxy to prove herself, but it's also an interesting character beat for Tabitha, in my opinion. She goes out of her way to clarify that, in the dungeon, all drama stays at the door. Tab has been pretty contentious all chapter, and I didn't want that bleeding into the party's combat dynamic. However, it's impossible to tell if she's being fully honest about that, right? Does she fully believe what she's saying? Does she trust Roxy with absolutely everything, even during combat? I think it's an interesting bit of tension.

The combat itself was a ton of fun to write. I loved the idea of multiple fungal corpses merging their mass together, and I think I introduced the idea in an exciting way.

The most important part about the combat, however, was to show how Roxy fits in. It's her idea to use Alicia's barriers as stepping stones, and it's obviously a good call as it lets them defeat the monster. Whether you trust Roxy or not, there's no denying she's got some decent delving experience.

And that's a wrap!

Nyx <3