Dream Theory - Commentary - Ch 15-16 (Patreon)

Is it just me, or do two weeks pass in the blink of an eye?  It feels like we were just writing a commentary (me, writing, you, reading), yet here we are again!  It’s fine, it’s just...fast?  Pretty soon this story will be over, and we’ll be on to the next one!

Before we get into the commentary, I have a quick writing update.  I’ve been really productive over the last couple of months with my bigger stories, and now I have The Winter Challenge and The Vale Voice finished!  Well, finished minus their final proofread, which I’ll do each week before posting the chapters.  Essentially finished.  And I’m only two chapters away from wrapping up The Lie, so you know what that means…

If you think that means I’ll take a break, I believe you’re wrong.  But!  I’m planning to work on Queens of Remnant next, which I’m really excited about.  In a nutshell, I have chapters to post for the foreseeable future - I hope you don’t get tired of me!

Ok, now to this commentary.  Chapter 15 is one of my favorites because we get to see how awesome Weiss is.  We’ve seen plenty of Ruby being magical with her computer skills, but this chapter really highlights how good Weiss is at...being calm and cool under pressure?  Dealing with sleazy guys while maintaining her composure?  Holding a conversation while Yang and Ruby jabber in her ear?

All of the above!

I’m curious about what you expected Tavon to be like, as one of the ‘evil’ characters in the story.  Something more sinister?  I considered writing him that way, but I ended up going with something...sleazier.  In a way, I think that makes him worse than a typical ‘bad’ guy.  He’s wealthy, he’s powerful, and he knows it, so he uses that to take whatever he wants.

And he wants Weiss, apparently, which Ruby does not like.  But Weiss handles it well, considering the circumstances.  Obviously, she’s smart enough to understand what’s going on, and I love how she rebuffed his advances under the guise of maintaining his trust in her as his attorney.

I think it’s worth pointing out this small line he says:

“I’m glad your boss convinced you to add another case.  You’ve been worth every penny.”

What I wanted to imply with this was that Weiss didn’t want to take the case for Bishop’s son.  She obviously has the ability to turn down cases when she wants to, or when she feels they aren’t worth her time.  In this instance, however, it sounds exactly like how it was - Weiss didn’t want the case, probably because she knew exactly what type of person Tavon is, but her boss somehow convinced her to accept it.  We don’t know how he convinced her (I don’t either!), but she didn’t just jump on the opportunity to work with the richest man in the world.

A woman of character, indeed.  Although now I have to wonder how much of that was Weiss’ intellect and how much was Ruby’s influence.  I have to imagine that being with Ruby has affected the cases Weiss is willing to accept.  Based on how close they are now, she probably wouldn’t accept any case where she felt that the person was actually guilty.  She wouldn’t want to risk arguing for their freedom only to end up wrong.  

She wouldn’t want to do that anyway because she hates losing, but it would probably sting doubly badly when Ruby’s basically Miss Shining Star Police Officer with a Heart of Gold.

Something that Weiss and Tavon bring up about the police, however, suggests that not all officers are as good as Ruby or Yang.  Here’s the paragraph again:

“Everyone’s out to please the police these days.  Too much power, if you ask me.”

“Precisely,” Weiss agreed.  “Implied intimidation.  Even if not intended, they still influence the information they receive.”

The richest man in the world just called the police too powerful.  And the way Weiss phrases it ‘implied intimidation’ makes it seem like people are intimidated just working with the police.  

This is another part of the world I wanted to build, where the police department is actually a very powerful group that people don’t want to cross.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Dredd, kind of like that, only less super violent and gory.  This is a different view than what we saw from Yang’s POV, because Yang obviously doesn’t see herself or her coworkers that way.  

That’s what makes these other interactions so great - we get different opinions than what the main characters tell us or feel for themselves.

I just realized that all four characters probably wanted to pummel Tavon during this chapter.  Weiss because he’s being a shameless creep.  Ruby because he’s creeping on her girlfriend.  Yang because he’s being a creep but also because he just casually dismisses Blake’s death.  And Blake because this is her old boss being both a creep and dismissive of her death.

He’s probably lucky he survived the day.

So be honest - when Ruby did her analysis of his house, and used The Hugger to sneak in, and said she could control his lights, did you think it would amount to anything useful?

I didn’t either!

I literally didn’t.

I actually had no idea how the lights would help, because that didn’t seem very helpful.  But I didn’t want to give Ruby some crazy power like “I can EMP everything!” or “I can unlock all the doors!” or “I can remotely brainwash all the employees and move them out of the way!”

The lights seemed innocent and innocuous, and somehow helpful.

Actually, they were perfect.  The lights suddenly turning off wasn’t enough to send up a full alarm, especially when they weren’t off for very long.  But it was enough of a distraction for Yang to make her way upstairs without being caught.

See?  Sometimes the simple things can help.  Which I’m really glad for, because I don’t know how else I would’ve done that.

Oh!  I remember one of the other ways I considered.  Rather than this strictly-business meeting, Weiss was going to meet with Tavon alone while Yang snuck around the house to get inside via a window.  Then I realized...he’s the richest man in a world of advanced technology...what are the chances Yang can just sneak around and open a window?

I was also going to have Weiss and Tavon share a glass of wine, and then she’d do the ‘accidental’ wine spill thing, which would be the distraction to give Yang time to escape.  Thinking back on it, I’m so glad I didn’t go this route.  I probably could’ve made it work, but I really didn’t want Weiss to sacrifice her integrity.  In this version, you can tell how much Tavon respects her.  And she definitely deserves that respect.  Weiss accidentally spilling wine on herself while being all floozy?  Not so much respect for that.

There was a small easter egg when Yang’s breaking into Tavon’s room - did you catch it?  It was the factory reset code Ruby gave her, which just so happens to be the same code to Ruby and Weiss’ house in What Defines Us.  At least Ruby remembers the code in this story (although...one could argue that she remembered the code in both stories…)

Also, did you notice this little comment from Ruby?

“Weiss can do this - you can too!”

“Weiss has two hands…” Yang grumbled while taking a closer look at the override panel.

‘Weiss can do this,’ she says.  As in, Weiss can hack into and open a door lock.  Weiss Schnee.  Straightlaced attorney.  Hacking door locks.

This ties into what we learned in previous chapters about Ruby teaching Weiss some of what she knows.  The more Weiss learns, the more dangerous she becomes!  (Literally, because just think about how much more in love Ruby falls for the girl who can hack her way through a door.)

Also, Weiss is helping them get this image of Tavon’s room while schooling the police force in the process.  She already had the information about Tavon’s son, but realized it was the perfect excuse to visit his house and sneak into his room in the process.  Yet she still has the wherewithal to send Yang out of the house so the case isn’t compromised.  Not that Yang would ever use information learned at this point to ruin the case, but Weiss still managed to keep her work and personal life separate.

But Weiss is used to keeping her work and personal life separate, because she needs to keep things from Ruby.  I thought Yang’s concern at the end of the chapter was sweet though, as was Weiss’ genuine response to it.  Weiss is a good liar because that’s her job, but that doesn’t mean she lies to Ruby.  Actually, she suggests that she can’t lie to Ruby because Ruby sees through the lies.  (I still really want to write their origin story...)

At the end of the chapter, Weiss offers Yang some sage advice:

“You can’t believe every sob story that walks through the doors, Yang.  Sometimes ‘victims’ are only wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

Obviously, Yang is kind of a bleeding heart detective.  Especially after everything she went through with Blake, she’s much more empathetic to the people who come into the police department than others might be.  But that begs the question...should she believe all the sob stories that she hears?  Time will tell...

Now that they have a layout of Tavon’s room, we move to Chapter 16, which is essentially the coming clean chapter for Blake.  Her role in this is finally revealed!  

But before that, more awkward Bumblebee.  That’s always fun.  The two of them just can’t get on the same wavelength, and this chapter certainly isn’t going to help matters.  It sure doesn’t help that they haven’t talked anything over yet!  But there’s the whole ‘world needs saving’ thing going on, so...their relationship has to wait.

First, they have some more sleuthing to do - this time in Blake’s realm of expertise.  We all know that Yang’s expertise in dreams is...minimal...which is why Blake really doesn’t want her along.  Or is it...?

One way this chapter changed from inception to now was that the original idea was for Blake to trick Tavon in a dream, similar to what she did in Chapter 7 with the Dreamscape employee.  In this case, Blake would have to somehow convince him that the deviation from his scheduled dream was ok and not raise any alarms.

While doable, I wanted something a little stealthier than a direct Q&A session.  So, I invented the Dream Safe (technically, Blake invented it)  (actually, I had Blake invent it, so...technically, I invented it).  The idea being that the Dreamscape technology exists within our minds, and people could store sensitive information within their subconscious. 

That’s what Tavon’s done here.  Only, because he’s such an egomaniac, he decided to take the final specs for Daydreamer to store for himself.  That way no one can leak information or change it without his permission.

Well what happens when his safe gets broken into?

Blake is a dream thief, basically.  A good one.

But she’s a bad liar.

I really wanted Weiss to be the one to figure out Blake’s secret because she’s the one who’s most distrusting of Blake at the moment.  Not only that, but she wants to protect Ruby and Yang the best she can, so of course she’ll go the extra mile and have Tavon’s assistant pull any information from Blake’s employee file. 

So Blake was the head of Project Daydream.  Blake was basically the head of all things dreaming, and she found a way to jump into people’s minds without permission!

I will point out that what she wanted to do with that ability was very noble.  Unfortunately, she kind of overlooked the very, very bad things that could happen.

Also, maybe Tavon isn’t the bad guy?

“Taven doesn’t have the faintest understanding of dream theory.  He’s nothing more than a rich figurehead who goes on TV and promotes the products.  He offers vision and publicity, nothing else.”

Maybe Lyla is?

“Lyla figured out how to control them.  She hijacked their dreams and their realities.  Pretty soon, they couldn’t tell which ‘reality’ was their own.  Their behavior became erratic...and aggressive...and in some cases, they just stopped coming to work altogether.”

Remember from earlier in the story that the internship is highly competitive, and they’ll do just about anything to get a full-time position at the end of it.  Maybe a little more than they bargained for, in this case…

There was a moment that pointed to Lyla being involved, and it was way back in Chapter 4.  Do you remember when Blake and Yang were walking through the mall together?

“I’ll give you one guess,” Yang replied with a teasing smile.  “She was your partner in dream-crimes.”

“Lyla?” Blake asked, her brow rising in surprise.

“Yup!”

Hearing a soft yelp, Yang turned around and chuckled when a teenage boy tripped over a trash can and tumbled onto the floor.  

Yang wrote off the boy tripping as part of the ‘random events’ Blake put into dreams, but what if that wasn’t it?  What if that was Blake momentarily letting her feelings slip, and showing her surprise or concern that Lyla had visited Yang at the office?  (That’s exactly what happened, by the way.  I don’t know why I phrased it as questions.)

(Also, Yang called her Blake's 'partner in dream crimes' - how unwittingly appropriate!)

But now we should understand why Greyson did what he did, and this explanation from Chapter 5 should make more sense:

And she really didn’t see his supposed ‘brilliance’ through these clips.  It could be because they were short, but he often seemed lost or confused.  More than a few times, it looked like he’d gone the wrong way or couldn’t decide what train to take.  Of course, maybe his lack of directional awareness was due to his intellect - one of those ‘super smart in some ways, super lacking in others’ type of people.

Lack of directional awareness, or confusion over what’s going on because his reality is super warped?  (Why am I doing the question thing again??)

So now we know what happened, kind of.  Blake developed a super awesome but also super bad new dream ability, she taught said ability to her coworker, her coworker figured out how to turn the Dreamscape interns into her personal pawns to do her bidding.  One of those pawns ‘killed’ Blake.  A few others kidnapped Yang.  And who knows what else they’ve done!  (I would use them to do my chores, but that’s just me.)

But, obviously, Captain America - I mean, Yang - doesn’t feel so great about her girlfriend inventing a potentially dangerous system, teaching others about it, then lying about it.  The first two probably don’t bother her that much, actually.  It’s the last part that would make anyone upset.

Blake tries to explain her decisions, which I think I’ve already tried to do for her too.  Basically, she feels a combination of responsible for what happened, guilty, scared, and everything in between.  She wants to keep Yang safe, but she also doesn’t want Yang to think less of her as a person.  So...she kind of made a mistake, or several.

Of course, Yang mentions that it doesn’t make sense to her, but she’s used to leaning on people for support.  Everything she’s shown in the story so far confirms that.  Blake is gone, so she turns to Ruby and Weiss for help.  Casey helps at work.  She’s no stranger to finding people to lean on.

But is it fair to expect another person to react in the same way?  Blake, obviously, is the type to run first and ask questions later.  And she does not react well to guilt.  Like, not at all.  Which is why she’s such a great character to have make mistakes...because she just wigs out about them.  And nothing’s better than a character who wigs out about stuff!

Ok, there is something better, and that’s Ruby offering wisdom to her older sister.  She’s more mature in this story, and I really love that.  I’m going to write more of that...

But Ruby serves as a way to highlight Blake’s point of view so both Yang and readers understand.  They don’t have to agree with Blake’s decisions, but they should at least understand how someone could make those decisions.  As long as people believe it could happen, then I think you have a reasonably convincing story.

Also, did you notice the What Defines Us reference in this chapter?  

“Testing your lights,” Yang joked before looking towards the ceiling and nodding.  “They work.”

“They should.  It cost a small fortune to get them running properly.”

Do you remember the lighting system in Weiss’ (actually, Winter’s) house in WDU?  The lights that never worked (actually, never turned off), and Weiss kept hiring electricians to try to fix them?  Well, apparently lighting issues follow Weiss everywhere, because it sounds like she had an equal amount of trouble in this house.

I just realized it would be really funny if Weiss has issues with her lights in all of my stories.  Keep an eye out for that in the future.  Now I’m probably going to sneak that in whenever I can.  Like an inside joke!  Yes, I realize it probably gives Weiss an aneurysm when she can’t figure out what’s wrong with the lights, but...she needs some frustration in her life!

She actually doesn’t, because she has Ruby.  (I’m just kidding, Ruby!  You’re not frustrating - to me.)

At the very end of this chapter, there’s a second WDU reference - the Bandaid approach.  In WDU, Ruby often references the Bandaid approach when she decides to say or do things even though she’s uncomfortable or nervous or worried, just to get them out in the open.  I think she actually mentioned in that she got the idea from Yang, so it seemed appropriate that Yang would mention it here.

The number of chapters remaining is seriously dwindling.  There are now only six chapters left, one of which is an epilogue, so...I think it’s safe to say that you should expect some big things to happen soon.  Very, very soon. 

And, once again, thank you so much for your support!  I’m excited for this story to wrap up, and I’m excited for you to see what’s coming next!

Until next time,

Miko