Chapter 59: Chapter 55: Metatextual Analysis

“I thought they would have called back already.” Daniel sat on the sofa, tapping his leg impatiently. He ran his hand through his short hair and stared ahead thoughtfully. Lisa swiveled around in her chair to face him and folded her legs underneath herself. 

 

“You can’t rush this, babe. They need time to accept that their daughter is gone. This is a huge thing. They might not want anything to do with you, and that would not be your fault.” She tried to be as comforting as she could, but it was a difficult situation. She wished she could help Daniel, and Sally’s parents by proxy. 

 

“I’m not talking about them,” Daniel said, frowning. “I would have thought Sabine would have called. She’s always… she’s reliable.” Ah. Lisa understood. She got up and sat next to Daniel, putting her arm around him. She didn’t want him to worry, but she knew that their journey was a difficult one, and she couldn’t lie to him.

 

“They’re on an adventure, love. They’re likely to be busy. Try not to worry too much, all right? I’m sure they’ll open the portal again when they’re available.” She looked at the place above their coffee table where the portal had opened and bit her lip. She hoped she was right. What if they’d failed? Daniel would be devastated. She pulled him a little closer with worry. He seemed to melt into her touch. He probably needed comfort right now, she realized, and kissed him softly on the head. It wasn’t long before they were softly cuddling on the couch.

 

“I’m just worried,” Daniel said softly. “I don’t like this. It’s just another thing… just one more place where I can do… nothing.” Lisa looked at him with worry. He’d been expressing his feelings of powerlessness and she wished she could do something about it. Obviously, she couldn’t. 

 

“Have you gotten into contact with any of the organizations you looked up?” she asked. He’d been getting more interested in activism, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to go back into a life of conflict. Certainly, he felt like he should be doing something, but he’d also found a semblance of peace and calm with Lisa. He was happy in his life with her. They’d found a rhythm of kindness and love that warmed both of them, and he didn’t want to give that up. He feared that he would if he started risking himself again. He wasn’t planning on risking his life, of course, but standing up to the powerful carried risk with it, and simply because he’d put his own life on the line so many times, back on the other side, he knew better than most what needed to be done, and how willing he was to do it. 

 

He nodded. “There’s a meeting tomorrow. It’s nothing major, a kind of neighbourhood union that wants to improve conditions for people in the area. I figured I’d start small, you know?” She nodded and kissed him softly. He melted into the kiss and for a moment they were wrapped around each other in bliss. This is what he feared he’d be risking if he became more, well, militant. He had comfort in her arms and giving that up seemed almost like a betrayal. He’d saved the world -- well, a world -- several times. Didn’t he deserve to fall asleep on the sofa with the woman he loved? If he did… why did doing nothing set his skin on fire? Why was helping people with working out not enough? 

 

“Well, I think you’ll do great,” Lisa said with a smile. She meant it, too. She had more faith in Daniel than she’d ever had in anyone back when she’d been Eliza. Trust had been a commodity too scarce for her to afford. But she’d grown to trust Daniel like she’d never trusted anyone before. 

 

He softly buried his face in the crook of her neck and made a soft noise. She gently ran her fingers up and down his spine softly, allowing him to slowly fall asleep. Daniel had been under a lot of stress lately; she understood that he’d be completely exhausted.

 

“Oh,” she said, as she realized Daniel was not exhausted, his teeth gently nipping at her neck. She grinned and lifted his face up to hers and they kissed. His lips fell on hers and his hands roamed right where they’d learned they were wanted and everything was slowly evaporating into that unique haze of desire. Everything was okay, in that moment. Daniel needed her, needed help, but they had time. She’d be there for him, and she wanted him to know that, that not only was she not only going anywhere, she was going to be with him every step of the way. And right now, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. 

 

They didn’t move away from the couch. They fell off, but never made it to the bedroom, falling asleep on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

 

---

 

Lisa sat behind her computer. More time had passed. She looked at the comments on the most recently released chapter of what she’d been writing. She’d moved on from correcting the events as she’d known them for some time now. Her new stories had drawn a crowd, and she had something of a following. She’d been told several times now that she could sell her work, if she wanted to. She’d considered it, but if felt… wrong, somehow. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. For one thing, she felt like her works weren’t good enough, and definitely not good enough to sell them yet. 

 

The comments were nice, though. A lot of them were simply people saying “thank you” for the new chapter. Those were delightful. Sure, there were little counters that showed her the traffic on more recent publications, but that little acknowledgment meant a lot to her, even if responding to every single one of them wasn’t really an option. She made a note to end a chapter on a little thank-you note for all of her readers next time, and kept scrolling down. There were some people guessing at where her stories would go next, often with regards to character relationships (or ships, as she found out they were called. She had no idea why they were called this, but she’d learned to roll with the odd online jargon). Those were always fun, and almost always wrong. It was really enjoyable to see which characters the readers thought would end up dating. 

 

But sometimes there were other comments. Some people didn’t like her stories. That was fine. She’d learned, in Daniel’s words, that “she could be the fuzziest, ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there would always be people who didn’t like peaches.” That had helped a lot. She didn’t write for everyone, she wrote for herself and apparently that resonated with people. In the end, she was here for herself. Sometimes that was harder, though. Sometimes, people wrote pages upon pages of criticisms and every single time she found that they were hard to refute. There was almost always a nugget of truth there that made her want to delete the entire chapter and start over. But talking to Daniel had helped there, too. And she’d found some other authors, through her various distribution media, and she often went to them for advice. Other authors were often kind, and were more likely to share thoughts and ideas on how to make her story better than simply to point out the flaws. 

 

But on that day she received a different kind of comment, one she didn’t know what to make of. She shared it with the other authors, but they weren’t sure about it either. It could be real. Could be fake. Could be someone trying to dox her, so it was best that she be careful. She read it, and re-read it, went to make herself a cup of coffee, came back, and read it again. Daniel watched her pace back and forth while he was writing in a little notebook while sitting at the living room table. He’d been taking notes for things he wanted to bring up at the next meeting. 

 

“What’s up, love?” he said as she got up for a third time, looking pensive and refilling her coffee. “Trouble writing or something else?”

 

“Something else,” she said thoughtfully and sipped her cup as she looked suspiciously at the computer, like she was expecting it to suddenly get up and go ‘ha-HA, got you!’ She looked at Daniel and smiled. “It’s nothing bad, just… I’m not sure what to make of this. Would you mind having a look?”

 

He smiled at her. “Anything for you, my damsel.”

 

She grinned and pulled him in for a kiss as he walked past her. “You’re paying for that later, oh blight of my life.”

 

He leaned over the chair and looked at the screen. In the middle of it was a comment. It seemed innocuous enough on its own. No slurs or expletives smeared across the screen -- that was something they’d cracked down on after one of the readers had discovered, through a conversation in the comments with Lisa, that she was trans -- and the grammar seemed to be mostly readable. In fact, it seemed to be downright polite. 

 

“Hello QueenDrake,

 

“I’ve been reading your most recent stories after first having come across your older work, especially the things you’ve been writing about the Demon Queen Eliza and the world she lives in. It’s truly stellar work, and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit. For safety reasons I can’t divulge my identity, but let’s just say I work for a certain game company and we’ve all been reading your work here with rapt attention. 

 

You are reading story I didn’t ask to be the Demon Queen at novel35.com

“More so than almost any other fanfiction author, you seem to understand this world and its characters. It’s been a delight to see you craft these stories, things that feel, even to us, like they could have happened. Especially the dialogue. We’ve had some of the actors voice some of the scenes from the last story you posted and it was a delight. The characters already had a voice, but you’ve given them things to say we never considered. 

 

“So I can tell you that we’re fans of your work over here. In fact, we’d like to see if you’re interested in a more official position regarding your work and the world it takes place in. We’re always looking to tell more stories and you seem to be very good at telling them. If you’d like, we could have you over at the studio some time, and see if you’d be a good fit. Feel free to message me. -- guest0451”

 

Daniel stood there stunned for a moment, and then looked from the screen to Lisa and back. She cradled her cup and sipped it thoughtfully. 

 

“What do you think?” she asked, sitting down on a chair. 

 

He scratched his jaw as he thought. “I don’t know. It looks genuine enough. But anyone can write things online here. It could just be a scam to see you come out, try to find your personal information. Hells, it might even be a kidnapping attempt.”

 

Lisa shook her head. “I can just look up any address they give me. If that person really represents the studio, they’d have to send me there. I’m not going to any other address.”

 

Daniel crossed his arms as he plopped down in the chair and spun as he rolled around. “In that case, I think you should message them. What’s the worst that could happen?”

 

---

 

“Miss Drake?” The man stepped out into the lobby. He looked official, wearing a suit and fancy shoes, but his hair was unkempt. Lisa squeezed Daniel’s hand. They were the only ones in the lobby, so of course he’d immediately known it was her. She’d checked in with the nice lady at the front desk, but that had been thirty minutes ago. They’d already gotten confirmation when, after the first phone call, she’d called the official phone number listed on the company’s website and her appointment had been registered. This was real. She’d been shaking when she’d walked underneath the large sign outside. She was really about to have an interview with LIT Entertainment, one of the largest game design companies in the world. She’d had to squeeze herself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. They got up and walked over to the man. He shook both their hands, and then led them through a small hallway.

 

“I’d introduce myself,” he said, “but we’ll get to that in just a second.” He looked straight ahead as he walked down the white hall. Well, it would have been white. Underneath posters full of art, the walls certainly were. But they were almost impossible to see. She realized after a minute, when she noted the varying quality of the art posted, that this wasn’t concept art. 

 

“Is all of this fanart?” she asked. He smiled.

 

“Yes, it is. We like to foster a good relationship with our community. They keep us honest,” he said with a slight smile, as if he was laughing at a private joke. Lisa wasn’t sure what to think about him. On the one hand, he was clearly in his forties, but his unkempt hair and ill-fitting suit made him look like a teenager play-acting like his dad. Before she could ask or say anything else, they got to a door, which he held open for her. She smiled gratefully as she walked in. 

 

It was a small conference room. It had a small table to the side with a coffee machine which, considering the state of it, saw a lot of action. There were a dozen or so people sitting around the main table, every single one of them with a laptop in front of them. When she and Daniel walked in, everyone looked up at them. 

 

“Hello,” Lisa said, a little awkwardly, but not letting herself slip into passive quietness. She knew how to be assertive, and she was going to use that, damn the hells, even if she was actually more stressed out than she could remember having been in a long time. This was a huge opportunity, something she wanted. “My name is Lisa Drake,” she added, her voice stronger than she felt. She thought for a second she’d been brought here as a joke, that they had brought her in to mock her, because several people immediately grinned widely. One woman got up and approached her.

 

“Good to meet you, Miss Drake. Huge fan,” she said with a smile, and Lisa realized that the woman’s computer screen had her latest story on it. She quickly scanned all the visible screens and she realized that each of them had a story of hers open on it.

 

“What--” Lisa began.

 

“My name is Danielle.” That got a small snort from Daniel. He’d been called that a lot when he’d first introduced himself to people. Danielle didn’t seem to notice and continued. ”We were going over your most recent chapter. After your first works were shared around the office we’ve been having… well, readings.” She looked at the others around the room. Everyone nodded enthusiastically. “I’m the lead writer for most of our recent products. I’m the one who messaged you. Or left a comment, rather.” She nodded to the man who’d let us in. “The quiet one is Mark Powers

 

“I… I don’t know what to say…” Lisa mumbled. 

 

“Well, you’re a writer, there has to be something going through your head?” Danielle said with a reassuring smile.

 

“Feels like a bullet,” Lisa mumbled. That got some amused giggles from the people around the table. “It’s a mess in there right now. This is all so much, I can’t believe it’s really happening. It feels like… a dream? But more real?”

 

Danielle extended a hand to a chair. “Well, have a seat, Lisa. ‘Dreams but more real’ is what we’re aiming for here. Tell us about yourself.” 

 

Lisa sat down, looked at the eager, encouraging faces around the room. Daniel squeezed her hand. He was here for her, this was real, it was happening, and, she realized, she deserved this.