(From Phantasmagoria, since I love this story, especially the limited perspective we saw of the Paladins reacting to Pidge's fear :D ) "Her legs are shaking and sheâs tired and her heart is thudding painfully and the stench of decay is foul in her nose and tastes awful on her tongue and her vision is blurred with terror but she runs. âPidge, waitâno, Pidge, donâtâPIDGE! STOP NOW!â "
(posting the full paragraph for context)The things keep coming, and thereâs no way out. They swarm, but Pidge canât go back. Itâs back there. Waiting. Hungry. She doesnât know what sheâs doing any more. She just runs because sheâs terrified, and she doesnât know what else to do, and stopping means death. Her legs are shaking and sheâs tired and her heart is thudding painfully and the stench of decay is foul in her nose and tastes awful on her tongue and her vision is blurred with terror but she runs. âPidge, waitâno, Pidge, donâtâPIDGE! STOP NOW!âMan, so this was a FUN one to write. The whole thing, really, but this is a great sample of terror thinking. Basically the more panicked somebody is, the less concise their thoughts are. They donât speak (or think) in perfect sentences anymore; theyâre either short, choppy, and repetitive, or long and rambling and stream of consciousness. At the same time, senses are heightened due to that fight or flight response, and people notice a lot of little things they never would in a normal situation. Pidge is at the absolute height of terror here, and at this point the spores are doing their work. So sheâs not even capable of thinking clearly anymore, everything is just primal fear, primal fear, and more primal fear, built up worse due to the input from her five senses that are lying to her. And that was super fun to show, especially in a character like Pidge, where thinking clearly is one of the things she does best, even in panic scenarios. Shiroâs call at the end there was fun, because it was real interesting to weave in an entire side story going on that Pidge isnât ever aware of. You as the reader know all those italicized conversations are the others speaking in her helmet, and you as the reader know they can hear every panicked scream and plead for help she makes, but Pidge herself isnât aware of that at all. So it was real interesting to show everyone elseâs reactions in what they say, so you can pick up juuuust enough to know whatâs going on externally but not enough to know for sure. Especially when the characters are trying to speak to her and she doesnât hear them. Thereâs quite a few situations when Shiroâs trying to comfort or call to Pidge in this fic, especially when she calls for Shiro specifically, but it doesnât work. But this call here was the most interesting. Because this is what Shiro sees, from his point of view: this palace is old and rotting and falling apart. Heâs jetpack-climbed up to the top of the palace because Coran suggested Pidge is up higher than him. He gets to a massive balcony overlooking the main entrance foyer, probably a place where the old royalty would go to be visible but apart. He sees Pidge come pelting out of a hallway at the very top at full speed, but she doesnât listen to him, and is running straight for the balcony. Sheâs going as fast as she can towards a 10-story plummet and is out of her mind with fear and hasnât been responding to any of them. Cue horrified realization that if he doesnât stop her right there, sheâs going to throw herself off the edge and fall to her death, probably without even realizing the danger. But she doesnât listen, so thatâs when he ends up tackling her and holding her still until he can get her to recognize him. Man. Phantasmagoria is STILL one of my favorites, even 22 fics in.Get the DVD Commentary on a passage of your choice from my work!
