One Day, Part 2, page 2
on August 21, 2013 at 12:01 amChapter: One Day
Location: Billie's parents' house, Ruth's high school
Here’s where I set up Ruth’s sunny disposition in high school. She’s purposefully a Danny Clone here, full of contempt for other people for not being grown up enough. Totally smarter and better than everyone, despite the curious decision to wear overall shorts.
Danny would get his lesson in one way, and Ruth would in another. How this is so would bug me later on.
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Hey, she looks really cute in those overall shorts, don’t hate.
Everybody owned overall shorts, it was the nineties.
Yeah, the methods of their lessons were… not great.
On the plus side, we did get one of the two most hateable characters ever out of this backstory!
Yeah but we would have met Walky anyway.
One day I will figure out what timemonkey has against Walky
I’m JASON! *poop butterflies*
His personality is annoying? And his behaviour leads to some rather unpleasant consequences for future characters.
I studied Behavioural Psychology, I can’t help but dissect people’s behaviour’s, tracking back their motivations and what led to what. Plus Walky’s entire appeal is based on being funny most of the time, humor is subjective. I don’t find most of what he does funny so he loses most of his appeal.
I like him better in DoA so far but that’s a whole different set up where if he’s not funny that’s the extent of the effect his behaviour has. In this universe the stakes are much higher. I’ll get into it more when we get there.
Walky may not be the greatest character, but let’s look at it this way: Compared to what’s coming, he’s sunshine and rainbows.
Compared to what’s coming, I think even MARY’S sunshine and rainbows. And the only reason I have any tolerance for Mary whatsoever is because she makes for such an easy hate sink.
Compaired to what’s coming? Have I forgotten something something about what’s coming?
Oh yeaaah, now I remember what this story entails…
Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeep. Buckle your seatbelts, kiddies, and all aboard the Regret Train.
Choo-Choo! This is the story where Ruth becomes the person we know now because her Father’s cheating on her mother with Billies mom, right?
Also something about an asshole boyfriend or something? Last time I read this story was when I discovered the Walkyverse in 2011.
I remember that attitude so well. Except the part about leaving.
I had that attitude too. Though sometimes when I look back it seems a little justified. After all, when I told my mom I wanted to go to a different state for college to get away from the people in my town, she said “Thank god, that means I can move away from here too.”
Is it weird that I feel like I relate to Ruth better than I do to Danny?
That may be because we know what happens. While Danny stays annoying, Ruth changes.
Plus, Ruth’s aware of her bitterness and makes it a part of her (“vacant heads”, “I have no patience”). Danny’s just passive-aggressive, seemingly out of habit.
I think the fact that it took Willis a while to realize what an asshole Danny was makes it harder like him. When a douchebag character is framed as a douchebag in the story they tend to be more likable than when they are framed as a decent person and you are sitting there reading and going no wait, that guy is a fucking douchbag.
Who doesn’t relate better to Ruth than Danny?
Ruth shares my own attitudes as a teenager. When I actually got to university, it was bit of a shock to discover that college culture was around 95% getting-puke-drunk to 5% intellectual stimulation. Still, there was a lot less twisted vicious Lord of the Flies stuff going on than at school, so I figured I could live with that.
So, basically Ruth in high school cosplayed as Ultra Car… got it.
My God. Add her glasses and a ponytail and she’s pretty much there.
Is… is that young Ethan in the background, second from the left in the “happy high-schoolers” group?