Moonbeam: A Timeline series companion

chapter 48 - deleted scenes dump

Okay, so for some context, I wrote a bunch of random flashbacks about Whiteout's childhood and just. Random scenes in general, throwing things at the wall and just seeing what stuck and what didn't. And most of them are good, they just aren't really relevant to the chapter, so here are some scenes I really liked that got cut in editing and replaced so it read more cohesively. If any of the Whiteout dialogue is weird, it's because when I don't have any ideas for poetic things she could say, I write it out normal and Whiteout-ify it later in the edit, but these are deleted scenes so there's no point in agonizing over making it read just right. It reads super weird in the first draft, but it's the best solution, because I simply do not have enough good ideas for poetic things she can say off the top of my head. She's so eloquent, I have no idea how she does it lol.

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Toyed with the idea of having Sharp-eyes give Trailblazer the bubonic plague. Like as a psychological experiment. It was incredibly amusing but didn't fit the tone of the chapter. If this reads weird it's because I rolled out of bed and immediately started writing this as though I had been possessed.

***

Trailblazer lets out a bloodcurdling scream from the other side of the living room. This is a daily occurrence. I have a pretty limited experience with dragonets, but I did babysit Shadowhunter a few times, and I thought it couldn't get much worse. Apparently, I was wrong about that.

"What is it?" Solstice asks wearily.

"Look! Look at this!" he yells, pointing to a patch of swollen lumps on his arm. "Solstice, I told you I was feeling sick yesterday!"

"And I told you your forehead felt fine, and I'm not that kind of doctor!" Solstice explodes. "Or your babysitter! It would be nice to see someone else around here have to tend to his every need, by the way!" he exclaims, shooting a significant look at Brilliance. "He's not my dragonet!"

"Wait," Indigo says, growling. "Are you telling me he said he felt sick yesterday, and no one thought that was an important thing to mention! We've been in the same space all day, if he's sick, we all have it!"

"I bet it's Listener's fault! I bet this is her revenge!" Brilliance says, pointing accusingly.

"I CAN'T EXACTLY STOP BREATHING, YOU BIRD-BRAIN!" Listener roars.

"Am I going to die?!" Trailblazer asks, glancing around at all of us. For a moment—I feel the slightest sliver of sympathy for the kid. I remember he used to bully my niece, and it immediately disappears.

"Why is he even still out here?! Let's lock him in his room before he gets any of us infected!" Indigo shouts.

"Dear," Fathom says. He looks a little ill himself--but then, Fathom has looked sad and downtrodden ever since they've gotten settled in here.

"I mean it! I'm not taking chances! Let's sanitize everything he touched, and lock him in his room, and take everyone else's temperature. Do you have any weird lumps?" she squints at Fathom, poking his arm.

I close my eyes, trying to breathe--wishing I could run outside, breathe in the fresh, cold air, and go somewhere the whole world was silent except for the birds, flitting about in the trees.

There aren't trees anymore. Or heather-meadows or daisy patches. Everything you love is gone.

I twist my silver ring around my claws instead, trying to focus on that feeling. I try to think.

I narrow my eyes, thinking for a moment.

Sharp-eyes wouldn't let us get sick by accident.