Jui - [Early Access] Take Off S2 Ch.156 "Yell"

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Thank you for your patience and support, here is the latest chapter! I've also attached two illustrations from this chapter, please download them after you've read the chapter pdf to avoid being spoiled!

Spoilers Below

When I wrote this scene, I knew Nathan was going to be chasing after Andrew, and an ode to Season 1's plane setting, I wanted to do a train chase. But I had envisioned this scene so clearly - Nathan proclaims his feelings to Andrew, and right when he makes the most important statement, the scene lights up as the train exits the dark tunnel and goes overground. This meant I was stuck - because the scene before this is the library, and that takes place in Brooklyn. But Andrew lives in Manhattan, so I needed to find a reasonable train route that goes from underground to overground while headed towards Manhattan, so the light can shine in when Nathan confesses!

There was another criterion, Nathan's confession is timed so the train would have to go above ground quickly, this meant while majority of Manhattan-bound trains do eventually reach elevated ground status, this usually only happens in The Bronx, which is north of Manhattan and an hour and a half long of a train ride away. Nathan was not going to talk for that long.

So I was set to find the one route that fit these criteria. I remember finding all stations remotely close to Brooklyn Public Library, and then one by one, going on their Wikipedia and from there, clicking on the preceding and following station just to find out if there's any route that applies, and finally... I found it!!!

Seventh Avenue Station serving the F and G trains in Brooklyn, starts underground, but immediately goes overground at the next Manhattan/Queens-bound station, Fourth Avenue. It was perfect.

Then I found something cooler.

After Fourth Avenue is a station called Smith-Ninth Streets, and it is the highest station in the New York City Subway, and for a while until very recently in 2022, it was the highest elevated subway station in the world. How cool is that!!!

It's one thing to have the climax of Season 2 be situated at New York City's highest elevated subway station, but it's also deeply affecting to me, because to be at the highest point means to be closer to the sky, and that's where their story started.

I was in New York City in July 2023, and on a quiet weekday afternoon, I rode the F and G trains between Seventh Avenue and Smith-Ninths Streets over, and over again. I took so many reference pictures, and filmed the ride to time how long Nathan's speech would have to be, and was fascinated by how the train climbed from underground to above ground - the way it slowed and roared and made its ascent, and eventually, allowing light to enter its cars.

I tried to work on this chapter as closely as I could to how I envisioned it. I took some liberty with the timing of things, but I hope there is enough realism and detail to allow Andrew and Nathan's world to seep in, and bring life to Nathan's impassioned chase.

Thank you for reading!