Thinking out loud...

...if the MC's main deal is that he avoids responsibility and consequences, then how do these two new characters play into that? The MC is sort of a Peter Pan type, only snarky and negative and oppositional and profane. He's supposed to take things very seriously--his life depends on doing so--but he refuses to, because he doesn't like being told what to do or feeling that he has to follow other people's rules. He's pretty immature, for somebody who's over a hundred years old.

And at the end, I know he comes to accept that nobody can fix some things; some things are permanent and ugly, and pretending they don't exist doesn't make them go away. Sometimes (rarely, for most of us) if you do what you know you shouldn't--what you were told not to do--the consequences are tragic and permanent. No matter how he refuses to take things seriously, the evidence that things are serious is right there in a tiny room off a hallway in a house in the middle of empty flat plains.

He has to learn to let go, to accept what he already knows: he can't fix it. He's been holding this knowledge at bay, but now he faces the stark, sober truth. It's not a big plot moment, just a quiet moment of recognition and sudden maturity.

So, by the end, is acceptance enough? In a way, I think it's like the stages of death, and he's stuck in denial all through his life, up till the end of this book. Huh, I need to look those up and see what the stages are (bargaining, denial, anger, acceptance--what's the fifth?) and if they're supposed to come in a certain order.

This is hugely important, because until I know what the point is, I'm not sure what to do with these two new characters. I don't know what their conflicts with my MC are, or how they advance the story or what any of their scenes might be. So far all I have is dialog and a feel for who they are.

And then there's the stray, Royal. How does he fit into this?

Does any of this fit together? What is the climax of this book? What is the conflict? How can these four characters meet and clash and join together in ways that will drive the MC to his journey's end? Do some of the characters not belong in this puzzle?

H*ll if I know. Could all be a waste of paper and time; who knows?

Back to work.