This sequence lives rent free in my head and I always wanted to draw something for it huhehu. After all this time, I now got the chance finish the vision I had in my head! :D Thank you to everyone who enthusiastically waited for the end result and I hope you enjoy! ^^
I know its almost the end of the month but is there any way we can get Cole playing guitar for Nicole while theyre sitting at the end of a pier at the beach (and the winds blowing through their hair and its like o wow so romantic)? or smth like that pls!
they deserve a beach episode after everything it would fix them i think <3
bonus doodles featuring me realizing how long ive been drawing for
newly interested in rd, if you want i think it'd be cool to see a post (and a drawing) about the 2xn fail dialogue?
i already had a post in mind about the fail dialogue so thank you for sending this and giving me another reason to be insane <3
some context for those who may not know: theres special fail dialogue for every boss fight in rd! it’s one of my favorite easter eggs ever because of how much character insight and dynamics you can find. the devs didnt even have to add them considering how missable they are, yet they did anyway and i appreciate that so much. if you want to see the dialogue for the other boss fights, most of them are documented on the wiki! ive also compiled all of the dialogue for 2-XN including the alt route and janitor’s remarks that you can view over here
anyway, please note that this post might be a little long! unskippable cocole cutscene up ahead youve been warned
CRYING OVER AND OVER AT 2-XN’S FAIL DIALOGUE
firstly, these are what show up on the first three fails. nicole is more open about her feelings while cole is hellbent on his deadline. not much for me to note here, this just pretty much sums up their dynamic in the first half of the transcript
Upon first fail:
Nicole: Ouch. As if my heart didn’t already hurt enough…
Cole: Maybe give it another shot?
Upon second fail
Nicole: These past few days have been tough enough as it is.
Nicole: Do you think you can try again?
Upon third fail
Cole: I think the contest judges will like what I’m cooking.
Cole: I need you to keep my heart pumping so I can make it to the deadline!
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next, this is what shows up on the fourth fail:
Nicole: Whether he means to or not… I hate how he makes these things feel like my fault.
Nicole: Is it my fault for being lonely? My fault for wanting more from our relationship?
Nicole: He rolls his eyes like I’m nagging… and that makes it feel so much worse.
Nicole: We can’t control how we feel when we fall in love. I thought he’d understand that, more than anyone…
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS HURTS I STILL HAVENT RECOVERED
this was the point when i stopped feeling bad about killing cole over and over to note these down (joking) (maybe)
nicole’s been in relationships before so of course she’d feel this way. the last line is what really gets me because thats exactly how cole acted in 2-X. he escaped his room in the middle of the night and ran across the hospital just to be with her!! because he couldnt help it!!! god dammit !!!!!
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these are what show up in the next three fails:
Upon fifth fail
Nicole: I didn’t think we’d feel so attached when we started dating, but…
Nicole: …I really miss him. Please help us out, if you can.
Upon sixth fail
Nicole: I feel like he’s avoiding me…
Nicole: …but I can’t just throw in the towel.
Upon subsequent fails
Cole: These chest pains are kind of distracting…
Nicole: Please don’t give up on us, intern.
it’s really interesting to me how their dialogue here reflects their respective lyrics in the first half. especially with cole’s “turns out we’re the perfect pair” and nicole’s “turns out love is never fair”. nicole sees whats wrong in their relationship but cole doesnt, focusing on his own problems instead. side note please listen to downside by idkhow it's literally them
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now onto the second half of the transcript: these are the lines that show up specifically after the window split/checkpoint
Upon first fail
Cole: I’m kind of in the middle of something, deadline’s coming up, so… if you could defibrillate a little more gently…
Nicole: Wow! Rude, much?
Upon second fail
Cole: Not sure I’m in the mood to give you a funny one-liner, intern…
Cole: I really just need to focus right now. Good luck.
Upon third fail
Nicole: Can you believe this guy? I’ve been trying to do what he said, and he gives me an attitude.
Nicole: You’re gonna need to keep treating him, ‘cuz he’s gonna have a heart attack when he finds out the mood I’m in.
nicole is clearly more angry compared to the previous lines and honestly i cant blame her. thats it thats all i have to say for this part lmao
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these are what show up for the next two fails:
Upon fourth fail
Cole: I have so many things I still need to figure out before this deadline…
Cole: …why does Nic think I have time to be worrying about her?
Upon fifth fail
Cole: Look. I get it. I know it must suck that I’m so busy lately.
Cole: It’s not exactly fun for her. I know she wants to spend time together.
Cole: But is it really so wrong that I need a few days for myself? To accomplish something that’s important to me?
Cole: Just because she’s feeling sad doesn’t mean she needs to drag me down with her. Right…?
everything hurts .
to start, this is the first and only time cole talks about nicole in detail. and initially this made me angry because WOW OK but. ive been thinking about this more and it’s just like nicole’s fourth fail dialogue. here he talks about how much the contest means to him, and i dont think it’s selfish for him to want to focus on it. he has every right to take time for himself, just as nicole has every right to want more from their relationship. both of them have valid reasons why they act the way they do, but the problem is that they dont properly communicate to each other about it (though it’s implied that nicole has at least tried to talk to him before in the line “he rolls his eyes like i’m nagging… and that makes it feel so much worse” which uh. kind of changes things actually hold on)
while i believe both were at fault, cole was absolutely being more of an asshole here. he didnt tell her about the contest and pushed her away even though he knew she was lonely
but his behavior is also complicated!! he isolates himself, pushes himself to focus, and buries himself in his work because thats how he makes his music. i recommend listening to wish i could care less again because augh. it hits even harder now (this might be a bit of a stretch but this detail extends over to the night shift level select; cole stays on 2-1N and distances himself from nicole, compared to him being beside her by default in the day shift)
the scariest part of all this is the fact that i understand him. i havent been through exactly what he has but to keep it brief: there was a point in my life where i isolated myself during finals season because i believed i needed to focus. i thought i couldnt afford to spend time with my friends because i had to get all these deadlines done. and it was a HORRIBLE experience please dont be like me lmao
my perspective on cole has been changing throughout the years and it’s just so funny to me. he went from my favorite character ever, to the character that i want to kill with bricks (lovingly), to my favorite character ever that i still want to kill with bricks because hes so well written and hrrhrghHRGARHRGRHRGRRGH
nicoles reaction is understandable but that doesnt make it inherently good. she's quick to assume that cole’s just like everyone else she’s dated and this reflects in her lyrics. my dear friend wally (@/sirwow) talked about how passive aggressive she was in the line “just a muse to be used, just when you need me” which is just. girl! no!!!
these two are honestly such a mess and horrifically bad at communicating but they still want things to work out and i love that for them. they're complicated and that’s what makes them interesting. 2-XN on the surface is already such a good showcase of their characters and the fail dialogue gives even more to think about
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to end things on a lighter note, the last line shown on subsequent fails is this:
Cole: Look. We’re both in a bad mood. I don’t think we’re in the mood for… hidden quip easter eggs.
Nicole: Maybe another time, intern.
i was probably one of the first people to document all of this dialogue so THIS FELT TARGETED??? EXCUSE ME????? who knew every copy of rd is personalized </3 whoever wrote this i hope you know this was super funny to find thank you
thank you as well to those who read this far :] heres some screenshots of my reaction featuring wally because i thought they were funny
the post-finale make-up wasn't enough for me i need them to just hold each other and cry about how glad they are they're both alive and that they have the chance to make things right between them
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
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