FLIRT, CHAPTER NINE

[a_sporking_rat]

Remember how Mr. Oliver was a Homo erectus (which I mistakenly remembered as a Neanderthal, causing confusion either here or at lashouts)?

As I recall being discussed then, Homo erectus were actually around average height (5'10 for males) yet Oliver is four feet. So my headcanon is that maybe in addition to being a pre-human homonid, he's also got some kind of dwarfism too. Of course, defining dwarfism by height alone is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder, and Anita says that Mr. Oliver doesn't have any other signs of having a medical conditions...but in humans there are about 200 distinct medical conditions that can cause dwarfism. I doubt Anita knows the physical indicators of each and every one. Plus who's to say those signs would even be the same in a homo erectus? or that they wouldn't have a type of condition causing smaller size that is specific to them that modern humans don't have and thus there's no way Anita would know the signs of it?

I miss Mr. Oliver. He was the only one of the Council who ever DID anything, who had a goal, who seemed to have any awareness of vampire issues at large, and, last but not least, his character wasn't focused around sex sex sex. Seriously, every other Council member that we know jack about is obsessed with sex, sadism, or both, while really not doing much else. Padma tortured Vivian, the Traveller spends most of his time trying to find new bodies to have sex in, we find out in Bullet that Morte D'Amor likes to do horrible sexual things to others because he gets off on their fear, and Belle Morte...'nuff said. We don't know about The Dragon or Queen of Nightmares in this regard, but that's because we don't know ANYTHING about them. Oliver showed up in the flesh, and did none of this. He just got to the goddamn point and didn't waste time dicking around (pun intended) plus he managed to have an 'evil' goal without straight-up FOR THE EVULZ motives and not much of an 'evil' personality, just a 'I'm doing what has to be done and what is my duty as a Council member' type deal.

Ugh, I miss him. Him and Melanie. So much.

FLIRT, CHAPTER NINE

It's the end. That's the only good thing I can say about this chapter. But this chapter is also even scarier to me than the last two with all of Anita's raping and murdering. I just...it's so awful I don't even think I can be funny, but I'll try.

Dawn has appeared, and this means that Anita's vampires can't come to her, just everyone else, and she can feel Jean-Claude's "frustration" at this. How is he feeling anything, I wonder, since he should be dead/asleep at dawn? Shouldn't she just have felt an 'oh shit' right BEFORE dawn? Come to think of it, I really wish he had just gotten caught in daylight en-route to her, and his death would case hers which would cause the death of all her Animal Servants plus Richard because of their triumvirate and you can pretty much see the domino spillage from there. Now that would be a good ending.

Nope, unfortunately all that happens is that "dark figures" come out of the woods with guns, including Micah and Nathaniel.

...Nathaniel. With a gun. Okay, that's hilarious all on its own. Micah and Nathaniel hold Anita "while the other guards made sure there were no more bad guys" and have Nicky at gunpoint, on his knees with his hands behind his head. Anita is "crying, which I never did." Are you fucking kidding me? Anita turns on the water works about as much as Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon, the only difference is that Usagi *and* her writer are both honest about it rather than pretending she's some infallible super-tough paragon of emotionless steel (and she's an infinitely more likeable character for it, I may add). She sobs about how she thought they were going to be killed, and I'm okay with this reaction. This is a good, normal-human reaction to seeing your loved ones after the threat of them dying has been hanging over your head the whole night. See, LKH? Emotions do not make your character weak. They make them real, which makes them likeable.

Micah and Nathaniel tell her that Bert called them after she didn't come back from lunch to see if she'd gone home, so they went to the restaurant and Ahsan (whom, we are reminded, is cute) told them he saw her get in an SUV with two men. Then they felt her connections to them vanish and Nathaniel, who is now hugging and kissing her, says he thought she had died.

Uh, Nathaniel? If she had died, you would be dead too. That's kind of how this whole thing works, it's been stated over and over by Anita and others, and I always got the impression it'd be an instantaneous thing. I guess all that hair saps the energy from his head right out of his brain.

Micah says that "Jean-Claude kept Nathaniel and Damian going with energy, but we knew you were hurt; that much we felt before it all went black."

Whoa, so, it's not just that if Anita is killed, the connection between her and her Servants will kill them too, the Servants will also die if the connection is simply blocked? Why the fuck has someone not hired a witch to take her out like that? Think about it--a witch like Ellen cuts Anita off from her guys, her guys die as a result, and considering that as of now she's got seven Servants tied to her (Jason, Nathaniel, Damian, Nicky, Crispin, Domino, and Cynric) and the death of just ONE has potential to kill her, that would definitely have to kill Anita, which would have the added bonus of killing Jean-Claude and Richard too. HOLY SHIT, IT'D BE SO FUCKING EASY.

Also, things "went black" for Micah too? As in he passed out as well? So this effects not only her Animal Servants but also guys she's simply 'mated' to? EVEN BETTER. And come to think of it...Jean-Claude kept Nathaniel and Damian going, but who ketp everyone else going? There's NO mention of how the others are doing or how they were sustained, or any mention of them at all. I swear, if you were just reading this book outside the series, you would not know she had any other boyfriends besides JC, Micah, Nathaniel, and friend-in-bed Jason. If you are going to add characters, then they should EXIST. This is the problem with having so many that are all supposed to be close to and living with the protagonist!

Jason then appears on the scene to ask for a hug, and we find out we have him to blame for "finding sunproof housing for the vampires." I hate you forever now, Jason. Anita then tells Jason exactly what she told us on the previous page--that she felt Jean-Claude's frustration. Those exact words. So she could have just waited to say it on this page then. Jason says JC is also "insanely angry". Nice to know, even though we're never going to see it and nothing comes of it. So I just picture he's gonna wake up all mad when the sun sets and flounce around for awhile. Jason wipes her tears. A guard asks what to do with Nicky, Anita says "He's with me".

Everyone looks at her and she explains that "I needed help to heal from the injuries and I needed enough power to raise the dead so they didn't kill you guys. I rolled him. The dead Rex said that he'd seen male vampires that could do what I do; Brides of Dracula."

...yeah, you didn't just roll him, you enslaved him, and that was not needed for that energy and getting what you wanted out of him. Also, dead Rex? Is she pretending Jacob is dead and that she killed him, I guess? Why? So the others don't go after him? She's in charge of them, couldn't she just tell them not to? And the way she phrases that, it makes it sound like the male vampires who did that ARE the Brides, not that they made Brides.

Micah gives Nicky an unfriendly look and asks if Anita is sure she can trust him. Of course she can, Micah, he's had a metaphysical lobotomy. Having someone among the group of truly questionable loyalty would be way too interesting and have way too much actual tension for LKH to ever be bothered with writing. It might ever require subltely and shades-of-grey characterization, the horror!

Anita, despite having monologued so much earlier about NICKY IS HERS NOW IN BODY MIND AND SOUL, tells Micah that she doesn't know but that "he protected me from his own pride, and almost took a bullet for me." Micah asks if she would have survived without him, Anita says no (um, actually she would have, he was just useful? the reason they even started wanting to kill her at all was because of the effect she had on him!). Micah then helps Nicky up to his feet and "the guards didn't like it, but they knew not to argue with all of us." I really miss the days when Anita was not Queen of Everyone complete with a royal guard. Seriously, ugh.

Micah thanks Nicky, Nicky says he's one of the guys who helped kidnap her, Micah says he knows, Nathaniel asks if he's coming home with us, and Anita says "I actually hadn't thought that far ahead."

...yeah it's not like he's a HUMAN BEING OR ANYTHING. And she kind of clearly did think about it, since there was all that inner narrative about how well he would or wouldn't fit in with her other men, so she was thinking about it, she just generally didn't really care either way. Which might be even worse than having not thought about it at all.

Nicky starts begging Anita not to leave him. He collapses to the ground and starts crawling to her. No shit. This is what she's done to him. This is where the real freaky starts. He reaches out to her and begs more, saying that "I don't understand everything, but the thought of you leaving me behind feels like dying."

Is this really what LKH's fantasy is? Someone who is completely broken and lost without her to the point that it's like death for them to not be with her? Someone who needs her and needs to be all about her and has no personality of their own? Because at this point, this seems to be the ideal. Because this is how all her self-insert's men end up. And that is TERRIFYING. These aren't just rape fantasies she's writing, these are rape fantasies FROM THE POINT OF THE VIEW OF THE RAPIST. This is complete ownership of someone, inside and out, through sex, complete with the 'justification' of how the victim actually 'wants' it even though even that was beyond their control because beasts/ardeur/etc. AND THEN THE VICTIM NEVER GETS AWAY.

And no one points out how fucked-up this is, or even reacts as if this poor guy begging is even unusual. They just start discussing on if he can live with them or not. Which is also kind of shitty, though on a much more normal level, in that Domino and Crispin and probably Damian and who-knows-who-else live with them too and should kind of deserve a say in a new housemate...?

They make their decision by following Nathaniel's creepy suggestion to "Touch him and let us feel his power" which they do and which results in Jason making the creepy remark that Nicky's power is "Tasty". Oh god I feel so bad for Nicky. So bad. Micah realizes "You mind-fucked him" but rather than calling out Anita for it, he says that "I'm sorry you had to do that" and kisses her cheek.

SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO. SHE DIDN'T. DON'T BELIEVE HER! AND DON'T COMFORT THE *ABUSER* FOR WHAT THEY DID TO THE VICTIM! Jeezus, this seriously is abusive right down to the 'I had to' crap that abusers so regularly whip out holy shit.

Nathaniel and Jason help Nicky back to his feet while he is "crying, crying at the thought that I would cast him aside." So, think LKH might have issues about Gary divorcing her? Just maybe?

Anita then runs not to the sobbing Nicky but to Nathaniel and kissed him thoroughly and completely and melting and stuff like that and they tell each other that they love each other (I guess showing Nicky right off the start that he's just another interchangeable dick in Anita's collection?). They then start walking towards the woods, then jog back as they realize that whoops they left Nicky behind HAHAHAH ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That's...hilarious, in a comedic sociopathy kind of way. I wonder if that's what happened to Crispin and Domino between books? They just got lost at the market? Left behind on a walk? Who can keep track of all these pretty preternatural penises!

Anita asks "What do I do with him?" Uh, you decided to take him home and add him to the harem? Micah asks "What do you do with any of us?" That's not answer. Anita says that "He's a stranger and he tried to kill us all." So....Anita doesn't want him around now that they've agreed to keep him around? What? Jason points out that "He would do anything you told him to do, Anita. He seems to have even less free will than the rest of us."

JASON KNOWS AND SEEMS TO HAVE ACCEPTED THAT HE HAS HAD SOME OF HIS FREE WILL TAKEN AWAY

THIS IS HORRIFYING

Anita then says that "I did it on purpose, Jason. I took everything from him on purpose."

Which I have mixed feelings on. On one hand, she's owning it for once. On the other hand, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS ON PURPOSE AND BE OKAY WITH IT? And as much as I think LKH is trying to make Anita seem like she's feeling bad for it, it...isn't coming off well at all. She has like zero regret vibes coming off from her. This is not helped by yes-man Micah assuring her that it was only what she HAD to do. DAMMIT NO SHE DIDN'T, MICAH, SHUT UP, YOU WEREN'T EVEN THERE. STOP VALIDATING YOUR ABUSER. WHOM YOU ALSO RAPED BACK WHEN YOU FIRST MET, SO YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE IN THIS I DON'T REALLY FEEL ANY SYMPATHY FOR. YOU ASSHOLE.

Nathaniel says "I really wanted a puppy, but I guess we could say he followed us home."

Clearly being a passive, submissive, spineless cardboard-cutout does not automatically make one a nice person. That is a human being you are talking about, Nathaniel, and this situation is NOT a joke. I have the unpleasant feeling that Nathaniel is just glad there is now someone who he can see as being 'more of a victim' than he is and is going to consistently look down on him for it like this. That kind of sick hierarchy is exactly what I would expect to crop up in a situation like this.

Anita retorts that he's not a kitten, Nathaniel says he looks like one, and Anita looks at Nicky and inwardly agrees. Micah says they can't leave him, so Anita tells him "Nicky, come on" like a dog. In response, Nicky's face "lit up as if I'd told him tomorrow was Christmas." I don't even need to analyze or explain how messed-up and frightening this all is, right? Because I can't begin. I can't even crack jokes about it, as I predicted. It's just...sad in the sickest of ways.

"We slept in the motel that Jason had settled Jean-Claude and the other vampires into" and "the four of us shared the king-size bed, and Nicky slept on the floor beside us." On the floor. Like a dog. Because "he'd started to shake at the thought that he couldn't stay in the same room with me. God help me." God help YOU? Nevermind the guy who is in this state?!

And I'll just copy this final paragraph straight. There is nothing I can add to it. It stands on its own in terms of awfulness. Be prepared.

"But in the morning, I woke with Nathaniel's vanilla-scented hair across my face, and Micah's warmth pressed against my back. Jason's arm and leg were across Nathaniel's body, touching me even in his sleep. I heard movement on the floor, and Nicky sat up, rubbing his face clear of sleep. He smiled at me, as if whatever he saw was the most beautiful thing in the world. I knew that was a lie, but with all my men around me in a warm puppy pile I couldn't be unhappy. I'd taken Nicky's free will; I'd eaten his life on purpose. He could never be free, never be his own person again.

Micah moved against my back and laid a kiss on my shoulder. "Good morning," he whispered, and that was enough. Did I regret what I'd done to Nicky? Yes, I did, but as Nathaniel blinked those lavender eyes up at me through a veil of his own hair, Jason mumbled, "It's too early to be up," his hand rubbing along by shoulder, I could live with it."

AND THAT IS THE END.

I WILL BE CURLED UP IN A FETAL POSITION WHIMPERING NOW

Comments

[duamuteffe.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I forgot about Mr. Oliver - he ruled! And he was honorable enough to abide by the rules of their duel, even though it cost him his life.

"So, think LKH might have issues about Gary divorcing her? Just maybe?"

I...wow. If that's the case- look, I've been through a divorce, and it sucked. My two best friends divorced their emotionally abusive spouses, and they went through hell and back getting away for good and putting their lives in order. And neither one of them is even remotely as bitter about it as this seems to be. I mean, I know everyone's struggles are different, but if this is actually still stuff left over from a divorce she needs therapy, yesterday if not sooner. That kind of hatred and bitterness will eat you up inside and ruin your life.
I hope at least writing this garbage helps her a little. At least then there would be a purpose to it all.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

A duel that he won, I might add! Anita just staked him anyway after he defeated Jean-Claude. Which was the right thing to do, considering his plans, though I wish he had survived. I also wish Anita was still the type who would stake a vampire just for PLANNING mass murder instead of wanting to "hold and make it all better" a vampire who had already killed and tortured humans (Vittorio).

I can't say for sure if that's leftover from the divorce, but a guy begging her not to leave him like that seems like a fantasy that might come out of it for her, given how Everyone Must Love Anita Or Die in this series. And even if it's not, I still say she needs therapy, just based on these books, eesh.

Writing this I could forgive. It's ok to write anything you want. But publishing it I draw the line at.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

I always thought Mr. Oliver was an australopithecine due to his height. But I think she explicitly says he's Homo Erectus.

As far as LKH holding grudges, if you read her blogs, tweets and Facebook posts you'll see that she has list of people she complains about. Anyone that ever in her life "did her wrong". It includes her grandma who raised her and who is treated as evil because she let l'il Laurell down in not being her sainted Mommy, her ex who wouldn't ditch work so Laurell could write and didn't agree that every eord out of Laurell's mouth was perfect and the dean of her writing program who kicked her out bevause she refused to do assignments correctly (she only wanted to write genre fiction).

Holding on to grievances so long and routinely taking them so you can wallow in the anger has to be dangerous to your health.

[duamuteffe.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.
I actually know a person like that in real life- she holds every "wrong" word right next to her heart. She still holds a grudge sixteen years later about a friend giving a sharp word to her son for running wild in the friend's house. She's never happy. And how could one be, holding all that sludge in? Ick. Forgiveness is important not just for its own sake but because it frees you from the chains of your own hatred and bitterness.

[nic echo (from livejournal.com)]

About the animal to call, I never was sure if the animal to call could kill the vampire master. I mean, Richard can hurt JC and Nathaniel can hurt Anita, but they're part of a tri so I've always seen them as a furry human servant type deal. Obviously, the animals to call have a connection. One of the harlequin have a golden tiger, but maybe that was part of a tri as well. I honestly cannot remember. Anyway, I am not sure if Anita would die if one of her AtC died (sans Nathaniel). They would die if she did, but I was never clear if it worked the other way around. Granted, you still made an excellent point: who is giving Jason, Domino, Crispin, etc. energy for them to live? Also, isn't Cynric her blue tiger to call? I know they aren't living together, and the whole AtC is fuzzy, but if Cynric is her blue tiger to call, does he have someone to give him energy in Las Vegas? I know the tigers would, if possible, but he's a different "species" so does white tiger energy still work? After all, we all know lycanthropes therinthropes aren't as cool and powerful as the vampires.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Animal to Call pretty much is a furry human servant, yes. I remember we called them Animal Servants in an RP to avoid confusion between "This is my animal to call (talking about what type of animal they can call)" and "This is my animal to call (introducing their Animal Servant)". I can't remember if Animal Servant is a canon term or not. But Servants, Human or Animal, indeed are not able to go against their Master's orders and will (unless they're a necromancer like Anita, who can retain her fully free will as a Human Servant while getting all the benefits of being one -.-) and have the same connection to their Vampire Master (or, in this case, to Anita the Suemaster).

Yes, Cynric is her Blue Tiger to Call (because, unlike even vampires, she gets MULTIPLE Animal Servants instead of just one--vampires can have ONE Human Servant or ONE Animal Servant, and the only way they can have both is to be a triumvirate, which is really rare and hard to do...which is why Anita is in two DX) so logically he should have been in deep shit, you're right. I don't think this is ever addressed.

[nic echo (from livejournal.com)]

IIRC, human servants do have free will. This was distinguished in the earlier books. However, the vampire still has more power unlike with JC and Anita.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, it's the Renfields who are total slaves. Human Servants instead get much more immunity to vampire mojo, including their own Master.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

No, Animal Servant isn't a canon term, it's all just "animal to call" and it's confusing as hell for the reasons you outlined. You'd think there'd be some other name for it, because hey power of imagination! But alas.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

... I am somewhat lost for words. Anita is just so very, horribly good at the fine touchy-feely art of forgiving herself for all her misdeeds and shortcomings. That must be why she is sure that God still loves her no matter what - in addition to all her other bullshit power upgrades, she has managed to become her own God Almighty, capable of forgiving all her own sins! And her divine mercy knows no bounds! :P

Thank you for making these sporks, by the way. They are entertaining, in a horrifying sort of way - and lord knows I could never get through these books myself.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

She's god-tier anyway, may as well just plain be God!

Glad you enjoy them!

[nanoquill.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure sociopathic comedy is the only type you could get out of any of this.

This is making me think of some of the creepier mind-control porn I've come across (and I happen to like MCP); the sort that gets its thrills from destroying the victim. Only that tends to have the sex better-written, and doesn't pretend that the controller doesn't want to do it.

Come to think of it, the arduer might be worthwhile in mind-control porn, instead of annoying. Only that would require a disclaimer to show that the author is aware of the difference between reality and fantasy (at least, it would in the archive I've been reading).

Here's something to help get rid of the nasty residue from having to read this book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnnulHw5CM

Rat basketball!

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

EEEE!

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I agree that all this would be much improved if it were honest about itself - that the lengths that Anita goes to attain and maintain her "sweeties" is...well, creepy. If she were straight up about "I want a bunch of people to worship and adore me!" I don't think a lot of fans would be so critical because at least she's going out to get what she wants, and we can enjoy how incredibly messed up it is. Instead it's a different kind of horrifying because it's presented as no big deal, even heroic and romantic.

[nanoquill.livejournal.com]

OTOH, would the publishers be so willing to print LKH's books if they were honest about, 'This is an abusive woman who destroys the minds of her private harem and thinks that defining herself by them is the same thing as loving them'?

^ Trying to word the last part correctly, I got reminded of a line in a Bleach fanfic about how Hollows (the generic enemy species in the series) react to caring for someone, or being emotionally affected by them in any way. The Hollow makes sure that that person will never leave -- by eating them. Correlation between that and Anita: If a pretty man (or preferably boy) catches Anita's attention, she will make sure that they never leave her by 'eating' their free will. The fact that there are similarities between Anita's behaviour and the behaviour of creatures intentionally designed to make the audience agree that they need to be killed...

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah, rape for titillation (because that's what I'm convinced Flirt is - as ultimately, it's not even necessary for Anita to enslave Nicky due to the reason for her having to do it is a moot point) is something I've seen a lot of small presses say "please don't send us this." so I can't really imagine a big publisher would be a-ok with it. And yet...here we are.

Oh god that's horrifying. Yet eerily accurate.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I think we can add the whole Mr Oliver thing to the giant pile of lost plotlines, because there was that whole thing where he and at least one other Council member (Morte d'Amour) wanted to overturn the US laws making vampires legal citizens. It came back briefly in Burnt Offerings with Yvette making Warrick set fires around the place, but after that it was decidedly forgotten in favour of Council members psychically beaming themselves into St Louis to cause trouble. And it's a pity, because this is a stance that I happen to agree with - vampires aren't human. They're not people. And it can get fucked up with PR/political campaigns to possibly present this human undead face to garner sympathy, but underneath it all there's this whole shadow society with their own rules and superpowers stretching back for centuries. There's no regulation for it but self-regulation and since the Council can't really be trusted...this could have been an amazing thing.

Also the Dragon gets some vague info in Incubus Dreams, that her powers are anger-related and she may have been from Rome? She picked up Primo as a gladiator back in the day. Which fucks with either previous canon or my headcanon, it's been too damned long, that the Dragon was actually Dracula. Damn it. Though it is kinda interesting that - after reading your Skin Trade flogs - the Dragon and Belle Morte are supposedly ~~something else before they were vampires and this is like 2/3 of the female Council members right there. I'm squinting hard and asking myself why couldn't a mortal get herself vampired and then fucked/murdered/politicked ruthlessly her way to the top. That...would have probably been something scary and fantastic to witness.

(I'm purposely ignoring whatever information came out about Morte d'Amour in Bullet in favour of substituting my own headcanon about him. I want to hold onto the idea that at least one Council member is a) actually awesome and b) will eventually show up to reduce St Louis into a smouldering crater.)

*cries* This book. This book is a terrible book and I despair that there are people taking away "wow, Anita is such a loving and heroic character!" form this because my skin will never stop crawling. Never.

But that said, after Anita discovers that she can break bonds in Skin Trade, I'm not sure why she doesn't just do that with the dozens of people bound to her if it's becoming so much trouble to be bound to so many? Or can she only break other people's bonds and not her own? How many other people in this universe can do that? And why not find those people to either a) stop your enemies from finding them and using them to break all the bonds so Anita's powerless and forever alooooone, or b) use them to reduce the number of dependants so it's a manageable group. That way, LKH doesn't have to do anything so drastic as actually ~~kill someone and a relationship can theoretically still be maintained. Or, y'know, this is logic and takes away twisted justifcations for Anita to have sex whenever because oh no she can't just do it because she wants to. *sigh*

SORRY FOR THE GIANT SLAB OF TEXT!

[nic echo (from livejournal.com)]

I had forgotten Belle wasn't originally human. I actually found that really interesting. I am pretty sure LKH has completely forgotten about that though.

As to the whole bonds points you brought up, I think Anita is the only one that can break bonds (she's just that special). As for breaking a few of her own, don't you know that she HAS to have these bonds? Her animals demand it of her. They must have a mate (which oddly end up being her Animal to Call as well, with a few exceptions).

[dwg.livejournal.com]

But of course! The moral of this story is that Anita is always better than you. Forever. She's needs the power to stand up for happiness and love and family of choice.

One day, I'll learn to stop trying to apply logic to these things even when playing Devil's Advocate.

[nic echo (from livejournal.com)]

One thing I've learned from Anita Blake and LKH: Logic is for the weak.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

But that said, after Anita discovers that she can break bonds in Skin Trade, I'm not sure why she doesn't just do that with the dozens of people bound to her if it's becoming so much trouble to be bound to so many?

Oh my god, how did I forget this, that is EXACTLY right! Why doesn't she at least THINK of it and TRY it?!

I'm squinting hard and asking myself why couldn't a mortal get herself vampired and then fucked/murdered/politicked ruthlessly her way to the top. That...would have probably been something scary and fantastic to witness.

Ugh, totally. And not with a whole bunch of 'I'm the good guy, really!' whining all the way.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

All I've got for explaining this is "because of reasons" like, the whole thing in ST turned up because it was convenient at the time and then it'll be forgotten again, maybe forever. The amount of contortions the world goes through to make life easier on Anita or to produce highly contrived situations boggles my mind. It's such lazy writing.

[collectively.livejournal.com]

"I could live with it"?

"I could LIVE WITH IT"?!!

What. The. HELL. What is WRONG with this woman? There are points at which I could understand that LKH would not be aware that her main character is a sociopath. Goodness knows there are in-world justifications aplenty for all of Anita's BS, and I didn't notice the homophobia or internalized misogyny until it was pointed out to me. But...WHAT. How could you end it like that?

I mean...give us an, "I couldn't go back and change the past, but I resolved to treat Nicky with care and respect while I tried to figure out a way to undo the horrible mistake I'd made."

Who ends a book with "My bed was too comfortable for me to feel bad about raping and enslaving another sentient being"?

MAY I PLEASE JOIN YOU IN THE WHIMPERING FETAL POSITION BECAUSE I SERIOUSLY CANNOT HANDLE THIS SHIT.

(And thank you for reading it for us and shielding us from the unadulterated horror...I have great respect for your ability to slough though these!)

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

YES YOU MAY

LOTS OF ROOM HERE ON THE FLOOR

ROCKING BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Who ends a book with "My bed was too comfortable for me to feel bad about raping and enslaving another sentient being"?/

And not only that, but she thinks that what she did is okay because her men are with her. “Oh, who cares if I brainwashed another person and ruined his life? My boyfriends are here to make me feel better! As long as I have pretty boys to worship me, I can do no wrong!” Nice priorities, huh?

But then again, she’s such a selfish moron that even without her harem, she’d find some way to rationalize her horrible actions. Because, once again, it’s all about her. Nicky's fate is okay because Anita can live with it. No word on Nicky and how he’ll live with the brainwashing. No, as long as Anita doesn’t beat herself up over it, it’s all good. Just another case of prioritizing the perpetrator over the victim.

[wanderingworlds.livejournal.com]

Here, Nicky, you can come join Ellen and Silas in the support group, too. We'll even provide a nurse for if you start drooling, since you've been metaphysically lobotomized.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if he did drool from this point, honestly :C

[wanderingworlds.livejournal.com]

Maybe there's something Ellen can do to fix him? If even just a little bit.

[tarawyn.livejournal.com]

I'm in favor of Ellen taking a look at him, breaking the bond, and being like "I TOLD you women could be dangerous, you idiot." and getting him to come to his senses. Because Anita thinks she's way stronger than she actually is and has critically underestimated Ellen.

[lady-fellshot.livejournal.com]

Whoa, so, it's not just that if Anita is killed, the connection between her and her Servants will kill them too, the Servants will also die if the connection is simply blocked? Why the fuck has someone not hired a witch to take her out like that? Think about it--a witch like Ellen cuts Anita off from her guys, her guys die as a result, and considering that as of now she's got seven Servants tied to her (Jason, Nathaniel, Damian, Nicky, Crispin, Domino, and Cynric) and the death of just ONE has potential to kill her, that would definitely have to kill Anita, which would have the added bonus of killing Jean-Claude and Richard too. HOLY SHIT, IT'D BE SO FUCKING EASY.

Yes it would. And it wouldn't have to be a supernatural anything to do it. Just a really good marksman, an accurate and properly sighted rifle, a blind and a spotter. Alternatively, an extremist with a car mounted mini gun would work too.


I WILL BE CURLED UP IN A FETAL POSITION WHIMPERING NOW

*brings favorite quilt* I think I'll join you.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Yes it would. And it wouldn't have to be a supernatural anything to do it. Just a really good marksman, an accurate and properly sighted rifle, a blind and a spotter.

The frustration of WHY HAS NO ONE TRIED THIS is just maddening