HIT LIST, CHAPTER THREE
Jul. 26th, 2013 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_sporking_ratAnyone here watch X-Files? Remember the Wanshang Dhole? I know that X-Files made it up and it's not found in any actual folklore, but is there any way of finding out if they have a copyright on it? It got referenced as a demon in the Angel series, so maybe it's in the public domain, but then again maybe the Angel people paid the X-Files people for permission to slide the name in there.
I read The Vampire Lestat recently, and towards the end, Marius tells Lestat "there are at least two [immortals] in Europe who do not and have never drunk blood. They can walk in the daylight as well as the dark" and "I don't think they were ever what we are. They are something else without blood." Any idea who/what these beings are? Do they ever show up or are spoken of again? (Also: "They don't reflect light as we do. They absorb it. They are just a shade darker than mortals." LOL CUZ MORTALS ONLY COME IN ONE SHADE HUH) I asked someone who reads/analyzes The Vampire Chronicles a lot more than I do, and she said that "I don’t think that ever gets brought up again - just like the revenants that are more like traditional vampire stories that Louis and Claudia meet in Interview are never brought up again." Anyone else remember if these mysterious not-vampire beings (or the revenants, for that matter) are ever seen or spoken of again in the series?
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THREE
Edward finds Anita crying against an alley wall. She says he looks "very Marlboro man" and tells him she can't get used to him "doing the whole Ted cowboy thing" and assures us that her voice is so steady that you couldn't tell she was crying if not for the tears (so...you can't tell she's crying except that she's crying). He says "it makes people comfortable around him" and Anita says it's a little creepy for him to use the third person. No, it would be creepy if he didn't, in my opinion. He tells her in his Ted-voice that she knows Ted isn't real, just a name. Anita says Ted is his legal identity (that does not make him real, Anita) and she thinks it's his birth name. The rest of the page is spent with some pointless 'if you want to ask then ask' back and forth until Anita asks if Theodore Forrester is his birth name, he says yes, and it is suggested that he answers her so easily because she was crying. HAHAHAH YEAH RIGHT. THIS IS EDWARD, ANITA. NOT TED. EDWARD. She also thinks that Theodore Forrester being his real name (how did she even figure that out oh wait Anita just automatically knows stuff THAT'S HOW YOU WRITE A GOOD DETECTIVE) means that "in a way, Ted was the real person, and Edward the secret identity". Uh, well, Edward is sort of the secret identity seeing as how he is the one that is secret, yes, but Ted is not a real person. He is an act. The legality of his name does not change that one iota.
Anita thanks him for "giving a shit that I was crying" I ASSURE YOU ANITA, HE DIDN'T. If LKH were a good writer, this would be Anita getting too trusting of Edward and him encouraging it so he could surprise-betray her later, but since she is not, it's just Anita melting the heart of yet another sociopathic serial killer as with Olaf because she's just that special and Edward probably just needs looove. Edward asks what Raborn wanted, Anita tells him, and admits that "it was a stupid reason to cry." Damn right it was. "You'd think I'd get used to being called a monster." HE NEVER CALLED YOU A MONSTER, STUPID. Edward tells her to "give yourself a break" because it's only been a month since she killed Haven, which he calls the "hardest kill" of her life. Hahaha, I'd say it wasn't, but maybe it was, if only because that's just really not saying much at all given how 'hard' her kills are for her.
Anita then infodumps about the whole thing with Haven, and refers to Nathaniel as "my live-in sweetie" and how Haven was so jealous and how this had hurt so much for her to kill someone she cared about...hey, when Haven was alive, did we ever see a single sign she cared about him? I doubt it.
Sweeties: 1
And then awkward as fuck conversation as only LKH can do them:
A: You're saying I'm still raw from killing Haven?
E: Yes
A: Have you ever had to kill a lover?
E: Yes.
A: Really?
E: Now ask me if I cared about her.
A: Okay, did you care about her?
E: No.
A: And I cared about Haven, so it hurts more.
E: I think so.
1) Of course Edward didn't care about her! First, he's Edward, second, it was a HER and no man in this series cares more about any woman than he does Anita!
2) "Now ask me if I cared about her" pretty much makes it clear that he didn't, you don't have to ACTUALLY ASK
3) ANITA'S PAIN TRUMPS ALL!
4) Again, she cared about Haven?
They hang out in "companionable silence" for awhile and Anita brags about how she and Edward don't need to talk, because I guess it's somehow unusual to be able to be quiet around someone you've known for awhile? But right after she says this, she starts talking, albeit about the case, which she says they've been going about all wrong. Edward says they need to "consolidate the warrants of execution from the first three cities and just make it one hunt" and she agrees. However, Edward says that these first three warrants "are all in the hands of marshals who were book-and-classroom trained." Oh, Anita shit on those guys in Bullet, I remember. Might've taken a shot at them in Skin Trade too. "They were cops, but no one has a violent crimes background." Boo, hiss, wimps! "I'm not sure why they're recruiting some of these kids." All the better for you and Anita to look cool by comparison, Edward!
Anita says they were all kids once (yeah, just wait till she has a chance to take a shot at them) but that she agrees "we need to take over the warrants before some of the other marshals get themselves killed" because all other marshals are inept bumbling wimps I guess. She cites Raborn himself as having said that she, Edward, Bernardo, and Olaf are the best for this and how they're brought it when something hurts or kills other (lesser) marshals. Edward says the law is that "the warrant is their until they are unable to execute it, through death or injury, or they sign it over to another marshal for some other reason." Because they are the coolest kids on the playground and thus entitled to this like it's a nifty toy, Anita says "Let's make them sign it over to us now". Edward asks how, and I admit my first thought was she was just going to kill/injure everyone else herself, but she says "We could just ask."
Which will doubtlessly go in a huge pissing contest in which Edward and Anita are sooo clearly in the right but everyone else is a big jealous meanie hater, I'm sure.
Edward says he already asked two of the marshals (clearly without Anita there, a wise choice) and they said no. Anita says he asked the men, so she'll ask the female marshal (apparently there is only one.)
Anita.
Talking to another woman.
Oh god this is a BAD idea.
Edward asks "A little girl talk" and Anita frowns at him and says "I don't really do girl talk." Anita, he clearly was being facetious, he does not actually think you are going to giggle and paint your nails in a frilly fluffy bedroom while watching 80s chick flicks. Chill out.
Manita: 1
Anyway, she says she'll persuade this lady to sign it over to them (what, like you 'persuaded' Julia and Jade and Reba to submit to you?) and they will "stop the crimes by killing the criminal, not by solving them" which is a good plan for Anita since her track record shows she couldn't solve a game of Clue. Edward says he likes that plan, Anita says they both know they're "legal assassins, not cops" and how "at the end of most days we kill people." ugh not this again, this took up like 90% of Skin Trade I swear. Edward says she sounds like that bothers her, she says it does but that they've already discussed it doesn't bother him (um, of course it doesn't bother him, and I don't believe it bothers you at all either, Anita) and she says that's beginning to get on her nerves. Edward responds by saying he has an idea to use her as bait to lure out the Harlequin if it is indeed her that they want.
...wow, if I didn't think Edward wanted to kill her himself, I'd almost say this was a poorly disguised plot to off her. Anita, for some reason, thinks that this plan will first require them to get that warrant in their hands. Edward says it would help, as would her getting guards from St. Louis as well as calling in Bernardo and Olaf. Great, we'll get to watch Olaf drool over her again, which Anita knows too because she says "Olaf still thinks I'm his girlfriend or something" and Edward cracks about how the couple that slaughters together stays together. Anita says that's not funny, Edward says it is but still apologizes and says they both know one of them will one day have to kill Olaf before he decides to kill Anita.
How about let him kill Anita and THEN kill him?
Anita says if Olaf ever decides to kill her, he'll kill Edward first "because he knows you won't rest until he's dead." Yeah, bros don't take the ultimate hunt away from bros, yo! So against the bro code! Edward said she'd do the same for him, and Anita is like oh well then he'd kill us about at the same time then, Edward says probably. Anita says what I'm thinking: THIS IS THE DUDE YOU WANNA CALL IN? Edward says Olaf is good in a fight, Anita says he's a crazy psycho killer, Edward says actually he's not psychotic and she's like FINE A CRAZY KILLER and for once I'm on her side with this though I must point out that she was singing Edward's exact fucking tune back in Skin Trade where she was happy to have him along and keep him out of jail, letting him continue to hurt and kill women, even though he was actually not useful at all at any point. Yeah, there was that thing with the knife wounds, but I think anyone in forensics could have figured that out just fine. He's not some super special resources with skills no one else has, okay? HE. IS. NOT. WORTH IT!
But Anita agrees because, no matter what she says, she loves having another man there to fawn over her, especially if he's ~scary sociopath serial killer~ that only she is cool enough to arouse humanity in. She says she can't call in bodyguards because they're not marshals and marshals can't deputize people. Edward says she hasn't been keeping up on current events, and tells her that "Last month a marshal died because backup didn't arrive in time, but a soldier just home from Iraq was able to take the marshal's weapon and finish the shapeshifter off." How the fuck do you miss that? That would have been national news in households across America, I'm sure, and someone who is preternatural marshal herself would sure as hell have it made known to her, especially if it caused the legal changes that Edward is about to tell her about.
Oh, she says she did hear about it. But not about the results. Edward says she must not check the official emails much, she admits "maybe not as often as I should." YOU ARE A TERRIBLE MARSHAL. Anyway, it turns out that they now have the "right to deputize not only if we are without backup, but if we feel that an individual's skill set is of benefit to the execution of our warrant and will save civilian lives." AND ANITA WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS. JUST...I DON'T EVEN. Anita freaks out over how "this gives us carte blanche to form a fucking mob" complete with "pitchforks and torches" and it's "a civil rights problem waiting to happen." Edward says there is "potential for abuse" and is surprised she cares about that "or did that change when you helped get that law passed to spare little vampires when their master is the bad guy?" Oh yeah, that thing that happened offscreen and with little to no explanation on how she did that, if I recall right. Anita says this could get out of hand real fast, he says probably but it's useful right now.
Useful and TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE. Seriously, I think LKH just made this up so Anita could deputize her sweeties and guards and thus not have to deal with any legal issues about involving them with crime scenes. And she clearly knows how ridiculous it is, because she's having Anita be The Only Sane Man about it...and I just have to roll my eyes that of course only she and Edward can see the truth!
I also have a hunch that this 'potential for abuse and mobs' things will never actually come to anything. Also, what's ironic is that what Edward and Anita are planning actually is abuse. Deputize a bunch of people whose loyalty is firstly the Master of the City and/or their respective therian leaders and run on underground politics totally outside the law? LOL YEAH, THAT'S NOT RIFE WITH PROBLEMS AT ALL. And yes, that is their idea. Edward says to worry about the other stuff later, Anita agrees. If I didn't think he wanted to hunt her himself, I'd say he was setting her up to get arrested. He says after she gets Lady Marshal to sign over the warrant, he'll call Olaf and Bernardo and she can call St. Louis guards. Anita asks if he wants to help pick them, and this allows for an opportunity for Edward to tell her he trusts her judgement and her to say what high praise this is for him and him to say how she deserves it because SHE IS THE BEST AND EVEN EDWARD THINKS SO ABOUT EVERYTHING OKAY.
He says he has a plan and for her to go get that warrant. She wants to know the plan but he won't tell her, "but since he'd actually admitted his "real" name to me, I could let him keep his secret plan from me--for now."
The sooner Anita knows a plan, the sooner she fucks it the hell up. The only reason I think Edward even told her had one is to make her want to know it so he can tell it to her for the express purpose of her fucking it up like he knows she will because that's what he wants. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
TALLIES FOR THIS CHAPTER
Manita: 1
TALLIES FOR THE WHOLE BOOK
Bad Guys: 1
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Manita: 3
Mood Ring Eyes: 1
Needless Re-clarification: 3
Non-Answer Answers:1
Racial Angst: 1
Short: 2
Smile Doesn't Reach Eyes: 1
Sweeties: 2
What Does That Mean:4
Whitebread: 1
I think there were some "What does that means" in there too, but I almost don't see them any more they're so frequent.
I read The Vampire Lestat recently, and towards the end, Marius tells Lestat "there are at least two [immortals] in Europe who do not and have never drunk blood. They can walk in the daylight as well as the dark" and "I don't think they were ever what we are. They are something else without blood." Any idea who/what these beings are? Do they ever show up or are spoken of again? (Also: "They don't reflect light as we do. They absorb it. They are just a shade darker than mortals." LOL CUZ MORTALS ONLY COME IN ONE SHADE HUH) I asked someone who reads/analyzes The Vampire Chronicles a lot more than I do, and she said that "I don’t think that ever gets brought up again - just like the revenants that are more like traditional vampire stories that Louis and Claudia meet in Interview are never brought up again." Anyone else remember if these mysterious not-vampire beings (or the revenants, for that matter) are ever seen or spoken of again in the series?
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THREE
Edward finds Anita crying against an alley wall. She says he looks "very Marlboro man" and tells him she can't get used to him "doing the whole Ted cowboy thing" and assures us that her voice is so steady that you couldn't tell she was crying if not for the tears (so...you can't tell she's crying except that she's crying). He says "it makes people comfortable around him" and Anita says it's a little creepy for him to use the third person. No, it would be creepy if he didn't, in my opinion. He tells her in his Ted-voice that she knows Ted isn't real, just a name. Anita says Ted is his legal identity (that does not make him real, Anita) and she thinks it's his birth name. The rest of the page is spent with some pointless 'if you want to ask then ask' back and forth until Anita asks if Theodore Forrester is his birth name, he says yes, and it is suggested that he answers her so easily because she was crying. HAHAHAH YEAH RIGHT. THIS IS EDWARD, ANITA. NOT TED. EDWARD. She also thinks that Theodore Forrester being his real name (how did she even figure that out oh wait Anita just automatically knows stuff THAT'S HOW YOU WRITE A GOOD DETECTIVE) means that "in a way, Ted was the real person, and Edward the secret identity". Uh, well, Edward is sort of the secret identity seeing as how he is the one that is secret, yes, but Ted is not a real person. He is an act. The legality of his name does not change that one iota.
Anita thanks him for "giving a shit that I was crying" I ASSURE YOU ANITA, HE DIDN'T. If LKH were a good writer, this would be Anita getting too trusting of Edward and him encouraging it so he could surprise-betray her later, but since she is not, it's just Anita melting the heart of yet another sociopathic serial killer as with Olaf because she's just that special and Edward probably just needs looove. Edward asks what Raborn wanted, Anita tells him, and admits that "it was a stupid reason to cry." Damn right it was. "You'd think I'd get used to being called a monster." HE NEVER CALLED YOU A MONSTER, STUPID. Edward tells her to "give yourself a break" because it's only been a month since she killed Haven, which he calls the "hardest kill" of her life. Hahaha, I'd say it wasn't, but maybe it was, if only because that's just really not saying much at all given how 'hard' her kills are for her.
Anita then infodumps about the whole thing with Haven, and refers to Nathaniel as "my live-in sweetie" and how Haven was so jealous and how this had hurt so much for her to kill someone she cared about...hey, when Haven was alive, did we ever see a single sign she cared about him? I doubt it.
Sweeties: 1
And then awkward as fuck conversation as only LKH can do them:
A: You're saying I'm still raw from killing Haven?
E: Yes
A: Have you ever had to kill a lover?
E: Yes.
A: Really?
E: Now ask me if I cared about her.
A: Okay, did you care about her?
E: No.
A: And I cared about Haven, so it hurts more.
E: I think so.
1) Of course Edward didn't care about her! First, he's Edward, second, it was a HER and no man in this series cares more about any woman than he does Anita!
2) "Now ask me if I cared about her" pretty much makes it clear that he didn't, you don't have to ACTUALLY ASK
3) ANITA'S PAIN TRUMPS ALL!
4) Again, she cared about Haven?
They hang out in "companionable silence" for awhile and Anita brags about how she and Edward don't need to talk, because I guess it's somehow unusual to be able to be quiet around someone you've known for awhile? But right after she says this, she starts talking, albeit about the case, which she says they've been going about all wrong. Edward says they need to "consolidate the warrants of execution from the first three cities and just make it one hunt" and she agrees. However, Edward says that these first three warrants "are all in the hands of marshals who were book-and-classroom trained." Oh, Anita shit on those guys in Bullet, I remember. Might've taken a shot at them in Skin Trade too. "They were cops, but no one has a violent crimes background." Boo, hiss, wimps! "I'm not sure why they're recruiting some of these kids." All the better for you and Anita to look cool by comparison, Edward!
Anita says they were all kids once (yeah, just wait till she has a chance to take a shot at them) but that she agrees "we need to take over the warrants before some of the other marshals get themselves killed" because all other marshals are inept bumbling wimps I guess. She cites Raborn himself as having said that she, Edward, Bernardo, and Olaf are the best for this and how they're brought it when something hurts or kills other (lesser) marshals. Edward says the law is that "the warrant is their until they are unable to execute it, through death or injury, or they sign it over to another marshal for some other reason." Because they are the coolest kids on the playground and thus entitled to this like it's a nifty toy, Anita says "Let's make them sign it over to us now". Edward asks how, and I admit my first thought was she was just going to kill/injure everyone else herself, but she says "We could just ask."
Which will doubtlessly go in a huge pissing contest in which Edward and Anita are sooo clearly in the right but everyone else is a big jealous meanie hater, I'm sure.
Edward says he already asked two of the marshals (clearly without Anita there, a wise choice) and they said no. Anita says he asked the men, so she'll ask the female marshal (apparently there is only one.)
Anita.
Talking to another woman.
Oh god this is a BAD idea.
Edward asks "A little girl talk" and Anita frowns at him and says "I don't really do girl talk." Anita, he clearly was being facetious, he does not actually think you are going to giggle and paint your nails in a frilly fluffy bedroom while watching 80s chick flicks. Chill out.
Manita: 1
Anyway, she says she'll persuade this lady to sign it over to them (what, like you 'persuaded' Julia and Jade and Reba to submit to you?) and they will "stop the crimes by killing the criminal, not by solving them" which is a good plan for Anita since her track record shows she couldn't solve a game of Clue. Edward says he likes that plan, Anita says they both know they're "legal assassins, not cops" and how "at the end of most days we kill people." ugh not this again, this took up like 90% of Skin Trade I swear. Edward says she sounds like that bothers her, she says it does but that they've already discussed it doesn't bother him (um, of course it doesn't bother him, and I don't believe it bothers you at all either, Anita) and she says that's beginning to get on her nerves. Edward responds by saying he has an idea to use her as bait to lure out the Harlequin if it is indeed her that they want.
...wow, if I didn't think Edward wanted to kill her himself, I'd almost say this was a poorly disguised plot to off her. Anita, for some reason, thinks that this plan will first require them to get that warrant in their hands. Edward says it would help, as would her getting guards from St. Louis as well as calling in Bernardo and Olaf. Great, we'll get to watch Olaf drool over her again, which Anita knows too because she says "Olaf still thinks I'm his girlfriend or something" and Edward cracks about how the couple that slaughters together stays together. Anita says that's not funny, Edward says it is but still apologizes and says they both know one of them will one day have to kill Olaf before he decides to kill Anita.
How about let him kill Anita and THEN kill him?
Anita says if Olaf ever decides to kill her, he'll kill Edward first "because he knows you won't rest until he's dead." Yeah, bros don't take the ultimate hunt away from bros, yo! So against the bro code! Edward said she'd do the same for him, and Anita is like oh well then he'd kill us about at the same time then, Edward says probably. Anita says what I'm thinking: THIS IS THE DUDE YOU WANNA CALL IN? Edward says Olaf is good in a fight, Anita says he's a crazy psycho killer, Edward says actually he's not psychotic and she's like FINE A CRAZY KILLER and for once I'm on her side with this though I must point out that she was singing Edward's exact fucking tune back in Skin Trade where she was happy to have him along and keep him out of jail, letting him continue to hurt and kill women, even though he was actually not useful at all at any point. Yeah, there was that thing with the knife wounds, but I think anyone in forensics could have figured that out just fine. He's not some super special resources with skills no one else has, okay? HE. IS. NOT. WORTH IT!
But Anita agrees because, no matter what she says, she loves having another man there to fawn over her, especially if he's ~scary sociopath serial killer~ that only she is cool enough to arouse humanity in. She says she can't call in bodyguards because they're not marshals and marshals can't deputize people. Edward says she hasn't been keeping up on current events, and tells her that "Last month a marshal died because backup didn't arrive in time, but a soldier just home from Iraq was able to take the marshal's weapon and finish the shapeshifter off." How the fuck do you miss that? That would have been national news in households across America, I'm sure, and someone who is preternatural marshal herself would sure as hell have it made known to her, especially if it caused the legal changes that Edward is about to tell her about.
Oh, she says she did hear about it. But not about the results. Edward says she must not check the official emails much, she admits "maybe not as often as I should." YOU ARE A TERRIBLE MARSHAL. Anyway, it turns out that they now have the "right to deputize not only if we are without backup, but if we feel that an individual's skill set is of benefit to the execution of our warrant and will save civilian lives." AND ANITA WAS NOT AWARE OF THIS. JUST...I DON'T EVEN. Anita freaks out over how "this gives us carte blanche to form a fucking mob" complete with "pitchforks and torches" and it's "a civil rights problem waiting to happen." Edward says there is "potential for abuse" and is surprised she cares about that "or did that change when you helped get that law passed to spare little vampires when their master is the bad guy?" Oh yeah, that thing that happened offscreen and with little to no explanation on how she did that, if I recall right. Anita says this could get out of hand real fast, he says probably but it's useful right now.
Useful and TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE. Seriously, I think LKH just made this up so Anita could deputize her sweeties and guards and thus not have to deal with any legal issues about involving them with crime scenes. And she clearly knows how ridiculous it is, because she's having Anita be The Only Sane Man about it...and I just have to roll my eyes that of course only she and Edward can see the truth!
I also have a hunch that this 'potential for abuse and mobs' things will never actually come to anything. Also, what's ironic is that what Edward and Anita are planning actually is abuse. Deputize a bunch of people whose loyalty is firstly the Master of the City and/or their respective therian leaders and run on underground politics totally outside the law? LOL YEAH, THAT'S NOT RIFE WITH PROBLEMS AT ALL. And yes, that is their idea. Edward says to worry about the other stuff later, Anita agrees. If I didn't think he wanted to hunt her himself, I'd say he was setting her up to get arrested. He says after she gets Lady Marshal to sign over the warrant, he'll call Olaf and Bernardo and she can call St. Louis guards. Anita asks if he wants to help pick them, and this allows for an opportunity for Edward to tell her he trusts her judgement and her to say what high praise this is for him and him to say how she deserves it because SHE IS THE BEST AND EVEN EDWARD THINKS SO ABOUT EVERYTHING OKAY.
He says he has a plan and for her to go get that warrant. She wants to know the plan but he won't tell her, "but since he'd actually admitted his "real" name to me, I could let him keep his secret plan from me--for now."
The sooner Anita knows a plan, the sooner she fucks it the hell up. The only reason I think Edward even told her had one is to make her want to know it so he can tell it to her for the express purpose of her fucking it up like he knows she will because that's what he wants. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
TALLIES FOR THIS CHAPTER
Manita: 1
TALLIES FOR THE WHOLE BOOK
Bad Guys: 1
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Manita: 3
Mood Ring Eyes: 1
Needless Re-clarification: 3
Non-Answer Answers:1
Racial Angst: 1
Short: 2
Smile Doesn't Reach Eyes: 1
Sweeties: 2
What Does That Mean:4
Whitebread: 1
I think there were some "What does that means" in there too, but I almost don't see them any more they're so frequent.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-07-30 02:38 pm (UTC)Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is about the lives of people who are from North Korea. It follows a lot of point of views and they are all connected because one point of view is a mother, then her daughter, then the daughter's crush. A journalist writes the story after talking to their friends and family and she really tells how it is in North Korea. It's not just no internet connections it's other ways that the people are manipulated and after falling on hard times the characters have to survive or face starvation. I honestly think it's one of my favorite books because it's like a history lesson and a story.