HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY
Oct. 12th, 2013 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_sporking_ratIf you've read Shutdown or read a sporking of it, you know what a vile, mean-spirited, Mary Sue masturbatibation spite-fic that it is. And I have a theory about it. Ellen, the victim of the it that we are all supposed to hate, is not a judgemental meanie at all. Everything she says and does is very reasonable and tolerant up until she just finally gets pushed too far by everyone being an asshole to her. Now, we all know that LKH can write straw-men with the best of them, and she's not the kind of author who ever likes to give the 'villain' (or anything who has a problem with the protagonist) any kind of good points or sympathy, so you'd think she'd choose to make Ellen the most frothing judgey self-righteous horrible mean bigot she could, especially since Anita's reaction would be much more understandable that way. But she doesn't. Ellen sounds and acts like a real person...
...and I think that's because she is. I think this is a revenge fic on someone that actually exists and is based on something that actually happened. LKH has been pretty open that she and Jon her husband Jon are poly and have other lovers. I think one of those other lovers tried to bring their girlfriend into the fray. The girlfriend said some of the same things that Ellen did, LKH (who was probably already biased against her for existing and just looking for an excuse) took it as BIGOTRY and PERSECUTION and decided to vent via a petty hateful revenge fic and then share what should have just been a private fantasy (as is the case with most of her work these days) with the world under the pretense of it being a 'gift' the second she saw an opportunity (since I'm sure even her usually over-indulgent publishers told her that no way no how could this be charged for). I have no doubt that she'd indeed see such innocuous remarks, made from well-meaning wanting-to-learn ignorance rather than judgmental ignorance, as being the assaults that Anita treated them as. As we all know, she shelters herself from any criticism, seems to take anything less than praise as an attack, and pretty obviously has no idea what actual bigotry looks like, as has been discussed here regarding her portrayal of in AB. Add that one to her rampant hate-on for anything female potentially getting near her guys, or even just being near enough to get attention that should be going to her, and yeah, perfect storm.
I don't usually like to speculate on her life, it feels tacky and reaching and assumptive to a mean point, but she makes it very, very hard not to given how transparent she makes it that AB is a window in to her psyche, and once this thought entered my head about Ellen, the rest really just fell into place automatically.
I'd also like to add that I showed Dottie's spork of it to a friend of mine who is poly...said friend pretty much flipped her shit at Anita/LKH, and rightly so. It actually makes me glad I'm not poly too or I'd probably be even more appalled by the whole thing, if that's even possible.
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY
Anita talks about how small Laila looks in the bed, and how she looks "five, an earnest, sad five" because "her face was very round" and her hair is framing it "in tight waves". She also thinks she looks small and young because she's surrounded by three huge guys, all of them "at least six-four and built solid." This would be a more than adequate description for said men, but she goes on for a paragraph that takes up half the page to tell you how the two younger ones are really buff with barrel chests and trim waist but one has "a flat stomach that promised a real six-pack under the T-shirt" whereas the other one looks like he "hit the gym" but not as much as the other. Wow nice to see where your priorities are, Anita. Ogling and detailing mens bodies is honestly the last thing any decent person should be doing in this scenario. The third man looks like an older version of the other two, and Anita concludes they're the father and brothers of Laila.
Anita and Socrates go in, leaving Nicky and Lisandro in the hall. Presumably the rest of them are with Edward. Laila says Anita's name and looks like she's going to cry. "Jesus, all I'd done was come into the room." Something about this comes off as so self-centered to me, but that could be just because Anita is saying it. Anita says hey, Laila says these are indeed her dad and brothers, and Anita says "I remember you talking about them, and you vastly underestimated how damn big they all are." Um, no, that's not the right word, Anita. You mean she understated how big they are, not underestimated. Anyway, I guess this is super funny or something because it makes everybody smile and Anita talks about how dwarfed all these big men make itty bitty petite her feel. The dad is Wade, older brother is Robert, and younger brother Emmett and "Laila called him Em, immediately, as if his whole name were M, but Robert she always called by his full name." And there's no way you could have shown this through actual conversation or anything, you have to give us this infodump instead. Also, wow, Em would be pronounced M? GOOD THING YOU SPECIFIED, I'D HAVE BEEN CONFUSED OTHERWISE ON HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE 'EM' SOUND!
Anita introduced Socrates as Russell Jones, which she tells us is his real name, and that the practice of werehyenas being given nicknames "usually from Greek philosophers or mythological characters" is indeed just a Narcissus thing, not a species-wide thing done by all werehyenas. I've been wanting to know this for a long time, so I'm glad it was finally addressed. I'm also glad that my guess of it being a Narci-thing and not a general hyena-thing was correct, yay! "A lot of animal groups had naming conventions for some reason." You mean WEREanimal groups. The 'were' part is important, especially since it literally means 'man' and thus specifically defines them as human first, something you grossly fail to do both in practice and, as illustrated here, in your phrasing. Secondly, have we seen any wereanimal groups besides Narcissus' Cackle that have naming conventions? I know there's the Faustian Weretiger Brigade, but those were specifically stated to have been named by a vampire, so I don't think they'd count.
Anita says Russell/Socrates used to be a cop, Laila asks about the used to be part, he tells her that "a gangbanger turned out to be a shapeshifter and cut me up" and Laila looks like she's gonna cry again as she realizes he must be a shifter then too. Anita "felt the men around me tense, as if his saying it out loud made it more real or made them feel insecure" and goes on this huge spiel about how big strong guys like this are used to being the toughest and being able to gauge how tough other people are by looking at them but since it's not that way with shifter, who have super-strength even if they're bitty thinks like precious Micah, make it so that "size wasn't everything now; it was probably not a thought that the Karlton men had to think very often." Actually, no, Anita, it probably is. Remember, this is a universe where vampires and werebeasts and witches all walk among us, and they look like everyone else (well, they're supposed to; for some reason Anita tends to encounter mainly absurdly beautiful ones). So in this world, it actually should be a given for most people as they move through the world that the strength/toughness/etc of someone is in fact a total wild card until you're sure they're a mundane human. LKH is failing here to think of the perspective of someone who actually lives in her world and always has, and is instead just defaulting to the perspective that someone in our world would have if the rules of her world suddenly applied instead. It's a small thing, but it makes a big impact in terms of how authentic and real she makes her world seem...and in this case, that impact is a negative one due to said failure. About the only thing that can make this sort-of-kind-of workable is that Laila showed astounding ignorance, for a person who supposedly lives in this world, about vampires, suggesting she comes from a background where she didn't meet any, so perhaps they're all from some place where there are no supernaturals or only 'closeted' ones...but that still, in my opinion, doesn't mean that it would rarely enter their heads that someone could have supernatural powers, since they live in a world where that's commonplace and they know it, even if they don't run into them a lot themselves. Seriously, how can we get 'into' her world if even the characters can't seem to?
And then Anita thinks that she "felt something" in their posture and faces that "looked angry" and that the younger brother in particular has "fear underneath that anger." Considering how bad Anita is at reading people/assuming *logical* reactions to things, I can't help but doubt that this is the real case. Even if it is, however, they haven't said anything, so I find it still out of line that she scolds them "Jesus, people, you act like Russell is going to shift on the spot and go on a rampage." Anita tells us the brothers look embarrassed by this, and I would be too if this random woman accused me out of the blue of something that I gave no indication of. Like, there aren't other reasons they could be tense in a situation where a beloved family member has just suffered a serious assault and has now been inflicted with a life-altering disease and a stranger has brought in someone with that same disease and you don't know who they are and if you trust them to make her feel better? Like, seriously, they may just be tense because they don't want someone around Laila to talk to her about her condition if they're a stranger because said stranger may be a really terrible talker and just make her feel worse. Or maybe it's just a little fucking soon for her to be talking about it, considering she's still in the hospital and on the brink of tears and can't even say the word shapeshifter?
The father "kept his anger and his cool" and tells Anita that "It's nothing personal to Mr. Jones, but he is contaminated with something that turns him into an animal." Well, this is 100% true. And considering Laila is in a position that, to a large predator like most therians turn into, looks like lunch (wounded, weak, etc.) I wouldn't want a therian I didn't know around her either. After all, Wade Karlton has no idea how much control this dude does or doesn't have! All Anita thinks of this, however, is that "I was beginning to realize where some of the problems were coming from with Laila." Anita asks to speak to Wade out in the hall, he says he isn't comfortable leaving his children alone with Mr. Jones. Anita assures him Mr. Jones works with her and is here to help catch the shifter who infected Laila. Wade says that "It takes a monster to catch a monster" and I know we're supposed to see this as bad, but given the confusion I've mentioned before of just what "monster" means in this universe, he might just mean 'monster' as in 'supernatural' and that's the same logic Anita herself used when she poo-pooed all about how regular cops can't handle the monsters.
Laila tells him that Socrates/Russell Jones is just like her, a cop who got attacked on the job, and asks if he thinks she's a monster too, he says he'd never think that, she says he does because he won't even hold her hand. Okay, that I can't think of a reasonable explanation for, but considering they were clearly going to be straw-bigots from the start, I'm not surprised. Wade even then tries to MAKE himself hold Laila's hand but can't bring himself to touch her. Em, however, does, and glares at his father. Robert puts his hand on her too and can't look at anyone because there's tears in his eyes as he turns away. Okay, this is a sensitive as fuck situation and I really, really think Anita and Socrates need to get out of there now and wait for when this isn't so fresh. I would say this even if Anita were a nice decent person, but considering Anita is...not that...I really, really think she needs to GTFO before she makes things horrible.
Anita tells Wade he needs to talk to her outside now, and that Russell will talk with Laila. Wade says he can't leave his boys with him. Under most circumstances, I'd think Wade was being a dick, but considering his daughter was just nearly killed by a shifter and her life is now going to get a lot worse before it gets better because of it, I utterly do NOT blame him for being irrational against ever letting ANY shifter EVER get near his children. Seriously, this just happened to Laila, and now Anita wants him to leave all of his kids alone with a strange shifter. Now, would that be bigoted and wrong if I replaced "strange shifter" with "strange insert-minority-here"? Yes. But real-life minorities are not inherently super-powered beings, some of whom have extreme difficulty controlling themselves from hurting/killing/eating people if they're newbies (and common mis-information among the public is, as we've seen, that shifters can't control themselves in general) and they don't know which kind Socrates is.
But because Anita has no sense of logic *or* empathy, she just decides "That was it, I'd been nice." and goes off on Wade for saying "Your boys, as if Laila isn't your girl anymore" and that Laila won't even change until next month on the full moon and "she's still your daughter. She's still everything she ever was." Laila speaks up and points out she isn't a US Marshal anymore, that her badge is going to be taken. Anita asks if she was told that, Laila says no but you know the rules (lol, yeah, but that doesn't mean they ever apply to her!) and Anita says those are the rules for regular cops but that the preternatural branch is "a little more flexible." Okay, since when? In all the time we've had Anita fretting about getting her badge yanked for being a vampire-panwere (and it never happening because she's special and won't ever shift or fuck up, and if she does well SHE'S SPECIAL DAMMIT) this has never been mentioned, at least not to my memory.
Laila points out that the reason Anita's badge hasn't been taken is because she doesn't shift. Anita says that they can't take Laila's badge until she shifts...uh, so she's got a month, then? Way to make things better there, Anita *eyeroll* Em asks if Anita is a shifter too, she says no, that she just carries lycanthropy (she fails to mention she also carries four kinds of ailuranthropy, one of which comes in five colors!) but that she doesn't shift. Wade says she will eventually, Anita says she's been like this for two years, and tells him how she gets the benefits of healing and super-strength and such but not changing shape because, y'know, that might inconvenience her and we can't have that. Anita really, really shouldn't have brought this up in my opinion, because it's clearly given them all some false hope, as Em asks if maybe Laila will be like that too. Anita says no she'll probably shift but "until the week of her first full moon she won't be a danger to anyone." SO SHE WILL, AT SOME POINT THEN, BE A DANGER TO PEOPLE. SO THERE IS A REASON FOR THEM TO BE UPSET AND AFRAID OF THIS, AND YOU ARE DOING FUCK ALL TO ADDRESS WHAT TO DO DURING THAT TIME.
Wade tells her she doesn't know that and Anita mentions how she's good at being tough while staring up at tall people like him and "I let him see the anger in my eyes, because I was angry with him."
I let him see the anger in my eyes because I was angry with him.
I LET HIM SEE THE ANGER IN MY EYES BECAUSE I WAS ANGRY WITH HIM.
I just...I don't even know how to make fun of this line, it does it itself.
"He was making a terrible situation even worse for his daughter. Fathers weren't supposed to make things worse." Honestly, Anita, things only seem to have gotten bad when you came in. Having Socrates speak to them (preferably a little later, maybe after this case) would have been a good idea. Anita speaking to anyone ever, let alone during a situation like this? Never, ever a good idea. She tells him she does know that and for some reason mentions she's lived with two shapeshifters for years now, prompting Wade to conclude that "They gave it to you" and Anita says his tone makes it sound like he's talking about AIDS. Um, well, it's been repeatedly likened to AIDS by Anita herself throughout the series, so...? Anita tells him they didn't, that she was cut up by a "bad guy" and another shapeshifter saved her. She also states that "the bad guy didn't mean to contaminate me, he meant to kill me." Firstly, I don't see why that latter bit is going to make them see shifters in a better light. Secondly, if you're trying to make them see this as something NOT like a disease, since apparently that's bad now, then using words like 'contaminate' is not the greatest idea either.
Bad Guys: 2
Socrates tells Wade that his sister felt the same way Wade does, and as a result he hasn't seen her or his nephew in five years and "Mama and the rest of us miss them" and Wade says "You mean you miss your family" and nope, Socrates explains that he sees his Mama and the rest of the family every holiday, that he goes to "all the birthday parties, ball games, and school plays I can manage" and that it's his sister who split from the family instead, not him. And of course the meanie-poo sister's oldest child "got involved with a gang, and I went down there and helped him out of it, because gangbangers are just as scared of wereanimals as you are." And surely would never have any wereanimals of their own among their ranks like, oh, say, the very gangbanger shapeshifter that turned you? And Socrates made the boy do a total 180 and now he's on the honor roll and might have a football scholarship to a good college...and then for some reason Socrates starts telling Wade about how "His father was bigger than me, built more like your boys and you."
Wade asks if Socrates played ball (he doesn't specify what kind but I guess football) in high school, Socrates says yes and mentions how the father of the nephew was in gangs and into drugs too and Anita tells us how she's letting them talk because "this moment wasn't about me" Okay, well, uh, thanks for announcing it and thus making it about you, then. Wade says he coaches a city school and they "lose a lot of kids like that" and asks if his nephew plays locally and Socrates says no, in Detroit, and tells them his name and because all black people live in either Detroit or Harlem (that's sarcasm btw) it turns out Em knows him and they went to football camp together and he was the only guy as fast and big as Em. Wade says he remembers him too and asks what college he's being scouted by "and just like that, they started talking football" and "Socrates moved Wade and Em off to one side to talk football and colleges"
I guess it was a good move to get them on common ground and see that shifters can be into football and stuff like them, but...it's kind of insensitive with Laila lying right there. Robert is still with Laila and Anita goes and puts her hand on hers and Laila looks a little startled because "we didn't know each other that well" and Anita gives the baffling line of "I don't wanna go steady or anything" before telling her there's nothing wrong with her and that she's good. Laila shakes her head and reminds Anita how she is going to lose her badge. Anita says they can't take it yet, Laila says they will though, and Anita admits probably but if she does get to keep it at least she'll be the "first full lycanthrope to ever manage it" and then adds that she's all healed up thanks to the lycanthropy. Laila says that "they're trying to talk me into a government safe house where I won't be a danger to others." Considering that Anita herself admitted Laila will be dangerous the week before the full moon, this is probably a good thing, unless there's something wrong with the way the government runs said safehouses, which I could totally believe, but Anita just says they're "bullshit" because the Supreme Court is going to decide this year that they're "unlawful detainment" and tells Laila again she's not a danger to others....um, remember how Anita was telling Bernardo how young or new shifters will sometimes shift during sex and try to eat their partner?
Laila tells Anita that "I will be" and Anita admits "Yeah, for the first few months, or even the first couple of years near the full moon" OH WELL THAT'S FINE THEN and then she tells her about how if she joins a pack they'll help her out and make sure she's in a safe place during that time. She fails to mention the disgusting abusive hierarchies and traditions that wereanimal groups, even the "good" ones, have been shown as running on. Admittedly that would upset her more, but somebody should warn her. Anita asks Laila what "flavor of wereanimal" she is, and Laila understandably asks "Flavor?" and Anita tells her what she meant, Laila says werewolf, and Anita is like okay then pack is the right word. Laila says she knows some therian terms from class, and Anita says "You'll have to step up because you've studied werewolves" and I don't know what she means by that but Laila says she's studied their crimes and starts crying and Robert looks at Anita as if to say 'do something' and "I was strangely used to large, athletic men looking to me to fix thing." *FACEDESK* Seriously, Anita, it really says a lot about where your head actually is that you take time to tell us stuff like this about how great you are...of course, considering you started this out by thinking about which one of her brothers would have a better six-pack, I already knew where said priorities were.
Flavor: 1
Anita demands that Laila look at her, which she does after Anita yells at her. Anita realizes she wants to cry a little herself too, lest we dare feel sorry for Laila I guess. She asks if Laila wants to catch the man that did this to her, she nods, and Anita tells her to "get up, get dressed, get your gear, and let's go catch the bastard." Laila starts to say that she can't, but Anita says thanks to the lycanthropy she's healed from her stab wounds and therefore she's just fine and good to go (because psychological trauma isn't a thing, it's not like she's going to have any trouble getting her head back in the game, right?) so "Get the fuck up, get dressed, and help us catch the monster that tried to kill you." Laila looks startled, which is understandable, and somehow the only flaw that Wade finds with what she just said is that reminds her to watch her language with the f-word. Anita tells us she doesn't apologize to him because this "was about Laila and me." Mostly me, of course!
Anita asks again if Laila wants to catch the guy that did this, Laila says yes, Anita is like okay let's do it, Laila asks if she means it, Anita says hell yes and the term "bad guys" is used again. Laila is moved to tears again, but they are happy this time, Robert mouths 'thank you' to Anita, and Anita gives us a short inner monologue about how it's not always about catching the bad guys but instead sometimes about helping the other good guys feel better and that's just as important.
Bad Guys: 4
Okay, on one hand, Anita was genuinely trying to help someone else out here, and even if it ended up just being a show of how saintly and awesome she is and people loving her for it, that's still a decent, even heroic thing to do, and Anita has been pretty bad at doing decent and/or heroic things, so this is an improvement. It's also pretty nice that apparently the ONE woman Anita has been friendly with so far is not being written out of the book after fulfilling the Token Girl-Bonding Scene To Show Anita Isn't A Sexist bit, which I originally though she would be after her attack. So, from a writing standpoint, this is good. But in-universe...this is actually a really bad idea, in my opinion. Laila may physically be okay, but mentally she's still probably in a really vulnerable state. She'll likely be jumpier, more easily distracted, etc., and you can bet that this is going to let the bad guys mess with her head by taunting her about what they did. And come to that, isn't there some kind of policy about not letting cops chase after criminals they have grudge/history with? Because I think that 'infected me with lycanthropy and probably will cost me my badge' qualifies as that.
Oh well, it still turned out reasonably better than I thought for Laila...which isn't saying much, considering what I've come to expect from this series. Probably because she complimented Anita's curves AND skinny waist.
CHAPTER TALLIES
Bad Guys: 4
Flavor: 1
NOVEL TALLIES THUS FAR
Bad Guys: 15
Can't Say Penis: 18
Curves: 3
Dead Mother:1
Flavor: 3
Guy/Girl Stuff: 19
Manita: 7
Mood Ring Eyes: 3
Needless Re-clarification: 23
Non-Answer Answers: 3
Pretty To Think So: 2
Racial Angst: 1
Short: 12
Skinny Women Suck: 3
Smells Like Home: 3
Smile Doesn't Reach Eyes: 4
Sooo: 8
Spill: 4
Sweeties: 3
Things Low In My Body: 2
Wet and Tight: 1
What Does That Mean: 14
Whitebread: 3
...and I think that's because she is. I think this is a revenge fic on someone that actually exists and is based on something that actually happened. LKH has been pretty open that she and Jon her husband Jon are poly and have other lovers. I think one of those other lovers tried to bring their girlfriend into the fray. The girlfriend said some of the same things that Ellen did, LKH (who was probably already biased against her for existing and just looking for an excuse) took it as BIGOTRY and PERSECUTION and decided to vent via a petty hateful revenge fic and then share what should have just been a private fantasy (as is the case with most of her work these days) with the world under the pretense of it being a 'gift' the second she saw an opportunity (since I'm sure even her usually over-indulgent publishers told her that no way no how could this be charged for). I have no doubt that she'd indeed see such innocuous remarks, made from well-meaning wanting-to-learn ignorance rather than judgmental ignorance, as being the assaults that Anita treated them as. As we all know, she shelters herself from any criticism, seems to take anything less than praise as an attack, and pretty obviously has no idea what actual bigotry looks like, as has been discussed here regarding her portrayal of in AB. Add that one to her rampant hate-on for anything female potentially getting near her guys, or even just being near enough to get attention that should be going to her, and yeah, perfect storm.
I don't usually like to speculate on her life, it feels tacky and reaching and assumptive to a mean point, but she makes it very, very hard not to given how transparent she makes it that AB is a window in to her psyche, and once this thought entered my head about Ellen, the rest really just fell into place automatically.
I'd also like to add that I showed Dottie's spork of it to a friend of mine who is poly...said friend pretty much flipped her shit at Anita/LKH, and rightly so. It actually makes me glad I'm not poly too or I'd probably be even more appalled by the whole thing, if that's even possible.
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY
Anita talks about how small Laila looks in the bed, and how she looks "five, an earnest, sad five" because "her face was very round" and her hair is framing it "in tight waves". She also thinks she looks small and young because she's surrounded by three huge guys, all of them "at least six-four and built solid." This would be a more than adequate description for said men, but she goes on for a paragraph that takes up half the page to tell you how the two younger ones are really buff with barrel chests and trim waist but one has "a flat stomach that promised a real six-pack under the T-shirt" whereas the other one looks like he "hit the gym" but not as much as the other. Wow nice to see where your priorities are, Anita. Ogling and detailing mens bodies is honestly the last thing any decent person should be doing in this scenario. The third man looks like an older version of the other two, and Anita concludes they're the father and brothers of Laila.
Anita and Socrates go in, leaving Nicky and Lisandro in the hall. Presumably the rest of them are with Edward. Laila says Anita's name and looks like she's going to cry. "Jesus, all I'd done was come into the room." Something about this comes off as so self-centered to me, but that could be just because Anita is saying it. Anita says hey, Laila says these are indeed her dad and brothers, and Anita says "I remember you talking about them, and you vastly underestimated how damn big they all are." Um, no, that's not the right word, Anita. You mean she understated how big they are, not underestimated. Anyway, I guess this is super funny or something because it makes everybody smile and Anita talks about how dwarfed all these big men make itty bitty petite her feel. The dad is Wade, older brother is Robert, and younger brother Emmett and "Laila called him Em, immediately, as if his whole name were M, but Robert she always called by his full name." And there's no way you could have shown this through actual conversation or anything, you have to give us this infodump instead. Also, wow, Em would be pronounced M? GOOD THING YOU SPECIFIED, I'D HAVE BEEN CONFUSED OTHERWISE ON HOW TO PRONOUNCE THE 'EM' SOUND!
Anita introduced Socrates as Russell Jones, which she tells us is his real name, and that the practice of werehyenas being given nicknames "usually from Greek philosophers or mythological characters" is indeed just a Narcissus thing, not a species-wide thing done by all werehyenas. I've been wanting to know this for a long time, so I'm glad it was finally addressed. I'm also glad that my guess of it being a Narci-thing and not a general hyena-thing was correct, yay! "A lot of animal groups had naming conventions for some reason." You mean WEREanimal groups. The 'were' part is important, especially since it literally means 'man' and thus specifically defines them as human first, something you grossly fail to do both in practice and, as illustrated here, in your phrasing. Secondly, have we seen any wereanimal groups besides Narcissus' Cackle that have naming conventions? I know there's the Faustian Weretiger Brigade, but those were specifically stated to have been named by a vampire, so I don't think they'd count.
Anita says Russell/Socrates used to be a cop, Laila asks about the used to be part, he tells her that "a gangbanger turned out to be a shapeshifter and cut me up" and Laila looks like she's gonna cry again as she realizes he must be a shifter then too. Anita "felt the men around me tense, as if his saying it out loud made it more real or made them feel insecure" and goes on this huge spiel about how big strong guys like this are used to being the toughest and being able to gauge how tough other people are by looking at them but since it's not that way with shifter, who have super-strength even if they're bitty thinks like precious Micah, make it so that "size wasn't everything now; it was probably not a thought that the Karlton men had to think very often." Actually, no, Anita, it probably is. Remember, this is a universe where vampires and werebeasts and witches all walk among us, and they look like everyone else (well, they're supposed to; for some reason Anita tends to encounter mainly absurdly beautiful ones). So in this world, it actually should be a given for most people as they move through the world that the strength/toughness/etc of someone is in fact a total wild card until you're sure they're a mundane human. LKH is failing here to think of the perspective of someone who actually lives in her world and always has, and is instead just defaulting to the perspective that someone in our world would have if the rules of her world suddenly applied instead. It's a small thing, but it makes a big impact in terms of how authentic and real she makes her world seem...and in this case, that impact is a negative one due to said failure. About the only thing that can make this sort-of-kind-of workable is that Laila showed astounding ignorance, for a person who supposedly lives in this world, about vampires, suggesting she comes from a background where she didn't meet any, so perhaps they're all from some place where there are no supernaturals or only 'closeted' ones...but that still, in my opinion, doesn't mean that it would rarely enter their heads that someone could have supernatural powers, since they live in a world where that's commonplace and they know it, even if they don't run into them a lot themselves. Seriously, how can we get 'into' her world if even the characters can't seem to?
And then Anita thinks that she "felt something" in their posture and faces that "looked angry" and that the younger brother in particular has "fear underneath that anger." Considering how bad Anita is at reading people/assuming *logical* reactions to things, I can't help but doubt that this is the real case. Even if it is, however, they haven't said anything, so I find it still out of line that she scolds them "Jesus, people, you act like Russell is going to shift on the spot and go on a rampage." Anita tells us the brothers look embarrassed by this, and I would be too if this random woman accused me out of the blue of something that I gave no indication of. Like, there aren't other reasons they could be tense in a situation where a beloved family member has just suffered a serious assault and has now been inflicted with a life-altering disease and a stranger has brought in someone with that same disease and you don't know who they are and if you trust them to make her feel better? Like, seriously, they may just be tense because they don't want someone around Laila to talk to her about her condition if they're a stranger because said stranger may be a really terrible talker and just make her feel worse. Or maybe it's just a little fucking soon for her to be talking about it, considering she's still in the hospital and on the brink of tears and can't even say the word shapeshifter?
The father "kept his anger and his cool" and tells Anita that "It's nothing personal to Mr. Jones, but he is contaminated with something that turns him into an animal." Well, this is 100% true. And considering Laila is in a position that, to a large predator like most therians turn into, looks like lunch (wounded, weak, etc.) I wouldn't want a therian I didn't know around her either. After all, Wade Karlton has no idea how much control this dude does or doesn't have! All Anita thinks of this, however, is that "I was beginning to realize where some of the problems were coming from with Laila." Anita asks to speak to Wade out in the hall, he says he isn't comfortable leaving his children alone with Mr. Jones. Anita assures him Mr. Jones works with her and is here to help catch the shifter who infected Laila. Wade says that "It takes a monster to catch a monster" and I know we're supposed to see this as bad, but given the confusion I've mentioned before of just what "monster" means in this universe, he might just mean 'monster' as in 'supernatural' and that's the same logic Anita herself used when she poo-pooed all about how regular cops can't handle the monsters.
Laila tells him that Socrates/Russell Jones is just like her, a cop who got attacked on the job, and asks if he thinks she's a monster too, he says he'd never think that, she says he does because he won't even hold her hand. Okay, that I can't think of a reasonable explanation for, but considering they were clearly going to be straw-bigots from the start, I'm not surprised. Wade even then tries to MAKE himself hold Laila's hand but can't bring himself to touch her. Em, however, does, and glares at his father. Robert puts his hand on her too and can't look at anyone because there's tears in his eyes as he turns away. Okay, this is a sensitive as fuck situation and I really, really think Anita and Socrates need to get out of there now and wait for when this isn't so fresh. I would say this even if Anita were a nice decent person, but considering Anita is...not that...I really, really think she needs to GTFO before she makes things horrible.
Anita tells Wade he needs to talk to her outside now, and that Russell will talk with Laila. Wade says he can't leave his boys with him. Under most circumstances, I'd think Wade was being a dick, but considering his daughter was just nearly killed by a shifter and her life is now going to get a lot worse before it gets better because of it, I utterly do NOT blame him for being irrational against ever letting ANY shifter EVER get near his children. Seriously, this just happened to Laila, and now Anita wants him to leave all of his kids alone with a strange shifter. Now, would that be bigoted and wrong if I replaced "strange shifter" with "strange insert-minority-here"? Yes. But real-life minorities are not inherently super-powered beings, some of whom have extreme difficulty controlling themselves from hurting/killing/eating people if they're newbies (and common mis-information among the public is, as we've seen, that shifters can't control themselves in general) and they don't know which kind Socrates is.
But because Anita has no sense of logic *or* empathy, she just decides "That was it, I'd been nice." and goes off on Wade for saying "Your boys, as if Laila isn't your girl anymore" and that Laila won't even change until next month on the full moon and "she's still your daughter. She's still everything she ever was." Laila speaks up and points out she isn't a US Marshal anymore, that her badge is going to be taken. Anita asks if she was told that, Laila says no but you know the rules (lol, yeah, but that doesn't mean they ever apply to her!) and Anita says those are the rules for regular cops but that the preternatural branch is "a little more flexible." Okay, since when? In all the time we've had Anita fretting about getting her badge yanked for being a vampire-panwere (and it never happening because she's special and won't ever shift or fuck up, and if she does well SHE'S SPECIAL DAMMIT) this has never been mentioned, at least not to my memory.
Laila points out that the reason Anita's badge hasn't been taken is because she doesn't shift. Anita says that they can't take Laila's badge until she shifts...uh, so she's got a month, then? Way to make things better there, Anita *eyeroll* Em asks if Anita is a shifter too, she says no, that she just carries lycanthropy (she fails to mention she also carries four kinds of ailuranthropy, one of which comes in five colors!) but that she doesn't shift. Wade says she will eventually, Anita says she's been like this for two years, and tells him how she gets the benefits of healing and super-strength and such but not changing shape because, y'know, that might inconvenience her and we can't have that. Anita really, really shouldn't have brought this up in my opinion, because it's clearly given them all some false hope, as Em asks if maybe Laila will be like that too. Anita says no she'll probably shift but "until the week of her first full moon she won't be a danger to anyone." SO SHE WILL, AT SOME POINT THEN, BE A DANGER TO PEOPLE. SO THERE IS A REASON FOR THEM TO BE UPSET AND AFRAID OF THIS, AND YOU ARE DOING FUCK ALL TO ADDRESS WHAT TO DO DURING THAT TIME.
Wade tells her she doesn't know that and Anita mentions how she's good at being tough while staring up at tall people like him and "I let him see the anger in my eyes, because I was angry with him."
I let him see the anger in my eyes because I was angry with him.
I LET HIM SEE THE ANGER IN MY EYES BECAUSE I WAS ANGRY WITH HIM.
I just...I don't even know how to make fun of this line, it does it itself.
"He was making a terrible situation even worse for his daughter. Fathers weren't supposed to make things worse." Honestly, Anita, things only seem to have gotten bad when you came in. Having Socrates speak to them (preferably a little later, maybe after this case) would have been a good idea. Anita speaking to anyone ever, let alone during a situation like this? Never, ever a good idea. She tells him she does know that and for some reason mentions she's lived with two shapeshifters for years now, prompting Wade to conclude that "They gave it to you" and Anita says his tone makes it sound like he's talking about AIDS. Um, well, it's been repeatedly likened to AIDS by Anita herself throughout the series, so...? Anita tells him they didn't, that she was cut up by a "bad guy" and another shapeshifter saved her. She also states that "the bad guy didn't mean to contaminate me, he meant to kill me." Firstly, I don't see why that latter bit is going to make them see shifters in a better light. Secondly, if you're trying to make them see this as something NOT like a disease, since apparently that's bad now, then using words like 'contaminate' is not the greatest idea either.
Bad Guys: 2
Socrates tells Wade that his sister felt the same way Wade does, and as a result he hasn't seen her or his nephew in five years and "Mama and the rest of us miss them" and Wade says "You mean you miss your family" and nope, Socrates explains that he sees his Mama and the rest of the family every holiday, that he goes to "all the birthday parties, ball games, and school plays I can manage" and that it's his sister who split from the family instead, not him. And of course the meanie-poo sister's oldest child "got involved with a gang, and I went down there and helped him out of it, because gangbangers are just as scared of wereanimals as you are." And surely would never have any wereanimals of their own among their ranks like, oh, say, the very gangbanger shapeshifter that turned you? And Socrates made the boy do a total 180 and now he's on the honor roll and might have a football scholarship to a good college...and then for some reason Socrates starts telling Wade about how "His father was bigger than me, built more like your boys and you."
Wade asks if Socrates played ball (he doesn't specify what kind but I guess football) in high school, Socrates says yes and mentions how the father of the nephew was in gangs and into drugs too and Anita tells us how she's letting them talk because "this moment wasn't about me" Okay, well, uh, thanks for announcing it and thus making it about you, then. Wade says he coaches a city school and they "lose a lot of kids like that" and asks if his nephew plays locally and Socrates says no, in Detroit, and tells them his name and because all black people live in either Detroit or Harlem (that's sarcasm btw) it turns out Em knows him and they went to football camp together and he was the only guy as fast and big as Em. Wade says he remembers him too and asks what college he's being scouted by "and just like that, they started talking football" and "Socrates moved Wade and Em off to one side to talk football and colleges"
I guess it was a good move to get them on common ground and see that shifters can be into football and stuff like them, but...it's kind of insensitive with Laila lying right there. Robert is still with Laila and Anita goes and puts her hand on hers and Laila looks a little startled because "we didn't know each other that well" and Anita gives the baffling line of "I don't wanna go steady or anything" before telling her there's nothing wrong with her and that she's good. Laila shakes her head and reminds Anita how she is going to lose her badge. Anita says they can't take it yet, Laila says they will though, and Anita admits probably but if she does get to keep it at least she'll be the "first full lycanthrope to ever manage it" and then adds that she's all healed up thanks to the lycanthropy. Laila says that "they're trying to talk me into a government safe house where I won't be a danger to others." Considering that Anita herself admitted Laila will be dangerous the week before the full moon, this is probably a good thing, unless there's something wrong with the way the government runs said safehouses, which I could totally believe, but Anita just says they're "bullshit" because the Supreme Court is going to decide this year that they're "unlawful detainment" and tells Laila again she's not a danger to others....um, remember how Anita was telling Bernardo how young or new shifters will sometimes shift during sex and try to eat their partner?
Laila tells Anita that "I will be" and Anita admits "Yeah, for the first few months, or even the first couple of years near the full moon" OH WELL THAT'S FINE THEN and then she tells her about how if she joins a pack they'll help her out and make sure she's in a safe place during that time. She fails to mention the disgusting abusive hierarchies and traditions that wereanimal groups, even the "good" ones, have been shown as running on. Admittedly that would upset her more, but somebody should warn her. Anita asks Laila what "flavor of wereanimal" she is, and Laila understandably asks "Flavor?" and Anita tells her what she meant, Laila says werewolf, and Anita is like okay then pack is the right word. Laila says she knows some therian terms from class, and Anita says "You'll have to step up because you've studied werewolves" and I don't know what she means by that but Laila says she's studied their crimes and starts crying and Robert looks at Anita as if to say 'do something' and "I was strangely used to large, athletic men looking to me to fix thing." *FACEDESK* Seriously, Anita, it really says a lot about where your head actually is that you take time to tell us stuff like this about how great you are...of course, considering you started this out by thinking about which one of her brothers would have a better six-pack, I already knew where said priorities were.
Flavor: 1
Anita demands that Laila look at her, which she does after Anita yells at her. Anita realizes she wants to cry a little herself too, lest we dare feel sorry for Laila I guess. She asks if Laila wants to catch the man that did this to her, she nods, and Anita tells her to "get up, get dressed, get your gear, and let's go catch the bastard." Laila starts to say that she can't, but Anita says thanks to the lycanthropy she's healed from her stab wounds and therefore she's just fine and good to go (because psychological trauma isn't a thing, it's not like she's going to have any trouble getting her head back in the game, right?) so "Get the fuck up, get dressed, and help us catch the monster that tried to kill you." Laila looks startled, which is understandable, and somehow the only flaw that Wade finds with what she just said is that reminds her to watch her language with the f-word. Anita tells us she doesn't apologize to him because this "was about Laila and me." Mostly me, of course!
Anita asks again if Laila wants to catch the guy that did this, Laila says yes, Anita is like okay let's do it, Laila asks if she means it, Anita says hell yes and the term "bad guys" is used again. Laila is moved to tears again, but they are happy this time, Robert mouths 'thank you' to Anita, and Anita gives us a short inner monologue about how it's not always about catching the bad guys but instead sometimes about helping the other good guys feel better and that's just as important.
Bad Guys: 4
Okay, on one hand, Anita was genuinely trying to help someone else out here, and even if it ended up just being a show of how saintly and awesome she is and people loving her for it, that's still a decent, even heroic thing to do, and Anita has been pretty bad at doing decent and/or heroic things, so this is an improvement. It's also pretty nice that apparently the ONE woman Anita has been friendly with so far is not being written out of the book after fulfilling the Token Girl-Bonding Scene To Show Anita Isn't A Sexist bit, which I originally though she would be after her attack. So, from a writing standpoint, this is good. But in-universe...this is actually a really bad idea, in my opinion. Laila may physically be okay, but mentally she's still probably in a really vulnerable state. She'll likely be jumpier, more easily distracted, etc., and you can bet that this is going to let the bad guys mess with her head by taunting her about what they did. And come to that, isn't there some kind of policy about not letting cops chase after criminals they have grudge/history with? Because I think that 'infected me with lycanthropy and probably will cost me my badge' qualifies as that.
Oh well, it still turned out reasonably better than I thought for Laila...which isn't saying much, considering what I've come to expect from this series. Probably because she complimented Anita's curves AND skinny waist.
CHAPTER TALLIES
Bad Guys: 4
Flavor: 1
NOVEL TALLIES THUS FAR
Bad Guys: 15
Can't Say Penis: 18
Curves: 3
Dead Mother:1
Flavor: 3
Guy/Girl Stuff: 19
Manita: 7
Mood Ring Eyes: 3
Needless Re-clarification: 23
Non-Answer Answers: 3
Pretty To Think So: 2
Racial Angst: 1
Short: 12
Skinny Women Suck: 3
Smells Like Home: 3
Smile Doesn't Reach Eyes: 4
Sooo: 8
Spill: 4
Sweeties: 3
Things Low In My Body: 2
Wet and Tight: 1
What Does That Mean: 14
Whitebread: 3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 09:41 pm (UTC)Laila gets no agency at all about what has happened to her. First she's described as a little girl. Then she's ordered to get out of bed, and she'll likely be shoved into a werewolf pack, and be forced to give up every shred of humanity because that turns LKH on. No, it's certainly not like AIDS; AIDS does not make you a danger to others, it does not draft you into a horrible culture in which you will be raped regularly, and it does not leave you susceptible to mind control by extremely stupid, narcissistic, rape-obsessed people who dress badly. AIDS is far preferable to LKH's therianthropy.
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Date: 2013-10-12 09:55 pm (UTC)Ugggh, you are so right about the agency thing, ick ick ick.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-12 10:06 pm (UTC)Oh, and about making guesses about LKH's life because of her writing: I think it's completely fine. I think it's always completely fine (the nature of the guesses is another matter), but in LKH's case, especially so. She answered a question about sex in the books with something about her own sex life, and Jean-Claude apparently tells her how to dress. I think your guess is a good one, btw. I was thinking maybe an online critic had said something like Ellen and Richard did -- one of the quotes from Richard REALLY sounded like it -- and this was her response.
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Date: 2013-10-17 11:00 pm (UTC)I just love the fact that you included the last sin on that list. Yes, dressing badly is not really ont he same page as rape and stupidity, but in the LKHverse it is a problem that needs to be mentioned:D
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 03:12 am (UTC)I can't bring myself to read the thing. Dancing was just godawful and after the week we had I don't think I could face this without going off the rails.
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Date: 2013-10-13 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 08:02 am (UTC)DOWN WITH THE-
Give me that megaphone Erik...
Go away Anita. Get her to victim services. Report it to the necessary authorities. And then, again, GTFO.
Pepper!
Rational commentary Charles. Drastic times call for drastic initialisms.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 04:12 pm (UTC)MADE MY MORNING!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 06:52 pm (UTC)But, commenting to your suspicions regarding "Ellen", this whole short 'gift' smacks of a revenge fantasy made public.
I think Ellen is not only a real person but she's someone who took one of LKH's guys away - either the ex-husband's new wife (who she, perhaps, blames for her husband not being okay with her, uh, sexual demands, never mind the chronological order of events) or the fiancee of a newer lover who was all, "Yeah, no" to either polyamory in general or to LKH & Jon in particular populating their poly-love-web-thingy. Either way, the fiancee told the guy to make a choice - her or LKH & Jon - and the guy chose the other woman.
I think this mostly because the end, where Ellen flies off of the rails, seems not to "match" the previous tone of the character. "Ellen" is one way all the way up to the end where "Richard" has to make a choice. In the story, he chooses Anita and "Ellen" has an abrupt personality transplant... so that's probably where the mix of reality and fantasy (lover introducing fiancee/girlfriend to other lovers and what LKH was hoping that she saw/thought when she looked at LKH & Jon) became pure fantasy (lover choosing them over new life with new woman). But "Ellen" has to change and be wrong and have emotional unevenness otherwise the reader might be left with the impression that Anita/LKH was wrong and that's just not on!
(I admit, I've only read sporkings but there were quotes. And summaries of a seemingly reasonable person trying to be civil with an unreasonable person and being embarrassed when the unreasonable person behaved badly in public... not that the unreasonable person interpreted "Ellen's" reactions that way. "Ellen" was jealousy, obviously! And doesn't understand complicated poly love! The summaries of the BDSM bits sound more like a summary of a defiant personal BDSM manifesto or a reply to some scathing things that "Ellen" might have said in the face of whatever LKH & Jon expected/demanded. It smacks of that zinger you think of long after the other party has left the room... or the restaurant.)
Also, there are personal details mentioned in the sporkings that don't match the established relationship between Anita and Richard but would match the slot/position of a third with LKH & Jon. And, well, I'm pretty sure that LKH owns those exact boots. I remember reading about them in one of the blog lashes and thinking "Oh, geez. I wouldn't've liked those books when I was thirteen and I don't like them now. They're hideous!" Pictures posted by, er, someone, didn't improve my opinion of them.
So, yeah. This, like that awful flirting-with-the-poor-waiter scene, is probably one of those things that really happened in LKH's life, mixed with a heavy dose of winning!-and-revenge-fantasy.
*forcibly restrains self from commenting on poor, poor Laila in favor of reading the chapters in the order that they were meant to enrage me!*
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 07:11 pm (UTC)I completely agree. I think I can even pinpoint the exact time in the story where that happened: page 18.
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Date: 2013-10-13 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 07:29 pm (UTC)And yuuup, all sounds likely to me!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-13 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-14 10:07 pm (UTC)/how she looks "five, an earnest, sad five"/
Five in terms of height or age? Because either way, that phrase is awkward and inappropriate.
/"Jesus, all I'd done was come into the room."/
Oh, yeah, because it’s not like she’s about to cry because of her situation. No, it’s all about you. Self-centered twit.
The rest of this section is just Anita being a presumptuous, self-righteous, and unfeeling moron like she always is.
/"Get the fuck up,/
Wow, Anita is so sensitive. This poor woman has just been attacked and traumatized and yet Anita couldn’t care less. I wonder what Anita’s reaction would be if she were the one bedridden in a hospital, surrounded by her harem, and someone said this exact same thing to her and refused to apologize to Micah, Nathaniel, or whoever objected to this stunning display of callousness and rudeness.