HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART TWO
Oct. 19th, 2013 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_sporking_rat-I'd like to read about Micah/Nathaniel/Anita a lot more if they did more stuff like this
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3144
- I much prefer this Domino to the weretiger one
http://theratretreat.org/2013/10/18/domino-adopted/
- I know a lot of you guys are writers, and I believe I've mentioned that I'm working on my first serious novel...I just finished the second draft, and I am feeling kind of burnt out on the whole thing, am more mentally enthusiastic about the ideas of other projects, etc. Should I soldier on, or take a break to work on said other things? What works best, in your experience? I'm just worried that if I set it aside now, I might never come back to it.
- I am always thinking up new characters. I can't really stop myself. It's part of why I want to write loads of novels, so I can get them all out. What I love specifically about vampire characters is that it leads me to, in the process of researching the time periods they existed in and throughout, learning loads of things I never would have looked into otherwise. For instance, recently a gorgeous black vampire with incredible cheekbones came to my mind, who works in a modern-day shoe boutique, and when I tried to think of his original time, powdered wigs and lacy sleeves and such just seemed to FIT, as did a lavish lifestyle and surroundings. So I tried to see where that would be possible for him, and it turns out there totally were black noblemen in the 1700s French court of Versailles! I never would have guessed! And while looking into things for an odalisque character, I found out about "The Reign of Women" which was a nearly 130-year period during the 16th and 17th centuries when the women of the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence. Many of the Sultans during this time were minors and it was their mothers, leaders of the Harem, who effectively ruled the Empire. Most of these women were of slave origin AND YET THEY RULED THE FUCKING OTTOMAN EMPIRE! How awesome is that?
Know what's NOT awesome, though? This chapter segment. Sorry. Speaking of it though, I was thinking more about Lisandro and his possible sex addiction, and I realized, he didn't have that in Bullet. Remember, Anita said that prior to the rape, he'd always refused to sign up as ardeur-food because of his wife. He was able to not only say no to Anita but turn down a situation where it would be 'justifiable' for him sleep with her because, oh, well, it's not like he's doing it for any reason but to help his boss out, right? It wasn't until AFTER the ardeur-orgy that he found himself being unable to say no to sex with hot women despite how loyal he clearly is to his wife. I think this problem of his is a direct result of being raped. It's not unusual at all in rape victims to exhibit this kind of behavior afterward, I can't believe I didn't see it before. HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS UNINTENTIONALLY, LKH?! HOW?!
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART TWO
Anita tells Bernardo he's not responsible for her, Bernardo says he knows that but it doesn't matter because Edward meant it, Anita says she'll talk to him, Bernardo says she can try but if Olaf actually kills her "once Edward kills him, then we're all dead. Me, because he said he'd do it, and the rest of the men because they were your bodyguards and they failed. He'll kill us all, so do us a favor, stay alive, okay?" Eh, I doubt this. Edward's characterization has always been of someone who was cold to the core and very, very rational despite his dangerous interests. I think he would kill Olaf for taking away the hunt of his life, yes, especially for the troublesome investigation it might result in, but I don't see him as doing any vengeance on anyone beyond that. It's too emotional, and too impractical in terms of attracting attention and getting himself caught. I think he'll be disappointed, but move on quite swiftly with no fanfare whatsoever. Of course, in the interest of keeping said hunt of his life alive, he may have led Bernardo to believe that this is indeed the case; after all, we've never seen just what kind of persona he has when it's just him and Bernardo. Maybe he puts on the act of someone who *would* react like this.
Anita says she can take care of herself, Bernardo says that "Edward's grief if you die will be a terrible thing." Lol, I don't think Edward grieves. At least not in any normal human sense. "It will hurt him, a lot" LOL NOPE "and men like him make sure they never grieve alone. He will spread his grief all over us, not because we failed, but because it'll give him something to focus on so he doesn't have to feel the pain." Anita is dense enough to ask what he means, Bernardo is like HE'LL KILL US ALL! And Nicky has to join in with "So, killing us all will give him a goal, things to do, so he doesn't have to feel" THAT IS WHAT BERNARDO JUST SAID! And Nicky adds it could be a form of suicide too. I can kind of maybe see this as an explanation for why Edward does what he does in general, but ugh why does it have to be allll about Aniiiiittaaa and how much she meeeeans to him? Between Edward and Olaf, what is she, the Pseudo-Sociopath Whisperer or something?
What Does That Mean: 1
Anita says she doesn't think she's important enough for Edward to risk leaving Donna and the kids, and Bernardo goes on another big paragraph basically restating that losing Anita will drive Edward off the deep end and he will "drown the world in blood" especially if he blames himself. So, uh, I think it was just stated that Anita is worth more to him than Donna and the kids. Because she's Anita. Anita, modest thing that she is, "wanted to protest" but thinks about what she would do if Edward were tortured to death and she thought she were to blame, and concludes that "I wouldn't kill tons of people, but anyone I thought was responsible for it--they'd be dead." Lest anyone here think that sounds too reasonable, let me remind you of Anita's definition of 'responsible' with how she threatened death against those two weretiger guards if anything happened to Ethan. "I had more rules than Edward did" yeeeah, I think that depends what about.
"I didn't want Nicky and the boys dead, and I'd talk to Edward about that, and Bernardo. They didn't deserve that, but Olaf dead at Edward's hands, oh, hell yes." Yeees. "The thought that Edward would probably kill him slowly was like a warm, happy though." UHHHHH.
Anita tells Bernardo again she'll talk to Edward, Bernardo tells her again how it won't help and "I've known Edward for years. I've seen him do things he wouldn't do in front you." AKA he's hiding shit from you, Anita, think about that. Bernardo says he'd want almost anyone else after him, and Anita says she agrees with that, Bernardo says "All that and you're going to concentrate on just that part?" and Anita is like what else should I say and we get this...utterly nonsensical response from Bernardo: "God, you really are a guy, I mean, you look like a girl, but that is such a guy thing. You ignore all the emotional shit and grab onto that Edward is dangerous." I...WHAT...BUT HOW DOES THAT EVEN...I CAN'T BEGIN TO BEGIN HERE!
Guy/Girl Stuff: 1
Manita: 1
...and then Nicky asks if Bernardo is "always this much of a pussy?" um what. Bernardo glares at Nicky because wtf dude and Anita talks about fighting body language and how fights begin and how people have all these ideas that are ALL WRONG about it and how she knows better and also implies only men fight...which, considering how even WERETIGER women don't seem to know how to do anything but light slaps, might be true in the Anitaverse. "Nicky smiled, which was another way to egg the other man on. It was escalating the fight without most women realizing what he'd done, but I wasn't most women." Yes, I as a woman completely always miss how smug, taunting, etc. smiles work, that makes complete fucking sense and isn't ridiculous at all. Seriously, some of her man/woman shit is just the same crap you hear from our culture to some degree or another, but some, like this, I just have no clue how she comes up with. Anita tells Nicky "Don't" and Nicky tries but fails to look innocent. Bernardo steps forward, Anita tells them "We are not fighting over stupid shit" and I would like to remind everyone of how she jumped Julia in Bullet for less.
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Bernardo tells her "you're not my boss, not yet" and remember how both Domino AND Jacob (or was it Nicky?) said the same thing, with the 'not yet' at the end, before she got them? Bernardo, you're human and not white, so you'll probably be safe from sex with her (unless it's a one-time rape thing like with Lisandro, but I doubt it since, unlike him, you haven't had the nerve to NOT want to screw her and thus piss LKH off) but that doesn't mean you won't end up taking orders from her, I'm sure. And you know it, clearly, poor dude. Anita says she doesn't know what he means by not yet but that "we're not wasting time having a pissing contest." yeah, we're supposed to be wasting time talking about Anita instead! Lisandro explains that "Bernardo's new. You haven't told Nicky that he can't fight him for real, and Nicky's been spoiling for a real fight for awhile." Anita says Nicky spars with the other guards, Lisandro says that's not real, Anita asks Nicky what she's missed here, Nicky says he doesn't know what she means, Anita asks why he wants to fight Bernardo for real, Nicky doesn't answer, Anita says "Answer my question, Nicky" which is eerily reminiscent of how my mom talked to me as a kid when I was in trouble.
"He frowned, sighed, and answered, because he had to; if I made it a direct question he had no choice but to answer me." And see, if it were me, I'd therefore never ask him a direct question unless it was truly life or death, because that's exploiting what you did to him, which I don't think anyone who truly felt remorse about it, as Anita claims to, would do. Nicky says "I don't hurt people because no one's paying me to do it, and you've told me I'm not allowed to kill anyone who belongs to you even if they start the fight" and so therefore he doesn't fight because if he can't kill others, he might get killed...which suggests Anita is still running a very sucky ship if people still have to worry about this kind of thing. Anita repeats that he gets to spar, he says "It's not the same thing, Anita. It's so not the same thing." Anita asks if he wants to fight Bernardo just to hurt or kill him, he says he does want to hurt someone and a "tightness" runs over his body that makes Anita compare him to a coiled spring...so, uh, clearly this has been a problem for awhile, why the fuck does LISANDRO know about this and ANITA is only hearing of it now? She's his lover, Master, etc., and she didn't fucking know about this? I feel like you'd have to WORK at being this negligent!
Sooo: 1
Anita asks why, and he gives her "a look that wasn't friendly" and my personal guess is he wants to hurt someone because, even if he can't do anything against Anita, probably can't even think about it, he really fucking hates BEING HER MIND-SLAVE and is going crazy with rage over it. Anita compares this look to big cats in the zoo and how no matter how much room and toys they have there's always one that knows it's still a cage and wants out...yeah, sounds like what I was saying there. Nicky's single eye turns lion-amber, then back to blue, "his lion peeking out from the cage that I'd forged for it." Okay, so I was right. "A cage that it, and Nicky, resented. How had I not seen it?" That is a good question! "I hadn't wanted to see it, hadn't wanted to understand that no matter how tame he seemed" STOP WITH THIS 'TAMED' WORD PLEASE "Nicky was still the sociopath that I'd met a year ago." Yeah, the one who...never actually did anything sociopathic before you ate his mind yet supposedly was such a big bad one. "I hadn't changed him; I'd just broken him to my will. Crap." WTF SINCE WHEN IS THIS NEWS TO YOU ANITA?!
And then he changes posture and she spends a paragraph talking about it basically now his position is "softer" and Nicky says he can feel that she feels bad now and a little sad for what she did to him and that he doesn't want her to feel bad. WELL, DUH, BRIDE, REMEMBER? He also has "pain in his face, a frowning effort to understand what he was feeling." Yeah, it must be hard being forced to feel things you wouldn't naturally feel because of magical enslavement. Anita touches his face, and he "nestled his cheek against my small hand" lest we forget how delicate and dainty she is and then "something hard and unpleasant went out of him. He was my Nicky again, or what I'd begin to think of as mine." THIS IS SO GROSS. He presses her hand firmer against his cheek, and whispers "God."
Bernardo says that this is creepy. YES, YES IT IS, THANK YOU BERNARDO. Olaf says that "You have tamed him like a pet cat." And then Nicky is tense again and "his beast vibrated like heat" Heat...vibrates? He glares at Olaf, but doesn't part with Anita, and wonder is "maybe the desire to be near me was stronger than his desire to look tough?" EVERYTHING EVER IS ABOUT ANITA AND HOW IMPORTANT SHE IS TO HER MEN.. Olaf said he'd heard that she'd reformed Nick through the ol' good-woman-changes-bad-man scenario but clearly it's something else, that he "had to make you feel better" and "could not abide you being even a little sad." Anita realizes that there is a "soft horror" in Olaf's face. Anita asks if Olaf and Nicky know each other.
Nicky move her hand but still holds it, Anita wonders if it bothered him that she hadn't touched him more since he arrived. He fondles her hand and looks at Olaf and says they know of each other. Anita asks what that means. Uh, that they might not know each other but they've heard of one another? Duh? Olaf explains that Jacob's pride had a reputation "for handling things that other mercenaries would not attempt. They were as good as their reputation until they came up against you, Anita." All she did was have sex with Nicky. That's seriously how she won. She was otherwise completely at their mercy except that Nicky and Jacob thought she was hot. Conveniently that is omitted so a new reader would probably assume something much more badass and logical happened. Anita wonders "how much Olaf actually knew about what Nicky's people ha tried to do last summer, and how badly they'd failed." If he knew how you'd won, I think you'd be seeing a lot of sneering disrespect from him about it. Although she does have the part right about how very, very badly they failed, because they were pretty inept (which means having her at their mercy is even more sucky on her part)
What Does That Mean: 2
Olaf asks if Anita really killed Silas with a blade. Anita tells us that she'd hurt him with one, after which he'd knocked her out and nearly killed her, and that she'd only finished him off with the blade after someone else had also shot him. She leaves out the fact that she never FOUGHT Silas . When she first wounded him, it's because he opened a door she was behind and he ran right into her big knife. Oh, and when she did kill him? Not only was he wounded and defenseless, unable to even walk, but she didn't have to do it. She said so herself earlier that she didn't need a human sacrifice to raise Ilsa...but then suddenly she claimed that she did after the intended sacrifice died, and Silas was used instead. She killed him while he was down BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO. Nicky tells Olaf that she did indeed (leaving out any of this, of course) and Olaf says that's really impressive considering how good she is with a blade, and again I would like to remind you of how SHE DIDN'T FIGHT HIM HE RAN INTO IT. Anita and Nicky squeeze each other's hands and Anita adds that "It wasn't as easy as it sounds" and I hate her lying ass so much and Nicky squeezes her hand again and Anita thinks he's trying to tell her not to overshare with Olaf which she agrees is a good idea...jeebus, someone else needs to tell her that?
Olaf then gushes some more about how tough and cool Anita is and how she must be "better than you have shown me." Lisandro says Anita broke his wrist so how much better does she have to show him? Olaf looks at Lisandro and his face/eyes/expression are compared to caves again, Lisandro gives him "cold eyes back" and someone (Lisandro?) says "Save the scary stares for civilians." Which...would be funny, since Lisandro is a civilian. Oh, wait, no, now he's a deputy!
Then Anita's phone rings. It plays Bad To The Bone. This is is her ringtone for Edward.
...
...
...
No words. I have no words. She blames Nathaniel for the ringtone and her own 'comical' inadequacy with technology for not being able to take them off, and Nicky doesn't want to let go of her hand as she tries to answer which "answered my question" regarding if she hasn't touched him enough. Don't you love how LKH keeps finding ways to make this Bride thing EVEN CREEPIER? It's really quite an accomplishment!
For some reason, she answers the phone with "something of a snarl" and it's Edward, he asks if everything is okay, she's like yeah what's going on, he asked if she ran into Olaf at the ER, she says he has a cast but it's not him that's the problem. She starts to walk away from the group, Nicky follows behind her, she starts to tell him not to but then recalls the guards not wanting her to be alone and "I didn't want to argue, I just wanted to talk to Edward." But Nicky is the only guard you wouldn't have to argue with because he CAN'T argue with you! She gets to someplace where the only one who can hear her is Nicky (which, considering therian hearing range, must be considerable!) and tells Edward about Olaf and Karen. Nicky pipes up that Karen looks like Anita, Anita says she does not, Edward is like what, she says what Nicky said and that she disagrees, Edward asks if Bernardo agrees, Anita says she doesn't know, OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO BASH MY HEAD IN AGAINST SOMETHING IF EDWARD DOESN'T JUST TELL HER WHATEVER IS UP AND THEY DON'T GET MOVING AGAIN.
Nicky puts his hand on her shoulder, she starts to move away, and then she doesn't because she feels bad about not touching him more earlier and "it felt good for his hand to be on my shoulder. It was like that with almost everyone who was tied to me metaphysically; it felt good to touch and be touched." Almost everyone? I wonder who the exception is? Maybe Richard? Edward says that if Bernardo thinks Karen looks like Anita, then she does...I have no idea why Bernardo is the ultimate judge on who looks like Anita or not? Anita repeats she has no idea what Bernardo thinks and they already know that "I fit his victim profile" and Edward says "You fit it, but not absolutely; if he was flirting with a nurse that looks a lot like you, that could mean things. Bad things."
No shit, really? I thought it might be good! /sarcasm
TALLIES FOR THIS SEGMENT
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Manita: 1
Sooo: 1
What Does That Mean: 2
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3144
- I much prefer this Domino to the weretiger one
http://theratretreat.org/2013/10/18/domino-adopted/
- I know a lot of you guys are writers, and I believe I've mentioned that I'm working on my first serious novel...I just finished the second draft, and I am feeling kind of burnt out on the whole thing, am more mentally enthusiastic about the ideas of other projects, etc. Should I soldier on, or take a break to work on said other things? What works best, in your experience? I'm just worried that if I set it aside now, I might never come back to it.
- I am always thinking up new characters. I can't really stop myself. It's part of why I want to write loads of novels, so I can get them all out. What I love specifically about vampire characters is that it leads me to, in the process of researching the time periods they existed in and throughout, learning loads of things I never would have looked into otherwise. For instance, recently a gorgeous black vampire with incredible cheekbones came to my mind, who works in a modern-day shoe boutique, and when I tried to think of his original time, powdered wigs and lacy sleeves and such just seemed to FIT, as did a lavish lifestyle and surroundings. So I tried to see where that would be possible for him, and it turns out there totally were black noblemen in the 1700s French court of Versailles! I never would have guessed! And while looking into things for an odalisque character, I found out about "The Reign of Women" which was a nearly 130-year period during the 16th and 17th centuries when the women of the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire exerted extraordinary political influence. Many of the Sultans during this time were minors and it was their mothers, leaders of the Harem, who effectively ruled the Empire. Most of these women were of slave origin AND YET THEY RULED THE FUCKING OTTOMAN EMPIRE! How awesome is that?
Know what's NOT awesome, though? This chapter segment. Sorry. Speaking of it though, I was thinking more about Lisandro and his possible sex addiction, and I realized, he didn't have that in Bullet. Remember, Anita said that prior to the rape, he'd always refused to sign up as ardeur-food because of his wife. He was able to not only say no to Anita but turn down a situation where it would be 'justifiable' for him sleep with her because, oh, well, it's not like he's doing it for any reason but to help his boss out, right? It wasn't until AFTER the ardeur-orgy that he found himself being unable to say no to sex with hot women despite how loyal he clearly is to his wife. I think this problem of his is a direct result of being raped. It's not unusual at all in rape victims to exhibit this kind of behavior afterward, I can't believe I didn't see it before. HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS UNINTENTIONALLY, LKH?! HOW?!
HIT LIST, CHAPTER THIRTY TWO, PART TWO
Anita tells Bernardo he's not responsible for her, Bernardo says he knows that but it doesn't matter because Edward meant it, Anita says she'll talk to him, Bernardo says she can try but if Olaf actually kills her "once Edward kills him, then we're all dead. Me, because he said he'd do it, and the rest of the men because they were your bodyguards and they failed. He'll kill us all, so do us a favor, stay alive, okay?" Eh, I doubt this. Edward's characterization has always been of someone who was cold to the core and very, very rational despite his dangerous interests. I think he would kill Olaf for taking away the hunt of his life, yes, especially for the troublesome investigation it might result in, but I don't see him as doing any vengeance on anyone beyond that. It's too emotional, and too impractical in terms of attracting attention and getting himself caught. I think he'll be disappointed, but move on quite swiftly with no fanfare whatsoever. Of course, in the interest of keeping said hunt of his life alive, he may have led Bernardo to believe that this is indeed the case; after all, we've never seen just what kind of persona he has when it's just him and Bernardo. Maybe he puts on the act of someone who *would* react like this.
Anita says she can take care of herself, Bernardo says that "Edward's grief if you die will be a terrible thing." Lol, I don't think Edward grieves. At least not in any normal human sense. "It will hurt him, a lot" LOL NOPE "and men like him make sure they never grieve alone. He will spread his grief all over us, not because we failed, but because it'll give him something to focus on so he doesn't have to feel the pain." Anita is dense enough to ask what he means, Bernardo is like HE'LL KILL US ALL! And Nicky has to join in with "So, killing us all will give him a goal, things to do, so he doesn't have to feel" THAT IS WHAT BERNARDO JUST SAID! And Nicky adds it could be a form of suicide too. I can kind of maybe see this as an explanation for why Edward does what he does in general, but ugh why does it have to be allll about Aniiiiittaaa and how much she meeeeans to him? Between Edward and Olaf, what is she, the Pseudo-Sociopath Whisperer or something?
What Does That Mean: 1
Anita says she doesn't think she's important enough for Edward to risk leaving Donna and the kids, and Bernardo goes on another big paragraph basically restating that losing Anita will drive Edward off the deep end and he will "drown the world in blood" especially if he blames himself. So, uh, I think it was just stated that Anita is worth more to him than Donna and the kids. Because she's Anita. Anita, modest thing that she is, "wanted to protest" but thinks about what she would do if Edward were tortured to death and she thought she were to blame, and concludes that "I wouldn't kill tons of people, but anyone I thought was responsible for it--they'd be dead." Lest anyone here think that sounds too reasonable, let me remind you of Anita's definition of 'responsible' with how she threatened death against those two weretiger guards if anything happened to Ethan. "I had more rules than Edward did" yeeeah, I think that depends what about.
"I didn't want Nicky and the boys dead, and I'd talk to Edward about that, and Bernardo. They didn't deserve that, but Olaf dead at Edward's hands, oh, hell yes." Yeees. "The thought that Edward would probably kill him slowly was like a warm, happy though." UHHHHH.
Anita tells Bernardo again she'll talk to Edward, Bernardo tells her again how it won't help and "I've known Edward for years. I've seen him do things he wouldn't do in front you." AKA he's hiding shit from you, Anita, think about that. Bernardo says he'd want almost anyone else after him, and Anita says she agrees with that, Bernardo says "All that and you're going to concentrate on just that part?" and Anita is like what else should I say and we get this...utterly nonsensical response from Bernardo: "God, you really are a guy, I mean, you look like a girl, but that is such a guy thing. You ignore all the emotional shit and grab onto that Edward is dangerous." I...WHAT...BUT HOW DOES THAT EVEN...I CAN'T BEGIN TO BEGIN HERE!
Guy/Girl Stuff: 1
Manita: 1
...and then Nicky asks if Bernardo is "always this much of a pussy?" um what. Bernardo glares at Nicky because wtf dude and Anita talks about fighting body language and how fights begin and how people have all these ideas that are ALL WRONG about it and how she knows better and also implies only men fight...which, considering how even WERETIGER women don't seem to know how to do anything but light slaps, might be true in the Anitaverse. "Nicky smiled, which was another way to egg the other man on. It was escalating the fight without most women realizing what he'd done, but I wasn't most women." Yes, I as a woman completely always miss how smug, taunting, etc. smiles work, that makes complete fucking sense and isn't ridiculous at all. Seriously, some of her man/woman shit is just the same crap you hear from our culture to some degree or another, but some, like this, I just have no clue how she comes up with. Anita tells Nicky "Don't" and Nicky tries but fails to look innocent. Bernardo steps forward, Anita tells them "We are not fighting over stupid shit" and I would like to remind everyone of how she jumped Julia in Bullet for less.
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Bernardo tells her "you're not my boss, not yet" and remember how both Domino AND Jacob (or was it Nicky?) said the same thing, with the 'not yet' at the end, before she got them? Bernardo, you're human and not white, so you'll probably be safe from sex with her (unless it's a one-time rape thing like with Lisandro, but I doubt it since, unlike him, you haven't had the nerve to NOT want to screw her and thus piss LKH off) but that doesn't mean you won't end up taking orders from her, I'm sure. And you know it, clearly, poor dude. Anita says she doesn't know what he means by not yet but that "we're not wasting time having a pissing contest." yeah, we're supposed to be wasting time talking about Anita instead! Lisandro explains that "Bernardo's new. You haven't told Nicky that he can't fight him for real, and Nicky's been spoiling for a real fight for awhile." Anita says Nicky spars with the other guards, Lisandro says that's not real, Anita asks Nicky what she's missed here, Nicky says he doesn't know what she means, Anita asks why he wants to fight Bernardo for real, Nicky doesn't answer, Anita says "Answer my question, Nicky" which is eerily reminiscent of how my mom talked to me as a kid when I was in trouble.
"He frowned, sighed, and answered, because he had to; if I made it a direct question he had no choice but to answer me." And see, if it were me, I'd therefore never ask him a direct question unless it was truly life or death, because that's exploiting what you did to him, which I don't think anyone who truly felt remorse about it, as Anita claims to, would do. Nicky says "I don't hurt people because no one's paying me to do it, and you've told me I'm not allowed to kill anyone who belongs to you even if they start the fight" and so therefore he doesn't fight because if he can't kill others, he might get killed...which suggests Anita is still running a very sucky ship if people still have to worry about this kind of thing. Anita repeats that he gets to spar, he says "It's not the same thing, Anita. It's so not the same thing." Anita asks if he wants to fight Bernardo just to hurt or kill him, he says he does want to hurt someone and a "tightness" runs over his body that makes Anita compare him to a coiled spring...so, uh, clearly this has been a problem for awhile, why the fuck does LISANDRO know about this and ANITA is only hearing of it now? She's his lover, Master, etc., and she didn't fucking know about this? I feel like you'd have to WORK at being this negligent!
Sooo: 1
Anita asks why, and he gives her "a look that wasn't friendly" and my personal guess is he wants to hurt someone because, even if he can't do anything against Anita, probably can't even think about it, he really fucking hates BEING HER MIND-SLAVE and is going crazy with rage over it. Anita compares this look to big cats in the zoo and how no matter how much room and toys they have there's always one that knows it's still a cage and wants out...yeah, sounds like what I was saying there. Nicky's single eye turns lion-amber, then back to blue, "his lion peeking out from the cage that I'd forged for it." Okay, so I was right. "A cage that it, and Nicky, resented. How had I not seen it?" That is a good question! "I hadn't wanted to see it, hadn't wanted to understand that no matter how tame he seemed" STOP WITH THIS 'TAMED' WORD PLEASE "Nicky was still the sociopath that I'd met a year ago." Yeah, the one who...never actually did anything sociopathic before you ate his mind yet supposedly was such a big bad one. "I hadn't changed him; I'd just broken him to my will. Crap." WTF SINCE WHEN IS THIS NEWS TO YOU ANITA?!
And then he changes posture and she spends a paragraph talking about it basically now his position is "softer" and Nicky says he can feel that she feels bad now and a little sad for what she did to him and that he doesn't want her to feel bad. WELL, DUH, BRIDE, REMEMBER? He also has "pain in his face, a frowning effort to understand what he was feeling." Yeah, it must be hard being forced to feel things you wouldn't naturally feel because of magical enslavement. Anita touches his face, and he "nestled his cheek against my small hand" lest we forget how delicate and dainty she is and then "something hard and unpleasant went out of him. He was my Nicky again, or what I'd begin to think of as mine." THIS IS SO GROSS. He presses her hand firmer against his cheek, and whispers "God."
Bernardo says that this is creepy. YES, YES IT IS, THANK YOU BERNARDO. Olaf says that "You have tamed him like a pet cat." And then Nicky is tense again and "his beast vibrated like heat" Heat...vibrates? He glares at Olaf, but doesn't part with Anita, and wonder is "maybe the desire to be near me was stronger than his desire to look tough?" EVERYTHING EVER IS ABOUT ANITA AND HOW IMPORTANT SHE IS TO HER MEN.. Olaf said he'd heard that she'd reformed Nick through the ol' good-woman-changes-bad-man scenario but clearly it's something else, that he "had to make you feel better" and "could not abide you being even a little sad." Anita realizes that there is a "soft horror" in Olaf's face. Anita asks if Olaf and Nicky know each other.
Nicky move her hand but still holds it, Anita wonders if it bothered him that she hadn't touched him more since he arrived. He fondles her hand and looks at Olaf and says they know of each other. Anita asks what that means. Uh, that they might not know each other but they've heard of one another? Duh? Olaf explains that Jacob's pride had a reputation "for handling things that other mercenaries would not attempt. They were as good as their reputation until they came up against you, Anita." All she did was have sex with Nicky. That's seriously how she won. She was otherwise completely at their mercy except that Nicky and Jacob thought she was hot. Conveniently that is omitted so a new reader would probably assume something much more badass and logical happened. Anita wonders "how much Olaf actually knew about what Nicky's people ha tried to do last summer, and how badly they'd failed." If he knew how you'd won, I think you'd be seeing a lot of sneering disrespect from him about it. Although she does have the part right about how very, very badly they failed, because they were pretty inept (which means having her at their mercy is even more sucky on her part)
What Does That Mean: 2
Olaf asks if Anita really killed Silas with a blade. Anita tells us that she'd hurt him with one, after which he'd knocked her out and nearly killed her, and that she'd only finished him off with the blade after someone else had also shot him. She leaves out the fact that she never FOUGHT Silas . When she first wounded him, it's because he opened a door she was behind and he ran right into her big knife. Oh, and when she did kill him? Not only was he wounded and defenseless, unable to even walk, but she didn't have to do it. She said so herself earlier that she didn't need a human sacrifice to raise Ilsa...but then suddenly she claimed that she did after the intended sacrifice died, and Silas was used instead. She killed him while he was down BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO. Nicky tells Olaf that she did indeed (leaving out any of this, of course) and Olaf says that's really impressive considering how good she is with a blade, and again I would like to remind you of how SHE DIDN'T FIGHT HIM HE RAN INTO IT. Anita and Nicky squeeze each other's hands and Anita adds that "It wasn't as easy as it sounds" and I hate her lying ass so much and Nicky squeezes her hand again and Anita thinks he's trying to tell her not to overshare with Olaf which she agrees is a good idea...jeebus, someone else needs to tell her that?
Olaf then gushes some more about how tough and cool Anita is and how she must be "better than you have shown me." Lisandro says Anita broke his wrist so how much better does she have to show him? Olaf looks at Lisandro and his face/eyes/expression are compared to caves again, Lisandro gives him "cold eyes back" and someone (Lisandro?) says "Save the scary stares for civilians." Which...would be funny, since Lisandro is a civilian. Oh, wait, no, now he's a deputy!
Then Anita's phone rings. It plays Bad To The Bone. This is is her ringtone for Edward.
...
...
...
No words. I have no words. She blames Nathaniel for the ringtone and her own 'comical' inadequacy with technology for not being able to take them off, and Nicky doesn't want to let go of her hand as she tries to answer which "answered my question" regarding if she hasn't touched him enough. Don't you love how LKH keeps finding ways to make this Bride thing EVEN CREEPIER? It's really quite an accomplishment!
For some reason, she answers the phone with "something of a snarl" and it's Edward, he asks if everything is okay, she's like yeah what's going on, he asked if she ran into Olaf at the ER, she says he has a cast but it's not him that's the problem. She starts to walk away from the group, Nicky follows behind her, she starts to tell him not to but then recalls the guards not wanting her to be alone and "I didn't want to argue, I just wanted to talk to Edward." But Nicky is the only guard you wouldn't have to argue with because he CAN'T argue with you! She gets to someplace where the only one who can hear her is Nicky (which, considering therian hearing range, must be considerable!) and tells Edward about Olaf and Karen. Nicky pipes up that Karen looks like Anita, Anita says she does not, Edward is like what, she says what Nicky said and that she disagrees, Edward asks if Bernardo agrees, Anita says she doesn't know, OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO BASH MY HEAD IN AGAINST SOMETHING IF EDWARD DOESN'T JUST TELL HER WHATEVER IS UP AND THEY DON'T GET MOVING AGAIN.
Nicky puts his hand on her shoulder, she starts to move away, and then she doesn't because she feels bad about not touching him more earlier and "it felt good for his hand to be on my shoulder. It was like that with almost everyone who was tied to me metaphysically; it felt good to touch and be touched." Almost everyone? I wonder who the exception is? Maybe Richard? Edward says that if Bernardo thinks Karen looks like Anita, then she does...I have no idea why Bernardo is the ultimate judge on who looks like Anita or not? Anita repeats she has no idea what Bernardo thinks and they already know that "I fit his victim profile" and Edward says "You fit it, but not absolutely; if he was flirting with a nurse that looks a lot like you, that could mean things. Bad things."
No shit, really? I thought it might be good! /sarcasm
TALLIES FOR THIS SEGMENT
Guy/Girl Stuff: 2
Manita: 1
Sooo: 1
What Does That Mean: 2
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2013-10-19 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:03 am (UTC)Sounds to me like Olaf just realized what Anita did to poor Nick - and is afraid she'll do the same to him. And all the attention he gives her, from this point, is an attempt to keep her from doing so.
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Date: 2013-10-20 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:36 am (UTC)AB started the series as Lawful Good. Her alignment has changed. She's now Chaotic Evil.
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Date: 2013-10-20 12:46 am (UTC)Personally, I've always found Lawful Evil to be the scariest of the bunch.
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Date: 2013-10-20 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 02:51 pm (UTC)I'm not yet in desperate enough need of a game that I'll resort to craigslist, but I may be in a few months.
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Date: 2013-10-20 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 03:05 pm (UTC)If I could drive 30 or so miles, I'd have a LOT of options. But I'm limited to about 10, on a good day.
Now I find myself wondering about online games. I'll have to look into that later, have to run to the library in a bit...
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Date: 2013-10-22 10:47 pm (UTC)My good friend Malachite is getting a game started that uses Changeling the Lost rules to simulate an invasion of creatures of Earth. The game starts five years after the xenos arrive. I'm playing and it seems like it'll be fun - she'd love to have another player! In fact, you all seem like good people - she'd love to have all/any of you. :D
Anyway, my ST account is Dawn, OOC and my chat handle is Carver. You can find it here: http://www.rpgpost.com/.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 04:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 09:49 am (UTC)*(said inhibitions changing every few seconds and/or as the plot demands them)
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Date: 2013-10-20 02:51 pm (UTC)I was going with lawful evil because of her love of her position as a Marshal and how that gives her power in the eyes of the populace. She does still seem to adore power structures, as long as she is high up in those power structures. But she does share traits from pretty much the entire evil spectrum, and she seems to be gaining book by book. When Raistlin Majere would be telling you to slow the fuck down, you should slow the fuck down :)
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Date: 2013-10-20 03:07 pm (UTC)Sounds to me like she may be shifting from Lawful Evil to Neutral Evil over several books, as her morals and ethics degrade.
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Date: 2013-10-20 05:01 pm (UTC)I think she's Lawful. She's addicted to hierarchies, with her at the top. She thinks it is an immoral thing not to enslave people. She talks about how she doesn't do things because they're illegal as if "illegal" means "immoral", and it is clear that if something's technically legal, she sees no problem with it at all. She thinks that because she has power, she is morally superior to those without it.
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Date: 2013-10-20 05:58 pm (UTC)I think she believes she's still Lawful, but is in fact Neutral.
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Date: 2013-10-20 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:52 am (UTC)So they were stupid and suicide prone, then. Duly noted. I really don't think she understands how mercenaries work.
"I hadn't changed him; I'd just broken him to my will. Crap." WTF SINCE WHEN IS THIS NEWS TO YOU ANITA?!
Every goddamned book. Every goddamned book since he was introduced. She has no short term memory at all.
"You fit it, but not absolutely; if he was flirting with a nurse that looks a lot like you, that could mean things. Bad things."
Actual Edward would have said that Olaf had outlived his usefulness and that he would be retiring him shortly.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 04:21 am (UTC)I WISH I KNEW! She does it ALL THE TIME and it's so incredibly blatant, I do not see how she can be unaware that she is doing it.
I sometimes like to write things about how someone will go apeshit if they lose someone they love, because I love melodrama. But then it's someone they actually love for good reasons and they're capable of loving and etc. The woman in my icon said she'd tear the sky down to protect a certain person, and I am all over that, but it MADE SENSE dramatically.
What does not make sense: Olaf is a probable threat to Anita. If he kills Anita, Edward will go apeshit and KILL ALL THE PEOPLE. Easy solution: kill Olaf.
"God, you really are a guy, I mean, you look like a girl, but that is such a guy thing. You ignore all the emotional shit and grab onto that Edward is dangerous."
Men do not have emotions, of course. They operate entirely on their lizardy hindbrains. Also: LKH has gone through life without noticing any actual human being, somehow.
Yes, I as a woman completely always miss how smug, taunting, etc. smiles work, that makes complete fucking sense and isn't ridiculous at all.
How does that go with men ignoring emotions and women being all about them, anyway?
but I wasn't most women.
The only fictional character I have ever hated as much as I now hate Anita Blake is Edward Cullen. If I were given a choice between spending my life with her and spending it with Dolores Umbridge, I'd choose Umbridge without a second thought. The only way this series could have a happy ending is if Anita falls into a sarlacc pit.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 10:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 06:18 pm (UTC)ALSO YOUR RAVENSTAG COSTUME WAS AMAZING DSKKGR
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Date: 2013-10-21 03:38 am (UTC)I know I tend to get to a point where I hate every word I've written and want to scrap it all to start over or just move onto something else so I never have to think about this again. But going back after a while is usually a pleasant surprise.
On the flipside, don't be terrified if your beta readers come back with "X section doesn't work for me," and sink into a pit of "they're right this is terrible, I'm terrible, why do I even bother :(" DO NOT PANIC. YOU CAN FIX THIS.
ASDFAURELKJ THANK YOU! A+++ NIGHT, WILL RAVENSTAG AGAIN. NOT SURE WHEN.
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Date: 2013-10-20 01:59 pm (UTC)"I hadn't changed him; I'd just broken him to my will. Crap."
Anita, are you that fucking ignorant? Does she really believe that Nicky "changed for her" as opposed to her mentally enslaving him? She makes it sound like she believed Nicky made a conscious choice to behave a certain way after meeting Anita. It's ridiculous that she can be so stupid and still be alive.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 04:57 pm (UTC)Oh, I'm still so nervous about showing it to anyone at this stage ;-;
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Date: 2013-10-20 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 06:37 pm (UTC)And now on to my commentary on this...
*ahem*
/alknrwlkwgnlkaenmrwlkjngwunitugnhiuwntngkanrdkngkjabdjgvgbaklnrtglkamklngnalilrgkalktmkfndavlka
a/lknglktenlgrmalkmglka
alnrlkenglomrenalkjtngliarheoirjgoiewmtrnhgranoiruengiwnmrtlgkmalkmndlkgjlanuidhgkltrmoimhlsakdrmnaglnriuglietginaewloteigloi
KLJNGLSRNGLANLKNRGLKJANTKJGNFDJKSNGAUIRLGKNALKTEMALKGNKLNALKJRNGKLANSTKMHKPTYOKROYIJWEGIUARWENIFGNALKRGMLKATRELJLIURNAKGTSNLGHKSNLISUN
Sorry. The bile and revulsion that has been building in regards to this entire matter came to a head. My apologies.
In a more coherent fashion... I write with a number of characters who really would completely lose it and go on a killing spree if the one they loved was killed. It is mentioned, and made clear in the story, that this is not healthy. It is romantic. In the same way ripping someone's heart out to give it to your valentine is.
I would like to submit, for consideration, that sometime during the first three books, Anita took brain damage. The entire series from that point on is the result of her incapacitated mind taking her on a glorious trip through fantasy land, where she could do whatever she wanted without consequences. Meanwhile her body is in a hospital bed, and there is a steady beeping filling the room. And sometime soon, that will be revealed. And we will all be awed by LKH's long running dedication to this glorious farce.
That all assumes that we're living in the Twilight Zone.
In reality, I weep for the lost potential.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 07:15 pm (UTC)I was actually thinking about asking you!
I think I'd mind the 'killing spree if you die' thing less if it actually made SENSE for Edward, which it doesn't at all, and was not taking place in a context where EVERYONE is obsessed with Anita to this point. Seriously, from the point I started this spork blog, that's been a theme--Vittorio in Skin Trade was nuts for her, and while originally this was framed as being nothing person and just interest in using her power, he pretty quickly was clearly into HER above all else. Flirt started, again, as only being about her abilities as an animator, but then Jacob and Nicky were *made* to be literally crazy about her. Bullet...Haven, 'nuff said. Now we have this shit, on top of the crap with Olaf. And at least with Olaf there's sort of a precedent, seeing as how he's already ax-crazy and into women who look like her, but it is so out of left fucking field for Edward that I can't even.
You are actually not the first person I've seen suggest exactly that is what's really going on!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-20 08:40 pm (UTC)And I never yet met a writer who didn't have multiple storylines and characters bouncing around in their heads
Oh good, I worried that might mean I didn't really like or care about the one I was working on if I could be thinking that much about others XD
Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2013-10-21 10:27 pm (UTC)Anita “looks like a girl” BECAUSE SHE IS A GIRL! What the heck are you talking about, Ms. Hamilton (since I know that it’s really you speaking here, using Bernardo as your sock puppet)? Anita is a cisgendered woman. This line would make more sense if Bernardo was talking to a feminine-looking guy or a person who was transgendered.
/but I wasn't most women."/
*mildly* Of course you’re not, Anita. Most women aren’t narcissistic, paranoid, spiteful, immature, misogynistic, homophobic, abusive, whining, petty, arrogant, raping psychopaths like you.
/"we're not wasting time having a pissing contest."/
Yeah, only Anita is allowed to have those!
/WTF SINCE WHEN IS THIS NEWS TO YOU ANITA?!/
It isn’t. Either LKH forgot that she had Anita admit how creepy it is or she’s trying to make Anita look good and failing.
/Anita realizes that there is a "soft horror" in Olaf's face./
Okay, when the serial killer is horrified by you, that’s not a good thing.
/All she did was have sex with Nicky. That's seriously how she won./
*snorts* I’ll be waiting for the upcoming title featuring a male protagonist who saves the day by just having sex with lots of women. Heck, even James Bond doesn’t save the day by sleeping with whoever’s the Bond Girl at the moment; he actually has to fight the villain at some point.