a-sporking-rat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
a_sporking_rat) wrote2014-03-15 02:02 pm
a_sporking_rat) wrote2014-03-15 02:02 pm
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KISS THE DEAD, CHAPTER 38
Joram the mouse passed away. As with Sid and Ratsputin, it was not unexpected, as he was old and sick. He was a cute mouse, with a very fluffy coat for one not a long-hair, and distinctly curly whiskers. He was a friendly mouse, he never bit me, he loved to climb, and he was a fearless mouse. He never acted the least bit afraid of me, unlike the others, and he was a curious mouse. Above all, he was a stinky mouse. Male mice musk constantly, and despite (or perhaps because) he was the smallest mouse I had of the original trio (Joram, Tiras, Jabez) he made sure to saturate his cage and himself the most with the foulest of male mouse odors constantly. I think he was very proud of himself and clearly considered himself the most macho man mouse around, hence why he was afraid of nothing and always up for investigating anything.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Joram1.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Joram3.jpg
It's high time for some live rodent photos too!
Sam!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam1_zps3ee00124.jpg
She's losing her hair in such a way it looks like she has a mohawk
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam2_zps0b055988.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam3_zps577d96b0.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam4_zps6e59537a.jpg
From before the hair loss started
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/photo4_zpsa02a6268.jpg
Nikolai's face next to Miss Blatz's big white butt
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Niko2_zps79d15bb0.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Niko1_zps8203d2d2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/NikoBlatz_zps434805a6.jpg
And the still-unnamed new hamster!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham2_zps8b7f181d.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham4_zpsdce3e9dd.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham_zps27be1d12.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham3_zps5708f59e.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham5_zps7a655e62.jpg
KISS THE DEAD, CHAPTER 38
I was under the impression this was going to be a serious discussion about what happened to Nicky, but for some reason they're all in bed instead. JC's giant "orgy-sized" bed is described in details, and it's frame being made of reinforced steel is mentioned as is the purpose of said frame for "bondage with shapeshifters and vampires" because "you need something sturdy to chain them too." Anita then describes the pillow colors and the positions that she, JC, and Yiyu are in. The idea that this is going to be a serious discussion is further dashed because these positions are Yiyu having "her head tucked in between my waist and hip; one arm was across my thighs" while Anita is tucked in against JC on her other side "my free hand was on his thigh, petting the silk and the muscles underneath it" her other hand in Yiyu's hair. The only one not in the bed is Asher, not because he might possibly be taking this seriously but because "One, I was still mad at him. Two, Jade didn't like him. She didn't trust him, and she shouldn't have. There was something about her extreme victim vibe that made Asher want to do bad things to her."
ASHER: SUDDENLY A HUGE CREEPASS. Hey, this remind you of anything? Like how he was making repeated unwanted advances in Bullet where he was *also* villainized out of the blue? Even though it's okay for everyone to always be making unwanted advances on Anita (and Anita to rape people and treat them like shit for a 'victim vibe' whatever that is) and that's what she and JC's relationship is built on from the start? Like, I think Asher...tried to rape Anita or something in LC, if I remember right from Dottie's review of it, but I can't remember, but it wasn't portrayed as rape at all, much like her aforementioned entire relationship with JC. So while we may be used to him objectively being creepy, the idea of him being predatory like this is from LKH's standpoint really entirely out of blue, I think, and only came up in Bullet when she needed a whipping boy and Richard wouldn't do because she wanted him to be ass-kissing Anita about how great she was.
She continues to tell us that Asher doesn't want to "really hurt her, but dominate her in that bondage-and-submission way, except that Jade wasn't healthy enough for fun and games like that. She might never be." Neither was Nathaniel, but that didn't stop YOU now did it Anita? Guy with issues like that gets fucked, but when a girl has them, LKH uses it as an excuse to make sure she's kept out of all the sexytimes with the rest of the harem and make it seem like, oh, it's not that Anita won't share, it's just Yiyu's choice/in her best interests, really! And she says that Yiyu being more afraid of Asher makes him want her even more and to "make her say yes." Oh, you mean like with you and JC. "Her issues and his: bad mix." Is it just me or does that make it sound like Yiyu somehow has equal blame in this? Also, how long has this been going on? Why the fuck hasn't anyone stopped this? Why hasn't Anita? She makes NO mention of having even tried to do anything about this. SOME FUCKING SAVIOR SHE IS. And with how she likes to talk about what a savior she is, you know she'd have mentioned it if she ever did step in, so I think it's pretty obvious that she never has. That tells me (as if it weren't already a given) that Anita does NOT actually care about protecting Yiyu in any way, she just wants to own her as her little token harem girl to prove her heteroflexible edginess, and while she might not actively abuse Yiyu herself, she neglects the fact that others are menacing her on what sounds like a regular basis. This is made all the worse by the fact that Asher is second-in-command of the Kiss, so he's kind of like Yiyu's boss or at least her superior.
Asher paces, Anita strokes Yiyu's hair and cuddles JC and thinks about how it helps "dissipate some of the nervous energy that Asher was having to pace away." Nah nah, Asher doesn't have people to snuggle so he has to be nervous but Anita doesn't! JC says that if he'd ever thought that she and Nicky would have sex "more than once so close together, I would have cautioned you." Really? REALLY? You never fucking thought that ANITA might have sex with one of her HAREM twice in a small space of time? Now, either JC has caught Anita's level of stupid, or he held this info back on purpose for some manipulative machination of his, I'm sure. Anita, of course, doesn't spot how silly he'd have to be to really not consider the idea she might ever have sex with Nicky twice in a row, just says she thought she was only a danger to her Bride if she were gravely hurt enough to accidentally drain him to death. She also says that's what JC himself told her, which strengthens my theory he deliberately omitted the "if you screw twice you might kill him" bit for some reason of his own. JC starts to reply "Yes, ma petite, but" and Anita interrupts and says she wasn't that hurt, and JC says that "Brides have no ability to protect themselves; they are designed to give anything that their master wants from them." Anita does not spot the implication here that she might have wanted Nicky to die, and instead just argues that "I didn't use the ardeur the first time. It didn't feel like I used it. I did heal enough to go down on Nicky the second time." Sometimes I wonder if she actually even hears what people are actually saying to her, based on her replies to them. My mom is becoming kind of like that and it's very surreal and concerning to talk to her when she does.
Asher says that he cut her badly and she would have required "a lot of healing unless the sex was magical." Enough to KILL Nicky because of the energy required from him to heal it? I don't buy it. Anita was able to talk and everything even with the mouth wound. Of course, considering how big a deal that Anita made out of a scrape from a tree root in Hit List, maybe she subconsciously drains from her Bride however much she *thinks* is proportionate to the gravity of the wound, not what actually is. Anita says that while she knows the ardeur can drain someone to death if they're fed on too often, but that healing sex has never done that unless the ardeur was involved. JC tells her that Belle Morte drained her Brides to raise her power and would do so "just before she would take us into a nobleman's court and try to seduce them all." That's interesting but it doesn't answer to what Anita was saying at all, nor have much to do with this conversation, JC. Since he also doesn't seem to have Anita's affliction for being unable to stay on-topic, I think he's trying to distract her. Anita says she wasn't trying to do anything but heal and feed the ardeur, and Asher says that the first time Belle Morte killed a Bride it was on accident.
Belle Morte is 2,000 at the very least, much older than Asher. I'd think she was doing this long before he came along, but he speaks as if he was there, recounting that Belle had just been having sex with the Bride and he'd died "but she wasn't upset. She loved the power of it" and that "by the time Jean-Claude arrived in court she had made it just another piece of her power" JC says that Asher never mentioned this, and Asher said he never thought Anita would be able to do it because she's not a true vampire. Again, I call absolute BULLSHIT on anyone being so thick as to assume this; it has been a consistent fact that Anita can do anything that any 'true' vampire can do and more, and not be beholden to any of their weaknesses to boot. JC says that he is Master and Asher should have told him this and "let me decide what ma petite needed to know." So there he says it--JC doesn't tell Anita anything about her own abilities unless *he* thinks that she 'needs' to know them. Seriously, tell me he doesn't sound like he's talking about a sheltered child here! So creepy, ugh. And Anita doesn't even notice this, and makes no remark mentally or aloud about it. Apparently LKH doesn't think her strong, independent heroine should have any problem with this statement and its implications whatsoever.
Asher says he sees that now, and his eyes shine blue and he says he's sorry, reaches out to them in a "beseeching gesture", and his robe sash loosens so his robe falls open "giving a glimpse of his body, pale and perfect" and Anita notices that his robe exposes only his perfect side and wonders if he did it on purpose just like he does the same thing with his hair. She also wonders that, if it was on purpose, if he is doing it "to remind us, no, me, what I was about to give up? Jean-Claude had just finished having sex with him; it wasn't him that Asher needed to re-seduce." Anita, it was explicitly goodbye-sex, how do you not understand that? Also, normally I'd argue that, unlike Anita, JC is much too smart to make decisions about who stays in his empire based on finding them attractive, but I think it's canon that Asher is a blind spot for him and I find it more than reasonable that he would be. Anita must think so too I guess, because she looks at JC and says "Tell me you didn't give in?" and he asks what she means, and she tells him, he says he didn't, but Anita doesn't like the way he words it. "Jade rubbed her face against my waist like the big cat she was in her other form. She was trying to soothe me." You know, I would like the animalistic gestures in human form if they extended to things that aren't cute as well, like pissing to mark territory and like. The fact that they don't makes said cute gestures just annoying to me instead.
Anita starts rambling about what Asher did to Sin, but her own word choice is pretty suspicious to me "His control over hyenas is better than ours, it's one animal that neither of us has any control over, and Asher used that to make Ares attack another guard." In a better series, this would be an interesting conflict. With so many werehyenas among their guards, they need Asher to ensure that said werehyenas don't turn on them all, but having him here also means that he could *make* the werehyenas turn on them if he wanted to. Of course, because this is AB, all it means is that this must be the moment where LKH decided Anita has to randomly gain hyenas as an animal to call in Affliction. "If Asher hadn't hurt me to begin with, I wouldn't have almost drained Nicky dry. We can't let this slide, Jean-Claude, we can't." Firstly, I still don't believe that a cut in her mouth, even one that would have required stitches, is something would cause Nicky to be almost drained to death. Secondly, interesting how it's all Asher's fault. I'm not arguing his culpability in this, but notice how she never puts any blame on Jean-Claude for never telling her that this might happen? It follows just as much that it's JC's fault too because if he'd told her about Belle Morte draining Brides to death then she wouldn't have had sex with Nicky twice in a row.
JC says it's too close to dawn to send Asher off tonight, and that gave me this idea: I bet a lot of Masters will make a show of 'mercy' for various reasons by only banishing someone but do it just before dawn so they have nowhere to go and end up getting fried to death anyway BUT OH WELL NOT THE MASTER'S FAULT TEEHEE! Asher says that he deserves to be exiled for a month and "his robe was so open it was just a beautiful embroidered frame to his body" and then he starts running his hand down over himself all the way to "the groin, where he lay soft, and waiting" and Anita thinks about how he won't be able to get another erection tonight until he drinks blood again "but I actually liked that about vampires. Most men, I started going down on them and they got big too soon, so that I couldn't enjoy the texture and feel that they started with..." AND SHE WAS WORRIED ABOUT ASHER SEDUCING JEAN-CLAUDE? Yiyu, apparently fed up with this bullshit, starts to get off the bed. Anita asks where she's going, she replies "I cannot" and Anita asks "Cannot what?" and my response would be "Cannot even believe the stupidity going on all around here, that's what!" but Yiyu says "You like his cruelty. I do not. Please do not order me to stay." Anita reminds her that both she and JC have promised her that no one will force her to do anything she doesn't want to. Pff, yeah right. Yiyu claims she believes Anita but asks if "May I go?" all the same.
Anita says yes, but also "sighed" and says "We're not going to have sex with Asher" and that comes off to me as really...like an "ugh, okay, geez" sort of reaction, like she's trying to act as if Yiyu is just a big silly drama queen, and it's manipulative as hell towards Yiyu because it's basically trying to make her feel guilty just because, horror of horrors, she has boundaries and is making them clear and is leaving when she feels uncomfortable! Compare that to Anita and how she reacts to unwanted sexual situations, and who here has the "victim mentality" again, you tell me? Yiyu says that "You are within your rights to have sex with him if you wish" which is more honest, fair, and upfront than anything Anita has ever said or done in any of her relationships. Anita, of course, does not think "gee, Yiyu is really good about setting her own boundaries while not trying to restrict others from what they want to do so long as they don't cross said boundaries" but instead thinks about how afraid Yiyu is of men, how afraid she is of vampires, how afraid she is of vampire men, and how Anita being with a pair of nearly-naked "decidedly male" vampires means that "as far as Jade was concerned I was about to do something terrifying." Actually though, Yiyu seems to pretty well understand that her fears are not shared by everyone, and that Anita doesn't share them. She said "if you wish" to have sex with them, which implies she knows and doesn't judge that Anita wants to have sex with them. She also didn't try to warn Anita away, or imply that she thinks this is in any way dangerous to Anita or being forced on her or anything like that.
Honestly, what I get from Yiyu so far is not "traumatized into lesbianism, fearful of all men and sex with men" at all. What I get is a woman who happens to be a lesbian and thus understandably doesn't like to have sex with men in the bed (I think she makes exceptions for Crispin and Domino because of species and Nathaniel because he's just that "girly" as Anita always tells us---which admittedly has shitty implications that 'a man might as well be a woman if he's gender-nonconforming' but remember this is AB) and who doesn't want to have anything to do in particular with this one creepo who has been sexually harassing her, so she's like "hey, I know you're turned on by his brand of bullshit, but I'm not so I'm not gonna stick around and mess up your fun, do what you want though it's cool with me so long as I'm not involved" Honestly, she seems really cool and together and sure about what she does and doesn't want while not wanting to spoil anyone elses' fun, which makes her the most healthy and mature person in this series I'd say.
Anita again claims that they're not going to have sex, Yiyu says that "He will try to seduce you, and that is..." but doesn't get to finish her sentence because as she opens the door she backs into Domino because she was looking at Anita while speaking. She "gave a soft yelp" and "startled away from him" so he drops his hand that he was reaching for her with to the side because "Domino knew better than to push things when she got spooked." Dude, I'd give a little yelp too if I nearly walked into somebody. I'm starting to seriously think Anita is just making up a lot of Yiyu's supposed issues, probably in favor of ignoring whatever ACTUAL ones she has as a consequence of her abuse. Anyway, Anita claims that's "one of the reasons" that she's okay being "in bed with him and me when we made love" and I can't tell if she's talking about she and Yiyu making love or she and Domino making love and Yiyu just...being there. Anita says that the same applies to Nathaniel...are you sure, Anita, cuz I think maybe Yiyu just thinks that Nathaniel is a pre-operative transgender lesbian/bi woman. I mean, with how you and he and Micah all refer to him as your wife, your girlfriend, the Princess who is saved by Prince Charming, etc., I could actually see her getting that impression and figuring you and Micah are just too thick and disrespectful to bother with the right pronouns when you call him a he instead of a she. I'm not trying to be funny, I could actually see that.
Anita orders Domino to walk Yiyu back to her room, Yiyu says Domino is supposed to be guarding Anita from Asher, Domino says he'll walk Yiyu to her room then come back here, OH GOD SOMEONE MAKE THIS POINTLESSNESS END. "Jade didn't want him to touch her either, but when she was this shaken she needed someone by her side that she trusted at least a little to keep the panic from growing. She trusted Domino more than any other man." DOMINO HELPED ANITA RAPE HER. LET THE GROSSNESS OF THIS SINK IN. "Claudia had no patience with her, and Kelly didn't need to be around Asher tonight, and just like that we were out of female guards to watch over her." Ok, think about the absurd amount of guards that are mentioned in this series. THEY ARE ALL MEN EXCEPT TWO. Domino says he'll be back ASAP and asks Anita not to get hurt because he doesn't want to fight Nicky "for real". Anita says "We'll be good" and he grins and says "I know you're good, Anita; just don't hurt each other" and laughs as he closes to door.
I guess that was supposed to be a funny sex joke or something.
I'll just be over here forming Yiyu headcanons now...
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Joram1.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Joram3.jpg
It's high time for some live rodent photos too!
Sam!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam1_zps3ee00124.jpg
She's losing her hair in such a way it looks like she has a mohawk
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam2_zps0b055988.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam3_zps577d96b0.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Sam4_zps6e59537a.jpg
From before the hair loss started
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/photo4_zpsa02a6268.jpg
Nikolai's face next to Miss Blatz's big white butt
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Niko2_zps79d15bb0.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Niko1_zps8203d2d2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/NikoBlatz_zps434805a6.jpg
And the still-unnamed new hamster!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham2_zps8b7f181d.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham4_zpsdce3e9dd.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham_zps27be1d12.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham3_zps5708f59e.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/rodentfanatic/Ham5_zps7a655e62.jpg
KISS THE DEAD, CHAPTER 38
I was under the impression this was going to be a serious discussion about what happened to Nicky, but for some reason they're all in bed instead. JC's giant "orgy-sized" bed is described in details, and it's frame being made of reinforced steel is mentioned as is the purpose of said frame for "bondage with shapeshifters and vampires" because "you need something sturdy to chain them too." Anita then describes the pillow colors and the positions that she, JC, and Yiyu are in. The idea that this is going to be a serious discussion is further dashed because these positions are Yiyu having "her head tucked in between my waist and hip; one arm was across my thighs" while Anita is tucked in against JC on her other side "my free hand was on his thigh, petting the silk and the muscles underneath it" her other hand in Yiyu's hair. The only one not in the bed is Asher, not because he might possibly be taking this seriously but because "One, I was still mad at him. Two, Jade didn't like him. She didn't trust him, and she shouldn't have. There was something about her extreme victim vibe that made Asher want to do bad things to her."
ASHER: SUDDENLY A HUGE CREEPASS. Hey, this remind you of anything? Like how he was making repeated unwanted advances in Bullet where he was *also* villainized out of the blue? Even though it's okay for everyone to always be making unwanted advances on Anita (and Anita to rape people and treat them like shit for a 'victim vibe' whatever that is) and that's what she and JC's relationship is built on from the start? Like, I think Asher...tried to rape Anita or something in LC, if I remember right from Dottie's review of it, but I can't remember, but it wasn't portrayed as rape at all, much like her aforementioned entire relationship with JC. So while we may be used to him objectively being creepy, the idea of him being predatory like this is from LKH's standpoint really entirely out of blue, I think, and only came up in Bullet when she needed a whipping boy and Richard wouldn't do because she wanted him to be ass-kissing Anita about how great she was.
She continues to tell us that Asher doesn't want to "really hurt her, but dominate her in that bondage-and-submission way, except that Jade wasn't healthy enough for fun and games like that. She might never be." Neither was Nathaniel, but that didn't stop YOU now did it Anita? Guy with issues like that gets fucked, but when a girl has them, LKH uses it as an excuse to make sure she's kept out of all the sexytimes with the rest of the harem and make it seem like, oh, it's not that Anita won't share, it's just Yiyu's choice/in her best interests, really! And she says that Yiyu being more afraid of Asher makes him want her even more and to "make her say yes." Oh, you mean like with you and JC. "Her issues and his: bad mix." Is it just me or does that make it sound like Yiyu somehow has equal blame in this? Also, how long has this been going on? Why the fuck hasn't anyone stopped this? Why hasn't Anita? She makes NO mention of having even tried to do anything about this. SOME FUCKING SAVIOR SHE IS. And with how she likes to talk about what a savior she is, you know she'd have mentioned it if she ever did step in, so I think it's pretty obvious that she never has. That tells me (as if it weren't already a given) that Anita does NOT actually care about protecting Yiyu in any way, she just wants to own her as her little token harem girl to prove her heteroflexible edginess, and while she might not actively abuse Yiyu herself, she neglects the fact that others are menacing her on what sounds like a regular basis. This is made all the worse by the fact that Asher is second-in-command of the Kiss, so he's kind of like Yiyu's boss or at least her superior.
Asher paces, Anita strokes Yiyu's hair and cuddles JC and thinks about how it helps "dissipate some of the nervous energy that Asher was having to pace away." Nah nah, Asher doesn't have people to snuggle so he has to be nervous but Anita doesn't! JC says that if he'd ever thought that she and Nicky would have sex "more than once so close together, I would have cautioned you." Really? REALLY? You never fucking thought that ANITA might have sex with one of her HAREM twice in a small space of time? Now, either JC has caught Anita's level of stupid, or he held this info back on purpose for some manipulative machination of his, I'm sure. Anita, of course, doesn't spot how silly he'd have to be to really not consider the idea she might ever have sex with Nicky twice in a row, just says she thought she was only a danger to her Bride if she were gravely hurt enough to accidentally drain him to death. She also says that's what JC himself told her, which strengthens my theory he deliberately omitted the "if you screw twice you might kill him" bit for some reason of his own. JC starts to reply "Yes, ma petite, but" and Anita interrupts and says she wasn't that hurt, and JC says that "Brides have no ability to protect themselves; they are designed to give anything that their master wants from them." Anita does not spot the implication here that she might have wanted Nicky to die, and instead just argues that "I didn't use the ardeur the first time. It didn't feel like I used it. I did heal enough to go down on Nicky the second time." Sometimes I wonder if she actually even hears what people are actually saying to her, based on her replies to them. My mom is becoming kind of like that and it's very surreal and concerning to talk to her when she does.
Asher says that he cut her badly and she would have required "a lot of healing unless the sex was magical." Enough to KILL Nicky because of the energy required from him to heal it? I don't buy it. Anita was able to talk and everything even with the mouth wound. Of course, considering how big a deal that Anita made out of a scrape from a tree root in Hit List, maybe she subconsciously drains from her Bride however much she *thinks* is proportionate to the gravity of the wound, not what actually is. Anita says that while she knows the ardeur can drain someone to death if they're fed on too often, but that healing sex has never done that unless the ardeur was involved. JC tells her that Belle Morte drained her Brides to raise her power and would do so "just before she would take us into a nobleman's court and try to seduce them all." That's interesting but it doesn't answer to what Anita was saying at all, nor have much to do with this conversation, JC. Since he also doesn't seem to have Anita's affliction for being unable to stay on-topic, I think he's trying to distract her. Anita says she wasn't trying to do anything but heal and feed the ardeur, and Asher says that the first time Belle Morte killed a Bride it was on accident.
Belle Morte is 2,000 at the very least, much older than Asher. I'd think she was doing this long before he came along, but he speaks as if he was there, recounting that Belle had just been having sex with the Bride and he'd died "but she wasn't upset. She loved the power of it" and that "by the time Jean-Claude arrived in court she had made it just another piece of her power" JC says that Asher never mentioned this, and Asher said he never thought Anita would be able to do it because she's not a true vampire. Again, I call absolute BULLSHIT on anyone being so thick as to assume this; it has been a consistent fact that Anita can do anything that any 'true' vampire can do and more, and not be beholden to any of their weaknesses to boot. JC says that he is Master and Asher should have told him this and "let me decide what ma petite needed to know." So there he says it--JC doesn't tell Anita anything about her own abilities unless *he* thinks that she 'needs' to know them. Seriously, tell me he doesn't sound like he's talking about a sheltered child here! So creepy, ugh. And Anita doesn't even notice this, and makes no remark mentally or aloud about it. Apparently LKH doesn't think her strong, independent heroine should have any problem with this statement and its implications whatsoever.
Asher says he sees that now, and his eyes shine blue and he says he's sorry, reaches out to them in a "beseeching gesture", and his robe sash loosens so his robe falls open "giving a glimpse of his body, pale and perfect" and Anita notices that his robe exposes only his perfect side and wonders if he did it on purpose just like he does the same thing with his hair. She also wonders that, if it was on purpose, if he is doing it "to remind us, no, me, what I was about to give up? Jean-Claude had just finished having sex with him; it wasn't him that Asher needed to re-seduce." Anita, it was explicitly goodbye-sex, how do you not understand that? Also, normally I'd argue that, unlike Anita, JC is much too smart to make decisions about who stays in his empire based on finding them attractive, but I think it's canon that Asher is a blind spot for him and I find it more than reasonable that he would be. Anita must think so too I guess, because she looks at JC and says "Tell me you didn't give in?" and he asks what she means, and she tells him, he says he didn't, but Anita doesn't like the way he words it. "Jade rubbed her face against my waist like the big cat she was in her other form. She was trying to soothe me." You know, I would like the animalistic gestures in human form if they extended to things that aren't cute as well, like pissing to mark territory and like. The fact that they don't makes said cute gestures just annoying to me instead.
Anita starts rambling about what Asher did to Sin, but her own word choice is pretty suspicious to me "His control over hyenas is better than ours, it's one animal that neither of us has any control over, and Asher used that to make Ares attack another guard." In a better series, this would be an interesting conflict. With so many werehyenas among their guards, they need Asher to ensure that said werehyenas don't turn on them all, but having him here also means that he could *make* the werehyenas turn on them if he wanted to. Of course, because this is AB, all it means is that this must be the moment where LKH decided Anita has to randomly gain hyenas as an animal to call in Affliction. "If Asher hadn't hurt me to begin with, I wouldn't have almost drained Nicky dry. We can't let this slide, Jean-Claude, we can't." Firstly, I still don't believe that a cut in her mouth, even one that would have required stitches, is something would cause Nicky to be almost drained to death. Secondly, interesting how it's all Asher's fault. I'm not arguing his culpability in this, but notice how she never puts any blame on Jean-Claude for never telling her that this might happen? It follows just as much that it's JC's fault too because if he'd told her about Belle Morte draining Brides to death then she wouldn't have had sex with Nicky twice in a row.
JC says it's too close to dawn to send Asher off tonight, and that gave me this idea: I bet a lot of Masters will make a show of 'mercy' for various reasons by only banishing someone but do it just before dawn so they have nowhere to go and end up getting fried to death anyway BUT OH WELL NOT THE MASTER'S FAULT TEEHEE! Asher says that he deserves to be exiled for a month and "his robe was so open it was just a beautiful embroidered frame to his body" and then he starts running his hand down over himself all the way to "the groin, where he lay soft, and waiting" and Anita thinks about how he won't be able to get another erection tonight until he drinks blood again "but I actually liked that about vampires. Most men, I started going down on them and they got big too soon, so that I couldn't enjoy the texture and feel that they started with..." AND SHE WAS WORRIED ABOUT ASHER SEDUCING JEAN-CLAUDE? Yiyu, apparently fed up with this bullshit, starts to get off the bed. Anita asks where she's going, she replies "I cannot" and Anita asks "Cannot what?" and my response would be "Cannot even believe the stupidity going on all around here, that's what!" but Yiyu says "You like his cruelty. I do not. Please do not order me to stay." Anita reminds her that both she and JC have promised her that no one will force her to do anything she doesn't want to. Pff, yeah right. Yiyu claims she believes Anita but asks if "May I go?" all the same.
Anita says yes, but also "sighed" and says "We're not going to have sex with Asher" and that comes off to me as really...like an "ugh, okay, geez" sort of reaction, like she's trying to act as if Yiyu is just a big silly drama queen, and it's manipulative as hell towards Yiyu because it's basically trying to make her feel guilty just because, horror of horrors, she has boundaries and is making them clear and is leaving when she feels uncomfortable! Compare that to Anita and how she reacts to unwanted sexual situations, and who here has the "victim mentality" again, you tell me? Yiyu says that "You are within your rights to have sex with him if you wish" which is more honest, fair, and upfront than anything Anita has ever said or done in any of her relationships. Anita, of course, does not think "gee, Yiyu is really good about setting her own boundaries while not trying to restrict others from what they want to do so long as they don't cross said boundaries" but instead thinks about how afraid Yiyu is of men, how afraid she is of vampires, how afraid she is of vampire men, and how Anita being with a pair of nearly-naked "decidedly male" vampires means that "as far as Jade was concerned I was about to do something terrifying." Actually though, Yiyu seems to pretty well understand that her fears are not shared by everyone, and that Anita doesn't share them. She said "if you wish" to have sex with them, which implies she knows and doesn't judge that Anita wants to have sex with them. She also didn't try to warn Anita away, or imply that she thinks this is in any way dangerous to Anita or being forced on her or anything like that.
Honestly, what I get from Yiyu so far is not "traumatized into lesbianism, fearful of all men and sex with men" at all. What I get is a woman who happens to be a lesbian and thus understandably doesn't like to have sex with men in the bed (I think she makes exceptions for Crispin and Domino because of species and Nathaniel because he's just that "girly" as Anita always tells us---which admittedly has shitty implications that 'a man might as well be a woman if he's gender-nonconforming' but remember this is AB) and who doesn't want to have anything to do in particular with this one creepo who has been sexually harassing her, so she's like "hey, I know you're turned on by his brand of bullshit, but I'm not so I'm not gonna stick around and mess up your fun, do what you want though it's cool with me so long as I'm not involved" Honestly, she seems really cool and together and sure about what she does and doesn't want while not wanting to spoil anyone elses' fun, which makes her the most healthy and mature person in this series I'd say.
Anita again claims that they're not going to have sex, Yiyu says that "He will try to seduce you, and that is..." but doesn't get to finish her sentence because as she opens the door she backs into Domino because she was looking at Anita while speaking. She "gave a soft yelp" and "startled away from him" so he drops his hand that he was reaching for her with to the side because "Domino knew better than to push things when she got spooked." Dude, I'd give a little yelp too if I nearly walked into somebody. I'm starting to seriously think Anita is just making up a lot of Yiyu's supposed issues, probably in favor of ignoring whatever ACTUAL ones she has as a consequence of her abuse. Anyway, Anita claims that's "one of the reasons" that she's okay being "in bed with him and me when we made love" and I can't tell if she's talking about she and Yiyu making love or she and Domino making love and Yiyu just...being there. Anita says that the same applies to Nathaniel...are you sure, Anita, cuz I think maybe Yiyu just thinks that Nathaniel is a pre-operative transgender lesbian/bi woman. I mean, with how you and he and Micah all refer to him as your wife, your girlfriend, the Princess who is saved by Prince Charming, etc., I could actually see her getting that impression and figuring you and Micah are just too thick and disrespectful to bother with the right pronouns when you call him a he instead of a she. I'm not trying to be funny, I could actually see that.
Anita orders Domino to walk Yiyu back to her room, Yiyu says Domino is supposed to be guarding Anita from Asher, Domino says he'll walk Yiyu to her room then come back here, OH GOD SOMEONE MAKE THIS POINTLESSNESS END. "Jade didn't want him to touch her either, but when she was this shaken she needed someone by her side that she trusted at least a little to keep the panic from growing. She trusted Domino more than any other man." DOMINO HELPED ANITA RAPE HER. LET THE GROSSNESS OF THIS SINK IN. "Claudia had no patience with her, and Kelly didn't need to be around Asher tonight, and just like that we were out of female guards to watch over her." Ok, think about the absurd amount of guards that are mentioned in this series. THEY ARE ALL MEN EXCEPT TWO. Domino says he'll be back ASAP and asks Anita not to get hurt because he doesn't want to fight Nicky "for real". Anita says "We'll be good" and he grins and says "I know you're good, Anita; just don't hurt each other" and laughs as he closes to door.
I guess that was supposed to be a funny sex joke or something.
I'll just be over here forming Yiyu headcanons now...