BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER 46
Apr. 11th, 2018 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
a_sporking_ratI just stepped on a rather full dustpan in such a way that the contents were fucking catapulted RIGHT INTO BLAZE’S CAGE
This poor rat is just taking a snooze and suddenly there is GARBAGE RAINING ON HIM
…which admittedly, by rat standards, might be a good thing.
Alas, it's not the yummy kind of trash though!
BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER 46
It's Aunt Queen's funeral. Nothing really happened. But I had to sit through this, so I'm gonna make you endure my condensed version.
Quinn had a "wild dream" in his heart that Mona would be at the Mass but she is not. Rowan, Michael, and Winn are, and they all have "that eerie glow which so unsettled me" and Stirling Oliver is with them. Polite nods are exchanged.
Tons and tons and tons of people have come.
Quinn is sad the coffin has been shut so he didn't get to see AQ one last time.
Lestat and Merrick Mayfair appear. Shockingly, Merrick is not given loads of description, or any at all, on sight. We're just told Merrick is there with Lestat, and then get to hear about what Lestat is wearing and how he has cut his hair tonight. Then we're told about what Merrick is wearing, though we still haven't been told what SHE looks like. Unusual.
Quinn overhears Stirling and Merrick greet each other, she tells Stirling she has a lot of things on her mind but will try to do what he wants, then kisses Stirling on both cheeks. Somehow, Quinn knows that this is "a moment of incredible magnitude" for Stirling, and I don't know if this is vampire telepathy or more just Rice Characters Just Know Things. It feels like the latter though.
Father Kevin Mayfair commences the Mass with two altar boys. God forbid we not know how many altar boys there are. Quinn hasn't seen him since he became a vampire and is thus unprepared for how much he reminds Quinn of Mona, so it makes him ache just looking at him. The Blood reveals to Quinn (which means, vampire telepathy) that Father Kevin truly believes the words he speaks during Mass. What happened to Quinn not poking into people's heads unless they're his victims or Patsy?
Merrick and Lestat kneel and pray and everything. So does Quinn. Nash and Jasmine go up and speak about Aunt Queen, Quinn thinks about how he didn't speak at any of the other funerals, and though "it seemed unthinkable" that he should speak at Mass while being a vampire, he does so anyway and reads from the Book of Wisdom. He himself is "scarcely believing" that he said this in "the sanctuary of a church" to a "human crowd" and to be honest this feels kind of forced to me. Crosses and other religious stuff clearly don't affect vampires, but we also know canonically that Jesus is real because Lestat drank from him, and Quinn knows this because he's read the VC books, so like...he should know that God's real and also doesn't care if you're a vampire. He presumably knows Lestat received the Veil of St. Veronica from Jesus along with his blood in Memnoch the Devil, for fuck's sake, VAMPIRES CAN RECEIVE RELICS OF SAINTS FROM JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, IT'S NOT GODDAMN SHOCKING YOU'RE ABLE TO BE A VAMPIRE IN A CHURCH and like, if the books did not exist in-universe, of course he wouldn't know this, but THEY DO AND HE'S READ THEM!
It might just be like, meant to be more Quinn's personal feelings on it than shock he's not bursting into flames, but that still seems dumb to me, given that he's lived as a vampire for a year at this point, and read the books in that time (probably very quickly since he's supposed to be ~so smart~ and Rice only ascribes to a specific sort of smart that would include quick reading) so like...he's had time to work it out. I might buy it more if it didn't seem so...artificial, the way it's written? It just does. Like I'm not even convinced he's all that surprised or thoughtful about it.
Tommy gives his own speech about Aunt Queen and all the places she took him and how he hopes to love other people the way she taught him to but he'll never love anyone like he loved her. I'm sure this would be touching if we'd actually experienced any of the relationship between him and AQ but instead it's just kinda superfluous boring and I wish Quinn had glossed over it like I am here. Quinn is very proud of him, by the way, and "he took my mind off my own sins". He holds Tommy's hand with one hand and Lestat's with the other.
We are told how Tommy and Jasmine are getting Communion and Quinn automatically gets up to get it too and "to my utter shock, so did Merrick and so did Lestat"
Yeah, that is kind of odd I guess, given that Lestat already has received the LITERAL BLOOD OF CHRIST DIRECT FROM THE SOURCE like jeez bro what do you need more for?
We are even specifically told how Quinn always takes the Host in his hand first before putting it in his mouth, and how he doesn't know if Lestat and Merrick put it in their hands first or take it directly on the tongue. If you're not Catholic, towards the end of Mass we get Communion, which is the wine and the Host, these tasteless little wafers that are meant to represent the flesh of Christ. Well, no, they actually are supposed to be literally transformed into the flesh and blood of Christ, but that's complicated/weird to explain even as a Catholic, so like...let's just say represents. And you can take it in your hand first or the priest can put it right on your tongue. I think the more hardcore/traditional types only let you have it on the tongue. So that's why this distinction would be important to Rice, and I suppose it's meant to be important to Quinn, but Quinn hasn't really been religious for shit in this book besides the occasional thought about God so I don't think that this whole specific thing was at all fucking necessary and I resent slogging through it.
He tells us he prayed to be forgiven for his sins and how Christ is inside him but also that he is guilty of sacrilege (idk how, he doesn't explain) and 'what is a murderer to do' (yeah, like Quinn is so repentant about that *eyeroll*) and how for the moment he is pure. He thinks about how God became Man (with a capital M) and how "it seemed such a remarkable gesture!" and how "It was as if I'd never heard the story before!" and he ponders how it seems God did this to greater understand the creation that had so offended Him as humans had done, how angels hadn't done that but humans did.
His thoughts on this aren't at all deep or lengthy, he just more or less thinks the exact same sentences that I transcribed, and while I am glad I don't need to get through long deep reflections when my patience is out for this book, it does make Quinn's sudden spiritual concerns seem that much more shallow. Like Rice is TRYING to put this in here suddenly, but it's too little too late and she herself doesn't actually seem that interested or have much to say. I wish I could remember more of Interview, because I swear I *think* it was much deeper and more well-down than this (especially since the questions Louis had then would be genuine questions, as the mythos had not been at all expanded yet) but I think I might just also be remembering people SAYING that versus my own opinions.
Also calling the incarnation of God as Christ a "remarkable gesture" is like...I'm not sure I'd call it offensive, but it's a ridiculous understatement, especially from such a Catholic person? He makes it sound like God just brought over a really nice icebox cake to a dinner party He was invited to. It really, truly, on top of everything else, does not sell me on Quinn's sincerity in this. It's hollow, it's shallow, it doesn't make sense, and it's just bogging everything down that much more, much like this painfully blow-by-blow funeral. Actually, wait, I think I just described the bulk of this book.
They go to the cemetery. Candles provided by the funeral company are lit. Father Kevin finishes with "dash and charm" which are not words I'd really want a priest to do my great aunt's funeral with, and "wept for Aunt Queen" because...I guess...he knew her personally and we were just never told about it? Terry Sue is crying too, and then Patsy bursts out in tears and yells at Quinn for "How could you bring us out here at night? I hate this place, and you have to bring us here at night. You, always you, Tarquin."
It's hard for me not to like Patsy when she is suddenly the voice of my frustration at everything Being All About Quinn. Quinn, however, tells us he felt sorry for her because everyone is staring at her and they don't know how sick she is or how insane she is.
...so Patsy's insane now too?
Patsy yells at him more, says damn him to hell and stuff like that. Grady, the family lawyer, "tried to pet and quiet her" which I find pretty demeaning language, then he and Big Ramona force her into the limo as she continues to curse him. Quinn feels "humiliated for her" and her "strange theatrics" and wonders why she had come, when she didn't come to the funerals of her own parents.
...Quinn, I think it's more than a bit obvious why she didn't come to the funerals of her parents.
Merrick says they should meet tonight. She says "your spirit friend" is dangerous and she can sense his presence, though "he is eager not to be seen by me or by Lestat". They say they'll meet at the house, Merrick says "your mother" (it took me way too long to remember she meant Patsy, guess she figured that out via vampire telepathy) is heading there as well so "try to keep her" because "we have to talk to her". She uses a very repetitive way of speaking to say this, and I'm wondering if that's Rice fucking up or just her way of talking.
Quinn gets in the limo and lists for us every other person who is in it. Because I guess otherwise I'd just be wondering how Big Ramona, Patsy, Nash, Jasmine, and Clem all got home. Then Quinn gets out again to take two red roses from the crypt, and Goblin is there by the mausoleum, dressed exactly like Quinn and his hair is "full but trimmed" just like Quinn's, but despite him looking solid Quinn can see an "intricate web of blood" all throughout him, which is admittedly a pretty damn cool mental image. Goblin's visible form is only around for a second or two, then "winked out as though it had been a flame"
He takes the two roses, gets back in the limo, and Patsy cries all the way home about how she hasn't been to that "damn tomb" in all these years and now had to go in the middle of the night "on account of little Quinn, little Quinn, how fitting, little Quinn!"
So it starts get obvious here that her reasons for not coming to the other funerals might not just be about Sweetheart and Pops themselves, but the family tomb/cemetery. We will learn why this is in the next chapter, as why she says it is "fitting" that she is here because of Quinn.
Big Ramona tells Patsy that she didn't have to come and to shush because she's "making herself sick" which is a remark that Patsy understandably doesn't take well ("Oh damn you, you all, what do you know about sick?") "and so it went on for the long ride home" so that by the time they home, Quinn has crushed the roses in his hands.
Next chapter, we finally get some answers about Goblin!
This poor rat is just taking a snooze and suddenly there is GARBAGE RAINING ON HIM
…which admittedly, by rat standards, might be a good thing.
Alas, it's not the yummy kind of trash though!
BLACKWOOD FARM, CHAPTER 46
It's Aunt Queen's funeral. Nothing really happened. But I had to sit through this, so I'm gonna make you endure my condensed version.
Quinn had a "wild dream" in his heart that Mona would be at the Mass but she is not. Rowan, Michael, and Winn are, and they all have "that eerie glow which so unsettled me" and Stirling Oliver is with them. Polite nods are exchanged.
Tons and tons and tons of people have come.
Quinn is sad the coffin has been shut so he didn't get to see AQ one last time.
Lestat and Merrick Mayfair appear. Shockingly, Merrick is not given loads of description, or any at all, on sight. We're just told Merrick is there with Lestat, and then get to hear about what Lestat is wearing and how he has cut his hair tonight. Then we're told about what Merrick is wearing, though we still haven't been told what SHE looks like. Unusual.
Quinn overhears Stirling and Merrick greet each other, she tells Stirling she has a lot of things on her mind but will try to do what he wants, then kisses Stirling on both cheeks. Somehow, Quinn knows that this is "a moment of incredible magnitude" for Stirling, and I don't know if this is vampire telepathy or more just Rice Characters Just Know Things. It feels like the latter though.
Father Kevin Mayfair commences the Mass with two altar boys. God forbid we not know how many altar boys there are. Quinn hasn't seen him since he became a vampire and is thus unprepared for how much he reminds Quinn of Mona, so it makes him ache just looking at him. The Blood reveals to Quinn (which means, vampire telepathy) that Father Kevin truly believes the words he speaks during Mass. What happened to Quinn not poking into people's heads unless they're his victims or Patsy?
Merrick and Lestat kneel and pray and everything. So does Quinn. Nash and Jasmine go up and speak about Aunt Queen, Quinn thinks about how he didn't speak at any of the other funerals, and though "it seemed unthinkable" that he should speak at Mass while being a vampire, he does so anyway and reads from the Book of Wisdom. He himself is "scarcely believing" that he said this in "the sanctuary of a church" to a "human crowd" and to be honest this feels kind of forced to me. Crosses and other religious stuff clearly don't affect vampires, but we also know canonically that Jesus is real because Lestat drank from him, and Quinn knows this because he's read the VC books, so like...he should know that God's real and also doesn't care if you're a vampire. He presumably knows Lestat received the Veil of St. Veronica from Jesus along with his blood in Memnoch the Devil, for fuck's sake, VAMPIRES CAN RECEIVE RELICS OF SAINTS FROM JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, IT'S NOT GODDAMN SHOCKING YOU'RE ABLE TO BE A VAMPIRE IN A CHURCH and like, if the books did not exist in-universe, of course he wouldn't know this, but THEY DO AND HE'S READ THEM!
It might just be like, meant to be more Quinn's personal feelings on it than shock he's not bursting into flames, but that still seems dumb to me, given that he's lived as a vampire for a year at this point, and read the books in that time (probably very quickly since he's supposed to be ~so smart~ and Rice only ascribes to a specific sort of smart that would include quick reading) so like...he's had time to work it out. I might buy it more if it didn't seem so...artificial, the way it's written? It just does. Like I'm not even convinced he's all that surprised or thoughtful about it.
Tommy gives his own speech about Aunt Queen and all the places she took him and how he hopes to love other people the way she taught him to but he'll never love anyone like he loved her. I'm sure this would be touching if we'd actually experienced any of the relationship between him and AQ but instead it's just kinda superfluous boring and I wish Quinn had glossed over it like I am here. Quinn is very proud of him, by the way, and "he took my mind off my own sins". He holds Tommy's hand with one hand and Lestat's with the other.
We are told how Tommy and Jasmine are getting Communion and Quinn automatically gets up to get it too and "to my utter shock, so did Merrick and so did Lestat"
Yeah, that is kind of odd I guess, given that Lestat already has received the LITERAL BLOOD OF CHRIST DIRECT FROM THE SOURCE like jeez bro what do you need more for?
We are even specifically told how Quinn always takes the Host in his hand first before putting it in his mouth, and how he doesn't know if Lestat and Merrick put it in their hands first or take it directly on the tongue. If you're not Catholic, towards the end of Mass we get Communion, which is the wine and the Host, these tasteless little wafers that are meant to represent the flesh of Christ. Well, no, they actually are supposed to be literally transformed into the flesh and blood of Christ, but that's complicated/weird to explain even as a Catholic, so like...let's just say represents. And you can take it in your hand first or the priest can put it right on your tongue. I think the more hardcore/traditional types only let you have it on the tongue. So that's why this distinction would be important to Rice, and I suppose it's meant to be important to Quinn, but Quinn hasn't really been religious for shit in this book besides the occasional thought about God so I don't think that this whole specific thing was at all fucking necessary and I resent slogging through it.
He tells us he prayed to be forgiven for his sins and how Christ is inside him but also that he is guilty of sacrilege (idk how, he doesn't explain) and 'what is a murderer to do' (yeah, like Quinn is so repentant about that *eyeroll*) and how for the moment he is pure. He thinks about how God became Man (with a capital M) and how "it seemed such a remarkable gesture!" and how "It was as if I'd never heard the story before!" and he ponders how it seems God did this to greater understand the creation that had so offended Him as humans had done, how angels hadn't done that but humans did.
His thoughts on this aren't at all deep or lengthy, he just more or less thinks the exact same sentences that I transcribed, and while I am glad I don't need to get through long deep reflections when my patience is out for this book, it does make Quinn's sudden spiritual concerns seem that much more shallow. Like Rice is TRYING to put this in here suddenly, but it's too little too late and she herself doesn't actually seem that interested or have much to say. I wish I could remember more of Interview, because I swear I *think* it was much deeper and more well-down than this (especially since the questions Louis had then would be genuine questions, as the mythos had not been at all expanded yet) but I think I might just also be remembering people SAYING that versus my own opinions.
Also calling the incarnation of God as Christ a "remarkable gesture" is like...I'm not sure I'd call it offensive, but it's a ridiculous understatement, especially from such a Catholic person? He makes it sound like God just brought over a really nice icebox cake to a dinner party He was invited to. It really, truly, on top of everything else, does not sell me on Quinn's sincerity in this. It's hollow, it's shallow, it doesn't make sense, and it's just bogging everything down that much more, much like this painfully blow-by-blow funeral. Actually, wait, I think I just described the bulk of this book.
They go to the cemetery. Candles provided by the funeral company are lit. Father Kevin finishes with "dash and charm" which are not words I'd really want a priest to do my great aunt's funeral with, and "wept for Aunt Queen" because...I guess...he knew her personally and we were just never told about it? Terry Sue is crying too, and then Patsy bursts out in tears and yells at Quinn for "How could you bring us out here at night? I hate this place, and you have to bring us here at night. You, always you, Tarquin."
It's hard for me not to like Patsy when she is suddenly the voice of my frustration at everything Being All About Quinn. Quinn, however, tells us he felt sorry for her because everyone is staring at her and they don't know how sick she is or how insane she is.
...so Patsy's insane now too?
Patsy yells at him more, says damn him to hell and stuff like that. Grady, the family lawyer, "tried to pet and quiet her" which I find pretty demeaning language, then he and Big Ramona force her into the limo as she continues to curse him. Quinn feels "humiliated for her" and her "strange theatrics" and wonders why she had come, when she didn't come to the funerals of her own parents.
...Quinn, I think it's more than a bit obvious why she didn't come to the funerals of her parents.
Merrick says they should meet tonight. She says "your spirit friend" is dangerous and she can sense his presence, though "he is eager not to be seen by me or by Lestat". They say they'll meet at the house, Merrick says "your mother" (it took me way too long to remember she meant Patsy, guess she figured that out via vampire telepathy) is heading there as well so "try to keep her" because "we have to talk to her". She uses a very repetitive way of speaking to say this, and I'm wondering if that's Rice fucking up or just her way of talking.
Quinn gets in the limo and lists for us every other person who is in it. Because I guess otherwise I'd just be wondering how Big Ramona, Patsy, Nash, Jasmine, and Clem all got home. Then Quinn gets out again to take two red roses from the crypt, and Goblin is there by the mausoleum, dressed exactly like Quinn and his hair is "full but trimmed" just like Quinn's, but despite him looking solid Quinn can see an "intricate web of blood" all throughout him, which is admittedly a pretty damn cool mental image. Goblin's visible form is only around for a second or two, then "winked out as though it had been a flame"
He takes the two roses, gets back in the limo, and Patsy cries all the way home about how she hasn't been to that "damn tomb" in all these years and now had to go in the middle of the night "on account of little Quinn, little Quinn, how fitting, little Quinn!"
So it starts get obvious here that her reasons for not coming to the other funerals might not just be about Sweetheart and Pops themselves, but the family tomb/cemetery. We will learn why this is in the next chapter, as why she says it is "fitting" that she is here because of Quinn.
Big Ramona tells Patsy that she didn't have to come and to shush because she's "making herself sick" which is a remark that Patsy understandably doesn't take well ("Oh damn you, you all, what do you know about sick?") "and so it went on for the long ride home" so that by the time they home, Quinn has crushed the roses in his hands.
Next chapter, we finally get some answers about Goblin!
