Hush, Hush: Chapter 16

[zelda_queen]

ZeldaQueen: In which Fitzpatrick channels Wes Craven

Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...

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Chapter 16

ZeldaQueen: Nora leaves her rather pointless therapy session and finds Vee. Showing signs of intelligence, she finally asks if Vee knows what a home security system costs. Vee basically rolls her eyes because she still thinks it’s stupid to think that Elliot broke into the house. Never mind that the house was broken into and someone clearly is stalking Nora. Nope, let's ignore that to remind us that Nora is stupid to be afraid of Elliot. Is Vee on crack? And as a side note, the home security system thing is pretty much dropped here until the end of the book.

Nora heads to the library, lamenting how she must walk because Vee can’t drive her and her mother has the car. Oh look, she’s going off on her own and has no ride. I wonder where this is going?

At the library, little research turns up on the death at Elliot’s previous school. Nora calls her mom and asks if it would be cool if she took a bus to Portland, with the intention of interviewing some students (she tells her mom it‘s for a school paper article). Her mother makes the very good points that it will be dark soon, it’s a school night, and that all of the students will have gone home by this point. I also must note that Nora comes across as incredibly stupid, given that she knows she’s being stalked and nearly has been attacked twice and decides that the best course of action is to go wandering around in a strange area while it’s dark out. Not since those tourists from The Human Centipede have I seen such idiocy.

Also, apparently Nora is going to be walking home in the dark, which has got to be one of the biggest set-ups ever.

As Nora leaves the library, she runs into Marcie Millar. Fantastic. She always adds so much to the story, doesn’t she? Sure enough, Marcie runs right up to Nora and insults Vee. “It's really sad. I mean, who would attack her? Unless, you know, they couldn't help it. Maybe it was self-defense. I heard it was dark and raining. It would be easy to mistake Vee for a moose. Or a bear, or a buffalo. Really, any hulking animal would do”. You know, that would probably come across as a lot more catty if Vee’s sole purpose in this story hasn’t been “ha ha, she’s fat”.

Nora makes an equally stupid retort and the two go back and forth with one word insults which amount to Marcie calling Nora a weirdo and Nora calling Marcie a slut. You know, for all we’ve been told how Marcie is such a scandalous harlot, I’ve seen very little of her actually whoring around. I mean there was that moment where she tried to cozy up to Elliot, but that came across as more boisterous than flirtatious. She hasn’t really done much of anything, really. Certainly she hasn’t started dating a guy just because he’s rich. *pointed glare at Vee*

Marcie is totally unaffected by Nora insulting her sex life (or alleged sex life, as we’ve seen no hint of one at all). I guess it’s supposed to be a sign of her bitchiness that she doesn’t bend before the lame comebacks, but it really just makes her look like she actually has a backbone.

A security guard at the library door steps in at this point and tells them both to knock it off and go home. Thank you, nameless security guard. I think I shall call you Phil and mail you a gift basket for shutting these idiots up. Marcie jumps into the routine of doing an obvious show of playing the innocent victim, which Phil does not fall for. Marcie then gives him “her trademark toxic smile” and lays it on thick about how she thinks he’s handsome in uniform. Apparently an obviously fake smile and clichéd compliment are enough to melt Phil’s gruff exterior, even though he still kicks Marcie out.

*clears throat*

That up there was clearly Fitzpatrick trying to show us what a skanky whore Marcie is. Imagine, manipulating people by smiling at them and being fake polite and flirting! Ought to be branded with the scarlet letter for that one, really.

It’s also pretty obvious that we’re supposed to see this as standard behavior for Marcie. We’re supposed to figure out that she routinely flirts with boys and has them all on strings because she whores herself out knows how to push the right buttons with them. Thing is, Marcie is about as subtle as a truck running into a brick wall. So instead of making Marcie look like a manipulative bitch, Fitzpatrick just leaves us with the conclusion that most men in this weird world are complete idiots who think via their penises and give evil girls free passes because hey, a smile and a compliment get them all hot, am I right? Really, it reminds me of this post, which comments on Lynn Johnston’s persecution of Therese and how, besides being sexist as heck, it just made Anthony look bad because he apparently didn’t have the sense to see that he was marrying a woman who was very obviously a bitch.

I also might add that I’ve been in Phil’s place a few times. I volunteer at the book/coffee shop on the bottom floor of my district’s public library, which as luck would have it is situated right next to the lower level exit. Said exit is also where most of the middle and high school students hang out while waiting for their parents to pick them up, and as a result we have to deal with the occasional jerks horse playing, running around, being loud and obnoxious, screwing around with the automatic doors, or harassing patrons who are entering or leaving the library. The janitors, the library employees, the other volunteers, and myself have all often had to tell off those kids for being disruptive jerks, and more than a few of them have tried just that trick, batting their eyes and trying to butter us up, even though we know darned well what they had been up to. I guess it’s a sign of reality that we wouldn’t cave in for a cute face.

This book angers me greatly

Nora decides that she just can’t stand to be in the company of Marcie a second longer, so she takes the lower exit through the underground parking garage. This gets her to start panicking, because she finds herself remembering her father's death and apparently has had a phobia since of walking through dark rooms or by dark alleys. This all just makes what's coming up even worse. She’s setting out and going on about how dark it is when she sees a dark figure in front of her. Surprise! It’s Patch! And he’s an asshole! The more things change!

There's a run-down on everything Patch is wearing (because yeah, that's important) and Nora demands that he tell her what he's doing there. He's stalking you, fool! Seriously, turn around! Go upstairs! Tell Phil you need an escort out of the building!

No, Nora just stands there, contemplating how "If rape, murder, or any other miscreant activities were on Patch's mind, he'd cornered me in the perfect place". *flaps hands* I...what? If you think he's going to rape or hurt you, go upstairs! Don't stand there talking to him! Gah! This is creepy!

Instead, Nora tells Patch that he's going to answer a few of her questions. Patch correctly guesses that Nora will make a break for it if he refuses, and Nora admits to the readers that she know she doesn't have a snowball's chance of actually outrunning this guy. She know she can't outrun him, she knows he's dangerous, she's speculating that he could be planning to rape or murder her, she knows that no one will hear her if she screams, and she decides that this is the best time to badger him for answers. Smooth, girl.

Nora asks how Patch knew she'd be there, and he tries to feed her some bull about it just being a good guess. Then, he lunges at her. No, really. He leaps forward towards her. She moves over so that a car is in between them, and then resumes the questions. Romance of the century, those two.

Second question is where Patch was on Sunday. Without waiting for an actual answer for that, she then asks him if he stalked herself and Vee on their shopping trip. He tells her he did not and she buys that, because people are so often honest about their stalking habits. Actually, given how Patch has behaved, I'd believe he'd be the kind of guy who'd brag to his victim about how he was stalking her.

Patch continues to insist that he was in no way involved in the events of Sunday and Nora does not believe that. Patch replies that it's because "you have trust issues".

*massive eyetwitch*

Oh yes Nora, what a weak-willed person you are, so devoid of trust to not believe the guy who's been stalking and harassing and hiding things from you! Patch is the sort of person that any sensible person would wholeheartedly trust, yesssss!

Hold it in, ZeldaQueen. Hold it in.

Nora does get pissed off at this, but not because Patch is being a dick to her. Instead, it's the usual cutesy "Oh, how irritating that he is so insightful as to my character!" And of course, it's put in a way that doesn't make us think that he's a stalking bastard, but we're instead supposed to believe that he just knows so much about her, so the fangirls can sigh and swoon over how he's such a smart and sensitive guy to understand his girlfriend so well. Yes, I'm sure I'd understand my significant other if I stalked them and peeked in their windows and...I'm very sorry.

So yeah, Nora asks exactly what happened on the Archangel, as well as if Patch saved her there. Patch makes some vague comment about how they wouldn't be having this conversation if he had saved her, and then says that he wasn't implying that Nora would have been dead. Given how this book has had nothing but heavy-handed foreshadowing about how Patch is a fallen angel, it's pretty obvious what the "saving" being referred to is.

At this point, Patch lunges for Nora again. She's caught off guard and makes a break for it, getting three cars away before Patch grabs her and throws her against a cement beam and stands right in front of her so she can't leave.



ZeldaQueen: Right. I think I'll be sleeping with the lights on tonight.

Nora continues with the questioning, even though she's terrified. She asks Patch what he was doing when he was staring at her in PE, and he replies that he was admiring her legs. She asks for the complete truth, and he basically tells her there's not a chance of that, all while leaning up in her face with a dark grin.

River Song? Would you help me out, please?







ZeldaQueen: Thank you, ma'am.

Patch asks Nora why she was so upset when she came outside. While he says this, he takes her hand in his and rubs her knuckles across his lips. I'm pretty sure Fitzpatrick thought this was sexy. I VERY MUCH beg to differ!

"I couldn't remember what we were talking about. All I knew was that Patch's gaze felt especially hot. I had to break eye contact, so I trained my eyes on my hands. They were glistening with sweat, and I slid them behind my back.

'I have to go,' I said. 'I have homework.'

'What happened in there?' He tilted his chin back at the elevators.

'Nothing.'

Before I could stop him, he had my palm pressed to his, forming a steeple with our hands. He slid his fingers between mine, locking me to him. 'Your knuckles are white,' he said, brushing his mouth across them. 'And you came out looking worked up.'

'Let go. And I'm not worked up. Not really. If you'll excuse me, I have homework-'

'Nora.' Patch spoke my name softly, yet with every intention of getting what he wanted."

ZeldaQueen: Yes, that's not creepy in the slightest, not at all SERIOUSLY FANGIRLS WHAT THE FUCK???

And so nice to see him emulating Edward Cullen there. "Young lady, you answer my question this instant! Do you think I give a fuck about your privacy or feelings on the matter?"

Nora finally spills and tells Patch about her fight with Marcie Millar. It's beaten over our heads how weird it is that he doesn't know her because she's a whore and all the boys drool over her, blah, blah, blah, etc, and all that noise. Patch is more interested in the details of the fight, and is disappointed that there wasn't actual hair-pulling or clawing. He asks if he'll have to teach Nora how to fight, and she insists that she's had boxing lessons (which she confides to us was one kickboxing lesson). He asks her to give a shot at him. Gladly. Can we all line up, or is it a one-person thing with drawing lots? Nora says she doesn't want to.

"'We're all alone down here.' Patch's boots were flush with the toes of my shoes. 'A guy like me could take advantage of a girl like you. Better show me what you've got.'"

ZeldaQueen: ...

.   .   .

I've got nothing. Nothing. Except, perhaps, for WHAT THE UNHOLY FUCKBEANS, FITZPATRICK???

And then Patch offers to give her a ride home on that fucking motorcycle of his



ZeldaQueen: And then Nora seriously considers this



ZeldaQueen: I...she...he... he just made a veiled threat to attack her and chased her and pinned her against a beam and she's going to ride home with him! A stranger offering candy would be more trustworthy!!!

But no, she accepts. She accepts a ride with him. SHE ACCEPTS A RIDE WITH THE GUY WHO THREATENED HER, CHRIST ALMIGHTY! Oh, she tries to excuse it by saying that it would be dangerous to walk home, and under other circumstances I would buy that because of the attacks, but in this case she's weighing the danger of the possibility of someone attacking her as she walks home to the danger of accepting a ride on a vehicle which is hardly the most protected or safest (that fucking motorcycle, remember?) with a guy who acted in a way which I'm fairly certain is grounds for a restraining order, or at the very least a tazer.

Yes folks, we're rounding the bend and reaching the point where Nora will be losing any sense she has shown. Not quite there yet, but we're getting there fast. Because after that lovely display from Patch, after he frightened her and had her pinned and shaking and was invasive and made a veiled threat to hurt her, she pretty much forgets about it.

I shall repeat that. Not two sentences after that horrible quote, Nora is perfectly fine with Patch and is making resigned quips about how he's only offering her a ride because she doesn't like the motorcycle.

There is nothing I can think of to say to that, really. Bella Swan was a complete dumbass, but Nora doesn't have that excuse. She knows what's up with this guy and still she is fine with it. Ms Fitzpatrick, that is not a sexy fantasy. That is either idiocy of the highest order or, more frightening, it is a sign of an abuser breaking down the will of his victim so she sees his behavior as acceptable and desirable. I'm sure neither were what you intended, but come on!

Patch makes a joke about how he doesn't just give her rides because she hates the motorcycle, which is not funny at all because dude, I have a memory span of more than half a page I haven't forgotten him fucking threatening her!!! The ride itself is mercifully brief, and his dropping her off at the house feels like Fitzpatrick was trying to go for some Grease-esque atmosphere. Oh, and Nora feels perfectly safe around Patch. No, REALLY

"I was feeling a lot more relaxed. Patch was warm and solid, and he smelled fantastic. Like mint and rich, dark earth. Nobody had jumpedout at us on the ride home, and all the windows on the lower level of the farmhouse glowed with light. For the first time all day I felt safe"

ZeldaQueen: Yeah, safe except for when he was chasing you around the parking garage. I guess that's such a tiny, insignificant thing though, there's no point in remembering it. Christ knows, Nora doesn't.

Hang on, hold that thought. Thankfully, Nora proves that she hasn't entirely lost her mind yet and briefly recalls that oh yeah, the guy threatened her. So when Patch tells her to skip homework on Saturday and go on a date with him, she tells him that she doesn't go out with strangers. His reply? "Good thing I do. I'll pick you up at five"

It's so wonderful to have a romantic male lead that respects the girl's opinions, isn't it? So pleasant to see how he is kind and loving and gives her the time and space she needs for them to build a relationship on trust. Isn't it sweet to see how he doesn't force his will on her and spend his time threatening and controlling her?

Oh, and spoilers - Nora isn't angry about him making that decision at all. Nor is she frightened, even though she distinctly recalled his behavior in the parking garage when she refused the date. Nope, she's pleased as punch to have a date with Patch. So remember guys, if a girl tells you she doesn't want to go out with you, force her to do so anyway. No means yes, after all. And ladies, don't even bother to contradict or refuse Your Man anything. After all, he's better than you and knows better so there's really no point, is there? Isn't it great, how this book teaches such fantastic lessons on building healthy, loving relationships?

And the sad thing is, I can't drum up a decent rant about this. I really can't. Because this is not the worst by far. So see you next chapter, ladies and gentlemen! I'm going to go sob in the shower now

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Onward to: Chapter 17

Back to: Chapter 15

Return to to: Table of Contents

Comments

[a-lovesuicide.livejournal.com]

Patch is so fucking creepy.

DO NOT WANT EVER OKAY, DO NOT WANT EVER.

[greenerygripes.livejournal.com]

Nora calls her mom and asks if it would be cool if she took a bus to Portland, with the intention of interviewing some students (she tells her mom it‘s for a school paper article). Her mother makes the very good points that it will be dark soon, it’s a school night, and that all of the students will have gone home by this point.
And yet, even knowing that Nora wants to bus to another town after dark, by herself, probably with no light on her person, Nora-Mom doesn't demand her daughter stay put, call the librarian and tell her to keep her from sneaking out, then drive down to the library and haul her butt home?
Wow. Stupidity must run in the family.

Unless, you know, they couldn't help it. Maybe it was self-defense. I heard it was dark and raining. It would be easy to mistake Vee for a moose. Or a bear, or a buffalo. Really, any hulking animal would do”.
Uhm...I live in Alaska, and I've seen moose. There is no way in hell Vee would be mistaken for a moose, no matter how fat she was.

Then, he lunges at her. No, really. He leaps forward towards her. She moves over so that a car is in between them, and then resumes the questions.
....DAMN IT, NORA, YOU STUPID LITTLE--!
*Technical Difficulties, please stand by*

So when Patch tells her to skip homework on Saturday and go on a date with him, she tells him that she doesn't go out with strangers. His reply? "Good thing I do. I'll pick you up at five"
And this is where any sane girl tells her parents, her therapist, the police...but nooo, Patch is TEH LURVE INTEREST and AW IT IS SO SWEET OF HIM TO TAKE NORA ON A DATE WHEN SHE'S UNSURE~
Mind if I borrow this?

(Damn, now there was a story that did the "jerk falls in love" properly. I don't care what the naysayers and Twilight-comparers say.)

*sigh* I've said it before, I want to say it again. I understand the appeal of "the bad boy." But there is a HUGE difference between "bad boy" and "abusive psychopathic stalker who should really be locked up and away from society."

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Well, in slight defense of Nora's mother, there is the implication that Nora never did any sneaking around or hiding anything before Patch got into her life. Which really doesn't speak well about his influence on her.

No, no, you are ruining the catty insults with logic. Mustn't do that. :P

Ohh ho ho, trust me, this is not the most stupid that Nora gets. She has yet to lose her entire brain. You'll know when she has. I'll slam on the sporking breaks and explode. -_-

It gets even better in the next chapter. Just wait and see.

Funny you should use that GIF. ABC Family was just playing that movie a few hours ago, and I was enjoying it. ^_^

[greenerygripes.livejournal.com]

^^ Yeah, ya gotta love Beauty and the Beast.
I should rewatch it for the millionth time soon, I love it so much.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that GIF really comes in handy, huh? :)

/(Damn, now there was a story that did the "jerk falls in love" properly. I don't care what the naysayers and Twilight-comparers say.)/

"Beauty and the Beast" is my favorite Disney film and I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people say that Belle was abused or a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. Whenever I see people claim that the romance in "Beauty in the Beast" (the Disney version, mind you, not the original version) is abusive, I wonder if they saw the same film that I did.

Yes, Beast kept Belle as a prisoner. But when he ordered her to have dinner with him, did she meekly obey him? No. She flat-out refused, even when he yelled at her. When he flipped out when he found her in the West Wing, she *ran away.* She only came back to the castle because he had just saved her life from the wolves and she felt obligated to help him in return. But after they got back to the castle, did Belle worship him in gratitude and let him blame her for running away? No. She stood up to him and called him out on his temper tantrums.

Like some people do with "Pride and Prejudice," I think that they miss the point entirely. Belle and Elizabeth didn't start to fall in love with Beast and Mr. Darcy respectively until *after* those men realized that they were wrong and genuinely changed their behavior for the better. If Beast never changed, I really don't think that Belle would have fallen in love with him. I think that she would have felt the same way about him as she did about Gaston, who is the *true* sexist and abusive jerk in the story.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Not to mention Belle's expression when she and Beast fight over her cleaning his bites. She doesn't cower, she doesn't back down, and when he smugly says that it was her fault, she gets this look on her face like "Oh you did NOT".

The thing about the abusive relationship thing I never got was that if Belle was such a doormat, why wouldn't she have fallen for Gaston at the beginning? He put on a semblance of charm that the entire village fell for, he was obviously of a good social standing and was implied to be wealthy enough and made it clear he wanted her hand. Everyone else thought she was nuts to refuse him, yet she did. What, does the abuse theory include that she's secretly a fury as well?

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

And as a side note, the home security system thing is pretty much dropped here until the end of the book.

When Fitzpatrick's way of dealing with it will ENRAGE anyone who is sane.

I also must note that Nora comes across as incredibly stupid, given that she knows she’s being stalked and nearly has been attacked twice and decides that the best course of action is to go wandering around in a strange area while it’s dark out. Not since those tourists from The Human Centipede have I seen such idiocy.

Yes! Or the girls in Five Across the Eyes, in which they do the following:

1) Go driving down roads they aren't familiar with in the hopes this will take them home;

2) Drive down a dark road that leads God-knows-where instead of heading back the way they came, i.e. towards people and civilization;

3) Turn around, when the dark road turns out to be a dead end, in hopes of finding help...and are astonished when the road leads them back where they were before.

4) Completely fail to use the FULLY FUNCTIONAL CELL PHONES that two of the girls are established as using in the first couple of minutes.

These five and Nora. Man, you've got to WORK to be this dumb.

You know, that would probably come across as a lot more catty if Vee’s sole purpose in this story hasn’t been “ha ha, she’s fat”.

(Becca Fitzpatrick): I can do this, because hating women for being tall or fat isn't prejudice at all!

she takes the lower exit through the underground parking garage. This gets her to start panicking, because she finds herself remembering her father's death and apparently has had a phobia since of walking through dark rooms or by dark alleys.

Oh, yeah. Because underground parking garages are normally light, open, airy places that could in no way trigger a nyctophobic reaction. Also, is there any real difference between walking through a dark room or alley and walking through an entire WORLD where it's dark?

God, this girl is stupid.

If rape, murder, or any other miscreant activities were on Patch's mind, he'd cornered me in the perfect place.

Jesus! If you're afraid he's going to rape and/or kill you, RUN!

And..."miscreant activities"? Yes, as a noun, it technically means "an evildoer or villain," and when used as an adjective, it means "behaving badly; wrongdoing." But you don't describe rapists and murderers as "miscreants." You might describe a petty thief as a miscreant. Or a shoplifter. The thief and the shoplifter are demonstrably doing something wrong...but stealing five bucks from a wallet or a magazine from a store are rather mild offenses--misbehavior rather than crimes that spring from a desire to overpower, demean and destroy others.

And Becca Fitzpatrick is describing rape and murder as "miscreant activities"? Lady, what the fuck is WRONG with you??

I have to break here. There's so much to comment on that I'm running out of room.

[turtlecrackers.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously starting to wonder just how my friend managed to keep the "Patch is the seriously creepy villain, not at all the bad-boy romantic lead"-image in her head while reading this book. There is no way I can suspend my disbelief that far.
I mean, why the hell would Fitzpatrick make Nora lose all her braincells in order to get them together if Patch was the villain she's supposed to fight in this?

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Patch isn't the villain. I'm serious. Somehow, we're not supposed to see that.

[turtlecrackers.livejournal.com]

I know. Which is why it's so difficult for me to understand how my friend keeps telling me "Well, if you see him as the villain, the book isn't so bad! 8D"

[mogseltof.livejournal.com]

HOLY. MOTHERING. CRAP. And this gets worse. I... I can't even...

Too much creepy stalker guy. D: TOO MUCH.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Oh yes Nora, what a weak-willed person you are, so devoid of trust to not believe the guy who's been stalking and harassing and hiding things from you!

I don't blame her for not reacting to that verbally, because now is not a good time to piss off Patch. But not even commenting on this internally??

he lunges at her. No, really. He leaps forward towards her. She moves over so that a car is in between them, and then resumes the questions.

You know, Nora, most girls don't require an instruction manual to know when to flee!

At this point, Patch lunges for Nora again. She's caught off guard and makes a break for it, getting three cars away before Patch grabs her and throws her against a cement beam and stands right in front of her so she can't leave.

You know, Nora, this would be a great time to grab his balls and SQUEEZE. It's a lot more reliable than kneeing him in the groin and it doesn't put you off-balance. Oh, and be sure to use your nails. Nails make lovely weapons against sensitive areas.

Ms Fitzpatrick, that is not a sexy fantasy. That is either idiocy of the highest order or, more frightening, it is a sign of an abuser breaking down the will of his victim so she sees his behavior as acceptable and desirable. I'm sure neither were what you intended, but come on!

Sing it, sister!

So remember guys, if a girl tells you she doesn't want to go out with you, force her to do so anyway. No means yes, after all. And ladies, don't even bother to contradict or refuse Your Man anything. After all, he's better than you and knows better so there's really no point, is there? Isn't it great, how this book teaches such fantastic lessons on building healthy, loving relationships?

I want to ask Becca Fitzpatrick why she thinks this is sexy. And I want to do it using quotes from her own book.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

"You know, Nora, this would be a great time to grab his balls and SQUEEZE. It's a lot more reliable than kneeing him in the groin and it doesn't put you off-balance. Oh, and be sure to use your nails. Nails make lovely weapons against sensitive areas."

That really is a beautiful image. The sick thing is though, it wouldn't work. We're going to find out in a few chapters that Patch doesn't have any feeling. Like, at all. So there's no way Nora can hurt him, because he feels no pain. Isn't it fantastic how these books are engineered to make the heroines as helpless as possible?

"I want to ask Becca Fitzpatrick why she thinks this is sexy. And I want to do it using quotes from her own book."

I want to know why the idiot fans think this is sexy! Someone did a pretend interview with Patch, and tittered on about how sweet when he said that Nora was the only girl for him. Really? How sweet that he treats his One True Love like this. -_-

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

We're going to find out in a few chapters that Patch doesn't have any feeling. Like, at all. So there's no way Nora can hurt him, because he feels no pain.

So...he's incapable of experiencing any pain.

Does Becca Fitzpatrick know that that's a genetic disorder?

It shouldn't give Patch any advantages. If anything, he would suffer problems because of this. Here's what two friends who both have this condition have to say:

We have a sense of hot and cold temperatures. A major problem growing up was not “understanding” the damaging effects of extreme temperatures. For we would feel something that is either extremely hot or extremely cold and identify it for what it was. But, it took many years to understand what damage could be done by interacting with those elements in an unsafe manner.

Adult-sized socks were placed over our hands to prevent us from chewing on our fingers and scratching our eyes (in some cases goggles were also used to protect eyes). Helmets were used to protect ourselves from concussive damage and swelling of facial tissue. During summer months our exposure to heat was monitored because of our lack of ability to expel heat efficiently.

Note: These young men can sweat; not all patients with chronic insensitivity to pain can.

And from real to fictional, here's an exchange between Dr. Gregory House and a teenaged girl with CIPA from House's Season 3 episode, "Insensitive." House is kind of a dick in this exchange, but it gives you an idea of what life SHOULD be like for Patch:

Hannah Morganthal: Every morning, I have to check my eyes to make sure I didn't scratch a cornea in my sleep.

Dr. Gregory House: Oh, God, stop. I'm in a pool of tears here.

Hannah Morganthal: I can't cry.

Dr. Gregory House: Neither can I. Every morning, I check my eyes for jaundice in case the Vicodin's finally shot my liver.

Hannah Morganthal: I can't run anywhere without examining all my toes for swelling.

Dr. Gregory House: I can't run.

Hannah Morganthal: Boys can't hold me for too long because I can overheat.

Dr. Gregory House: Girls can't hold me for too long because I only pay for an hour.

Hannah Morganthal: I need an alarm on my watch to remind me to go to the bathroom. Know how many humiliating experiences before I thought of that?

Dr. Gregory House: Bathroom is 50 feet from my office. Every drink of water, I weigh the pros and cons.

Hannah Morganthal: After everything I do, I self-check. Mouth, tongue, gums for cuts, count teeth, check temperature, fingers, toes and joints for swelling, skin for bruises.

Dr. Gregory House: I got shot.

***

You can tell that Patch has needed a watch with an alarm to tell him when to go to the john for a LONNNNNNNG time. Doubtless that's why he's so full of shit.

I really, really wish that when authors come up with things that they THINK make their dickish stalkers--I mean, romantic leads--sound cool, they would check first to see if the trait is a disease. Meyer failed to do this with sickly-sweet breath and crystalization of cells; now Fitzpatrick has done the same thing with CIPA.

I think I need a "Do the Damned RESEARCH!" icon.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

The handwaved excuse is that he doesn't have feeling because he doesn't have a human body or...something. Two chapters later has our...erm, angel mythology, and it makes no sense. Certainly though Fitzpatrick never considered any of the above drawbacks, which makes Patch's baaaaawing about how he can't feel anything to be rather greedy and stupid.

Actually, mind if I refer back to your post when I get to that part of the sporking?

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Two chapters later has our...erm, angel mythology, and it makes no sense.

Oh, I'm looking forward to that. Angelology is pretty easy to look up, after all.

Actually, mind if I refer back to your post when I get to that part of the sporking?

Of course not! Feel free!

[morri-delrae.livejournal.com]

You can tell that Patch has needed a watch with an alarm to tell him when to go to the john for a LONNNNNNNG time. Doubtless that's why he's so full of shit.

She shoots, she scores! :D

I think I need a "Do the Damned RESEARCH!" icon.

Hmm. Do you remember the library scene from the HBP movie where Hermione smacks Harry upside the head with a book? I think that one would do nicely.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I couldn't find a picture where the book wasn't a blur. What do you think of this macro, though?

[morri-delrae.livejournal.com]

Heh. Nice, very nice. Even if Hermione doesn't look mad enough, you just gotta love Draco's miserable expression ;)

Maybe the library scene could be used for an animated gif? If I knew the first thing about making gifs, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Isn't it fantastic how these books are engineered to make the heroines as helpless as possible?/

If Meyer read this book (and I wouldn't be surprised if she has read it), I'd know what she'd say. "Oh, well, Nora is *human.* Of *course* she can't do anything against the super-awesome, supernatural Patch!"

No, Ms. Meyer. The reason why Nora can't do anything here and why Bella Swan can't do anything in your books is because you and Ms. Fitzpatrick don't *let* them do anything. You make your vampires impossibly powerful and make Bella Swan insufferably passive and pathetic, while Fitzpatrick warps her fictional universe into a dimension akin to "The Twilight Zone" where nobody believes Nora and everyone helps Patch out at every turn, intentionally or unintentionally.

Nora is not Fitzpatrick's avatar, like Bella Swan was Meyer's. *Patch* is. Everything in this book is catered to his wishes. Bella gets everything that she wants in her universe and Patch gets everything that he wants in his, no matter how implausible or ridiculous.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is, Bella Swan was made more powerful against the vampires than Nora is against angels. Bella had that inexplicable mind shield which, granted, was clumsy foreshadowing that she was destined to be a vampire, but it was something! Nora has fuck-all nothing. Patch can follow her, sneak up on her, hide himself from anyone, doesn't age, is much stronger and faster than her, and she can't hurt him at all.

[morri-delrae.livejournal.com]

We're going to find out in a few chapters that Patch doesn't have any feeling. Like, at all.

That's a serious medical condition. It's been established that people who have it usually do not survive very long, because pain is the body's way of indicating that something is wrong. People who do not experience pain often end up being fatally wounded or ignore developing illnesses until it's way too late (we can only hope!).

If you need some kind of chaser after this amount of Patch's dickery and Nora's doormatery, then there's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, an international best-seller which beats Hush, Hush hands down in terms of copies sold. The book has its ups and downs, but I'm mentioning it for a very specific reason: it features a brilliant scene in which Lisbeth Salander, a skinny little slip of a girl, takes down a hulking two-meter brute with congenital analgesia who earlier wiped the floor with her friend, a heavyweight boxer (and all it takes is some cleverness, an abandoned factory and a stapler).

[(Anonymous)]

You know, if he has no feeling at all, it makes you wonder why he is so interested in sex and physical contact... it's not like he'll get much out of it.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

That doesn't make much sense in the sequel either. We're supposed to be misled into thinking he's leaving Nora for a purely lustful relationship with another girl, but no one remembers he can't feel anything. Any desire for a relationship on his side would be emotional fulfillment, presumably with his sex talk as either a way to please Nora or massive overcompensation.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I wouldn't mind at all if we could send him to the universe that the webcomic El Goonish Shiv takes place in. Send him up against Susan (the girl in the first "What." picture) for two minutes. Susan would probably blow him up for treating a girl like that. Or at least Grace would, since he'd probably remind her of her abusive "brother".

[mancalledtrue.livejournal.com]

Given Dan Shive's attitude in the later strips, he'd probably get away with a lot of it anymore...

No Feeling

[nanayoung13.livejournal.com]

Just because the asshole can't feel, doesn't mean you can't kick his ass. In fact, you can easily take advantage of this by subtly harming his over time.

Maybe at one point you figure out he's allergic/extremely vulnerable to some substance and you decide to lace him over time, putting it in his drinks or food. Since he can't feel and is unable to physically fight off an internal threat, he'll slowly die and there's nothing he could do about it.

everything has a weakness. It's just a matter of brainstorming and figuring out what a possible weakness could be.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/Marcie runs right up to Nora and insults Vee./

Let me get this straight. Marcie ran up to Nora to be rude to her? She went *out of her way* to insult her? Man, this is pathetic. Marcie is just a strawman. It’s too bad that Fitzpatrick made her insult Vee’s weight rather than her loathsome personality. Sorry, Nora, but I hate Vee, so I’m going to have to root for Marcie here.

/Certainly she hasn’t started dating a guy just because he’s rich./

Or panted after an abusive stalker just because he’s hot. I don’t care how many guys Marcie has flirted with, the simple fact of her not pining over Patch shows that she has more self-respect than Nora does.

/Lynn Johnston’s persecution of Therese and how, besides being sexist as heck, it just made Anthony look bad because he apparently didn’t have the sense to see that he was marrying a woman who was very obviously a bitch./

I hated Anthony and I felt sorry for Therese. Honestly, Anthony, you know that she’s a career woman, you know that she doesn’t want kids, and yet you marry her anyway? “I can change her, Mama! I can tame her and turn her into the dutiful housewife that I always wanted!” Idiot.

/No, Nora just stands there, contemplating how "If rape, murder, or any other miscreant activities were on Patch's mind, he'd cornered me in the perfect place"./

…She thinks that he might rape her. She thinks that he’s a person who could rape. SHE THINKS THAT HE MIGHT RAPE HER. And yet we’re STILL supposed to root for their True Love?

You know, it would be one thing if Nora was a victim of trauma and she was irrationally afraid of men and cringed whenever her boyfriend tried to hug her because it was all in her head, and the guy would actually be decent and kind and do no such thing. That’s NOT the case here. Nora has every reason in the world to think that Patch would do it. Note to Ms. Fitzpatrick, unless your heroine is mentally ill or a traumatized victim, if she thinks that her boyfriend might rape her, that’s a sure sign that she should NOT be with him.

/Patch replies that it's because "you have trust issues"./

*snarls in rage* You foul, victim-blaming, hypocritical –

/Instead, it's the usual cutesy "Oh, how irritating that he is so insightful as to my character!"/

NO, Ms. Fitzpatrick, that is NOT insightful. That is victim-blaming! She has every right to mistrust him!

/At this point, Patch lunges for Nora again. She's caught off guard and makes a break for it, getting three cars away before Patch grabs her and throws her against a cement beam and stands right in front of her so she can't leave./

This is physical assault. I don’t care how you try to handwave this, Ms. Fitzpatrick, this is physical assault. Period.

/She asks for the complete truth, and he basically tells her there's not a chance of that,/

Hmm. *mildly muses* Wasn’t there this one moment a couple of chapters ago where Patch taunted Nora for coming up with a list of questions because he’d just tell her what she needed to know if she only asked? Oh, right – YOU SHAMELESS LIAR!

/And so nice to see him emulating Edward Cullen there. "Young lady, you answer my question this instant! Do you think I give a fuck about your privacy or feelings on the matter?"/

And “I only drag you around and stalk you because I’m *worried* about you!” Yeah, right. And I’m the Queen of Sheba.

/Patch is more interested in the details of the fight, and is disappointed that there wasn't actual hair-pulling or clawing./

Yeah, too bad that you didn’t get to sit on your high horse and gleefully watch the girls have a catfight like the troglodyte you are.

/'A guy like me could take advantage of a girl like you./

Ahem, Patch? This could have been simple teasing if you didn’t give off flashing neon signs that you WOULD take advantage of her, you complete MORON! Guys who often say this are JOKING! This here is not a joke!

/"Good thing I do. I'll pick you up at five"/

*explodes*

HOW IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE ROMANTIC?! OH, YEAH, BECAUSE WHAT NORA WANTS DOESN’T COUNT! YOU UTTERLY HATEFUL, LOATHSOME –

>

[stormswift]

But it wouldn't really be rape, amirite? Because she secretly wants it!

You know that's what the author/a fan would say if this criticism ever came up.

*headdesk*

[angel-renoir.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why I'm not supposed to see Patch as a villain. The more I read this - and the actual book, which I'm still STRUGGLING to read past the first chapter - the more I'm convinced that my stupid villain/heroine crackship I made for my favourite game makes a hell lot more sense than this story. And I'm not even trying to make my story sensible.


^That? Yeah. I'm not seeing how Patch and Nora's relationship is any less creepy/evil/disturbing than that picture.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Who are the people in that picture and why are they homicidal?

And what's your villain/heroine crackship?

[angel-renoir.livejournal.com]

The people in my drawing? My aforementioned villain/heroine crackship.

It's from a game called Aveyond 3: Orbs of Magic series. The villain is a vampire who wants to make the world dark so vampires don't need to hide from the sun. To do so he is going to use a magical item created by a sorcerer. The magical item can only be activated by the sorcerer or his descendant. The heroine is a descendant of the sorcerer and she's trying to destroy all the magic items so nobody can misuse them. Throughout the game the villain tries to kidnap the heroine to enslave her and use her to activate the magical items.

The way Patch and Nora interact reminds me a whole lot of how these two interact. So...

[winki-pop.livejournal.com]

Has Nora been huffing paint or something? That someone would actually consider hopping on a bus alone at night and her mother just lets after all? :O

Sorry, still not convinced Marcie is meant to be a skank, just like I'm meant to believe in VK Trevor is a man0slut who gets with all the cheerleaders. No evidence, no care. And, of course, all men fall for a pretty face when a chick flirts with them, even if it’s a guy old enough to be your father, hey Marcie? :p

And after Nora theorises that Patch could be out to rape/murder her, he lunges at her twice and pins her to a wall and proceeds to kiss her fingers… she still goes home with him? He could be driving her anywhere and prepared to dump her body in the middle of a field for all we know? And she feels 'safe' after all this? :o :O :O :O

Gee, great lesson to hand down to young impressionable girls: it doesn't matter if you think a guy is dangerous and capable of killing you, he's 'hawt!' >.< Face it, we're such a superficial society, we'll pretty much forgive all the pretty people out there of almost anything, and that's just sad...

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Nora's IQ steadily declines throughout the entire book. I'm seriously considering posting how functional it is in each sporking, a la Feed.

Marcie serves no purpose in this story at all. If I understand correctly, she is in the sequel, where she continues to be bashed for her love of sex (although I must point out that unlike Nora, who cheerfully leaps into Patch's arms after he makes numerous threats against her, Marcie never seems to hook up with any guys who treat her like that).

>_< I know, right? I think Nora has some sort of memory loss thing going on.

God, I know. I think that's one of the reasons the most recent Phantom of the Opera movie grates me so much - the endless yammering about how Christine was an idiot for not spending the rest of her life living in an opera house basement with her stalker because hey, he's HOT. -_- What the heck, world?

[(Anonymous)]

Though this might sound like nitpicking, I’d like to say something about the ‘one kickboxing lesson’ remark Nora made. I’m a kick boxer, and I know for sure that for most people, the first lesson consists entirely of practicing stepping around the ring with correct, balanced footing and putting your guard up, and maybe practicing direct, basic punches toward your opponent if you’re very, very good and get the hang of it easily. You don’t even think of kicking or dodging until you’ve gone through at least three or four, not to mention learn how find your way around and defend yourself against a much taller and heavier opponent such as Patch would be, much less beat him in a fair and square fight. To properly master kicking and dodging…that’s more than a month of lessons taken several times a week consistently. To me, that made the situation all the worse while I was reading the novel itself: I was told that I was a rare exception and got to do a lot more than the average girl would in their first lesson, and seeing as how Nora *apparently* sucks at all things athletic and has no coordination whatsoever (or so we’re told) there’s no way Nora could beat Patch with just one lesson of kickboxing. And those are the odds against the average human being. She would probably hurt herself more by attempting to punch or kick him, and knowing just how much of a sleazy dick Patch is, he’d probably let her hit him and get all worked up over trying to get away before actually incapacitating her. It’s almost painful to imagine: one physically unconditioned, scared sixteen year old girl with no prominent muscle mass or combat training and absolutely no way to escape (forcing a direct confrontation), not to mention ridiculously being outmatched against a supernatural, sadistic, mind-raping creature who feels no freaking pain. She doesn't stand a chance, she knows it, he knows it, and he's going to try and exploit it by mocking her and belittling her the whole way through if she actually tries to fight back. It's horrifying.

[katistrophe.livejournal.com]

"'We're all alone down here.' Patch's boots were flush with the toes of my shoes. 'A guy like me could take advantage of a girl like you. Better show me what you've got.'"
"A can of pepper spray," Nora replied and promptly gave the creep a full dose in the face.
(End tiny spitefic.)

Patch was warm and solid, and he smelled fantastic. Like mint and rich, dark earth.
Oh great. He smells like zombie!Littlefinger.

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[(Anonymous)]

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