Betrayed: Chapter 25
Aug. 10th, 2011 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelda_queenZeldaQueen: In which there's just a little bit of plot. Hey, I guess the Cast ladies don't want us getting spoiled or anything, right?
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 25
ZeldaQueen: We open this chapter on the not-so-promising note of it being a dream and Zoey being aware it's a dream. I'm serious. This is not her looking back and going "Oh yeah, that was a dream. How strange". This is her actively referring to everything as a dream as it happens, just like for that incredibly stupid symbolik dream where we weren't supposed to figure out that Neferet and Blake were behind the football player's deaths.
Oh, but don't worry. This isn't an overly symbolik dream, oh no. This is basically Zoey having an out-of-the-body experience and witnessing events that are going on at that moment, right outside.
Yes, really. No, there is no reason for this. Zoey has never been shown having this power before, nor has any other vampire. And I can't believe this is her tele-whatsis thing to Heath because...well, you'll see in a minute.
This dream-vision-thingy has her watching that stupid wall on the east side of the school. You know, the one where she keeps seeing those red-eyed ghosts (even though she's a total dumbass and always is surprised by it)? Yeah, that one. Goody, this ought to be interesting.
Zoey describes all of these events like she's physically present and walking along the wall. She is also definitely aware of what's going on, because she recognizes the wall and freaks out, on the grounds that she's seen the ghosts of dead fledglings every time she's gone there and she doesn't want to see that again so soon after Stevie Rae has died.
*rubs forehead* Yes, ladies and gentlemen, apparently Zoey does remember that there are ghosts running around but just has been actively trying to forget it. What a fantastic and interesting heroine. It's like she's doing all within her power to resist moving the plot along.
Anyway, Zoey is trying to force herself to leave, and I don't know why she doesn't just do that. I mean, I know there are dreams where you're following a preset path, but this is apparently a lucid dream. Or are we supposed to be figuring that this is just happening because Nyx is causing the dream. It probably is, seeing as Zoey's so useless that nothing short of divine intervention can keep her focused. *is in a bad mood* Moving on, Zoey continues along the wall and heads over to that hidden trap door we saw in the last book. There, she sees four figures in cloaks. The littlest one turns around and OH LOOK, SHOCKS OF SHOCKERS, STEVIE RAE IS A RED-EYED GHOST! Really, who could have seen that one coming? Besides anyone halfway competent, I mean.
Like the other ghost-things, Stevie Rae is thin and pale and red-eyed and Zoey immediately is horrified and sorrowful about what happened to her. I guess the ghosts like Elliot can go to Hell because Zoey doesn't care about them. And speaking of Elliot, he's there as well. Or rather, "that Elliott creature", as Zoey calls him. Seriously, Cast ladies, who are you basing Elliot off of? What is it about him that makes him so revolting to your Sue? He looks and acts like the other red-eyed ghosts, but he's the only one Zoey refers to with disgust or as "that creature". That really makes Zoey look bitchy, I must say.
So yeah, Elliot and Stevie Rae are having an argument. Stevie Rae insists that they need to leave, and Elliot snarls that she isn't the boss of him. Stevie Rae goes all bitchfaced at him and says that she's in charge because of her affinity for Earth. The Cast ladies also channel Meyer and have Stevie Rae go on about a mysterious leader referred to only as "she", which I'm sure would be very mysterious if it wasn't so blatantly obvious that it was Neferet. Although there is the bonus of it bringing us the line "And until it does, you will obey me! That's what she said"
ZeldaQueen: I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was.
Elliot (or "the Elliott thing", as Zoey is now calling him) and the other two figures bow to Stevie Rae at this, and they all get ready to leave. Before they can actually vacate the premises, a Convenient Plot Device arrives in the form of one Heath Luck, who comes stumbling onto the school grounds asking if the red-eyed, obviously evil ghosts know where Zoey might be.
Hey, wasn't Heath's main role in the last book to come crashing in at the exact worst moment and fail to notice that he just came across some very dangerous beings? He doesn't even have the excuse of being hilariously drunk this time around!
And incidentally, given that he only shows up right now, this is why I can't believe that this dream is via his and Zoey's mental link. Clearly, the focus is on the ghosts and not him.
The red-eyed ghosts react exactly how you'd expect, and nab Heath. Stevie Rae says that they have to keep him, even though Elliot alludes to Neferet (we all know that's who it is, so I'm just going to say it) telling him that they can't eat any more people. Stevie Rae says that they must hold him captive until Neferet gives them further instructions. They drag Heath off into the night and Zoey wakes up screaming.
Right. This is the third time in this book alone, I believe, that Zoey has seen those ghosts in some form or another. She knows that she has some connection with Heath. She knows that Nyx probably will send her visions and symbolik dreams. Surely she's going to realize that that dream was significant and at the very least, go outside to check on things. Maybe call Heath...
It's completely ignored.
I...I'm dumbfounded. After everything she's been told, after everything that's happened, she just throws it out of her mind. There's no reflection, no "What a horrible dream", not even a token "I need to eat less red meat before bed". She...she just...GAH! THIS GIRL IS AN IDIOT!!!
*sighs and rubs forehead* Whatever! The book and our protagonist do not dwell on it, so I see no reason to do so. Zoey leaves her room and heads downstairs, where Shaunee tells her that Erik has come over with some movies to watch and that he brought "that totally fiiiine friend of his", Cole. You know, the one who has had no development at all beyond "is hot and into theater" (which is a reoccurring trend amongst the male love interests, I notice) and conveniently started getting together with Shaunee after Zoey thought they should hook up? Yeah, it's him. Anyway, Shaunee goes all guilty about being happy while Stevie Rae is all corpsified and Zoey lectures her on not walking on eggshells around her. Because clearly, Zoey's feelings are the only ones that matter here, even though Shaunee and Erin and Damien were all close friends with Stevie Rae as well.
After being treated to a lengthy paragraph about Zoey putting on her make-up, she finally goes down to the room with the television and everyone is all overly perky around her. We're told how Damien and Jack are being snuggly, because clearly they're the only two gay people and thus are required to hook up after a handful of chapters of interaction (which, I feel I must stress, is less than a full twenty-four hours, in-universe time). Zoey snuggles up with Erik and feels guilty about her little fling with Heath, though there's no mention of her feeling guilty about seriously considering having an affair with Blake.
Everyone starts making bad jokes about how dorky the movies are, because dur hur it's Star Wars. If you guys have forgotten that Erik was a massive geek and a fan of Star Wars, don't feel too bad. It was given few token mentions in the last book, before Zoey concentrated on important qualities like how hawt he is. Anyway, this segueways into extremely painful flirting. First, Shaunee asks Cole if he's into Princess Leia, and Cole makes a bad joke about how his taste in women is more "colorful" (because dur hur, Shaunee is black, get it?) Jack pipes up that he's not hanging around for the movie, while giving Damien a sappy look, and Erin replies with "Well, we know Princess Leia doesn't do it for you".
You know, it's times like these that I keep reminding myself that there's only seven chapters left to this God-forsaken book.
Erik brings this *cough* witty banter to a halt when he makes a verbal boo-boo comments how he wishes Stevie Rae where there. Yes, he words it like she left town for a vacation and not, you know, dead. Everyone shuts up and Erik blushes, before Zoey tries to smooth things over. Everyone begins to reminisce about Stevie Rae, primarily about her thick, Okie accent and her atrocious grammar. So nice to know she was a girl of substance.
And then Drew shows up. Yes, Drew! Remember him? I don't blame you if you don't. He showed up a fair few chapters back, when he spontaneously poofed into the story to flirt with Stevie Rae. Zoey notices how he looks all puffy-eyed and sad (because yes, Cast ladies, I'm going to be emotionally invested in the lost love of a dude who has zero characterization beyond "he's short but cute"), and invites him to sit next to Erin. Things get a little odd, as Erin goes all wide-eyed and blushing. The only thing I can figure is that Zoey is trying to pair up Drew with Erin immediately after Drew's crush has painfully and bloodily died, and I sincerely hope not because that is just disgusting. Actually, it would be doubly disgusting because there's also the implication that Zoey is acting on a Deus Ex Machina feeling for this little bit of matchmaking.
Incidentally, aren't you glad that the Cast ladies are devoting so much time and energy into keeping the characters just as shallow and offensive as they always are? We could be having actual plot, but nope! We get to hear about Zoey going to make popcorn! As she does this, she resolves to sort through her various issues. Given how there are nine million books in this series, there are no bets as to how well she sticks to that resolution. I also do so love how she puts sorting out her boyfriend issues before dealing with Neferet and the red-eyed ghosts. Speaking of the ghosts, she refers to Elliott as "gross" and the "weird nondead Elliott". Also, she assumes that the dream she had at the beginning of this chapter was just because she saw Elliott and Neferet making out. Even though she knows about Nyx and - oh fuck it, you guys know the drill. Let's just have a cute puppy and be done with it
ZeldaQueen: You guys have no idea how hard it was to just pick one. Damn Google Image Search for being so thorough.
Right. So Zoey has grit her teeth and resolved to get stuff done when Erin shouts for her to get back into the room and see what's on the television. Zoey enters just in time to see that yet another high school student has gone missing. Oh my, who could it possibly be???
"To repeat this special bulletin, a Broken Arrow teenager, another high school football player, has been reported as missing. His name is Heath Luck"
ZeldaQueen: I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! That dream of Zoey's totally had me fooled! I thought it was the one-armed man!
So yeah, in a stunning plot twist that I'm sure blind people could see coming, Heath has gone missing as well. The news reporter does a hilarious job of saying how even though Heath's truck was found right outside the House of Night (the ghosts kidnapped him but left the truck? Dumbest bad guys ever!) and even though all other kidnapped students were found drained of blood in a manner resembling a vampire feeding, there's no definite proof that vampires are involved. I realize that it's important to keep things as cool as possible so that there isn't some riot and attempt to attack the House of Night, but all I get is flashbacks to when Zoey and her friends thought that it was unthinkable that, you know, a vampire went rogue and was attacking humans.
Also, there's a mildly interesting bit where the reporter mentions that "vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will". I have to ask, is it even possible for one species to have a legal agreement with another? And how does this work? Do the vampires have their own government in the United States? Because it would seem to me that feeding from a human against their wishes would be illegal anyway, seeing as it could easily be construed as attempted assault or murder given the whole blood-draining issue. And how does this work with the vampires in other nations? Is this a world-wide legal agreement? If so, are we meant to understand that vampires are not citizens of the places they lived in as humans? Are we meant to understand that for all their talk about how they're no different from anyone else, being turned into a vampire means that local laws no longer matter?
Right. I have no idea why I'm even bothering. The book's nearly over and I'm dead tired. Peace out, everybody!
Onward to: Chapter 26
Back to: Chapter 24
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 25
ZeldaQueen: We open this chapter on the not-so-promising note of it being a dream and Zoey being aware it's a dream. I'm serious. This is not her looking back and going "Oh yeah, that was a dream. How strange". This is her actively referring to everything as a dream as it happens, just like for that incredibly stupid symbolik dream where we weren't supposed to figure out that Neferet and Blake were behind the football player's deaths.
Oh, but don't worry. This isn't an overly symbolik dream, oh no. This is basically Zoey having an out-of-the-body experience and witnessing events that are going on at that moment, right outside.
Yes, really. No, there is no reason for this. Zoey has never been shown having this power before, nor has any other vampire. And I can't believe this is her tele-whatsis thing to Heath because...well, you'll see in a minute.
This dream-vision-thingy has her watching that stupid wall on the east side of the school. You know, the one where she keeps seeing those red-eyed ghosts (even though she's a total dumbass and always is surprised by it)? Yeah, that one. Goody, this ought to be interesting.
Zoey describes all of these events like she's physically present and walking along the wall. She is also definitely aware of what's going on, because she recognizes the wall and freaks out, on the grounds that she's seen the ghosts of dead fledglings every time she's gone there and she doesn't want to see that again so soon after Stevie Rae has died.
*rubs forehead* Yes, ladies and gentlemen, apparently Zoey does remember that there are ghosts running around but just has been actively trying to forget it. What a fantastic and interesting heroine. It's like she's doing all within her power to resist moving the plot along.
Anyway, Zoey is trying to force herself to leave, and I don't know why she doesn't just do that. I mean, I know there are dreams where you're following a preset path, but this is apparently a lucid dream. Or are we supposed to be figuring that this is just happening because Nyx is causing the dream. It probably is, seeing as Zoey's so useless that nothing short of divine intervention can keep her focused. *is in a bad mood* Moving on, Zoey continues along the wall and heads over to that hidden trap door we saw in the last book. There, she sees four figures in cloaks. The littlest one turns around and OH LOOK, SHOCKS OF SHOCKERS, STEVIE RAE IS A RED-EYED GHOST! Really, who could have seen that one coming? Besides anyone halfway competent, I mean.
Like the other ghost-things, Stevie Rae is thin and pale and red-eyed and Zoey immediately is horrified and sorrowful about what happened to her. I guess the ghosts like Elliot can go to Hell because Zoey doesn't care about them. And speaking of Elliot, he's there as well. Or rather, "that Elliott creature", as Zoey calls him. Seriously, Cast ladies, who are you basing Elliot off of? What is it about him that makes him so revolting to your Sue? He looks and acts like the other red-eyed ghosts, but he's the only one Zoey refers to with disgust or as "that creature". That really makes Zoey look bitchy, I must say.
So yeah, Elliot and Stevie Rae are having an argument. Stevie Rae insists that they need to leave, and Elliot snarls that she isn't the boss of him. Stevie Rae goes all bitchfaced at him and says that she's in charge because of her affinity for Earth. The Cast ladies also channel Meyer and have Stevie Rae go on about a mysterious leader referred to only as "she", which I'm sure would be very mysterious if it wasn't so blatantly obvious that it was Neferet. Although there is the bonus of it bringing us the line "And until it does, you will obey me! That's what she said"
ZeldaQueen: I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was.
Elliot (or "the Elliott thing", as Zoey is now calling him) and the other two figures bow to Stevie Rae at this, and they all get ready to leave. Before they can actually vacate the premises, a Convenient Plot Device arrives in the form of one Heath Luck, who comes stumbling onto the school grounds asking if the red-eyed, obviously evil ghosts know where Zoey might be.
Hey, wasn't Heath's main role in the last book to come crashing in at the exact worst moment and fail to notice that he just came across some very dangerous beings? He doesn't even have the excuse of being hilariously drunk this time around!
And incidentally, given that he only shows up right now, this is why I can't believe that this dream is via his and Zoey's mental link. Clearly, the focus is on the ghosts and not him.
The red-eyed ghosts react exactly how you'd expect, and nab Heath. Stevie Rae says that they have to keep him, even though Elliot alludes to Neferet (we all know that's who it is, so I'm just going to say it) telling him that they can't eat any more people. Stevie Rae says that they must hold him captive until Neferet gives them further instructions. They drag Heath off into the night and Zoey wakes up screaming.
Right. This is the third time in this book alone, I believe, that Zoey has seen those ghosts in some form or another. She knows that she has some connection with Heath. She knows that Nyx probably will send her visions and symbolik dreams. Surely she's going to realize that that dream was significant and at the very least, go outside to check on things. Maybe call Heath...
It's completely ignored.
I...I'm dumbfounded. After everything she's been told, after everything that's happened, she just throws it out of her mind. There's no reflection, no "What a horrible dream", not even a token "I need to eat less red meat before bed". She...she just...GAH! THIS GIRL IS AN IDIOT!!!
*sighs and rubs forehead* Whatever! The book and our protagonist do not dwell on it, so I see no reason to do so. Zoey leaves her room and heads downstairs, where Shaunee tells her that Erik has come over with some movies to watch and that he brought "that totally fiiiine friend of his", Cole. You know, the one who has had no development at all beyond "is hot and into theater" (which is a reoccurring trend amongst the male love interests, I notice) and conveniently started getting together with Shaunee after Zoey thought they should hook up? Yeah, it's him. Anyway, Shaunee goes all guilty about being happy while Stevie Rae is all corpsified and Zoey lectures her on not walking on eggshells around her. Because clearly, Zoey's feelings are the only ones that matter here, even though Shaunee and Erin and Damien were all close friends with Stevie Rae as well.
After being treated to a lengthy paragraph about Zoey putting on her make-up, she finally goes down to the room with the television and everyone is all overly perky around her. We're told how Damien and Jack are being snuggly, because clearly they're the only two gay people and thus are required to hook up after a handful of chapters of interaction (which, I feel I must stress, is less than a full twenty-four hours, in-universe time). Zoey snuggles up with Erik and feels guilty about her little fling with Heath, though there's no mention of her feeling guilty about seriously considering having an affair with Blake.
Everyone starts making bad jokes about how dorky the movies are, because dur hur it's Star Wars. If you guys have forgotten that Erik was a massive geek and a fan of Star Wars, don't feel too bad. It was given few token mentions in the last book, before Zoey concentrated on important qualities like how hawt he is. Anyway, this segueways into extremely painful flirting. First, Shaunee asks Cole if he's into Princess Leia, and Cole makes a bad joke about how his taste in women is more "colorful" (because dur hur, Shaunee is black, get it?) Jack pipes up that he's not hanging around for the movie, while giving Damien a sappy look, and Erin replies with "Well, we know Princess Leia doesn't do it for you".
You know, it's times like these that I keep reminding myself that there's only seven chapters left to this God-forsaken book.
Erik brings this *cough* witty banter to a halt when he makes a verbal boo-boo comments how he wishes Stevie Rae where there. Yes, he words it like she left town for a vacation and not, you know, dead. Everyone shuts up and Erik blushes, before Zoey tries to smooth things over. Everyone begins to reminisce about Stevie Rae, primarily about her thick, Okie accent and her atrocious grammar. So nice to know she was a girl of substance.
And then Drew shows up. Yes, Drew! Remember him? I don't blame you if you don't. He showed up a fair few chapters back, when he spontaneously poofed into the story to flirt with Stevie Rae. Zoey notices how he looks all puffy-eyed and sad (because yes, Cast ladies, I'm going to be emotionally invested in the lost love of a dude who has zero characterization beyond "he's short but cute"), and invites him to sit next to Erin. Things get a little odd, as Erin goes all wide-eyed and blushing. The only thing I can figure is that Zoey is trying to pair up Drew with Erin immediately after Drew's crush has painfully and bloodily died, and I sincerely hope not because that is just disgusting. Actually, it would be doubly disgusting because there's also the implication that Zoey is acting on a Deus Ex Machina feeling for this little bit of matchmaking.
Incidentally, aren't you glad that the Cast ladies are devoting so much time and energy into keeping the characters just as shallow and offensive as they always are? We could be having actual plot, but nope! We get to hear about Zoey going to make popcorn! As she does this, she resolves to sort through her various issues. Given how there are nine million books in this series, there are no bets as to how well she sticks to that resolution. I also do so love how she puts sorting out her boyfriend issues before dealing with Neferet and the red-eyed ghosts. Speaking of the ghosts, she refers to Elliott as "gross" and the "weird nondead Elliott". Also, she assumes that the dream she had at the beginning of this chapter was just because she saw Elliott and Neferet making out. Even though she knows about Nyx and - oh fuck it, you guys know the drill. Let's just have a cute puppy and be done with it
ZeldaQueen: You guys have no idea how hard it was to just pick one. Damn Google Image Search for being so thorough.
Right. So Zoey has grit her teeth and resolved to get stuff done when Erin shouts for her to get back into the room and see what's on the television. Zoey enters just in time to see that yet another high school student has gone missing. Oh my, who could it possibly be???
"To repeat this special bulletin, a Broken Arrow teenager, another high school football player, has been reported as missing. His name is Heath Luck"
ZeldaQueen: I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! That dream of Zoey's totally had me fooled! I thought it was the one-armed man!
So yeah, in a stunning plot twist that I'm sure blind people could see coming, Heath has gone missing as well. The news reporter does a hilarious job of saying how even though Heath's truck was found right outside the House of Night (the ghosts kidnapped him but left the truck? Dumbest bad guys ever!) and even though all other kidnapped students were found drained of blood in a manner resembling a vampire feeding, there's no definite proof that vampires are involved. I realize that it's important to keep things as cool as possible so that there isn't some riot and attempt to attack the House of Night, but all I get is flashbacks to when Zoey and her friends thought that it was unthinkable that, you know, a vampire went rogue and was attacking humans.
Also, there's a mildly interesting bit where the reporter mentions that "vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will". I have to ask, is it even possible for one species to have a legal agreement with another? And how does this work? Do the vampires have their own government in the United States? Because it would seem to me that feeding from a human against their wishes would be illegal anyway, seeing as it could easily be construed as attempted assault or murder given the whole blood-draining issue. And how does this work with the vampires in other nations? Is this a world-wide legal agreement? If so, are we meant to understand that vampires are not citizens of the places they lived in as humans? Are we meant to understand that for all their talk about how they're no different from anyone else, being turned into a vampire means that local laws no longer matter?
Right. I have no idea why I'm even bothering. The book's nearly over and I'm dead tired. Peace out, everybody!
Onward to: Chapter 26
Back to: Chapter 24
Back to: Table of Contents
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 07:25 am (UTC)PUPPY!!! Oh, it looks soooooo much like my dog back home when she was a puppy. CUUUUUUUUUUTE~ *melts*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 07:51 am (UTC)In the hands of a better writer, this COULD be interesting and cause for some nice character-building. A protagonist who actively tries to deny what's happening because it's too much at once and she just wants to forget all the bad things happening because this place is supposed to be a SAFE HAVEN, DAMN IT, THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING GO AWAY...
But no. Zoey's just...dumb.
I just knew that Stevie Rae's status as a ghost would be the only thing that makes Zoey get her shit together. And damn it, WHAT is so bad about Elliot? Because he was sarcastic and disrespectful to the teacher? Because he drools in his sleep? Does Zoey hate redheads? Seriously, WHAT IS IT?
It also speaks very poorly for Zoey's, pardon me, humanity. Even if I saw someone I hated--absolutely hated turned into a red-eyed, blood-draining ghost, I wouldn't be all disdainful. I'd more like "Oh my God, what happened to this person, they don't deserve this, how can it be fixed?"
Zoey, you fail as a human being, and I don't mean that as a compliment to your vampirism.
After being treated to a lengthy paragraph about Zoey putting on her make-up...
One of the Casts must have gotten her start writing Mary-Sue fanfiction.
Cole makes a bad joke about how his taste in women is more "colorful" (because dur hur, Shaunee is black, get it?
Why did no one slug him for that?
The news reporter does a hilarious job of saying how even though Heath's truck was found right outside the House of Night (the ghosts kidnapped him but left the truck? Dumbest bad guys ever!) and even though all other kidnapped students were found drained of blood in a manner resembling a vampire feeding, there's no definite proof that vampires are involved.
....I know that circumstantial evidence isn't the most reliable and a lot of people try not to go on that alone, but REALLY? REALLY?!
"vampyres have a binding legal agreement with humans to not feed on any human being against his or her will"
Yeeeaaaah, funny thing about vampires. In folklore, looking into a vampire's eyes allows them to basically hypnotize you so you either WANT them to drain you, or you'll hold still and/or shift a bit so it's easier for them to bite you. I can imagine that some of the more shifty vampires would use that to their advantage and call that consent.
oh lord, this series is just failier and failier with each new chapter.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 02:07 am (UTC)Sadly, it doesn't even serve as as much of a motivator as you might think. It takes an entire other freaking book for Zoey to get anything resembling aid to Stevie Rae. -_-
"....I know that circumstantial evidence isn't the most reliable and a lot of people try not to go on that alone, but REALLY? REALLY?!"
That's...pretty much what I said.
"I can imagine that some of the more shifty vampires would use that to their advantage and call that consent."
There's also the fact that biting a human causes a release of endorphins, which means that the humans ENJOY being sucked dry. We see Heath actively cutting himself because he likes the feeling when Zoey drinks from him. And all we have is "Oh yeah, vampires totally know when to stop", but I find that hard to be of much comfort, really...
Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 08:32 am (UTC)I hate a person who can’t think - let alone a person who cannot put 2 and 2 together…
I truly loath her…
I loath people like her...
I loath the authors who created her...
I - I simply loath...
At least we got a picture of a cute puppy out of it! [embarrassing cute proximity mode activated] THANK YOU ZELDA_QUEEN! It wooks wike it sweeping! Awwwwww shoooo~ cute!!!! [/embarrassing cute proximity mode off]
[coughs] nobody saw that! I’m a man!
[embarrassing cute proximity mode activated] soooo~ cute![/embarrassing cute proximity mode off]
~~~
I’ve finally made up my mind on the book concept that would perfectly mock this piece of crap (not that I‘m giving up my other idea, but I need more practice with first person narrative).
The book stars a girl whose step-father had begun acting odd; she links this to his recently deciding to attend a smaller church (he felt the old one was getting to crowded for his generally shy person). He used to be much more liberal in his personality and beliefs. He used to get along with her mother, brother, and herself, but now seems to argue with them over things he used to have no problem with (and inconsistently as sometimes he reverts to his old self).
After arguing with him one night she storms out and is soon kidnapped by a pack of vampires and turned in a vampire. She manages to escape her captors, but they take chase. She is then saved by two adult vampire who reveal to her the existence of a school to train vampires. They bring her home and inform her parents of these events, telling them in no soft terms that it’s this or they kill the whole family and drag the daughter away to the school.
With no other choices she finds herself forced to go to their school, forced to drop her “human name”, and forced to pray to their mysterious Goddess.
I might even base the main cast on characters from the story if they where done right. If anyone has suggestions on what that would mean, I’d love to hear ‘em as right now I only have a concept! I’d also love human and vampire name suggestions, because I suck at names.
Also if anyone has a more sensible fill in for a Goddess of vampires let me know.
PS: there is also going to be a Zoey-like character whose only point in the story is to ignore the obvious, spout out stupid red hearings the main heroine never believes, and die horrifically!
PS - part 2!: I may even post the first chapter (or at least a beta version of it) for everyone to see right here in the comments of Zelda_Queen’s awesome sporking of this trash - if that’s okay with her?
So make your contributions to the art of literature today!
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 11:45 am (UTC)Her devotees also talk about her maternal side...
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 12:11 pm (UTC)Civatateo--This is a group of high-ranking females who died during childbirth, got morphed into vampires and now serve the Aztec gods. They apparently lurk (especially in temples and at crossroads, i.e., anyplace there's a four-way intersection), looking for humans to turn into vamps.
This would explain why the vampires forcibly transform humans into vampires; to their way of thinking, such a transformation is mandated by the gods. When you're a supernatural being, pissing off the gods seems a lot more possible than it did before.
Empusa--They're more like succubi, in that they're ghostly but irresistible. Anyone who has sex with one is going to be drained of blood, according to tradition; maybe, being less than solid most of the time, they wrap themselves around humans and drain every bit of energy out of their victims' cells. Instant brain-death and bodily death from energy lack.
Oh, and Empusa are supposed to be the daughters of Hecate.
My personal favorite for who they should worship, though, is Lilith. Mother of Demons, She Who Flies By Night, the Night Devil, the Night Hag. Also, Adam's first wife, who shocked Adam by wanting to top during sex. Adam complained to God, God told Lilith to submit to Adam...and Lilith walked out of the Garden rather than be submissive. Then she had sex with a ton of fallen angels and gave birth to a host of demons and monsters. Oh, and she drinks the blood of infants and children who aren't protected by their angels.
She's clearly trouble...but it's easy to see the vampires spinning her as "the first independent woman" and saying that she's just gotten a bad rap over time and that she's not a demon at all, but a human-turned-vampire-goddess choosing to share her divine power with the few humans who merit such an honor.
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 01:12 pm (UTC)...They do just that. I'm dead serious. In the Fledgling Handbook 101 (which I'm going to start sporking just as soon as I get a chance), it's mentioned that Lilith was actually one of the first vampire priestesses or something. I'm not sure if it was meant to be THE Lilith or just a vampire who chose that name (my brain was kind of dying of the stupid by that point, so it's hard to remember), but even if it was someone using that name...yeah. This treatment is also given totally straight to a number of other historical women, including Cleopatra and freaking CALYPSO.
"Oh, and Empusa are supposed to be the daughters of Hecate."
Pfft, PC Cast doesn't care a wit about how badass or frightening Hecate is. She wrote her as being the goddess of "The Realm of Roses" in her one book, and unable to lift the curse on some "Guardian Beast" thing, forcing her to turn to the Mary Sue protagonist. (I'm sorry, but my eye violently twitches in regards to PC's Goddess Summoning series).
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 01:48 pm (UTC)Gah, that's annoying of the Casts!
Well, this is how I would do it if I were world-building a religion for vampires:
a) Lilith is not harmless. And Hecate is freaking CREEPY. Both are using the humans and vamps who have fallen in love with false images of them to gain power.
b) Most of the vampires are sincere in their belief that the goddesses they follow are benevolent. So convinced are they that even when the heroine challenges some inconsistencies in the belief system, they can't see any problems.
c) Lilith and Hecate don't give a fuck about any of their followers. They tend to favor one or two people at a time and then, when they can't wring any more fervor out of the favored one or his/her followers, they dump that person and go on to someone else. It's manipulative, cruel and practical.
d) Not all vampires worship Lilith. Nor do all of them worship Hecate. There are an assortment of religions; what works for one vampire isn't necessarily what works for all.
e) The heroine would find out fairly quickly that vampires do not become great artists, musicians, leaders, etc. The vampires claim that they do, but it's not true. Once the human soul dies inside a vampire--and it takes some time before that happens, all creativity and depth of emotion is lost. This is the one thing vampires don't want to admit. They have a a PR campaign going constantly to deny this.)
f) Some fledglings believe that that if you offend the goddesses enough, they will punish the offender by stripping him or her of divine favor, i.e., turning him or her back into a human being. There are some new vampires who actively try to get smote this way. What they don't know is that zealous followers of the Civatateo kill those that they deem to be heretics and then devour the corpses. This way, the heretics can't "contaminate" others.
I think that would work. I just think that it's a much nastier world than the Casts want to deal with.
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-11 01:55 am (UTC)Tell me about it. I damn near had a fit right there in the library when I read about how Calypso was actually a respectable vampire priestess who was imprinted with Odyseus and those stupid, misogynistic, backwards humans just couldn't deal with that so they spread word that she was an evil witch. -_-
And your version of a vampire religion is a million times more interesting and scary than anything the Casts have put to paper. I would so read about vampires that follow that religion in a heartbeat.
Also: "Some fledglings believe that that if you offend the goddesses enough, they will punish the offender by stripping him or her of divine favor, i.e., turning him or her back into a human being"
You seem to have an uncanny ability to guess what's going to be happening in this series.
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-11 03:52 am (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2013-11-11 12:43 am (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2013-11-11 01:29 am (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-09-18 01:38 pm (UTC)SHE DID WHAT TO HECATE???????????????????? WHAT THE FLAMING HECK IS REALM OF ROSES????
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-09-18 08:50 pm (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-09-19 06:52 am (UTC)It sounded really stupid and it probably IS stupid.
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 01:22 pm (UTC)Ignore the Hecate comment, please. I misunderstood ^^;;
Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-10 01:54 pm (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-11 02:03 am (UTC)Re: Well I am offically inspired!
Date: 2011-08-11 03:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 02:01 pm (UTC)That's not what your Mom said! Last night! When we had SEX!
... what? That was only slightly more subtle than this chapter.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-10 04:25 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmlBsZtdy3A
STEVIE RAE IS A GHOST? AND NEFERET IS BEHIND THE ATTACKS?!!!! NEXT YOU'LL BE TELLING ME THAT DAMIEN IS GAYYY.
So basically, nothing happened...
Is the House of Night school a little country/ government of its own? That's what it sounds like :/
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 01:58 am (UTC)I haven't a frigging CLUE what's up with the House of Night. They talk about it like they have their own laws and whatnot, but we get no mention of the students getting any changes in citizenship or anything (probably because the Cast ladies didn't know about that pesky stuff). And from what I understand, the later books have some High Vampire Council in Europe or something, so it MIGHT be that the vampires are their own government under them, but that still doesn't make any sense because they're still camping out in everyone else's nations. Is it like a US embassy or something?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 02:53 am (UTC)Thats what it sounds like X0.
But who cares about that?
Erik is SOOO HOTTTT!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-12 06:19 am (UTC)"But who cares about that?
Erik is SOOO HOTTTT!"
And thus you have summed up this series in two sentences. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 01:23 am (UTC)No, it makes her look like a disgusting and amoral sociopath. "Creature?" You're not even going to refer to him as a former human? Just "creature?" Nice to know that he's so abhorrent to you that you stoop to dehumanizing him. Dear Lord.
/Everyone starts making bad jokes about how dorky the movies are, because dur hur it's Star Wars./
...Guys, the Star Wars prequels have more class and dignity than the books you star in. The Star Wars *prequels.* Heck, "The Star Wars Holiday Special" has more class and dignity than this dreck!
/First, Shaunee asks Cole if he's into Princess Leia, and Cole makes a bad joke about how his taste in women is more "colorful" (because dur hur, Shaunee is black, get it?)/
*head-desk* Like midoriri said, I'm surprised that Shaunee didn't chew him out for that. Or maybe she knows that she's meant to be a stereotypical African-American girl and so she's resigned herself to being the butt of racial jokes.
/Erin replies with "Well, we know Princess Leia doesn't do it for you"./
How do you know that Luke or Han don't do it for him? Besides, since when did people only like Star Wars because they thought a certain character was attractive? I'm sure that plenty of heterosexual male Star Wars fans like the series for reasons other than "Princess Leia is so hot." And yes, thank you for once again bringing up that Jack and Damien are gay. -_-
/Speaking of the ghosts, she refers to Elliott as "gross" and the "weird nondead Elliott"./
*imagines Darth Vader Force-choking Zoey to death*
And "Heath Luck?" What is it with the names in this series?
On a happy note...PUPPY! *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-11 02:02 am (UTC)The Star Wars Holiday Special also has more entertainment value than these books.
Eh, Shaunee probably let it slide because Cole's hot and she has a crush on him. If these people think you're attractive and they like you, they don't call you out on anything. Just look at how Zoey was, all fine with Neferet's treatment of Aphrodite, but when Neferet started to turn on Zoey, she's all "WHY CAN NO ONE SEE HOW EVIL SHE IS??? >:O"
"And 'Heath Luck?' What is it with the names in this series?"
Heath has that last name because the Cast ladies wanted to do a stupid joke about how the only luck Heath has is not having had any DUIs in his life (despite the fact that he was drunk to the point of parody in the previous book, with the implication that this has been going on for some time)
Yes, puppy! :D I have a feeling he'll be showing up a lot in the next few sporkings!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-17 05:04 am (UTC)Best description of this series so far, if I do say so myself :P
You know, that hallucination or dream Zoey had could have had some potential, either as some sort of nightmare hallucination because of some other power, or because of some curse she has placed on her. I don’t know, but still, it could have been way more frightening in a better story.
Even though it's sad to believe, it's awful how Zoey views Elliot still. What did he actually do to her, because I can't think of anything! And show me a teenage boy who isn't cocky and sarcastic! :P So he may have been a been irritating, but her treatment of him is so OTT and undeserved!
I love how Zoey's all worried about the red-eyed ghosts and Stevie for, like, a millisecond before we're back to the hard-hitting stuff: sitting on the couch getting all loved-up with the token love interests since everyone has to be coupled-up somehow, along with some 'geek-bashing' and a nice dollop of racism for good measure! (Seriously, which of the Casts thought of that line about Shaunee being black? Why do we have to be reminded of it every chapter, why is it her whole identity?! Maybe we get reminded of it all the time just in case Shaunee suddenly turns Asian or Anglo between scenes, who knows :D It's not like the Casts can decide on any decent characterisation…)
And that shit about Star Wars? Hey, my six year old cousin is the biggest Star Wars fan I know! It all started when he got the Lego Star Wars game for DS and soon enough he started watching Clone Wars and got the Lego sets. For his birthday last week, he got the box set of all the movies and even more Lego, and at his party with all his friends and had Darth Vader on his birthday cake :P
When I was talking to his mum (my aunt) and my dad, I said that Star Wars isn't really seen as a 'geek' thing anymore. Even though I'm not a fan of the franchise, I can realise, too, that it's so accessible that it has all kinds of fans and lots of different people love it. I wish the Casts would actually be bothered to be a little more observant of how society really behaves instead of getting their inspirations from dumb shit teen movies >.<
Wait, why are vampires going after football players, it seems so random?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-18 08:40 pm (UTC)Back in Marked, when Zoey tells Neferet about how Heath and Kayla visited her, she brought up the fact that both had smoked a joint before coming (no, there's no reason for this). Neferet, for no reason at all at the time, asks Zoey to write down the names and addresses of everyone she knew from her previous school that smoked marijuana and, after getting Neferet to promise she wasn't calling the police on them, Zoey did so. In that same scene, Zoey noted that most of the joint-smokers she knew were football players, seeing as she often met those people when she and Heath went to parties.
In other words, the vampires are going after football players because Zoey was a dumbass and gave their names in, and because the Cast ladies wanted a bizarre aesop on smoking marijuana.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-09-22 05:47 pm (UTC)Our Heroine ladies and gentlemen.