slugging on

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Chapter thirty six

Anita is happy about not being pregnant. Yay.



They drive back to the Circus of the Damn, Anita forgoing her cellphone to talk metaphysically with Jean-Claude and tell him the good news. She's all bouncy like a child on a sugar high. Apparently their happy happy conversation leaked power all over the place and it's more powerful than usual. Yay.

They get to the circus and Anita snogs Jean-Claude senseless before realizing that there are other people in the room. Augustine and his folks to be exact. We get an obligitory paragraph of description:

Augustine sat on the love seat draped in a black silk shawl that left the tops of his bare shoulders like pale islands peeking out. His yellow curls were in disarray, as if all he'd done was run his fingers through them. He was wearing the bottoms of black silk pajamas that were too long for him. It seemed wrong to call such a muscular man winsome, but that was the word that came to mind when I looked at him...

The one thing that gets me when I read this is why is he wearing pjs that are too big for him? Also, what's with the shawl? But I digress. The important part is what follows.

Anita realizes that she loves Auggie. "It's the beginning of the real deal. It's love, not just lust." as she tells Jean-Claude when he asks her.

Auggie's special power is to make people love him and him love people in return. So, the question is, is it really love if you're under a magic spell? Which is essentially what this is. I am reminded of Lord Voldemort's mother who forced Tom Riddle to fall in love with her via a love spell. When she removed the spell he immediately dumped her, having no feelings whatsoever for poor Merope. He even abandoned his unborn child, most likely being horrified at what had been done to him. Knowing the nature of the Harry Potter spell's I am going to imagine that Riddle knew that he was under a love spell, rather like someone knows that they're under an imperius curse. Here Anita also knows that she is under a spell. But she's not angry about it, or horrified. Instead she says that she's not upset about it.

She knows that she's been brainwashed into loving Auggie, but has no problem with this. I can't really find the words to describe how I feel about this. I'm mostly disgusted at this. Hamilton is saying that forcing people to love you is okay. That real love isn't something that is created over time but instead forced onto each other. The fact that she writes this and shows nothing wrong with this gives a great example of what sort of person she is inside of her head. Even if Anita herself may not find something wrong with it, some of the other characters should condemn the actions. Once again to refer back to Harry Potter, Harry was horrified that Merope did that. And, if you notice, love spells are forbidden because of the implications that is, if not out right stated, a form of rape.

The only person who seems to have a problem with this is Richard. Poor sensible Richard. But unfortunately he's not allowed to express why he doesn't like it, though it feels like he wants to. Instead he says, that he doesn't want Anita to go to Auggie because she loves him. He's afraid that she'll go ahead and fuck him because she loves him. She says otherwise. "I'm in love with him, Richard, that doesn't mean we're going to fuck. You, of all people, should know that just because someone has my heart doesn't mean they have my body."

Where's that bottle? \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/
\~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/ \~/

*passes out in a drunken stupor*

Right. Where was I?

No. Having her heart isn't a requirement for her to have sex with someone. They just have to be pretty. She's pretty non-discriminatory. It's like she's completely forgotten the fact that she randomly fucked and almost fucked at least five people in the past two days. Thea, Thomas, Auggie, Haven, London... and I can't remember who else. Though I think that's it. And absolutely none of them have her heart (with the exception of Auggie but that's after they had sex). They just have her body.

Which is funny because when Richard says "You don't love the rest." She says "Who don't I love?" This takes place before the drunken stupor line, but still. It seems like the person she really loves, the one person she didn't get under her spell by metaphysical means doesn't get to fuck her. That being Richard. I don't know if this is a good thing or not.

Antia wants Auggie to come to her as opposed to her coming to him. They're doing the stupid power struggle thing again. Octavius, Auggie's human servant, doesn't want him to go, saying that he should go to no woman. This gets stalled when Haven shows up.

Obligatory paragraph of description:

Haven stalked down the hallway, human again, nude and beautiful. In truth he was a little thin for my tastes, but it wasn't truly the washboard abs, or the slender hips, the long graceful legs, or even the swelling of promise between those legs, but his beauty as a whole that drew me. If he'd been unattractive, would I have felt the same about him walking toward me? Would I have been able to resist walking toward him, if he hadn't looked so damn cute?

My answer is yes, she would have as she judges everything on beauty. The swelling of promise reminds me of Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty story where all the guys had to walk around with erections all the time. Guh. Also, this constant think of sex reminds me of Miss Formulaic's heroine inability to think of anything but the so called hero of the story. Every thought she had referenced him. I told her this was a bad thing. I don't believe she listened to me.

In any case, Haven tries to go to Anita and poor Noel and Travis try to stop him. Joesph, their Rex, wants one of them to feed the arduer or give them her lion before she touches Haven again. Haven tackles them and they tackle Anita. Auggie tries to call of Haven but he's apparently her lion now. Or at least not Auggie's anymore.

Richard steps in after getting Anita's permission to step in. And they start a fight.

That's how the chapter ends, with Richard throwing Haven into the fireplace.