[Fic] "Weregild," chapter 3 -- Inception/Anita Blake

[edenfalling]

The edited version of Weregild: Chapter 3 is now up on AO3! Jean-Claude's dinner parties are often more about politics than dinner; this one is no exception. Arthur and Dom successfully deliver their information, but Anita's suspicion of their motives throws yet another potential wrench in the works. Meanwhile, Ariadne and Arthur continue to flirt something awful despite theoretically knowing better. (9,800 words)

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Now I just need to knock off chapter 8 of "Trollstuck" and I can buckle down to finishing "Lemonade" once and for all. *evil laughter*

Comments

[afearfulthing.livejournal.com]

Yay! I really love Ariadne in this, and her perspective as someone trying to stay on the sidelines. I love Anita's reaction to her, trying to pigeonhole her as threat/someone in need of protection. It's wonderful to see all the Anita-verse stuff from a perspective other than Anita. Anita so often sees self-protection as a immorally selfish thing, I love seeing her trying to deal with reasonable people.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! I have been having a lot of fun writing Ariadne as a person who is trying to be reasonable and practical in the face of fundamentally ridiculous and over-dramatic circumstances -- especially when the reasonable and practical response is to do her best to stay out of the drama. *wry*

Anita's tendency to sort everyone she meets into "threat" or "damsel in distress" categories is understandable given the perpetual chaos and gore of her life, but I think it definitely flattens her view of people. It also means she's going to be off-balance whenever she runs into someone she can't easily sort. Looking at Anita from an outside perspective in this chapter was more fun than I thought it would be, partly because she becomes a much less sympathetic character when she isn't narrating and her thoughts and emotions aren't immediately visible; the narrative can question her in a way that Hamilton doesn't tend to.