the deep moans round with many voices

This is still basically a giant infodump -- in other words, this is the "let me explain about Fisher, Lebrun, and Robert; some of Mal's backstory with Lebrun; what exactly Dom and Arthur are planning to do and why; and how and why Eames is involved in their mess" section, which is rather a lot to throw at you all at once, sorry! -- but now there is at least a bit more back-and-forth in the dialogue and some actual character stuff going on around the exposition. (2,200 words)

( Weregild, part 14 )

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And I think that wraps up chapter two, unless anyone has a burning need to see Eames talking with Sally and Robert? I think it would muck up the pacing and focus, but I could maybe be persuaded otherwise if someone makes a good case. (Or maybe not, but you can always try. *wry*) Anyway, chapter three will start with Ariadne fetching Arthur and Dom to meet with Jean-Claude. Yay Ariadne!

This chapter needs more editing than chapter one (though I do want to also go back and make sure chapter one hints more pointedly at the nature of Dom and Arthur's plan, now that I know more or less what it is), but I should have the final version up on AO3 by, say, Tuesday night. :-)

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And now, an experiment:



I don't think this will show up on LJ, since I don't have a paid account there, but I am testing out a kind of response poll I've seen a few other people do. Even if you don't have anything to say, please consider ticking a box or two to show you're reading!

In which I introduce Robert (yay!) and lay some plot and character groundwork. (1,100 words)

( Weregild, part 12 )

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I am debating whether to skim through Narcissus in Chains, Incubus Dreams, and Cerulean Sins solely for the sections with Meng Die. Because hey, she is a canonical female vampire who is the second-in-command to the (unnamed?) Master of San Francisco. And she is apparently plotting a coup. That could be all kinds of interesting.

On the other hand, I'd have to skim through those three books. And by that point, the series is all about the men Anita is having sex with, the women who are jealous of her for all the men she's having sex with, and boring dubcon descriptions of the sex. Plus apparently Meng Die has very little characterization outside of blatant sexuality and jealousy. Do I really want to put myself through that?

Decisions, decisions...

This scene did not go quite the way I was expecting it to. On the other hand, I got a female character in, so I can't say I mind all that much. (2,025 words)

( Weregild, part 10 )

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You know something about Laurell Hamilton? I often get the feeling she has no idea what the actual layouts of any of her settings are. They are too vague and shift around too much. I would like to be able to make little faux architectural sketches of various buildings, but there simply is not enough detail to do so.

For example, in this section I have had to invent the office building in which Animators, Inc. is located. All Hamilton has ever said about it, to my knowledge, is a rough description of the reception room, focused more on color and scientific plant names than actual layout; that there are three offices, of which Bert has taken the smallest (painted pale blue, like an ice cube) as his own; that Mary (no last name) is the day secretary and Craig (no last name, no description either) is the night secretary; that there is a parking lot associated with the building; that the animators on staff all use the remaining two offices on a time-share basis; and that Anita sometimes keeps a gun in the drawer of her office desk.

She has also said, and I quote: There was a psychologist's office across from us, nothing less than a hundred an hour; a plastic surgeon down the hall; two lawyers; one marriage counselor, and a real estate company. (The last comma in place of a semi-colon is the book's error, not mine.)

By implication, the animators have keys to the office, since Anita has met people there at odd hours when no secretary seemed to be around -- and really, they would need at least three secretaries to have the office open 24/7. My suspicion is that Mary works 9am-5pm and Craig works 5pm-1am, give or take a little.

Anyway, that is mostly my frustration talking, but there are times I really wish Hamilton paid more attention to her world-building and less to the goddamn sex and romance. (Also, the number of times in the earlier books that I want to smack Anita and say either, "Listen, lady, have you heard of this concept called a threesome? Because people can be in true love with more than one person at a time, swear to god!" and/or, "Seriously, stake Jean-Claude; you're young; you'll get over him," are countless. Oy.)

The complete and slightly edited version of chapter one (i.e., parts 1-8) is now up on AO3! It is 11,050 words long.

I would post it to ff.net as well, but it turns out Laurell Hamilton hates fanfiction and ff.net has agreed not to host any stories based on her work. I figure it is best not to cheat the rules and pretend "Weregild" is a pure Inception story when the Anitaverse elements are so integral and blatant.

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In other news, my parents arrived shortly after 11am. We did not hit the road until about 12:15pm, after which we drove north to four vineyards in fairly rapid succession: Goose Watch, Knapp, Cobblestone, and Swedish Hill. We picnicked at Goose Watch.

We intended to buy ice cream at the Cayuga Creamery on our way back, but it was absolutely jam-packed with people and we decided we didn't want ice cream that badly. So we returned to my apartment, whereupon they collected their dog and we adjourned for a nap.

We went downtown in search of dinner around 6:45pm and ended up at Sahara, a newish restaurant specializing in Greek and Middle Eastern food -- Mediterrannean cuisine, as I think they call it. They seemed a bit disorganized, but the food was good.

I have decided, for simplicity's sake, that while natural dreams will continue to be in present tense and italics, shared dreams (a la Inception) will be written in normal font and past tense, as if they were reality.

Anyway. Here we are in Arthur's dream. Since it started out naturally and Ariadne entered later, he is both the dreamer and the subject; she is simply an interloper. (It is not directly stated in the movie that this can occur, but it's implied in the scene with Dom's memory layer trap.) [1,625 words]

( Weregild, part 7 )

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I am not thrilled with this section, but whatever, it's finished.

Question: whose POV are you most interested in seeing next? Ariadne reacting to this new twist on her ability (and what Arthur did to her), or Arthur quietly flipping out and wondering how he'll need to adjust his and Dom's plans?