Note: mildly NSFW text and some blood.
Jessica had been staring at the wall all morning, her mind blank and still wearing that numb expression she’d been donning since the previous evening when the doctor had given her a run-down of her various test results in their clinical, factual way.
She’d only heard one word in the whole discussion.
Pregnant.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that she was locked up in here, mourning the deaths of her colleague, career and freedom, worrying about how her mother was coping and what on earth those loopy people in the Truth Society were doing outside, now she had to factor in this little one, too.
Ten weeks.
There was no doubt in her mind whose baby this was and Jessica didn’t know how to feel. The doctor had reeled off Jessica’s options and left her to her thoughts.
Part of her was happy; having children was something she’d looked forward to, one day. But that day had felt a long way off, when she’d be settled, with a good job and a loving partner. She never dreamed that she’d be pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s baby aged only twenty-three while locked in a psychiatric unit.
Chase hadn’t even been her boyfriend. How would she refer to him when her baby grew up and started asking questions about daddy? The man at work that mummy didn’t even like that much?
Other than Ralf, Jessica didn’t know Chase’s family, she knew next-to-nothing about his life before she’d met him. She hoped Ralf would visit her one day so she could ask about him. Perhaps she’d see if he’d also pop round to her mother’s, explain what was happening – more than Jessica could in the ten-minute call she was allowed – and make sure she’d taken her meds. Maybe he’d even feed Jessica’s cats, although that was asking a lot.
Jessica huffed and rested her head gently against the wall. What a mess.
She closed her eyes and strained to listen to the calls of the protesters outside, but they came muffled and muted through the thick walls of the Tower, unlike the sudden booming from the loudspeaker above her door.
“Spoon, Jessica; to visitation,” it announced in its robotic tone.
Jessica brightened. She had a visitor? She scrambled from the bed to dress but barely a minute later, the mechanical lock on her door unlatched as an orderly in a white apron appeared, looking over her unwashed form with disdain.
“I wasn’t expecting anyone,” Jessica said by way of explanation. “If you give me five minutes—”
The orderly sighed as if this was a huge inconvenience and Jessica faltered; weighing up whether it looked worse to not comply, or to go to see her visitor smelling like BO.
“Who is it?” she asked excitedly.
“Your sister, Emma,” the orderly replied, in a bored fashion. “Ready?”
Jessica nodded, smoothing down her hair and following the orderly from the room. Hoping her face hadn’t given away her confusion or her intrigue.
Jessica didn’t have a sister.
—
Faith awoke in the partial darkness and blinked until the scene materialised before her.
“Where am I?” she asked to the empty room, to herself.
In an instant, a figure appeared beside her. “An abandoned cabin, somewhere outside Willow Creek.”
“Seth?” Faith murmured, trying to prop herself up, but failing. “Oof,” she huffed as her jellied limbs wobbled beneath her. “Fuck. Why can’t I get up?”
“Stop trying,” he instructed. Joining her on the floor, he supported her on his knee as he caressed her hesitantly. Everywhere his fingers brushed her caused a jolt of fire, and not in a good way.
“What happened?” she asked, realising that she didn’t actually know. What was the last thing she remembered? A big pile of dirt?
He must have seen her flinching as he swiftly stopped stroking the bare skin of her arms and looked over her with concern. “We got carried away,” he said quietly.
“At the arcade?”
“We didn’t go to the arcade,” he sighed. “We stayed out all night until the sun rose.”
The previous night started to knit together in Faith’s memory. She wasn’t sure if it was his doing or her own memory crystallising with his prompt, but she could see the aggregate yard, Kevin lying on the floor.
She remembered being lost for words after the first kill. There he was, blood-splattered with a dead human at his feet, looking every bit the monster he professed to be.
Seth had looked to her at that moment, unsure; wholly expecting, even encouraging her to leave, yet silently begging the opposite. Could it be that his violence was as much a front as her crudeness was? A mask to keep everyone from getting too close?
If it was, it worked a treat.
Who did he have?
Faith wanted to show him that she was nothing like Lilith or the likely countless others in his life who had seen what he was capable of, who he was and had fled.
She could offer him what he had offered her, they could each be what the other needed; someone who would stay and fight and, perhaps, in the safety net of acceptance, even nurture change.
So, despite every thread of her being telling her to get the fuck outta there, she’d done exactly the opposite.
“What else do you remember?” he asked softly, sweeping her hair from her face. Show me.
Faith pouted as in her mind’s eye, she watched the second man, Kevin’s date, wander into the yard to meet the same fate as the first. She vividly recalled Seth laughing, but the rest of the night was a daze.
“Shitting hell; how long were in the sun? Am I all burned up like Blondie?” Faith gasped. “I bet my skin has more cracks than a nudist beach.”
Seth laughed. “A while. But no, barely a mark,” he assured her.
His words were crisp and sure, but something wasn’t right. “Where were we that we couldn’t find any shelter for ages?” she asked.
He didn’t answer immediately. She wanted to turn to look up at him, but she didn’t have the strength to lift herself. “On the yacht, surrounded by water. It was an oversight,” he admitted quietly. “I thought we’d have time once the sun rose to make it back to shore, but within minutes you were losing consciousness. I couldn’t risk misting with you when you weren’t lucid.”
“Shitting hell,” Faith whispered. “That missing limbs thing wasn’t a joke, was it?”
“No.”
“Oh my god, did you have to carry me like a sack of spuds? I hope you didn’t have a good grope while I was hauled over, like Caleb did.”
“I doubt you minded him doing it,” Seth muttered.
“I wasn’t wearing any undergarments that day, either,” Faith teased, delighted when she felt Seth tense beneath her.
“Lack of garments was half the problem,” Seth said tersely. “We really need to get you something more substantial to wear.”
Faith gasped and lifted her head with the pure power of horror. “Are you trying to turn me into a nun?”
He laughed heartily and he turned her face towards him, giving her the dirtiest smirk she’d ever seen him wear. “No, that is definitely not my intention.”
Fuck, he was gorgeous. And she sort of liked being splayed across him like this; it was like he was taking care of her. Not that she needed taking care of. She again tried to force herself up, longing to kiss him but again, her body did not cooperate. He caught her before she landed face first in his crotch, hauling her floppy form into his arms.
“Ugh,” Faith groaned. “I think I’m dying.”
“Ever the drama queen,” he sighed. “Go ahead. Take a little to tide you over.”
Giddily, Faith turned in his arms to nuzzle his neck and felt him flinch as she embedded her fangs. Unlike when feeding from humans, the blood did not pulse freely from Seth; it was effort. But shit, was it amazing. Cool and concentrated and dark. There really was no other way to describe it.
She hadn’t really registered what she was doing with her hands until he grabbed her wrist and growled, “Fledgling, this is not an invitation to grope me.”
But you’re so hot and I’ve been so horny for days, she projected to him. He definitely reacted to her words. He kept her hand tantalisingly close, as if fighting himself, before he tugged his head away.
“That’s enough.”
She ignored him, pretended she hadn’t heard him, until he grabbed a fistful of her hair and roughly yanked her head back. She whined as she was forced to stop, as pain shot through her scalp.
“Ugh! You call me a drama queen?! I barely even had any!” she protested.
Seth fixed her with one of his intense stares and she gulped. Shit; she’d done it again. Ignored his wishes, bullied him into complying.
“I’m sorry, OK? I just… you’re just so…” she stammered. “I’m sorry.”
“I understand,” he assured her. “You need something more substantial. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He gestured for her to move.
“What? You’re just going to leave me here? Alone?” she asked.
“I can hardly take you with me.”
Faith’s mind began racing. She’d pushed him too far, she’d upset him. He could leave her here, dehydrated and lost and just never come back. She swore; cursing herself for being such a desperate, sad bitch.
“I will come back to you, Faith. I swear it,” he mumbled into her hair, which did nothing to make her feel any better. He pulled her closer, whispered against the shell of her ear. “Do you trust me?”
“We could wait until nightfall, go together…”
His hand left her hip and her needless breath hitched in her throat as his hand slipped up under her skirt, his fingers drawing small circles as they crept up her inner thigh.
“Do you trust me?” he purred into her ear. Answer me.
Fucking hell. At that moment, she’d have agreed that the grass was purple. I trust you.
“Wonderful!” Seth boomed cheerfully, abruptly getting up and strutting to the door. “Sit tight; I won’t be long.”
“You’re fucking kidding me!”
“Seth!”
—
Jessica padded through the pristine visitation room, wondering who on earth was going to be waiting to greet her. Thankfully she didn’t have to guess who her guest was; the room was deserted, except for a humongous portrait of Wilbert Wangshaft – the founder of this place – and woman in a pink scarf who looked oddly familiar.
“Jessie!” the woman gushed. “Oh my little baby sis, it’s been so long! I got back in town only last week and kept telling myself; Emma, you need to go and see Jessica now she’s back from her jaunt with that animal rights group, but you know how it is, life gets in the way. Anyway, how are you?” She reached her hand out towards Jessica but was promptly stopped.
“No touching!” the orderly instructed taking a seat beside and gesturing for Jessica to sit. ‘Emma’ pulled her hand back, pronto, but not before Jessica noticed the tiny flash of silver contained within. Was that… tinfoil?
Oh dear Watcher.
It was her; the GliTS member from the séance. Pixie.
“Oh my goodness, look at you; skin and bone!” Pixie gasped. “I knew I should’ve brought you something more filling from the vending machine. Are they feeding you OK at meal times?”
“Yes,” Jessica replied, trying not think of the dead cow and spinach medley that appeared to be every meal in this place.
“Oh, good!” Pixie sighed her relief. “I’ve heard rumours about the dismissal of dietary requirements in here; I’m glad they’re just rumours.” She flashed Jessica a strange expression, waited a beat and then continued. “There’s a right palaver going out outside, you know! Some very snazzily dressed people calling your incarceration injustice.” She cleared her throat as the orderly glanced at her.
There was that look again.
Jessica knew that Pixie was trying to communicate with her without coming across as suspicious, but she neither understood the code, or why Pixie would do this. Still, the investigation side of her was dominant and she played along.
“Don’t worry, things are going well. I’m having some talking therapy. It’s all changed since Mum was in here; I’ll be out in no time, if I don’t cause too many waves.”
Pixie’s eyes widened. “I was actually going to call round to see Mum later; I wondered if there’s anything you’d like me to pass on? I know she’s not been well and you’re probably worried. It’s partly why I’m here.”
How do you know that? Jessica asked silently.
Whatever her suspicions about Pixie, Jessica wasn’t about to pass up a chance for someone to check on her mother. They’d probably get on pretty well as her mother also spoke to dead people.
“That’d be great, thanks P- Emma.”
The orderly glanced at Jessica, eyebrow raised.
“Pemma!” Pixie laughed. “You haven’t called me that since you were tiny! Aww, that brings back memories, doesn’t it?”
“It sure does!” Jessica beamed. “But let’s not get into the embarrassing stories now. Do you need Mum’s new address?” she asked hesitantly.
“No, I have it, obviously.” Pixie smiled. “Is there anything else I can do? Swing by your place? Pick up the mail?”
Jessica wasn’t really sure that she wanted random conspiracy theorists in her house, but there was one thing they could do.
“Can you pop by and feed my cats?” she asked.
“Cats?” Pixie repeated, looking thrown for the first time but quickly recovering. “Yes of course. Do I need a key to do that?”
“No, the bowls are on the porch and the food is in a hutch outside,” Jessica explained, watching as Pixie relaxed. “They’re not really my cats, but no one else feeds them, so I do.”
“Typical Jessie! Got it, I’ll do that,” Pixie said. “Is that everything?”
Jessica hesitated. There was one more thing, but she really wasn’t sure if Pixie was the right person for this task. Still, she didn’t have anyone else to ask. “Can you… can you pay my boss a visit and ask him if he’ll visit me?”
Pixie looked a little sad for a moment before she responded. “Yeah, of course I can.”
“Your fifteen minutes is up,” the orderly announced.
“We only get fifteen minutes?” Pixie gasped, looking at her watch. “But we have so much to talk about!”
“We sure do,” Jessica smiled. “So hopefully I’ll see you again tomorrow?”
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Almost Eternal 
Man and I thought I was having a crappy day. Poor Jessica is having it so bad. Nothing like simlit to whack me in the head and remind me that shits gone to hell with everyone. Even pixel people.
Aw Faith’s interpretation of Seth’s reasons for showing her his killing methods speak more about herself than Seth. I couldn’t help but think to myself of what Seth said before of ‘Faith’s mirror turned against herself and wanting to use it for his own benefit.’ I’m sure he meant it in a multitude of ways that don’t necessarily mean this. But if he meant this too, it really credits his manipulation. How very smooth.
That said I’m not rejecting the entire concept. Seth has been on his own for very long. But whether that is through forced exile or choice remains to be seen. By Lilith, it sounds like a fallout which could’ve resulted in the former, but I remember sometime ago it was mentioned that there was a band of rogue vampires wandering around so Seth could’ve joined them for company if he so wished. Faith cannot be the first in Seth’s long un-life to have found his nomadic free lifestyle attractive. She’s not exactly ticking every checkbox for best partner either, what with their interests and goals clashing.
Ah.. how we choose to stay with our totally abusive, unright partners and friends, hoping deep down or one day that we could change them. (By we I mean figuratively, not looping anyone in) “Through safety net of acceptance, even nurture change.” My heart is bleeding so bad for her now. Kevin’s date is not at all how I envisioned him to be. And by Kevin’s bedroom interests I am getting a picture I don’t exactly want to see. xD Snuffy you ebil!
And through this all Faith is not sharing with us readers what are her exact views on his actions. We know that she maybe subconsciously rejects that side of him because her first instinct is to run, but now her overwhelming desire to connect and accept him is completely overruling and helping her make justifications for his violence.
Will she be able to accept his violence as time goes on? Maybe, people can numb themselves to a lot of things. But I’m pretty sure the weight she now or soon will carry will manifest in another way.
That whole cabin scene. Faith. Not everything is your fault. And Seth is not perfect. Sigh. Moving on before I go bang my head on the wall.
Oooof Pixie is amazing! I swear. Glits need just as huge a sign for Pixie as they did for Jess. I will download Pixie signs! And Pixie really did her homework on Jessica’s background didn’t she! Pemma. Haha! Reminds me of my own childhood nicknames. Gah! I love Pixie already and you’re sending her to BETH!? Okay. I’m going to wish to high hell Pixie’s resourcefulness, ability to commune with dead people, and her vast knowledge of conspiracies will inform her (and readers) about what is a Beth and she’d be able to hold her ground against her. Stahp giving all the characters I like a hard time. I formally protest! XDDDDDD
Also, cow cc incoming? … 😀 And I thought you liked cows. Why is there dead cow and spinach medley! D:
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Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that you’re having a crappy day. I hope my pixel people with their made up woes haven’t added to your day’s crappiness too much.
Well spotted. Faith’s thoughts in this scene are definitely skewed and when Seth mentioned wanting to use Faith’s mirror for his own benefit, that certainly included using it against her, yes.
“…there was a band of rogue vampires wandering around so Seth could’ve joined them for company if he so wished.” There you go again with your knife running just along the edge but just ever-so slightly off. At least for this one you don’t have to wait too long to get an answer. 🙂
Everything you say in your comments about Faith are accurate and your observations are spot on. I want to comment individually on the bits, but I’ll summarise because have really struggled with the last few scenes from Faith’s shadow in book two. Her thought process is painfully familiar and just so… sad. She acts tough and brash, but I think she’s the most vulnerable because she just cannot accept help, thinks she knows best and puts her trust in all the wrong places, especially in herself. She reminds me so much of how I used to be (maybe a bit how I still am?) that I just hate her right now. But then, conversely, I wanna tell her story so.. gah. I’ll join you at that head-banging wall. 😅
OMG. That, um, interesting-looking guy in the white shirt was not Kevin’s date, that was Mr. Random Ugly (reroll #11) who wandered out of the pub at the wrong moment and interrupted the rogue vampire couple who were making out after their little killing spree. But now I’m imaging Kevin on his knees in front of Mr. Random Ugly (reroll #11) and will be forever. Damn.
For all their weirdness, the GliTS really are a smart bunch. I drew random to decide which GliTS member would don the group’s one normal sweater and go visit Jessica. I also drew random for their next scenes. Hehe. What do they say now, pressure makes diamonds? I swear it though, from book three onwards, (a little bit in the dregs of book two, too) some characters genuinely do start having a good time. There is smiling! Laughter! Yep, even love. 💕
There is a CC cow coming soon and she will not be harmed in the slightest (she witnesses something weird, but she’s used to it – this will make sense later). Only one animal will be harmed in the making of AE but I don’t take that thing lightly and by the time we get there, you’ll be fine with it. That sounds as sick as fuck but trust me, I’m vegan. 🥕
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Actually, reading about made up woes helped put things in perspective for me. Felt a sense of shared burden or woes. 😂
“Knife running just along the edge ever so slightly off” 😶 this picture of myself is creepy. 😆
You write Faith so beautifully (well, tragically haha). I can’t hate her for how she arrived to her choices and worldview. But yeah, heart’s still cut wide open and am struggling to form coherent response so you get weird mess thats just me wailing in the comments. 😆 I hear you on that. My characters feel like effing mirrors at times and i just want to take a stick and smash them. (Mirrors! Not characters 😭 😂)
😆 Mr random #11 and Kevin are canon in my head now…
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“Mr random #11 and Kevin are canon in my head now…”
Cannot unsee (Not NSFW, but pretty disturbing)
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Ahahaha XDDDD AMG this is so good!
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Is it just me, or is Faith trying to justify being with Seth despite his manipulativeness? In real life, someone could justify being in a bad relationship, hoping for their partner to improve unpleasant behavior. Seth left Faith in the cabin? She clearly didn’t want to be stuck in there.
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It’s not just you; Faith is making a lot of excuses for Seth and starting to blame herself for how their relationship is faring, whether justified or not.
No she definitely did not want him to leave, especially at that moment. 😆
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Jessica without her detective clothes or pink cutesy decorations plastered everywhere is jarring. Like draining out all the colour, or stripping everything that was “Jessica” and leaving the shell. I hope she gets out of there soon. Oh man, so she really is pregnant. That’s got to be a shock for her. On top of everything else too.
Seth making such a huge mistake seems unlike him- but then again he’s gotten very resistant to the sun. It might actually have slipped his mind that a small boat in the middle of the ocean wasn’t enough. I wonder if that’s really what happened. I remember you telling me about the memory colours, and her memories don’t seem to have been messed with, at least 🤔 An oversight. Woof. That must have been hard to admit for the master vampire.
Oh, Faith. Her describing Seth just sounds like she’s projecting herself onto him, with her own fears and insecurities. “someone who would stay and fight and, perhaps, in the safety net of acceptance, even nurture change.” < this makes me want to bang my head against the keyboard so bad. Staying with an abusive person because you can help them change. Gah. That’s not. No. That’s up to a therapist or other professional to help with, and only if the person actually wants to change – not up to their SO. She’s setting herself up to be hurt again and again and again 😫
Bwahaha, Pixie in an actual normal top 😁😂 also holy cow, she’s very good at covert information gathering! It’s probably a good thing that it was Pixie, and not Morag or Yibbo, Pixie seems to have the best brain under pressure 😄 she really did her homework, too. Naww they really are in Jess’s corner, even if Jess isn’t entirely happy with it. I wonder if they really are going to end up busting her out/getting her freed, or if the Tower will just have three more residents by the end of this.
WAIT what happened to the knitted turtle on her desk? Is that still there? Did they throw it out? 😮
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Yes, Jessica is with little one. This may be quite the blessing…
Hey, we all make mistakes but ooh, nearly losing her to the sun? That’d be a big one. And no, the memories she has certainly have not been tampered with.
“in the safety net of acceptance, even nurture change” change who, or what, exactly?
I was so tempted to leave Pixie in her leopard print skirt and dog leggings combo, paired with normal top, but thought she was weird enough with her kooky facial expressions and her bit of tinfoil. 😆 I have so much fun with the GliTS. Haha! You three have a good degree of immunity, none of you will die (permanently) and I’m 95% sure that you won’t end up in the Tower.
She took Turkle home! He’s safe! You can spot him in a few screens at her house (Chapter 2.33)
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Poor Jess. Yes, finding out you’re pregnant while in a dubious psychiatric ward, and to top it all off the baby’s father is dead… grim. Ooh, a visitor! At least they allow visitors. Fingers crossed it’s not Beth.
“in the safety net of acceptance, even nurture change.” Yes, accept him so hard that maybe he’ll change *facepalm* That’s totally how it works… Not to mention technically, that means not accepting him. If you actually do wind up accepting him the murderous way he is, the only person that will change is you. As far as we know Seth hasn’t changed significantly for 300 odd years, after all.
Hmm, even when her memories started to come back, a big chunk of the night is still missing. Whatshisface and his date were pretty early on in the night, and the next thing she remembers is getting on the boat – but the sun was already rising at the beach. There’s got to be more in between than the whole ‘we got caught up in a blood frenzy so intense the time just escaped from us.’ Seth had a very… particular approach to that first kill of the night (by which I don’t necessarily mean all the blood). I wonder if his plan for the night was to push her to her limits, to find out where they are for future reference and then conveniently wipe that part out. Except that it took much much longer to push her to her limits than he had anticipated, hence why it was morning by the time her memory kicks in again, and Seth had no sun cover plan because they were already meant to be done by that point. Pure speculation of course!
OMG it’s meee! Wow, Pixie actually managed to do really well and not blownher cover. I guess one good thing about the GliTS is that they expect the unexpected, helps with staying calm in situations like this. In any case, with the day Jessica’s been having, even having random loons on your side must help her perk up. So her mother did get out of the Tower eventually, by the sounds of it. That’s something, prospects-wise, at least. Oh Jessica feeds local cats? Is Robert one of them? Crazy cat eye lady in cat form? Ok, I’m getting too wild here. Ooh, Pixie will go see Ralf. Oh boy. Lets see what she finds. Hopefully she won’t get herself killed.
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I couldn’t dump Beth on Jessica, so she gets you instead! I refrained from having Pixie give one of her famous pep talks.
Accept something so hard it’ll change. Seems legit to me. That was one of lines where I was just like… I can’t. I should. I can’t. I should. No. yes. Take it out. Put it back. Although most of Saith’s thread is like that.
There is a lot missing in those memories. OOOOOOH. Super close. One bit is bang on. 🏆🤐
Yep, Jessica’s mother got out of the Tower, mostly intact, so it is possible. Pixie has three tasks and there are 3 GliTS so I’m sure they’ll divide up accordingly. 😬
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Awww, Jess. What a mess indeed. I worry my motivation/comforting words might miss the mark completely but think… what would Chase´s reaction be, had he been alive? Would that have made the situation any better? Worse?
Faith… oh, Faith. What can I even say. No, sweetheart, that really isn´t the way things work. And besides that, as someone mentioned already, if you´re hoping for change from the start, that really isn´t acceptance in the first place, now is it? But then, if getting over the moral barrier of killing prey was the only problem, that would actually not be nearly as bad. I mean, the Lure is a thing and it would do it´s job. Faster with Seth´s encouragement and slower without, but it would happen either way, especially now that Lil doesn´t have access to her medical gloop. But there´s many more problems than that on board of the Saith.
…unless of course said change is change for the… /wilder/ because that is the way of less resistance and Faith, just generally being herself, seems to encourage that rather successfully. I´m just having more and more of the feeling here, that we have a second… Caleb-type situation on our hands, my apologies for comparison with the doofus. 😉 Remember, how April used to throw tantrums because “he doesn´t even wanna kiss me”? I´m remembering, now.
Either way, missing memories. Well now, that could have so many reasons. From something as simple as Seth just deciding to get out of the “beeping machines” situation, to testing the limit´s of Faith´s resistance to… well. We know he´s still trying to pick her brain and we know that´s easiest to do when she´s out. And given she doesn´t seem to sleep during the day… she sure was out now, how convenient.
And… Pixie worries me. I mean, it was very nice how well she prepared and managed not to get caught in the lie. And it´s very nice she´s willing to help Jess with all the things. It´s just… she knows something about Ralf, doesn´t she? He´s probably not gonna come visit, is he? Either because he´s totally scared of the Wangshafts now, or he´s hurt, or well, he /might/ be dead.
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Interesting point. We know Chase was a hot-head who likely would have flipped his desk when he found out, but then what? Like Jessica, we also know very little about Chase. Although, if Chase had been alive, he’d still be acting deputy so he might have been pissed off about him impending fatherhood, but at least Jessica wouldn’t be in the Tower. Fun to think about.
Gah, this scene and the next chapter. Faith’s world view is so immature and warped; it’s painful to write and read back. Ooh, drawing comparisons amongst the more urge-driven cast members, are we? Faith is certainly starting to suffer for the lack of, um, kissing.
Missing memories, you say. Whatever could be missing from what sounded like a lovely, straightforward night? Totally correct that having Faith knocked out makes it easier for Seth to pry in and tweak her subconscious. But if he did, what did he change? Hmm…
Pixie may or may not know about Ralf; maybe she was bummed that Jessica was requesting a different visitor after all her efforts. But, regardless, if she carried out Jessica’s instruction, someone will know about Ralf soon enough.
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Yeah… furthermore, given we know very little about Chase, save for the fact he was an insensitive jerk who made fun of Jess´ mum it could have been even worse than that. He might have wanted nothing to do with Jess or the baby. He may have even wanted her to have an interruption. 😦 Of course, she won´t think about that now, but… does she even know? Probably not, if she wanted to ask Ralf about him.
The comparison is easy to make. Seth had scoffed at Caleb´s utter lack of self-control before, which we now know very well why… but we know he knows what Caleb does, and I haven´t gotten the feeling he condemns that, exactly. He only used it to get Caleb to stop condemning his own ways… Besides, Seth can talk all he wants, he can say what he wants to make Faith feel better… but again. The Lure is still a thing… and he hasn´t hit rock bottom yet, either, even though he´d been drinking live blood for /a while/ now… do add general Faith to that mix and… I don´t know. It just sounds like a recipe for a problem.
Heh… it sounds more like the kind of date where both parties get drunk out of their mind and end up with patchy memory and lots of regret in the morning. *giggle* Even though I expect Seth´s memory is still patchy as a natural state and Faith… hmm. We have no strict proof it was Seth meddling of course. /Can/ blood-drunk state cause hangover-like effects? But I do tend to suspect Seth of meddling, we´ve seen him do it often enough. If he did… well, the remaining memories seem reliable so it isn´t that. Possibly something to do with Faith´s level of conscience again…? This is difficult to guess at, who knows what he really means to achieve.
Awwwh. Maybe… but yes. If Ralf is missing or something (even if we have a worst case scenario, I don´t expect Beth to leave a mess behind) and if Pixie tries to reach him, at least someone will know.
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Hey, it’s not all bad for Jessica. Her pregnancy might be a huge blessing in disguise, given where she currently is…
“he knows what Caleb does, and I haven´t gotten the feeling he condemns that, exactly” no, very true. He’s very much of the ‘bother who you want as long as it doesn’t bother me’ mindset with Caleb. And if Caleb’s actions result in entertaining mishaps and/or piss off Lilith in the process, well that’s just a bonus. No, it appears that, as far as we know, Seth has not hit rock bottom yet. Hehe.
The best kind of date! 😆 Yeah, Seth is probably still patchy. Maybe he’s trying to make Faith match his level of patchiness, or something happened he wanted to remove or maybe he genuinely messed up; he’s not perfect, especially when she fights his efforts. He’ll enlighten you very shortly as to what he actually wants and what he may have done, I’m sure.
Beth did say the Wangshafts had one heck of a maid… I wonder if she meant herself.
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On that note, yes. If her anaemia wasn´t enough to save her from whatever is really going on in that place then probably a pregnancy should be. Yay! XD
*raises an eyebrow* I hear the key words there and they would not have done anything to make me feel better, had I been actually /worried/ in the first place. (And yes, I do know I´m being both terrible and terribly biased. …oh, well.)
…well. It might not be so great if the morning regret includes permanent damage to your skin… ;D Otherwise, it does sound likely he wanted to remove some bits… I mean, it was the first time Faith hunted like that and any number of things may have happened that would be just /too much/. Especially if Seth did get drunk too…
Ha. It could very well be, even though I´d never think of her as any kind of servant. To anyone. Especially not a trustworthy one. I mean, I don´t have any proof, but she just seems to be in his for her own benefit, only.
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See? In amongst all the dark, there are glimmers of light here.
Oh and being both terrible and biased is totally fine. 😆
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…thank you for saying that. But I´m trying to not do a Lilith, here. I know when I´m being horrible and unfair, thank you very much. ;DD
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There’s a little ‘Lilith’ in us all, whether we like it or not. 😉 Besides, who to say you are being horrible or unfair? You might be backing the right horse, for all anyone knows. 😇
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*snorts* No, I´m really not. I´d been angry at Faith and let´s be honest, it wasn´t because of her behavior at all. It was just because she was bugging my favorite, is all. *shrug*
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Ooh, prepare to get your rage hat on for the next chapter then. 😁
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