Mona Lisa Overdrive
Dreamed I was flying Thursday night. It was incredible. Perhaps I really am egotisical. I try really hard not to be. It was dusk, and with just a push of my foot I could propel myself miles into the air. It was exhillarating. Of course, I couldn't steer very well, and sometimes ended up in a tangle of branches, or near powerlines. I also noticed that I did actually frighten myself several times when I got to about 15,000 feet (my estimate). I guess I was always concerned about landing...or falling if that was the case.
Drank 1.3 US Gallons of Warsteiner bier Friday evening. It was fantastic. Tivo'd but did not watch BSG. Will watch them back-to-back this Friday. I'm very excited. Layed around the house all day Saturday with the kids while the wife was out shopping. Since I never want to leave the house on the weekends, that day was, in a word, perfect. Watched 50 First Dates and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow this weekend. I had seen the first former previously, but this was the first time I'd seen the latter. I wish there had been more of Angelina Jolie and Giovanni Ribisi, as they made the movie, though I was unfamilar with Giovanni Ribisi prior to this movie, as I haven't seen any of the other movies he's been in.
Dreamed I was saving patrons at a zoo in which all the animals were running around loose. There were cages placed along the walking path at intervals, and I was going to people, and leading them to the cages to put them in for safty, until a guy who was driving a little bus could come around and pick them up. I did this at peril to myself, which scared me. But it was my job. Hard not to crawl in the cage to save myself. Afterwards, my real-life IS staff and I were at Dairy Queen, using the tables there to work on a project, when a bus stopped, and off stepped Richard Penn, who was dressed as he always is, with the addition of a black bow tie. He was pulling his laptop behind him. One of my guys wanted to tell him we were all in the DQ, but I assumed he was going to check into his hotel first. Sure enough, as we watched him through the windows, he walked right past the DQ, and inserted his key into a ground-level hotel, which was in the same parking lot as the Dairy Queen.
In reading the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, I came across what is probably my favorite exchange of dialog to date. She is a human, but through odd circumstances throughout the series, she has become the girlfriend of the local werewolf pack's Ulfric (leader) Richard (making her his Lupa; a high-ranking position), and simultaneously the leader of the wereleopards (Nimri-Ra in the feminine) which puts her in an awkward position because different species of were-animals never intermix. Because she may have been accidentally infected by a wereleopard, she's now lost her position as Lupa (something she's not concerned about) but Pack Law says that whoever 'kills' the Pack Lupa is put on trial. She's not dead, but as a wereleopard, she cannot be a werewolf Lupa, so they consider the wereleopard's accident as a direct assault on their Pack. They took him for trial to be carried out in their headquarters, the Lupinar. Now that she is not luoki, werewolf 'family,' she wants her guy back, because as Nimri-Ra she's responsible for her leopards well-being:
"Hello, I'm Jacob, I've heard a lot about you."His voice made it plain that he hadn't liked what he'd heard.
"Look, Jacob, we don't know each other, but I cannot allow you to kill Gregory for something he didn't do."
"The only way you can stop us is by winning him back."
"Richard explained that I'd have to pass a test to get Gregory back. He also said if I failed that you'd execute Gregory."
"It's pack law."
"Jacob, you don't want to make me your enemy."
"You are Nimir-Ra of a small leopard pard. We are the Thronnos Rokke Clan. We are the lukoi, and you are nothing to us."
"Yeah, I'm coming tomorrow night as Nimir-Ra of the Blooddrinker's Pard. But I'm Anita Blake. Ask the vampires and other shapeshifters around town about me. See what they say. You don't want to fuck with me, Jacob, you really don't."
"I've already asked around. I know your reputation."
"Then why are you pushing this?"
"That's my business," he said.
"Fine, you want to do this, we can do this. If you cause Gregory's death through voting or werewolf politics, I will bury you."
"If you can," he said. "You're a brand-new shapeshifter. You won't even change form until the full moon, and that's weeks away. You are no match for me."
"You say that like I'm going to offer to fight you one-on-one. I'm not. If Gregory dies, you die. Simple as that."
"If you shoot me, it won't reinstate you into the pack. If you could possibly win one-on-one against me, then maybe they'd vote you back to lupa. But if you just shoot me, you'll never be lupa again."
"I'm going to say this nice and slow, Jacob, so we understand each other. I don't give a shit about being lupa. I care about my friends, and the people I've promised to protect. Gregory is one of those people. If he dies, you die."
"I'm not going to kill him, Anita. I just made sure there was a vote about it."
"Do you like John Wayne movies, Jacob?"
He was quiet for a heartbeat. "I guess, I mean, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Your fault, my fault, nobody's fault, if Gregory dies, you die."
"Am I supposed to get the movie reference?" he asked. He sounded angry now.
"I guess not, but the point is this. I will blame you personally if anything happens to Gregory, for any reason. If he comes to harm, so will you. If he bleeds, so do you. If he dies ..."
"I get the idea. But I don't have a deciding vote on this issue. I'm just one vote."
"Then you better think of something, Jacob. Because I give you my word that I mean everything I say."
"I heard that about you." He was quiet, and we stood on either end of the phone in silence, until he said, "What about Richard?"
"What about him?"
"If something happens to him what will you do?"
"If I tell you that I'll kill you if you kill him, that undercuts his authority as Ulfric. But I'll say this much, if you defeat him, then it better be a fair fight in a challenge circle. If you cheat in any way, no matter how small, I'll kill you." I wanted so badly to just give Richard blanket protection, but I couldn't. It would weaken his position, and his position was weak enough already.
"But if it's fair, you'll stay out of it?"
I leaned against the wall and tried to think. "I'll be honest, Jacob, I love Richard. I don't always understand him, or even agree with him, but I love him. I'm ready to kill you over someone who has never been my lover or even a good friend. So, yeah, you kill Richard, and I'm really, really going to want to kill you."
"But you won't," he said.
I didn't like how persistent he was about the issue. It made me nervous. "I'll make you a deal, you don't challenge Richard for Ulfric until after the next full moon, then whatever happens, as long as it's fair, I'll stay out of it."
"What if it's sooner?" he asked.
"Then I am going to rain all over your parade."
"You're undercutting Richard's authority," he said.
"No, Jacob, no I'm not. I wouldn't be killing you because I was lupa or any werewolf stuff. I'd be killing you because I am just that vindictive. Give me a few weeks until after the full moon, and you're in the clear on this one, if you've got the cajones to finish the job."
"You think Richard will kill me, instead?"
"He killed the last Ulfric, Jacob. That's how he got the job."
"If I don't agree to this, you'll just shoot me?"
"From a nice, safe distance, oh, yeah."
"I can promise that I won't challenge Richard until after the full moon, but I can't promise that the vote won't go against Gregory. He was one that Raina, the old lupa, used to help punish some members of the pack. There's more than one woman here that he helped rape."
"I know."
"Then how can you defend him?"
"He did what his old alpha told him to do, and what Raina, the wicked bitch of the west, told him to do. Gregory isn't a dominant, he's lesser, and he does what he's told, like a good submissive shapeshifter. Ever since I took over as his alpha, he's refused to rape and torture. As soon as he had a choice, he stopped doing it. Ask Sylvie. Gregory let himself be tortured instead of helping to rape her."
"She told the story to the pack."
"You don't sound impressed."
"It's not me you have to impress, Anita, it's the others."
"Help me figure out a way to impress them, Jacob."
"Are you serious? You want me to help you save the leopard?"
"Yeah."
"That's ridiculous. I'm Geri of Thronnos Rokke clan. I don't have to help a wereleopard that even you admit isn't a dominant."
"Don't go all class conscious on me, Jacob. Remember the early part of our conversation, the part about you dying? I blame you for the mess. And you will help me clean it up, or I will splatter your brains all over the walls."
"You can't bring guns into the lupanar."
I laughed, and even to me it was an unsettling sound, creepy even. "You going to spend the rest of your life inside the lupanar?"
"Jesus," he said, voice soft, "you're talking about assassinating me."
I laughed again. A small voice in my head was screaming at me, telling me I was being a very good sociopath. But Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm wasn't going to cut it with Jacob. Maybe later I could afford to be soft. "I think we finally understand each other, Jacob. Here's my cell phone number. You call me before tomorrow night with a plan."
"What if I can't come up with one?"
"Not my problem."
"You'll kill me even if I try and save him--really try and save your leopard, but fail. You'll still kill me."
"Yes."
"You cold bitch."
"Sticks and stones will break your bones, but failure will get you killed. Call me Jacob, make it soon." I hung up the phone.
Drank 1.3 US Gallons of Warsteiner bier Friday evening. It was fantastic. Tivo'd but did not watch BSG. Will watch them back-to-back this Friday. I'm very excited. Layed around the house all day Saturday with the kids while the wife was out shopping. Since I never want to leave the house on the weekends, that day was, in a word, perfect. Watched 50 First Dates and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow this weekend. I had seen the first former previously, but this was the first time I'd seen the latter. I wish there had been more of Angelina Jolie and Giovanni Ribisi, as they made the movie, though I was unfamilar with Giovanni Ribisi prior to this movie, as I haven't seen any of the other movies he's been in.
Dreamed I was saving patrons at a zoo in which all the animals were running around loose. There were cages placed along the walking path at intervals, and I was going to people, and leading them to the cages to put them in for safty, until a guy who was driving a little bus could come around and pick them up. I did this at peril to myself, which scared me. But it was my job. Hard not to crawl in the cage to save myself. Afterwards, my real-life IS staff and I were at Dairy Queen, using the tables there to work on a project, when a bus stopped, and off stepped Richard Penn, who was dressed as he always is, with the addition of a black bow tie. He was pulling his laptop behind him. One of my guys wanted to tell him we were all in the DQ, but I assumed he was going to check into his hotel first. Sure enough, as we watched him through the windows, he walked right past the DQ, and inserted his key into a ground-level hotel, which was in the same parking lot as the Dairy Queen.
In reading the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, I came across what is probably my favorite exchange of dialog to date. She is a human, but through odd circumstances throughout the series, she has become the girlfriend of the local werewolf pack's Ulfric (leader) Richard (making her his Lupa; a high-ranking position), and simultaneously the leader of the wereleopards (Nimri-Ra in the feminine) which puts her in an awkward position because different species of were-animals never intermix. Because she may have been accidentally infected by a wereleopard, she's now lost her position as Lupa (something she's not concerned about) but Pack Law says that whoever 'kills' the Pack Lupa is put on trial. She's not dead, but as a wereleopard, she cannot be a werewolf Lupa, so they consider the wereleopard's accident as a direct assault on their Pack. They took him for trial to be carried out in their headquarters, the Lupinar. Now that she is not luoki, werewolf 'family,' she wants her guy back, because as Nimri-Ra she's responsible for her leopards well-being:
"Hello, I'm Jacob, I've heard a lot about you."His voice made it plain that he hadn't liked what he'd heard.
"Look, Jacob, we don't know each other, but I cannot allow you to kill Gregory for something he didn't do."
"The only way you can stop us is by winning him back."
"Richard explained that I'd have to pass a test to get Gregory back. He also said if I failed that you'd execute Gregory."
"It's pack law."
"Jacob, you don't want to make me your enemy."
"You are Nimir-Ra of a small leopard pard. We are the Thronnos Rokke Clan. We are the lukoi, and you are nothing to us."
"Yeah, I'm coming tomorrow night as Nimir-Ra of the Blooddrinker's Pard. But I'm Anita Blake. Ask the vampires and other shapeshifters around town about me. See what they say. You don't want to fuck with me, Jacob, you really don't."
"I've already asked around. I know your reputation."
"Then why are you pushing this?"
"That's my business," he said.
"Fine, you want to do this, we can do this. If you cause Gregory's death through voting or werewolf politics, I will bury you."
"If you can," he said. "You're a brand-new shapeshifter. You won't even change form until the full moon, and that's weeks away. You are no match for me."
"You say that like I'm going to offer to fight you one-on-one. I'm not. If Gregory dies, you die. Simple as that."
"If you shoot me, it won't reinstate you into the pack. If you could possibly win one-on-one against me, then maybe they'd vote you back to lupa. But if you just shoot me, you'll never be lupa again."
"I'm going to say this nice and slow, Jacob, so we understand each other. I don't give a shit about being lupa. I care about my friends, and the people I've promised to protect. Gregory is one of those people. If he dies, you die."
"I'm not going to kill him, Anita. I just made sure there was a vote about it."
"Do you like John Wayne movies, Jacob?"
He was quiet for a heartbeat. "I guess, I mean, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Your fault, my fault, nobody's fault, if Gregory dies, you die."
"Am I supposed to get the movie reference?" he asked. He sounded angry now.
"I guess not, but the point is this. I will blame you personally if anything happens to Gregory, for any reason. If he comes to harm, so will you. If he bleeds, so do you. If he dies ..."
"I get the idea. But I don't have a deciding vote on this issue. I'm just one vote."
"Then you better think of something, Jacob. Because I give you my word that I mean everything I say."
"I heard that about you." He was quiet, and we stood on either end of the phone in silence, until he said, "What about Richard?"
"What about him?"
"If something happens to him what will you do?"
"If I tell you that I'll kill you if you kill him, that undercuts his authority as Ulfric. But I'll say this much, if you defeat him, then it better be a fair fight in a challenge circle. If you cheat in any way, no matter how small, I'll kill you." I wanted so badly to just give Richard blanket protection, but I couldn't. It would weaken his position, and his position was weak enough already.
"But if it's fair, you'll stay out of it?"
I leaned against the wall and tried to think. "I'll be honest, Jacob, I love Richard. I don't always understand him, or even agree with him, but I love him. I'm ready to kill you over someone who has never been my lover or even a good friend. So, yeah, you kill Richard, and I'm really, really going to want to kill you."
"But you won't," he said.
I didn't like how persistent he was about the issue. It made me nervous. "I'll make you a deal, you don't challenge Richard for Ulfric until after the next full moon, then whatever happens, as long as it's fair, I'll stay out of it."
"What if it's sooner?" he asked.
"Then I am going to rain all over your parade."
"You're undercutting Richard's authority," he said.
"No, Jacob, no I'm not. I wouldn't be killing you because I was lupa or any werewolf stuff. I'd be killing you because I am just that vindictive. Give me a few weeks until after the full moon, and you're in the clear on this one, if you've got the cajones to finish the job."
"You think Richard will kill me, instead?"
"He killed the last Ulfric, Jacob. That's how he got the job."
"If I don't agree to this, you'll just shoot me?"
"From a nice, safe distance, oh, yeah."
"I can promise that I won't challenge Richard until after the full moon, but I can't promise that the vote won't go against Gregory. He was one that Raina, the old lupa, used to help punish some members of the pack. There's more than one woman here that he helped rape."
"I know."
"Then how can you defend him?"
"He did what his old alpha told him to do, and what Raina, the wicked bitch of the west, told him to do. Gregory isn't a dominant, he's lesser, and he does what he's told, like a good submissive shapeshifter. Ever since I took over as his alpha, he's refused to rape and torture. As soon as he had a choice, he stopped doing it. Ask Sylvie. Gregory let himself be tortured instead of helping to rape her."
"She told the story to the pack."
"You don't sound impressed."
"It's not me you have to impress, Anita, it's the others."
"Help me figure out a way to impress them, Jacob."
"Are you serious? You want me to help you save the leopard?"
"Yeah."
"That's ridiculous. I'm Geri of Thronnos Rokke clan. I don't have to help a wereleopard that even you admit isn't a dominant."
"Don't go all class conscious on me, Jacob. Remember the early part of our conversation, the part about you dying? I blame you for the mess. And you will help me clean it up, or I will splatter your brains all over the walls."
"You can't bring guns into the lupanar."
I laughed, and even to me it was an unsettling sound, creepy even. "You going to spend the rest of your life inside the lupanar?"
"Jesus," he said, voice soft, "you're talking about assassinating me."
I laughed again. A small voice in my head was screaming at me, telling me I was being a very good sociopath. But Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm wasn't going to cut it with Jacob. Maybe later I could afford to be soft. "I think we finally understand each other, Jacob. Here's my cell phone number. You call me before tomorrow night with a plan."
"What if I can't come up with one?"
"Not my problem."
"You'll kill me even if I try and save him--really try and save your leopard, but fail. You'll still kill me."
"Yes."
"You cold bitch."
"Sticks and stones will break your bones, but failure will get you killed. Call me Jacob, make it soon." I hung up the phone.