Dragonsdawn - Chapter Seven
Feb. 24th, 2023 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatLast chapter we learned that even the colony leadership thinks Bitra is an evil, evil slut, while Sallah actually rapes someone.
Chapter Seven starts us with the kids, thank god. I like the kids, both in their own rights, and because they're not horrible rapists. At least not yet.
Anyway, Sean's here to see the birth of the foal that Pol and Bay have designated for him. He's even agreed to let Sorka observe as well, which to be honest, makes him one of, if not THE most considerate male love interest on Pern.
It's a very low bar, what can I say?
Anyway, we're about two years in. A lot of animals have been giving birth and comparisons have been made to biblical begotten, which reminds me of that poor dude in Alessan's court.
Per livestock, apparently sheep and Nubian goats are adapting really well. The "tame dragonets" are "extraordinarily faithful" to their humans and good at foraging. Folks are learning more and more about them.
Oh hey...
The biology department was learning more about the little creatures every day. Bay Harkenon and Pol Nietro had discovered a particularly surprising phenomenon. When Bay’s little queen mated with a bronze that Pol had impressed, the sensuality of their pets surprised them with its intensity. They found themselves responding to the exciting stimulus in a human fashion. After the initial shock, they came to a mutual conclusion and took a larger residence together. Awed by the empathic potential of the dragonets, Bay and Pol asked for, and got, Kitti Ping’s permission to try mentasynth enhancement on the fourteen eggs that Bay’s Mariah had conceived in her mating flight. They fussed considerably more over the little golden Mariah than was necessary, but neither the dragonet nor her clutch suffered. When Mariah produced her enhanced eggs in a specially constructed facsimile of a beach, Bay and Pol were smugly pleased.
That's still a little creepy, guys. And definitely makes me raise my eyebrows again at Menolly and Sebell. It doesn't sound like the compulsion is completely irresistible, but I still side-eye the fact that she knew what was happening and he didn't seem to.
I think Jaxom/Sharra is the only major pairing that doesn't have at least one questionable moment. And that's balanced out by the fact that Jaxom up and raped someone else. Really, McCaffrey? I know you don't HAVE to do this. The Tower series managed to be remarkably un-rapetastic, even granting some really questionable age gaps. And whatever that shit was with Kincaid. Hm.
But we're moving in some kind of direction with the metasynth:
Incorporation of mentasynth, which had originally been developed by the Beltrae, a reclusive Eridani hive culture, sparked latent empathic abilities. Dragonets had already demonstrated such an ability, amounting to an almost telepathic communication with a few people. The dragonets were clearly a remarkable evolutionary attempt which, like dolphins, had produced an animal that understood its environment — and controlled it. So, inspired by the success of the dolphins’ mentasynth enhancement, Bay and Pol hoped that the dragonets would come to an even closer empathy with people.
Oh, and THIS is interesting:
Initially, humans from Beltrae who had been “touched” were regarded with great suspicion, of course, but as soon as their remarkable empathic powers with animals and other people were realized, the technique became widespread. Many groups eventually had valued healers whose abilities had been amplified that way. Luckily, that all happened well before the Pure Human group became powerful.
We don't get any follow-up on the Pure Human group here. Ten bucks says that if any characters turn out to be part of that group, it'll be Bitra or some other character we're immediately supposed to hate (Ted maybe?).
Oh, hooray, more shit about the "intense mating imperative". You're definitely making me comfortable with the idea that literal children have these creatures, McCaffrey.
...wait, is this sanity:
Red and Mairi Hanrahan were thankful that Sorka and Sean had impressed — the word, meaning the act of imprinting a dragonet, had somehow crept into the language — dragonets that would not want to mate with each other. They still did not approve of Sorka’s close attachment to the boy and felt that she was too young to be subjected to irresistible sensual urges.
I agree with you, Red and Mairi. Not about Sean in general, as classism sucks, but wanting to protect your daughter from that shit makes perfect sense. I'm not sure how well that works though when she's bonded to a bronze. She might not end up wanting to fuck Sean in a mating flight, but it could hit with someone else?
Oh! AGES! It's a year in, Sean's foal is being born. Sorka has just turned thirteen, and Sean is two years older. Okay! Good to know!
So more birth details. Not quite as graphic as one of the more recent Valdemar books, but still there's a lot of birth fluids. Ew. Sean's horse is a colt, which is an exception. The colony mostly needs female animals right now, for breeding. But this is a reward, so they took the kid's preference into account. And well, you will need a few males to knock up the ladies eventually.
Red seems approving and promises a crying Sorka one of her own. Sorka's just so happy for Sean, who had been very skeptical that Bay would ever deliver. And again, credit to McCaffrey, because I'm once again wondering at the life this poor kid actually lives. I know he's fifteen and I've certainly met, and been, moody fifteen year olds. But his level of distrust and skepticism of any kind of positive adult interaction seems alarming.
The lizards approve by the way. And Sean is clearly happy, though...
“He’s a real beauty, Sean. Just what you wanted,” Sorka said.
Unaccountably Sean shook his head, looking dubious. “Too young to tell if he’ll match Cricket.”
“Oh, you are the utter limit!” Sorka snapped angrily. She left the box, nearly jamming the door rail as she closed it with considerable vehemence.
“What’d I say?” Sean demanded of Red Hanrahan.
It doesn't seem like Sean is ungrateful so much as he isn't really able to open joy without some kind of skepticism. Red, for his part, is amused and a little concerned. But it definitely sounds like he and Mairi are trying to get past their classism, which is good, as it's pretty obvious to everyone but Sean that Sorka (who is thirteen but "well-developed" and has been menstruating for a year, which thanks for telling me that McCaffrey) is in love with him.
Sean, for his part, "tolerated" her, but Red notes that he's "made several notable concessions" in terms of improving his reading and writing, and has started studying veterinary texts in Red's office. Red's trying to cultivate this as Sean has a way with almost all animals. Except sheep.
(Per Sorka, Sean says sheep are for stealing, trading and eating. Heh. But well, livestock still needs a veterinarian.)
Mairi's still a bit concerned at the level to which the kids have paired off, but apparently Red has gotten more used to Sean and "knows what to ignore".
Sean really does remind me of F'lar sometimes. It's pretty funny. It's a shame that the only look at a young F'lar we get is the excruciatingly bad Masterharper of Pern. (So many retcons, all of them abysmal.)
This is a little weird to me thoguh:
Sorka’s exhibition of female exasperation that morning was the first of its kind, to Red’s knowledge, and he wondered ruefully if her patience with Sean’s obtuseness was exhausted, or if their relationship was merely entering a new phase. Sorka had been given an appropriate theoretical education in sexual relationships but until today had shown only a patient acceptance of Sean’s behavior and eccentricities. He would have to talk with Mairi. When he got the chance.
...so "female exasperation" is an indicator that they might bang? She's still a bit young for THAT. So is he, for that matter!
--
Oh, hey, scene shift to Avril. Will I have the patience to get through McCaffrey's nonsense when Avril's heroic counterpart is a literal rapist? Let's find out, I suppose.
So Avril's heading out. She's taking a day off and we're told already that "the others" won't mind. They're as sick of her as she is of them. Apparently this is because of her greed. Her miner colleagues found some turquoise and got too overtly irritated when they decided to be secretive instead. She figures that turquoise, though rare on Earth, isn't really worth ingratiating herself to jerks.
Though she catches them whispering and sending her sly smiles and wonders if they heard something else about her to make them react negatively to her polite query. She's starting to doubt her choice of allies.
Oh, hey. Evil slut time:
Maybe Stev Kimmer was not as good a choice of ally as she had initially thought, hearing his sly and witty complaints during the last year of that interminable journey to this god forsaken planet. He was more attractive than the others; in fact, he was extremely attractive and, more importantly, lusty, with a willingness to experiment that the much vaunted Admiral Benden had never displayed. A bit of a bore in bed, our dear admiral. Damn Paul Benden. Why had he turned so cool toward her? After all those protestations of admiration and devotion. She had been so certain that she had felt the marriage contract in her hand. Then, a scant year away from their destination, when Rukbat had grown from a spark to a gleam in the blackness of space, Benden had altered. He suddenly had had no time for her at all. Well, he would find out what Avril Bitra was made of. And then it would be too late.
I mean, it SOUNDS like Benden decided to exploit the interest of a much younger subordinate, leading her on with the potential of marriage, and then discarded her when she became inconvenient or unappealing to him.
But Bitra's the badguy again?
(I will give McCaffrey some credit for making Benden bad in bed. But then, I'm also reminded about how Kylara praised Meron's giant dick and notably not F'lar's. She seems to have a weird thing for making the adversaries more sexually skilled and I'm not sure what that means.)
But of course, Bitra is evil. So of course, she has to have second thoughts about colonizing. Only evil people have second thoughts and regrets, right?
But hey, this is maybe the most actual development the poor woman's had:
Colonizing had seemed like a good idea back on Earth when the excitement of the Nathi War had died down. Any alternative, save First Centauri, which everyone knew was controlled by the First Families and founding companies, was no better than Earth or moldering at grade on a lumbering merchantman. She had even toyed with the challenge of navigating mining ships within the Belts until the Roosevelt Dome had exploded for no apparent reason, killing all but a handful of the ten thousand inhabitants. The chance to rule a new world had drawn her. Over the years, she had had enough experience with psycho profiles to know how to control her pulse and what answers to give to the asinine questions that were supposed to separate truth from fiction. And so she had been accepted as astrogator for the Pern expedition.
That all seems reasonable to me. But see, Bitra's lost out at "capturing" Benden (Again, the fact that he's at least forty years her senior, in a position of power is treated as a knock against HER for social climbing), she's realized she's doomed herself to a life in obscurity. As a competent astrogator, she could use a ship, charts and deep sleep tank and go anywhere.
...okay. So. I can appreciate that resources are scarce. But. Is there a reason that she couldn't just ask for these things? She's probably not the only colonist with second thoughts. As we know the ships aren't going to be around later, and there's a surplus of fuel...why not just let the unhappy people leave?
I mean, maybe they genuinely don't have the resources to spare, and intend to use the ships for something else. Which is fair enough. But I feel like Avril doesn't have to be a villain here. Though of course she is. How could that evil slut want to LEAVE Pern?
So Avril's scheming, of course. She's been assembling useful cronies amidst the contractors and charters who are starting to feel shortchanged. Is that a faint criticism of the leaders implied there? . In the back of Avril’s mind was the notion that it would be fun to see if she could foment sufficient discord to overthrow their benevolent leaders and rule Pern on her own, instead of as Paul Benden’s consort. But that would have to wait for a propitious moment once the colony had been settled in and troubles began.
Nah, just a scheming slutty bitch being a scheming slutty bitch.
(At least she hasn't raped anyone, McCaffrey!)
And because Bitra is a cartoon villain, she despises the colonists for their enthusiasm for this "ghastly empty wasteland of a world". She doesn't even appreciate the dragonets, as she notes there isn't a decent useful animal native on the planet.
SO EVIL.
Fuck you, McCaffrey. I'm #TeamBitra. She's not a rapist and wants to leave. Let her leave and everyone can be happy.
Kimmer by the way has been constructing an emergency beacon. He's also participating in her plan to stake the right sections of the island for the gemstones that her ancestor found. And okay, I get that she's got other evil plans. But why is this evil? It seems like she's not doing anything anyone could do?
Though hey, guys, if you let her leave, you can take back the gemstone mines? Just pointing that out.
Stev's a veteran, so he has twice Avril's allotment. She also hasn't heard from Nabol, who might have his own scheme. Of course he does. But he'll need her talents as astrogator, so it's probably fine.
Now she meets up with Klimmer. He's happy. He's found an emerald first thing. There's a whole cave. She nearly throws it away in her enthusiasm to grab it. He's found a whole cave and provides some klah. Which of course she hates. She wants to cultivate him as an ally though, so she tolerates his "revolting" approval of good colonial substitutes.
Seriously, McCaffrey. It would not be THAT HARD to give this woman some, ANY, fucking layers or nuance. You can still have her be your villain. Hell, it'd make her stronger as a villain.
Anyway, look at these horrible people as they do...what they're supposed to do as colonists and make a claim? But they lust after shiny things instead of pretty lizards, so they're just awful.
Oh, hey, evil slut time:
She kept her smile in place, wondering if he knew how inane he sounded. Then, she cautioned herself severely, if she had only been more careful with Paul, she might have been first lady on Pern. What had she done wrong? She could have sworn she would be able to maintain his interest in her. All had gone perfectly right up until they entered the Rukbat system. Then it had been as if she no longer existed. And I got them here!
I still feel like she's got a legitimate reason for resentment here. Too bad you didn't drug and rape him, Bitra.
We end the chapter with more resentful thoughts about "good little colonists" from our tokenKylara Bitra.
Chapter Seven starts us with the kids, thank god. I like the kids, both in their own rights, and because they're not horrible rapists. At least not yet.
Anyway, Sean's here to see the birth of the foal that Pol and Bay have designated for him. He's even agreed to let Sorka observe as well, which to be honest, makes him one of, if not THE most considerate male love interest on Pern.
It's a very low bar, what can I say?
Anyway, we're about two years in. A lot of animals have been giving birth and comparisons have been made to biblical begotten, which reminds me of that poor dude in Alessan's court.
Per livestock, apparently sheep and Nubian goats are adapting really well. The "tame dragonets" are "extraordinarily faithful" to their humans and good at foraging. Folks are learning more and more about them.
Oh hey...
The biology department was learning more about the little creatures every day. Bay Harkenon and Pol Nietro had discovered a particularly surprising phenomenon. When Bay’s little queen mated with a bronze that Pol had impressed, the sensuality of their pets surprised them with its intensity. They found themselves responding to the exciting stimulus in a human fashion. After the initial shock, they came to a mutual conclusion and took a larger residence together. Awed by the empathic potential of the dragonets, Bay and Pol asked for, and got, Kitti Ping’s permission to try mentasynth enhancement on the fourteen eggs that Bay’s Mariah had conceived in her mating flight. They fussed considerably more over the little golden Mariah than was necessary, but neither the dragonet nor her clutch suffered. When Mariah produced her enhanced eggs in a specially constructed facsimile of a beach, Bay and Pol were smugly pleased.
That's still a little creepy, guys. And definitely makes me raise my eyebrows again at Menolly and Sebell. It doesn't sound like the compulsion is completely irresistible, but I still side-eye the fact that she knew what was happening and he didn't seem to.
I think Jaxom/Sharra is the only major pairing that doesn't have at least one questionable moment. And that's balanced out by the fact that Jaxom up and raped someone else. Really, McCaffrey? I know you don't HAVE to do this. The Tower series managed to be remarkably un-rapetastic, even granting some really questionable age gaps. And whatever that shit was with Kincaid. Hm.
But we're moving in some kind of direction with the metasynth:
Incorporation of mentasynth, which had originally been developed by the Beltrae, a reclusive Eridani hive culture, sparked latent empathic abilities. Dragonets had already demonstrated such an ability, amounting to an almost telepathic communication with a few people. The dragonets were clearly a remarkable evolutionary attempt which, like dolphins, had produced an animal that understood its environment — and controlled it. So, inspired by the success of the dolphins’ mentasynth enhancement, Bay and Pol hoped that the dragonets would come to an even closer empathy with people.
Oh, and THIS is interesting:
Initially, humans from Beltrae who had been “touched” were regarded with great suspicion, of course, but as soon as their remarkable empathic powers with animals and other people were realized, the technique became widespread. Many groups eventually had valued healers whose abilities had been amplified that way. Luckily, that all happened well before the Pure Human group became powerful.
We don't get any follow-up on the Pure Human group here. Ten bucks says that if any characters turn out to be part of that group, it'll be Bitra or some other character we're immediately supposed to hate (Ted maybe?).
Oh, hooray, more shit about the "intense mating imperative". You're definitely making me comfortable with the idea that literal children have these creatures, McCaffrey.
...wait, is this sanity:
Red and Mairi Hanrahan were thankful that Sorka and Sean had impressed — the word, meaning the act of imprinting a dragonet, had somehow crept into the language — dragonets that would not want to mate with each other. They still did not approve of Sorka’s close attachment to the boy and felt that she was too young to be subjected to irresistible sensual urges.
I agree with you, Red and Mairi. Not about Sean in general, as classism sucks, but wanting to protect your daughter from that shit makes perfect sense. I'm not sure how well that works though when she's bonded to a bronze. She might not end up wanting to fuck Sean in a mating flight, but it could hit with someone else?
Oh! AGES! It's a year in, Sean's foal is being born. Sorka has just turned thirteen, and Sean is two years older. Okay! Good to know!
So more birth details. Not quite as graphic as one of the more recent Valdemar books, but still there's a lot of birth fluids. Ew. Sean's horse is a colt, which is an exception. The colony mostly needs female animals right now, for breeding. But this is a reward, so they took the kid's preference into account. And well, you will need a few males to knock up the ladies eventually.
Red seems approving and promises a crying Sorka one of her own. Sorka's just so happy for Sean, who had been very skeptical that Bay would ever deliver. And again, credit to McCaffrey, because I'm once again wondering at the life this poor kid actually lives. I know he's fifteen and I've certainly met, and been, moody fifteen year olds. But his level of distrust and skepticism of any kind of positive adult interaction seems alarming.
The lizards approve by the way. And Sean is clearly happy, though...
“He’s a real beauty, Sean. Just what you wanted,” Sorka said.
Unaccountably Sean shook his head, looking dubious. “Too young to tell if he’ll match Cricket.”
“Oh, you are the utter limit!” Sorka snapped angrily. She left the box, nearly jamming the door rail as she closed it with considerable vehemence.
“What’d I say?” Sean demanded of Red Hanrahan.
It doesn't seem like Sean is ungrateful so much as he isn't really able to open joy without some kind of skepticism. Red, for his part, is amused and a little concerned. But it definitely sounds like he and Mairi are trying to get past their classism, which is good, as it's pretty obvious to everyone but Sean that Sorka (who is thirteen but "well-developed" and has been menstruating for a year, which thanks for telling me that McCaffrey) is in love with him.
Sean, for his part, "tolerated" her, but Red notes that he's "made several notable concessions" in terms of improving his reading and writing, and has started studying veterinary texts in Red's office. Red's trying to cultivate this as Sean has a way with almost all animals. Except sheep.
(Per Sorka, Sean says sheep are for stealing, trading and eating. Heh. But well, livestock still needs a veterinarian.)
Mairi's still a bit concerned at the level to which the kids have paired off, but apparently Red has gotten more used to Sean and "knows what to ignore".
Sean really does remind me of F'lar sometimes. It's pretty funny. It's a shame that the only look at a young F'lar we get is the excruciatingly bad Masterharper of Pern. (So many retcons, all of them abysmal.)
This is a little weird to me thoguh:
Sorka’s exhibition of female exasperation that morning was the first of its kind, to Red’s knowledge, and he wondered ruefully if her patience with Sean’s obtuseness was exhausted, or if their relationship was merely entering a new phase. Sorka had been given an appropriate theoretical education in sexual relationships but until today had shown only a patient acceptance of Sean’s behavior and eccentricities. He would have to talk with Mairi. When he got the chance.
...so "female exasperation" is an indicator that they might bang? She's still a bit young for THAT. So is he, for that matter!
--
Oh, hey, scene shift to Avril. Will I have the patience to get through McCaffrey's nonsense when Avril's heroic counterpart is a literal rapist? Let's find out, I suppose.
So Avril's heading out. She's taking a day off and we're told already that "the others" won't mind. They're as sick of her as she is of them. Apparently this is because of her greed. Her miner colleagues found some turquoise and got too overtly irritated when they decided to be secretive instead. She figures that turquoise, though rare on Earth, isn't really worth ingratiating herself to jerks.
Though she catches them whispering and sending her sly smiles and wonders if they heard something else about her to make them react negatively to her polite query. She's starting to doubt her choice of allies.
Oh, hey. Evil slut time:
Maybe Stev Kimmer was not as good a choice of ally as she had initially thought, hearing his sly and witty complaints during the last year of that interminable journey to this god forsaken planet. He was more attractive than the others; in fact, he was extremely attractive and, more importantly, lusty, with a willingness to experiment that the much vaunted Admiral Benden had never displayed. A bit of a bore in bed, our dear admiral. Damn Paul Benden. Why had he turned so cool toward her? After all those protestations of admiration and devotion. She had been so certain that she had felt the marriage contract in her hand. Then, a scant year away from their destination, when Rukbat had grown from a spark to a gleam in the blackness of space, Benden had altered. He suddenly had had no time for her at all. Well, he would find out what Avril Bitra was made of. And then it would be too late.
I mean, it SOUNDS like Benden decided to exploit the interest of a much younger subordinate, leading her on with the potential of marriage, and then discarded her when she became inconvenient or unappealing to him.
But Bitra's the badguy again?
(I will give McCaffrey some credit for making Benden bad in bed. But then, I'm also reminded about how Kylara praised Meron's giant dick and notably not F'lar's. She seems to have a weird thing for making the adversaries more sexually skilled and I'm not sure what that means.)
But of course, Bitra is evil. So of course, she has to have second thoughts about colonizing. Only evil people have second thoughts and regrets, right?
But hey, this is maybe the most actual development the poor woman's had:
Colonizing had seemed like a good idea back on Earth when the excitement of the Nathi War had died down. Any alternative, save First Centauri, which everyone knew was controlled by the First Families and founding companies, was no better than Earth or moldering at grade on a lumbering merchantman. She had even toyed with the challenge of navigating mining ships within the Belts until the Roosevelt Dome had exploded for no apparent reason, killing all but a handful of the ten thousand inhabitants. The chance to rule a new world had drawn her. Over the years, she had had enough experience with psycho profiles to know how to control her pulse and what answers to give to the asinine questions that were supposed to separate truth from fiction. And so she had been accepted as astrogator for the Pern expedition.
That all seems reasonable to me. But see, Bitra's lost out at "capturing" Benden (Again, the fact that he's at least forty years her senior, in a position of power is treated as a knock against HER for social climbing), she's realized she's doomed herself to a life in obscurity. As a competent astrogator, she could use a ship, charts and deep sleep tank and go anywhere.
...okay. So. I can appreciate that resources are scarce. But. Is there a reason that she couldn't just ask for these things? She's probably not the only colonist with second thoughts. As we know the ships aren't going to be around later, and there's a surplus of fuel...why not just let the unhappy people leave?
I mean, maybe they genuinely don't have the resources to spare, and intend to use the ships for something else. Which is fair enough. But I feel like Avril doesn't have to be a villain here. Though of course she is. How could that evil slut want to LEAVE Pern?
So Avril's scheming, of course. She's been assembling useful cronies amidst the contractors and charters who are starting to feel shortchanged. Is that a faint criticism of the leaders implied there? . In the back of Avril’s mind was the notion that it would be fun to see if she could foment sufficient discord to overthrow their benevolent leaders and rule Pern on her own, instead of as Paul Benden’s consort. But that would have to wait for a propitious moment once the colony had been settled in and troubles began.
Nah, just a scheming slutty bitch being a scheming slutty bitch.
(At least she hasn't raped anyone, McCaffrey!)
And because Bitra is a cartoon villain, she despises the colonists for their enthusiasm for this "ghastly empty wasteland of a world". She doesn't even appreciate the dragonets, as she notes there isn't a decent useful animal native on the planet.
SO EVIL.
Fuck you, McCaffrey. I'm #TeamBitra. She's not a rapist and wants to leave. Let her leave and everyone can be happy.
Kimmer by the way has been constructing an emergency beacon. He's also participating in her plan to stake the right sections of the island for the gemstones that her ancestor found. And okay, I get that she's got other evil plans. But why is this evil? It seems like she's not doing anything anyone could do?
Though hey, guys, if you let her leave, you can take back the gemstone mines? Just pointing that out.
Stev's a veteran, so he has twice Avril's allotment. She also hasn't heard from Nabol, who might have his own scheme. Of course he does. But he'll need her talents as astrogator, so it's probably fine.
Now she meets up with Klimmer. He's happy. He's found an emerald first thing. There's a whole cave. She nearly throws it away in her enthusiasm to grab it. He's found a whole cave and provides some klah. Which of course she hates. She wants to cultivate him as an ally though, so she tolerates his "revolting" approval of good colonial substitutes.
Seriously, McCaffrey. It would not be THAT HARD to give this woman some, ANY, fucking layers or nuance. You can still have her be your villain. Hell, it'd make her stronger as a villain.
Anyway, look at these horrible people as they do...what they're supposed to do as colonists and make a claim? But they lust after shiny things instead of pretty lizards, so they're just awful.
Oh, hey, evil slut time:
She kept her smile in place, wondering if he knew how inane he sounded. Then, she cautioned herself severely, if she had only been more careful with Paul, she might have been first lady on Pern. What had she done wrong? She could have sworn she would be able to maintain his interest in her. All had gone perfectly right up until they entered the Rukbat system. Then it had been as if she no longer existed. And I got them here!
I still feel like she's got a legitimate reason for resentment here. Too bad you didn't drug and rape him, Bitra.
We end the chapter with more resentful thoughts about "good little colonists" from our token
no subject
Date: 2023-02-25 06:45 pm (UTC)The passages here really do seem to emphasize that Bitra is a power-chasing user supreme, which still makes me think that's why people paint her as evil and that Benden got wise to her plans to use him in turn.
And now I'm wondering how the story might've turned out if Bitra had decided to found Bitra Hold ahead of time, consolidate power, and become Pern's first Lady Holder instead of what she tries later.
= Multi-Facets.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-25 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm not saying anyone needs to shun Admiral Benden for having a libido, but it's definitely noted that not a single person places ANY disapproval of the relationship on him. If we had one moment where Emily's like "next time, don't think with your cock, dude", I'd probably be a lot more forgiving. :-D
no subject
Date: 2023-02-25 09:00 pm (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-25 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-02-26 06:11 pm (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
no subject
Date: 2023-02-27 12:26 am (UTC)