In Which I Beg for Sweet Release From Breaking Dawn: Chapter 21 -- First Hunt · 10:55am Jul 12th, 2018
The hunt begins with a halfway-decent character scene where Bella’s nervous about jumping out the second-story window even though she knows she’s indestructible now. But then it’s ruined when she tries it and does it perfectly.
“That was quite graceful — even for a vampire.”
BECAUSE WE CAN’T INCONVENIENCE OUR PROTAGONIST. NO. SIR.
Bella and Edward run out into the forest and Bella exults in her new physical abilities. When Edward calls a stop, he says they’re going to hunt elk. We get another halfway-decent scene where, rather than simply pointing Bella to elk, Edward has hear listen for and smell them, so she learns what it’s like. She locates a small group, the smell of their blood very alluring, and Edward tells her to follow her instincts. Bella runs off, but then a change in the wind brings a much more enticing scent to her, and she charges after it without thinking. She hears Edward following her, but she just wants to get to the source of the smell and ignores him. In a brief moment of clarity, she realizes that the smell is so delicious because it’s that of a human, so she stops, turns around, and books it away. When she’s finally sure she’s far enough away, she stops. Edward catches up with her and is shocked at her behavior, but not for the reasons Bella thinks.
“You shouldn’t be able to do any of this. You shouldn’t be so… so rational. You shouldn’t be able to stand here discussing this with me calmly and coolly. And, much more than any of that, you should not have been able to break off mid-hunt with the scent of human blood in the air. Even mature vampires have difficulty with that — we’re always very careful of where we hunt so as not to put ourselves in the path of temptation. (Wasn’t it said in the last book that vampires often hunted in cities, i.e., places of massive human concentration?) Bella, you’re behaving as if you’re decades rather than days old.”
Well. Isn’t that convenient.
Any possible reminiscing that could be done on Bella’s new instincts making her a different person, possibly one she doesn’t want to be, are left by the wayside as they go back to not-human hunting. Bella downs a mountain lion; she thinks that the taste is wrong, but it soothes her thirst, so it’s okay. They bag a few elk, and once her thirst is temporarily sated, she gushes about Edward.
He was glorious. I felt a sudden jolt of both pride and desire. He was mine. Nothing could ever separate him from me now. I was too strong to be torn from his side.
I was unable to resist stroking his face again. And again.
I sort of forgot that I was waiting for a response to my request as I stared into his shimmering gold eyes.
Like before, it was as if the touch of his skin, his lips, his hands, was sinking right through my smooth, hard skin and into my new bones. To the very core of my body. I hadn’t imagined that I could love him more than I had.
My old mind hadn’t been capable of holding this much love. My old heart had not been strong enough to bear it.
Maybe this was the part of me that I’d brought forward to be intensified in my new life. Like Carlisle’s compassion and Esme’s devotion. I would probably never be able to do anything interesting or special (You got that right.) like Edward, Alice, and Jasper could do. Maybe I would just love Edward more than anyone in the history of the world had ever loved anyone else.
I could live with that.
CM + 3
And once Bella’s done slavering over her boy toy, she decides it’s safe for her to see (hlualk) Renesmee and they head back to the house.
Clinginess Meter: 44 x 4
Chapters Left: 18
Ugh. Boring. Here’s some trivia.
- At one point when they were touring, Van Halen’s contract specified that a bowl of M&M’s with no brown ones had to be delivered backstage. This was a test to be sure the contract had been read thoroughly; if they found a bowl with brown M&M’s, they had reason to believe the venue had been inattentive in reading the contract, and so the stage might not have been set up safely.
- Giraffes and humans have the same number of vertebrae in their necks: seven. Owls, on the other hand, can rotate their heads so far because their necks have fourteen vertebrae.
- Harrison Ford’s stunt double during the Indiana Jones movies, Vic Armstrong, looked so much like him that they were frequently confused on-set, even by Ford’s own son.
- Guns ’n’ Roses’ (is that the right possessive?) “Sweet Child o’ Mine” began life as a finger exercise. Slash improvised it during a jam session, other members added their parts, and the lyrics were written within a day. Similarly, “Paradise City” was written in the back of a rental van when the band was returning from an early gig. The chorus was written when band members started singing random lines, and the verses were written in rounds.
- Brad Bird, director of movies such as The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, has vowed to punch the next person he meets who calls animation a “genre”; he views it as an art form that can tell any kind of story. (Personally, I agree with him.)
- Every Canadian is entitled to a free portrait of Queen Elizabeth if they ask for it over email.
- Given about twenty square feet per person, you could fit the entire population of the world in Texas.
- In one short (“Soup or Sonic”), Wile E. Coyote catches the roadrunner. He then holds up a sign saying, “Alright, wise guys. You always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?”
- Abraham Lincoln is the only US President to hold a patent (for a device intended to help boats navigate shallows) and invented the chokeslam.
- As long as it’s stored properly, honey will never spoil. Its chemical composition is such that any bacteria in it get the water sucked out of them.
- Duncan Jones, the director of good movies that you should see Moon and Source Code, is David Bowie’s son.
- The very concept of difficulty curves in video games was created by accident. Processors of the time were so slow that it took figurative ages to render all the aliens in Space Invaders, so as more aliens were destroyed, more cycles could be spent moving them, resulting in a faster speed. Although unintended, the developers left it in.
Trivia; way better than Twilight!
...Okay, but ask who? c.c
4899823
That’s not exactly a particularly high bar. Dental surgery is better than this. At least that doesn’t drag on for way longer than it should.
4899829
I've had dental surgery, and I agree with you 100%.
4899823
The Canadian government.
4899829
During surgery to get my wisdom teeth removed, I woke up while I was supposed to be under anesthesia. I can only remember a few seconds, but I was paralyzed, blind, and had some of the worst pain of my life concentrated in the back of my jaw.
I still agree with you. It was shorter and gave me an interesting story.
4899867
Plus it was actually productive.
I like the trivia.
So that's why honey can last for so long! Too bad I don't like it.
I'm not sure I believe the bit about Lincoln inventing the Chokeslam, but the rest of the trivia were things I know to be true (mostly; I didn't know that was WHY honey lasted so long, or who Duncan Jones is) so... Ehh.