In Which I Beg for Sweet Release From Breaking Dawn: Chapter 30 -- Irresistible · 1:16pm Jul 21st, 2018
Bella’s stressing out about everything: the Volturi, Alice’s desertion, the fact that she’ll have to learn how to fight, J. Jenks, the vampires who’ll be coming over, everything. She tries to talk to Edward about it, but before she can get the words out, he’s kissing her. And then she just forgets about asking questions for the night.
I’d been planning on needing years just to somewhat organize the overwhelming passion I felt for him physically. And then centuries after that to enjoy it. If we had only a month left together… Well, I didn’t see how I could stand to have this end.
CM + 1
Several hours later, after implied sex, Bella asks Edward if he’ll teach her how to fight. He admits there won’t be much any of them can do, but he can at least teach her to defend herself. He goes over the Volturi’s strengths. Alec and Jane are their two biggest players: Jane can cause intense pain, while Alec can block out all senses. And although Jane can only affect one person at a time, Alec can incapacitate lots of people at once. You know, if you try to make things too tense, the tension snaps; the peril just becomes so overwhelming you know there’s going to be a deus ex machina for the characters. I mean, if Alec just stunned everyone and that was that, it wouldn’t be a satisfying ending, would it? (Well, Bella and Edward and Nessie would be dead, so…) So naturally, there’s going to be a way to block him. Bella suspects that, with that sort of power, they haven’t learned to fight, and she’s immune to their powers, so she brings up the possibility of herself attacking them while everyone else is down. Edward shoots the idea down, but Bella keeps thinking it over.
Bella changes the subject to Eleazar; Edward says he’s a former Volturi soldier, one who could sense the powers of other vampires. How oddly specific. The Volturi let him go freely once he wanted to, as all Volturi guards serve of their own free will. He found a partner, Carmen, and they joined up with Tanya and Kate to live without eating humans.
At the Cullen house, Tanya and Kate arrive, along with Eleazar and Carmen. They’re shocked when they see Nessie, but Edward manages to explain the circumstances of her birth to them. They’re further convinced that she isn’t an immortal child when she shows them her history through her telepathy, which I’m really growing to hate. The new vampires agree to stand with the Cullens against the Volturi as witnesses.
Clinginess Meter: 58 x 5
Chapters Left: 9
Oh, look. Another woefully-padded chapter. All that took twenty pages. And with nine chapters to go until the end, I suspect we’re going to be seeing more of this a lot. Time for more trivia.
- A group of owls is a parliament. A group of buffalo is an obstinacy, but only if they’re African buffalo. A group of tigers is an ambush. A group of colts is a rag. A group of lemurs is a conspiracy. A group of gnus is an implausibility. A group of pandas is an embarrassment.
- The United States and United Kingdom almost went to war because a pig got shot. Specifically, the pig was almost the tipping point in a decade-long dispute over the US/Canadian-British border in the San Juan Islands. The shooter was American and the pig’s owner was Irish. Ultimately, no one got hurt.
- Speaking of weird border disputes, Michigan got its upper peninsula because Michigan and Ohio were at odds over the Toledo Strip and things were at risk of getting violent. Michigan got the UP while Ohio got Toledo and Wisconsin (not yet a state and the previous owner of the UP) got shafted.
- Neil Armstrong’s application to NASA arrived a week late. A friend of his who was already employed there (Dick Day) noticed the late arrival and slipped it in with the others before anyone noticed.
- The original name of Luke Skywalker was Luke Starkiller.
- Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing” was found in a study to be one of the most psychologically calming songs ever recorded.
- The only audible line of dialogue in Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie is spoken by a mime.
- Director Brad Bird voiced Edna Mode in The Incredibles. He planned on getting voice actress Lily Tomlin (who also voiced Ms. Frizzle) for the job, but when she heard his scratch performance (a basic “it sounds like this” recording), she laughed and said he was perfect.
- Project Orion was a plan to use nuclear explosives to propel a spacecraft. Although it conceptually offered a high degree of thrust very efficiently (compared to the high-thrust low-efficiency of chemical rockets or the low-thrust high-efficiency of ion engines), the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 prevented it from being tested.
- Elvis was a natural blonde and started dyeing his hair in high school. Imagine him looking like Johnny Bravo for his “real” look.
- The role of Ctrl-Alt-Delete in computers originated as a software backdoor. While the first IBM PC was being developed in 1981, encountering a glitch meant the entire machine had to be restarted, complete with time-intensive memory tests. Programmer David Bradley created the key combination to restart the computer without the tests, saving time, and it was never removed. The specific combination of keys was chosen because it was unlikely to be hit by accident.
- The Resident Evil series was originally titled Biohazard in Japan. The title was changed when it was exported to the US, as the former was easier to trademark. For the seventh game, the two were combined; it was Biohazard 7: Resident Evil in Japan and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard elsewhere.
Letting people operate of their own free will is all well and good, but someone who effectively has the power to look at your character sheet seems like an unacceptable security risk to me.
Also, it occurs to me that Bella's bizarre mental impenetrability might explain her abnormal self-control. She's too dense to go blood-crazy.
No wonder their reproductive rate is so low.
Obstinancy is a new one. :)