Okay I read ahead and realised Chapter 41 is not a continuation. Dangit. You do realise you're killing me right? I scrapped and reformulate profiles for Caleb and Lilith. Now I have to do Faith too. OOOf. My brain. :lol:
Anyway this is for Chapter 40. I'll comment on 41 when my mind is less buzzed. :wink:
Okay so this entire piece here are my assumptions and questions. Feel free to correct any part because eck Imma get a headache with the many possibilities and directions each question has. Totally messed up my head. :lol:
Caleb has become more interesting for me. The chapter doesn't give enough reason for his whiny-ness, but I'm liking the amazing lore you build around vamps and how turning halts their development.
Ok so I’m assuming because vampires are considered dead hence if one were to turn when they were a baby their brain wouldn’t have developed the mental capacity required for emotional intelligence. But the fact that Caleb can question “”Am I a monster Lil?”” would mean that although infant-turned vampires start off with deprived emotional capacity, they can learn emotional intelligence, just at an extremely low rate. Right?
This brings me to my next question. (Is this halting of development exclusive to children? Or is it a general application towards all turned vampires? i.e. Our brains only fully mature around age 24-26, so will a freshly turned 21 y.o. vampire struggle with the final bit of emotional development, perhaps only reaching maturity during much later years of 30 or 35? Or would they still reach emotional maturity at the same rate? If I'm right to assume that vampirism halts biological growth, then emotional processing and depth may stop there, but the vampire already has enough reasoning skill and EQ to develop emotional maturity further. I suppose the summary of my question is "Do vampires in your lore continue to grow EQ and capacity after they've been turned, so Lilith could theoretically have the EQ of a 300++ y.o. vampire?" (I know she doesn't, just theoretically, under pure uninterupted, optimum conditions and best variables lol.)
Caleb's compromised emotional growth makes me worry for April and Caleb’s happiness as a couple in the future. There’s a possibility that April may develop her EQ much faster than Caleb would. That may cause a disparity in their needs and wants in a partner in the future.
This also means that whatever and however we perceive Caleb’s current condition/development, without intervention, Caleb’s innate characteristics would be similar to Seth or rogue vampires. I can’t help thinking Seth is the one who killed Charlotte and whatever Lilith’s dog of a father is called. (I mean, look at those pirate boots Charlotte was facing when she breathed her last breath!) Did Seth caught a stray bite when he was slaying vamps?
Anyway back to Caleb, this chapter makes me admire Lilith in a new way in that although Caleb struggles with restraint and emotional perception, she has imparted in him a strong sense of morality. And for all his confusion around why he should care, he took it upon himself to try anyway. So Caleb is admirable too. Although I have to say this is a terrible double edged sword as pointed out in your story since Caleb knows clearly how important morality is to his sister and the world, but cannot feel it nor apply it onto himself. He can develop a learned understanding of it, but it will never be as deep nor will he ever experience it himself. Hence, adopting Lilith's morality is an added layer of torment that he will think himself innately flawed and 'lacking'.
Lilith A strong question I got though, is that: Is Lilith truly numb when she provided us this chapter? She lost her humanity along the way so arguably yes. But there’s a possibility that the narration/narrator of this chapter is unreliable considering we’re looking at this from Lilith’s point of view. Parts that I expected her to rage or cry, or become aggressive or at least passive aggressive towards Caleb are glossed over. So I am wondering if she simply numbed her feelings, or because it is in her perception hence, she is recounting where she did ‘well’ and ignoring her ‘mistakes’. She grew up in an extremely abusive household. Am wondering if she internalised some of it, embodied some of it and applied it to Caleb. Her recount seems too good to be true.
Read the next chapter and surprise surprise, Seth claims Lilith has the least humanity out of all of them. But Seth can dive into minds so much deeper than Lilith can? And he 'gave her everything'? So she surpassed him? Oops. Stick to chapter 40, Foamy! :lol:
By the way, Lilith is hands down DA BOSS. Yes yes, she has no humanity according to Seth and makes Caleb look really bad. But to be treated like cattle, abused and tortured in so many ways, then care for Caleb even though he is the chosen one unlike her the unwanted extra, teach him restraint, care for all the broken girls in his stead, find him food, believe him good even though she has every reason to think him "irreformable". Even parents have their moments of giving up on their child. But even when Caleb killed Nathaniel, Lilith continued to find a way for them. When Caleb abandoned himself, Lilith still hasn't abandoned him. Lilith's resilience and perseverance is admirable. Like what the plum.. she's amazing.
(Am still waiting for Caleb's POV where he reveals her teachings and care to be punctuated with passive aggressiveness and hidden hate for all that Caleb stands for and takes after. Especially after Nathaniel's death. I also have another theory where I think she was so numb at that point that she taught and cared for Caleb without love. That she herself is so numb to emotions that it was simply an obligation or that she was merely used him to prove her own worth. Geez that's really sad. I'm hoping what you reveal is far better! Considering how my prediction is that Lilith almost killed Caleb, maybe my mind is simply geared towards the icky. :lol: )
And one last thing! What does it mean to be bound? Mel and Faith took from April so they are ‘unbound vampires’. So is April bound to Caleb? Why can’t Mel and Faith be bound to April? How does this work? Or is it a ‘social’ bound than ‘blood’ bound so it’s simply a patriarchal practice and not a magic one so there's no such thing as bonds now that vamps have become progressive too?
@mercuryfoam Right... lemme pull up a chair and bore you mindless.
although infant-turned vampires start off with deprived emotional capacity, they can learn emotional intelligence, just at an extremely low rate. Right?
will a freshly turned 21 y.o. vampire struggle with the final bit of emotional development, perhaps only reaching maturity during much later years of 30 or 35? Or would they still reach emotional maturity at the same rate?
Do vampires in your lore continue to grow EQ and capacity after they've been turned, so Lilith could theoretically have the EQ of a 300++ y.o. vampire
Anything we humans would deem as development (body and mind/emotional development) stops completely when the curse manifests (usually around the age of 18) and they become 'frozen in time'. So, in the cases of these characters: April/Faith/Melinda all swapped bodily fluids when they were already 18/19 so their curses manifested almost straightaway; they're stuck at that level of development now and will forever look 18/19.
Lilith was 15 when she drank from Charlotte. It would have been 3 years before her curse fully manifested, which is why she only had 'tiny fangs' and no real thirst for a while. In those 3 years, she would have still been able to learn, but at a much reduced rate, that reduced exponentially the closer she got to 18. So, we'll split the difference and say her emotional age is around 17.
Then we have poor Caleb, forced to drink aged 2. Again, his curse didn't fully manifest until he was 18, which is when his thirst developed and he attacked Nathaniel. From aged 2, his capacity to learn emotionally was severely reduced by his vampirism, like Lilith. Unlike Lilith, he didn't have memories or experiences to draw from to reference and help him learn, because he was only 2, there's only so much a two year old can actively remember, if anything. Add into this, that his curse would be manifesting for 16 years, pushing out what he was trying to learn, it's safe to assume that by the time Lilith realised that Caleb needed active intervention (when he was a teen and ruining girls) that it was largely too late to do anything. Caleb is, essentially, rogue. A small boy in the body of a very dangerous, urge-driven beast.
Of course, all of the above is assuming there's not a way to manipulate a vampire brain externally, which there may be...
Although I have to say this is a terrible double edged sword as pointed out in your story since Caleb knows clearly how important morality is to his sister and the world, but cannot feel it nor apply it onto himself. He can develop a learned understanding of it, but it will never be as deep nor will he ever experience it himself. Hence, adopting Lilith's morality is an added layer of torment that he will think himself innately flawed and 'lacking'.
Bang on.
Is Lilith truly numb when she provided us this chapter?
Parts that I expected her to rage or cry, or become aggressive or at least passive aggressive towards Caleb are glossed over.
She said it herself "Eventually, I learned that my fear was what really did it for the sick monster and learned to numb myself"
Lilith certainly deserves some admiration for carrying on through all this huge pile of poop she's had to deal with, but it takes a certain type of person to be able to do that.
What does it mean to be bound?
It's a way of turning a human which results in them being the sire's possession. It involves draining the human completely of blood and 'replacing' it with the sire's. Practiced commonly among society vampires during marriage, but deemed archaic and monsterous as it takes away the autonomy of the bride. So in this chapter, Charlotte was bound to Silas; he had complete control over her, body and mind and could bend her to his will, although we do see her manipulating him, too, and defying him as best she can. It's a patriarchal practice, yes, to create a submissive wife. But just because it's not deemed acceptable anymore, doesn't mean there's not a vamp out there somewhere who'd still practice it.
It's a way of turning a human which results in them being the sire's possession. It involves draining the human completely of blood and 'replacing' it with the sire's. Practiced commonly among society vampires during marriage, but deemed archaic and monsterous as it takes away the autonomy of the bride. So in this chapter, Charlotte was bound to Silas; he had complete control over her, body and mind and could bend her to his will, although we do see her manipulating him, too, and defying him as best she can. It's a patriarchal practice, yes, to create a submissive wife. But just because it's not deemed acceptable anymore, doesn't mean there's not a vamp out there somewhere who'd still practice it.
Didn't Lilith do something like that to April when she almost died? Was also mentioned in passing that she gave some of her blood to Caleb too. :open_mouth: :no_mouth:
EDIT: Thank you for clarifying! Will reread tomorrow too sleepy! :joy:
I posted a comment on your blog but something went wrong. I had ended up in the wrong chapter :s Unfortunately, I can not delete it myself, but I have copied my comment to today's section. I hope it does not make you too confused.
Has someone told you yet that you're very good at writing scary characters? My gods. Seth just hits all the red flags in my head whenever he makes an appearance. Every single one of them. This guy creeps me out so bad. :D
No one has told me that. Thanks. :) I have, however, determined that I'm good at writing extremely polarising characters. :D If you wish to elaborate on why exactly the resident murdering madman creeps you out, please do! After all, he didn't do anything Faith didn't actually want him to, bar one teeny little thing which is probably insignificant.
Has someone told you yet that you're very good at writing scary characters? My gods. Seth just hits all the red flags in my head whenever he makes an appearance. Every single one of them. This guy creeps me out so bad. :D
I actually really like Seth. :no_mouth: I'm just as drawn to him as her. He's kinda checking all the boxes for me at the moment. :lol:
But I don't want Faith to take up his offer. Seth is right. He seems straightforward and gives the impression that he has revealed his entire hand when its the opposite. This game is too dangerous. She's too willing to give up that something he wants without having a backup plan. Maybe she'll make one and go for it. Ok. I'll have faith in Faith but I'm still super protective of her.
Has someone told you yet that you're very good at writing scary characters? My gods. Seth just hits all the red flags in my head whenever he makes an appearance. Every single one of them. This guy creeps me out so bad. :D
I actually really like Seth. :no_mouth: I'm just as drawn to him as her. He's kinda checking all the boxes for me at the moment. :lol:
But I don't want Faith to take up his offer. Seth is right. He seems straightforward and gives the impression that he has revealed his entire hand when its the opposite. This game is too dangerous. She's too willing to give up that something he wants without having a backup plan. Maybe she'll make one and go for it. Ok. I'll have faith in Faith but I'm still super protective of her.
So do I. He's basically my favourite at the minute. That could change, of course, but currently there's nothing about him I dislike (I mean, what's a bit of light murdering done to anyone, right? :mrgreen: ) Considering all the powers he has to bend minds, he's actually surprisingly direct. Of course, sprinkling lies with truths is the best way of making them believable, but like he says, nothing he's told Faith about himself shows him in a particularly flattering light, so why would he lie? He definitely strikes me as more direct than the vast majority of the characters in AE so far. Which I guess is a whole point of being that handsome rogue type...
