Amazing. I love it all! The way you write is honestly enthralling. Thank you.

Nela

ah, your writing does justice to a creature who has lived a thousand years, a rare thing. i love your writing style, its sparse yet complex, and i want to devour your words like candy. lol.

Yahtze!...I thought it was just a waste of time in TB. With the light of your story, it showed a perfect world played by the Queen's rules which is never appealing to Eric. However, Eric needs to stick to the Queen's rules as his sacrifice to gain Sookie. Eric is ever cunning...love it! Thanks for sharing!

Wow! I am simply blown away. I absolutely loathed this episode on TB. Now I can't wait to watch it again with the depth of insight into Eric's inner workings that you have given-Your work should be required reading for Alan Ball and his writers. Loved all of it.

love is a place

& through this place of

love move

(with brightness of peace)

all places

yes is a world

& in this world of

yes live

(skilfully curled)

all worlds

I know, I know, it's cheap to quote someone else's words, but I know we agree that no one says it better than ee.

This was beautiful...I'm seriously falling more in love with every piece you write :)

Well, first of all, thank you for answering my prompt so beautifully:)

I love this because of all the questions it makes me ask...

As always, you do a fabulous job of weaving metaphor and meaning.

So, I really enjoyed getting a sense of how Eric views shifters:

“Human life burns at the perfect temperature to sustain itself but Shifters burn too hot, constantly denaturing themselves so that even their scents boil over and burst . They are crude beings who dash madly between the poles of human and animal, creating friction.”

Very interesting. Humans burn just right to sustain themselves. Do vamps need to sustain themselves on humans because they don't burn hot enough to sustain themselves?

“Heat is the least efficient form of energy.” I love the significance of this. It's like shifters are least in control of themselves because of their heat, and vamps, with their coolness, are in eternal control of themselves. Yet, they still depend on the heat of human blood to sustain themselves.

“ Creating has never been we vampires' strong suit. Our trump is tearing down.” Interesting...especially in the context of heat. It actually made me think of how the sun is a force of creation through photosynthesis, and of course, of the symbolism of cold, dark night as an end of things, while dawn and the warmth of day symbolizes the beginning of things...very apt metaphors for the deadly nature of vampires.

“I am vampire, not a herd animal. ” I really liked this bit too – it made me think that Eric doesn't huddle together for the warmth if meaningless assurances or alliances.

“He doesn't say we.” Good observation! It's almost as if Eric has more respect for Sam than for Bill. A Were over a Vamp? But, if Eric doesn't cling to meaningless alliances, this definitely follows.

“I tell the Shifter I will go see her. That I do not go for him does not occur to him. ” Hm...this I'm not so sure about. Isn't this why Sam appeals to Eric? Because he knows he might help Sookie, because of her connection to Bill and the vamps?

“That I want the girl was irrelevant to the lesson but what I want is never irrelevant to me. The Shifter's request becomes an excuse I don't need but an excuse nonetheless.”

I love how you show the growth in Eric here- how he's starting to be willing to face the truth about his actions, words and thoughts, and the reasons for them.

“My own understanding built over a thousand years and coalesced on a rooftop at dawn. ” Oh, the imagery is so beautiful and poignant. Really, we can sense and feel the sadness that comes with truly understanding, and the imagery of black and white creating our gray existence is just fantastic: death and life, day and night, heat and cold, darkness and light, knowledge and blissful ignorance. Oh! It's too beautiful. And, you sum it up perfectly:

“You can have anything you want as long as you are willing to give up everything else to get it.”

Am I just imagining the total disconnect here or is it on purpose? Hm... nicely done Nyah! This chapter has a "one ring to rule them all" vibe to it... but in this case it's who ever calls Yahtzee first! LOL!

"Once they would have been the bones and innards of a sacrificial bird." LOL...how true!

"Here is an interesting specimen, a perfect example of what the human race might have become if consciousness hadn't hit evolution like a mid-life crisis: strong, beautiful, and stupid. And yet, it often happens that only fools are granted leeway to speak the truth." Nyah, you truly have a way with words.

The Queen in all her darkness, surrounds herself with so much light. No wonder she is so interested in Sookie. Then of course there is the fae part of the equation. Is that Eric's answer?

"And as the oracle prophesied, I suck at playing by someone else's rules" I get this..I really do. hehehe

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand" ~ Randy Pausch

I loved all of the poker metaphors in this chapter and just had to find a good quote for the review.

"She's a decent survivalist and can be counted on to bend to the will of the most dangerous person in a room. And if I am present, that is always me." Thanks for the insight into Eric's thoughts of Ginger...they were quite funny!

"the beginnings of things" "Children?" Such a simple statement that says so much. Loved Eric's wonderment of children "tiny humans" in TB, so I'm glad you added a little to your story.

That was a great explanation of that scene! There were some phrases that rung true to me:

There is a thinness to artificial light like there is to mountain air. It presses uniformly into the corners of a room, trying to distract the senses, trying to fool them into believing it was born of clear skies and window panes

I could see Eric thinking that.

The Queens leaps through a crack in her own composure

There's a typo there, but I like it!

I wonder whether Hadley smells like Sookie?

This is really different but I like it.

Thank you for giving more insight and meaning to this scene than AB ever intended. You give Eric back the dignity that AB stole from him.

Amazing :O

I love Sophie-Anne, she's so cool.

I can't wait for the next chapter!

I like your thoughts behind the Queen and Eric. You connect the dots in your writing and it's easy to understand. Thank you!

interesting stuff, it's nice to see eric in full on machiavellian mood, cunning, manipulative. You feel that he's cooly assesing the situation and is always trying to turn it to his advantage.

Please don't turn him into sappy, love struck eric! Have read far to many of those.

vv x

Wow! I just love how you describe the gears that are turning and meshing in Eric's head -and yes, I did notice he looked at Hadley pointedly when she exclaimed "he does?" when the Queen mentioned that Bill loved Sookie.

While I didn't care for the season's ending episode, I do very much appreciate your insights to what turned out to be a rather disappointing program.

Will you be taking this further? It would be grand to map out a "what could be" before Season 3 begins.

Again -I just love the way your brainpan works!

Pat