Usually when I say "tonight" you should read it as "during those bizarre times when no one but Ahknee is awake in the late night/early mornings."
Anyway, armed with some chocolate and thoughts of maybe, someday soon, a tour by Gackt in the US in the next year or so, I am ready to face this next chapter. Wish me luck.
The Host
Chapter 2: Overheard
I'd rather be watching Brokeback Mountain with my dad, which is awkward and painful to do.
I just one to point out one thing at the moment that I noticed when reading the back of the actual book one day while I was in Borders: the body ... the girl ... who was, y'know the original body or whatever the fuck yeah. Melanie Stryder? Ahem, lemme put this in better terms: Stephenie Meyer = initials of SM. Melanie Stryder = initials of MS. Way to go with Sue naming tactics, Meyer! The only way to make it more obvious would be to name the character after yourself. Actually, wait a second ... ahaha I was wrong but I was referencing her "craptastic covers" section and one penname she contemplated was Morgan Meyers which pisses me off greatly because not only do we share (different spelled) first names, she wanted to use my middle name as her penname?! AHAHAHA fuck you Meyer.
O-onto the story ...
I'm confused a little but I'm presuming we're still, and will remain, in the perspective of the soul. Okay. Well, she apparently comes to true consciousness in the middle of a conversation some folks are having nearby where she's all laid out. The male voice thinks something may have been too much for her, but the female voice chimes in that she only screamed once. At this point, I can be pretty sure they're talking about our soul, here. The man identifies himself as a Healer, sarcastically pointing out to the woman that maybe that was her Calling, which she laugh off because Seekers like her "prefer a different sort of diagnosis." This causes the soul to shudder because "[her] body knows this word ... a leftover reaction" even though she has no reason to fear Seekers herself. Muscle memory? I'm not quite sure - that sort of thing is developed through repetition, unconsciously or not. If a soul has complete control over every aspect of the brain of their host, then certainly their presence would wipe away all unconscious reactions that the actual person had before being taken over?
I'm not saying that in the way of "ohoho I'm just pointing out shit for kicks because I'M A BITCH" but because I'm just thinking aloud about how this shit works, y'know? Okay, just clearing that up.
The man wonders if "the infection of humanity" has touched the Seekers since they seem to enjoy violence so much. Erm, well, here's another tangent for you. Did you know the USA is one of the few countries in the world who have violence as something constantly televised to them? We see it on the news, in movies, in TV shows, in books, in newspapers, in pretty much every aspect of life. In many other countries, violent movies are nearly as popular because they just don't like that shit. Not all of humanity enjoys gore and violence just for the hell of it - lots of people out there will probably agree that they would prefer if everything could be settled without it, though we all know it's a part of life in many ways.
The soul notes that this is an argument, which apparently she's never encountered before now. Really? So you're telling me that other species she's inhabited have never suffered minor squabbles amongst one another? That they are all that much more perfect compared to us measly humans?
I'm beginning to think Meyer has a thing for hating the human race and is taking it out unconsciously in her books.
The female sticks up for herself and other Seekers by saying that, without them, everyone would not be able to live as they do. He counters, saying that all of that is becoming obsolete. The female points at the body the soul inhabits and says that is where the error lies, while he says that is the exact point because that poses no threat.
We learn that ... well, we know the name of this girl already, so, we learn that Melanie was in Chicago, which had long since been "civilized" and is far from any rebel colonies. As the soul becomes more conscious and adapted to the senses of her host, she realizes they are talking about her and ponders over how "soul" acts as an apt discription - "the unseen force that guides the body." Er, I'm sorry what? Weren't we able to see that you were some glowing light thing or whatever when you were transplanted into this body, thus rendering you as being seen if someone were to, say, slice this chick's head off properly? Yu-huh.
We learn that some information is apparently wanted, which is why this soul was transposed into this body. The man calls it wanted info, the female calls it needed info.
HEY WE GET A NAME FOR THE SOUL: WANDERER
... wait. So like, earlier, in the epilogue, we were told how odd it was to keep the human name and all and shit. Why the fuck would they refer to this soul in human language if, I'unno, they have some semblance of knowing more advanced languages that are preferred? Why do they keep this language? Okay, that one answers itself - to disguise themselves and take over all humanity, okay. But like, why not in private not talk in the language they all prefer ... maybe it's because it's the common language of the hosts that the souls pick up ... but ... oh god I am thinking way too deep on this and I need to quit before I cause my head to explode.
MOVING ON.
There's lots of pointless talking that no one gives a dick about. Wanderer notes that she is already very adept at noting tones and inflections in speech.
The argument between the male and female intensifies and some shit causes Wanderer's vitals to go psychotic but the two don't care because they're so into disagreeing with each other ... er, do they use the same technology to monitor vitals we do? Do they at least make the same loud noises when shit goes outta whack? Because that's some pretty loud noise, there that's
kind hard to ignore ...
Ah, okay, I get it now. As Wanderer evaluates the situation, she ponders back on whatever she last was - able to describe it, but not able to recall the word for it. But, still. If she remembers what it was like being such a creature, shouldn't the sort of words and such also be remembered? It would make little sense to not remember some of that; the souls should either have complete memory retained from their experience as such creatures, including retaining the language, or retain none at all.
She recalls back in that previous form (with the tentacles, you know?) they had told stories about Earth and the wars that souls raged to take over against the humans - how some Hosts had souls so strong already that they had to be forced out, or how sometimes the souls implanted into the bodies would take on the personality of the Host instead of the other way around because some of the original souls were impossible to completely suppress. This seemed to be the male's accusation, she notes - but it seems more directed at how Seekers work under their Calling.
... just a note. Fuck all this capitalizing shit.
Wanderer ponders how Seekers can live with their Calling, hunting down rogue humans and and catching them - how do they face these "hostile humans who [kill] so easily, so thoughtlessly?" Lemme tell you right now - there's a reason people can kill like this. It's a survival instinct, tying into fight or flight. Look at war veterans who were on the front lines and had to kill the enemy: it is down to it being "us" or "them" in that situation, and when faced with that choice, you don't want it to be them that lives. Also, look at many of these veterans who come back from war with PTSD, or those who come back and, for the rest of their lives, are haunted by all the killing and atrocities they committed. The ones who come back not giving a fuck are the ones who usually have mental instability.
Continuing onwards, Wanderer reflects on how this had been one of the most bloody occupations ever, with many Seekers who have been permanently lost from death in the early stages; how grateful the other souls were for such sacrifices to obtain more Hosts, but how that was fading as it became clear the soul side was winning.
Wanderer runs through the memory again, because that is what the Seeker is here to ask about, apparently so she can figure out how this human ended up in Chicago. She runs through the memories of how Melanie ended up here, learning she drove at night by car and wandered the city on foot at the same hours, seeking her cousin Sharon. Wanderer smacks into the inevitable mental barrier that everyone must bring up when dealing with diving into the brain because fuck who needs originality? She tries to work her way around it but fails and Melanie starts to get riled up. Wanderer's never experienced something like this in her 8 lives (only eight? I would've presumed more, from the way everyone spoke of her ...), and her vitals cause the machine to go haywire. The Seeker woman approaches and welcomes Wanderer to earth.
END CHAPTER DOS.
I hate everything. I'm going to watch some Ichi the Killer or some shit to quell my rage now.