I had a hell of a time with this chapter. I had to deal with the fact that, while Gen thinks the assault is her fault, I don’t and I don’t want it to read like I think it’s her fault. And who would have guessed that Michael would be the voice of reason?
This should really demonstrate just how complex a character he is. Here is someone with nothing but contempt for the girls and his job, and who has threatened to kill Gen a few times (and in some cases, almost allowed it to happen), and yet... Michael really was genuinely bothered about what happened to her. He looks at her and sees pre-bastard Michael, in a way. Though he doesn’t deny his hatred of her, at the same time there’s a protective streak to him and he doesn’t want to see her damaged, which is what the assault would have done to her. Though the idea of Finn betraying all the girls to their enemies is mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, the fact remains that he brought the rope to the hotel room even before he was aware of what Finn knew. And I think this incident showed him something he didn’t know about himself, and that scared him a bit.
Still, I don’t think he should become a rape counsellor any time soon.
The other awkward bit is that I don’t, honestly, think a survivor of sexual abuse is “damaged” in any way, and I’m not convinced Michael quite meant it like that either. The thing is, traumatic experiences affect different people differently. Sage lost a loved one, but she remained more or less intact-the same couldn’t be said, necessarily, for Gen or Merri in that situation. Merri has been through things, but she adapted. Gen, however, is the kind of person who would really change, and not necessarily for the better. Michael knows that.
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"She wrapped evil around her like a large, evil Mexican serape."
Author Commentary
I had a hell of a time with this chapter. I had to deal with the fact that, while Gen thinks the assault is her fault, I don’t and I don’t want it to read like I think it’s her fault. And who would have guessed that Michael would be the voice of reason?
This should really demonstrate just how complex a character he is. Here is someone with nothing but contempt for the girls and his job, and who has threatened to kill Gen a few times (and in some cases, almost allowed it to happen), and yet... Michael really was genuinely bothered about what happened to her. He looks at her and sees pre-bastard Michael, in a way. Though he doesn’t deny his hatred of her, at the same time there’s a protective streak to him and he doesn’t want to see her damaged, which is what the assault would have done to her. Though the idea of Finn betraying all the girls to their enemies is mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, the fact remains that he brought the rope to the hotel room even before he was aware of what Finn knew. And I think this incident showed him something he didn’t know about himself, and that scared him a bit.
Still, I don’t think he should become a rape counsellor any time soon.
The other awkward bit is that I don’t, honestly, think a survivor of sexual abuse is “damaged” in any way, and I’m not convinced Michael quite meant it like that either. The thing is, traumatic experiences affect different people differently. Sage lost a loved one, but she remained more or less intact-the same couldn’t be said, necessarily, for Gen or Merri in that situation. Merri has been through things, but she adapted. Gen, however, is the kind of person who would really change, and not necessarily for the better. Michael knows that.
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"She wrapped evil around her like a large, evil Mexican serape."