I tried hard to balance the shock value with the matter-of-fact “that’s the way the world is, ain’t it?” kind of attitude. There’s so much between the lines, and so much that doesn’t really need to be said out loud, because what they don’t talk about is just as important as what they do talk about and it sounds like you guys really latched on to that.

And I’m so thrilled you guys enjoyed Rodg. You can tell he really came to life for me. No, there’s no way you’ve seen the last of him. He’ll be an important part of Blood Memory… about which story, as usual, i’m thinking “Oh, my gawd, it’s going to be sooo different from what you might think and you’re going to hate it and I should change it to be more normal and…” but if it was normal it wouldn’t be me, i suppose. Oh, well. here’s to Abbie Normal.

“Not expansive,” he said readily enough though his face was still looking a mite pinched around the edges. “However, it is rather… deep.”

I can’t put my finger as to why, but I had a feeling Holmes was not just talking about the literal wound itself when he said ‘deep’.

He lay there quiet while I threaded my needle again. After a bit he said in a voice much quieter than his usual, “Your earlier supposition about… There are new circumstances.” He let out a long breath. “I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone.”

I kept on re-reading this and I can’t stop making a little squee each time. This one always comes with an image and a question of Holmes reaction when he realized his ‘new circumstances’.

nlr alicia sez: gah, i should get so many double-posts. seriously, i’m not made unhappy by this. and thank you so much for the specificity. you’re really showing me that the subtext is coming through. those are a couple of places i tried to imply a whole ‘nother story offstage and I’m really glad you read it that way. thank you.

I had guessed what he’d be ‘eradicating’ for, but I wow, I didn’t think it would be done *that* way to him (not the eradication, the ‘tattoo’).

And I LOVED the tattoo artist. Will we see more of him in Blood Memory?

The back story hinted at is very compelling (and dark!) I spent some time wondering what the mysterious tattoo might be. When it was revealed, my reaction was, “of course.” And the reveal of the tattoo was a great hint to the horrible tale behind it.

I like how you can tell that Holmes is still slightly stunned at having “met someone.” Tattoo eradication. Now that’s love!

And on a personal note, the horse imagery proves in my deranged little mind that you wrote this for me. For all you amatuer detectives out there, here’s a bit of information: I ride. I have a callous between my fourth finger and my little finger because that is where the rein goes. Good eye, Holmes!

Thanks so much for writing this.

nlr alicia sez: that is so cool about the horses! i was afraid that might be one layer too many but then Will picked up on it and it had to stay. I shouldn’t admit this, i guess, but the callous thing was a total guess on my part. I sat there looking at my hand for like a half hour trying to imagine what marks years of handling reins might leave. I can’t believe i actually came close.

yeah, the rest of the backstory is pretty awful. i don’t know how much of it will make it into Blood Memory, but like I said in the intro everyone and everything will show up again, even the characters without names.

thanks for the great words about Rodg. it was was tough to decide what to let him say and what to keep in his head. i’m really glad it worked for you. his story really came entirely from him.

This is now double-posted with where it was below, but I wanted to make sure it went to the right place. Sorry for the deluge of comments.

nlr alicia sez: Sorry! that was my fault. I was editing and it does weird things to the page library – I’ll get rid of the dupes.

But thank you. I’m really glad you thought the revelations made sense – I wasn’t sure if it took too long or was too much or not enough or what, so thank you for that!

Thanks, too, for your words on the vulnerability thing – that was a tough balancing act. i wanted to take it pretty close to the line and it was hard to know how far to push it. i expect i erred on the side of restraint, but i did want to leave a lot to the imagination… i don’t know. i’m really glad it worked for you and thanks so much for battling wordpress to make sure your comment got through.

The tone of this is just wonderful. Seriously, this was brilliantly done.

I loved it!

nlr alicia sez: thank you so much. you know, i guess even my “dark” isn’t all that dark. bittersweet is more my flavor, maybe. I’m basically an optimistic (if neurotic) person and i just can’t resist a little hopeful smile at the end. I’m really glad you enjoyed it.