Miscalculation - Challenge #135 PG

[jen]

Disclaimer: Don't own Moonlight. No copyright infringement intended. Not making any money doing this.


“The old rules will no longer apply.”

“No kidding.”

“No kidding. I know you think I’m being cruel, but you’ll live forever. You won’t age, you’ll heal from injuries almost immediately and there are few things that can harm you. Once you learn what those are and how to avoid them, you’ll be safe.”

“I loved you. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you…”

“Mick, I love you, too. That’s why I did what I did. You don’t understand now, but in time you will. I was confused in the beginning, too, and I knew what was going on. It’s just going to take longer for you. I’ll take care of you, Baby. You’ll see. You trust me, don’t you?”

“How can you even ask that?? No, of course I don’t trust you after what you did!! You killed me!!”

“Actually, the jury is still out on that one. I know you believe that now but medicine is able to resuscitate people we once thought dead if they get to them quickly. Technically, you drank a little of my blood, it merged with your system and made your immortal like me. Maybe you didn’t die at all.”

“Can I go back to being what I was?”

“No, Baby. I told you, it’s done. In time, you’ll be happy with the change. We‘ll be happy.”

“If you cared about my happiness, you would have given me a choice. Why didn’t you just tell me??”

“I…you might have said no…”

[Luxe de Luxe]

I think Coraline genuinely DID think she had given Mick a gift and was surprised by his distress. This always made her a slightly sympathetic character to me. What you've done in the last line though, was to highlight the selfishness that underpinned her 'gift'. Some part of her suspected that her new husband might not acquiesce and therefore didn't give him the opportunity to object. Ultimately what she wanted was more important. Thought provoking, jen.

[allegrita]

Yeah -- that last line is a killer. Literally. She didn't tell him because she's a big believer in "apologize afterwards, rather than asking permission before." She didn't want to hear "no," so she didn't give him the opportunity to say it.

But she did love him. She just doesn't think like a modern woman, despite the modern-woman act. She's not modern. She's a French aristocrat, and a vampire to boot. Mick didn't have a chance.

(And mind you, I am very sympathetic to Coraline! But I think she made a hideous mistake with Mick... to both of their sorrow.)

[LaughtersMelody]

This is wonderful!

The whole conversation is just heart-wrenching, but I love these lines especially:

“Can I go back to being what I was?”

“No, Baby. I told you, it’s done. In time, you’ll be happy with the change. We‘ll be happy.”

Mick sounds so desperate there, and Coraline sounds just as desperate to make him believe that it really *will* be wonderful.

“If you cared about my happiness, you would have given me a choice. Why didn’t you just tell me??”

“I…you might have said no…”

So very true, and so very well said! It makes me feel sorry for both Coraline and Mick, because I really don't think she wanted to hurt him, but she was too afraid to face the idea that he might not be willing to give up his humanity for her, so she took the choice away.

Fantastic work!

-Laughter

[francis]

So tragic and sad. This is really well written.

[maggatha3]

“If you cared about my happiness, you would have given me a choice. Why didn’t you just tell me??”

“I…you might have said no…”

That is them, Jenna!! Mick and Coraline in their essence!

[SharonC]

CORALINE...always trying to justify what she did and why she did it. I don't think there is any way to justify it. She should have given Mick the choice.

[jen]

Luxe

Thank you so much for reading and leaving the insightful comment.

Coraline, in Josef's words, was a lot of things to a lot of people, most of them men. Yet, she must have been very isolated in a way. Mick saw what he wanted to see, no doubt, but had she found the courage to tell him up front, the story may have been entirely different.

Jenna

[jen]

Alle

That is very insightful! Coraline, I think, has come to truly depend on herself and only herself. She wanted Mick, but she really couldn't trust him enough to give him the chance of saying no, so she didn't. Worked out for a while, but ultimately...not so much.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Jenna

[jen]

Laughter

Actually, it was your response to the challenge that got me thinking about this conversation!

For a while, Mick tried it her way but thirty three years for a vampire isn't all that long, after all.

Thank you!

Jenna

[jen]

Francis

Thank you!

This was a pivotal moment in many ways. While I think that Coraline really thought she loved Mick, she was equally guilty of seeing only what she wanted to see. She saw a willing and enthusiastic partner in a lifestyle that Mick never truly wanted at all.

Neither truly understood all that much about the other before their wedding night, but that is often true.

Jenna

[jen]

Maggatha

Thank you so much!

What a kind thing to say!

Jenna

[jen]

SharonC

That's it, boiled down to its essence.

Coraline should have given him the chance, the choice to accept her or not but she didn't. Because of that, he was never able to get past the trauma of what she did to him.

She made a huge mistake. He did love her, or was it really only the same thing she felt for him?

Had she acted differently there, things may have played out entirely differently.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Jenna

[cassysj]

I do understand Coraline here. She doesn't want to lose Mick and if she told him the truth and he didn't approve he might have had to be destroyed this way he was turned. She probably never met a vampire in her long life that didn't adapt quickly to the strength, power, and immortality.

[Moonlighter]

“If you cared about my happiness, you would have given me a choice. Why didn’t you just tell me??”

“I…you might have said no…”

Yep, Mick and Coraline in a nut shell!