Round III of Ficlette Fiasco II -- one AB ficlette

[mhalachai]

Just a little too short to be a double drabble. (master list found here)

Title: Problem
Characters: Richard (mention of Anita, Micah)
Disclaimer: All Anita Blake characters belong to Laurell K. Hamilton. I am only borrowing them for a short while and am receiving nothing.
Author's Note: For sabriel_0405. A very angry and depressed Richard thinks about why Anita won't let him back in. Set about a month after Narcissus in Chains. Cut for content bordering on the adult.

~~*~~

Richard didn't get it. Yeah, he'd been the one to dump Anita after she fed the ardeur on him that first time, but it wasn't supposed to mean anything. She'd never been able to say no to him before.

But then he came along. Micah Callahan, wereleopard alpha. Even after he'd almost gotten Anita killed with Chimera, she'd let the son of a bitch into her house, her bed, and, from what Richard heard, between her thighs almost every night.

Richard didn't understand any of it. Anita didn't do strangers, especially ones who almost got her and her pard killed. Yeah, Callahan was hung, but Anita could be so frigid about it sometimes that the sex probably wasn't it.

He picked up the glass of whisky at his side and stared blankly at the wall in his darkened living room. If it wasn't Callahan, what was it? Why wouldn't Anita let him back into her life?

He knocked back the alcohol. Maybe it was Richard who was the problem, after all. Maybe he really was a monster, too much of a monster even for Anita.

Comments

[sabriel-0405.livejournal.com]

Damn you're good. Really good. This was fantastic. Tone, style, content, perfect! Thank you!!!!!!!!

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm currently writing not-really-jealous-but-kinda-sorta Richard and I'm trying to get into his head. It's a scary place.

And thank you for the prompt. Now all I need to do is figure out the jealousy angle from Micah's POV.

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. Stupid people can screw things up reasonably well, but it takes a smarty pants to be able to build huge castles of rationalization in order to avoid looking squarely at the truth of one's own fallibility. And right now, Richard's rationalization castle is vying with the Sears Tower.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Yes, he is a sailor on the good ship D.E. Nile. Moving all the way up to Captain :)

Thank you.

[goddessvicky.livejournal.com]

::sigh::

Drunk Richard makes me sad.

But it was great. I like it when Richard uses bad words.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the words, I think here, as it is the venom in the sentiment.

Thanks for commenting.

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Bitter much, Richard?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Well, he's basically trying to kill himself (and dragging his pard and everyone else down with him). Not a good mix.

[penyn-1600.livejournal.com]

You capture Richard's angst perfectly. Somehow, all his problems with Anita stem from his problems with himself. It's kind of sad actually, because when he was first introduced in the series he was really sweet.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Thanks. His angst is interesting to write. Especially taking into consideration his "character development" in ID.

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Clue to Richard, maybe he gets it? Nice.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

The day Richard catches a clue is the day that I do a merry jig. Hopefully soon, but I'm not holding my breath. One day, I still hope to have the jealousy angle looked at in the books :)