[Essay] Zero, bloodlust and insanity
First, this pic is really hot!
So the aftermath of Zero's little run-in with Sara -- basically this is where he caught her vamping up a student and was about to kill her but couldn't since she played by the Hunters Association rules THAT MAKE NO FUCKING SENSE -- comes to call this chapter. In the form of Kaitou. A very disappointed Kaitou who chastises his junior Hunter for allowing his vampiric hunger to come out in another way other than the usual bloodlust. Zero's desire to kill Sara and subsequent FURY at realizing he couldn't are seen as an extension of his hunger, hunger that Zero believes to have repressed with his pills. I really like this since it takes vampirism from another perspective and gives a new, darker shade to Zero's kill mode toward vampires. Zero was seriously thirsting for the chance to spill Sara's blood and was banking on the Association's rules to let him do so.
Upon realizing that Zero is slightly less stable than he lets out, Kaitou sends him on a soul-healing trip to visit his family's grave. I'm not sure whether or not this helped Zero's insanity as it mostly resulted in him having visions of Ichiru talking to him and encouraging his "kill all vampires" goal. But Ichiru also questioned whether Zero had truly healed and teased him for still being hung up on details. I really like the reinforcement of the idea that the brothers are soul-linked now after Ichiru's death. I want more scenes of crazy Zero turning to his brother for counsel. So twisted. Apparently, the trip was to help Zero connect with what keeps him human. Ichiru kind of counteracted that by reminding Zero that "human" is a very loose definition and bringing up Ichiru's whole drinking from a pureblood. I pretty much took their conversation as "fulfill your goals but stop hating yourself bro."
So the question that comes into play is how stable is Zero really? The chapters prior to the Sara confrontation show a mixed bag. At times, Zero is able to control his hunting urges, down his pills and stay relatively civil around vampire chaos. But he also is having trouble with his blood wanting Yuuki and his bloodlust toward vampires themselves, something Kaitou has noted before. Honestly, I interpret it as Zero has triggers (such as the chance to kill vampires) that tap into his vampiric hunger the same as injury does. This is his new psychosis, the urge to Hunt and one that he is not entirely willing to struggle with. We shall see how this plays out during this next encounter with Yuuki and Aidou.
At camp, I have been playing this up with Zero's much more obvious dangerous edge toward Kaname (though this is more triggered by Kaname poking his buttons), but he would show it toward any vampire/demon that gave him an excuse. It's a mixture of Zero's two biggest mental issues right now: his confusion over Yuuki and his need to kill vampires. I will hold off on whether to bring the ghost!Ichiru issue into play, depending what goes down this month.
Also, I wanted to touch briefly on Zero and bloodlust. Unless I am retconned, I am going with what canon has given me. This means if Zero is direly injured, bloodlust is activated. As far as bloodlust from sensing/presence of blood, I admit I play fast and loose because canon has not given me much to work with on that front. So my interpretation is it pokes at those vampire issues and the more blood, the more it pokes at them. I might tone it down a touch because I like this idea of bloodlust touching off more psychological/murderous hunger (the need for righteous prey), but that is more situational. Still, I think it might be fun to play up. But overall, yes I enjoy playing a vampire and yes I enjoy making said vampire drink blood when he doesn't want to due to said vampirism, whether sexually motivated (ala confusing Kaname for Yuuki amid mistletoe), injury motivated or crazy motivated (ala effects). I'm pretty sure canon has just confirmed I'm still playing a dangerously unstable emopire.
So the aftermath of Zero's little run-in with Sara -- basically this is where he caught her vamping up a student and was about to kill her but couldn't since she played by the Hunters Association rules THAT MAKE NO FUCKING SENSE -- comes to call this chapter. In the form of Kaitou. A very disappointed Kaitou who chastises his junior Hunter for allowing his vampiric hunger to come out in another way other than the usual bloodlust. Zero's desire to kill Sara and subsequent FURY at realizing he couldn't are seen as an extension of his hunger, hunger that Zero believes to have repressed with his pills. I really like this since it takes vampirism from another perspective and gives a new, darker shade to Zero's kill mode toward vampires. Zero was seriously thirsting for the chance to spill Sara's blood and was banking on the Association's rules to let him do so.
Upon realizing that Zero is slightly less stable than he lets out, Kaitou sends him on a soul-healing trip to visit his family's grave. I'm not sure whether or not this helped Zero's insanity as it mostly resulted in him having visions of Ichiru talking to him and encouraging his "kill all vampires" goal. But Ichiru also questioned whether Zero had truly healed and teased him for still being hung up on details. I really like the reinforcement of the idea that the brothers are soul-linked now after Ichiru's death. I want more scenes of crazy Zero turning to his brother for counsel. So twisted. Apparently, the trip was to help Zero connect with what keeps him human. Ichiru kind of counteracted that by reminding Zero that "human" is a very loose definition and bringing up Ichiru's whole drinking from a pureblood. I pretty much took their conversation as "fulfill your goals but stop hating yourself bro."
So the question that comes into play is how stable is Zero really? The chapters prior to the Sara confrontation show a mixed bag. At times, Zero is able to control his hunting urges, down his pills and stay relatively civil around vampire chaos. But he also is having trouble with his blood wanting Yuuki and his bloodlust toward vampires themselves, something Kaitou has noted before. Honestly, I interpret it as Zero has triggers (such as the chance to kill vampires) that tap into his vampiric hunger the same as injury does. This is his new psychosis, the urge to Hunt and one that he is not entirely willing to struggle with. We shall see how this plays out during this next encounter with Yuuki and Aidou.
At camp, I have been playing this up with Zero's much more obvious dangerous edge toward Kaname (though this is more triggered by Kaname poking his buttons), but he would show it toward any vampire/demon that gave him an excuse. It's a mixture of Zero's two biggest mental issues right now: his confusion over Yuuki and his need to kill vampires. I will hold off on whether to bring the ghost!Ichiru issue into play, depending what goes down this month.
Also, I wanted to touch briefly on Zero and bloodlust. Unless I am retconned, I am going with what canon has given me. This means if Zero is direly injured, bloodlust is activated. As far as bloodlust from sensing/presence of blood, I admit I play fast and loose because canon has not given me much to work with on that front. So my interpretation is it pokes at those vampire issues and the more blood, the more it pokes at them. I might tone it down a touch because I like this idea of bloodlust touching off more psychological/murderous hunger (the need for righteous prey), but that is more situational. Still, I think it might be fun to play up. But overall, yes I enjoy playing a vampire and yes I enjoy making said vampire drink blood when he doesn't want to due to said vampirism, whether sexually motivated (ala confusing Kaname for Yuuki amid mistletoe), injury motivated or crazy motivated (ala effects). I'm pretty sure canon has just confirmed I'm still playing a dangerously unstable emopire.