The Bottle in the Chimney

[brightknightie]

Last week, celli described a writing exercise designed to bolster skills with perspective and setting.  In a few swift steps, it took me from pondering the exercise, to picturing the loft, to: Why does Nick have a bottle of blood hidden in his chimney?  In "Feeding the Beast," that is, the scene in which the ghost/delusion of Lacroix taunts Nick from the balcony.

I don't mean to ask "why blood," of course; we're all clear that the character is a vampire.  And I don't mean to ask "why hidden" -- the core metaphor of that episode, and the fallback metaphor of most episodes, is vampirism as addiction, and so Nick behaves like an addict when that metaphor is in force.  But why the chimney?  Above the fireplace?  What would rising heat do to wine-cut blood?  Should it even still be liquid when he goes back for it?

Further, in "Dark Knight," Alyce finds the fireplace dusty, and wonders whether Nick has ever used it at all.  When Nick first hid that bottle, did he expect the fireplace to be a safe hiding place because he intended never to use the fireplace?  However, there was most certainly a fire in "Dark Knight," and then again at least for a moment in "For I Have Sinned."  So what would that mean for the time the bottle has been hidden there before being pulled out in FtB?  Would it necessarily have been planted since the last time the fire burned, or could it have been there since Nick first moved in?  And would the carved mantle (cf. "Baby, Baby") be involved in some way?

Comments

[greerwatson.livejournal.com]

Ask and ye shall receive:

Sometime between episodes, Natalie came over and read Nick the riot act about not eating solid food. She took the open bottle from the fridge, waved it as she laid down the law, and ostentatiously poured it down the sink. Then she collected all the full bottles and stalked off with them.

Nick was too flabbergasted to say anything. Besides, she only took off with three bottles—just the end of a case of his special bottled cow's blood; and he'd a delivery due the next evening.

However, it did mean that he had to go without breakfast. So, lest anything similar happen again, he carefully made sure to stash a bottle where she'd never think to look for it. Just in case.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed by this post. I've never managed any thought process much more sophisticated than "Oh, Nick, honey, ew." Which I suspect is all they were aiming for, but FK fandom is nothing if not more conscientious about world- and psyche-building than TPTB generally were. *wry g*

One rather sad (for Nick's state of mind) but less revolting (for the physical state of the blood in question) option is that he stashed it there in the very process of dumping the rest.

[pj1228.livejournal.com]

I agree with wiliqueen that he probably stored it in the chimney before starting the 12-step program.

Another thought might be that heating the blood by the fire was the purpose in order to attain a nice tasty bodily temperature. :)