Some insight on chapter 12 and Why I belive Noè is jealous over Vanitas (not Jeanne) and of “what” he is jealous of..
Ok, here I come *slams post on tumblr*
THIS IS LONG AF SO BE PREPARED.
The title of this is self explanatory, some insight on the chapter and why I think Noè was Jealous over Vanitas and not Jeanne and, of what he is jealous:
Let’s start from this panel here:
Let’s take note of Noè face here for a moment, He looks deeply shocked, but, why is he looking at her like that? The fact that she “claimed Vanitas as her own” shouldn’t bother him this much, especially in a romantic type of jealousy, if you think about what a mark of possession means.
what is a mark of possession? Let’s go back to chapter 7:
This is the definition given by vampires themselves about what a mark of possession means.
It’s not used in a “romantic way” , vampires don’t mark the person they love, they mark their PREY.
if they like the human blood a lot they mark him so other vampires know their blood is already “owned” by someone else.
It’s almost an animalistic way of acting, they mark the human whose blood they like, the bigger their power the bigger the mark is.
Vampire Vanitas mark is HUGE, while Jeanne’s is really small, as big as a nut I’d say. That could be because she was not really there with her head when she marked him, she lost control in her frenzy and did it unconsciously (Vanitas said so himself and she did not know she had left one, her reaction tells us that much) or MAYBE, that is the usual size her mark is (which makes me quite terrified about Vampire Vanitas because if the mark of a though ass woman like Jeanne is so small than what kind of power level does Vampire Vanitas have?!?)
Now that we understood what a mark of possession means, let’s go back to Noè.
Look at his face here, look well at the way his eyebrows wrinkle. He looks like he just came to a realization and is almost pissed off about it.
He follows Jeanne and Vanitas out of the window, and then there is the scene with Jeanne and Vanitas talk.
Now, look at where Vanitas and Jeanne are and look where Noè is. and please remember that he followed them immediately (this is important for what I’m gonna say next).
Now look at Noè some pages after when Vanitas and Jeanne moment finishes:
He is on the roof of an house made with stone bricks and is looking downwards. Jeanne and Vanitas are in a alley between two houses made with stone bricks.
Noè is a pretty powerful vampire, I doubt he would have much of a problem keeping up with Jeanne peace enough not to lose sight of her, and if he did, he could have found her by following her scent of better yet, Vanitas.
I’m pretty sure you already realized what I’m trying to say here…
Jeanne and Vanitas conversation … Noè watched and heard the whole thing .
Going on, Domi arrives and Noè, being the honest, straightforward boy he is; when she asks him why he looks like he is about to cry, he starts telling Domi about his feelings.
Noè is famous for being quite the honest country bumpkin, guided mostly by his own instinct, that always says whatever passes through his head, just like a child.
The lies he tells are few, if none. More than lying, I’d say that sometimes, he omits.
Btw, What I want you to pay attention to are the circled red words.
His heart started hurting after he hear Jeanne sucked Vanitas blood AFTER.
Remember the chapter in which Vanitas kissed Jeanne?, Noè didn’t hear what Vanitas said but he saw the kiss and was shocked, but his heart was fine, his emotions in control he wasn’t particularly disturbed by it.
Noè reaction to the VaniJeanne kiss chapter 4 ^
That might be because he did not know Vanitas enough yet to get attached (they had been around each other for like, what? two days?), but despite finding Jeanne pretty ( he does blush when he looks at her) the fact she got kissed by another man does not disturb him because, essentially, he does not care.
He does care that she beat him to drinking Vanitas blood though.
Not that Vanitas get’s his blood sucked from her, but that she sucked Vanitas blood, “staking a claim” before he could.
Howevere there is something to point out here:
When he says he is “chagrined Jeanne beat him to it“ he is sweating, why? because myabe, he isn’t so sure he himself, that might not be the exact reason.
Maybe he is just angry that Jeanne drunk Vanitas blood to being with, not that she did it before him.
Domi gets irritated and starts to chew on Noè, thinking he is becoming enthralled by Jeanne charm like half of the characters in this manga seem to be.
Personally, I think her feelings clouded her judgment here, she thought that the “heart hurting” was because Jeanne was feeding from another man and not him, but it’s not. It’s the fact she is feeding off on Vanitas that hurts him.
Then Domi bits him, maybe hoping that the “aphrodisiac” that Vampires release when they bit someone would affect him and for a moment, when he removes her glove, she thinks she did manage:
But then Noè just bites her back and tells her “your blood is good” with a pleased face, attitude nowhere close to the excitement he showed at the idea of drinking Vanitas “very good blood”.
(and my heart sort of broke for her really)
^Look at him, he is drooling at the idea of tasting it^
We can see that Noè tries to invite Jeanne to a dance but Domi stepped in so they would not have “a moment”.
Now, why did he want to dance with Jeanne? my guess is that he wanted to be with her alone long enough to answer some questions, maybe about why she marked Vanitas or if she really did it unconsciously, or maybe (this alternative seems even more probable to me): if Vanitas blood really tastes as good as it smells (I don’t know … it just seems like the kind of stuff Noè would ask without a problem xD)
This theory of mine is reinforced by the fact that he did not seem particularly pissed about losing the chance to dance with Jeanne. And why is that? Because there were no romantic underlines in his failed request for a dance.
Then he and Vanitas are left alone and after not getting the chance to ask Jeanne, with some hesitation, he uses Vanitas implying he isn’t very good at dancing as an excuse to invite him to a dance.
Now look at Noè face in the second panel, he seems shocked at seeing such a soft, almost tender look on Vanitas face, an expression we (and him, remember we are seeing the story from Noè point of view mostly) have never seen before from him.
[ Don’t know you guys, but here , to me, it seems like Noè is stiffer than usual, almost like he is holding his breath, but this is hard to decipher, it might be my fan girl side clouding my “panel-reading” xD. ]
Vanitas realizes there is more to this than just dance lessons, and agrees ( a round of applause for Vanitas ability to understand when there is something bugging Noè even when It’s not so obvious).
Noè drops the bomb (What on earth is love?!) and Vanitas, once he realizes the seriousness of the question answers in a more serious way he had probably originally intended to.
“Your heart races and you shake” Noè shows reactions that could cause this kind of symptom more than once around Vanitas, especially when he uses the Book to cure a vampire and when he does something reckless.
But the heart race and shaking are not always necessarily brought forth by love, but by fear too, strong excitement or happiness, and probably some more emotions that I can’t think of right now.
However we are talking about Love here, and Noè is obviously referring to love towards someone else, so those feelings, if caused by another, might be a show of the birth of a type of love (not necessarily romantic).
^ About how Noè is moved in a different way from others by Vanitas, I’d like to point out this scene in particular where Domi seems genuinely shocked by Noè reacting so strongly about Vanitas (a human he barely knows, almost dying) such strong reactions, especially of anger, must be pretty rare coming from Noè.
But getting back to the picture before this one, Noè asks why Vanitas likes Jeanne and his answer is just hilarious because most of those traits Vanitas points out are traits of Noè too!! (big bosom aside…)
lol, reminds you of anyone else? a certain country bumpkin maybe ~ hehehe
Look at Noè face. Just look at it. Doesn’t it seem weird to you? not just taken aback but .. sort of sad too?
If he had ever thought to maybe tell Vanitas those things he is felling might be love, all those thoughts flew out of his head when Vanitas said this.
Vanitas choose Noè because found him interesting. If he were to lose interest he might chase him away and Noè might not get a chance ever again to stick with him… and possibly drink his blood.
Now you might tell me, But you just said he probably thought of confessing, why are you talking about blood again?
I was not talking about a Romantic confession. I don’t think Noè love is full blown romantic love, not yet.
The thing Noè is jealous over the most is the fact that Jeanne drank Vanitas blood before he could and marked him. Maybe of their agreement too, but not of her relationships with Vanitas himself (what’s to be jealous of there? it’s completely one-sided, she hates him and that’s obvious).
I think as of now he is not fully grasping what that stirring on his chest is (like he himself said), and we might not be grasping it either, it could be just a matter of blood but I don’t think so, I think it’s more.
This is reinforced by the question Noè asked Vanitas.
Love? why did he talk about Love of all emotions? even if he is relatively ignorant on the ways of the world and often oblivious about others feelings (ex. Domi, Amelia… ) a part of his mind connected the situation he is in with the feeling of “Love”.
All of this is to say, that basically, Noè might be starting to grow feelings for Vanitas that go over interest and curiosity, he is getting attached, the more time he passes with him the more this feelings grow. It might turn into romantic love, it might not, but what is growing there is certainly a feeling of “Love” towards Vanitas as a person that could turn into romance.
I hope this made some sense xD
