#but then again we've had cats in the past who have remained active well into seniority so it's kind of the luck of the draw

[supercantaloupe]

the thing is while i would desperately love to have a little kitty cat in my apartment to keep me company and taking care of a creature would probably help me keep on top of my self and home care routines, i think i am just too busy and stressed and have too little time to take care of a cat rn on top of everything else i have to do at work school and home

[vickyvicarious]

He was still in the strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone from his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading—I might almost say, "cringing"—softness. I was satisfied with his present condition, and directed him to be relieved. [...] It was soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated even in the mind of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I do not follow his thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in common with him, so that we are, as it were, to stand together; or has he to gain from me some good so stupendous that my well-being is needful to him? I must find out later on. To-night he will not speak. Even the offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat will not tempt him. [...] I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went. Happy thought! We shall to-night play sane wits against mad ones. He escaped before without our help; to-night he shall escape with it. We shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to follow in case they are required….

More of Seward being an absolute disaster today. Like, it's possible to see his train of thought... it's just very subjective and personal and super unethical.

He doesn't release Renfield from the padded room/straightjacket until the man is performing subservience for him again. Sure, it's also that he's not being actively violent, but the way he says "he was cringing, I was satisfied" leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

When Renfield goes "ha, as if I could ever hurt you" Seward is flattered. His hurt feelings of yesterday/a week ago (timeline weirdness!) are soothed. However, he tries to remain more objective and analyze why he gets special treatment now. He doesn't really like the idea that Renfield feels any commonality with him; this is something we've seen Seward quite conscious of in the past, his own atypical mind and how it may be close to 'madness'. He wonders also if Renfield is just trying to get something from him. In the past he's not quite realized just how successfully Renfield has manipulated him, and it's kind of hilarious how Seward's immediate impulse here is to offer up what he thinks Renfield wants. If the guy were still trying for a cat, he'd be on the right track it seems.

But also, the fact that Seward offered a full-grown cat is really alarming. In the past, he did bring that up first, yes. But it was in the context of Renfield asking for a kitten, Seward promising nothing, but inquiring if he would rather have the adult. He never actually made any offers, and in fact that was his line in the sand that ended up halting the initial animal cultivation experiments. He refused to give a cat or kitten, thinking that would be going too far - though he was tempted for a cause to justify it. Here, he just makes the offer for either one! No cause in sight!

And at the end, he makes another wildly unprofessional choice to give Renfield the opportunity to escape to see what he will do. Quite aside from the fact that he's not supposed to be allowing patients to run away, Seward himself begins the both the main entry and this later part by saying Renfield was violent for days (three in this later bit - should this be two separate entries and we are missing a week, then three more days, or was Stoker considering only a 3-day gap from yesterday? timeline weirdness! but regardless, it's still been days). Sure, he's calmer by night and that's when he plans to release him, but this is opening up himself to potential legal trouble as well as Renfield/potential passersby to physical danger (or even himself or the attendants; Renfield is a strong guy and who knows if he might fight back harder this time or pick up a weapon). He's also treating Renfield like nothing but an experiment, with no consideration for things such as how the last time he got out and went to the chapel his mental health took an immediate and prolonged dive. He's not treating Renfield like a person. And for all he's veered dramatically towards seeing him as a potential threat in the past, he's not treating him like one either here.

It's something he absolutely should not be doing in any way. And yet... he wants to know, so he's doing it. Just like he wanted to see if Renfield would respond to better bribery, so he just casually stepped over the line he'd drawn to offer him a cat. Even if he never intended to actually deliver on that offer, making it was cruel and showed his morals aren't really affecting his decision-making much at all right now. And that's only further proven by the release-and-catch plan. Sure, he doesn't actually intend for Renfield to really get away (they'll be right there to catch him) - but that's already going way, way too far.

Seward doesn't mention his own sleep this entry, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not slept properly or even at all in days. Not that that's an excuse, but... I can't imagine he isn't sleep-deprived to hell during all this.