#fvafs

I want to get this theory out and on paper before reading/finishing Zoey Is Too Drunk for this Dystopia. This will reference plot points from the first two books in the series and contain nothing from the third.

I believe the ultimate arc of the Zoey Ashe series is her slide into villainy. And that this will happen without her internally feeling like a more callous or bad person. It will be an example of the political idea that there is no ethical way to be a billionaire, and that privilege inherently corrupts in a way that can't be fixed by putting a "good person" into power.

In the first book, Zoey doesn't want Athur's money, power or privilege. She's forced into situations at the threat of her life, and spends 99% of the book just trying to survive. At the end, it's only vaguely hinted she might stick around instead of just going back home. But there's scenes and hints of her changing things- like the pizza scene in squatterville. It's something of a left-leaning/liberal power fantasy. If a poor (or at least "average") person got access to billions of dollars, they'd fix the system, they'd be more humane, they'd use that power for good.

Then there's book two. And arguably, Zoey is fixing things. She's a lot less directly violent in her business than Arthur ever was. She's arranging public transit for folks who need it. She's divesting from unethical practices.

Except.

The entire point of the book is how much bigger the machine is than her. There's a running joke (/not a joke) that Zoey owns several businesses without knowing what they are or what they do. That her innocuous actions (like asking about a noise in the AC) have drastic ripple effects. She's doing better than Arthur, but hey, Arthur's dad was even worse...

I see the opening scene (and the conversation with Shae afterwards) as super critical to this. The young woman is as terrified of being in the Livingston house as Zoey was in book 2 (this is explicitly stated). And Zoey tries to reassure her with all the things the reader knows/is likely to think at this point: Will isn't that bad, they're trying to improve things compared to Arthur. But critically, Shae doesn't buy into it. As she points out, Will is still terrifying to the average person (and not seeing that says something about Zoey). And in terms of cleaning up the business, Zoey has kept the suits around, AKA the people that did all of the worst things for Arthur. After all, as Zoey points out, they're the ones that know how to run things...

Not much changes from their general dynamic at the end of the book. Will is still "a robot programmed by an asshole" more often than not and Zoey is still obstinate whenever she can be, but there's a significant amount of progress in their attempts to communicate.

Zoey practices the coin trick and absolutely sucks at it if she doesn't mumble the steps out loud, but instead found out that she's pretty good at juggling. Will has had to deal with an increasing amount of juggling balls, pins, and fake knives being left all over the mansion because Zoey still gets lost a lot and likes having practice equipment available at all times.

Will has gotten somewhat used to the life of luxury over the years. Zoey vehemently refuses to whenever she can. It has lead to a large amount of arguments, but more often than not, Will has to agree with Zoey that the holograms are stupid and no one really needs solid gold statues of themselves in every room when that money could be used for so many things. Zoey, on the other hand, now has worked past her guilt about not eating stuff that's expired but technically still edible and is eventually convinced to splurge a bit more on clothes and luxury items.

Zoey still insists on throwing a massive amount of money into various projects to help poor people in both Tabula Ra$a and areas outside of it. Will brings up various points about what other items/actions will be needed for Zoey's plans to work and she adjusts accordingly. They make a surprisingly efficient team for balancing between cynicism and idealism.

Yes I still think that every now and then they both get drunk and talk about their backstories and Arthur a lot. Will was a tad over-attached and Zoey is still bitter and they both feel like there was a lot Arthur should have told them before his death.

A large amount of the men that hurt Zoey and her mother in the past have mysteriously gone missing or have been caught dead in 'accidents'. Will denies any and all intervention but there's suddenly 30k less in a few of the accounts he can access.

Zoey insists on making coffee whenever she can, both out of habit and to help. Will has yet to give in to the idea of trying a different type of coffee than his usual, but he's the only one who always notices her latte art (the ones she makes for everyone else) and is privately impressed by the level of detail in it.

They're the only ones who have no problems being each other's fake dates for big ceremonies (at least, during the events themselves). Will doesn't make crude comments or leer at Zoey no matter what she's dressed in, and Zoey helps Will tamp down the black cloud of death when they have to socialize and not scare away the other guests.

Zoey does her best to maintain what she can around the mansion (or at least the parts she's in most often). This extends to making sure the team's offices and rooms are in good shape and as much aid as possible. She remembers people's preferences a lot faster than they think. Will is pleasantly surprised that she knows exactly which brand of pens he likes, where everything on his desk goes, and what times of day he's more and less productive.

Will helps Zoey figure out a lot of the more hi-tech stuff that doesn't need to be so hi-tech. They lose about three days to figuring out how to operate the shower and another two to helping Zoey make a 'normal shower' setting and keep it as the default.

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