Crack Pairings II - Brain Bleach not Supplied

[Water-Smurf]

I hate flu. But at least I am able to stay awake for longer than five minutes now.

How would Xykon and/or Redcloak react if/when they find out that little Reddy got V knocked up? What about the Order? I can think of a plethora of amusing/horrifying/incredulous reactions, but I'm not sure which one fits best. Opinions?

Aaah, after the person and the scientist, we have the healer and the dwarf. You love duality doncha?

Yeah, I do. :) It's an easy way of showing the many facets of a character and give life to indecision. It's a little trick I picked up when I was trying to figure out how to deal with Vaarsuvius and Redcloak (because are there any OotS characters with more duality than those two? ).

I'd imagine the grammar slip-ups are intentional.

This. Stephen King is fond of this trick (or at least he used it a lot in It) and I find it to be fun to play with. I don't think I've ever screwed with spelling outside of dialog or inner monologues, though...

You don't know me very well. I'd be fascinated.

*looks up in interest* I have a tendency to go on long lectures, especially about my writing.

(She says as if it's not obvious.)

It's supposed to be squicky, and you write it very well.

I find I do uncomfortable psycho-squick and darkness well. 'Tis my specialty. Thankies.

I think it's probably still within the rules. It's not like you're making fun of serious issues, just exploring them realistically and in moderation.

Yeah, but I'm wondering if it's okay to put stuff like this on the boards. I mean, we're not allowed to swear, so are we allowed to put weird scenes about parents not understanding that the 'time to stop touching the kids so much' phase has come and gone?

And I only just noticed it, but I love the way the three trance memories flow into one another.

I was wondering if someone would notice that.

From what I've gathered, in Greek mythology Morpheus was the god of dreams, Phobetor was his brother, the god of nightmares (along with Phantasos, god of fantasies... you plan on using that somewhere, Water-Smurf? :D). Hence, "In the Arms of (the god of) Dreams" and "Curse of (the god of) Nightmares".

Ikelus is Phobetor's "true" name, how he was known to other gods.

This. I usually only make references to relatively well-known stuff (or at least stuff that's well-known enough to be spouted by my dad, which come to think of it, tends to be really obscure). 'In the Arms of Morpheus' has a bunch of meanings--the literal one Kaytara pointed out, the interpretation that it means to be daydreaming, and the most widely-used sense in that it means to be asleep. It's an idiom. Phantasos, Phobetor, and Ikelus are all much more obscure, but since I'm obsessed with Greek myths, I have no issues with burrowing into them.

One version is this: Phantasos is the god of really surreal dreams (like 'flying on cotton candy stars upside down with rhinos blowing raspberries from the sky and blowing giant feather bubbles' surreal). Phobetor is the god of nightmares, and he's the place where 'phobia' comes from. Ikelus (this guy has way too many versions of him flying around) is the god of dreams so realistic that you actually think it's happening. Morpheus is the big brother of the group, chosen by their father Hypno and all that, and is the god of all dreams collectively. They're known as the Oneiroi. I'm working with this idea. (And no news on Phantasos. No spoilers now. )

And that's my lecture about that.

Spoiler

Show

Awww... Suvie's so nervous...

Really nice chapter though...Though you'd think that V's parents would, you know, tell her beforehand...

Prepare yourself for another long-winded rant.

That's actually a key thing, that they don't tell her things even though they're willing to show her things. Their way of dealing with V and showing her the world is damaging in the way that it's the wrong approach for V specifically, but they don't realize that. They believe in finding things out in the natural way and through observation (you learn it better than if someone tells you and so on), and because of this, Vaarsuvius has seen things like sex and intimacy, but has no clue what they are. She has no context to put things in, so she goes through gut instinct. That is why she depends so much on hard knowledge in the future. Her parents provided so little that it has become ridiculously valuable. Aarindarius is more like her so he dealt with her in a more effective way, making learning and magic more comforting than the wild nature that her parents tried to raise her in.

And, since little Suvie didn't have any friends and Aarindarius assumed that her parents actually told her stuff like this, anything new about her body comes as a really frightening surprise. Puberty in general is a mystery and she really doesn't have any idea why she is changing ("Parent, why is my chest swelling? Do I have an infection?" "Oh, it's perfectly natural, Suvie! You'll grow up to be like me!" "...That didn't answer my question."), a fact that Aarindarius remedies as soon as he realizes it.

Because of the fact that her own body was a mystery to her for so long, she gets self-conscious about it and tends to detach herself from it, leading up to a sense of no physical identity. (Why else would she be so unconcerned with dramatic gender/appearance changes in herself and others?)

And before I go on, I shall turn the rant off. I hope you enjoyed the lecture, class, and I've written your homework on the board for you to copy down.

@ Water-Smurf, I absolutely adore your story and mad writing skillz, and hardly can wait another update. There can never be enough V-centered hurt/comfort.

And you managed to inspire me to doodle something, which is rare these days:

Spoiler

Show

I'm flattered, really.

It's a lovely picture. Poor V looks so pathetic and sad! I just want to wrap hir up in a blanket and give her soup. Or something along those lines.

Jesus Christ, my message is getting long! But I guess that that's only to be expected. Thanks to everyone who was nice to me about being sick--the infirmary at my school feels a bit like an asylum/hospital straight out of Silent Hill, so any form of comfort was nice.

And thanks to everyone who gave edits! Those are always appreciated! :D

*scuttles off to edit next chapter before posting*