(no subject)

[sythyry]

L'Apres-Sexe 2 [14 Thory 4261]

Thery isn't looking very good. Her fur is all ragged and somewhat falling out, and she spends most of every day in bed, lying on her side, taking various medicines and having various spells cast on her. Hopefully this will help her keep the pregnancy.

Thery:"That's a very nice hat, Sythyry. Quite becoming."

Me:"Not just becoming -- it has actually become!"

Thery:"Oh? Do tell?"

So I made them promise not to tell anyone, and then let them read the last few days' journal entries. They read, and then they stared at each other and indulged in secret couple communications. I hope I learn to do that ... I guess it doesn't come with just a bit of fornicatio.

Thery:"Well, how do you feel about that? I'd be insulted!"

Me:"About having an attractive Orren nobleman admire me from afar for months, and then decide to spend a great deal of money to pursue me? About having my first actual experience of interpersonal pleasures in such elegant surroundings? I am, naturally, insulted to the point of bleeding at the knees -- or, perhaps, consumed by ennui. Or scallions. That's it. Consumed by giant, carnivorous scallions."

Thery:"Zie's certainly giddy."

Yarwain:"Well, let zir enjoy it." They both nodded.

Thery:"Are you going to see him again?"

Me:"Tonight, after sunout!"

Thery:"Your usual assignation-spot?"

Me:"Meeting at Darraden's once hardly makes it usual. This will be his apartment."

Yarwain:"Much cheaper! And, from my voluminous experience copulating in various situations, I can say that it will be just as good."

Thery threw a pillow at him.

Yarwain:"Well, that is a slight exaggeration. I am wholly virginal. That's why Thery's so pregnant."

Thery threw an other pillow at him.

Thery:"Will you just fly over there?"

Me:"No -- he's pretty worried about being seen to be transaffectionate. I'll go there as his new Orren girlfriend."

Yarwain:"Do you plan to wear clothes this time?"

Me:"Well. On the way there, certainly. I shall be disappointed if I stay clothed the whole evening!"

Yarwain:"Well, enjoy!"

Thery:"Sythyry? Be careful."

Me:"I am always careful. I bear a talisman from my famous grandparent that can protect me against Insects of Agony Consume Your Flesh a thousand times over. Or ... I'm not supposed to talk about it much."

Thery:"I don't think he'll attack you. Just be careful, OK?"

Me:"I doubt that any worse shall happen than occasional periods of pleasant exhaustion, in the short term. In the long term, well, all my friends are mortals, and most of you aren't even trying to do anything about it, so I'm going to have to get used to you dying on me anyways."

Thery:"Sorry, sorry. Forget I said anything."

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Thery doesn't sound like she's doing very well... is she absolutely sure that using all these medicines together is *helping* her?

If this is the sort of thing that all her family does when they get pregnant, I have to wonder if their base affliction is hypochondria. o.O

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

From what I hear, it's the safest thing that can be done. She, like her mother and grandmother (who died in childbirth) and great-grandmother (who died in childbirth), has a structural flaw in the muscles and, um, structural bits, on the front of her womb. I don't know much biology. Some good doctors looked at her with some good spells, though, and we mostly figure they do know much biology.

Unfortunately, this isn't the sort of thing that magic is good at fixing. Healoc won't work very well -- it'll tend to restore Thery to her original or natural state, which is (1) with the structural flaw, and (2) not pregnant.

They considered some magical surgery, using Mutoc magic to turn the muscles and stuff into the right shape. That's inherently dangerous though .. pretty much begging Gnarn to stare at the baby, for one thing.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

'Inherently dangerous' to rhyme with 'terrifying,' when you put it that way.

[striderhlc.livejournal.com]

Would it, theoretically, be possible to use Mutoc Corpador at some point before she became pregnant to solve the problem? Would that have the same problem, or perhaps the problems you discussed earlier about Dustweed using Mutoc Corpador to conceal zir gender?

I'd ask you to send along my best regards, but somehow I don't think being told "Oh, by the way, Thery, a bunch of monsters send their best wishes" would be all that reassuring. :)

- HC

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Yes and no...

Some Mutoc approaches are a good idea. Thery's mother had them done, and she is still alive, perhaps as a result. Some other Mutoc approaches that sound sensible are not a good idea: Thery's great-grandmother had them done, and died in childbirth, perhaps as a result. (Spells to strengthen muscles, in particular, seem to be a bad idea.)

Medical magic is more advanced, though. Thery is wearing bound spells that will work to temporarily heal the sorts of ruptures that killed her grandmother and great-grandmother.

I do not know all the details. Thery discussed them briefly once, a few months ago, and is not talking about them anymore. I do not blame her.

And, yes, I think I should be a bit careful with the regards. "My distant friends and correspondants are wishing you well" seems like a better phrase than "Extradimensional monsters hope you spawn successfully."

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Extradimensional monsters hope you spawn successfully.

I could swear I had an icon of the Lament Configuration around here someplace...

[striderhlc.livejournal.com]

"My distant friends and correspondants are wishing you well" seems like a better phrase than "Extradimensional monsters hope you spawn successfully."

Indeed.

Now, where did I leave my copy of To Serve Rassimel?

- HC