milliways_bar | (no subject)

"A-heh," says Ray after a bit. "That, uh... that could be trouble, yeah. Whoo."

He sits back in his chair, looking just a bit embarrassed.

"You, um, wanna talk about it?" he offers after a while.

She pushes her nearly empty plate away and leans her elbows on the table. "It's just...how the hell am I supposed to know if I have that or not. I mean, any sexual desire at this point is abnormal for me. Though Mother told us it's rather powerful when it does come. Probably because 'the end is near' so to speak..."

She sighs. "I ran into a person last night. Lobo. Powerful, impressive being. He made a few...suggestions." She runs her hands through her hair. "I didn't even know the man and I was seriously considering taking him up on it."

Ray has the brief and unsettling image of having to tap-dance across a minefield.

"Okay. Um. Let's start with this much... from what little I know of the condition, when they first defined it, they were pointing it at pretty much any overt interest a woman had in anything to do with sex. This is an old Victorian term from what I remember and it was from a time when proper women were supposed to consider the whole thing disgusting and a necessary evil at best. It's been updated since then, but I'm kind of suspicious of any diagnosis that begins with a term like that."

"Second..."

This would be the land mine part.

"Okay. Second.

"If you're really finding that much appeal in guys you don't even know, then… then I think we probably need to see about helping you find some boundaries you can live with. I mean, I don't know how it is for merfolk in general, but for humans this is a pretty big thing we're talking about. Lots of psychological stuff gets tied into that kind of activity for us. Some people approach it pretty casually and don't think it's a very big deal- they think it's basically a form of entertainment that doesn't require buying a ticket or paying a licensing fee. Other people don't approach it that way- I tend to think it's more than a little more important than that, myself. But it takes a hell of a lot of getting used to, either way, and you really do have to keep in mind that whatever you wind up deciding there's almost certainly going to be mental and emotional consequences. Um, have I burst into flame yet? Because it feels like I’m going to at some point really soon."

Naraht bites her lip. "I see...well, my concern was more for why they would choose that particular creature to name it for. Even if it's not a legitimate thing to diagnose a human with, you have to wonder about the name link. However, if they were as sloppy with studying their mythology as they were with psychological diagnosis in the first place..." She shrugs.

At the second point she nods. "I talked with Guppy about this earlier. He suggested I might want to find someone nice to have a strictly short-term relationship with. Maybe keep things down to a low roar that way. But, you're right, anything I do choose is going to have consequences. Possibly long term consequences."

She looks up at him now and giggles. "No flames but your ears are a most interesting shade. Magenta, maybe?"

"Oh. Well. Greek mythology." Ray shrugs. "The Greeks believed nymphs- mostly the woodland ones- were flighty, naked things with no real sense of self control and a tendency to wander off with any male who managed to catch them. I might point out that a lot of their myths had a strong misogynist streak, since the male embodiment of uncontrolled sexual desire was the satyr, who had goat or horse legs and other animal features, whereas nymphs were mostly just pretty women. The Greeks really weren't very good at that kind of thing- some of them were of the opinion that only men had souls, for example. And a lot of them believed that the only pure love could only exist between men and adolescent boys. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

He ducks his head, trying to resist the urge to cover his ears with his hands. "About what I expected... I'm sorry, I'm not much good at this kind of thing. Especially with someone I'm trying really, really hard to think of as my little sister on the grounds that then I don't have to let the other stuff affect me. Although if you fall into the 'sibling' category, that means that socially speaking, if anyone hurts you emotionally then I get to feed them their own teeth, or at least try to."

"Well...the flighty bit might be true," she says reluctantly. "Where I would normally brood for hours, I find my thoughts flowing to more pleasant topics automaticly. It takes a bit of willpower for me to focus on this for very long. And my self-control seems to be holding...at least for now."

Naraht has an incredible urge to hug Ray but manages to restrain herself. It's hard but she does it, remembering last night's encounter with Raven.

"Well, hatchmate-in-spirit," she says with a twinkle in her eye which does say that she'd rather be hugging right now but is trying to be good. "Thanks...I guess. I suppose this means I'd better steer clear of that Lobo fellow. Somehow, I don't think you trying to feed him his teeth would go very well."

Ray smiles a little; he might not be much good at body language in most people, but he's putting forth a little effort here, and that helps. "No, probably not," he admits. "If he's the Lobo I know of, then the only being who could do that is Kal-El of Krypton. Maybe."

And then a thought occurs to him. Or something does. He's not the sort to suddenly have the color spread from his ears to his face without a very good reason.

Of course, the part where his forehead is firmly against the table might make it hard to tell.

Confused blinking on Naraht's part.

"Ummm...something wrong?"

Ray shakes his head. "No, I just... I thought of... something. That's all."

Naraht bends down to and tries to catch a glimps of Ray's expression since he hasn't taken his head off the table yet. "Can you tell me what it is or should I just finish my breakfast like a good little sea nymph and go swimming?"

She knows it must be something either uncomfortable or embarassing or both...but she's dying to know all the same.

Ray props up his head just enough to make eye contact. "There are ways of getting some of those urges out of the way without actually involving another person," he says, his face a flaming red. "Any of the books mention that?"

"Ummm...yes..."

Cue the flaming cheeks on the mermaid.

"Okay. Then I don't need to go into detail," says Ray. "I just... remembered this one store in Manhattan. Well, more of a museum gift shop, really."

The last time he looked this bad he had just realized he was about to tell Yoda about the 'no sex or naked in bar' rule.

"Some of the devices they were selling to help with that were waterproof."

She nods as she thinks this over. Intellectually, it appeals...but that new part of her is going What the hell?! It's not supposed to be that way!

Then she catches her reflection in one of the many reflective surfaces around the Bar. She's just as red as Ray...and she bursts out laughing.

Thunk goes the head. It's just easier that way.

She tries to control it. She really does.

"I'm sorry, Ray!" she gasps out between guffaws. "See what I mean about the flightyness?"

"Well," says Ray, propping his head up again, "there are worse fates. I mean, at least you're not prophesying doom or something."

And at least he's turning less red than before.

"No, right now, all I prophesy is a long swim," she says, polishing off her last bit of waffle. "My gills are getting dry so I'd better get going. Thanks for the help, Ray. I'll see you later."

Ray nods. "Take care," he says. "I might be coming out to the lake at some point soon myself."