[Open post] Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting.

[doctor_pascal]

Over the past few weeks, Pascal has been obsessively reading, noting, compiling. His teaching sessions with Fuchsia brought on some curiosity about organ transplants. From there, he stumbled into some disturbing reports which have kept him awake at night, disturbed his sleep and eating habits

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[drownedfuchsia]

If Pascal is obsessively reading about depravity, cowardice, deadly viruses, madness, clearly, there is only one solution.

Fuchsia Groan.

Doctor Pascal's attempted to let her do something useful which Fuchsia doesn't feel she's had the chance for in the past. There's Titus as the exception, but Titus is always the exception.

So, it might be possible for Fuchsia to cheer him up.

"What's that?" Or she could ask about the crowbar.

[doctor_pascal]

If there's one person Pascal wouldn't want to distress with stories of reanimated corpses, it's probably Mademoiselle Fuchsia. That's probably Pascal closes his book and turns it face down so that the title won't be visible.

"-- Oh, only some silly stories, Mademoiselle," he replies as he stands to bow politely. "Have you been well?"

Aaaaaaaand we do have them in an older post - did you have thoughts on it, should we wrap that one up, or?

There was a tag there, I swear IDK where it went!

[drownedfuchsia]

"I like silly stories and I have been well," in her typical way, she flounces into a nearby chair.

"I've been reading."

Seriously, I tagged that post, on my phone. I did! IDK why -- IDK, but yes, wrapping them up sometime soon would be good.

Must have gone to Narnia, I hear they have good parties there...

[doctor_pascal]

Pascal musters a smile for Fuchsia, sits as well, if properly.

"Oh? What have you been reading, pray tell?"

He's happy to make her talk rather than talk about his own disturbing investigations.

It ate Turkish Delight and stayed, apparently.

[drownedfuchsia]

"I've been reading a book about people." She means physiology, a very simple book.

"Did you know that more than half of our bodies is made up of water?"

It certainly made her look at her bath differently.

OMG NOW I WANT SOME.

[doctor_pascal]

That's the best reflexion on water we've read in a long, long time.

"... indeed," Pascal replies. "That is why staying hydrated is so important," he says, a bit lamely.

Rule #3240 of literature: beware Turkish Delight!

[drownedfuchsia]

Fuchsia's always had an interesting way of looking at things.

"You can drink it in, but if you sit in it, the water flows out of you," Fuchsia waves her fingers, which are still a little pruny from a long bath. "Our bodies make no sense, I'm afraid to say."

She says it as if she expects him to do something about it.

Oh, is that rule #3240? I thought it was rule 4320! I fail at numbers.

[doctor_pascal]

Pascal smiles indulgently. "Oh, I see," he says. "Allow me a small correction," he ventures. "It is not that your body has lost water, have no fear. Not at all. It is only that when hands are soaked in water, the keratin absorbs it and swells. The inside of the fingers, however, does not swell. As a result, there is relatively too much stratum corneum and it wrinkles, just like a gathered skirt. This bunching up occurs on fingers and toes because the epidermis is much thicker on the hands and feet than elsewhere on the body."

He might have gotten a bit carried away.

Rule #4320 is that if your name is in the title followed by the word tragedy: you will die

[drownedfuchsia]

Fuchsia nods, and goes back to examining her fingers. "Epidermis is skin." She repeats -- it's also one of the things she's genuinely learned. "And there's more of it for a while."

There's a very creepy thought that if everything she's been told by Titus is true, she wonders if there would've been more of her when pulled from the moat.

Oh, right! I totally forgot about that one. What rule is the one about boy meets girl again?

[doctor_pascal]

Pascal nods, and amends. "Some components of it," he explains. "This of it as... a sponge with an uneven texture."

That's rule 486. That's not to be confused with rule 684: never tickle a sleeping dragon.

[drownedfuchsia]

Fuchsia's playing a little with her dress. It's sort of a practical realization of his earlier analogy.

But as Fuchsia isn't at one of her lessons, she doesn't feel the need to stay focused, well continuously focused. Thus, she reaches toward something Pascal might have handy.

Rule 864 is --- about not shaving hobbit's feet, isn't it? I always get those two confused...

[doctor_pascal]

What Pascal has handy is a book called World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War. And he instinctively reaches to snatch it from Fuchsia, because she really should not be reading that.

"--- I'm sorry --"

Yes, but don't confuse it with 8064: Don't show Fuchsia Groan zombie books

[drownedfuchsia]

"I'm sorry," she rushes to say, almost mimicking his tone.

"Why?"

Oh dear, indeed. Though thankfully this one isn't illustrated at least.

[doctor_pascal]

"Because --" and Pascal then scrambles for a lie, "--- it is very personal."

At least we won't be near rule 8065: Beware Fyoosh in a temper

[drownedfuchsia]

"Oh," and, of course, Fuchsia knows better than to ask about personal things.

"Why?"

Knowing and doing are different things.

That's a good rule to be far from. Similar to this, rule 7895: destroy his research, Pascal eats you

[doctor_pascal]

"I'm afraid it is personal in nature," Pascal rephrases.

Just in case it works.