A SAVAGE LAND FOR A SAVAGE NIGHT

[professorlionface]

WHO: EVERYONE OF ALL AGES
WHERE: The Xavier Institute
WHEN: June 15th, early evening to all night long!
WARNINGS: Who knows! Language is likely, violence is possible, dancing is mandatory.
SUMMARY: prom night prom night gotta get down on prom night
FORMAT: MINGLE

As you enter through the doors of the Danger Room, the sound of cicadas chirping clues you into your arrival to a tropical paradise. Red and orange lights show a room transformed, vines all along the walls and trees that seem to reach the beyond the ceiling. There's no doubt now, you're deep in the heart of the jungle. You can almost feel the heat of a distant volcano, the humidity wafting in from a river just outside, but that's only your imagination. Luckily, someone had the foresight to bring an exterminator into this jungle beforehand, as there isn't a bug in sight.

Fierce papier mache dinosaurs look down on your throughout the room, some perhaps planning their next meal, others regarding the intruders to their home with something not unlike fear. From the stage, the gleaming jaws of a downed Tyrannosaurus look on at the partiers, hungry even in its taxidermied stated.

But there's one ornament that stands above them all: the mirrored surface of what appears to be a pterodactyl man, reflecting the lights all across the room in ways most disco balls only wish they could.

Welcome to the Savage Land. Hope you survive the experience!

quick links!
DANCE FLOOR
REFRESHMENTS
SIDELINES
OUTSIDE

Comments

[shipper]

Yeah. Sometimes I think that maybe there's stuff that's easier to tell people that way instead of just saying it.

[she looks thoughtful for a moment. it's stupid, but she can't help but wonder if maybe things with Karkat would have gone differently if she'd confessed through a mural]

[professorlionface]

[He scratches his neck thoughtfully.]

You know, I've never really thought to try. But then, I hardly consider myself an artist, either. I've never done more than dabble, at best.

[shipper]

Well, you'll nefur get any better if you don't purractice. And even if you're not very good it's really relaxing to do.

[professorlionface]

That's advice I think we could all agree with. Art can be used as an effective means of therapy, after all.

[shipper]

Therapy? [she cocks her head to the side, curious. therapy doesn't really exist in troll culture]

[professorlionface]

[He figures that she just doesn't know about artistic applications of it.]

Oh, yes! As you said, it can be very relaxing, but it's also what we were discussing earlier, art as communication. Some of those things communicated may not be entirely conscious, but practicing through art can at times bring them into light.

It can also help to exercise emotions that aren't being expressed elsewhere, for whatever reason.

[shipper]

[her eyes narrow in deepening confusion. this is sounding an awful lot like feelings jams in a healthy pale relationship...]

That does sound purretty useful. Who does that sort of thing when somebody needs it?

[professorlionface]

Hmm. Generally I would think a therapist who specializes in the practice. I think both areas would be necessary for it, the capacity of art instruction and the knowledge in psychology.

[shipper]

So they...pay someone to help them figure out their purroblems? [oh my god whaaaat]

[professorlionface]

Sometimes? Other times it might be someone else paying in certain circumstances. But ultimately I suppose the point is, yes, the person is paid.

[shipper]

[OH GROSS IT'S MOIRAIL PROSTITUTION

Nepeta tries to be polite because...cultural differences...but her face crinkles up like she's just gotten wind of a bad smell regardless]

Oh. That's purretty interesting! We don't really have anything like that back home.

[professorlionface]

[He's getting a bit of a mixed signal here.]

They didn't really go for that sort of thing on your world?

[shipper]

No, not at all. If somebody had purroblems that they couldn't work out themselves then they'd just go to their moirail. They didn't have to pay anyone to help them.

[it just seems so impersonal to Nepeta. how can they really help you if they're only doing it for money?]

[professorlionface]

Well, as I said, they won't necessarily be the paying party. But someone will be. And it does help, having someone who understands the processes of the mind and can keep an objective opinion of your situation puts things in a perspective you might not be able to achieve yourself.

[And it's worked for him, usually.] What's a moirail, exactly?

[shipper]

[Nepeta's mouth quirks thoughtfully. she's still not really comfortable with the idea that humans won't help each other unless they're being paid, but now she's also trying to think of a way to describe moirallegiance]

It's kind of like that, except it's just one purrson and they don't do it beclaws anyone paid them to. They're your ofur half and they know you better than you know yourself, and they keep you grounded and from making big dumb mistakes.

[professorlionface]

Ah.

That sounds...decidedly more intimate.

[shipper]

Well, yeah. [she grips her other elbow, gaze slightly askance] It is a romance, after all.

[professorlionface]

Hmm. [He screws up his mouth, chewing on his lip pensively.] I suppose that would make the difference.

Humans don't really see it that way. I don't think most people intend to develop an emotional connection with their therapist beyond trust. It's more about health than love, for both parties.

[shipper]

That's so sad. [she frowns involuntarily. the idea of going through life without the intense emotional connection of a moirail is tragic to Nepeta]

How do they efur help anyone if they're not connected? They can't pawsibly know them well enough.

[professorlionface]

As I said, the trust is still important, vital even. They get to know them by hearing about what's going on in their life, the problems they're facing and the like.

They're trained to interpret these matters and treat them from there. There isn't really anything sad about it.

[shipper]

It just seems really impurrsonal to me. [she shrugs, still unconvinced] But I guess it's just not as impurrtant to you guys? It's purretty weird to think about stuff like that not being a romance, haha.

[professorlionface]

That's perhaps a result of the professionalism it's approached with. But yes, we tend to keep our romances separate from our therapy.

Those close to you can make some contribution to your overall mental health, but I would generally consider it unfair to make them the sole foundation of it.

[shipper]

I don't think it's really unfur if they're ok with it. I mean, they're the ones who know you best!

[even if she wouldn't go around spreading her pale needs on more than one person - that's cheating! but in a human context it seems a little more natural]

[professorlionface]

Perhaps. But I'm not entirely certain that will always mean they're the ones in the best position to help you.

[shipper]

I don't think there's really anything that's going to be an always furever, but they're a purretty good start!