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Published: 2014-03-29 16:37:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 17669; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 378
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The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .***********************************************
To be human, Jervil realized, meant to lack an awareness of self. Just like with the worms and rats his other fragments had possessed, people fought a daily struggle against death and non-existence, but where the lesser creatures' self awareness ended at that struggle, human beings' awareness began with it. As a result, humans were constantly seeking in their world for evidence of their own selves, reflections of who and what they were. They adorned their environment, their bodies, and their minds with these symbols to constantly reassure themselves that they simply were and then to allow them some rest from that endless search.
Watching the young noblewoman on her journey through the city toward her new role, Jervil saw in Drea one who could perhaps see through those symbols to something deeper--he wondered if those symbols upon which she leaned were stripped away, what would be left behind? It was a question that was worth pursuing, if not with the new Magistrate, then perhaps with other subjects. And with Maladyne's legacy hanging in the balance, much work would need to be done.
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So, we'll spill a little more, and a little more, and a little more, and a little more, and a little more...
Drea was drawn using the references provided by an anonymous stock model, for which I'm very grateful.
Enjoy!
Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.
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Comments: 28
So...Just because the possessed rat-man has his own identity confusion, he assumes it's okay to impose such crisis on others to satisfy his morbid curiosity? *That's* what half this rationale is about? 
Love Drea's expression of keeping a straight face for the public, but the edge of uncertainty hinted in her eyes, fitting for someone just entering office...
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She's lovely, nicely done.
And an interesting take on the mind of a rat that thinks he's a man.
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Some pretty interesting observations from a ratmonster.
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"I AM RATMAN"
Shadow lover by day, woman abductor by night.
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So does that mean Ratman is robbin'?
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well, Luther could pass as Commissioner Gordon.
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I was thinking something else, that's probably not appropriate too accuse a noble woman of being....
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This is absolutely fascinating stuff.
The fact that Jervil had discovered a particular cause for interest in the young would-be magistrate, even at the very start of her term, adds a whole new weight and complexity to their interactions, especially Jervil's half of their dialogue. It also begs the question as to whether the whole process of Drea's dual quickening, from her arrival in the Shadow Court, to the quickening, to her eventual capture (and transformation?) by the carpet constrictor was actually a single elaborate trap, keyed specifically by her use of the Spear of Retribution to disable the wards, avoid the net, and open the doors.
The eventual loss of the Spear would thus be pivotal for Jervil's explorations, for that would signal the stripping away, not only of her clothing (yayyy!!), but also of her ability to control and rely on those symbols, of which the Spear was the most obvious and powerful. Stunned, powerless to resist, she 'd be in the perfect state of mind and body for whatever experience was tantalizingly suggested by the last few lines of Coils of Fate page 128. The possibility of the pre-ordained nature of this whole process lends an entirely Jeff-like play on words to the title of that chapter, in that she was as fated to encounter the coils, as she was to have her fate transformed by them.
On another note, I really like the wide-eyed innocence, perhaps mixed with fear, in the expression of the obviously much younger Drea. Even though she is only seven years younger here, there's a whole world of harsh challenge she has not yet faced. Of course, there's another world of harsh challenge that the older Drea has yet to face, and I can certainly think of one or two beyond myself who are itching to discover what that world contains.
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Huh, so this whole mess could have been avoided if either Anjerome or Theonius had bothered to expose Jervil to some Descartes. A little First Philosophy might do him some good! Cogito ergo sum, baby!
The rat chuckled and clucked "What a great ratty trick! With this Anjerome beard, I'll look just like that dick!"
"All I need are some damsels..."
the rat looked around.
But since damsels are scarce, there were none to be found.
Did that stop the old rat...?
No! The rat simply said,
"If I can't find some damsels, I'll get some instead!"
So he turned to Descartes, but the longer he read,
he deserved a big "L" on the front of his head.
And the rat, with his rat feet ice-cold on the floor,
Stood puzzling and puzzling. "What's it all for?"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the rat thought of something he hadn't before.
"Maybe Descartes," he thought, "was just a big bore.
"Maybe Descartes...perhaps...just makes me snore!"
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I laugh, therefore I am.
Somewhere between Dr. Seuss, Rene' Descartes, H.P. Lovecraft, Larry Flynt, and Sesame Street, we're going to answer the deeper questions of demonic life...
Wonderfully and creatively paraphrased! Thank you.
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Looking very good
Still get her off that high horse 
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The next time we see her in these pages she'll be in a very different situation. 
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Interesting bit of insight there into why at least some of the women we've seen were 'recruited' by Jervil, especially given where they are now. I had been wondering about that because, outside of Valerin, none of them seemed to have any interest in the Harbinger.
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Yep. That's a big part of the situation--devoted to the Harbinger or not, why do they end up there? I'm glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the comment!
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Much as I enjoyed Elina's 'browsing' sequence for everything we learned, I do sort of feel the pieces of the puzzle really locking together in the last several pages, actually ... at least, the 'Jervil' puzzle. The story becomes much more powerful once there are motives in place, really liking where you're taking it.
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Thank you! A few more pages still to go, and Drea's big "what the hell happened to me?" scene is coming up.
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watch out princess, your idolize got you a stalker!
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I am sure he just wants her to give him a autograph
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He picked the wrong princess though, got a spear in the chest.
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I'm surprised Jervil would have such a low opinion of humans after being taught everything he knows by Theonius and Anjerome. I like where this is going though.
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Thanks! I don't think that, from his point of view, that is a low opinion. More importantly, and as you suggest, in everything he learned from Anjerome, Jervil did pick up one very interesting characteristic, suggested on the next page.
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