Jane Brinker

Finished reading: Quinngali, Chapter 4

This morning, I decided to give back to the community by giving blood. However, I wonder if I'm getting a little too thick in the arms to give blood -- the blood technicians had a devil of a time getting a vein.

A friend of mine e-mailed me an interesting mathematics problem, which has me puzzled. It's a problem in probability, that most elusive of the mathematical sciences. Right now, I'm still thinking of a solution; I'll have to sneak study on the problem in between bouts of actual work. So thank Goodness it's Friday.

(* * *)

And now, back to the last completed chapter of "Quinngali".

When we last left Quinn, she had been woken from her dream by her mother, angrily calling for her from downstairs. It appears that Quinn has run up five thousand dollars worth of charges on Helen's gold credit card and Helen has just received the information.

Helen mentions some of the fashion companies that Quinn has charged. However, these companies are in a slightly higher league than those found a Cashman's. Regardless, Quinn knows that she did not run up a five thousand dollar bill.

Quinn then remembers that Helen gave Daria the gold card to go to Books-by-the-Ton. Quinn argues that Daria must have purchased the clothes, having a delayed "fashion conversion". Helen laughs at the very thought that Daria could run up a large bill on expensive clothes.

Until Quinn comes clean about the clothes, Helen devises a punishment of her own. Quinn will have to wear Daria's clothes -- green jacket, orange t-shirt and pleated skirt -- until Quinn can come up with the cash or the clothes. She will be dropped off at school and picked up to preclude the chance of her changing her wardrobe.

Quinn figures that the gold card must have been stolen or lost. After all, Daria couldn't be spending the money on clothes, could she?

In the meantime, Jane is trying to deal with Daria. Daria is already having her hair restyled and recolored, and yes, she was the one that spent all the money on clothes.

As it turned out, Jane showed Daria the video of Quinn hypnotising Daria the same day. However, it was a very bad idea according to the literature. It strengthened the hypnotic commands while degrading their meaning. Daria only "defiance" available -- subconsciously -- is to take the suggestion to an extreme, and ten years of surpressed fashion consciousness is now bursting like Mount Vesuvius.

Jane uses what she has learned to keep Daria from veering off too much into her new fashion consciousness. Jane is seriously worried -- from reading the literature -- that Daria is starting to go mad.

Meanwhile, Quinn shows up at school early, dressed in her Daria gear. Waiting on the stoop, she bumps into Ted Dewitt-Clinton, who momentarily takes her for Daria. He comments that Quinn is much like Daria. Quinn begins to worry about her own sense of identity.

(* * *)

Chapter Four is a bit more uneven than the previous two chapters. The Helen/Quinn conversation is a little too longwinded and could use some serious hacking.

The middle part -- Jane's following Daria about -- is stronger. We learn a little bit more about the rules of hypnosis, and after some slow-going prose at the Scissor Wizard, the flow of the story is reestablished. A new threat is introduced -- namely, that as a dam might crumble with just a few watery leaks, Daria's consciousness might crumble with this sudden release of repressed activity and Daria might go insane. (If I were Jane, I'd be wondering if I should get some help right now. Of course, the problem would be, "who would believe her?")

I believe Scissors was trying to draw some parallels between Daria and Quinn with the visit of Ted Dewitt-Clinton, but I believed that the parallels could have been drawn more vividly. This segment of the story is too short. Hopefully, this theme that "Quinn is something like Daria" will be reintroduced in future chapters, or expanded upon.

Still, there's nothing to keep me from reading Chapter Five when it comes out. If it comes out. Scissors is slow at these stories; he takes his time. We'll just simply have to wait for the Master Craftsman, fanfiction's Yen Lo, to finish his treatise. Until then, self-hypnosis will be our only recorse.


Next time: Sorry, no more Quinngali to read. We'll pick up the next five chapters of "Apocalyptic Daria".

Everybody Lies

It's quite odd, but when I left work yesterday, it was snowing. I don't believe there's been so much as a flake of snow in North Georgia for the last couple of years, so to step outside and see a "Winter Wonderland" was amazing, and a bit frightening -- I know Southern towns can become paralyzed by snow. Fortunately, the snow did not turn the roads icy and bring traffic to a standstill; unfortunately work was not cancelled and so here I am.

(* * *)

Now on to Chapter 3 (I believe) of "Quinngali".

When the scene begins, Quinn finds herself in a strange place, apparently a restaurant filled with people. She appears to be in a hospital bed behind a sushi bar. Daria is there as well. This is clearly some sort of hallucination or dream.

A certain scruffy-looking, obnoxious doctor who walks with a cane tells Quinn what might be a few truths about herself, if anything that's happening in this twisted reality can be trusted.

Beavis and Butt-head are there, and the Doctor points out that Quinn did not cause the deaths of Beavis and Butt-head. Tiffany, Stacy, and Bret Strand are there and the doctor states that Quinn has affected none of their romantic lives with her hypnosis.

How is this so? The doctor tells Quinn that her powers of hypnosis are better categorized as delusional beliefs. Stacy and Tiffany and Bret could be hypnotised into romantic entanglements because -- well, they're hot, horny teens. Sandi could be "hypnotised" into gaining weight after her leg injury due to her increased caloric intake and immobility. All of Quinn's "successes" at hypnotism are either happenstance or because she "hypnotised" her "victims" into what they wanted anyway.

So how does this explain Quinn's absolute control over Daria, to the point of Daria's humiliation? Dr. H explains that Quinn and Daria suffer from folie a deux -- a mutual delusion shared by and reinforced by two people. The delusion was caused by a childhood incident where Daria put a rubber snake in Quinn's bed.

Quinn is stunned when Dr. H claims that this has crippled Quinn's libido. Quinn cannot focus any of her energy on erotic objects. She is not bisexual, she is asexual. Her lack of interest in food -- as compared to the other members of the Fashion Club -- indicates that she furthermore cannot make a substitution that a repressed libido might make.

Quinn had a breakdown when she found the rubber snake in her bed. Daria, who never liked Quinn and always called for Quinn's "punishment" suffered from the trauma of seeing Quinn suffer for it and Daria was overwhelmed with guilt. After Quinn recovered, she read a cheap book on hypnosis and told Daria that she was punishing Daria for the snake incident. A traumatized Daria went along with it and from that moment, their delusions began reinforcing each other.

Dr. H continues that Quinn's "hypnosis" has actually helped Daria. By keeping Daria away from mindless pop-cultural obsessions, and fashion and weight obsessions, and boy craziness, Daria has actually turned out more healthy than most young women of her age.

So how is this folie a deux cured? By long-term separation of the people suffering the delusion. However, Daria has a chance of a good life now that Quinn has loosened her controls. Unfortunately, Quinn's crippled libido means that she can never truly find pleasure and will remain unhappy for the rest of her life. Therefore, the separation needs to be permanent.

And that's when the Japanese swordsman shows up...but he never makes the cut, as shouting from downstairs finally wakes Quinn up....

(* * *)

The reason I find this chapter of Quinngali my most enjoyable is that it subverts the entire paradigm of the "Dream Sequence".

In most dream sequences of fanfiction, the dream is presented with imaginary threats. Generally, the shift from reality to "dreamtime" is so sudden and abrupt that there is no suspension of disbelief. This happened with the dream sequence in "Apocalyptic Daria" -- it had even been italicized -- and most readers were simply marking time till the end.

However, not only does Scissors MacGillicutty keep the dream sequence interesting -- by never revealing the names of some characters and by keeping other characters "pseudocanonical" -- he uses the moment to construct a wholly different reality than the one presented by Nemo Blank. Quinn's fine doctor in the dream presents an entirely different -- and mostly plausible -- alternate explanation of how Quinn could have gained the powers of hypnosis.

So which is the true explanation? Are Daria and Jane barking up the wrong tree in their study? Is Daria just delusional? Is the dream the key to the truth? How much of the dream is truth and how much is lies? Suddenly, everything we've learned previously has been thrown into a cocked hat and were are forced to consider alternatives to the established reality of the story.

Furthermore, the examination of Quinn's sexuality is priceless. The argument by the Good Doctor had a strong ring of truth, namely that Quinn shows very little interest in romance, merely an interest in what other people can do for her. The argument for Quinn's asexuality has strong foundation in canon, with only Quinn's relationship with David Sorenson in "Is It Fall Yet?" serving as a counter-argument. No wonder so many "Quinn in love" stories seem to ring false; the reality at the end of "Is It College Yet?" with Business Quinn haranguing her subordinates seems more likely than the one of "Write Where it Hurts" where Quinn is married with three kids.

All in all, the second of two strong chapters from Scissors MacGillicutty. There is one more chapter to be read, then we'll take a brief foray back into the world of "Apocalyptic Daria", and then we'll tackle one more fanfic.

What Do We Covet?

Finished reading: Quinngali, Scissors MacGillicutty section II

It might be another couple of days before I write another review. Work is very busy and I haven't been feeling all that well. So if there's no review tomorrow, don't feel slighted. (Some of you might even celebrate! L'CHAIM!)

(* * *)

Jane has revealed to Daria what Quinn has done. Daria is obviously quite angry with the years of "brain rape". She has managed to choose a "new wardrobe", but the thousand dollar wardrobe that she has chosen is simply a variation in type and not in kind -- the materials are much more expensive, and there are superficial differences, but it's the same jacket/t-shirt/pleated skirt that Daria always wears.

Jane can only commisserate. She doesn't know why Quinn has done what she has done, but her reading of the hypnotism manuals makes it clear that even when the hypnotised subject knows he or she has been hypnotised, it makes no difference -- the structure remains and is not easy to remove. As Jane has only read to that point, Daria takes over the task of reading and hopefully undoing what Quinn has done.

Some time later, Daria shared with Jane what she has learned, with the promise that Jane will pay as much attention as she can. It turns out that according to the models of the subconscious explained by the manuscript writers, the subconscious is a completely irrational agent. It either wants things, or doesn't want them, and is not the "bedrock of the self". The subconscious has no moral nature, and cannot evaluate what it wants or what it doesn't want. It can only soak things up randomly, like a sponge.

The problem is that the giver of the commands -- Quinn -- has a subconscious that works in a like manner. Therefore, Quinn's hypnosis has nothing to do with Daria's "inner self", but with Quinn's. Quinn is repelled by the side of herself that Daria represented before she was hynotised. Quinn might tell herself that she's "punishing" Daria by making her act in the cynical, dry, fashion-ignorant manner we're used to, but the punishment is actually an attempt of Quinn's subconscious to purge itself of what repels it. Quinn wants Daria's life, and Daria's "punishment" is to absorb the life Quinn wants, to take it away.

With increasing intensity, Daria rants that Quinn's lessening of the controls -- the orders to buy slightly better clothes -- means that Quinn's subconscious has changed. Quinn is no longer repelled, and the two personalities are going to merge...!

...

Daria wakes up. She made the mistake of smiling at Trent a third time when he entered the door, and immediately thought of death. While Daria rests, Jane takes up the tast of reading what Daria has underlined.

(* * *)

At last, Part Three grabs one's attention in the same way as Part One, and then some.

The strength of Part One was that Nemo Blank established a postulate, that Daria's personality was in a sense "unnatural". In Part Three, it is established how unnatural, with some terrifying conclusions.

The plot threads that Nemo Blank established in Part One are picked up in Part Three...but just when the threads are tied off, we find that there are even more plot threads and the situation threatens to turn into one big mess. There's an old saying that "in life, when one door closes, another door opens." Scissors MacGillicutty has turned that on its ear -- "as one door opens, another door closes".

Yes, Daria finds out that she has been hypnotised -- but it doesn't help her. Even with full knowledge of what Quinn has done, Daria's own mind simply acts against her, the structures impossible to break. Furthermore, we learn about Quinn's wants and needs, and the "whys" of what Quinn has done extend beyond the convenience of removing a rival into an assault on the identities of both Daria and Quinn.

Furthermore, Quinn's "easing up" on Daria brings no promise of resolution.

"What she makes me go through is the 'unilateral suggestion to self-destruction' that Serov writes about, it's just pushed off onto me—but she made a mistake when she gave me the suggestion that I could indulge in clothes and be social again—she broke a hole in the wall she built! We're going to become what we always were now—we're going to become like each other! IT'S THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE UNDONE! THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE!"

Quinn and Daria's identities are bound together -- both have been permanently cast in the terms of Quinn's subconsciousness, which is an irrational animal that does not know what it wants, only that things repel it and don't repel it. In a sense, Quinn has simply remade Daria into the anti-Quinn, and acting in opposition to that which has been done only makes one...into...Quinn.

This is probably not the correct interpretation of events -- but so what? Scissors simply leaves more questions for the reader to ask, more interpretations to build, with no promise that any one of them is correct and no hope that a solution is easily at hand. The narrative train we're riding is going into a tunnel, and we don't know if there's a light on the other side...or another train.

All in all, a great Part II. And if you think that Nemo Blank has Scissors MacGillicutty beat on trippiness, you haven't read Part III yet.

Thus, the selection of the quote, which comes from The Silence of the Lambs:

Hannibal Lecter: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?
Clarice Starling: He kills women...
Hannibal Lecter: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?
Clarice Starling: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir...
Hannibal Lecter: No! He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now.
Clarice Starling: No. We just...
Hannibal Lecter: No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?

Quinn has seen something in Daria. She does not covet it, however. She repudiates it. But there is no why behind it all. It is left to Quinn's subconscious, and that it something beyond the control of either Daria...or Quinn.

By the way, I've been asked more than once about the quote about Losers With Big Eyebrows. That quote is from the Futurama episode, "Time Keeps on Slippin'".

"Drugs are for losers, and hypnosis is for losers with big, weird eyebrows!"

Losers With Big Weird Eyebrows

Finished reading: Quinngali, Scissors MacGillicutty section

Have recently recovered from the creeping crud, so I feel better enough to go out to "Five Guys", which is a local hamburger joint that serves a great burger. One could call it a "mini-franchise", a franchise operation that operates only in a few cities. The menu is limited, but only fresh meat is used and the french fry potato sides are cut fresh daily, and a serving is plentiful enough to serve as its own meal. While waiting for one's food, one can nibble on roasted peanuts, making sure to put the shells in the metal buckets thoughtfully provided at each table. All in all, a very enjoyable -- and filling -- experience.

(* * *)

I must say that reading "Apocalyptic Daria" has spoiled me a bit for "Quinngali" and I have to shift my gears.

Why? All of the parts of "Apocalyptic Daria" can be seen as self contained units, but a fic like "Quinngali" requires some universe-building. A chapter of "Quinngali" is just as likely to end with questions posed to the reader as questions answered. Entire chapters might simply exists to provide groundwork for future parts of "Quinngali", so one must take one's time reading.
I think that the chapter that follows the Nemo Blank segment (Chapter 2?) is such a segment. (I have no idea how these "chapters" number.)

In the Nemo Blank segment, Quinn gave Daria a hypnotic suggestion to change her wardrobe (slightly), wear contacts (for a while) and smile (but only once) to Trent so that Daria could be marginally happier. However, Quinn finds out that Daria hasn't immediately taken to the suggestion.

After Daria inquires regarding Quinn's silence at her transformation, Daria explains that she will wear her contact lenses while helping Mystik Spiral drive to a far-off gig. It appears that Daria requires some sort of self-constructed mental justification to take place before the commands settle. Quinn isn't disturbed until Daria accuses Quinn of hiding her contact lenses.

Before Quinn can snap her fingers and send Daria into a hypnotic sleep, Jane shows up in her running gear, rather unexpectedly. The conversation between Jane and Quinn is seemingly jocular but Jane's body language betrays a hint of menace. After Jane departs, Quinn prepares to tug at her tee-shirt -- a gesture that Daria must pay attention to to set up a trance state -- but Daria happens not to be watching Quinn and simply leaves. Quinn will have to hypnotise Daria later.

Meanwhile, Jane takes an early morning trip to the Lawndale Public Library, not only checking out the common books on hypnosis, but also a set of declassified Cold War monographs with thick-sounding names. Jane gets back to school with the books, with no one the wiser. Jane has made her first decision...to see if these techniques could work on Quinn.....

(* * *)

This section of "Quinngali" isn't as exciting as the first one. There is no revelation of what Quinn has done or of what she plans to do, save to let Daria out of the harness just a bit more. As to what Jane might be able to do, that's left in the air as well. One will have to make an investment in the reading before one get's one's payoff.

However, the details at the end are rather intriguing. One has to look at the minor details. "Conditioned Reflex Therapy" by Salter is a real book. Krasnogorski is a disciple of Pavlov, the "original hypnotist". As for Mr. Serov and Mr. Lo, well, the payoff -- and the building of suspense -- will come in the following chapters.

The Butterfly Effect

Finished reading: Quinngali/Nemo Blank section

Well, about 12 pm yesterday my immune system caved in and most of what I ate settled to my stomach like an anchor. So I'm taking a sick day today, which is rather rare for me. Oddly enough, being at work didn't seem to interfere much with my internet access, so there.

(* * *)

Nemo Blank is one of the trippiest writers of Daria fan fiction, and most of his work deals with the themes of transformations and identity, themes close to my heart. His biggest problem as a fan fiction writer is that he doesn't end any of his stories. Therefore, an "Iron Chef" was the perfect medium for him, where he probably wouldn't feel compelled to write a whole story.

The story starts with the three Js jumping through hoops trying to please Quinn. Quinn, of course, suggests that they can jump a little harder and departs. Daria remarks that she wishes she knew Quinn's secret to controlling guys.

We're about to find out that secret. Quinn pulls at the hem of her t-shirt and shrugs, which sends Daria into a hypnotic trance. It turns out that Quinn has been reading a book on hypnosis, finding it at age six and gradually mastering its contents. She takes control of both Jake and Daria, as Helen appears to be immune to the control.

Since she obtained the power, she has been using it in malicious ways. Daria has been forced into a "man-stopper" wardrobe. All of the members of the Fashion Club are under Quinn's mental control. (Sandi has a particularly nasty fate waiting for her the next time she puts down Quinn.)

However, Quinn feels slightly guilty and wants Daria to have a small amount of happiness. Therefore, she has arranged the Daria-Jane-Tom triangle. Quinn questions Daria while Daria is in the trance state regarding the progress of her relationship with Tom.

Surprisingly, Daria doesn't like Tom. Daria was attracted to Trent, but now Daria can't have that. Jane's friendship with Daria has been damaged. Despite Quinn's mental rearrangement, Daria blames Tom for all of this and doesn't love him.

Quinn decides to give Daria some new commands. She can change her wardrobe and wear contacts. She can even smile at Trent. Once. Any more smiling, and Daria will be forced to think of death.

Unfortunately for Quinn, she does not know someone is hidden in the house....

(* * *)

Jonathan D. Parshall -- who dredged up this work from Nemo Blank out of an old "Scenes No Daria Fic Should Have" -- wrote, "Come on, how great a starting point is that?"

Oh yes, definitely a great starting point. This isn't "It's a Good Life" out of the Twilight Zone. Quinn's power over Daria isn't absolute, and there are people who appear resistent to Quinn's powers. This gives even a beginning author a lot of flexibility. A writer could take this story in any direction...and it looks like Scissors MacGillicutty will do just that.

For a "scorched remnant", this was a great mini-work from Nemo Blank, and my hope is that "Quinngali" gets better and better.

(I have some issues with the premise. Namely, that children are extremely nasty and cruel, so it's untelling what Quinn has had Daria do in the past. Furthermore, the fact that Quinn has had two little fartknockers in Highland killed is a bit troubling. But I didn't want to detract either from the great premise, or put pressure on the person who plans to see it through to the end.)