Rafal The Unethical Psychologist - Part 5

Rafal the Unethical Psychologist - Part 5

[Today’s feature article was titled: “How Strategic Incongruity and Cognitive Dissonance in Visuals Enhance Victims' Distress Levels," which Rafal read as one would the morning paper.]

Rafal: [grouchily] What a bore. As if I don’t already know that. Is that what institutions are squandering their money on these days?

[Sophie walks in, as if on cue.]

Rafal: Look, [He waves the paper in Sophie’s general direction.] we know this, no studies needed to prove it. [He glances over at Sophie in an airy, primrose pink gown and glass slippers.]

Sophie: [smirks at the headline]

Rafal: Why do you think I chose you for Evil? Your Evil is splendid, my love. Magnificent, alluring, the best disguise.

Sophie: Thank you, darling. [she preens] It's time someone acknowledged my genius—I’d make a phenomenal case-study, wouldn’t I?

Rafal: Interesting proposition, but I’m too hopelessly biased in your favor and bound to your whims to conduct any sort of experiment.

Sophie: Naturally. But say we did conduct one—where would we find someone new to scare?

Rhian: [from the other end of the table] Can't you two ever have a normal breakfast conversation without plotting?

Sophie: Hello 'voice of reason.' I don't recall inviting you into our high-minded dialogue.

Rhian: High-minded? Well, that's certainly one way to put it.

⸻

Ok, to explain the joke here, if anyone would like more clarification: Sophie is basically the incarnation of cognitive dissonance, Evil yet Ever-like, deadly yet beautiful, which would probably cause an initial fog of confusion in the minds of unwitting victims.

Vulcan: Vulcan kill Evil School Master dead.

Rhian: All murders end in death. Isn’t that unnecessary clarification?

Rafal: Not with me it isn’t. I never purchase one-way tickets. Death’s an old friend of mine, so he grants me round trips.

Round VII of Excerpts from The One True School Master of Vault 41

Someone has “revenge” on the brain. I thought the first excerpt might be funny and could stand on its own out of context. The actual context makes it funnier, in my opinion, but I unfortunately can’t spoil it because it involves possibly the most insane shock in the entire fic.

Admittedly, I’m slightly proud of myself for managing to not burst and to hold back on revealing the plot twists, particularly with major events #2, #3, and #4. Otherwise, there'd likely be zero surprises left.

Though, plot twist #1 is sort of foundational to the premise, so I gave it away! (Sophie is nominated for the position of School Master.)

Also, a strange observation about my own plot occurred to me: contrary to what I or others might think, the plot is actually quite simple. Or, at least, from my view at the moment, it is. I’d originally thought it was complicated, but no. Actually, it’s simple masquerading as complex because there are complications thrown into the story, like wrenches, via a few different elements/events. So, that’s something, I guess?

If I could summarize the plot in one sentence, it would be: three souls enter a crystal ball, and some of them emerged scathed, changed, or both at once.

That’s probably the easiest way to put it, without spoilers.

Anyway, here are the excerpts (from two entirely different sections of the fic):

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That was it. To say it irked her was to put it mildly.

Assuming they were both alive by the end of it, the first moment she got after all these crises were over with, she was taking him for a haircut, whether he liked it or not!

She would march him directly over to the finest salon she could find in the Woods, posthaste, like a prisoner if he resisted—all for the sake of a nice, neat trim.

So be it if it ended up botched. His Doom Room had done the same to her. So what did it matter?

⸻

Rafal glared at Agatha as if to signal: don’t let on that you’re hurt.

“Why are you both limping?”

Agatha stole a quick glance at Rafal who found himself turning to stare intently at a Stymph on high.

He shook his head with the slightest motion. She couldn’t know what it had cost them, or she would intervene.

The movement caught Sophie’s eye, and she turned her attention to Agatha for the truth.

Agatha shrugged wordlessly.

Sophie narrowed her eyes. “Well, it certainly wasn’t bird-watching, that much I can gather.”

Agatha shuffled, and Rafal observed her shove one foot behind her other ankle, but in her gaping, oversized clumps, one sock slid down to reveal an inflamed, red welt.

Unfortunately, Sophie traced his sightline to Agatha's foot. “Agatha? What happened?”

Rafal the Unethical Psychologist - Part 4

If anyone's wondering why I've been posting more than usual, I'm clearing out some pre-written drafts. A lot of these have been around for months, and I thought it was time. Also, any feedback is much appreciated!

⸻

[Rhian is having his afternoon teatime when Rafal enters the glass atrium, bringing a particular query.]

Rafal: I've come up with a way to meddle with a person's pain receptors. It's definitely a significant breakthrough, Rhian. No surgery required, just magical interference, through the branches of the nervous system. I can simulate painful sensations, and even direct electrical currents to certain areas of the brain with ultra-fine needles. This will revolutionize the Doom Room. [He looks proud.]

Rhian: [aghast, looking a bit green around the gills] And you're telling me this why?

Rafal: Who's your least favorite student? I need a test subject, and none of the Nevers will volunteer for torture, much less torture that doesn't leave impressive scars—

Rhian: [rolls his eyes] Of course. I'm positive that that's why you have zero volunteers.

Rafal: Yes, they refuse to endure torture as punishment if it doesn't leave visible scars. [musing] This year's miscreants are Uglification-obsessed, come to think of it. They can't seem to register how deception comes into play with villainy, the batch of dolts!

Rhian: Well. I think I've heard enough! I will not sacrifice one of my students to you as if they were chattel! What a disgrace to the Institute!

Rafal: Oh, all right. I'll wait and use the failed students as my experimental group... and lean into using Hook and his escapades from our tale as a teachable moment. Your Evers will thank you for an account from one of their own, their supposedly infallible School Master. And they won't suffer like the fools they are, assuming they learn from the king of all fools.

Rhian: [with gritted teeth, straining his voice] Why thank you, Rafal. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.

Rafal: [grins superiorly] My pleasure.

Rhian: Oh, please. I won't let you experiment on my charges. It shan't be allowed on my watch. If you're really dead set on it, take it up with the Woods Inter-kingdom Board of Villainous Experiments, or better yet, test it on yourself.

Rafal: Fine. Maybe I will. And, remember: precise wording, brother. I could gouge out your eyes, and continue with my experiment, not on your watch. You should be glad I'm not a rogue genie.

Rhian: [buries his face in his hands, with a long sigh] No. You're worse. [exasperatedly] What am I going to do with you?

Rafal: [staidly] Let me and my experiments be. [He walks out.]

Rhian: [breathes into his teacup and rests his brow on the edge of his table as his chair scrapes back, loudly. Then, he mumbles under his breath:] That was a rhetorical question...

Do you have an account on TV Tropes?

No, I don’t have an account, but I enjoy stumbling down the rabbit trails of its many, many hyperlinked pages when I read about tropes. I also occasionally find that the site informs my writing.

Shard

Agatha begrudgingly handed the crystal over to Rafal, and Sophie leaned forward to watch.

Like a doctor performing a check-up, he pressed his palm to it, as if he could sense something magically off about it due to his sorcerer’s blood.

The crystal throbbed and pulsed from within, like a calcified, living heart, the glass feeling more brittle and splintering away more by the minute. Small shards fell away from his hand to the floor and came away in his hand, as he peeled it back from the crystal’s surface. He gazed at its roiling innards—a haze of colors and refracted light and warped reflections of the three in it, and swept his hand across its surface, slick and glassy like a Wish Fish egg, or an all-seeing eye.