Specimen, by Elleth

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge:
O67: In a Manner of Speaking: Skeletons in the Closet, Injuries: Stomach Ache
Format: Drabble
Genre: (morbid) humor
Rating: Teens
Warnings: Medical procedures, crawlies
Characters: Idhlinn (OFC Fëanorian healer), OMC
Pairings: N/A
Summary: The way to a woman's heart... (for GG, Steel and Pandë for their betaing help and encouragement involving Idhlinn's fic. ^^ Thank you.)


Idhlinn's brow furrowed. "You expect gratitude."

The hunter's face crumpled in dismay at her tone, not the obvious joy he had expected. The carcass he had brought dropped to the floor with a clank of armour.

"I am grateful," she said quickly, nodding. "I was assuming everyone believed I spoke in jest. Put it on the table."

That done, Idhlinn stripped the creature."Interesting. I hoped for a male specimen." The hunter, a hand on his stomach, fled when she set the scalpel on the orc's chest for the first incision, humming, and fondly glanced at her dermestid jar. "Soon."

Comments

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

Re: parthenogenic orcs. Yep. What's truly amazing is that Dr. Gee is a paleontologist who is a sr. editor of biological sciences for Nature. I tend to think that Gee was just flexing his speculative life scientist's muscles and fooling about with the idea, given that the multiplying after the Children of Iluvatar bit is mentioned in The Letters of JRRT. So the possible lack of the HoMe/Myths Transformed texts at the time of the publication of The Science of Middle-earth is not an excuse.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

(Loving the smug Annatar icon as well! :D)

Hm. Nothing wrong with fooling around; if I thought that I wouldn't be writing fic - and even contradictions do factor into that. But exploring the canonical science of Middle-earth ought to have included that particular tidbit of research. Is the book worth reading, otherwise?

(And this is the signal for me to get out Myths Transformed and reread. I think I only read that once, enough for basic familiarity, and then put it away in some disgust - quite different disgust than the one after perusing the LaCE - because it was messing with the mythological cosmology of the published Silmarillion that I love(d) so much...)

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

But exploring the canonical science of Middle-earth ought to have included that particular tidbit of research.

Exactly! It showed a certain lack of rigor from an otherwise very sharp fellow.

because it was messing with the mythological cosmology of the published Silmarillion that I love(d) so much...)

Hee! I squee'd and squee'd loudly when I read that revision!* I just loved it. And ran with it. I figured his revised, more "real" round earth heliocentric cosmogony could be just as beautiful and poetic as the Silm flat earth-sun-and-moon-from-fruit scenario (cue that Neil DeGrasse Tyson video).

*My jaw also dropped at his elaborations on Morgoth and Sauron. Ran with those, too. :^D

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

I figured his revised, more "real" round earth heliocentric cosmogony could be just as beautiful and poetic as the Silm flat earth-sun-and-moon-from-fruit scenario.

You won't hear me disagree. There is a great deal of beauty in either version (and by virtue of reality, a lot more in the latter, I suspect), but still. I know it's a gut reaction and probably a hefty dose of primacy effect... definitely time for a reread.