dream_marriage epitome of incomprehensibility The main character in this story is marrying a convict. Not a violent man, but a political prisoner of some sort. The government who imprisoned him is corrupt and arbitrary, and has only allowed him to marry provided he never shows his partner his face. So she's randomly assigned to marry him and required to be blindfolded in his presence. Her first fear, I discover from my access to her thoughts, is having sex - it's her first time and she feels more vulnerable because he can see and she can't. She's not the one being punished, right? So why do things have to be like this? As one character to another, I tell her it's all about her author and the romance book market. "Trust me, there's a whole subgenre of marriage-arranged-by-government. And some people find blindfolding sexy. So sooner or later an author would find a way to mix the two, even if no one has this specific fetish." Then I lie in bed wondering whether fetishes are inherently specific. And she tells me, telepathically, that it's now several weeks later. The first time having sex was fine, he knew she wasn't the enemy and was gentle with her, but the main problem is... And now I'm her, and I'm curious if I get to experience the sexy side of this story, but I'm placed into bed with him after sex. At least I can feel cozy and warm, right? Not for long - I get her sense of emotional awkwardness at the situation, her frustration at it not changing, her sleeplessness. Well, it's light out now. I exit the room, where I can take off my blindfold and email him. That way we can communicate (as if we couldn't, you know, talk). But now I see the real problem. His email doesn't work. First the screen autocorrects what I write. Then the email service just won't send it, highlighting his address in grey, which is their code for broken links, broken connections. Why? Why this? Why, government? Why, author?? No one has a specific fetish for emails that won't send! 240217 ... raze (this is all kinds of fascinating. i love how endlessly inventive your subconscious is ... but they do say, "let the dreamworld match the dreamer," right? surely someone somewhere said that once.) 240217 what's it to you? who go blather from