Maybe my Lorca Emotional Manipulation meter is set too high

[conuly]

I'm thinking about that conversation about destiny. Maybe we're supposed to hear them having a random philosophical conversation, as one does when commanding a starship. Destiny, fate, and Michael's value as a member of society.

Maybe it's just the fact that I really don't like Lorca that made me hear a conversation that was really about how Michael owed her position on that ship (and not in prison) to Lorca, and she'd better not forget it - except he maneuvered it so smoothly that she's the one who said it!

I just can't work it out. Either I'm reading in between lines that aren't even there, or our main character needs to start running all her private conversations with Lorca past a third party. Preferably Tilly. I have a good feeling about Tilly's ability to detect bullshit, and she's neither dead nor obviously unstable, so that's a plus.

Also, in random thoughts, the very weirdest thing about the Mirrorverse has got to be this: If your counterpart is dead, you aren't having any more kids, or if you do, they'll only reproduce with the children of other people whose Mirrorverse counterparts are dead or infertile or celibate or whatever. Because otherwise that'd mess up the whole mirror theme. (Maybe this only applies to PCs, though, and NPCs can do what they like.) Man, can you imagine growing up in the Mirror Universe? *shudder*

Comments

the very weirdest thing about the Mirrorverse has got to be this

[jack]

Wow, yeah, I hadn't really thought of it like that.

After all, is there *a* mirror-verse, or is the main verse the mirror-verse of the mirror-verse?

Maybe there's *many* copies of the mirror-verse, but when people visit *again* they're more likely to visit ones which have developed to maintain the weird correspondence than ones which have diverged?

Re: the very weirdest thing about the Mirrorverse has got to be this

[conuly]

Oh, since we know there's more than one alternate universe that makes sense I totally buy that they each have their own mirror universe as well. I mean, why not?

[batwrangler]

Peeking through fingers to say I want to come back to this and your other entry after I've watched past the mid-season finale.

[conuly]

This particular one isn't very spoilery.

[schneefink]

Huh, yeah, that layer of the conversation totally works too. I read it as Lorca wanting Michael to agree with him about destiny to make her more likely to go ahead with his other plans instead of looking for other ways back, but this outcome works for him too.

[conuly]

You still thinking he's always been Mirror Lorca?

That'd explain why Mirror Lorca suddenly rebelled and our Lorca talked cryptically about meeting a better version of himself. I mean, why would he expect this Lorca to be better?

[dewline]

From his first appearance in DSC onwards, yes. We've only ever known Mirror-Lorca.

And it occurs to me that growing up in that universe is a guaranteed recipe for PTSD.

[conuly]

Oooh, didn't Admiral Not Dead say she wasn't the man she used to know? I had forgotten that.

And it occurs to me that growing up in that universe is a guaranteed recipe for PTSD.

And yet, he seemed happy enough to return, despite the agony booth.

[dewline]

VAdm. Katrina Cornwell did indeed say that of Lorca. She has barely a clue as to how true that statement really is.

Possibly Mirror-Lorca is happier - is that the right word for his emotional state right now? - because it now seems as if his original hopes and plans can get back on track. Whilst in the "Prime" 'verse, he went along to get along...

[starandrea]

I like your criteria for appropriate third party filter: "neither dead nor obviously unstable." Good call.

[conuly]

Also, I think Tilly is just... emotionally competent in a way Michael can't be due to her upbringing. I don't think the Vulcan response to "Wow, that guy was really playing with your emotions to get you to do what he wants" is going to be very healthy, and I strongly doubt that Michael can even recognize this is a possibility.

[sabotabby]

I ran into this problem when I was writing a comic with multiple alternate universes (especially because a major plot point hinged on one counterpart having a child, which was impossible for the other counterpart, and that child being Wrong as a result). I don't think I ever worked it out.

[conuly]

Pity, sounds interesting.

[sabotabby]

It was, kind of. I think we were trying to jam too many ideas into one thing. Every so often I work out a better way to have done it, but the artist and I broke up, so it's dead in the water.

[amaebi]

It didn't bother Diana Wynne Jones, so....