4.60 Valentine’s Day, Psyche, and Fast Strokes

Happy Valentine’s Day.

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Transcript

So it is that day again. Happy Valentine’s Day. Hopefully you’ve heard that, or said that, already today. But if not, and you need a Valentine, you are always welcome to ask me. Chances are I will say yes… partly because I am one of those people who doesn’t believe love is limited by giving it out, or receiving it by more than one.

I want to say thank you for the lovely gifts. They have been trickling in over the past… probably week and a half, or so. It’s always funny to me when someone goes on a deep dive into that Amazon wishlist, and I’m actually surprised by something I put on there… it’s been a lot of fun.

I have responded privately so if you’ve gifted and you haven’t heard from me, make sure it isn’t hidden away in your email somewhere. Or go ahead and check Patreon as well. And thank you to the clever ones who, they prefer to not use Amazon and instead use that tip feature that’s in the SpokenByElswyth shop. One note especially, and there’s no way you don’t know who you are, cracked me up. If you’re wondering if it was yours, it’s the note about a pub crawl. And… if you’re unfamiliar with that phrase, I do suspect it’s mostly in the UK, it means basically starting at one pub and making your way along a street, and stopping at more pubs, til you reach a final one or perhaps reach your limit. The danger of course is you take along someone like me and I insist on staying at the venue that has the live music! I am not good at pub crawls for those two obvious-ish reasons. One I just gave to you, right? If they have live music, basically any kind… it can be two guys with guitars. It can be jazz, or so on, I’m gonna wanna stay. And as for alcohol, my limit is definitely not on part with most British people. I’m just gonna blame it on a different kind of upbringing.

So my creatives have been busy creating and it appears the writing bug has bitten quite a few of you! I have a writing prompt of sorts to share. It came to me, actually in the middle of the night, which led to looking up a few details just to make sure I have them correct. And that led to this story, which sounds like it could be a drama that runs for a few decades.

Or in the case of Netflix it’d get one season, end on a cliffhanger, and then you find out it’s canceled.

Here’s the story:

Psyche is so beautiful that the jealous goddess Venus commands her son Cupid to make her fall in love with an unworthy man. However, Cupid falls in love with Psyche himself. Concerned about Psyche’s lack of suitors, her parents consult the oracle of Apollo. They are told that Psyche’s future husband is a monster and that she must be abandoned on top of a mountain.

It’s like the Indian Matchmaker show, like, gone wild. And I confess, I confess, I totally binge-watched that show. I had a few other things going on at the same time but wow, it’s pretty satisfying. Anyway.

So where were we? Oh yes… her parents. They were concerned about those lack of suitors and told to put her on top of a mountain. The west wind, Zephyrus [..], saves her and carries her to Cupid’s palace. Cupid visits Psyche only at night and forbids her to make any attempt to see him. Psyche is curious about her lover’s appearance and fearful after her two jealous sisters convince her that Cupid is a serpentine monster.

Now, if this dude is visiting you every night to have some good sex, I’m asuming it’s good, because she’s curious right? She wants to see… wouldn’t you have caught on my now if he’s some kind of a snake monster? Which does remind me… I really, really want to do a tentacle story, so I need at least like a dozen of you to send me a message and say “Yes, please,. Tentacle story. I want that!”

Okay, so… she is now urged on by these two jealous sisters. They tell her to take a look, so she conceals a lamp and knife in her bedchamber. When Cupid is asleep, Psyche illuminates his beautiful figure with the lamp but a drop of hot oil accidentally wakes him. Now if this, if this is Season One of the Netflix show, this is the cliffhanger. This is where it ends… drop of oil, he wakers up. That’s it… and then you’re like “ooh, that’s okay because Season Two will come soon.”

Yes, I’m a little salty about Netflix canceling a show I liked. I don’t actually watch a whole buncha TV. I’m more of a reader… I just, I don’t know, I just find it easier because I don’t actually have to remember what I was watching. Anyway, I just find it way easier. But on the occasion I do watch something, I really want to be able to, you know, get the time from it. Especially if it is this series, and you’ve watched episode after episode after episode, I want the whole story. And so maybe that is why books come out superior because, they have the whole story.

Even if the ending, and I’m talking about you Night Circus, even if the ending isn’t exactly as good as you’d hoped.

So… drop of oil, where am I? Here we go… angrily he flies off with Psyche clinging desperately to his ankle. Maybe that would be the last shot, right? And Psyche tries to drown herself but Pan tells her to win back Cupid’s love. Venus sets Psyche a series of increasingly difficult tasks. Ooh, that could turn into a story, couldn’t it? Yes, that would be a fun story. Although Psyche fails the final task, the gods make her immortal and she is reunited with Cupid.

The story is told in paintings by Luca Giordano, in the 1600s, and much like my ongoing swipes at Netflix, he also didn’t finish the story which they claim is unusual for him. It’s rumoured he was very fast with his brush, he had a nickname of Luca Fa Presto (Luca works quickly) and so he finished lots. He was very good at finishing. I think there’s a lesson there for those who seem to, um, not finish. Maybe when you’re given a set amount of time to do a certain thing, you should be like Luca and be quick with the strokes so that you can finish before someone briskly tells you that time is up. 

Alright, now back to the original middle-of-the-night story prompt. Let’s merge our interest of hypnokink with the story of cupid. He does manage some mind control and we like that, yes? Here is his story in a very short form – you tell me how you can see it being used by a Mistress or a submissive man.

Now according to myth, Cupid was the son of Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods, and Venus, the goddess of love. He often appears having wings, and is barely dressed. He has a bow and a quiver of arrows whose wounds inspired love or passion in his every victim. So tell me, what you would do to work that into a story.

And this week I have two other episodes planned for release this week. Wednesday is etiquette training and Thursday’s session is the first in the series of trigger reinforcements. So have yourself a fantastic Valentine’s Day, have a think about the Cupid story prompt, and then let me know what comes to mind.

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