[sits bolt upright] But actually we already knew that Dream 2.0 (referred to as just 'Dream' in this post because I hate calling him Daniel) has messed with Corinth 2.0's mind before. He did it at the end of the series, when Corinthian was going to kill Matthew - he changed Corinthian's mind. Not his memories, not what he thought happened. His opinions, his thoughts, his feelings on what happened were changed - not by much, but by enough to make him decide that "life's too short" to hold a grudge against Matthew, and save his life instead of ending it.
The (now non-canon) Dreaming comics briefly address it, too; Matthew brings it up ("I remember (changing my mind)--" "--exactly what he wanted you to remember") and Corinthian scoffs and insists Matthew is lying, that it isn't true. It's never touched on again after that so frankly I have no idea if Corinthian just decided Matthew really was lying, or if he couldn't deal with the implications of that and just shut that shit down/refused to think about it again. That run isn't canon anymore but it's still fun to think about.
So yeah like. Dream messing with Corinthian's memories, feelings, and bodily autonomy to keep him from doing regrettable shit (seeking answers in the Waking; killing Matthew; killing that one human in NC, what's-his-face) is like.... there's already a precedent. It's perfectly in-character. He remade the Corinthian and, deciding to take a more active approach to his creations this time around, went from "extremely distant and ignorant" to "INCREDIBLY OVERBEARING AND INVASIVE" to keep Corinthian from crossing any boundaries that would force Dream to uncreate him again. You love to see it.
(Btw this isn't a "Dream is a villain" post it's a "isn't this fucked up? isn't this fucked up to think about because we're humans who can only really see this through human eyes?" post)
They are kissing hard, blindly making their way to his couch. It is once Corinthian is on top of him and has caged him in that he feels the touch of cold metal on his abdomen, causing him to look up at him, eyes wide.
Fuck the Dreaming; he'd rather be here, Mieczysław's hands all over him, the Corinthian drinking in every sound he makes, every shiver, until they're pressed so close he forgets where he ends and Mieczysław begins.
The world goes hazy when they're like this; the Corinthian forgets itself, is all feeling and instinct, the rules of the Waking easy to forget when he's distracted by how good it feels to kiss Miecz senseless, to cage him in on the couch and claim him with a biting kiss.
Then Mieczysław stiffens and looks up at him, and the Corinthian has a fleeting moment of concern, is about to ask what's wrong when--
"Ah," he says, sounding slightly strangled. "Right. Waking."
Slowly, he moves to slide the knife back into its holster--then thinks better of it. He leans down and drops both it and its twin on the floor instead, watching Miecz intently the entire time. Being without his knives makes him feel exposed, somehow.
The alternative is stabbing Miecz by accident though, and there's no coming back from that.
"Don't worry," he murmurs, and leans in to kiss the corner of Miecz's mouth first, waits for him to close the distance between them again. "I'm not going to hurt you here."
There’s a point at 7,000 RPM where everything fades. The machine becomes weightless. Just disappears. And all that’s left is a body moving through space and time. 7,000 RPM. That’s where you meet it. You feel it coming. It creeps up on you, close in your ear. Asks you a question. The only question that matters. “Who are you?”
god I am still thinking about the comic and just. the complete lack of autonomy Corinth2 really has. there are all these scenes where Azazel or Desire will talk about Dream treating his creations as "toys", "playthings", and because they're said by the villains of the story we kind of assume okay, but that's not REALLY how it is, is it...
but then you watch. and Dream binds Corinth2 to the will of a human he just met ("you are bound to the will of Madison Flynn"). and then when Corinth2 puts his foot down and says no, I want to [keep doing this thing you don't want me to do], Dream just... removes his memories. Again. Corinth never gets a moment to get a word of protest in aside from "My lord--!" or "Dream Lord--!"
Not just his memories, but his wants ("I'll simply remove the dream of this hunt from you, as I've done before"), and it's not entirely clear if 'before' means 'when I uncreated the first Corinth.ian' or if it means he's done this over and over again to the second whenever it started to deviate from its 'primary functions' again. I'm inclined to believe it's the second, honestly, especially given Dream's role in this story (being able and willing to move the story around at will 'if he decides he's allowed to'), and that's just.
He hasn’t been focusing on what they’re even talking about since Corinthian climbed on him. Something about violence, something about what he would have done to Corinthian if it could be permanent. He’s having a hard time stringing words together when he feels warm heat and something licking at the front of his pants where Corinthian grinds down. His hands have settled onto his waist. He’s staring down, cock twitching in his pants. “Um— what is that?”
The Corinthian stops mouthing at his throat, hands on Miecz's shoulders to keep himself balanced, and leans back just enough to glance down in between them.
His trio of grins turn impossibly sharper, wolfish. The tongue of his left eye runs over its teeth.
"What do you think it is?" It presses harder between them, and the Corinthian parts its thighs further, grinding down against Miecz, pleased with the way Miecz--or at least his dick--don't seem to mind. He laughs, watching Miecz trying to string a coherent thought together, and leans in to kiss him with a tongue far too long to be remotely human.
His other mouths, of course, don't shut up, eyes still talking while Corinthian licks into Miecz's mouth and growls with pleasure.