Editing 2692: Interior Decorating

{{comic
| number    = 2692
| date      = October 31, 2022
| title     = Interior Decorating
| image     = interior_decorating_2x.png
| imagesize = 281x424px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = It all came flat-packed in Pandora's Box.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A BOX OF SIEGE WEAPONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Damocles|sword of Damocles}}, {{w|Siege Perilous}}, {{w|Chekhov's gun}}, and {{w|Pandora's box}} are legendary/fictional physical objects associated with impending threats. These names are now used metaphorically for complex concepts related to danger.  Cueball seems to take these names literally, and decorates his house with objects like those named, apparently claiming that his objects ''are'' the originals. Physical objects are not, of course, hypothetical/abstract concepts [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/abstract].{{Citation needed}}

The Sword of Damocles is a sword that hangs over the king's throne, held in place by a single hair. It represents the constant danger that people in power are in because their actions inevitably make enemies. As an idiom, it refers to a threat "hanging over your head".  

The Siege Perilous is a seat at the Round Table, reserved by Merlin for the knight destined to retrieve the Holy Grail.  It was said to be fatal to any unworthy person who sat in it.

Chekhov's Gun is a principle of story-telling that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed.  For instance, if there's a loaded gun on the stage of a play, someone should eventually shoot it and this must be relevant to the plot. This term references a letter Anton Chekhov sent to a fellow playwright, whom Chekhov advised to drop superfluous elements from his script. Experienced writers learn when this principle can be violated, much as experienced audiences/readers have grasped this trope and may enter into a friendly game of trying to predict what will be considered significant, later on, or being (hopefully) enjoyably misled and misdirected ahead of a different plot twist with perhaps a different and overlooked justification in the original setting.

Pandora's Box is a legendary box (originally a jar) that Pandora was told never to open. Eventually she did, and unleashed all the miseries into the world. It has come to represent any situation where a simple ill-considered action results in numerous problems.

Thus each of the four objects represents the likelihood of future harm. Being in a room with them should make Cueball's guests very nervous.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball and Megan stand in a room. At one wall a sword hangs by a thread above a chair. On another wall a rifle is fastened to a board. Meghan has one arm stretched towards the rifle.]
:Cueball: Yeah, I think the sword of Damocles looks nice hanging over the Siege Perilous.
:Cueball: Hey, don’t touch Chekhov’s gun!

:[Caption below panel:]
:My home decorating theme is "ominous metaphorical objects."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]