#◤ .Field Tests & Experiments. ◥ Character Study

[riddleredcoats]

thinking about Ghilan'nain and how her character drives me insane.

Like imagine you're just this girl, you belong to Andruil - whether in a slavery-type-of-way or even in the more 'normal' way where you just worship the super-into-sacrifice general/empress/goddess that irrevocably helped change the world - and you're a good Huntress of hers; dedicated, faithful, talented even. Fuck, she even saved once you once, when you were bound by a man who had disrespected her and she turned you into this beautiful expression of grace and purity in the halla.

But you're also a little weird; you keep to yourself, you spend days in a workshop creating beasts (alongside the halla, who you so love because Andruil turned you into the first manifestation of that beauty to save you) for Andruil to hunt - like as a form of worship? to test her and see if she is worthy of your devotion? for... fun? - and she does. More! She's so impressed with you - you, who are her devoted servant in whatever way that manifests - that you become known as her Beloved and she offers you Godhood.

You get elevated to Godhood.

You get fucking elevated to Godhood.

And you're the youngest of the Gods and they slayed Titans and you're a girl who grew up in the world they shaped and sure, you made some monsters for your Goddess/Lover/Undying-Devotion, but are you good enough? Are you powerful enough? Or are you just Andruil's smash piece who is indulged by the others?

And how does that insecurity manifest? Do you start creating more monsters to wound your People, set up your own central power of devotion? Change yourself to fit an aesthetic you think you should have?

Do you start modifying your body to seem grander, because the other Evanuris came from spirit, but you (likely) didn't? Do you change your shape like they changed theirs? Is that metamorphosis that becomes your linchpin- the point to which you point to as to when you attained Godhood?

Not to mention that your expertise, your field of study has driven your Lover/Goddess mad and you're experimenting with it - using it to change yourself and to create more and worse monsters - and maybe, just maybe, you're a little mad too but you're a Goddess now and you are at Andruil's side and all the other gods are on your level, because you mastered the weapon that will become their most potent power source.

And, in the end, if the Evanuris shaped the age you lived in then you shape the age that comes next.

Like.... Wild, amiright.

[erudianokabe]

random ask time! bc phew i haven't sent random asks to my mutuals in wayyy too long - gotta reclaim my brand. if marcel, reiner, eren, had phones, what are 5 images we'd find in their camera roll? 👀

Okay, this one has been in my inbox for quite some time, and I think I do owe an apology for taking so long. I think this is an interesting question especially since their personalities change up quite a bit depending on when we're looking at their phones.

Let me start it off with Marcel.

For Marcel, I wouldn't be surprised if he had baby photos of Porco in there. But I think the five things you'd find in his camera roll would be:

Selfies of him and Porco

A photo of his fellow Warrior Candidates

A step-by-step instruction of something that he knows Porco has trouble with

A scenery that he'd like to share with his brother

A photo of the harbor when they departed from Marley

For Eren, during his scout years, I think that he'd have a few blury stolen shots of Mikasa in there. But he would have it in his delete history and before the thirty days are up, he'll restore it again and delete is again just so no one sees them on his phone. Otherwise, I think he'd have the following on his camera roll:

A photo of the Scouting Legion

A selfie of him, Armin, and Mikasa

A photo of the 104th Battalion

A selfie of Hange and him when he's transformed into the Attack Titan (as snapped by Hange)

A photo of a very VERY clean window pane to put Levi at ease

In his days in Marley, Eren's camera roll would have:

The hospital in Liberio

Different locations around Marley

A photo of Marleyan higher ups (as passed by Zeke)

Blueprints of Liberio (as passed by Zeke)

A stolen photo of Mikasa eating ice cream

Now for Reiner, let's be real that in his camera roll as a scout, he'd probably have a number of stolen shots of Krista. A literal shutter bug if he can find the right time to take it. Some of them has Ymir's hand blocking the view. But otherwise:

A selfie of him, Bertholdt, and Annie who is cut off because she walked out of frame

A stolen picture of Krista when she helps out at the local hospice

A photo of the 104th Battalion

A photo of maps and routes taken by the Scouts

A photo of his mother

Now, when it comes to Reiner going back in Marley, it's a bit more simple. But these are the things that are closest to his heart:

A picture of his mother

A picture of Gabi

A photo of the new Warrior Candidates

Stolen shots of the remaining Warriors

A selfie of him, Bertholdt, and Annie who is cut off because she walked out of frame

[conflictofthemind]

Montauk, The Project Rainbow, and Experiments in Time

It’s fairly common knowledge that Stranger Things is based on Montauk. The unfortunate part is that Montauk has been attributed to another ‘vaguely MK-ULTRA mind control related side project’ and not the big narrative that it is, with details incredibly close to plot points in Stranger Things that resulted in an attempted lawsuit years back. Montauk does not just set the general ‘spooky scientific experiments on kids’ tone for ST - it is the backbone of the whole lore. 

‘The Montauk Project’ Book / Conspiracy explained simply is that the US government unofficially experimented on humans with ‘great psychic ability’ to allow their psychic brain waves to interact with the normal electromagnetic waves of our world. The end goal being manifesting thoughts into reality, and opening up wormholes in time. This would give the military great advantage and potentially control over the outcomes of war. It then turns out the whole narrative of Montauk occurs within a time loop from 1943-1983, when the disappearance of a ship called the USS Eldridge opened up a wormhole which was connected with by a research subject in 1983. The time loop is self-causing - the entire reason the Montauk experiments take place are to further study the events that occurred on this ship, but part of the reason the ship disappears is because of the Montauk Project. Due to all of the other time travel references within the series - trust, we will get into those - this leads me to believe it’s very unlikely there isn’t time travel / a time loop involved. Here I hope to posit the basic information about Montauk/The Philadelphia Project, how the powers work within ST, Will’s clear involvement in all of it, and the time travel element. 

Ahahaha why does that look like a bowl-cut���

Let’s put this out of the way first: the idea that Montauk/Philadelphia is the direct inspiration for the show is not based on flimsy grounds. The original series the Duffers planned to make was going to be an actual retelling of Duncan Cameron’s (think El and Henry - main research subject of Montauk) story. This was later changed to become the story we know today with the characters we know today, although with different names and the title remaining Montauk. Some of the characters had names from Montauk too… like Mr. Clarke being Mr. Nichols. I’ll save that for a later post. The entire design of HNL is based off of the ‘Camp Hero’ / Montauk lab with the iconic banana-shaped radar disk. El’s Void ability comes from the ‘Seeing Eye’ power Duncan has in Montauk, where focusing on a personal item belonging to a person lets him see into their mind. The research subjects’ power is amplified by white noise and a sensory deprivation chamber - again, seen with El. 

The Rainbow Ship and the Electromagnetic Connection:

The Electromagnetic Spectrum is usually mentioned at least a little in every season. Joyce’s magnets falling off, El needing the radio, etc. Lights are another focus, with the kids in the Rainbow Room being tested on how they can manipulate lightbulbs, and the emphasis on lights flickering whenever powerful forces are being used or the Upside Down is interfering with Hawkins. I expect them to really start pushing it in Season 5, and we can already see evidence of this (below: the WSQK Squawk Van). They’re at a radio station, the Middle School kids are learning about light from Scott Clarke most likely, and you can see the abundance of rainbows everywhere. It’s my opinion that rainbows and light are the mechanism in which these gates open, and also when at high enough power, how time can become warped. ‘Project Rainbow’ is another title basically interchangeable with the USS Eldridge and Philadelphia Project. This was because “the mechanism involved was the generation of an incredibly intense magnetic field around the ship, which would cause refraction or bending of light or radar waves around the ship”. However as we remember, this had the unintended effect of teleporting the ship across space-time. In the ST Universe, this results in the Eldridge being teleported to Dimension X temporarily (without a gate being opened).

The eagle shoots out beams of a rainbow which are meant to represent the radio waves being broadcast. 

It’s a commonly asked question as to how Will ‘blinked’ out of that shed without a gate, considering only El was able to open them at that time. The close-up on the lightbulb is the last shot we see before he just vanishes. It’s not just powers interfering with the surrounding electricity; this bending of light is what took him to the UD. But when this happens, it doesn’t result in a gate. I also believe this will end up being the mechanism for the eventual time-travel plot we’ll be seeing. Again in Montauk, there is a ‘time-tunnel’ made between the Eldridge and 1983 Montauk that was caused by the disappearance. My original post investigating this was me hypothesizing that being able to bend light to travel faster than it could result in temporary anomalies that allow one to time travel. 

Anyway, back to the rainbows. Rainbows are one of the most common recurring symbols in Stranger Things. The Rainbow Room exists of course, and there’s a deliberate costuming choice, especially in later seasons with the brighter atmosphere, to have characters wearing rainbow patterned items. Holly’s room is full of rainbows, and there are multiple rainbow props scattered around other locations (Mike’s basement, Erica’s room, etc). Scott Clarke (seriously what is up with him) is introduced in Season 1 doing a lesson on ROYGBIV. The BTS pictures of S5 Hawkins Middle School have him teaching yet another lesson on the visible light spectrum. And space for some reason. This brings us back to the Rainbow Ship.  Now we know the USS Eldridge is a marine ship, not a spaceship. But for the characters who seem to have some connection to it, it is represented as one regardless.

Will drew something representing the USS Eldridge (which it is mentioned was not from a movie i.e. he came up with it using his own memory and mind). The main fixture of Henry’s playground, where a ‘significant’ memory took place also features this representation of the Eldridge. I suspect there might also be a larger reason it took the form of a spaceship, but for now, consider that the ST Universe’s version of aliens are the Demogorgons. And outer space is Dimension X. The ship ‘flew’ to ‘outer space’ (D-X) and encountered ‘aliens’. In Montauk, that is kind of what happens. It’s more metaphorical in Stranger Things. The comic book Henry is obsessed with in TFS is seemingly changed from the real life Captain Midnight who was an airplane pilot, to be an astronaut. I think there is some kind of “alien abduction” theme with both Henry and Will being suddenly transported to another dimension that is alien in itself. Even when the lab scientists enter the UD in the first few seasons, they use hazmat suits that are deliberately similar looking to spacesuits. Stranger Things is a story about UFOs and aliens that also isn’t exactly about UFOs and aliens. 

And then, I’ll mention the weirdest part of this all - Will knows about the Eldridge somehow. And he knew about it before he was ever kidnapped and attached to the hive-mind. 

This is either possible because 1) he was in fact involved in research projects at HNL, and maybe the Project Indigo before the age of 8 like the original “rainbowshipgate” suggests. Or 2), there is an element messing with time in this situation, just like in the original Montauk book series. Montauk is literally named ‘Experiments in Time’. They’ve nabbed Linda Hamilton from Terminator (a movie about time travel) for this final season. They’re referencing a Wrinkle in Time with the Episode 6 title and Holly plot. Then we have everything else involving Henry’s clock theming that hasn’t exactly explained itself yet. Thinking time travel is a far-fetched idea at this point is a bit ridiculous. 

It really depends on how crazy they go with the whole concept. One of the other main characters from Montauk I haven’t mentioned yet is Al Bielek. Al Bielek was the original “whistleblower” who came forward with his story after supposedly recovering his repressed memories of the events. He claims to have been on the crew of the USS Eldridge in a previous life as Edward Cameron, Duncan Cameron’s brother. When he was sent forward in time he ended up staying in 1983 whereas Duncan Cameron was effectively sent back to where he came. Very confusing. But the story is, the man’s a time traveler. 

I do wonder if Al Bielek is loosely the inspiration for Will’s part in the story. Will who has seemingly repressed memories of many points in his life and has been suggested to be a time traveler many times. His name appears on the grandfather clock. He wears Marty McFly’s outfit in the first season. He has knowledge of an event that happened in 1943. He has lines about “seeing into the future” and Mike calls him a time-traveler in the VR Game where the writing staff had access to scripts and a writer from the show. The Upside Down is stuck on “the day of Will’s disappearance” (in the Duffers’ words), though that one probably has a slightly simpler explanation. 

The exact mechanics of how that would work are unclear. Right now, as young as an eight year old Will needs to have the knowledge of the Eldridge - so this isn’t something he will only end up connecting with this season. My theory is that there is a time loop involved, and Will’s actions in the future of Season 5 have him interfere in some way with the 1943 Philadelphia Project / Project Rainbow. The time loop is cyclical and self-causing. Our Will Byers already has a past iteration in yet another timeline where he already went back and tried to interfere with the past (and likely died trying in 1943). Then he is reborn again in 1971, and awakes a very small portion of his past memories of the previous loops. If that doesn’t make sense, I created this handy-but-ugly flowchart to help you out: 

Basically there is no beginning, since the future causes the past and vice versa (a bootstrap paradox). Every Will would then have memories of a past self(selves). The time loop also gets more complicated than this. Did Henry create the mindflayer? It’s presented like that within the show, but let me remind you that shows with heavy mystery elements can and will purposely deceive you. In the First Shadow, Mr. Newby is attacked by the Mindflayer and produces a drawing of the entity - it’s purposely not shown to the audience, but considering the Mindflayer was supposedly just a black mass then why is that? And regardless, in order to have Henry become possessed by it, the Mindflayer was definitely not created by him in 1979. A few have written up theories about this already, I’ll link to my friend's two posts on this element of the time loop.  

I don't have anything else super definitive yet. But I believe wholeheartedly that this is the right direction to search in and I hope we can put more attention on the subject. All of this makes sense, from the military connections they keep pushing in the show, the time travel hints we have been getting, the origin story of Brenner (whose dad died aboard the ship) and the Rainbow Room, everything ties back to the Eldridge events being incredibly incredibly important going forward.

Here's a link where you can read through Montauk Experiments in Time for free.

[doumadono]

A/N: this small thing drew inspiration from a recent conversation I had with my wonderful @indignant-alpaca, delving into the common struggles faced by students across various disciplines. Despite our diverse fields of study, we all encounter similar challenges sooner or later. Drawing from my own experiences, I decided to craft a variation focused on enhancing the learning process, using one of my favorite characters, Bakugo, as a source of inspiration 💣

MY HERO ACADEMIA MASTERLIST

In class

Be actively involved in class discussions and activities. Katsuki would assertively participate, ensuring he grasps concepts firsthand.

Treat each class as a competition to stay engaged. Challenge yourself to excel, just like Bakugo's competitive spirit drives him to be the best hero.

Don't hesitate to ask questions when you're unclear. Katsuki would demand clarity, and you should too! It's a proactive approach to understanding the material.

Observe and analyze the teacher's explanations and demonstrations. Katsuki assesses his opponents' moves; similarly, analyze the "moves" in your lessons for a deeper understanding.

Take dynamic and concise notes. Katsuki strategizes in the heat of battle, and your notes should capture essential information for later review.

Studying

Approach your study sessions with intensity and focus. Katsuki's training is high-intensity, and your studies should match that energy.

Divide your study time into focused blocks for specific subjects. Master each "arc" before moving on to the next, just like Katsuki hones specific skills.

Work on problem-solving exercises regularly. Katsuki tackles various challenges, and you should too. Practical application reinforces theoretical knowledge.

Utilize interactive study methods. Katsuki learns by doing, and hands-on activities or simulations can enhance your understanding of complex topics.

Plan your study sessions strategically, focusing on high-priority subjects during peak concentration times. This approach mirrors Katsuki's tactical approach to hero battles.

Channel your inner hero by immersing yourself completely in the subject matter, just as Katsuki immerses himself in his battles.

Break down complex topics into smaller components for in-depth understanding, similar to how Katsuki analyzes quirks of his opponents to identify their weaknesses.

Learning attitude

Cultivate a hero's mindset. Set ambitious goals and view your studies as a heroic journey toward self-improvement.

Develop resilience in the face of challenges. Katsuki faces setbacks but emerges stronger. Treat academic difficulties as opportunities for growth.

Believe in your capabilities. Katsuki exudes confidence, and a strong belief in your abilities can positively impact your academic performance.

Be flexible in your approach to learning. Katsuki adapts his fighting style, and similarly, adapt your study techniques to different subjects or challenges.

Regularly reflect on your progress. Katsuki analyzes his battles for improvement; evaluate your academic journey to identify areas for growth.

Learning, Bakugo-style, means embracing the fact that doubters will always exist, no matter your achievements. Instead of seeking external validation, channel that energy into mastering your skills and gaining knowledge for your own growth. The focus should be on personal improvement and the satisfaction that comes from overcoming challenges, rather than proving yourself to others.

Periodically review past material to reinforce your knowledge. Katsuki often reflects on his battles to improve his combat strategy. Apply this concept to your studies for a solid foundation.

Test yourself regularly to identify weak points. Katsuki constantly challenges himself in battles to enhance his abilities. Use quizzes to gauge your progress and strengthen areas where you struggle.

Develop mental resilience to overcome setbacks. Katsuki faces defeats but bounces back stronger. Treat failures as stepping stones, learning from them to improve and move forward.

[brokenpieces-72]

Hi, how are you? I was thinking that it would be really cool to have a medic who’s a phoenix with healing tears and maybe can be a combat medic who can “die” on the field only to be reborn again as a chick for a little while then become an adult again. I hope you like it. ❤️

Hi, I’m doing well thank you for asking. Hunter honestly deserves a break from time to time and I’m gonna try to write this character as male, because I don’t have many guys. Sorry this took so long, I honestly wasn't sure how to start, and then I decided on another start and then I had two in the same place. So yeah.

Nix

CoD Hybrid AU | Navigation

The most annoying thing about your condition is how often you have to deal with resets. A lot of your human regiments took your immortality and healing benefits for granted and often forgot, oh yeah you can still die. At the same time, being on a hybrid team meant most of them have healing factors so your tears didn’t do much.

When you returned for your new placement after getting shot down in the field you found a pleasant surprise. Section Chief Laswell, who you knew by reputation. She was there to give you information on your new station, which you were very pleased with. A couple of humans but mainly hybrids. As a combat medic you could be valuable when it came to injuries that the healing factors couldn’t handle.

This is what you had studied for, your research and work targeted towards hybrids and their autonomy and anatomy. The night before you shipped out you went over each file, twice. Not a single one was the same as the last. A dragon with one wing? If there’s one thing you sadly could heal with was limbs removed to that degree. A wraith was certainly a new one. The research that could be don-no! No. You had to be respectful, and you refused to treat anyone like an experiment. If you wanted to learn more you could do it via observation.

Arriving to base you were met with Captain Price, and the medic, Hunter. They both shook your hand, as you introduced yourself. You noted the shoulder weight on Price, to compensate for the missing wing. Maybe an improvement could be made, but that was something to discuss later on. For the most part you would be in combat, fighting and taking care of injuries on the field. Of course to make your fellow medic’s life easier you came with small dropper vials of your tears.

You would be working with Hunter the closest, who was more than happy to make you feel comfortable. You were escorted to the med bay where there were a few occupied cots and Hunter guided you through each of them. It was the same as any other first day on base, despite your experience. You only correct Hunter when they make obvious mistakes, knowing they were testing your skills. Hunter brought you to a cot with a man who may be one of the tallest you’ve met, passed out on the cot.

“And can you tell me what happened to this patient?” You asked Hunter before they could ask you. Hunter appreciated the playful challenge in your eyes.

“This is one of our KorTac transfers. He’s a Percht hybrid, and he’s recovering from a rampage.”

“Interesting. It happens often?” You asked.

“That he passes out at the end or that he goes on a rampage?” Hunter asked. You gave them a look, that reminded Hunter of their training days. “He passes out after every rampage, but doesn’t always go into one. For the most part his size and skills get him through the field well enough.”

“That must make it easier.” You commented. Hunter nodded.

“How long is the recovery period?” You asked, this time an actual question.

“Depends on various factors.” Hunter said. You assumed as much. Still, quite intriguing. “Once he wakes up though, I have to do routine physicals on each of the hybrids, if you don’t mind assisting.”

“Much more detailed look than any file will provide, I’m sure.” You said.

When Konig wakes up, he is still given a few hours to rest to work off a nasty headache, but he allows you to assist with his check up. You make small chat with him, but it’s clear that headache remains potent. Once you take some measurements and check scars and injuries he’s sent on his way. Decent enough guy.

Horangi is called in next, and as a haetae he’s equally intriguing. At first glance anyone would take it for a tiger hybrid but you’ve already read his file. He’s compliant but a little reserved. Still gives you casual respect, noting you definitely weren’t human. Though your features aren’t very obvious to anyone. Horangi gives you a nod out of courtesy and leaves once his health information is written down.

Price steps in, and when his shirt comes off you see the shoulder weight much more clearly. You can only imagine the amount of force it would take to rip his wing off let alone remove it from the socket completely. You asked the captain if the counter weight was even enough for proper balance. He admits it could be improved but at the same time he’s gotten used to it, and changes could make it a little difficult. You still offered to help him with finding him a better solution and he accepted.

A new pair of wings comes in, and shakes your hand almost immediately, recognizing you as a new face. Kyle commented on your warm hands, which were pleasantly toasty. Yeah you got that a lot. Kyle was curious about you though, noting you didn’t show any wings yourself, despite being a Phoenix. It’s a little more complicated than that, but he doesn’t pry anymore than you are comfortable with.

Johnny takes the seat and makes a few jests towards Hunter, who rolled their eyes. You aren’t afraid to make some comments of your own, which makes Johnny more relaxed around you. Good, you didn’t want to wrestle with a werewolf if you could avoid it. If you could avoid injury that was preferable.

When Simon steps in you feel it first, like there is death close by, simply waiting like a parent at a doctor’s office. You’d read up on Simon before coming to the base and you’d hardly heard of wraiths let alone seen one in person. Right off the bat you ask if questions are okay, and Simon prefers they’re kept to a minimum. You have most of your information from the files, so you simply ask him how he prefers his tea. Simon certainly feels a bit more at ease. You’ve seen plenty of cases in your time, you knew how to make people comfortable.

Next is Rodolfo, who is mostly human. His cadejos are very charming, and you get to give them some belly rubs. Easy, calm and relaxed conversation between you two. He and Hunter seem to be close.

Alejandro comes in and okay dang that’s some muscle. A nagual, a guardian. And Rudy’s husband. Proud of it too. You can understand why.

Finally, you meet the youngest which is Spirit. You offer to leave so she can be examined properly, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Hunter ensures she stays covered for the most part and you look away out of respect. Spirit is very excited to lift her shirt, to show you her ribs. Except you find a normal physique. Hunter still encourages her to keep it up, as they continue to examine them. A jackalope hybrid, with a wendigo form. Antlers are a little chipped but healthy enough. She’s sent on her way afterwards.

“Coffee?” You suggested to Hunter.

“Please.” They said.

“Seriously how do you fall out of a helicopter?” You asked Gaz on the roof. Gaz chuckled, shaking his head.

“Very talented my friend.” Gaz told him.

“Yes but when you have wings.” You said.

“Speaking of wings,” Kyle said. “Mind if I ask about yours?”

“How do you mean?” You asked.

“Well they told us you were a Phoenix. Guess I figured you’d have wings, you’re pretty rare specimen.” Gaz explained.

“Oh right. Ha…” you trailed off.

“If it’s a sensitive topic I get it.” Gaz said, you brushed it off.

“No no… I honestly don’t know why.” You said. “I remember being jealous of harpies like you though.”

Gaz’s wings puffed up a little. You smiled, enjoying the short time of peace and quiet. Gaz said, “I’m flattered.”

The team waited with baited breath at the clouded battlefield, waiting for you to return. Hunter stood near by, a stretcher ready to be loaded onto the helicopter. As soon as your silhouette was visible, carrying a barely conscious Rodolfo on your shoulder. You were in no better state, gritting your teeth and ignoring the blood you had. Alejandro and Hunter closed the distance between you and the rest of the team, Alejandro taking Rudy and Hunter catching you as you stumble from the weight being lifted.

As Hunter helps you to the helicopter, the propellers already starting up, you handed her a vial of clear liquid. "For Rudy. It will make his recovery...faster."

Hunter lowered your hand, focusing on getting you inside, and getting home. Rudy was laid on the stretcher, and hoisted in while Price gave you a hand, hauling you up and taking you to a seat. Hunter worked on Rudy first, taking the vial you'd offered. Admittedly Hunter almost didn't believe you, but given Rudy's condition, it was better to take the shot.

You watched, eyes growing tired and your vision blurring. Hunter was a brilliant medic. The eye dropper was used on Rudy's wounds, and healed over quickly. Poor guy would still need to rest as your tears couldn't do much for head injuries unless they were bleeding. You panted in your seat, before stealing a glance down. There were blood stains on your clothes, but you ignore them. You could use a break.

When Price tried to call Hunter over to give you attention, you put a hand on his arm. "I'm good."

"You're going to bleed out." Price argued. You just nodded. Yeah, you were.

"I'll be fine." You insisted. "Please Captain. Been needing a break."

"Hunter?" Price called, seemingly ignoring your wishes. "Just patch 'em up."

Hunter obliged. You weren't going to be leaving anytime soon. Sometimes for you it was easier to just hit the reset button. At least you had some good company, company that valued you for more than just your tears. You rest your head back, fighting to stay awake. Gritting your teeth you warmed your hand up, a soft warm glow appearing on your palm. The hand went to your wounds clotting them, before Hunter could get the bandages out.

“Damn it Nix!” They barked at you. You chuckled through your pain, as they batted your hand away and started to wrap you in gauze. “I could help you more if you would just let me.”

“I know… I know…” you said.

You were helped out of the helicopter by Simon, where you saw the rest of the team waiting. Johnny had a smile on his face until he saw you. Spirit’s face was covered by her hand in shock. Gaz rushed over immediately, taking your other arm to take the weight off Hunter but you shake your head. You were far enough.

“Set me down.” You breathed. Hunter looked at you, hating this part. “I’ll be fine.”

Hunter reluctantly lowered you to the ground, while Kyle stepped back. You turned your head to the side, seeing a sunset. Beautiful. Always beautiful. You overhear Spirit asking what was going on. Her concern was sweet. A deep breath and you shut your eyes. Another good ending.

The team looked on as your body burst into flames. Spirit gasped, eyes wide watching you burn. Johnny held her back, looking on as if it were just another campfire. Price folded his arms, wing going around Kyle on instinct. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, seeing someone they had come to care about, burning in front of them. Luckily it was also quick. Your body became a pile of ash.

“I hate it when he does that.” Hunter commented.

“It’s his choice.” Price reminded them. Doesn’t mean Hunter had to like it.

“What… what happened?” Spirit asked confused. She hadn’t seen you reset before, you’d only been back on the team for a short while, having been called to other assignments. Johnny let Spirit go, while Kyle approached the ashes.

“I’ll show you.” He said, gesturing for Spirit to approach. The jackalope came over seeing the pile of ash start to shift. “Come on you bald chicken, come on out.”

Your beak poked out of the ash your head following with it. Spirit gasped while Kyle smiled. You felt his finger stroke your head. You let out a happy chittering sound. “There he is.”

“I’ll get a blanket.” Hunter said.

The best part of your rebirth is probably the pampering. You already asked Kyle to show Spirit what to do before the mission. Kyle was fine with playing nursemaid, and giving Spirit some extra education.

“He remembers everything? Even though he died?” She asked while you were looking back at her in your blanket nest.

“Everything.” Kyle told her. “Only thing that changes is his age. He grows quickly from hatchling, and then it’s a matter of shifting back to human. By that point he’s an adult.”

“Never seen a phoenix before.” Spirit commented, resting her head on the table. You leaned over and nibbled at her nose, making her giggle. You got gentle strokes to beak as a reward.

It didn't take too long for you to get your feathers back. It let you take off, enough for some branching and practice, but not much distance yet. Spirit helped you by letting you ride on her antlers around the base. She was very careful, doing constant check ins to make sure you didn't fall off. If you weren't on Spirit's antlers you were riding somebody's shoulder. Except Simon's.

You don't feel safe around Simon in such a vulnerable state. If you had your human form, you would be fine. Simon is also fine with this. You're a phoenix, they're not very comfortable around undead, and technically speaking he is undead. Your skills against thralls and vampires were enough to satisfy him. Johnny is often in the same room anyways, so having a wolf as a mediator even with just his presence put you more at ease.

Hunter keeps you close as well. It's been a while since your last regeneration, so they take advantage to study you and any changes you might have in behaviour and personality. You don't mind, they don't needles to you except for any vaccinations they deem necessary. The other medics find your presence a treat, getting to greet you, and admire the beautiful warm colours of your feathers coming in.

Once you're able to fly a bit better, you often start to wake up Hunter. It's getting colder and the heating unit on base isn't exactly perfect, so some areas on the base are still chilly. You give off enough body heat that Hunter can pull on a hoodie, put you in the large packet, and have a couple minutes to warm up before getting their coffee. Sometimes Hunter puts the hoodie around your nest to heat it up over night.

Once Hunter has their morning coffee, you take off to wake the others. You land in front of Simon's door and let out a small cry. Simon doesn't always sleep, but rather he tries to relax in his room. Once there is movement, you move on to the next one. If Johnny isn't in Simon's room or outside after a full moon, you find him next. There's only so many places Johnny can be a full wolf inside, and the cold doesn't bother him, but Simon will open his door for you so you can nestle up next to him before letting off some extra heat. You may or may not nudge him with your beak, hey! No rolling over! Come on!

You're not quite heavy enough, and your talons can't grip the handle or knobs properly. First time you woke Simon he suggested he help you with your wake up calls. You didn;t object, and saw it as a trust excerise, since Johnny will help you if he's sharing a room with Simon for the night.

Alright, Kyle is next. Sometimes he's already awake or he's with the captain. Simon lets you in, and you fly over. Kyle is a harpy and therefore has some bird tendencies, include his wings covering his face a bit when he sleeps. You find an opening easily enough to wake him. Once your hear a soft morning from him you're able to get him out of bed. You let him wake up on his own, before heading out of the room and on to the next one.

Spirit is a typical teenager, and will try to ignore you like Johnny. That is if she doesn't try to curl up with you like a plushie. You land, wake her, and as soon as she reaches for you, you're off again. Spirit tends to get dressed and showered before eating breakfast anyways. You leave her to it.

You don't go to Konig if he's had a rampage the day before. He needs rest and he's unconscious. After the red mist he can make you aren't about to bother him. Konig is a gentle giant sure, you ride his shoulder any time the medics are uneasy around him to make them feel safe. You don't want to try to force him awake if you don't have to, and usually his rampages land him in the medbay anyways. Today you could wake him, and its the same as most, but you don't have to warm him up much. You get a warm greeting from him though as he drags himself out of bed.

You don't like waking up Horangi. Why? Because sometimes he's a jerk. More than once you've gone in to wake him, found his bed empty and are met with a haetae looking at you like Lucifer looks at a cornered mouse in Cinderella. You've taken to just letting out a call outside his door. One time you did this and Horangi opened the door ready to pounce and spook you. You retreated and let out a cry at him. Horangi was pretty smug, right up until he saw Simon close by, staring him down. Yeah, he stopped after that.

Alejandro and Rodolfo share a room, so not as much work. You can let out a call from hallway and they'll take a couple minutes. The two warm each other up, no issues there. You've gone in before and landed behind Alejandro, pecking at his back to wake him. Didn't work, he nearly rolled on top of you. If you hadn't cried out when you did, jolting him awake, you might have had some bent feathers. You go inside today though, as Rudy's injuries are still a little rough. It can take longer for him to fall asleep, and Alejandro struggles with sleep as a part of it. You're able to hop on to the bed, hop on to Rudy and land between them. You nudge Rudy first, who gives you some pets to get himself moving. Rudy then wakes the colonel, and you're on to the last one.

Price sleeps well enough but sometimes you find him sleeping on his desk or sitting next to his bed going over some files. Workaholic. Simon tries to scold him about it but well, it's not really scolding. More just commenting. Simon cracks open the door and you poke your head in. WOO! He's sleeping! You almost don't want to wake him. But you have to. The advantage here is that you can wamr up with him, because as a dragon hybrid he's pretty warm. You can nestle with him for a bit, giving him a couple miniutes before you wake him. Price groaned once you were comfortable. He saw you, and got out of bed, picking you up, and holding you to his core, where his body was the hottest.

Kyle takes you up to the roof anytime he relaxes up there. All he has to do is find you call "Nix". You know where you're going, and you'll fly over immediately. You get to relax with him outside and sometimes go for a flight yourself, with Kyle watching or joining you. It gives you a chance to brush up on your hunting skills. Mice and rats weren't uncommon to find. Spirit comes out with you guys as well, laying back and staring up at you while you fly over head.

Another life another cycle. It can feel tedious, and one day you'll probably end up doing something else. For now you have good people, and safe space. It took time to find this, to build it. You weren't about to walk away from it. If only it could have been that easy.

You had gone with the team to an outpost, a temporary set up for a mission. You still weren't shifting, not that you couldn't but it wasn't an ideal form. If you did shift to human it would be very young and very vulnerable. You didn't want to reset before you had to, and a kid was an easy target. A juvenile phoenix? That would require more stopping power.

"Wheels up at 0500 tomorrow. Prep your gear, eat, rest up, and we move out." The captain ordered. You made a chirping sound to get his attention once the team dispersed. Price offered his arm for you, giving you a chance to fly over and land on him. You inch up to his good shoulder nuzzle the back of his ear befoire looking at him expectantly. The Captain recognized that look. You were very expressive for a bird.

"Nix you'll be staying behind." He told you. You squawked in protest, your feathers puffing. The captain sighed. "Nix, you'll provide overwatch with Gaz."

You wanted to do more, but without a human form, you had some limitations. At least as overwatch you could still do some work as a medic. Price got to work prepping his gear with you close by, either perched somewhere or on his shoulder. If you noticed someone looking for something, you brought it to them. You noticed Simon was tense and you already knew why. The location of the mission had some heavy memories for him. Hell even Price wasn't sure about coming. You noticed the scope to his rifle was missing as he was assembling the weapon. It was under the bench. You flew over to him, your bright colours catching his eye. Simon watched as you retrieved the missing piece and flapped up, onto the bench. The scope was in your talons as you out a soft chirp. Simon took the scope and you nudged his leg. Your tears could heal a lot, but emotional and mental wounds? Not so much.

"Thanks Nix. Stay safe yeah?" He told you. You stay safe? You were more worried about him.

Downside of being a phoenix - well you already know the downsides - everyone wants a phoenix. Hybrid trafficking is a thing as well, with some sick tickets enjoying the idea of having hybrids for pets. A phoenix has extra benefits, with healing tears. There has been entire debates and conferences on phoenix tears and whether it should be allowed to be bought and sold in pharmaceuticals. As for your feathers that's a whole other issue and has long since been deemed illegal to traffick real ones. Not that poachers would care.

The mission had been going fine, you were keeping an eye out for wounded human soldiers from above. It was like watching a maze being solved by multiple lines, and just as chaotic. Kyle had been called to the ground to assist a team, leaving you to take care of another wounded soldier. As soon as you landed next to him, you were grabbed. You didn't have an ear piece so no one heard your distress. The next thing you know, you're uncermoniously stuffed in a bag, and dragged off.

When you awoke you were in a bird cage which you would never stop finding humiliating. This wasn't the furst time either, but you were more irritated by the fact that it had happened when you were trying to help someone. That being said you know better than to thrash against your cage, knowing they would try to restrain you further to preserve your feathers. To make matters worse you recognized the voice of the person who had caught you.

Valeria stood there staring at you. You tilted your head at her, remaining calm and avoiding too focused of a gaze. Gorgon hybrids were familiar enough to you. You could avoid mind control well enough, including hers. The question was if she recognized you as well. You were younger than when she previously saw you, and it was at a distance.

"Did you check for a tag?" She asked. The two men who'd caught you shared a look, and she sighed face palming. You weren't sure whether to pity them or laugh at them for such a rookie mistake. You did have a tag on you, Price had insisted on it. The way she went off on the two of them, holy crap. The fact she didn't turn them to stone right then and there was surprising.

"Out. I'll deal with you later." She hissed at them. That wasn't even a pun. Her attention was back on you, and you puffed up your feathers. The way she was staring at you was... kind of odd. If anything she seemed to be admiring you. I mean what was there to be disgusted by? You couldn't help but detect something else behind her eyes. The snakes didn't seem bothered by you.

"You could give me so much." Valeria commented. Fuck, not what you ever wanted to hear in this situation. You squawked in warning at her, almost challenging her to try something. She just smirked. "If only Graves were here, I might just set you on him. Maybe you could get him to shift gears."

She sighed seeing you bristle. "But you're with that pack of misfits... hmph... I'll take advantage of what time I have before they come to collect you."

As soon as you saw a few figures approaching with gloves, you started to thrash. Not again. You wouldn't let this happen again.

"Nix... Nix can you hear me?"

You were a pitiful sight. A number of feathers had been plcked from you, and your eyes were dry and sore.

"Can you hear me... try to move if you can..."

That voice. Spirit. You heard a couple more but they were further away. You tried to force your eyes open, but all you felt was still air on them. There was a crack of light but not enough to make out anything.

"Hunter.... he needs help!"

"Shit... come on Nix don't make me do this the easy way... really hate doing that... stay with us."

Tired... you were just tired and sore. You can feel gloves again, and you try to scratch back with your talons.

"Hold him down..."

"Yep." You felt leather holding your legs.

"Gently."

"I'm trying."

Something is laid next to you, you feel the edge brush against you. very gently you're awkwardly placed into something soft. You thrash at first, your mind still alert, but the voices assure you everything will be okay. It was all going to be okay... sleep... you wanted... sleep...

Hunter wasted no time getting you back to the med bay, getting you fixed up. They hadn't hesitated to break some things, and extracting your tears was done with little care for your well being. You felt something cover your head and you relaxed, realizing it was over.

Sleep returned to you while Hunter did their best to fix you up. As always, a remarkable job was done. You were placed in Spirit's room in a warm nest made of blankets and a hoodie. Recovery would be slow but you didn't need a reset. Not this time. You didn't want one either. When you woke back up you heard the team talking.

"His wings were broken, his eyes are dry and primary feathers were removed..." Kyle said, repeating the information Hunter had given them.

"Literal no fly list." Spirit commented.

"Having his eyes bandaged for now is the safest, so he'll need extra assistance around base." Hunter mentioned. "If he chooses to stay on base during the recovery period."

"I hate to mention it, but if Nix were to reset...

"No." Hunter said immediately. "I'm not about to do a reset."

"Could... someone else do it?" Spirit asked, her tone hesitant.

"I'm the only one with the training to do it, if anyone else does it on the team, it could be considered... no." Hunter trailed off before putting their foot down. Hippocratic oaths didn't cover phoenixes, and Hunter was strongly against being the reason you reset.

"Nix will still recover." Simon spoke up. "Just extra time."

"That settles it." Price said, before anybody could object. Not that anyone would. You fell back asleep hearing that.

The next time you awoke, you felt large hands take hold of you. You stayed calm, feeling yourself pressed to a warm chest. You were carried out of the bedroom and into a more communal space. The bandages remained over your eyes. You knew it would be while until you could see properly again.

"Hunter wants to give you some eye drops." You heard Price say softly. You let out a soft cooing sound, showing your appreciation. The team had to put in extra effort to help you recover, and they were choosing to do so. You heard Price and Hunter talking quietly, with Spirit asking if she could help.

"Keep your eyes shut, I'll tell you when to open them." Spirit said while Hunter instructed her on how to apply the eye drops. When the bandage was removed, you couldn't register much light. Hunter was doing this to protect your eyes. Gentle, latex fingers took off your bandages. Spirit asked you to open one eye and the drops were applied. It was a welcome relief until you could produce more natural tears. The other eye was treated and a new bandage was applied. This would take some time before you could see again.

Once Spirit said you were finished, Price took you to get fed, letting you locate the food yourself. You heard Kyle come into the room. You replied to his entrance with a friendly chirp. After you filled up on spices and fruit extracts Price picked you back up.

Price laid back and placed you on his chest where his heat was the strongest. The warmth was a great comfort, and you nestled in. You told yourself, when you could properly shift to a human state, you would thank him, and apologize for being so reckless. In maybe a week or so you would be around Spirit's age, and by the end of the month you would be an adult. By that point you should have your feathers back, and be able to see properly.

For now, you rested against the captains warm chest, trying to rest again. Those sickos had left their mark though. It wasn't long before you started to fidget and needed to be woken up again. Kyle woke you, taking you off Price's hands so he could get to work on his reports. You let out a startled tweet, your feathers puffing again.

"I got ya Nix. You're safe here." Kyle assured you. If only could see it for yourself.

Your blindfold stayed on until you could shift to an adult. It had come with some difficulties, and you shifted to human a few times before if only to make navigation a little easier. Spirit spent plenty of time with you, helping you walk around. Hunter insisted on a human state to get better adjusted to walking around with assistance.

Despite Hunter's intentions, König would pick you up and take you to whereever you need to go. You weren't much heavier than Spirit anyways. Horangi's antics against you stopped as soon as he learned what had happened. You didn't know at the time, but if he overheard someone making comments about your vision, he made the room foggy with his clouds and caused them to stumble around. The cadejos are great seeing eye dogs, and Rudy showed you how they can guide you around. May have led to you bumping into a wall or two, from the cadejos passing through them. Alejandro worked with Hunter and Price to find tasks you could do on base with your young age and impairment. You found you could still navigate the medbay with little issue, but sharp items were kept out of reach.

The biggest issue was your nightmares. More than once you would wake up to complete darkness and cold sweat. You didn't cry out, not wanting to bother anyone else. Except Spirit doesn't work that way, nor does Ghost. Ghost on more than one occasion has walked in on you, checking to see how you're doing. Spirit could hear your small noises of distress as well.

One night, Spirit knocked on your door. You allowed her entry from your bed, and she offered to take you for a walk or get a snack. Each time you accepted her invitation. Spirit didn't pry or bother you with questions. You got the impression she'd been through this before, or something similar. After half an hour or so you were led back to your room and could sleep the rest of the night.

Then came a night where Ghost came to your room. He announced himself calmly, and you were helped out of bed. The bandages would be coming off the next day. You were relieved to finally see again. The nightmares didn't subside though. Ghost made sure you had tea and something to eat before he decided to lay it all down.

"They did a number on you." Ghost stated.

"Yep." You said calmly.

"Sick fuckers." Ghost commented. "You made it out alive."

"I got myself caught, and put myself in that situation." You said.

"You did." Ghost agreed. Great talk Ghost, very inspiring.

"Should've stayed behind. I'm living with my mistakes." You reminded him.

"Same." Ghost said sipping his own mug. You turned towards his voice. "If all you do is beat yourself up about your mistakes, you're just gonna turn purple. You've got scars, we all do. That's what happens when you make choices."

"I know." You said. You'd been around for a long while. This isn't the first time you'd dealt with something like that.

"I'd fucking hope so, you're older than me." Simon pointed out. "But if you know, then you know when to fucking say something."

"I do. Once the bandages come off, I'll be attending therapy. Not sure if they can help but it's worth trying." You told Ghost. Ghost looked at you while you finished your midnight tea.

"Good." He said.

You sat on the bed, a full adult. Spirit instructed you to shield your eyes with your hand while the cotton pads were removed from each side.

"Okay... open slowly." Spirit said. You did, wincing a bit. "Well?"

You stared at your hand. "Five right?"

Spirit's face lit up as she confirmed it. Finally you could get back to work again. Of course Hunter wouldn't let you. Instead it was a mental health day, and it was doctor's orders so no getting out of it. The team left you alone and you returned to your room, sitting on your bed. You know what comes next, and you know it could mean you leaving the base and the team. It was important though.

You dialed the number you found online. A receptionist answered. "Hello, how can I help you today?"

"Hi, I'd like to set up a consultation with a therapist."

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies @cryingpages @dcnocap207 @reaper-chan666 @bestbookfriends @thriving-n-jiving @cutiecusp @shikigami-the-paper-spirit

[tinycheesecakedetective]

Character Files #1: Blueberry Milk Cookie

Hello again! It's been a while. Today I'd like to waffle on about Blueberry for a bit. If you'll allow me to. In the past I discussed his trajectory, but I wanted to take the opportunity to update a few things and add some fun details. This post is meant to cover Blueberry's past. What will become of his kingdom will be discussed when I get to the aftermath of the Dark Flour War. Now let's begin! ~~~~~

Personality & Early Life Blueberry Milk is a scholar with a taste for thrill and has an insatiable curiosity. He's kind to others, however he has a tendency to be overdramatic and cocky. He always pushes beyond boundaries despite the consequences or risks it may pose. He's an adventurer specifically because he found traditional studying too boring and would much rather get his hands dirty with experiments. But before Blueberry Milk became the illustrious founder of the republic, he was just a student at the Parfaedia Institute of Magic. Many teachers considered him a prodigy due to his prowess and intelligence, however others dreaded teaching him due to his penchant for troublemaking.

He would graduate at the age of 17, and took on a job as a professor before quitting years later. Many would cite a lack of stakes as one of the reasons for his departure, though that was common knowledge to anyone that was close to him. Blueberry Milk would then become an independent researcher, exploring the world and doing field research.

The Kingdom's Beginnings With months of travelling under his belt, it became very clear that he needed somewhere to store all of his findings. Initially he planned to establish it back at Parfaedia, but found it too stifling for him. So he packed all of his things and began moving north. Some old colleagues heard about this and followed suit, joining him up north in what would be called "The Land of the Studious." Alongside his colleagues, they established The Congregation, a meeting hall where they could all discuss the progress made with each of their projects.

Over time, more cookies heard of this place up north and had began seeking it out to perform their own personal projects. The Land of the Studious became known among Parfaedians as a wizard's getaway, a place where students could perform magic more freely than in the Institute. With the surge of visitors, the Gelato Villas were built for incoming travelers and eventually permanent residents, and the Wafer Train Station was built soon after for easier access to and from Parfaedia, and a new school began construction. As the area expanded more and more, the Land of the Studious had changed from a small community of scientists to a bustling city-state. The Congregation evolved, with the original founders becoming council members and gaining more political power over time. Soon even the name itself had changed, now being known as New Yogurt City.

A City in Crisis As the city developed, Parfaedia began to recognize NYC as a legitimate entity outside of "tourist destination." With competition on the rise, the magic city was forced to evolve to stay relevant. More technology was implemented into daily life as a result, with new experimental magic being tested. It was all going well until everything came screeching to a halt.

The incident happened outside of the institute. It started as a few electrical malfunctions inside some of the classrooms before quickly spreading to the rest of the building. Strange rifts opened inside one of the classrooms before letting in a legion of cake monsters. Even with all wizards pushing back, they were unable to stop the rifts. More appeared, wreaking havoc across the magic city. In a final attempt to get outside help, the wizards looked to the legendary beacons and lit them.

Dozens of wizards saw the lights and answered the call, including Blueberry Milk. With additional backup, they all began to go around the city, fighting the cake armies with staffs and wands. The city lit up with magic spells and potions as the streets were enveloped with smoke. For a moment, it looked like victory was near for the wizards, until the smoke parted with a mighty shriek.

Flying over them was their last and greatest opponent: the roll cake hydra. A horrible beast with cream cheese frosting bleeding through it's teeth and seven heads to boot. While the wizards and townsfolk fought long and hard, it kept coming back harder and more angry. The terrible beast forced them to retreat into the nearby forests.

A Glimmer of Hope Tired and exhausted, the cookies tended to their wounds. Many of them had passed out from spending too much mana, and others didn't know how much longer they could go on. Splitting from the group, Blueberry Milk wandered through the woods. He began flippantly going through spell after spell, trying to find one that could stop this before he never could. In his darkest moment, a voice beckoned to him. He tried to find the source, moving further inside before it spoke again.

It asked him if he was truly determined to save Parfaedia, and he responded with a nod. Sensing his desperation, the voice offered him a deal. It would give him the power he needed to stop the hydra in exchange for defending Earthbread as a whole. With dwindling options, he agreed, and his powers were amplified. Using his newfound strength, he left to face the hydra alone.

The fight was intense. Standing in front of the hydra armed with only his staff, he launched the first blow. Taken aback by the sudden attack, the hydra was struck, backing up before lunging it's heads at the cookie.

Move.

Blueberry Milk jumped out of the way, heart racing as he looked down at his hands. He felt sharper, quicker. The hydra tried again, snapping it's neck at him as it attempted to swallow him whole.

Roll.

His body acted on impulse, rolling away from it before sending a shockwave at the monster's body. A direct hit. A grin curled up onto his face as his teammates returned, mouths agape in shock.

Again.

The fight raged on as Blueberry Milk effortlessly weaved through each attack while dealing blow after heavy blow. More onlookers came, cheering him on as the hydra grew tired and sloppy. Another set of attacks came as he pushed the hydra into a corner.

Once more.

Pouring his remaining mana into his staff, he sent one final attack aimed at the hydra's chest. The hydra, desperate to live, fought back with all it's remaining strength, but it would be of no use. The attack speared through it's chest, pushing it back into a wall before it erupted in a beautiful collage of colors and sounds.

His finest work yet. And one that made him faint. His body was quickly ushered into a recovery room. When he woke up, he found himself surrounded by friends and acquaintances. If he didn't shoo them away, they would have killed him with kindness. He also wouldn't have noticed the gleaming blue gem resting on his chest.

The Aftermath Since the attack, Parfaedia immediately began reconstruction efforts, and with the help of the NYC was able to recover almost completely. After intense discussion and meetings, the two cities agreed to join under one entity as the New Yogurt Republic. The new republic recognized the efforts of the brave wizards that defended Parfaedia as heroes, and Blueberry especially began to grow in popularity. He was eventually appointed as the leader of the republic, with a new and improved council by his side, and with their combined efforts helped to usher in a new golden age for both cities.

For now.

Blueberry Milk, now a wielder of the soul jam of hope, began doing research into how exactly it worked. He knew that it helped him during the fight, but something about it felt.. foreign. But Blueberry wasn't one to give up, and he began to seek out others like him for his research. His curiosity knew no bounds, and he was determined to unlock the secrets of the soul jam.

[toxicyeuriii]

hii, could i request medicine pocket or horrorpedia (whichever you think is the most fitting for this) with a reader thats like a victorian era docter. I got this idea because like 98% of the characters are historical in some way and i also really just like history and such :3

Ooh hi anon! I really like this request... and thanks for asking!!!! And honestly this is genius tbh. But anyways, i saw this request before i went to school... so i couldnt really write on it soo... But i did 'study' a little but about Victorian doctors (i searched up what and how they where like and whatever)! Also i picked medpoc for this bc i didnt know how to write this w/ horro! Enjoy!

Warnings - none - medicine pocket x Victorian doctor reader, fanfic, medpoc is unhinged and reader is like 'what the', will probably be not accurate... reader is from the 1800's but then the storm happened so yeah...

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Your ways of... healing and health are controversial yet mostly effective you could say. Thats what you and medicine pocket have in common. Course, with your time at Laplace did change some of your ways, with less poisons, more anesthesia, and far more knowledge in the medical field, most learned from medicine pocket. Alas, you still cant let go of some of your practices of course! Those years of apprenticeship weren't for nothing!...

In order to course learn more about 'modern' medicine and medical practices, Laplace placed you with Medicine Pocket, which you have learned alot from your time with them, though it included alot of tests with your mineral poisons and such, they have some sort of fixation with testing with it... And so now you are way better at well healing without alot of death, but also with somewhat knowledge about whatever medicine pocket tests on and just shares with you. However, with your time with them, they do show... characteristics of that of a canine, but everytime you say something about it, they just tell you off....

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"Y/N-!"

Medicine pocket says while barging into your (newly acquired) medical office, looking quite happy yet smug. Seems like youre in for something, or they want something from you..... Oh well!

"Hm?... What is it?"

you say while continuing to work on filling up all of your medicines for patients, which they are mainly just arcanists from the foundation that got hurt during their line of work. Right now your office is all nice, clean and organized, lets hope that doesnt change....

"I was down at the pharmacy just to pick up a few things, and then I saw some sort of.... broach and it reminded me of you because your all... old fashioned, litterally.... so i took it and now its yours, congrats"

They say while sitting in your chair and kicking their feet up on your desk, like its their bedroom, and throwing the broach to you... Also... did they even pay!?

"Thanks, but didn't you pay the expense for the broach?... If not, you mus-"

"Shush!- I found it and so its mine, but now I gave it to you! Quit nagging-!"

"...."

They are most likely only doing this because they need something.

"What must you want?...."

"Oh wow, you hurt my feeling y/n, it was nothing, but since youre oh so generously asking, i supposeeee i do need something, just a little bit of sharponties for one of my... experiments!"

"I figured so...."

You say while sighing, going to your little bag thats full of necessities, pulling out a 'few' sharponties and handing them to the smug medicine pocket.

"Youre too kind y/n, you deserve a big ol' smoochy, doc"

They say while getting up to pat your shoulder ij a somewhat mocking manner.... or joking? You dont know, they are quite confusing to you sometimes.

"if you suppose so- Wait... What?"

They just chuckle while going to the exit in your office, leaving you dumbfounded.... They are always so forward...

"Oh yeah, come on, i also need you for the tests, i think they'll be quite..... intriguing if you will say....hehe"

"Oh... Alright...? I suppose?.."

You dust off your intricately designed medical attire and put down your things, including the broach, and head towards your door.... This will be something else, but maybe it will be.... intriguing as they said...

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Sorry if it isnt on point or reader isnt all victorian doctor like... But i did like writing this, so again, thanks for the ask anon! Also sorry if it isnt really all medpoc x reader.... I tried ^°^ But i hoped you liked it! Toodledoo!

[1moreff-creator]

*Loud gasp* Oh my gosh I’ve got the perfect one!

What if the Despair Time and Eden’s Garden classes…were to merge? That’s right, all 32 of them together! Who’d get along? Who would butt heads? What dynamics, hijinks, and unexpected friendships would form? There are two situations I’m thinking of…

A killing game scenario. For additional context, assume that Tozu and Mara have adopted MonoTV as their pet and all three are hosts together. Also, the building is a combination of both settings, with Eden’s Garden Academy serving as the ground floor, its boiler room and storage closets beneath, and then two upper floors being the floors we know of from Despair Time (playground, relaxation room, movie room, DT cast’s dorms, etc). Anyone can use an elevator to reach all floors freely. Of course, there’ll also be a huge trial room to accommodate all of them.

A non-killing game AU; feel free to include Mai here. For this one, I’m unsure if I’d like them all to be part of one big class or just two really close-knit classes that happen to frequently overlap with activities. Go with whichever would fit better for you. The same questions at the very top still apply, but now with the setting of a typical school life; studying, tests, people hanging out when they have downtime, maybe occasional field trips, etc.

Funnily enough, I have considered this very concept a couple times! It’s fun to smush characters together like this as a thought experiment, lol. However, 32 characters means there’s a gigantic amount of dynamics to consider, so I’ll mostly highlight the ones I find most interesting in both a killing game and non killing game setting. Let’s go!

Spoilers for DRDT CH2, P:EG CH1. CW: Murder, suicide, execution, (implied) eating disorders, bullying, harassment (Arturo).

(Btw for the non-killing game I’m assuming they’re all a single class, not that it changes much. And for the killing game, I imagine a merge of the DRDT and P:EG lore, though obviously it’s hard to imagine the details when we know little about both of them)

(Also expect zero structure I am just bringing up people in a random order :v)

MonoTV & Tozu & Mara

Starting with the mascots! MonoTV and Tozu would make for a pretty silly duo. The fun part of this is that MonoTV, being generally less dramatic than Tozu, would probably irritate the guy in humorous ways, while still showing him up in things like… actually having ideas for motives from the start and such. Basically Tozu regrets adopting the damn thing and wishes to punt it into the sun more often than not.

However, Mara likes it, so Tozu keeps it around. She finds it entertaining, and it helps that Mara doesn’t have to worry about the students destroying it, since it has its own ways to “punish” them without needing Mara’s help.

Teruko & Damon

Protag duo rise up! Damon would obviously scoff at the idea of an Ultimate who gets into whatever the Hope’s Peak/Eden’s Garden Academy amalgam in this universe is through luck alone. However, Teruko wouldn’t really let that bother her, and she’d make fun of him for other stuff too. You know Teruko’s dynamic with Charles from the start of CH1? Yeah that but with Damon. They probably wouldn’t interact much by choice outside of a killing game, but their shared aptitude for class trials would mean they end up tolerating each other more in a killing game setting.

Charles & Damon

They both actually have similar views on talent at the start, so they’d actually get along quite quickly. Assuming Charles actually sees “Debater” as a worthwhile talent, that is. They probably would be kind of outcasts in a school environment (well, until Whit and Mai manage to drag Charles into the group, then maybe Damon will follow him and be more social), but in any killing game, Charles’ hemophobia will still presumably speed up his arc as it does in canon. Then, I’d assume Charles would have a talk with Damon like he had with Teruko in 2-3, trying to get him to be less an asshole, basically.

Min & Eva

Eva’s talent wouldn’t be a secret for long I think. Min, being a massive fucking nerd, would probably recognize the name of the person who solved the Riemann Hypothesis (as Eva is implied to in her FTEs), and thus would question how she’s the Ultimate Liar and not the Ultimate Mathematician or something like that. Cue a bit of questioning later, and Ultimate Mathlete comes to light. I think Min would share the sentiment that “Mathlete” is underselling it a bit, and would tell the others off if they tried to make fun of her for it. Not that it would work very well coming from the Ultimate Student, but you know. I think Eva would tolerate Min, at least, and surely they’d have fun discussing math together, at least.

I don’t know what Eva’s reaction to Min’s secret (poisoning competition) would be, though. Like, I imagine she’d understand it, considering how EG CH1 went, but it’s not an easy thing to learn about someone. They might stay friends outside a killing game, but I can imagine that inside of one, Eva would make a show of distancing herself from Min and being disgusted by her actions, only to then poison someone herself to try and pass it off as Min’s murder. Maybe.

Veronika & Eva/Damon

I don’t think anyone from the EG cast is as obviously fucked up as Arturo, so no matter the context, I’m pretty sure Vero would still hang around him the most. However, Damon and Eva have enough obvious bullshit going on that Vero would have fun psychoanalyzing them! Probably. Both of them hate it, a lot, and try to avoid Vero if possible.

Whit & Toshiko

Matchmaker duo! Although they have slightly different approaches to their talent (Whit only matchmakes as a job, while Toshiko seemed to be pretty ready to do it for fun when the idea of shared rooms was brought up), they would probably have quite a bit to talk about. Their combined gremlin energy can reach critical levels really fast, though, so it’s gotta be monitored. I can also imagine Toshiko helping Whit get with Charles with his bad luck in dating, at least outside of a killing game.

I don't think Whit would think too much of Toshiko's secret. Maybe he'd tease her about it for a bit, but he'd stop when he noticed she's genuinely bothered by it. Toshiko would find Whit's secret understandable... unless Whit actually talks about his mom to Toshiko before the reveal, in which case she'd probably be slightly unsettled in retrospect, but eventually she wouldn't think too much of it either.

Levi & Diana

Another matching talents duo, this time fashion related! I can imagine that it’s Diana who approaches Levi first, wanting to connect with someone through their talent. They also both have a thing for doing what others want from them (being “a good person” in Levi’s case, and Diana’s whole chameleon thing), so I can see them finding some common ground there. Their dynamic would be pretty similar to Levi’s dynamic with Eden, I imagine.

The big question is how Diana would react to Levi’s secret, both the murders and his lack of empathy. Ultimately, I think she’d try to see the best in him and still consider him a good person, because Diana is great, but she'd be uncomfortable around him for a while. For the murder, not the lack of empathy thing.

Eden & Diana

I mentioned Eden before, because let’s be honest, her and Diana are relatively similar. Together in a killing game, their hope would shine incredibly bright, if I may say. Eden would definitely support Diana’s chameleon speech if she gives it, and they’d team up on their quests to reach out to those who separate themselves from the group, like Teruko and Eva- okay the more I write about them the more similarities I see lol. And outside of a killing game? Well, then we need to combine them with-

Eden & Mai & Diana

It’s too much positivity in one spot! We’re reaching critical levels of wholesomeness, we need to emergency exit right now!!!

Btw, I don’t think I need to say it, but outside of the killing game everyone would love Mai, EG cast included. That’s, like, the point of her character. But she’s not really present in a killing game, right?

Mai & Cara

Though they’d probably never interact in the killing game, the amount of narrative haunting these two got going on would combine into the biggest narrative haunted house you’ve ever seen.

Ace & Ingrid & Jean

Ace originally gravitated to Levi in the killing game because he felt safer around someone as strong as the Stylist, only to later fall out due to the whole death threat situation. Jean and Ingrid have the same quality of bringing safety through their evident strength, but without the death threats, so I imagine Ace would hang around them quite a bit. Especially if Levi still gets pissed off at Ace in the first trial, which I feel Ingrid in particular wouldn’t let slide as easily as the DRDT cast in general did. Also I can imagine both of them being pretty good at reminding Ace to eat properly after his secret reveal, and stopping him from bullying Nico as much as in canon, so those are pluses.

Although, Ace might not even bully Nico anyways. Because-

Ace & Toshiko

With Toshiko being the smallest and physically weakest across both casts (I'm assuming Eden's stronger than her surely), I think it's likely that Ace would target her more so than Nico. She's not as shy as Nico, which is kinda the actual reason Ace went after them, but the point stands. However, I don't think Ace would get very far, since Ingrid would absolutely put an end to it before it can get too bad. Also I don't think Toshiko would try to kill the guy so. Would probably go better than canon DRDT.

David & Kai & Cassidy

I imagine Kai and Cassidy would know David due to being terminally online, but David probably wouldn’t recognize them. Cassidy doesn’t mind, Kai’s ego is hurt a bit. Regardless, neither of them can get as close to David as Xander due to David actually knowing about Xander before meeting him.

In a non-killing game setting, I’ve always imagined two possibilities. Either David never lets the mask slip until everyone parts ways at the end of their school years, in which case he’d stay on friendly terms with everyone even if he's miserable the whole time, or he’d slowly stop forcing himself to be so cheery all the time, which the others would obviously understand as well. Kai and Cassidy are included in that.

However, in the killing game, we know David doesn’t slowly drop the act as he gets more comfortable, but rather goes from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds. David’s crash out would freak a lot of the cast out the same way it shook the DRDT cast, but these two in particular would be greatly affected.

David & Wolfgang & Damon

David and Wolfgang had very similar reactions to their respective secret motives in their killing games, so they’d become quick allies and co-leaders due to that. The main point of contention would be that Wolfgang wanted private discussions, while David wanted people to say their secret aloud. However, that comes from the fact that DRDT’s secret motive included an universal secret reveal and David wanted to cause a murder before that point, while EG’s version was just blackmail without a reveal.

If the motive is like EG’s, then I think David would agree with discussing them privately. If it’s like DRDT’s, I think Wolfgang could be convinced to David’s strategy, as long as David didn’t reveal that he actually wanted a murder to happen. Because I think Wolfgang genuinely didn’t want bloodshed, so he’d just agree to it to make the reveal less impactful when it happened. Basically he'd also fall for David's plan.

On another note, because of this team up between Wolfgang and David, I think Damon would end up disliking David at first, maybe even seeing through David’s persona like Teruko did.

Finally, there’s still David’s official heel turn to talk about. I would fucking love to see “Evil” David in a discussion against Damon and Wolfgang. Not because they’re equally matched or anything; Damon and Wolfgang are much better at actually debating than David, but David’s the Ultimate Shit Talker. I think it’d be fun to watch him rile the other two up with lies and play-acting. It’d probably fall to other people, like Teruko, Charles, Eva, etc., to actually stay calm enough against his act to think clearly. Maybe Wolfgang and Damon would also get there eventually, but I think it’d take them longer.

Xander & Wolfgang

They actually wouldn’t have much of a reason to talk to each other much, I don’t think. Outside of a killing game, they don’t really have any common ground to discuss, beyond maybe some super personal family stuff. Maybe Xander would recognize Wolfgang’s mom, though, which could lead to some interesting conversations depending on what happened with her. They’d be friendly with each other, but not particularly close or anything.

And the same could be said of the situation inside a killing game… except that eventually, Wolfgang would come to be extremely pissed off at Xander. See, because Xander stabbing Teruko clearly has some pretty large implications for DRDT’s plot, it would likely still happen in the case of a lore merge of sorts. And Wolfgang wouldn’t exactly be happy that Xander chose to attack a woman he barely knew anything about for reasons no one really knows at the start.

Teruko & Wolfgang

Which leads to the trial after Teruko gets stabbed, and I actually think Wolfgang would quickly jump to Teruko’s defense. Barring Charles and Teruko herself, Wolfgang is probably better at solving murders than the entire rest of the DRDT cast combined (/affectionate), so he’d spot the problems with the idea that Teruko killed Xander and would back her up. Of course, who actually would kill Xander in this universe is impossible to know, since his death is entirely a result of Teruko’s luck, but we know it probably wouldn’t be Teruko herself. It could even be Wolfgang himself who kills Xander, in which case the dynamic would be different, but I’m assuming for this hypothetical that Xander’s murderer would be someone else.

Anyways. Because of this perceived team up during the trial, Wolfgang would try to reach out to Teruko after its end, only to be pushed away as Teruko begins her “fuck everyone else here” arc in earnest. He’d probably try for a little bit, but once he sees the discord her actions are causing, he’d allow her to push herself away without further intervention. He wants to keep the group together, so if someone’s gonna cause issues, he’s not gonna let them in. Not everyone thinks that way, though.

Teruko & Eden & Eva & Diana

I mentioned this in the Eden & Diana section, but these four would end up being a weird little group of “the two who are trying to distance themselves from everyone” and “the two who won’t let them.” You can add the rest of the Baking Squad (+ Mai) here in a non-killing game AU, since Teruko wouldn’t want to push them away, but in a killing game situation, she’d do just that as I established.

Diana and Eden’s crusade on Eva don’t last too long, though, as the Traitor Perk would probably still be a thing she takes. While she probably wouldn’t draw first blood, as Xander’s attempt on Teruko’s life happens shortly after the first motive announcement (not even the after the motive; after the announcement that there will be a motive), Eva would still try to kill soon after with the same reasoning as canon. I don’t know if she’d still target Wolfgang, but I’d say it’s likely.

This also means that it would be Eva who gets ordered by Teruko to try and attack the mastermind. I figure she’d try, because why the hell not. But I think she’d go for Tozu, only for MonoTV to pull a “get down mister president!” and get destroyed in his stead, right before Mara shoots Eva just enough to get her down while leaving her alive for her execution. Cue DefaultTV scene, though if Min is still alive (which of course she is, I’m the one making the AU after all), we might get some interesting reaction out of her after the XF-Ture Tech line. I can’t tell what would happen later, though, because the purpose of the killing game in a merge like this could change, and with it the decisions of the masterminds. In any case, Teruko lives due to Luck and Eva gets executed.

I don’t know where the killing game would go from there, by the way. Ace maybe wouldn’t crash out as hard as he did in canon with Jean and Ingrid on his side, but maybe he would. It's especially unlikely since Nico's murder attempt would be less probable with Ace bullying Toshiko instead.* So. Yeah. Back to your regularly scheduled character-dynamic-with-no-extra-plot headcanons!

*Yes I know Ace was already planning to murder before the Nico attempt in canon, but again, I think that's less likely with Jean and Ingrid in the picture.

Rose & Ulysses

Narcoleptic duo! Funnily enough, I actually think the more interesting part of this dynamic is their memory. Ulysses would probably envy Rose’s photographic memory, while Rose would probably envy Ulsysses’… lack of that. Though I can see her taking up the habit of writing things down to remember them, since her memory is lacking in other areas. She wouldn’t need to keep the book, anyways; she could just write it in pencil and erase it since she’d remember the text no matter what :p

J & Mark

Chill buddies! They'd stick together without necessarily talking too much. When they do, though, it's usually J complaining about fame with Mark quietly and repeatedly agreeing. They both have halfway hidden identities, so even while J probably recognizes Mayhem and likely enjoys his music, she doesn't bring it up too much as long as Mark doesn't bother her about being a Rosales (which he wouldn't). J would actually drive off Jett in both killing game and non killing game scenarios, as she'd notice Mark isn't vibing with his energy all that much (and she doesn't really either), and would voice that earlier than Mark. Because of that, Jett would hang out with Cassidy more often in these AUs. Maybe.

Xander & Cassidy

Absolutely recognize each other. Xander watches Cassidy's streams, and Cassidy knows what Xander does. They become very quick friends as a result, sorta like Xander with David. In a killing game AU, Cassidy would be really torn up by Xander's murder attempt and subsequent death, trying to argue that he must have had some reason to do it. Although I don't think she'd do the shit David did in the name of Xander's ideals, but you get the idea.

Xander & Wenona

There's gotta be some kind of beef here. I imagine Xander would repeatedly try to rile her up into some kind of discussion, only for Wenona to scoff and quickly cut that off. They'd probably cool down outside of a killing game eventually, but Wenona wouldn't be too upset at Xander's death inside of one.

Arturo & Wenona

Wenona is, I think, the character from EG that Arturo is most likely to find as a "beautiful person." Even if she's not that famous since she doesn't really do public appearances, she is filthy rich. This leads to Wenona understandably hating and being disgusted by the dude. She'd probably threaten him with lawyers outside of a killing game, and would just stay far away from him inside of one.

Ace & Grace

The loudest room in the world is the one that contains these two. They would exchange insults very often, and the others always have to intervene to stop them from going into hours long shouting matches. Beyond that, Grace would hate the idea that Ace is an Ultimate who doesn't practice, since she takes her talent so seriously. Damon would also judge Ace for that, but Grace would be more vocal about it. Would make for a fun dynamic me thinks.

Nico & Eloise & Desmond

Nico and Eloise have relatively similar personalities, so I think they'd get along well enough. Desmond would therefore end up hanging out with the both of them a lot, acting as a sort of anchor for one of the chillest trios of characters around.

Hu & Ingrid

Mom friends unite! They'd get along by trying to get everyone in the cast to get along and be nice to each other. Hu's shorter temper can also be kept in check by Ingrid, though I don't think Ingrid would really stop Hu's shouting match with David after his magical girl transformation. Their relationship might strain when Hu's secret is revealed, though, because I can see a world where Ingrid starts treating her with more care when she finds out about Hu's attempts, which would bother Hu. However, with some healthy communication (which might genuinely be possible with these two; a miracle, I know), Ingrid would agree to stop and their relationship would mend.

Arei & Diana

You remember that thing about Diana and Eden being so similar that a lot of the potential arcs end up being kinda similar? Yeah. Arei's meltdown in the playground could be triggered by Diana instead of Eden without much issue.

However, would Arei's arc even happen with the EG cast in the building? In the killing game, Arei ends up genuinely believing she can get better because she finds out David "perfect Inspirational Speaker" Chiem kinda sucks, so she comes to the conclusion that "good people" don't exist and thus she and David can be "less shitty together." However, that's because everyone else in DRDT is clearly insane, so it's not hard for Arei to go "even Eden must have done something to hurt someone," because Eden ends up being the only real counterexample to the "no such thing as a good person" philosophy.

But in the EG cast, you have Ingrid (whose secret is that she uses out of date cleaning supplies, so we know she isn't hiding any crazy skeletons in her closet probably), Diana (we don't know her secret but there's no indication there's anything wrong with her), and maybe Jean and Wolfgang, depending on how seriously Arei would take the "wolfish mind" secret or if she even finds out about it. Because of that, it's worth asking whether the larger amount of counterexamples to the philosophy would mean Arei doesn't come the same conclusions as in canon DRDT.

Ultimately, I do think Arei would still reach the same mentality, just with more caveats. "Even Eden and Ingrid and Diana and Wolfgang and Jean must have done something to hurt someone" doesn't roll off the tongue so much, but it's still similar to the thing Arei said in canon and works, so Arei would probably try to change for the better in these AUs too.

Nico & Jett

Since Jett would have a harder time approaching Mark with J hanging around him, he'd probably try to find some other shy person to become a bro to, and Nico kinda fits. Nico would also appreciate the outfit, probably, since they'd find wolf masks cool. I think Nico still wouldn't be too receptive of Jett's energy, but I think they'd get comfortable with him faster than Mark seems to be getting comfortable with Jett in canon. Maybe. Idk.

Whit & Cassidy

The prime shenanigan causers in the combined cast, with puns and hijinks for days. Cassidy would probably ignore Whit's secret and continue causing mayhem with him until the very end.

Teruko & Jean

Believe it or not, I actually think Teruko would like hanging out around the guy, at least before she starts pushing people away post CH1. I say that because Teruko does seem to have enjoyed hanging around Xander before the Situation, and Jean has a similar boisterous and generally positive attitude as him. I don't think Teruko would necessarily seek him out or anything, but they'd enjoy just kinda chilling together.

-

Okay look I need to cut myself off at some point or I could talk about this forever. I invite whoever has thoughts on this to talk about it more, because there's a lot that could be done with this concept, but I can't be writing this post for the next year so I'm leaving it here. Hope it was enough for you! Thanks for the ask, this was a lot of fun!

[whohasfourthumbsand]

+ Hail from R&D!

+ HELLO, AGAIN! After recent events and a long-overdue transfer, I am proud to announce that I am no-longer working with IPS-N; As of posting, I've officially become the youngest recruit of MSMC's 148th detachment, "Aftermarket Brokers"! My current position is mostly field testing and prototype development, but my specialization remains the same.

+ I am a biomedical engineer studying prosthesis, pilot accomodations, and cybernetic/subaltern maintenance. Over the months of running this Omninet account, I've answered dozens of questions about implant upkeep, cybernetic design, mech repair, and more- I won't pretend to be an expert on anything, but my cybernetic arms are my own design, as are the modifications to my VLAD, "GRAE". For now, most of my experience comes from my time studying on Carina, or operating under IPS-N contract- + Now that I can choose what I want to do, I hardly know what to do with myself--

+ As always, reach out any time with questions on cybernetic, subaltern, or prosthetic care!

( Original pinned post! ) (TAG INDEX) + Untitled.MP4 - Lore-related dialogue pieces, formatted in a way that scratches my brain. + GRAE Speaks - Input from TR-GRAE/posts not written by Gray. + Every Pilot Has Two Names - Lore posts related to Gray's primary arc. + Portfolio - Posts that are in Gray's canonical portfolio.

// (@tigersharko) ooc every long post with gray ends up sounding like a resume cover letter- it's just how he talks (and partially how i type)- // updating gray's pinned post after his redesign/transfer, it's interesting to see how the character has grown thusfar!! he's turning 20 pretty soon actually (november 20th) !!!

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

hey, sleepy! hope you’re having a wonderful day :)

If im not mistaken, you were/are studying visual art in college (correct me if i’m wrong), and id be glad to know your opinion about it: would you say that the college helped you to improve your art? (1-10)

im about to finish school and i do want to work with art, yet, im uncertain about colleges and what they will be offering (if the content will be taught by fundamentals to coloring or character design)

tysm! all the best 🩷 keep going w the inktober drawings, they’re amazing

Hello! Hope you have a wonderful day as well!

Okay so yes I did go to visual art college. However, the thing is, I major and got my bachelor degree in "Visual Communication Design" the emphasis being the "Communication" here. So we study communication through visual arts. I learn to not only make art to only be understood by me, but also by everyone else. The lecturers taught psychology, perception, and so much more!

It actually depends on yourself. I personally would categorize the art college experience in 3 categories : PERSONAL, FRIENDSHIP, and LECTURER aspect. (This is my own personal experience in college in Indonesia. Your college and the culture in your country might be different)

PERSONAL ASPECT - Art college will assign you with countless assignments. With hundreds of drawings every year. It depends on me to half-ass it or give it my all. Giving it my all means I study what I'm supposed to be drawing, and work with what I can do and can't do. Say, there's an assignment to make a comic about traditional medicines in Indonesia. I learn to research. What should people who read it know? What's not required. Which one is just additional information? I learn to organize/put hierarchy on information. Now that I know which one is important and which ones don't, I have to convey it through drawings. Now that's the thing I study. On the other hand, I myself developed my own artstyle as the assignments go. You draw SO DAMN MUCH by the second/third year my artstyle has finally gotten established (plus as some of you may know, I also started drawing CoD fanarts as sleepyconfusedpotato in Tumblr around the start of college, so GhostJade also helped me find my own artstyle). So the lecturers don't really TEACH you much about drawing. They give you lessons and assignments so you can learn to draw by yourself. What you need to do is to learn how to study - develop your brain so it's always in constant learning mode.

FRIENDSHIP ASPECT - Art college HUMBLED me. When I was in high school, I was THE art kid of the class, but when I got into art college, I was just a speck of dust! I meet more developed friends and even more experienced friends who've achieved more. HOWEVER, the college experience is to experience it with friends. In Indonesia we tend to do the art assignments together, lend art supplies together, go to cafe's together. Work independently together in a communal way. I learn to ask friends what they think, and what they think should be improved. I can't tell you how much my friends' comments and ideas have broken me out of art block. A second, third, fourth opinion is always a good additional consideration. Because they see our art without knowing what's inside our brain. They're good test screening for audiences.

LECTURER ASPECT - Lecturers are there to GIVE YOU OPPORTUNITIES. Makes you a better thinker, and gives comments about our drawings. They give the final feedbacks. To make use of the lecturers, CHASE THE LECTURERS. Ask them stuff, make their knowledge yours. Another thing is, lecturers are usually famous people/known experts in their fields. Ask them for opportunities. "Sir can I join you in one of your researches?" "Ma'am do you know a good resource/book if I want to learn about this?" "Sir, do you know people from this field that I can contact so I can start working with them? I'm interested in what they do and I think it'd be exciting to work under their guidance." From there, your connection to the art world BEYOND your college will broaden. Your lecturers can even write recommendation letters! You'll get to go to internships in various companies/studios with their recommendations. This can fill up your portfolio and CV for when you've graduated from college. College is first and foremost a Field of Opportunities. Student Exchanges! Researches! Guest Lecturers! The lecturers are your doors towards these things. ----

SO. After I yap so much, I guess the final thing I can say is this : College experience won't be much different if you just stay still and work alone. As much as an introvert I am, I learn to communicate with others, how to befriend people, how to communicate with experts respectfully, etc. I learned that if I want to thrive in art for life, I need to make use of this college experience, make the 4 years I spend in this institution worth my time.

So that's what I can share! Once again, I want to remind that this is my Indonesian college experience. Your college culture might be different, but college is supposed to help you grow.

PHEW I yapped a bit there, but thank you for asking!

[scifimedic]

Hi! I just found your blog and noticed you have some posts where you explain how to write certain medical conditions, and I was wondering - could you perhaps do a post on blood poisoning, please? I am struggling with it a little lol.

I have a character that got stabbed, and I don't know what are the odds they could get blood poisoning and if yes, how fast and generally how it progresses.

If you don’t have time or something, don't sweat it, it's just a silly idea I got lol :D

Episode 4 of SciFiMedic Explains: How do I write sepsis?

Hi Anon!

So, your character got themselves stabbed, huh? Before we get to the nuts and bolts of how this is going to progress, we have to clear up a little choice of words here. 

The term blood poisoning is not the medically correct term for an infection inside the blood- we call it sepsis. Unless you meant literal poison from the weapon (which I can do a follow-up post on, if that’s the case) I’m going to guess that we’re talking about a severe, system-wide infection of the blood. 

Let’s walk through a few options: 

Scenario 1: 

Your character is stabbed in an area with lots of big blood vessels (highlighted red in diagram), and while everyone does all they can, the poor guy quickly dies of blood loss. There’s no time for infection to set in. 

Scenario 2: 

Your character is stabbed in a non-lethal area, like the arms, legs, or shallowly on the gut (highlighted green in diagram) They’re able to bandage themselves up, or maybe someone helps them out and they manage to get the bleeding stopped. 

Unfortunately, 12 hours later, they notice red streaking coming from around the wound. They also: 

Feel freezing cold, but have a high temperature

Are dizzy

Are shivering

Can’t quite catch their breath and feel the need to pant

Throw up

Look pale

These are all signs of the injury going septic, which is when the infection spreads away from the site of the wound and into the bloodstream. It happens fast. From the onset of these symptoms, they can be dead within only 12 hours. 

Here’s what needs to happen for them to survive: 

1: Hospital. No buts, no delay. If you want them to survive, they need advanced medical treatment, detailed below. (I will allow for a field hospital, or a makeshift hospital with a trained professional and plenty of supplies.) 

2: Blood and wound cultures. This means taking a small tube of blood from the arm, rubbing a cotton swab in the wound, and then sending both samples to the lab for study. They will smear the sample on a slide, put it in a warm, wet environment, and wait for it to grow out. Then, they’ll pop it under a microscope and run chemical tests on it to find out what the infection is. This process can take up to 4 days. The good news? The more pathogens that’s in the sample, the faster it will grow out. If you have blood that is severely infected, it could take as little as 12 hours to see results. (I know this from personal experience.) 

If you’re in a field hospital, unfortunately this is a luxury you don’t have. See next step. 

3: IV antibiotics immediately. Since you don’t know the bacteria causing the sepsis, you don’t know which antibiotic to give. Good news, people a lot smarter than I have created a plan for this. 

3a: According to this study done by the National Library of Medicine, 67.9% of people presenting outside a hospital setting had their wounds infected with either Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  3b. Thankfully, we have two very strong antibiotics- Vancomycin and Ciprofloxacin- that can each treat these pathogens. Unfortunately, each antibiotic is effective against only one of these pathogens, and nearly useless (or has developed resistance) against the other one!  3c. Good news, these antibiotics can be safely run together. Boom, you’ve just slammed (and it’s a slam- these drugs are horrible for you long term) 67.9% of patients with the right antibiotics to start treating their sepsis.  3d. What about the other 32.1% you may be asking? Good news, they’re not doomed. Just because a given antibiotic isn’t the best choice against a certain pathogen, it doesn't mean it will be completely ineffective. You may be buying them more time for the cultures to come back. You can also take your next best guess, and switch the antibiotics after a few hours if they aren’t having any effect. 

4. Fluids. IV time! The biggest tell that someone has sepsis is that their blood pressure plummets to dangerous levels (which is what will eventually kill them, but we’ll get to that.) In order to prevent that drop, we need to raise the blood pressure by adding more volume to the blood through fluids. They might also need a blood transfusion, depending on how much blood they lost from the initial stab wound. 

It’s important to note that it may not be possible to gain IV access, because when the blood pressure is that low, the veins tend to shrivel up and disappear (not literally.) In that case, your next best option is an IO, which is a needle drilled into the center of the upper arm bone, or lower leg bone. Yes, it hurts. 

5. Vasopressors. Fancy name for medications that force the blood pressure to come up. There are four main pressors: 

Norepinephrine

Epinephrine

Phenylephrine

Vasopressin

They should be added in that order, although this article admits there isn’t too much hard evidence to back this up.

It’s important to note that this is ICU level care, and unless we’re in the middle of the woods, we will have transferred there.

How do you know if it’s time to add another pressor? You’re not getting the results you need- AKA the blood pressure is continuing to stay or fall too low. In the ICU, we use a different measure of blood pressure that most people aren’t as familiar with, called a MAP score. It’s easy, I promise. 

We use this method because it’s more representative of the amount of blood actually getting to the organs- though that is debated quite a bit in various circles. In America however, that’s the way most ICUs do it. 

The ultimate goal for a sepsis case is to have a MAP above 65 mmHg. You can use this calculator to play around with the numbers and see if the blood pressure you’re thinking is within those parameters. If it’s not, time for another pressor. 

At this point, your character is passed out most of the time. They’ve got a high fever, rapid heart beat, and are covered in sweat. They might also have a seizure from the fever and general stress on their body- at the very least they’ll be shaking from the chills. Their skin will be very, very pale, and might look kinda blue or gray in places- kinda like spots. 

6. Hold your breath. No, not literally. But at this point, you’ve done all you can and you have to wait for them to either get better, or get worse. 

If they get better, they’ll slowly start to maintain their own blood pressure, the fever will come down, and they’ll be able to string a coherent sentence together again. Recovery from sepsis can take a long, long time- as many as two to four months in the hospital. It totally depends on the person and how strong they are. The fittest, luckiest patient I’ve seen recover from sepsis was with us in the ICU for three weeks, then spent another month in a step down unit doing various therapies to regain strength. 

However… if we’re looking at failure… well, then it’s time to move onto scenario 3. 

Scenario 3: 

After completing all of the above steps, they end up getting worse. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault- sepsis is fickle and kills fast. At this point, their kidneys are starting to fail from the inadequate blood pressure- you’ll need dialysis for that. They might stop breathing, or be unable to oxygenate their blood properly, then they’ll need a ventilator. At this point, they’re not stable enough to go into surgery anymore, so there’s no hope there. Eventually, the high fever will cause seizures, which will lead very quickly to brain death. As little as 12 hours after the initial dizziness and red streaks, their heart stops and they’re pronounced dead. 

Summary: 

The odds of your character developing sepsis from a non-fatal stab wound without immediate medical care are high- 90% 

If they’re rushed to a hospital, their odds are better- 50%

If they do develop sepsis inside a hospital, they’re likley to survive- only 10.55% of people die of this kind of wound infection.

If they develop sepsis outside a hospital, then it’s almost certain they will die- 99% 

Disclaimer: Although I’m in school to become a medical professional, I’m not one yet. All mistakes are mine, and I’m always open to discussion.

Anon, this was a fun prompt! If this isn’t quite what you were looking for, feel free to submit another ask with more follow up questions!

Everyone else, also feel free to send me an ask, or reblog this (or any SciFiMedicExplains Episode) with a scene you’d like me to help you write!

[dontyoufeelitangel]

BUILD ME UP

Echo - The Bad Batch x Fem!Reader

Synopsis: A psychology lesson from the medic of the batch turns into a personal experiment. How will Echo react to being your subject?

Tags/Warnings: SFW, mentions of animal testing (nothing graphic), established relationships, kissing, fluff, (I accidentally made Wreck really dumb in the first half, so we’re just going to pretend that’s because he’s tipsy. Sorry wreck!)

Prompt : “Why do you build me up, buttercup baby, just to let me down? - I need you, more than anyone darling. You know that I have from the start. So build me up, buttercup, don’t break my heart.”

A/N: this prompt comes from the bad batch playlist I put together from the song “Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations”. This is not a song fic, feel free to check out the playlist! Also, yes the timeline and character appearances in this chapter are messed up and do not follow the original show, shhh it’s fine, we’re gonna ignore it🤫

.

.

.

You joined the batch as their medic right before the rise of the empire and stuck with them through order 66. While you never officially finished your medic schooling, you were qualified. More than qualified actually. You had saved the boys butts on multiple occasions, and when it came to the mental weight of what they’ve been through, you always knew just what to say.

Over time you naturally became great friends with the boys. Each of them were so unique and they had so much personality. They became your home away from home. You seemed to be closer with one more than the others. Echo. He was -biologically- the reg of the group, but his experience and individuality made him as unique as the rest of the batch. It was also what made you fall for him.

Naturally, the two of you became a thing, nothing official but it was very clear the both of you loved each other.

So here you sat, the dim lights of Cid’s parlor reflecting on your glass. Wrecker and Tech were in a game of sabacc. You sat close, shadowing over Techs shoulder watching him play his hand. Light conversation had started between the three of you. The conversation started with the rules of the game and slowly melted into you talking about your unfinished schooling.

“Well I don’t know if I should trust you on the field anymore doc!” Wrecker snorted. The contagiousness of his laughter put a small smile on your face. You were now grinning at him from behind Tech’s shoulder.

“Trust whatever you want big guy, just don’t expect me to save your ass on the field next time” your words laced with playful sarcasm as you sipped on your drink.

“And hey! What’s stopping me from walking over there and giving away your cards to tech!?” A sound between a laugh and a scoff erupted from you as you set your drink down.

Tech only smiled and watched the interaction before speaking up.

“She’s more qualified than you” Tech nodded, putting a card down. His affirmation drew a smile from your lips.

“See! I love to see the support,” you waved your arms at tech before giving him a friendly pat on Tech’s shoulder.

“And it’s not even just about what I can do on the field- I’m knowledgeable in psychology and chemistry too,” you chest puffed in proudness. Wrecker only gave a playful huff,

“You were educated in psychology?” Tech inquired.

“You’re surprised? It IS a requirement for medic schooling” you adjusted your stool slightly to be in the middle of the two boys rather than behind tech.

“Not necessarily surprised, I’m very aware of your capability. It’s just that -as a clone- I personally didn’t take many psychology classes. My studies were more directed towards computer sciences and database management. Then again, I wasn’t taught to specifically specialize in the medical field.” Tech spoke, you only nodded,

“So what you’re saying is, doc is a smarty” the loudness of Wreckers voice could almost throw you off guard, luckily you’ve spent enough time around him to be used to his volume.

You smiled at the statement,

“Of course” you smiled,

“How about a lesson?” You tilted your head toward Wrecker.

“I’m interested” a short response, but very much expected from tech.

You thought about what piece of information you could tell them. Searching your brain for a piece of knowledge the two of them didn’t know.

“A quick lesson on the tooka-bell experiment” you said,

The boys continued playing while you spoke, still listening to what you were saying. Acknowledging your voice by giving short nods,

“The tooka bell experiment was a conditioning experiment in tookas. About how a bell could get a natural reaction out of a tooka.” You started,

“When a tooka is fed, they salivate-“

“Like slobbering!” Wrecker interrupted.

“Yes,” you smiled,

“Like slobbering” you nodded before continuing to your lesson.

“A scientist would ring a bell every time he fed the experimental tooka. The tooka began associating the bell with receiving food. One day, the scientist accidentally rang the bell without having any tooka food prepared. The tooka began to salivate thinking it was going to be fed.” You finished.

“Ah, I get it. It’s a simple process of contidioning a neutral stimulus to get a response” tech nodded grabbing some cards from a deck that was set out on the table.

“Precisely” you have a curt nod, finishing off your drink.

“Uhhh, I don’t think I get it” Wrecker shook his head.

“It’s unconscious learning through repetition. For example: you and omega get mantell mix after every mission. Mantell mix and the end of a mission are two completely unrelated things. But because it’s become a tradition for you and little Omega, it would feel weird not to get the mantel mix at the end of a mission. Does that help big guy?” you gave him a glance followed along with a smile.

“I guess…” he slowly nodded.

The game of sabacc slowly wrapped up. It was quite late, there was a mission tomorrow and everyone had to get a good nights rest.

The cards were neatly put away and the drinks were discarded as the glasses were set to be cleaned.

You said you goodnights to Tech as you turned to say goodbye to Wrecker”

“Hopefully you ain’t doin’ that to us.” He let out a chuckle,

“Doing what?” Your head tilted.

“Training us subconsciously or whatever, I mean, the only dud who’d fall for it is Echo” this time he gave out a real laugh, one straight from his stomach. He ruffled you hair before walking off.

He was right though, Echo would totally fall for it.

Training was a strong word, but hopefully Echo wouldn’t mind. You had a strong plan made up, you grinned to yourself before walking to your own sleeping quarters.

.

The next day was mission day, something about extracting some goo from rocks or something. You really didn’t remember- or care.

Today also marked the day of your experiment.

You found yourself sitting in the front of the marauder, preparing to go into light speed.

“Hey Echo,” your voice soft and sweet, he was unsuspecting.

He let out a small ‘hmm?’ Before looking at you,

“Could I get a kiss before light speed?” You batted your lashes at him, you leaned your weight on the armrest, pushing yourself toward him.

“Of course” he smiled before kissing you.

The kiss was sweet and soft, much like echo himself. Although it didn’t last long, it was romantic and all that you needed in a kiss.

You smiled at him through your lashes before sitting back in your seat properly and jumping to hyper space.

.

The mission went fine, almost like any other. During the mission Echo had told you he ‘wouldn’t mind getting more kisses from you.’

It’s almost like he could read your mind, because for the next five missions you’d always find him right before hyper space and give him a kiss.

You started off by tapping his shoulder and politely asking for one, to just leaning over to him and giving him the kiss.

He never once missed a kiss, who was he to deny your request?

In fact, he must’ve gotten so used to it. For the next handful of missions or marauder trips, he would initiate the kiss right before hyper space.

That was your plan, because after around ten hyper space jumps, giving you a kiss before hand seemed to come natural to him. You had him right where you wanted it.

.

One afternoon before the batch and you were set to return back to ord mantell, you had called Tech and Wrecker to talk to them in the marauder.

“What is it that you required?” Tech asked, setting down his datapad.

“You boys remember the conversation we had a few months ago? About conditioning?” You spoke, mostly directing your question towards Wrecker.

Tech only have a curt nod and Wrecker grumbled something about ‘totally understanding what you were talking about’.

You gave a smile,

“Right, well, You told me Echo would fall for it, yeah?” You nodded your head, smiling while gesturing to Wrecker.

“I guess I did say that,” wrecker rubbed the back of his head, not fully remembering the previous conversation the three of you had.

Tech, who finally started to understand where this conversation was growing shook his head before speaking,

“You didn’t” he said,

“Oh I did,” you were now grinning ear to ear,

“Before we go into light speed, watch what echo does” you laughed, before walking over to the cockpit of the marauder.

.

You were now buckled into your seat, Tech and Wrecker looking into the cockpit for the interaction about to go down.

“Preparing the jump to hyperspace” you announced, putting your attention to some buttons and levers on the control panel.

You were purposely putting your attention away from echo,

As if on queue, echo pointed his head towards you, his eyes still focused on whatever he had had in his hands.

His lips puckered and ready for a kiss,

He sat like that for about five seconds -which doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you’re sitting there, full duck lips, it feels like an eternity-.

You saw his actions from the corner of your eye, still focused on the control panel. You gave a sly smile, attempting to hold in your own giggles.

Echo blinked a few times before realizing you didn’t kiss him, and you weren’t going to.

Heat rushed to his face as he leaned back into his chair,

Maker he must’ve looked so stupid -not to mention desperate- just sitting there with his lips puckered expecting a kiss from you.

He looked around in embarrassment to make sure nobody was watching, upon looking behind him he found two heads peaking into the cockpit.

Tech must’ve only found this slightly amusing because he only gave a smile,

Wrecker on the other hand, burst out into laughter. The sound of Wreckers laughter had let you know the bit was over, you too started laughing.

Echo was unamused and embarrassed. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his face flat, he didn’t find it funny. Your laughter and giggles made him realize that this was your plan all along,

Your giggles died down before you gave him a light pat on the cheek before jumping into hyperspace.

[erudianokabe]

THERE ARE TOO MANY ARTWORKS OF REINER IN THAT DAMN CHAIR WITH A FREAKIN' GUN TO HIS MOUTH.

I'm going to fucking cry. They are all such good artworks tho and I love them, but my feelings. When I first saw that scene... DJFLSJF So help me, I wanted to slap him SO bad.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Falco. If he wasn't there, Reiner's brains might have splattered all over the wall. I say MIGHT because a part of me wants to believe that despite his, at that time, 99.9% need to just kill himself... I think that the .1% miiiiiiight kick in. Again, might. He was already constantly at a really low point (he's good at hiding it, I feel), and remembering his time in Paradis after talking about it with his family just triggered things. Regrets. Feelings... about what a piece of shit he felt he was; not a hero... just a murderer when he realized there were no devils. Just people like him.

I mean, Reiner's a good person through and through. And just because you're good, doesn't mean you're immune from making bad decisions. You can be the smartest dude and still make shitty calls (hi Zeke, ilu bestie). And Reiner's a pretty smart guy specially when it comes to being one step ahead, making plans... based on what he learned in Marley, but mostly because of what he learned through experience... in what he felt would be the best course of action that will keep him alive long enough to get the job done. Because more than success for Marley, again... his need to be a hero, to be respected, came from the fact that he wants to bring his family together again (which failed when his father blatantly said he wanted nothing to do with them), and then to simply just make his mother proud and give her a good life.

We gotta understand that when he made the decision to stay in Paradis, he was a scared, brainwashed kid that didn't know any better apart from the fact that if you fail, you die. And he couldn't die just yet... not without doing anything to make a difference, not when he's hardly at the starting point to his goal. I mean, they got by eight years in Paradis without getting caught. Correspondences sent by him when Annie was in the MP were all done through secret code. Eight years of living with people he believed were demons, eight years of relearning how to live in a society that's less advanced than what they're used to. A lifetime of shouldering the guilt of Marcel's death. Eight years of having to be the leader to their trio because he was the one who made the call to stay. Eight years of carrying the burden of the truth that will continuously eat at him for the rest of his life. Eight years of hate from Annie. Four years and counting when it comes to blaming himself for Annie's capture and Bertolt's death. A lifetime being haunted by the fact that he was never really good enough, that he was just the option so that Porco wouldn't have to die... but he died either way when Eren attacked. A lifetime of blaming himself for the failure at Paradis, and because of what he did, he understands he was part of what caused Eren to turn this way...

And you know what? Despite the fact that he almost committed suicide, almost gave up after saving Falco... he still forced himself to do the right thing. Taking accountability for what he had done, rather than running away via whatever means available. And he could have done it too. He could have just stopped listening, or went back to trying to shoot himself, but he didn't. He could have told Connie and the scouts "no" when they went to him to put an effort to "save" the world. He could have stayed behind like Annie; I'm 100% sure he's just as exhausted from all the fighting. He had 4 years of being Marley's damn shield in the Mid-East Alliance War. He did his best to prove himself and is still continuously doing so. Besides. I think he did his utmost to cling to the armor because he understands the responsibility and the curse of becoming a titan shifter. That's why he was so adamant about Falco taking over him so that Gabi wouldn't. Admittedly, that's a dick move on his part... threatening Falco like that, but he was doing it so that he could save his cousin. That doesn't make it right, of course. But he's just the type of guy to do what he can to stop losing people that he cares about. He's already suffered so much loss. And understands that he can never be forgiven for what he did. He doesn't expect it, doesn't even want the forgiveness... he just wants to atone for what he's done... he doesn't even make excuses for himself, and simply takes it, accepts his faults and works out ways to make things better not for himself but for others.

That's so attractive of him.

Of course, deep down. Even if he doesn't admit to it... I think that he just wants to be accepted and forgiven... but knows he's done too much to ever be granted that. That's why what Jean said, I could see, meant so much to him. The acceptance. That he was still regarded as one of them, as part of the 104th; or what his mother told him at the end when everything was over.

He's so endearing. I love him so much.

Anyway... I ended up gushing again. Sorry. Don't mind me.

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds With Class: Izzet Engineer

I'll be honest: Ravnica has always fascinated me. I was a high schooler when the first set came out, and I was immediately consumed creating characters for the setting. Now that we've actually received my long-awaited crossover, I thought it would be nice to write a love letter to the setting in the form of another Backgrounds with Class series. After all: some guilds have natural class choices tied in, from a conceptual standpoint. Boros and Fighter, Izzet and Wizard, Selesnya and Druid. But guilds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every guild background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Izzet and Barbarian, or Gruul and Artificer.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with.  Some character concepts for each class, and each Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica background for each class.

Izzet Engineer

The Izzet Engineer Artificer is a study in contradictions.  Temperamentally, he’s the quintessential vedalken- cool, calm, orderly, and precise.  When it comes to the subject of his work, though, he’s exactly the opposite.  His area of expertise is pyrodynamics, and he specializes in demolitions magic.  When asked about the contradiction, he’s as likely to say that destruction should be no less calculated for maximum efficiency than anything else as he is to crack a rare smile and say simply that it needs to be done.

The Izzet Engineer Barbarian was lab security before his accident, mostly internal in case the mephits or weirds break containment somehow.  Turns out that his chemister employer was experimenting with tri-elemental weird fusions, though, and the massive surge of wild magic that resulted contaminated everyone in the lab that didn’t meet an untimely end.  Now the wild magic is in him, too, triggered by the surge of adrenaline brought on by combat.  Accordingly, and in the spirit of testing the results of the accidental experiment, he’s been involved in a lot more field work lately.

The Izzet Engineer Bard is preoccupied with bringing life to the lifeless.  Motion in general has been an interest of his from gobling on the streets to assistant in the lab, and it’s always fascinated him how the world acts around moving things.  Gifted with a keen sense of timing, he claims to be able to keep the rhythm of the universe, and his ability to magically pull that rhythm to reality is his greatest pride and joy.  If you need someone who knows how to get something somewhere sometime, he’s your man.

The Izzet Engineer Cleric has never been a high-concept member of the League, instead focusing on the materials fabrication.  Attached to things they can work with their hands, they’ve made thousands of miles of piping and scaffolding in their career, and have even supplied housing, capacitors, and other more technical equipment for a variety of projects in the League.  Low-key indispensable and firm in their desire to one day be working with guild-trademark alloys like mizzium, their faith draws from the raw confidence that with the proper tools, and the right material, anything is possible.

The Izzet Engineer Druid is an unusual member of the League in that she hates spending time in the lab.  Bound to a fire elemental companion of her own and planning one day to be a one-woman foreman, her real ambition is to serve as one of the guild’s elementarii.  Weirds and their creation have always fascinated her, and her willingness to field-test anything even remotely related to the topic has made her a popular contractor for testing handheld equipment.

The Izzet Engineer Fighter, like his father and older brothers before him, has always been a dab hand with the crossbow.  The family business is support and assistant work for the chemisters of the Izzet League, and he’s always wanted to be a scorchbringer.  The old man says you always need an edge, so to set himself apart, he’s audited engineering courses at the guild workshops and started making new ammunition for his ‘bow- enhancements of energy and matter, making some truly unique shots possible.  His designs have recently caught one of the lesser magisters’ eye, and now he’s on track to become one of the guild’s best combat engineers and troubleshooters.

The Izzet Engineer Monk was caught in an electro-galvanic storm as a youth and hasn’t been the same since.  Infused with raw elemental energy and adopted by the scientists whose work took the lives of his parents, she spent much of her youth brawling and scrapping on the street until she suddenly- explosively- cut loose with a thunderwave.  Her adoptive parents, hearing of the incident, took her into the Laboratory of Storms and Electricity to see if there’s more to the storm’s changes than her perpetually windblown hair and the crackle of ozone that follows her.

The Izzet Engineer Paladin sees herself one day as not just a scorchbringer, not just a security chief on a project, but the champion of the Izzet League.  She’s not much of an inventor herself, but there’s always room for a strong back and a will to fight in the League, clearing abandoned structures for refurbishment and engaging in one of modern Ravnica’s countless small-scale military action.  The day is coming, she can see, that she sprints into battle bearing the latest and greatest of her League’s tech.

The Izzet Engineer Ranger joined the Izzet combine under unusual circumstances.  A kraul and formerly a farmer in the Undercity, she used to deal with all kinds of run-off from the Izzet laboratories above contaminating her food until one day a weird washed down the pipes.  After putting it down, she went to the laboratory to demand they reroute their sewage, and left hired as the official run-off and chemical waste technician under the League's employment, as well as underground security.  Now, she handles the access tunnels and piping for a network of laboratories, growing increasingly interested in wielding a scorchbringer.

The Izzet Engineer Rogue has a dirty job, for the Izzet League.  Officially on the payment records as an outside consultant, she is one of the League’s idea thieves.  When guildless engineers hit on something the League can use but refuse to sell, she seeks them out and makes sure their designs and experimental materials fall into the hands of someone who can use them.  She doesn’t mind the work; the challenge is nice, and although she has enough technical know-how to make modest progress herself, she is much more comfortable cracking locks and dodging security.

The Izzet Engineer Sorcerer is a natural talent at storm summoning, but when a stray bolt fried their clan’s shaman, they fled the Gruul to take up with the other guild that likes lightning.  Among the Izzet, their talent is looked down upon for the more primitive flavor they bring with it, but none can argue with the results.  As-is, they ended up doing the scut work of keeping maintenance tunnels clean and smoothly running, a dull job with a lot of hands-on ground-level know-how involved.

The Izzet Engineer Warlock has had an unorthodox apprenticeship.  Instead of working with and learning from a chemister or blastseeker, she made a deal when she joined the guild to work under a water djinn.  He gave her a disused segment of water-cooling piping, part-time work at two labs, and a promise of an arcane engineer’s manual in the future.  She’s making the best of it so far, helping with her colleagues’ experiments where she can and faking her way through the rest.

The Izzet Engineer Wizard is, predictably, fascinated by conjuration magic.  Themself a weird brought to life by a magister’s experimental elemental summoning, gifted with an unusual spark of intelligence for elemental plasm, it is small wonder their talents tend toward the calling of things- and, eventually, beings.  Crackling with life and lightning, limber as a stream of molten mizzium, they’re as mercurial in interest and focus as any magister of their guild, a role they hope one day to fulfull.

[ecrivainsolitaire]

Open Art Guild – Testing the boundaries of collective IP ownership

Experimental release: Dr. T’chem’s Office (authorised for personal and commercial use)

I’ll try to keep this brief (you can read the full thesis statement here) but as we all know, intellectual property law is broken. It’s being exploited from every side and art workers are more vulnerable than ever to automation, copyright theft and myriad other unforeseeable forms of theft from the proletariat. We as a collective need to come together and work towards the creation of a better future.

The Open Art Guild is my proposal for the first of many steps towards a far away but necessary goal: the eradication of intellectual property as it pertains to the arts. It’s based on the open source standard and the creative commons, and the goal is for us to start creating a future where we stop thinking of artworks as private property to hoard, and start sharing the responsibilities and the benefits of their creation with the collective. And as I am proposing the idea, I should give the first step.

Which is why I am announcing the release of my short story series, Dr. T’chem’s Office, into the Open Art Guild license. This is an episodic HFY comedy series about the office hours of a sleazy yet well intentioned xenoanthropologist in charge of human integration into the crew of a spaceship, who happens to find them fascinating. You can read the first few instalments here:

| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |

The basics of the license go as follows: I’m giving any artist permission to use the assets of my artwork (in this case, settings, characters, plot lines and other unique concepts) both for personal use and for commercial use, provided they commit to crediting the original artist, giving away 30% of any profit back to the hands of the collective in the breakdown the guidelines specify, and giving the same license to any works they create derivative from this series. Any artist can join the Guild by remixing existing artworks in its database or voluntarily submitting their own works. For the time being this prototype model will have to rely on the honour system, but I have outlined the basic guidelines for a platform dedicated to facilitating the Guild’s business and income redistribution.

The purpose of this experiment is to test whether this system is financially viable, what modifications it needs, and how to enforce it. It’s also a way to study what the community thinks of this model. To summarise the implications, here are the pros and cons as I see them.

Pros:

- All fan art, spin-offs, third-party merchandise and other forms of adaptation become automatically authorised and monetisable, provided both the original artist and the remixer are active members of the Guild.

- All adaptations are automatically non-exclusive and must give away the same rights as the original, diminishing the incentive for massive corporations to try and scam an artist out of their intellectual property.

- It effectively unionises freelance artists of all fields to balance out negotiations with non Guild entities.

- It encourages artists to continue their output in order to reap the benefits of the Guild, by using the redistribution system as an incentive, instead of the current status quo where artists are actively fighting market forces all by themselves in order to make enough time and resources to work on their craft.

- It provides a safety net where everyone is invested in the continuous welfare of everyone else, giving a sense of class solidarity and facilitating donations and shared resources.

- It motivates artists to invest in each other, as the growth of one means the growth of the whole Guild.

- Eventually, if the project succeeds and the proposed platform comes to exist, it would effectively create a universal basic income for all Guild members, as well as a self sustained legal fund to protect their assets from IP theft by non Guild entities.

- It will give you complete control over whether your art can be used for AI dataset training, on an opt-in, post-by-post basis, so you don’t have to wonder who might be stealing it. If the platform is created, all works whose creators have not authorised to be used for this will have data scrambling features to make sure thieves can’t use them.

Cons:

- It will require all Guild members to permanently renounce to 30% of their profit, in order to build up the funds and distribution system.

- It will have to be built entirely on trust of the collective, at least until a platform can be established, which may take weeks or may take decades depending on lots of unpredictable factors.

- Leaving the Guild will require all artworks shared with the collective to become Creative Commons; once you renounce your right to monopoly of your IP, it’s permanent, no way to go back. This is necessary in order to prevent asset flippers and other forms of IP scabs to join the Guild, extract other people’s assets and then scram.

- Due to banking regulations entirely out of our hands, some artists will have participating in the redistribution. If the platform ever becomes a reality, one of its main goals will be to remedy this immediately.

This proposal requires a high cost, but it provides an invaluable reward. If the system works, it will empower all artists to profit from their work and protect it as a collective. If it doesn’t, all that will have happened is that you will have created a lot of Creative Commons art, which financially isn’t ideal, but artistically is extremely commendable. Even in the worst case scenario, corporations will not be able to hold your art hostage with exclusivity deals. To me, the benefits vastly outweigh the costs, but I do want to emphasise: there will be costs. This is an effort to subvert the entire way art has been monetised since the 1700s. It will require a lot of work, a lot of people, and a lot of time, to make it work. But I believe it can work. If you believe it too, you are welcome to join the Open Art Guild.

Please do read the guidelines for the Guild and the guidelines for the platform before you start creating, and give me whatever feedback you have. If it’s good, if it’s lacking, if I’m overstepping legal boundaries, if you can find loopholes, anything. I tried to make it airtight but I’m not a legal expert. This is not my project, it is a project for the proletariat. Everyone should have a say on what they’re signing on for. And regardless of what you think, share it with all artists you can. This will only work if as many people as possible participate.

Doctor T’chem’s Office’s license

This work has been released under the Open Art Guild license, and has been approved for reuse and adaptation under the following conditions:

For personal, educational and archival use, provided any derivative works also fall under a publicly open license, to all Guild members and non members.

For commercial use, provided redistribution guidelines of the Guild be followed, to all active Guild members.

For commercial use to non Guild members, provided any derivative works also fall under a publicly open license, with the explicit approval of the artist and proper redistribution of profit following the guidelines of the Guild.

For non commercial dataset training of open source generative art technologies, provided the explicit consent of the artist, proper credit and redistribution of profit in its entirety to the Guild.

Shall this work be appropriated by non Guild members without proper authorisation, credit and redistribution of profit, the non Guild entity waives their right to intellectual property over any derivative works, copyrights, trademarks or patents of any sort and cedes it to the Creative Commons, under the 4.0 license, irrevocably and unconditionally, in perpetuity, throughout time and space in the known multiverse. The Guild reserves the right to withhold trade relations with any known infractors for the duration its members deem appropriate, including the reversal of any currently standing contracts and agreements.

[max1461]

To a first approximation, I think philosophy is basically "thinking not (yet) categorized as something else". Maybe this view will piss off everyone. But it's certainly the case that historically, many fields of study started out being considered subfields of philosophy (the natural sciences, logic, psychology... in the Western tradition, everything but math and history, it would seem) before acquiring enough of their own character and/or cultural status to be considered something else.

You can see this as a positive or a negative fact about philosophy, but I think it's basically neutral. Philosophy is what we call it when people are trying to figure something out, but their efforts have not yet acquired a distinct cultural or institutional position, or strongly unique set of characterizing methodologies, or so on. And naturally there are going to be topics like this. Any time you start asking questions that you're not exactly sure how to approach, that's philosophy. Maybe that's not all philosophy is: there are certainly some methodologies more-or-less unique to it. But I contend that they are not characteristic of it. That is to say, they coexist with "hey, I just thought up this question and I'm not sure exactly how to answer it but I'm just gonna start contemplating it, I suppose, and hope I get somewhere".

And it's like... that will always exist! You can stop calling it philosophy, but people will always need to contemplate a bit to answer new questions, whether some more specific methodology presents itself later or not. And this role as a catch-all title for "contemplating things not otherwise categorized" means that I think criticisms of philosophy as an endeavor are sort of uniquely meaningless. Philosophy isn't anything in particular! It's just whatever!

Certainly you can critique philosophy as a set of institutions that presently exist, or you can critique specific schools of thought, or whatever. But... if you're a scientist, you are doing science when you make models and test them, when you are calculating something or running an experiment, or planning for such, etc. But you also have to think about science on a meta-level, just because people always have to think about what they are doing on a meta-level to some degree. And when you do that, you are engaged in the same methodological thing as philosophers of science, although you might not be reading their papers or whatever. To critique this as a general activity seems almost meaningless.

Likewise if you are a mathematician, you think at least somewhat about philosophy of math. You can't not, even if you don't call it that. You have to have some thoughts on, e.g., what mathematical abstractions are, just from looking at them all day every day. If you're a historian you have to think about what constitutes a good historical argument and good historical evidence. If you're an artist you will think about what you want out of your art, what you're making it for. Etc.

I expect objections from both philosophers and decided non-philosophers to this point, but I think it's really essentially correct at its core. Everyone is always doing a little bit of the thing that philosophers do officially, you can't get through life without doing it, and indeed if you take a strong decided position against it you would appear to in that choice be doing it!

This has all been said before. But I do think it's worth saying again.