#I'm just so used to viral infections that 'make sense'

[rival-the-rose]

Last week I went to the doctor for a pre-scheduled appointment (trying to see if putting my luxated and sub luxated ribs and shoulders back every couple weeks will train them to stay in place) and as I was going thru recent symptoms my doctor pointed out that a bunch of things I thought were random and unrelated could've in fact been a viral infection.

And it's just been rattling around my brain since then. Tiny little capsules with almost nothing but simple genetic information in them got into my body and as a side effect of making more tiny capsules, they made me barf for exactly three hours, then gave me sialoadenitis, then made my left elbow swell up and hurt. Sure. Ok. How does that help you, little capsules. Why just the left elbow, or just the sublingual salivary gland. What are you guys doing in there. I'm not mad I just wanna know

[arandomao3user]

As an Ao3 author, I love giving headcanons that'd probably anger a certain side of the Batman fandom, but I personally don't care because it makes great angst and, again, I'm an Ao3 author and chronically ill!

First up! Dick Grayson, I like the idea of him having ADHD, of course, BUT... joint hypermobility syndrome.

(Joint Hypermobility Syndrome: Joint hypermobility syndrome is a connective tissue disorder. Thick bands of tissue (ligaments) hold your joints together and keep them from moving too much or too far out of range. In people with joint hypermobility syndrome, those ligaments are loose or weak. If you have joints that are more flexible than normal and it causes you pain, you may have joint hypermobility syndrome.)

Chronic pain fits him, don't ask, because as the eldest child with chronic pain and hypermobiltiy syndrome, trust, he has that look in his eye that he's been walking on swollen knees for the past twelve hours, had three mental breakdowns, and is still pushing through because SOMEBODY has to deal with this bull.

That's also the reason he wears freakin' spandex-- only, it's for compression! He wears compression items to help with swelling and pain TRUST, and let me have this because the math maths (it probably doesn't, but let me have this.)

He's got chronic fatigue, he's gotten used to popping dislocated joints back into place, Bruce was so confused how he dislocated and sprained so many bones so quickly when out as Robin. It's genetic, of course, Bruce finds. But he has money, and Dick powers through it all! Till he develops arthritis in his early thirties/ late twenties and actually hates everything because WHAT AND WHY--

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Next up! JASON TODD! I have no proof, evidence, and it doesn't have to make sense but I like giving him asthma sometimes for the angst potential of if he didn't have it, he wouldn't have died in the explosion.

He didn't die from said explosion, nor JUST the smoke inhalation, but because he had an asthma attack, on the ground, bones broken, unable to breath because his inhaler did NOT survive the blast, if he even had it on him.

And that's why he wears helmet with so, so many filters in it now...

Also, being a street kid who struggles to even get his medication that keeps him alive? Peak angst, being to poor to afford your medication because the American healthcare system is actually trashy garbage.

R.I.P. Jason Todd, you would've loved clean air--

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ANEMIC TIM DRAKE! But I up you, Tim Drake with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

(POTS: Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a condition that causes your heart to beat faster than normal when you transition from sitting or lying down to standing up. It’s a type of orthostatic intolerance.)

Read ONE SINGLE FIC/ SERIES with this and I've loved it since because what do you mean he randomly falls asleep anywhere? No, forget your canon, he passed out and people think he just fell asleep... NOpe, he passed out, sorry random lady he was on a date with!

(The majority of people are AFAM but we aren't ready for my trans Tim headcanons yet either.)

(You’re at a higher risk of developing POTS after experiencing the following stressors:

Significant illnesses, such as viral illnesses like mononucleosis or serious infections.

Physical trauma, such as a head injury.)

Ngl, my dude gets a LOT of physical trauma (and mental--) also, losing a spleen? Surgery and at risk of viral illnesses? I'm sorry, but I need him to suffer more because I like when Tim Drake suffers horribly.

Now, despite having this condition, I am no expert, but also his caffiene/ energy drink addiction is from chronic fatigue, he shouldn't drink it, it's not healthy or good for him, but he stopped caring between the spleen loss and whatever the "Drake" run he did was because what even was that name?--

---

Damian is autistic and I will DIE ON THAT HILL--

No, I won't explain and you can't make me.

---

[artemis-pendragon]

Okay so I have this weird thing where I fully support the wearing of masks and community care and everything on a moral level but there’s this part of me that’s like, afraid of it? Like, in this hypothetical world where everyone did the right thing and masked all the time, would it then become taboo to see someone’s face? It’s not masking itself I hate but I do hate the idea of never smiling at someone again. I know this sounds stupid but its an existential dread I have. Also, if big gatherings and dining out is bad, how will we have fun? I love comeradery and the energy of other people and I don’t want to not have that in the future. Do you think there will ever be a permanent covid cure and even a permanent cold cure so we don’t have to do it anymore and everyone’s still safe? What about effective transparent masks? Will we ever see those? If there were transparent masks I probably wouldn’t be so scared…

This is a totally rational and normal fear in my opinion!! We're social creatures that heavily rely on body language for communication despite advanced linguistic ability, and the thought of not having access to half of a person's face while interacting is intimidating and sad for sure!

Masking, for me, is now something I do when in close-quarter spaces, large enclosed inside public spaces, especially with little to no ventilation, and when attending large and crowded outdoor events like concerts! When outside in smaller groups, dining out at restaurants or other smaller public places, I'm comfortable removing my mask to eat and see others' faces during conversation. This is partially because viral load (how much virus you are exposed to when initially infected) can have an effect on how sick you get. If you are only exposed briefly to a small amount of virus, it will take longer to spread and give your immune system longer to gear up and deal with it.

Outdoors, unless in a super crowded area, I'm comfortable going mask-less but just keep a mask with me in case someone vulnerable needs the extra protection or I unexpectedly need to enter a higher-risk area. I don't keep up the standard I did when COVID was an untreatable virus with no vaccine, because it has become more domesticated (lol can't think of a better term but I hope you know what I mean) and less overtly dangerous than the original wild strain. This is a very common phenomenon in spillover viral events; the original strain of COVID didn't mean to get into humans, and killed us when it actually would make more evolutionary sense for the virus to keep us alive both as a current spreader and future repeat host. Therefore, future strains that survived were more likely to be less deadly. That's part of why SARS was so easily suppressed compared to COVID! it was too deadly, and didn't spread from asymptomatic or pre-symtomatic people like COVID.

ANYWAY, all that is to say that COVID is still a major threat, but it has acclimatized to us more and likely will remain a common human disease for the forseeable future. We will continue our eternal arms race against viruses, coming up with better treatments until something new emerges. After all, there are likely descendant strains of the mega-deadly 1918 influenza still in circulation today, but they've lost their original zoonotic fangs and gotten used to living in and with us rather than wiping us out.

Which brings me to emergent zoonotic viruses. Another important reason for wearing masks is that, in the 100% likelihood of another viral spillover event (humans continue to displace animals we previously had very little contact with, bringing with them new viruses like Ebola, Marburg, SARS, COVID, MERS, Nipah, bird flu, and Hendra) that turns into an epidemic or pandemic in our global world, if everyone already has masks on-hand and are used to masking up, we'll already be one step ahead in the next viral arms race.

I love the idea of clear face masks, by the way!! I've also always loved the idea of cyberpunk-style digital masks that display expressions or play by play transcriptions of a speaker's words, which would double as an accessibility aid for HOH and Deaf people, as well as people with audio processing issues (like yours truly lol).

Lastly, the biggest reason we haven't cured the common cold is because the common cold is actually a wide range of different viruses! Rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, and coronaviruses (the classification, not specifically COVID, which is one of many) are responsible for "cold symptoms", and getting rid of all of them isn't something we can or should do! Allowing our immune systems the chance to stay active and healthy by fighting less severe viruses (unless they are severely compromised, such as in the case of HIV AIDS--another zoonotic disease from the 20th century!) allows them to stay strong and flexible in recognizing more dangerous strains. For example, someone who has been vaccinated for Mpox (2-10% fatality rate without treatment) has some immunity to Smallpox (up to 30% fatality rate without treatmeant), even though they aren't the same virus! In fact, the first vaccine was made by exposing people intentionally to Cowpox, which makes cows sick but not humans. They figured out that people on dairy farms were having waaaay fewer severe cases of Smallpox, and exposure to a less severe but related virus was the reason! We need less potent viruses to practice and keep our immune systems active and flexible when the next Big One comes along.

I know this turned into a fucking PhD dissertation and I'm sorry for not being more concise in my wording but virology is endlessly fascinating and I love talking about public health and epidemiology, especially concerning zoonotic and emerging viruses. It's fascinating as well as scary, and the more prepared we are, the better!

TLDR; not everyone needs to mask all the time, but there are increasing risks caused by expanding population and crowding, as well as global crowding, global warming, and habitat destruction, that more diseases will jump into humans. COVID isn't the first, and won't be the last. Keeping that thang (your mask) on your person and on your face, especially in really big crowded or indoor public spaces, is a great habit to stay in! We can keep our social desire to see faces intact, and occasionally sacrifice seeing a stranger's smile to keep another stranger alive.

Hope this wasn't annoyingly and frustratingly long Anon, and maybe some of you fucking nerds out there will enjoy reading this!

Love you all, and hope you stay healthy and safe! ❤️

[twistedwonderlandshenanigans]

World Building for Infection/Apocalypse AUS - A General Guide

okay so this isn't DIRECTLY related to TWST but I have a project that's been in the works for a while that I might MIGHT launch in January. I also can't claim that this information is 100% correct bc I largely did it off the top of my head (AS someone who is going to school to become a microbiologist/related fields) ANYWAYS enjoy. maybe. idk. I got disproportionately mad one day about some au that was switching between 'virus' and something else I can't even remember and went on a rant on discord that I'm just posting here

If anybody ever wants to write an infection au with science as a base.

Putting it under the cut in case it makes anybody uncomfy OTL (also mentions of cannibalism in the "Prion" section)

Bacteria are usually NOT the issue. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, which then can infect us. There ARE some pathogenic bacteria without viruses. They are treated with antibiotics based on their cell morphology and structure. Most of the time, you can wait out a bacteriological infection, such as the common cold.

Symptoms can show up from anywhere between 12 hours to 6 weeks depending on what it is.

Bacteria are unlikely to be the cause of a zombie apocalypse, however vaccines against bacterial infections ARE possible, (but unlikely due to most bacterial infections simply "running their course"), and are easier to develop for bacteria rather than viruses. -------------------------------

Viruses are delivered in protein-covered capsules that interact with other cells in order to "open" it and release the infectious RNA into the healthy cell. (Essentially, it's a little dude with a hat that cells open a door to. Once they let the little dude in, little dude takes over and acts like an overbearing mother in law, rearranging everything until it's how IT likes it, and proceeds to brag about it to neighbours, making it a trend/passing it on.)

It's the protein cap/envelope that we develop vaccines for, at least in most cases.

If you want it to cause zombie-like attributes in terms of brain function, Encephalitis is a good place to start your research. (Viral infection of the brain that causes swelling and eventual cell death).

Symptoms typically become apparent within 2 days of infection.

If an apocalypse starts because of a virus, a vaccine WOULD be possible/likely. ANTIBIOTICS HAVE NO EFFECT ON VIRUSES. ------------------------

Parasites are typically found in the intestines, as they want to leech off of the nutrients you are supposed to be getting. (That being said, tapeworm has been recorded as having been found in the brain once or twice. Brother How. I don't know). That being said, being infected with that type of parasite would make you very hungry and very dehydrated, but these type are hard to pass on from person, unless you made it kind of like Alien where a big fucken worm goes into one person, lays eggs, those hatch and explode and spread to other people.

You could also draw inspiration from the creatures that cause Swimmer's Itch or Scabies, which infect the skin instead. VERY easy to spread, fairly easy to treat. Can be treated with something as simple as cold water, or medicated creams.

Not likely to cause an actual apocalypse, but a lot of fun creative freedom with these bitches.

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Fungi can be used for a fun twist. MOST modern day zombie movies are inspired by the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis - the zombie-ant fungus. In a more general sense, fungal infections of the lungs are :sparkles: scary :sparkles:. Usually molds are inhaled. Molds can't thrive inside the body "as is", so they undergo transformation to essentially become a type of yeast. This means symptoms can take a WHILE to show up - anywhere from about three days to THREE MONTHS. Fungal infections also often resemble bacterial infections, making them more difficult to diagnose. The longer it's left to sporulate, the more it will target areas of the body - including the brain, the meninges, your bones, your joints, etc. If it reaches your brain, it can no longer be cured, but it can be managed with antifungal drugs.

However, fungal infections are not typically contagious, which is where the zombie ant fungus explains how to spread it ^^

The zombie ant fungus spores are inhaled, and instead of turning into a yeast, it grows out of the ants head ^^ After about seven days, it gives the ant a signal to position itself over it's colony, so when the mushroom releases it's spores, it has a myriad of hosts to infect!

Fungal infections would have no vaccine, and antibiotics would not work.. An Anti-fungal medication would have to be developed and administered early enough in contraction to prevent any serious long lasting effects.

------------------------------------

Prions are infectious proteins. They have no cap/envelope. Prions cause holes to form in the central nervous system, impairing judgement, coordination, etc. etc. They are very slow forming, as they often take years to develop. In cows they are the result of old age, in sheep, they are the result of genetic predisposition, in humans it was because of cannibalism! We don't know why they started. Prion infections occur when someone consumes infectious matter, which is limited to the CNS, or when contaminated surgical tools are used.

There is no cure or preventative measures for prion diseases.

Prions can only die if they are incinerated or in chemicals that are WAY too expensive for me to pronounce.

Obviously in an au, their development could be sped up.

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Honourable Mention: Viroids Viroids affect plants specifically as a short strand of circular RNA that is capable of self replicating. Unlike viruses, they have no protein cap or envelope, meaning they're susceptible to destruction and mutation from other genes. However, they cause major deformation as well as impeding functions of other genes in the plant. If it were to mutate to affect humans, it would likely contort us and affect our ability to metabolize food.

--------------------- :P I just wanted to feel like I did something this week, even though this is technically from like. 2 weeks ago. oh well

[mleprae]

since you really like diseases and whatnot, what's your opinion on fictional sicknesses like zalgo sickness? like when the disease is a hivemind designed to kill its host slowly on purpose

thank u for the ask! i havent heard about zalgo in a LOOONG time, i had to make a quick check up on it (assuming we're not talking about thr internet entity)

It's certainly very edgy, but I don't mind it :3 I like diseases for their dyanamics and relationships with our bodies.. I like how it causes the symptom and not the symptoms itself if it makes sense?

The idea of an hive mind virus is really fascinating to me, this is what the newborn baby field of neuroparasitism studies. In this case, it's likely that the virus affects the nervous system to alter it's behavior (I know this sounds obvious but cordyceps only manipulates the "muscles" and some people confuse it Dx), a virus is concerned with first and foremost, it's survival, if someone became aggressive due to it, they would likely get shot/killed before they could spread it. There's some evidence to suggest that some viral diseases can make you more social and extroverted! And it's all a strategy for the virus to infect more people,

So the closest thing to a hive mind would be somewhat a bunch of very outgoing and friendly people, I'm not sure how the mutations part would work... I'm going to sound extremely sci-fi and out of left field (and. Anti scientific but it makes sense in my head) here, but an oncovirus (virus that causes cancer) could possibly be behind it, a virus needs cells and cancer is the rapid multiplication of cells. Basically just Free new hosts for the virus, cancer also takes a toll on the body, energetically speaking, loss of muscles, fat, hair, etc are all connected to the cancer sucking all the energy to itself, you can even become more Crazy and say there's a mutualism thing going on 😔 it sounded very cool in my head....

On a side note, did you know there's a conspiracy theory that this happy hive mind parasite is real? And that we're infected with it at birth so the gov can control us?? Yeah

[queenlucythevaliant]

👩🏼‍🔬

It's me! Hi! I'm the problem (too many science facts).

Since I know you like weird fish (lol), let's talk horizontal gene transfer between different fish species!

So for the uninitiated, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the process by which genetic information moves between members of different species by methods other than descent. It's typically associated with microbes, like the ones we study in my lab, which swap DNA back and forth via a form of conjugation (I study Archaea, they're weird). HGT makes prokaryotic evolution tricky to study; the simple definition of evolution is just "descent with modification," so what do you do in cases where there's modification without descent? (Lots of math is the answer.)

But! HGT has actually been demonstrated in other areas of the tree/web/coral of life too! Specifically, we've documented cases of different fish species swapping antifreeze genes back and forth horizontally.

So there are, broadly, five types of antifreeze proteins, each of which is very diverse. There are loads of these guys, because protein sequence space is enormous and there are usually unfathomably many molecular mechanisms by which to achieve something. Broadly, they've also evolved really fast (within the last 20 million years) in response to glaciation events, so sometimes you even get radically different antifreeze proteins in closely related fish species.

However! There are three very different, distantly related fish species (herring, rainbow smelt, and sea raven) that all encode extremely similar antifreeze proteins. They're so similar that convergent evolution just can't account for it: work the same way, unique disulfide bridge patterns, 85% amino acid identity across the board and higher in coding regions. For reference, they did a big survey of other antifreeze proteins when this was discovered (2008, I believe) and they couldn't find any homologous (related) proteins with greater than 40% amino acid identity. This was a highly conserved protein in both intron and exon regions.

like

Source

These three random, unrelated fish have darn similar homologous proteins. I said in a previous post that there are more possible proteins 100 amino acids long than there are atoms in the whole universe. So what the heck?

Horizontal gene transfer, baby! Between vertebrates!

Proooooobably this happened via viral infection? But we're not totally sure yet! It's an ongoing area of research and I, for one, absolutely cannot wait to read the textbooks in another thirty or fifty years.

When I first encountered this in a class several years ago, my response was genuinely just like. It's a miracle.

See, I get why YE Creationists talk about the odds of evolution occurring via random chance so much, all those piles of silver dollars covering Texas in which you just happen to pick the right one. It's compelling, in a way: these are crazy long odds we're dealing with.

Except no! When glaciation happens and one fish has a useful antifreeze protein, and then that fish gets some weird virus and it ends up infecting other fish and altering its eggs, who now have access to that same useful antifreeze protein which keeps them alive long enough to procreate... That's providence, baby! That's God looking out for our silly little fish buddies!

AND it's the power of natural selection! Because the fish that ended up with the useful protein DOES have a reproductive advantage now! And so of course these proteins spread like crazy, of course they do! It makes a world of sense.

It's just. It's so cool dude. HGT is awesome, and I mean that in the classical sense of the word. HGT is sublime.

[rin-the-cat]

So, when I went to the doctor last week to refill my Adderall I also complained of feeling generally crummy since Christmas including an intermittent sore throat. She was concerned I had chronic strep or some other bacterial infection and gave me a round of antibiotics. Well although some of my hoarseness and congestion went away I've been feeling progressively more fatigued and lightheaded. I had my husband take me into the urgent care today and they ran pretty much every test they could think to throw at me and surprise, surprise my strep test was positive.

I told him I've been on augmentin since Friday and he confidently replied "well I'm going to put you on Amoxicillin." I squinted at him like please tell me you know what you just said doesn't make sense.* and I think he reprocessed what he said, because double checked my chart and told me to finish that off and now thinks I am fighting off a viral infection on top of my strep. So the question is, have I really had strep for over a month or did I just get it? I discovered on Monday I can't do my Petey the Cat voice I've been using when I read to my kids since I started to reading the Dog Man books to my kids in December which was kind of a middle pitch but gravely which makes me think I may have. This also means I can't trust the severity or duration of a sore throat to know if it's strep. 😩🤦

On the plus side I finally gave myself permission to finish this necklace I started before the semester started. I don't know if I can take pictures to do justice to these Apatite beads, they are so pretty. 😍

[resident-leevil-old]

okay well anyways somebody asked me if i felt like talking about my raccoon city survivors au with mia and ethan again and the answer is YES.

> AU MINI FACTS <

- Ethan's mother died while giving birth.

- Ethan Winters and his father moved into Raccoon City when Ethan was a baby, around 3-4 years old.

- Ethan trans ftm because im trans and i said so.

- Mia trans mtf because im trans and i said so.

- Ethan & Mia are childhood friend to lovers in this au.

- Ethan's father worked for Umbrella, and Mia's father worked for the Connections while her mother also worked for Umbrella.

- Mia was born in Texas, but her family moved to Raccoon City after she was born. They still owned property in Texas, though.

- Mia & Carlos are related because I said so.

- so yknow the "dude its been three years" guy? that's their childhood friend and his name is Kyde because i said so.

- Albert Wesker Personally was ordered by Spencer to kill those scientists btw.

- a lot of this au is because i said so tbh

> AU SUMMARY <

Ethan Winters, Mia Oliviera, and Kyde Wells work together to survive six days of the Raccoon City Outbreak. In the process they uncover secrets and encounter many obstacles that just nearly cost them their lives.

> CHAR.BGROUND <

ETHAN W, SR - A scientist who worked for Umbrella. He lost his wife during the birth of his child E///// Winters. Struggling with the death of his wife and the harsh decline of his mental health, he began to experiment with viruses and vaccines in an attempt to bring his wife back, even using his child as a subject at certain points due to the child having strong genes from the mother. He acknowledged that he was a horrid father, but justified his actions by claiming he would bring back a better mother. He thought of Albert Wesker as a friend, and told him the truth of his research.

ETHAN W, JR - A quiet 14 year old that had a hard time making friends. Due to experiments from his father, Ethan is a culmination of infections and viruses that each impact him in different ways. As he grew up Ethan refrained from talking too much as to not interrupt his father's work, causing him to become selectively mute.

MIA OLIVIERA - Younger sister of Carlos Oliviera. Mia skipped a grade due to her intelligence and advanced knowledge on many things kids her age normally didn't. She very easily got sick as a child, though she seemed to outgrow it as she got older. She was schooled both at home and at school before the outbreak. She shared classes with Ethan Winters (Jr) and Kyde Wells.

KYDE WELLS - A friend of Ethan & Mia, known for his cowardice. Kyde has a heavy sense of self preservation, but a weighted sense of compassion as well. He only ever has risked himself for his two friends.

JAMES HARISON - Mia's father. He worked for the Connections as a scientist and a researcher. Harison and his wife often exchanged information they learned from their jobs, aiming to and succeeding at "fixing" their daughter's proneness to viral sicknesses.

MARISA OLIVIERA - Mia's mother. He worked for Umbrella as a researcher. Oliviera and her husband often exchanged information they learned from their jobs, aiming to and succeeding at "fixing" their daughter's proneness to viral sicknesses.

JAKE VERANO - An Umbrella worker who had been trapped in the underground facility for a week, listening to the sound of his coworkers being eaten alive. Unstable because of his experience, he tries to create a cure using the intel of Ethan W (SR).

> FULL AU <

[September, 25, 1998.]

Ethan Winters walked home from school when his father failed to pick him up. He walked through the streets, paying no mind to a big fight breaking out near him. On the way home, he meets up with his friend Kyde who had also been walking home. They talk and walk together for a bit, before splitting up.

When Ethan arrived home, he noticed the front door of his house had been opened slightly. Confused, but wary, he entered the house, knowing it was uncharacteristic for his father to forget the door was open.

He entered the living room, and found his father laying on the ground dead, shot twice in the head, having just been killed moments prior. Ethan moved over to his father, before Albert Wesker walked out of his father's office.

Ethan barely has much time to react to him, overwhelmed by his own panic and the death of the only adult in his life. Wesker - wanting no witnesses - shoots him three times in the chest, and leaves under the impression the child is dead for good.

Ethan Winters dies for the first time that evening.

[September, 27, 1998]

For the past two days, Mia and her parents have been barricaded in their home, unable to leave safely. Mia sat in her room for most of the time, unable to look out of the windows due to boards covering them. During those two days Mia tries to call Ethan and Kyde several times in hopes that they were safe. Neither of them answer.

Until this day, the 27th, at 2:00 am, when she calls Ethan. And he answers.

{TRANSCRIPT OF THEIR CALL:}

Ethan: h-hello?

Mia: [Ethan]! You're alive! Are you okay?

Ethan: I'm breathing. [Pause] I'm breathing. You okay?

Mia: I'm boarded up in my house, we can't leave safely. Everything is a mess. I'm so glad you're alive, [Ethan]. Are you safe? I'm guessing you're safe.

Ethan: Not sure. Not sure. Find you soon, here alone. Alone.

Mia: Alone? What happened? Where's your dad?

Ethan: [Pause.] [Loud sound in the distance.]

Mia: [Ethan]? Are you okay?

Ethan: [Dial tone.]

Mia speaks with her parents about the call, expressing worry about her friend. She spends a while trying to convince her parents that Ethan may be alive (purposefully omitting the dial tone) and need their help. Finally, they agree, and at 12 pm, they head out with all the resources they could gather.

Managing to stay out of sight, the family make it to the Winters' household. They find Ethan hiding in his bedroom, one infected laying in the hallway with a pole through its head and Ethan's father laying in the living room dead.

They rescue Ethan, and flee from the house. Mia's parents explain that they need to evacuate the city, but that they wouldn't be able to drive, so they'd have to move on foot. They returned to their house and rested for the night.

[September, 28, 1998]

The family and Ethan head out again, this time aiming to evacuate the city. After several close encounters with large groups of infected, the kids and Mia's parents are unfortunately separated. Given instructions by her parents, Mia leads Ethan through the city, having to take detours due to infected blocking pathways.

Eventually, during the night, they run into Kyde, who has lost his parents trying to escape the city. The three of them take refuge in an empty abandoned house, and rest for the walk in the morning.

Ethan sits up for a while, thinking about what happened to him, and trying to figure out how to explain it to his friends. Eventually he falls asleep, unable to figure it out. In the morning they head out again.

[September, 29-30, 1998]

During another detour taken due to large groups of infected, Ethan is kidnapped by a man in a white lab coat.

Mia & Kyde go after them, refusing to leave Ethan behind. They manage to find him after roughly half a day had passed.

Ethan had been in a hysterical state and through tears he explains to Mia and Kyde what had happened to him in his house a few days ago, confessing that he had died and revived two days later. He warns the two of them that whatever Jake, the white lab coat man, did to him, it made him dangerous and unstable.

Mia and Kyde refused again to leave him behind, and spend hours gathering information from files and research left scattered around. They manage to make Something that was able to calm him down and cleanse what they had learned had been called the "T-virus" from his body.

As soon as Ethan had woken up again, they fleed the facility, Mia & Kyde both making sure he didn't collapse on the way.

[October, 1, 1998]

They don't stop running when they're out. A broadcast goes out saying that the city will be blown up in four hours due to being unable to contain the outbreak. The three of them realize they won't be able to get out if they take anymore detours unless they find a vehicle with gas in it and a clear road to drive on.

Three hours later, out of options, nearly to the city boarder, and faced with another group of infected blocking the only straight shot out, they decide to risk a run through. However, just as they were pushing through, a helicopter flew overhead and spotted them. Calling to them, the pilot tells them to attempt making it up a building nearby if they could.

Through pure bullshittery and luck, they manage to make it up, and they board the helicopter. Just as it begins to take flight, the city starts to blow up bit by bit. In the distance, they see other helicopters flying.

> AFTER THE AU <

Mia and her parents reunite, her parents having managed to get out before the children did. Kyde goes to live with his relatives in Texas, and Ethan is offered to live with them as well.

Mia's parents move back to their texas home, and everyone who had been in the city were given therapy. Eventually the three grow up and graduate from highschool, and move on to other things, never once separating.

The three of them eventually move into a single house together in California, and some time after that Mia and Ethan get married. And for a while they live happily

And then, Mia witnesses Ethan having some sort of attack in the middle of the night one time, and realizes that he hadn't been completely cured of whatever had been infecting him in the city at all, and that it had only gone dormant for some years. While he wasn't vicious or attacking anyone, Ethan had just been really plagued and didn't even remember the fits that only seemed to happen every other night.

Out of worry and fear, Mia begins to work for the Connections, hoping there was something she could learn from them in order to help her husband finally be cured. And years after, RE7 began.

And THAT, my friends, is my Raccoon City Survivors au with the Winters, also known as Raccoon City Winters.

[cyancaddy]

Cleon hints in the novels

Before I read the novels by S. D. Perry, I was aware that Aeon was as canon as it gonna get for Capcom. In my opinion, the original RE2 offered nothing that could be interpreted as attraction between Claire and Leon...I still liked them together nonetheless. The obsession I have with Claire and Leon first started when I read the novels. 13 year old me was beyond ecstatic when there were actual hints towards a possible romantic relationship between Claire and Leon (which I thought was a 1000 % canon back then, it was Capcom approved after all). Since I now know the novels can be considered as very well written fanfiction, I came to the realization that Ms Perry probably shipped them too. So without further ado, I tried to collect all the Cleon hints from the novels... which are mostly from "Underworld" and "Code Veronica".

______

Underworld - Chapter One

David's thoughts

Rebecca was unloading clips and repacking the weapons, Leon and Claire sitting close together across from her, not talking. Those two were usually joined at the hip, and were still as tight as they'd been since David, John, and Rebecca had picked them up just outside of Raccoon less than a month earlier, dirty and damaged and reeling from their run-in with Umbrella. David didn't think there was a romantic connection there, at least not yet; it was more likely their shared nightmare. Nearly dying together could be quite a bonding experience. As far as David knew, Leon and Claire were the only survivors of the Raccoon disaster who knew about Umbrella's T-Virus spill.

_______

Underworld - Chapter Two

Leon's thoughts

And what about Leon Kennedy? He'd stumbled into the fight without a clue, a cop fresh out of the academy on his way to his first day at work - which just happened to be with the Raccoon PD. There was Ada, true - but he'd known her less than half a day, and she had been killed just after admitting to him that she was some kind of an agent, sent to steal a sample of an Umbrella virus.

So I lost a job, and a possible relationship with a woman I barely knew and couldn't trust. Of course Umbrella should be stopped... but do I belong here?

He'd decided to become a cop because he wanted to help people, but he'd always figured that meant keeping the peace - busting drunk drivers, breaking up bar fights, catching crooks. Never in his wildest dreams would he have figured on being caught up in an international conspiracy, cloak-and-dagger infiltration-type stuff against a giant company that made war monsters. It was crime on a much bigger scale than he felt he was ready for...... and is that the real reason, Officer Kennedy? At exactly that moment, Claire mumbled something from her light doze, nuzzling her head against his arm before falling silent and still again - and making Leon uncomfortably aware of another facet to his involvement with the ex-S.T.A.R.S. Claire.

Claire was... she was an incredible woman. In the days after their escape from Raccoon City, they'd talked a lot about what had happened, the experiences they'd had both separately and together. At the time, it had felt like an exchange of information, filling in blanks - she'd told him about her run-in with Chief Irons and the creature she'd called Mr. X, and he'd told her all about Ada and the terrible thing that had once been William Birkin. Between them, they'd been able to come up with a continuous story, with information that was important to the fugitive team. In retrospect, though, he could see that those long, rambling conversations had been essential for another reason entirely - they'd been a way to leach out the poison of what had happened to them, like talking out a bad dream. If he'd had to keep it all inside, he thought, he might have gone crazy. In any case, the feelings he had for her now were convoluted ones - warmth, connection, dependence, respect, others that he had no name for. And that scared him, because he'd never felt so strongly about anyone before and because he wasn't sure how much of it was real and how much was just some kind of a post-traumatic stress thing.

Face it, stop bullshitting yourself. What you're really afraid of is that you're only here because she is, and you don't like what that says about you.

Leon nodded inwardly, realizing that it was the truth, the real reason behind his uncertainty. He'd always believed that want was okay, but need? He didn't like the idea of being led around by some neurotic compulsion to be close to Claire Redfield.

And what if it isn't need? Maybe it's want, and you just don't know it yet...

He scowled at his own pathetic attempts at self-analysis, deciding that maybe it would be best just to stop worrying about it so much. Whatever the reason for becoming involved, he was involved - he could kick ass with the best of them and Umbrella deserved to have their ass kicked, big time. For now, he had to pee, and then he was going to eat something and do his best to catch some sleep. Leon gently moved out from beneath Claire's warm, heavy head, doing his best not to wake her up. He slid out into the aisle, glancing around at the others.

______

Underworld - Chapter Five

Claire's and Leon's conversation

"Cold?" Leon asked. Claire turned away from the window, looking at him. He'd finished with the packs, and was holding one out to her. She took it, nodding in response to his question. "Aren't you?" He shook his head, grinning. "Thermal underwear. Could have used these in Raccoon..."Claire smiled. "How could I have used them? I was running around in a pair of shorts, you at least had your uniform. "Which was covered with lizard guts before I was halfway through the sewers," he said, and she was glad to hear him at least try to joke about it.

______

Underworld - Chapter 5

Claire's thougts

Leon put his hand on Claire's shoulder. "You up for this?" he asked softly, and Claire smiled inwardly, thinking of how sweet he was; she'd been thinking of asking him the same thing. In the days since Raccoon, they'd gotten pretty close- and although she wasn't positive, she'd picked up on a few signals that suggested he wouldn't mind getting closer. She still wasn't sure if that was a good idea

and now's not the time to be deciding. The sooner we get this code book, the sooner we get to Europe. To Chris.

"As up as I'm gonna be," she said, and Leon nodded, and they climbed out into the freezing night to join the others.

______

Underworld - Epilogue

With David and John supporting young Rebecca, and Leon and Claire smiling at one another like lovers, the five weary soldiers trudged off the screen and out into the gently blossoming Utah morning.

---------------

Code Veronica- Chapter Four

Leon receives Claire's message from the island and tells Chris and Barry about it

Leon had turned out to be a half decent hacker, he was in the next room on the computer; he'd hardly slept since Claire's capture, most of his time spent trying to track Umbrella's recent movements.

With both their parents dead, he and Claire had developed a close relationship, and he thought he knew her pretty well; she was smart and tough and resourceful, always had been... but she was also a college student, for Christ's sake. Unlike the rest of them, she didn't have any formal combat training. He couldn't help thinking that she'd been lucky so far, and when it came to Umbrella, luck just wasn't enough.

"Chris, get in here!"

Leon, and it sounded urgent. Chris and Barry looked at each other, Chris seeing his own worry mirrored in Barry's face, and they both stood up. His heart in his throat, Chris hurriedly led the way down the hall to where Leon was working, feeling eager and afraid at once. The young cop was standing next to the computer, his expression unreadable. "She's alive," Leon said simply. Chris hadn't even been aware of how bad things had been for him until those two words. It was like his heart had suddenly been released after being gripped hi a vise for ten days, the sense of relief as physical as it was emotional, his skin flushing with it.

Alive, she's alive...Barry clapped him on the shoulder, laughing. "Of course she is, she's a Redfield."

Chris grinned, turned his attention back to Leon and felt his smile slipping at the cop's carefully neutral expression. There was something else. Before he could ask, Leon motioned at the screen, taking a deep breath. "They've got her on an island, Chris... and there's been an accident."

Chris was leaning over the computer in a single stride. He read the brief message twice, the reality of it slow to sink in.

Infection trouble approximately 37S, 12W following attack, perps unknown. No bad guys left, I think, but stuck at the moment. Watch your back, bro, they know the city if not the street. Will try to be home soon.

Chris stood up, silently locking gazes with Leon as Barry read the message. Leon smiled, but it looked forced. "You didn't see her in Raccoon," he said. "She knows how to handle herself, Chris. And she managed to get to a computer, right?" Barry straightened up, took his cue from Leon. "That means she's not locked down," he said seriously. "And if Umbrella's got its hands full with another viral spill, they're not going to be paying attention to anything else. The important thing is that she's alive."

Chris nodded absently, mind already working on what he would need for the trip. The coordinates she'd listed put her in an incredibly isolated spot, deep in the South Atlantic, but he had an old Air Force buddy who owed him, could jet him down to Buenos Aires, maybe Capetown; he could rent a boat from there, survival gear, rope, medkit, an assload of firepower... "I'm going with you," Barry said, accurately reading his expression. They'd been friends a long time. "Me, too," Leon said. Chris shook his head. "No, absolutely not." Both men started to protest, and Chris raised his voice, talking over them.

"You saw what she said, about Umbrella homing in on me, on us," he said firmly. "That means we have to relocate, maybe one of the estates outside the city - some-one has to stay here, wait for Rebecca's team to get back, and someone else needs to scout out a new base of operations. And don't forget, Jill will be here any day now."

Barry frowned, scratched at his beard, his mouth set in a thin, tight line. "I don't like it. Going in alone is a bad idea..." "We're at a crucial phase right now, and you know it," Chris said. "Somebody's got to mind the shop, Barry, and you're the man. You've got the experience, you know all the contacts." "Fine, but at least take the kid," Barry said, gesturing toward Leon. For once, Leon didn't protest the label, only nodded, drawing himself up, shoulders back and head high.

"If you won't do it for yourself, think about Claire,"Barry continued. "What happens to her if you get your - self killed? You need a backup, somebody to pick up the ball if you fumble."Chris shook his head, immovable. "You know better, Barry, this has to be as quiet as possible. Umbrella may have already sent in a cleanup crew. One person, in and out before anyone even realizes I'm there."

Barry was still frowning, but he didn't push it. Neither did Leon, although Chris could see that he was working up to it; the cop and Claire had obviously gotten pretty close.

"I'll bring her back," Chris said, softening his tone, looking at Leon. Leon hesitated, then nodded, high color burning in his cheeks, making Chris wonder exactly how close Leon and his sister had become.

Later. I can worry about his intentions if we make it back alive... when we make it back alive, he quickly amended. If was not an option. "It's settled, then,"

Chris said. "Leon, find me a good map of the area, geographical, political, everything, you never know what might help. Also post back to Claire, just in case she gets another chance to check for mes - sages - tell her I'm on my way. Barry, I want to be pack - ing major influence, but lightweight, something I can hike in without too much trouble, maybe a Glock... you're the expert, you decide."

Both men nodded, turned away to get started, and Chris closed his eyes for just a second, quickly offering up a silent prayer.

Please, please stay safe until I get there, Claire.

It wasn't much - but then, Chris had the feeling he would be praying a lot more in the long hours to come.

______

Code Veronica - Chapter nine

Steve and Claire on the plane to Antarctica, Steve’s thoughts

He looked down at her, at her tousled hair and long lashes, his heart pounding even though he was trying to relax. She moved again, shifting in her sleep, her head tilting back a little and her slightly parted lips were suddenly close enough for him to kiss, all he had to do was tip his face down a few inches, and he wanted to so bad that he actually started to do it, lowering his mouth toward hers... "Mmmm," she murmured, still totally asleep, and he stopped, pulling back, his heart beating even faster. He totally wanted to but not like that, not if she didn't want him to. He thought she did, but she'd also told him a little about her friend Leon, too, and he wasn't so sure that they were just friends. Feeling tortured, having her so close but not his, he was relieved when she rolled away from him a few seconds later.

[rahimaldemir]

So im currently in old town, past this point, but I just remembered, why the fuck didnt crane use the antizin vial HE HAD ON HIM. like, dude. You could've saved Rahim. but nooooo. instead, he kept it, and probably wound up losing it to Rais' men when they stripped him of his things. I'm so salty at Crane rn. Also, where the fuck is Brecken? I've gone back to the barge and searched the tower top to bottom, where did he go?

Huge Spoilers below if you haven’t finished Dying Light, you may want to revisit this answer after you’ve beaten it, or at the very least finished The Museum mission.

As much as I fume and stomp my feet over Rahim’s death, Kyle not using the antizin for Rahim unfortunately makes a bit of sense, ONLY because he didn’t know Rahim was even infected until he was already a viral and presumably beyond saving.

Though, this could possibly be argued because it seems Jade was able to pull Kyle back with a dose of antizin when he was lost enough to start trying to strangle her. But was he a full viral at that point? We don’t know.

But even if Rahim COULD have been saved, Kyle didn’t have anything to actually administer the antizin with. When Rais dooms Kyle and Jade to a single bottle of antizin he also provides them with an injector. We’re not given any reason to think Kyle had an injector or even a syringe on his person at any point during the game, and in turn, no way to actually give Rahim the antizin.

If Rais took the vial from Crane at some point during the game, I feel like it should have been addressed, so I will stubbornly assert that since it wasn’t, Kyle still had the antizin bottle on him for the entirety of the game. I’m not cutting Techland any slack on that one. They messed up on their writing and I’m not giving them a free pass by assuming for them by saying, “oh, Rais must have taken the vial that’s why Kyle didn’t use it.”

This goes TOTALLY different for Jade though. Rais literally threw an injector and a vial of antizin at their feet. They had the time and opportunity to administer both doses. But instead, Techland literally had us watch Kyle and Jade killing each other instead of addressing the anitizin in Kyle’s pocket.

And Brecken? I don’t know either. A lot of the main characters who didn’t get killed kind of disappeared into the abyss. I feel like it would have felt really good if they all played a part in the final showdown against Rais, either by being there physically or by helping lay a down a plan/trap for Rais. But it all just kind of got played up as a heroic tunnel-vision, Lone Wolf quest of getting back at Rais for what he did to Jade.

The missing barge, I feel like, is a telltale of the residual ideas Techland had for more story/plot developments but never got to play out. I just assume that that site got overwhelmed and in order to save everyone there, they had to push the barge out, and maybe they relocated to somewhere safer around the city. They obviously couldn’t go too far out, since the Ministry would shoot down any vessel that gets too far out into the bay.

But to get back to Brecken especially, I always just imagined him out running other missions for the Tower and generally getting back into his active role as his head wound gets better.

[apocalypse-tights]

Hi, hi! I saw your tags on my covid post and thought I'd reach out. So, to better explain, some masks have ear loops and some have head and neck straps. The filtration on n95s are the same, but the ear loops don't create as tight of a seal on your face as head and neck straps, so there are tiny gaps left open between your face and the mask where infected air can escape or enter. With earlier strains of the virus, this wasn't as big of an issue, but it's evolved to be so contagious now that even that tiny bit of virus that can squeeze through that gap is enough to infect someone pretty seriously. Now, don't get me wrong. ANY mask is better than no mask, especially if it's an n95. Masks make it so you inhale less of the virus even if some gets through, and a small viral load is our best defense against serious illness and Long Covid symptoms. It's just that since it's become so infectious, without that tight fit the mask isn't working at it's best, and there's more of a chance you'll still catch it and get sick If you're looking for some n95s with head straps, the n95 Aura is most recommended by users and medical professionals alike. If you're in the US, home depot has them, and if you're not I'm sure you can check a hardware store or something similar for an equivalent. If you're not the person buying these things in your house, this is another US only resource but you can use this CDC tool to find pharmacies that will give you n95s for free

Did that make more sense? If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer!

(also, not related, but your tumblr setup is super cute!!!!!)

Ah okay, I see! Thank you for the explanation, that does make sense now! I really really appreciate you reaching out ^.^ I will try to get some of those asap.

(And thanks about my blog as well ^^)

[cannibal-wings]

M for the fic thing

I was hoping to get more replies to that meme but never did so this is the one question!

M: What’s the weirdest AU scenario you’ve ever come up with? Did it turn into a story?

Ok, so AU's are kinda my thing. I think up /many/ of them for every fandom I'm in. My buddy Punch is often instrumental to helping me come up with AU's. But here's the thing, what is "weird"? In this context? Because to me, nearly all my AU's are just... normal to me, but I suppose looking in from the outside, the amount of transformation and monster AU's I have probably, uh, isn't?

Maybe I'll just list some wild ones from each fandom I was in. Homestuck (It's been a while): Probably my petstuck AU or Worth the Kill? both of which I think are fics I wouldn't write currently. I have uh, issues, with how I depicted some things in those stories. Petstuck itself was a niche AU type in the early fandom but now I think how I did it veers a biiiiit too close to slavery or indentured servants. I would probably not do this again. Worth the Kill? was an AU where trolls were hunted and killed for their horns. Again, I have some issues with how I portrayed the trolls in this one. It would take a lot of reworking for me to become comfortable with it. Fallout 4: FEV Nate AU, I love it to death and have the start of it in WIP. The basic premise is that someone targets Nate, the current General of the Minutemen, kidnaps him and then uses a unique strain of the forced evolutionary virus to turn him into a monster. He then flees to Far Harbor and seeks refuge with the synths of Acadia who take him in. He then has to figure out why he was targeted and how to live in a body that most people will view as a beast. There's also some side plot shenanigans where he's worshiped by the Children of Atom as an extension of Atom. I love this fic a lot, actually, and I'm sad I never went further than the first few pages. Dark Cravings.This is a current WIP that I've actually posted. For me cannibalism isn't that weird of an AU topic, but I think to the general audience, it would be considered weird. This is a story about Nate indulging in human flesh and then watching in horror as it corrupts him into something else. Dark Cravings also has a spin off AU that me and my buddy Punch roleplay with occasionally, a type of "bad end" scenario for our OC's Nate and Ed. Affectionately called "murder husbands AU". (I guess I should note that FEV Nate AU also has a spin off AU with Ed as a werewolf called Monster Husbands lmao) Pretty much all of my Fallout AU's deal with transformation or body horror in some way, save for Wing AU, that one is pretty "tame". Outlast: Lets see here.... probably most def that AU I keep meaning to write as a joke for April Fools where Waylon works at a coffee shop and has the ability to sense when people are evil. He and Miles work in tandem as serial killers, using Waylon as the bait and lure people back to their home where they then torture and kill the person while Miles films it all for their later ahem, viewing pleasure. They probs eat the bodies too lets be real, it's me we're talking about. I have an Outlast Wing AU in WIP, for me wing AU's are again, standard but as far as Outlast canon goes, I suppose that's pretty out there. OH and zombie AU. I loved Zombie AU. Miles was experimented on mid zombie outbreak by Murkoff to try to engineer a cure, all it did was make him functionally immune despite having active viral particles inside him. He meets Waylon, who is fully infected after protecting his family, but, and this was the catch, if he stayed within 100 feet of Miles, the virus would be kept at bay and he’d stay at stage two and never progress to stage three, where he’d lose control and seek to spread the virus. So the basic idea was that the two travel the world as its ending, trying to survive, and also fall in love. (Zombie AU is another Outlast AU that I’m pretty sure I’ll poach and use for a novel idea later) I wrote 40 pages of this, but tragically lost it all when the data was corrupted/lost and I was so upset I never restarted it.

Dishonored: By far my weirdest AU is Molded By His Hands. An AU where taking the Outsider's mark turns you into a monster, but slowly, and it's the Outsider himself that gets to shape you. It was written purely to be self indulgent for myself and also Punch. I only posted one chapter, and didn't go into the vast bits of world building I worked out for it. It's 100% a transformation fic, with a heavy focus on descriptions. My favorite part was actually reading the comments and learning that I might have turned a few readers onto to transformations as a result. This story has a wider plot that I planned out, but who knows if I’ll ever go into it. I also had a ritualistic cannibalism CorvoSider AU, which is exactly how it sounds on the tin. All my other AU’s for Dishonored I feel are pretty in line with what you’d expect.

I have other strange AU’s for fandoms I’ve never written for, A Bloodborne AU where Nate is a hunter from outside Yharnam, he’s a beast masquerading as a human after humans butchered his family on a hunt. He ends up saving Ed who is a “child of Ebrietas” and being kept for experiments. It’s one part domestic horror one part action and one part mystery/thriller. There’s a cannibal cat’s AU for Warrior Cats which I’ve done extensive world building for as it’s post apocalypse (but only for humans the cats didn’t notice a thing) and I’ve taken things pretty far from canon, almost far enough where it’s not warrior cats anymore. A bodyswap SpideyTorch AU which lets be honest, isn’t that strange for a Fantastic Four plot. A monster transformation (wow surprise) Peter/Flash fic where Peter becomes a spider-monster after nearly being killed... A fic where Flash is actually a Klyntar pretending to be Flash after Flash was killed protecting some kids. The Klyntar he was paired with couldn’t stand to lose him and Flash didn’t want his friends to be sad, so they decided the Klyntar would now become the human. 

Ok, this is getting rambly. Point being... I love making AU’s ok? And most of them are “gross” but normal to me. If I enter a fandom you can be guaranteed that I’ll instantly make a Wing AU and figure out how to turn someone into a monster, painfully, and slowly lmao. Also I’m totally down to keep answering fic questions, on or off the meme list.

[getoffthesoapbox]

Hey, I hope you don't mind, but I was wondering if you could help me understand the science/biology in VK and the logic behind a cure. I understand it from a pacifist perspective, but it doesn't make sense to me in terms of classifications and genetics. Considering that Yori's grandkids attend her funeral, aren't vampires a subspecies to humans? I'm also surprised vampire-born is treated as a disease instead of human-turned-vampire. Plus, how would they go about treatment for all vampires? (O_O)

(Anon who asked about VK science) I didn’t have enough room to finish, sorry… But thinking about what I just said… I guess the cure would treat both naturally born vampires and human-turned, but I thought in the beginning there was a clear divide between the two. And in the case of just vampires, you would be looking at their DNA? Anyway, I just want to add that I just recently got back into the series, so I might be misunderstanding A LOT, but I love your (and everyone else’s) analyses :)

Oh, what a fun ask, my friend! Thanks for bringing it my way. ;)

I think a portion of the problem we have here is that…Hino is a lazy writer who knows her audience probably isn’t a bunch of scientists who can point out how crap her science is. Unfortunately, I’m a creative type myself, so I can’t point out whether her internal logic works or not on a scientific level, but I think I can help piece together what we do know, and then speculate further based on where I think she’s going with this. ;) You can let me know if I miss anything from where you’re standing.

Okay so, here’s what we know for sure:

Purebloods existed before 10,000 years ago, but they were scattered–a great climate change erupted and they suddenly realized there were more of them. (It’s kinda implied Kaname might be Dracula, since he forgot his name, lol.)

These first Purebloods are what we’d call the “Progenitors.” They are all born to human parents and were probably created by some sort of viral infection or it’s some kind of viral mutation that had permanent effects on the initial subjects (at least as far as I can tell within Hino’s worldbuilding), and something (never specified) happened to either “switch” certain people’s Pureblood genetics from “off” to “on” or it distorted an already existing gene into a Pureblood gene. Either way, the effect’s the same–something in the DNA got warped.

In other words, Purebloods are likely a species mutation or evolution, depending on how positively or negatively you want to view the genetic switch. This would make vampirism less of a disease (which would require an external parasite or bacteria) and more of an issue with the genes themselves (probably more akin to a spontaneous cancer, only one that actually effects more than just the internal organs)

Okay, so then you have the vampire “types” that spawn from Purebloods. Purebloods are the eternally lived types who can actually activate or give the vampire gene in/to other people (but this “enslaves” the new vampire to the sire thanks to the sire’s blood being in the new vampire’s bloodstream–Kaname calls this “poison” in the story, and it allows Purebloods to exert their will within other vampires). Purebloods, of course can’t be killed by anything before the invention of the anti-vampire weapons. Next up are nobles, who are probably the offspring of Purebloods and other vampires with the least amount of “human” in them. Nobles age faster, aren’t as long lived, and can’t make servants, giving them more “human” qualities (likely another mutation of the gene). Then there are Level Cs, who are likely the offspring of, say, humans and nobles (such as Aidou and Yori), who would also have shorter lifespans than nobles and be susceptible to regular weapons. Then there are Level Ds, who are the “turned” former-human vampires such as Zero. Then at last there are Level Es, who are Level Ds who go rabid because their formerly human bodies can’t deal with the vampire gene being switched on.

We can assume vampires lower than Pureblood can be killed by normal means (the literature is a little…contradictory on this; Kaname’s past implies people needed the weapons to deal with the massive army of Level D servants, but since only hunters can wield anti-v weapons, and since Takuma kills a Level E back in arc 1, at some point it must have been discovered that Level Es–who are really just insane Level Ds–can be killed by regular weapons). Ruka worries about Kain in VKM 12 after a bomb going off, which means Hino’s probably establishing that anything less than a Pureblood can be killed by normal human means. Plus, nobles and lower are no real threat to humanity since they can’t turn humans–they can only be a parasitic nuisance by stealing blood. No biggie, you can deal with them like regular criminals. The problem, as Kaname and the Hooded Woman note, is the Purebloods.

Ultimately the “cure” is mostly necessary for the Purebloods, but once it’s created, it should be able to take care of any lesser form of the vampiric gene, because all vampires come from the same “source” generally speaking–the Progenitors who had the genes switched on in the first place.

In the past, Kaname begins performing experiments to see if he can do something about the Purebloods’ ability to regenerate and turn humans. His research takes him into two directions: 1.) a weapon to destroy the Purebloods period, and 2.) a potential cure for vampirism. His research on #2 goes nowhere during the Ancestor period, and he leaves his records in the Kuran Manor basement. Instead, he manages to get a breakthrough on the weapons. The breakthrough on the weapons requires the sacrifice of the blood and heart of the person who will become them.

The Hooded Woman steals the march on Kaname, throws her heart in the forge, and feeds the remainder of her blood to the Hunters (thus creating a line of men and women who carry her genetics within their bodies, although they’re still human). This Hunter line is what eventually takes us to the future where Kaien, Zero and Ichiru are born. 

We know that the Hooded Woman’s genetics screw up the human birth process in women who carry hunter babies (whether the woman is hunter herself or human doesn’t matter). If that woman has twins, one twin will “eat” the other (this likely happens for vampires too). This is what is known as the “cursed twins.” Kaien is a completed one of these–a.k.a., a twin who ate his twin in the womb. 

Zero on the other hand is different from Kaien. Zero is the “first” twin to not eat his twin in the womb. Ichiru is born, and the fragment is not completed. Kaname takes a canon interest in this during the course of the story. The stated “reason” for this is that he just wanted to create a weapon against the Purebloods–but uh, if that was the case, any hunter should do for that purpose. =P What was unique about Zero was that his genetics defeated the vampiric genes within the womb. That meant there was “something special about Zero.”

Obviously something backfired during the course of the original series, and probably with Zero turning vampire Kaname gave up on his research since he felt Zero would be useless if he wasn’t human. Instead he switched to just using Zero as a shield for Yuuki and a potential monster against the Purebloods later on. However, it’s important to note that Kaname had the Night Class (and Aidou) creating the first tablets that could curb vampires’ thirst, so he was still experimenting with ways to fix the vampire problem.

Last, and this is also relevant, we know that any vampire can be turned human again by a Pureblood’s sacrificing their life. Isaya’s wife did this to their child, Juri did this to Yuuki, Yuuki does this to Kaname. Hino’s world science is settled that you can “flip off” the gene, and you can also flip it back on via another Pureblood biting and feeding the formerly-vampire human and turning them back. The narrative basically is solidly established that this gene can be flipped on and off with the right sacrifice. Unfortunately, this only works on a one-to-one basis (Isaya’s wife can only turn one child, Juri can only turn Yuuki, Yuuki can only turn Kaname, etc.) It doesn’t work for a universal cure. This is where Zero, or a Zero/Yuuki combination, or Ren will come in. ;)

At the end of the original series, we have it confirmed that Aidou was able to complete Kaname’s research and create a drug that turns vampires human, which could not be used on Kaname due to his heart being too scorched from the forge. So we know for sure that some way, somehow, Aidou was able to complete the cure. The only question is “how.”

Cue events of the story, and here we are in the present time with Aidou’s research picking up where Kaname left off.

What we know about the current state of the research:

Aidou discovers that there was a “missing component” that wasn’t found during Kaname’s Ancestor experimentation days (because Kaname’s notes are from before the sacrifice of the Hooded Woman.

This “missing component” is Kaien’s special genetics. We know Kaien is a completed twin with the Hooded Woman’s genetics in him.

Now, here’s where Hino gets kinda vague–we don’t know exactly what Aidou needs from Kaien. Is it a blood sample? Is it a bone sample? Is it a heart sample? Who knows! Likely a blood sample will do for now, so we’ll just “assume” for the sake of simplicity that’s what Aidou’s working with.

We know Aidou’s research is currently failing to accomplish what he wants, which means likely whatever’s going in Kaien’s blood is a step in the right direction, but it’s not the key to the cure. This brings us back to Zero, remember, who in the womb was able to defeat the twin curse. This means Zero’s genetics likely were able to “switch off” the vampiric genes within him. Kind of like people who are born to HIV+ parents who end up immune to HIV. (Yay evolution!)

What are the potential ways the cure might come about and be created, based on what Hino’s set up?

Okay the first way is the easiest–we just need blood donations! This variant requires no sacrifice on anyone’s part; Aidou just needs the requisite amount of blood from Zero (or Ren, or Zero and Yuuki together, or Kaien), and mix it in the right quantity with whatever else he’s got in his experiment, and presto chango, we have a pill vampires can take that can switch “off” the vampiric genes.

However, we know from the forge business that most of Kaname’s research required some kind of magic “sacrifice” on the part of the person providing the solution. The “cure” may also require some sort of sacrifice, such as a specific organ like a heart or the brain in addition to the blood. Or it may require that the subject be dead so that the gene can’t be “switched back” once it’s in the body of the cured subjects. Hino has a bit of magic in this story, so this is where the science gets a little fuzzy. ;) 

I had a very old theory (a long time ago, back when I thought Kaname was doing the cure solution in the original series) that you would need Zero to drink all the bloodlines of all the Purebloods in order to create the cure. (This was all based on an offhand comment Kaname makes in the 70s about feeling bad he has to “let” Zero drink from Sara). If this is the case, the cure may not be possible unless all “strains” of the genetic defect are accounted for within it–basically kind of like counteracting a bunch of viral mutations. If Zero’s blood only has, say Kurans and Toumas in it, his “cure” will only cure people who have Kuran and Touma blood in them–it won’t cure people with Shirabuki or Hiou or Shoutou blood in them. This would require Zero to have to drink from all the bloodlines, and then (probably) either sacrificed or just a blood bag for the cure. 

So as far as I can tell, there are a couple routes to the cure which either lead to a full on sacrifice on the part of the person who’s the solution or to just a significant blood donation.

Phew that was long. I hope that was somewhat helpful, and that I didn’t confuse you even more. =) If not, I’m sorry! To be fair, there really isn’t too much to go on for how the cure would work; these are mostly just my speculations at this point based on Hino drawing Kaien into the fold for the cure solution. ;)

Feel free to drop by any time!