#a thought(tm) from xiazat's mind

[xiazats-mind]

I saw this sequence and immediately saw it as reaction image fodder. Feel free to use.

Alt with just the two bottom panels below cut

[xiazats-mind]

DRG with the only the finest meme references

[xiazats-mind]

You! Non-white tumblr user!

I want to learn about your culture! Tell me as much as you'd like!

[xiazats-mind]

Just listened to the new Tom Cardy music video and

Oh my god

This dj character is so gender, it's disgusting (positive)

[xiazats-mind]

Why do I feel like I'm being held at gunpoint

so what you're gonna do is you're gonna trim the top off a bulb of garlic, using the knife's edge to take off the tip of every individual clove, that's important. you're gonna place the garlic face-up in a square of tinfoil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap completely in foil, place in baking tray, repeat with a copious amount of garlic bulbs. you're gonna put that baking tray in an oven set to 375-400°F, for 30-50 minutes, until soft and browned. you're gonna toast some good bread, slather generously with butter and honey, maybe a tiny lil bit o' salt. and then. you're gonna SQUEEZE. OUT. THAT. ROASTED GARLIC. onto the butter honey toast. and you're gonna eat it. food stolen directly from the plate of the gods. that's what you're gonna do.

[xiazats-mind]

[xiazats-mind]

Just started playing In Stars and Time, and I'm calling it now, the big twist will be that all the timelines kept going after you looped, and had to deal with the consequences of said loop.

Other thoughts:

Love how the game plays with rpg tropes, such as the explanation of why you can enter people's house (and why you only see one room) and that the running npc goes around you if you stand in their path

I was expecting Siffirin to be a young adult, but apparently he's the oldest of the group? He's like a middle aged man? Apparently he's in his mid-late 20s; I don't remember which piece of text made me think he was older

I quit the game because it was getting late and had work in the morning, but forgot to save and lost like 30-45 minutes of progress (the true Siffirin experience)

Loop is the fruity-est fucker I've have ever seen

[xiazats-mind]

I love/hate that UniqueGeese felt the need to specify that Rambley is strictly an in-universe AI.

[xiazats-mind]

I refuse to believe that pukicho is anything other than a sapient, animate pikachu plush

What if Pukicho does a face reveal one day and he’s just some guy

[xiazats-mind]

New draw your ocs/blorbos dropped

[xiazats-mind]

Everyone depicts the voices as the same/similar creatures to Long Quiet, which makes sense but consider: Each voice having an animal/mythical creature that matches their personality

[xiazats-mind]

This is first thing I thought of when I saw this image

[xiazats-mind]

Puki, people love the idea of you in general

I love you

No you don't you just love the idea of me beating the shit out of you in the mud

[xiazats-mind]

Holy shit, I think I found THE image that got me into transformation

I can remember being like 8 or something searching for riolu/lucario images and coming across this one, which fascinated me. I went to look for similar pictures, and the rest is history. I will say, it doesn't look exactly like I remember, but its still a nice piece of art. Art by deviantart user Doodlz18

[xiazats-mind]

Introducing Proteans

What is a Protean?

Simply put, a protean is a highly advanced single celled organism that can freely and quickly alter their form, due to their biology consisting of cytoplasm and loose organelles encased in a slick, rubbery membrane. Proteans can be as large enough to fill a 20 foot cube or shrink to a 2.5 foot cube, but most often seen in forms that fit in a 5-6 foot cube. 

Protean appearance widely vary, but often choose to resemble some form of animal, anthropomorphic or otherwise.

Each protean has a set of 4 identifying features called morphic resonances that differentiate individuals and play a role in reproduction, as each resonance is equivalent to 25% of their dna; Morphic resonances can manifest in several ways, from purely cosmetic to beneficial or even detrimental. These include, but not limited to:

Colors/Color Combinations

Patterns, such as speckles or rune like symbols

Additional Organelles, such as chloroplasts or bioluminescent coelenterazites

Altered Organelles, such as thicker cell membranes or less efficient mitochondrias

Due to morphic resonance, proteans cannot perfectly imitate other creatures, which is one of the main reasons that they’ve been accepted by other sapient creatures.

Biology

Proteans have similar biology to eukaryotic cells and ameba, with various organelles substituting for the appropriate organ, such as the nucleus being the brain and the mitochondria being the lungs. Proteans have unique organelles, such as photoreceptors that grant them sight, (although they tend to be near-sighted due to their primitive design), and a cytoplasmic capsule, which stores and releases cytoplasm as needed when shifting their form. Proteans also have a voalisk, which is a flexible tube-like structure that air can pass through to make sounds. Proteans hear when soundwaves travel through their cytoplasm into their nucleus, in a process similar to an ear canal; However, proteans have sensitive hearing and hate loud noises.

The cytoplasm of a protean is non-newtonian, with a viscosity slightly thicker than water at room temperature and have a pH of ~6.2.

Proteans can temporarily harden parts of their membrane for self defense or for utility, though the hardened parts can’t change shape until it's unhardened.

Proteans can reproduce with each other by forming a cylindrical tendril called conjugative pilus to inject genetic material into one another, after which a new protean begins to develop and bud off over the course of 3 months. New proteans have a combination of the two parents’ morphic resonances. Couples with more than one shared resonance typically don’t procreate, as this is seen as inbreeding.

Proteans fully mature at ~24 years of age. Their average lifespan is unknown, as there are no known records of proteans dying of old age. 

A protean's diet mainly consists of highly nutritious foods, but they can consume any organic matter. Proteans can easily swallow food whole, but bigger foods might require hardened membrane “teeth” to rip their meals into easier to digest chunks.

Due to their unique biology, proteans are very susceptible to strong chemicals, as their membranes are easily weakened by them, allowing the chemicals into their body or outright rupturing. Chemicals inside a protean's cytoplasm can disrupt its delicate pH balance and/or damage its organelles, both of which can easily lead to death.

Temperatures below freezing cause proteans to become lethargic and be unable to shape-shift, while temps above 100°F cause their cytoplasm to begin to boil and make their membranes painfully elastic.

Culture/Society

Proteans don’t have a solidly defined culture, mostly copying the one they live in.

Proteans typically wear minimal clothing, as it interferes with their shape-shifting, and they view whatever form they currently have to be analogous to clothes. Whatever accessories they do wear tends to be utilitarian in function.

Proteans are amphibious, with many choosing to live their entire lives underwater. Proteans weirdly become more animalistic when submerged in water for more than a few hours, the condition worsening the longer they’re in. It is currently unknown why this happens, but this can be reversed by simply spending an equivalent amount of time out of water; That being said, some proteans have difficulties fully recovering from their semi-feral state, often resulting in existential crisis. 

A protean’s reaction to being submerged in water is theorized to be connected to their origins as formerly aquatic beings; Ancient proteans were feral aquatic beings that evolved into amphibians, and would eventually come into contact with primitive sapient races; Likely started as predators, but were ‘domesticated’ by feeding on food scraps. It’s speculated that ancient sapients noticed that proteans perform better when fed with cooked/prepared nutritious food. Generations later (about 500 years), proteans developed sapience. 

Proteans are a free species, and you may use them as you see fit.

[xiazats-mind]

The worst part of Ceroba's boss fight is dealing with this attack