#denara mechquest

[high-voltage-rat]

Having some G.E.A.R.S. University thoughts. Based on real, actual things that have happened over my real, actual university experience, things aren't actually *that* far-fetched.

Houses stealing each others' mascots and holding bitter grudges over it? So real. We regularly steal other schools' mascots and ransom them back in exchange for silly and embarassing acts. Our mascot, a miniature functioning cannon, was once spirited away overseas by a former student. (We now have a team of cannon guards who chain themselves to the cannon for its safety, and an anonymous chief who wears a blacked out face shield attached to their hard hat and keeps the cannon safe during downtime). Mystraven stealing the Drakylon Cube and the Wolfblade to put them in the Labyrinth is pretty in-line with engineering prank culture, if anything it's not intense enough. I just want to see them demand Wolfblade and Runehawk provide "a hand-painted portrait of the other house's logo done with their non-dominant hands", "9 bottles of mocha cola cooled to exactly 2.7⁰C", and "one first year student to join mystraven as a human sacrifice" in exchange for their mascots (all based on real prank ransoms I've seen). Maybe the other houses should establish a mascot guard.

Pizza stuck to the wall indefinitely in dorms? On move-out day in my residence I witnessed a toothbrush embedded in the ceiling and garbage bags piled to the ceiling of the garbage rooms and down the hallway. People let mold grow on their food in the communal fridge until it was 4 different colours and thick as chinchilla fur and I, someone who didn't even USE that fridge, disposed of it. The hero's dorm room is actually pretty clean in comparison to some of the stuff I've seen. When their desk is piled in papers and their floor is covered with dirty laundry, I'll believe they're an average university student.

I've never had a professor make anyone wear a dunce cap, but my first year physics prof probably would have if he could have. He called students idiots to their faces in front of a whole lecture hall, and had a list of "content-free phrases" on his official department website- including such terms as "stakeholder", "partnership", "facilitate", "leadership", and "ecosystem". He has tenure and is a federal research chair. Aleysia probably has incredible job security and just does whatever she wants in response.

The real-life equivalent of the G.E.A.R.S. entrance exam was the frosh week "entrance exam" we were told was administered by the faculty. It was intentionally so hard it was improbable to get more than ~4 questions in, and even included ones that were literally, mathematically, impossible to solve. It was, in fact, a prank by upper years. But it did accurately set the tone for the rest of the program.

The real-life equivalent of Aleysia's "I'm pitting you against 4 enemies because I want you to fail" is a calc II prof who declared the class average of 58% on a midterm was "too high" and increased the difficulty of the next one. (Said prof also learned the school was ending in-person classes when the pandemic hit, decided to try and teach the rest of the course material in the final in-person one hour lecture slot, told us to read the textbook, and never taught us another thing for the rest of the remaining month of classes. And then the exam was 24 hours long (yes, actually. 24.) and the hardest thing I've ever done.) You just know Mecha Combat 101 students are chanting "pray for the curve" after every assessment.

The hero having 4 jobs around town AND doing Hero Stuff on top of schoolwork is just a turbo-charged version of my dear friend who had a full-time job, was head of a club, and was acing 8 courses (standard is 6, he had to petition the faculty to let him take more than 7).

Not to feed a mean stereotype, but our electrical engineering common room smells so badly of body odour that they have air fresheners everywhere. The cockpits of student mecha probably smell atrocious and people probably need a bundle of those little rearview mirror air fresheners for cars dangling over their pilot's station. G.E.A.R.S. student welcome package: mecharoni coupon, baby's first pilot uniform, directions for how to get to Specific Hospital, and 50 air fresheners.

There's a guy who for years rollerbladed everywhere. I once saw him rollerblade out of the bathroom and down the stairs. No one questioned him. I once brought a rat carrier to class and no one looked at it twice. Maybe it's not quite Hugh Munn level, but you can do some really odd stuff and nobody bats an eye. They all have midterms to study for, there's no time to worry about what you're doing. So sure, maybe that guy's a suspicious alien imposter, but you missed the last tutorial and he has good notes so the rest is none of your business.

Pulling up to lecture halls and having to sit on a chair to the side because everywhere else is full does happen. I've been in lecture halls so large and crowded, people in the back were using binoculars to see the chalkboard. In first year I sat on the floor for more than a few lectures when there were no seats. I feel the hero's pain, but at least they got a stool.

The lesson in M.A.T.H. is actually legit wisdom that we discuss in real engineering classes. Standards with clearly defined metrics are important, yo. This isn't an absurd occurances bit I just thought it's important. Sarrina is correct even if forcing students to measure between half the buildings in Soluna City is a bit Much.

We have a course that for a major project, asks us to use contact cement (which produces extremely strong fumes) to build a prototype bridge. They do not provide respirators. It's basically a rite of passage for first years to get high off contact cement by accident working on this project until 3am. We have another that asked us to design a "launcher" with very little regulation as to what that meant (and we were literally encouraged to "squirrel" around definitions), and set us loose in a school building to work on it- resulting in rogue projectiles nearly taking innocent bystanders out all week. I've seen people duelling with previously mentioned bridge prototypes as swords, zapping each other with electronics components they were supposed to use for lab projects (do not do this), dropping dry ice down each others' shirts (do not do this), and genuinely wanting to eat the gel we use for gel electrophoresis (do not do this!!!). I am not at all fazed by the idea that students are invited to and willing to attack each other with live rounds in their mecha or with deadly energy blades on foot. Frankly, I could see it happening on our campus if we had the technology.

Lastly, I want you to know: all of the G.E.A.R.S. profs need to be weirder. I love Denara, Aleysia, Anastasia, Tsuba, and Sarrina- but they need to be weirder. My calc I prof is an aeronautics genius but apparently doesn't believe in climate change. My Intro to Computer Programming prof showed us a selfie he took with Snoop Dogg. My intro Civil Engineering prof spent more than half of our lecture time talking about ancient roman bridges. My Thermal Physics prof followed a math proof with "I hope you're convinced, or disgusted, or whatever.", and spouted such wisdom as "there are dangers to going to Antarctica, like you may come home to find your wife has bought you a dog.", "computers are born to suffer", "Everything is a spring at low amplitude, just ask the mechanical engineers", "If you're a level 7 log mage you can do this proof, but I'm only a level 6, so I won't", and "close is just another name for wrong". My ordinary differential equations prof was obsessed with shoehorning boba into every example problem. My developmental bio prof insisted we only call him by first name and loved fruit flies, to the point that any time he showed us an image and asked us what it was, "fruit fly" was a safe answer. My materials science prof posts pictures of grocery store fruit displays he sees to his twitter to talk about what molecular crystal structure they're stacked in. People who become professors are always just a little weird. The G.E.A.R.S. profs are too normal and serious, if you leave aside the "throwing students into mortal danger" thing.

I want to see Denara, exhausted from writing grant proposals, blasting an air horn to make her talkative class shut up so she can start lecture. I want to see Aleysia go off on a 20 minute long tangent about her extremely niche field of research when she's supposed to be lecturing because this specific style of mech is just so fascinating. I want to see Anastasia, desperate for student engagement in lectures, showing memes about course content in her lecture slides. I want to see these profs be so experienced in their fields that it doesn't occur to them that their students might not have ever heard of the concept they're covering, and just breeze right through it like it's obvious. I want to see "do as I say, not as I do"-style approaches to safety from the teaching staff who do demonstrations of maneuvers that could destroy their mech and injure them if they make one wrong move because their hubris is enormous now that they have tenure and good disability insurance (here's looking at you, Sys-Zero. I saw that gratuitous barrel roll). I want G.E.A.R.S. profs who feel like academics.

[nitroglycerin-sponge]

M.A.T.H. Part 1

Links: 2 / 3 / 4

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Energy Blades 101

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Mecha Combat 101 Part 1

Links: next

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Entrance Exam Part 1

Links: next

[high-voltage-rat]

The SDF Reliant crew have lowkey just become pseudo-OCs for me at this point. That's kinda what happens when characters have so few appearances in canon, but I still find it really funny how much I've just said "my city now". I decided I want to yell about them, so here's some of the headcanons I've come up with.

In mechquest, houses are the big question all GEARS students grapple with. My HCs on this front, based on vibes and fleshed out with added headcanons:

Starbuck originally kind of just joined Wolfblade because he wanted to look badass, but then found that the house of leaders who value helping others really fit with his love of mentoring other students. It was actually Xaria that convinced him to be bold and apply for his TA position with Denara- which he is forever thankful for.

Sally tends to throw herself into everything she does 100%, burning short and bright. She's prone to hyperfixation- eating the same thing for weeks on end until she gets sick of it, investing herself in yet another hobby that will end up in the hobby graveyard, etc. She wanted people who would match her intensity, so she joined Wolfblade. Now whenever she gets into another rabbit hole she usually is able to find a fellow housemate to "yes, and" her. This is only SOMETIMES a problem.

Dooder, as a certified chill jokester, was naturally drawn to Mystraven. He firmly believes in the importance of fun, and is always finding ways to drag the rest of the crew into relaxing and enjoying themselves every now and then. Sometimes that's a mini prank war, sometimes it's "accidentally" buying too much pizza to eat by himself, sometimes it's dragging everyone to a night out at the SC Lounge.

River doesn't actually know why she felt drawn to Runehawk, at first. Sure, she's always been a bit more nerdy than some of her friends, but she's not really as intensely academic as others in the house. She ends up very glad she joined, however. While she initially didn't put much stock in the house system at all, after the crystal asteroid incidents she discovers she has latent psychic abilities that she has no idea how to regulate. With the help of fellow Runehawks' research, she eventually learns to control her powers and bolster her already impressive piloting skills via their signature mana drive.

In my fic, I also don't plan on having my hero doing 5 different careers: Ravyn is a neurologist AND actively doing another degree, they don't have time to be delivering pizza. Instead:

Dooder works for Mecharoni- he finds the actual pizza-making pretty meditative, and any time customers are assholes he just amps up his chill demeanor until it's genuinely off-putting to whoever he's dealing with. He's the kind of guy who writes jokes or does drawings on the inside of your pizza box.

Sally works alongside the SPD as a conflict meditor and harm reduction support staff. Mostly, she thinks Chief Duncan is an idiot, and decides she can do a better job herself- so she sticks herself into his business and does. She also regularly does supply runs and odd jobs for all the businesses around Soluna- she's weirdly good friends with H.A.L.

River volunteers at the hospital sometimes, but more prominently works for the museum or with Mysterious Johnson to catch ghosts. She regularly invites the others to join her on museum jobs- and they eventually start investigating dusty old ruins together as group bonding 'field trips' whenever they have the chance between missions.

Starbuck has his TA job, and he's very happy with it, but in his early years he also worked for Mecharoni, and also did a brief stint as a stockboy for the Knife and Spork.

Some additional miscellaneous HCs:

Dooder tends to "pack bond" pretty easily- he actually tends to personify his mech, telling it that he loves it and regularly polishing it up nice. Sometimes he sings to it. He cries when it gets damaged and will mourn when it is eventually destroyed. He's had the same shitty pillow since he was like 9 and it's totally flat by this point, but he can't throw it out because it's always been by his side and he doesn't want it to feel abandoned. He would absolutely create stabby the roomba.

Due to the previously mentioned hobby graveyard, Sally has a lot of hidden talents she can whip out at a moment's notice to impress people. She's taken a course in mixology, she did a brief stint in cake decorating, she can knit and crochet and embroider pretty well, she knows how to do carpentry and plumbing, she's done dance lessons in break, ballroom, swing, salsa, tap, highland, ballet- even a few niche cultural dances from other planets. You name a hobby, and there's a 50% chance she's tried it.

River was a track and field star before she attended GEARS. Her long-distance running game was always top-tier, but she also regularly placed podium in sprints and relay events. She finds running to be good for clearing her head, so it's her go-to whenever she's stressed. One can tell how hard a week she's been having based solely on how much time she's spent on the treadmill.

Starbuck really loves giving people (and their mecha) nicknames and callsigns- the second he meets someone he starts watching for inspiration for their new title. Sally's callsign is 'Apple Core' (because of her regular consumption of the fruit in question, plus insisting she's hardcore), River's is 'Bubbles' (a play on her name, plus a joke after she burped loudly over all-hands comm), Dooder's is, much to his displeasure, just 'Dude' (though not enough displeasure to accept the alternative of 'Doughboy').

Sally runs competitive arm wrestling tournaments (mostly populated by Wolfblades). She manages the betting pools, and always throws her hat in the ring, too- only to be obliterated every time. Defeat only makes her try harder next time.

Dooder doesn't like to sing in front of other people- unless he's drinking, then he just won't stop. He has a really nice voice, but gets embarrassed if anyone tries to bring up his singing to compliment it. Everyone always looks forward to him pulling up to karaoke nights at the SC lounge.

Starbuck is notoriously bad at drawing- during his tutorials, any time he attempts to draw something on the blackboard, students make a game of "guessing" what he's trying to do like a game of pictionary. He's actually considered using stencils, but "Starbucktionary" has become too beloved, and the students would riot if he did.

River is a closet foodie. She cooks really well, but is a perfectionist who finds it very stressful, so doesn't do it very often. She's often on the hunt for new places to eat, though, and will try pretty much anything once. She keeps a notebook of reviews for different dishes at the places she frequents- though they're just for her personal benefit. She's still searching for the best steak in Soluna City.