#dr. noxious

[shadowtoons]

One way welcoming someone new in the group ahdhwhcbd

[the-host-with-the-most-12]

This is Lutik!

HOOHOOHOO! WHy HELLo LUtiK! CAre TO Join My PArTy?! FoR the PRiCe of a FEE!!!

Barnaby NO!

[sparkling-chi-2]

Doctor Noxious by @shadowtoons-arinanon

[psi-shen-ask-blog]

Psi Shen has arrived near a building that is supposed to have the rumored doctor who was brought back from the dead. They have heard about him and was able to track him down at this very location. The reason of this seems to be unknown, and they don't seem to be in the mood for causing any harm as of late. So, they're at least going to try to get on his good side, and probably have him as an ally. Who knows? Just do whatever is necessary as Psi always tells themselves.

Now with their head covered with a hood and their body in a cloak, they had enough courage to slightly open the door, which was unlocked surprisingly. The doctor is in. They heard the voice of Doctor Noxious as they slightly poked their head through the door a little more, before they were caught peeking in by the doctor himself.

Psi wasn't showing any worry as they were noticed, but rather curious as to see the doctor with his now long hair. As they observed him, they managed to speak in a voice that seemed somewhat feminine.

Pardon me for the intrusion, but I believe I caught you at a very peculiar time... It appears you need some help with that long mane that is reaching the floor. May I be so bold and offer assistance?

@undeadtoll

He stared at the mirror… Holding his long hair staring, “… Maybe a hair cut should be required.” Then again, never once cuts his hair. Feel weird for him to do so-

But this long hair will be annoying to have around, really hard to think. “Odd can grow still..” mutters that to himself, never understood this at all. Thought be the same length. See the door opened just dropping the amount of his hair, turning around. “May I help you?”

[grimewart]

candy's checkup

[youreverydayghost]

I can't believe I forgot to show these! Just Judas being a menace lol.

(Judas and Nox belong to @shadowtoons)

[007-nightfire-yakuza-agent]

its so fucked up bro

its where we cross the equator n we have a lil ceremony where the ppl who havent crossed the equator b4 get hazed n i crossed the equator like. god idk 15+ times at least now in my career but the captain has decided for this line crossing ceremony that the crossing only counts w/ this company so even tho i crossed the line already on this ship the brutes want to come n shave my hair... i dont even care abt the rest of the ceremony dunk me in food waste make me drink noxious liquids its FINE i dont care but i have people to meet who like my hair. its so long n beautiful and i know theyre jealous because theyre old bald men. real yakuziacs will remember in cape town how the port guard wanted to choose a boyfriend n picked me, "de wan wi de hair".

the thing that rly fucks me off abt it is im not supposed to be here rn i was supposed to sign off in cape town and thus would have avoided the 2nd ceremony but the fucking cunts asked me to extend. they asked like they needed me im here by my grace. oh and furthermore the ceremony (that was cancelled today) is at 1300 which is normally when im fast asleep

tl;dr im MAD

[shadowtoons]

Harold in the Demiromantic colors

[the-host-with-the-most-12]

GuESs HOOOOOO!!

@shadowtoons-arinanon

[sparkling-chi-2]

Meet Le Chef! A joke character I made to pester one of @shadowtoons-arinanon 's characters. He is a self-proclaimed top chef of Kittlesworth (wherever the heck that is) and across several places, he has proclaimed to have been. Also, he thinks he is a magical cook for no reason.

And yes Dr. Noxious is by Mun :>

And Le Chef is by me

[undeadtoll]

"Every time I see you, I swear my heart skips a beat."

- Xavier to Nox

"Hm, is that so? Well, guess I gotta make out my effort to make it beat faster."

[thecreaturecodex]

Terochilus

Image accessed from the Ultraman Wiki here

[Terochilus is a monster that makes a big impression in Return of Ultraman (being the star of a two-part episode), but with very little impact on the franchise outside of it. Which is a shame. It feels like Ultraman's Rodan the way that Arstron feels like its Godzilla. It has a weirder power set than Rodan, though, with its toxic webbing and shooting lasers from its nose. It kind of reminds me of The Giant Claw, in the sense of being a superficially simple flying kaiju that is totally bizarre on closer inspection, and I designed its stats intentionally to be a counterpart to my cacagnea.

In the show, its webs emit toxic gas on exposure to automobile exhaust, making Terochilus another pollution-themed kaiju. Since cars don't exist in Pathfinder, I changed the trigger to the webs getting extra dangerous to fire, which is the typical adventurer solution to webbing. That, and it makes the Terochilus' lairing in volcanoes synergistic, and very dangerous.

Also, I can't prove it, but I suspect that Terochilus' pterosaur with feathers look inspired the winged fakeosaur that came in the same set as the ones that inspired the rust monster and bulette]

Terochilus

CR 19 LN Magical Beast

This creature resembles a strange cross between bird and pterosaur. It walks on two elephantine legs, and has membranous wings growing like a cape from its human-like arms. It has a head and neck covered with feathers, and a long straight bill.

A terochilus is a bestial, vaguely avian predator, something like a roc writ even larger. They are found lairing on volcanic islands and are extremely territorial—a terochilus patrols the water near the island for whales, large fish and the occasional sea monster to eat, and drives away anything else entering its hunting grounds. This territoriality extends to their volcanic lairs as well. A terochilus usually lives near the caldera and lines its nest with thick ashy webbing. This webbing is flammable, but burning it produces a highly potent toxic gas that causes immediate unconsciousness followed by systematic organ failure. The terochiluses are immune to these noxious fumes, and encourage periodic fires to burn the webbing and fumigate their lairs.

Terochiluses usually do not see creatures of human size and shape as prey. The danger comes from their territorial instinct—they attack boats that steer too close to their hunting grounds. If forced from their lairs by a stronger monster, they may settle closer to inhabited areas and wreak havoc enforcing their new territorial boundaries. In combat, a terochilus usually opens by spraying opponents with webbing, and then closing to melee with entangled enemies. A terochilus possesses a powerful breath weapon, which manifests as beams of deadly force fired from its nostrils. This breath weapon does not recharge quickly, and most terochiluses use it as a weapon of last resort only.

Terochilus CR 19

XP 204,800

LN Colossal magical beast

Init +9; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, Perception +22, tremorsense 30 ft.

Defense

AC 34, touch 12, flat-footed 24 (-8 size, +9 Dex, +1 dodge, +22 natural)

hp 346 (21d10+231)

Fort +23, Ref +21, Will +12

DR 20/magic; Immune poison; Resist fire 30, force 30; SR 30

Offense

Speed 40 ft., fly 150 ft. (average)

Melee bite +27 (4d6+14/19-20 plus grab), 2 claws +27 (2d8+14), 2 wings +22 (2d8+7)

Space 30 ft.; Reach 30 ft.

Special Attacks breath weapon (150 ft. line, 1 minute, 19d10 force damage),hurricane hover,swallow whole(AC 21, 34 hp, 4d8+21 bludgeoning),toxic webbing, webs (+22 ranged, range increment 30 ft., 150 ft. range, DR 10/-, 21 hp, DC 31)

Statistics

Str 39, Dex 28, Con 32, Int 4, Wis 21, Cha 15

Base Atk +21; CMB +43 (+47 grapple); CMD 63

Feats Acrobatic,Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes,Dodge, Flyby Attack, Greater Vital Strike, Hover (B), Improved Critical (bite), Improved Vital Strike, Mobility, Power Attack, Vital Strike

Skills Acrobatics +21 (+25 when jumping), Climb +26, Fly +13, Perception +22; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception

Languages Ignan (cannot speak)

Ecology

Environment warm land

Organization solitary or pair

Treasure incidental

Special Abilities

Hurricane Hover (Ex) A terochilus gains Hover as a bonus feat. When it uses the Hover feat, it creates hurricane force winds in a 60-foot radius, regardless of its distance from the surface.

Toxic Webbing (Ex) A terochilus’ webs release toxic gas when they take fire damage. This gas fills a 30 foot radius from the webbing, and lingers for 1d4+1 rounds before dissipating. This toxin has the following properties

Web fumes—inhaled; duration 1/round for 4 rounds; save Fort DC 31; initial effect unconsciousness 1 minute; secondary effect 1d6 Con damage and unconsciousness 10 minutes; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution based.

[youreverydayghost]

Oh yeah my hand slipped last night oops

(Dr. Harold Noxious belongs to @shadowtoons!)

[the-lady-selkie]

Incorrect quotes between Judas from @shadowtoons and The Widow from @murdxrxfcrxws and little Harriet.

Jadas, walking past Harriet:"Hello little evil one"

Widow, with an offended gasp:" How can someone say my little owl is evil?? She is the most precious little soul."

Harriet, in the middle of planning a detailed plan to commit arson in her mind: " Yeah, I'm adorable!"

[flieslikeamoron]

WIP Wednesday

I guess I'm a little bit writing the one where Steve can't feel anything but Eddie. 

---

Dr. Owens’ office looks like a normal doctor’s office. Maybe a little too sterile. No pictures or posters on the walls. But you’d never know walking in that he’s some of kind of top secret military doctor or something. Of course the sign on the outside of the building says "Medical Supply Center." And Steve wasn't allowed to tell his mom Joyce Byers was bringing him here. And there was nobody else in the waiting room. But still-

When Dr. Owens comes into the examining room, he just looks like a guy in a lab coat. Like any of the eighteen other doctors Steve’s already seen. The eighteen other doctors who haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong with him. It's some kind of neuropathy. Except they don't know why it's his whole body. It's hypoesthesia. Except that's really a symptom more than a diagnosis. It's similar to CIP. Except they don't know why it's not just the pain he can't feel. Or what's causing it. Or how to fix it.

“So tell me about what’s going on,” Dr. Owens says.

It’s kind of a relief to be able to tell the whole story. Steve had been able to tell the other doctors about getting cracked in the head with a plate, the fight, the concussion. But he couldn’t say polywog, demodogs, got sprayed in the face with some noxious Upside Down spunk… He can still remember the rotten taste of it coating his mouth even through the bandana. It wasn't too long after that this whole thing started.

He hadn’t noticed it then. Maybe his toes seemed a little numb, his cheeks, the end of his nose. It was winter. It was cold. Maybe when he took a girl out, holding her hand felt a little strange. Muffled. Maybe kissing her wasn’t as vivid as it usually was. Maybe when she sucked him off it took him longer than usual to come, but he got there. It still felt good. It was like the lights were dimmed a bit, not like he couldn’t see. And maybe he thought, after Nancy… Well, it didn’t seem so strange to him that he wasn’t as into the other girls. That nothing felt like it had with her.

It was kind of weird when he'd dropped a bottle of balsamic vinegar on his socked foot and it barely even hurt. He took his sock off later, and his toe was swelled up. The nail black. But it hadn’t felt like much. There was another time too. He cut his hand sawing open a bagel. Blood everywhere, his mom in a tizzy, and it was just a far away dull throb. 

He started to think something might be wrong then. But he kept hoping if he kept his head down, kept acting like it was nothing, then it would be nothing. The gate was closed. It had to be nothing. 

He told himself it was nothing until he woke up one random Wednesday a couple months out from the gate being closed, and it was like he wasn’t in his body. He couldn’t feel the sheets under him, the blankets on top of him. Couldn’t feel the heat blowing. Couldn’t feel his shirt against his chest or the elastic of his briefs. And when he pinched himself there was nothing. He’d done it harder, twisting, fingers digging hard enough to bruise. Nothing. He did bruise. He wasn’t invincible. He just couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t feel anything.

Not the heat of the shower. Or the cold when he desperately turned the knob. Not the scratch of his fingernails across his arm, hard enough to bleed. Not his hand on his dick. Nothing. He leaves the last bit out when he’s telling it for the doc. 

Dr. Owens doesn’t seem to think it’s all in Steve’s head, which is a step up from most of the doctors his mom has taken him to. But he can’t really say what it is either. Other than probably related to that thing where a whole other dimension had been leaking into the town for a year.

“We’ve had a few cases,” he says. “Of other-” He cocks his head over what word to put there. “Effects.” He frowns. “Hawkins has been exposed to all kinds of bio material, maybe even radiation, we simply don’t have enough information to understand. We did as much testing as we could at the lab before the gate was closed, and we’re working on reversing the effects. But there’s so much we don’t know. Each…” He looks for a word again. “Each affliction is different.”

Dustin calls what Steve’s got a superpower, but to be honest Steve thinks affliction fits better. A superpower is being bulletproof or flying or moving shit with your mind like El. Useful stuff. Steve burned the shit out of his hand the other day and didn’t notice until he smelled his skin cooking. Steve keeps cutting himself shaving because not being able to feel the blade on his face makes him doubt the muscle memory of it. Makes his hand uncertain. Steve can’t even get himself off. He tried a couple times in the beginning. His dick sort of half-heartedly chubbing up with the friction of a hand he can’t feel. He can’t get himself hard though. Can’t make himself come.

Afflicted sounds about right to him.

“Normally,” the doc is saying, “in an area exposed to toxins you’d see consistent effects: elevated cancer rates, lung damage, lead poisoning. But this…” He shakes his head.

“What kind of things are you seeing?”

“I can’t share names or too many specifics of other patients,” Dr. Owens says. “But we’ve seen some very unusual things. A girl whose touch seems to burn living tissue. A boy who seems to be exhaling some kind of poison, small amounts, but they build up when people are exposed to him for long."

"Jesus, I guess mine could have been worse," Steve says. "Did anyone get any actual good powers? Why is it all-" He shakes his head, rolling his eyes. "Afflictions."

"They're biological anomalies," Dr. Owens says. "Not magical powers."

"I don't mean magical powers, I mean like… El. She has a good power. I know it's her special brain or whatever and not magic. But did anyone else get something like that? Something useful?"

"El didn't get her telekinesis from the Upside Down. She was born with a special brain, like you said. And as for you and the others… We don't know." He tilts his head, leaning in toward Steve. Face pretty kindly for a secret government operative who probably has the authority to burn Hawkins to the ground if he decides it's too contaminated with- Biological anomalies. "I hope you’ll let us do some tests. The more information we have, the more likely we can figure out how to reverse it."

Steve can't imagine there's a test he hasn't had. His mom's been on a mission. Toting him from specialist to specialist. He's been all over the country. He's been scanned inside out and head to toe and toe to head and back again. He's given pints and pints of blood. He's gotten zero results. He's not getting his hopes up that this'll be any different. Owens basically said as much. They don't know what this is. How the Upside Down's changed people. But... At least these doctors know where to start looking. And hell, this is what Steve's here for. Might as well try.

His mom signs him out of school to see a fake doctor at a clinic that doesn't exist. And Steve spends a week in an underground bunker. They do new MRIs, new CAT scans. They strap Steve into a few machines he hasn't seen before. They hook him up to electrodes and videotape him all day long. They test out blunt pressure, sharp blades. Hot and cold and soft and hard. He feels nothing. They make him bruise and bleed while machines beep around him, spitting out long lengths of incomprehensible measurements. Nothing. They starve him for most of a day. That he feels. They keep him up until his head feels like swimming through tar. They give him drugs. He feels that too. Hungry, tired, dizzy, sick to his stomach. He can feel all of that. But anything they shove at him from the outside... Nothing. 

They scan him again, again, again. 

They don't know. They can't fix it.

---

It comes in handy that summer though. He isn't exactly going to break under Russian torture when he can’t feel shit. They can tear off his fingernails, hell chop off whole fingers and it won’t make any difference… No, that’s not true. He gets a queasy feeling in his gut thinking about being left with nothing but bloody stumps. But it wouldn’t hurt. He tries to make sure they take it out on him instead of Robin. Finally, something this stupid, shitty biological anomaly is good for. He can take it. As much as they've got. So she doesn't have to.

He can tell it's bad from the blood dripping into his eyes. From the way it's hard to talk. From the way Robin looks at him like she wants to cry. He screams because he knows that's what they want from him. Because that's the only way to make them stop before they do something really… Permanent. But he could take more. He could keep taking it until they kill him, and it wouldn't hurt at all.

Robin hugs him when they finally make it out. Sagging into him, clinging to him with exhausted relief at surviving the Russians, the meat monster, but also surviving what she told him in the bathroom. Steve's always been a fan of hugs. The solid comfort of bodies pressed together. But he can't feel the heat of her, the squeeze of her. He settles for the sweaty smell of her head right up against his nose. The sound of the wavering sigh she lets out. He tries to hug her back without thinking too much about if he's holding her too hard, not hard enough. His arms uncertain.

He looks at himself in the mirror at home once he's dropped her off. His swollen, blood-streaked face, his eye shut. The bruises deep and ugly. The nasty split of his lip. The break in his nose. It's like looking at someone else. Like the person in the mirror isn’t even him. He presses down on the worst bruise around his shut eye. Presses down and feels nothing.

[chalkrevelations]

One of the criticisms I've repeatedly seen leveled at Dangerous Romance is that it doesn't engage with issues of socioeconomics and class the way it ought to, and I think that's a little unfair, because sure, it doesn't engage with those topics to the extent that some other bls have done, but it also engages with them to an extent greater than many, many other bls have done and do. I've posted before about how I think DR tackles issues of bullying, its fallout, recovery and reconciliation better than many other, sometimes beloved, shows have done. Is it perfect on this front? No. But it's a step forward, and I think it's one of the places where not only has it not gotten recognition, but criticism has been leveled at it that makes it sound like it did less than it actually did. Similarly, I don't think DR gets recognized for the work that it is doing on issues of socioeconomics and poverty. Again, is it perfect? No. But something really caught my eye this week, something that struck me when I watched Kanghan give his little speech to his grandmother about "poor people," which I and so many others found utterly vile - vile enough for some people to consign him back to the irredeemable category, if some responses in the tags are to be believed. Vile enough for some people to be disturbed enough that they don't know how they feel about the show anymore. Which, just. :hands: Do we want the show to tackle these topics or not? Because right now, it looks like it can't win, no matter what it does.

Here's the thing: We find Kanghan's comment vile because we're supposed to, because when the show puts those words in Kanghan's mouth, it's making a deliberate comment about poverty and the way it's viewed by people privileged enough to never worry about where their next meal is coming from, whether they'll have a roof over their head, and if that roof provides a modicum of safety - or if your door might as well be open to anyone who wants to walk in, whether it be a pissed-off classmate with a gun, or debt collectors willing to kick the shit out of a high-school kid. It's making a comment about the way low-resource populations are viewed by the people who profit off of socioeconomic systems that create poverty in the first place - because where does Kanghan's money come from? Where does Sailom and Saifah's debt come from? Is it even theirs, or did they inherit it? Does a just socioeconomic system give Kanghan more money than he knows what to do with, while Saifah is stealing rice from his patients to feed his little brother? How do we, as the audience, feel about the fact that benevolent Grandma Ging's solution to the Homchan debt was to have Sailom essentially sell himself to her family in indentured servitude until Kanghan is able to get into university? No, the show doesn't spoonfeed us these questions, but they're there, woven through the narrative, and Kanghan's comment - and Grandma's acquiescence to it - throws them into sharp relief. And once they're exposed that way, they're suddenly so ugly the audience is reluctant to look at them?

Anyway, my immediate response to Kanghan's comment was

I have done a superhuman job of maintaining my emotional equilibrium so far ... only threatening once to reach into the screen to strangle him when he pulled out that completely noxious little speech about "poor people" and what they'll do for money, because yeah, fuck you and the coddled little gremlin that's rearing its ugly head back up again.

I think that "again" is important, because it not only shows the way Kanghan defaults to what's comfortable and familiar to him when he's suddenly thrust out of his depth - and when he feels profoundly betrayed - but it also shows that attitudes and prejudices about low-resource populations are deeply ingrained. The fact that this is the ugly thing Kanghan automatically falls back on in an attempt to maintain a wall between himself and Sailom reminds me of the way misogynistic slurs are pulled out and used against women in the heat of anger by people who would never classify themselves as misogynist. This is the thing about prejudices - they're part of the culture, we're swimming in them, and they take work to undo. I would actually rather have Kanghan explicitly show this attitude than act like it's magically resolved or like it doesn't exist. I been sayin' - none of these issues just disappeared in episode three when the cuteness started creeping in. They continued to exist alongside and underneath, and the show was only waiting to pull them out again at the right time. Appropriately, that time is when Kanghan is under stress.

I also think it's pretty smart writing to pull this back out now, after a stretch of episodes that first, made the audience complicit in the same kind of mindset Kanghan displays - come on, how many of us were convinced Saifah was sketchy from the beginning, when he was taking rice from his private patients to feed his little brother? How many of us took one look at Name and knew he was Bad Fucking News, full stop, and not worth the time Saifah so obviously wanted to spend on him, before meeting the Bigger Bad behind him, the one who keeps him on a leash? - and then deconstructed those attitudes, spinning out sympathetic characterizations from questionable first impressions. The very same episode in which Kanghan spouts this awful stuff about "poor people" and how they'll do anything for money also shows explicitly ... well, first of all, it shows that Sailom won't do just anything for money - he'll escort, providing services for payment, but he won't steal. But more thematically, the episode emphasizes the near-inextricable web that people with limited access to resources - including, yes, money - find themselves tangled in when they're pushed into survival work, be that stealing, sex work or violence, as we see with Saifah, Sailom and Name.

Stealing is survival work. Escorting is survival work. Violence is survival work. It's also all dangerous, and it's all illegal. None of it is something that most people would do by choice if they had other options. In some cases, it's really damn hard to walk away from, and not because you're enjoying it, but because it might get you killed. DR shows-not-tells us all of this. It shows us that it's real easy to say poor people will do anything for money, but money actually translates into food and clothes, a roof over your head, survival. (There's a reason we're introduced to the scene of Sailom escorting again with a plate full of food being set down in front of him - it's a callback to the spread of food Kanghan orders when he's playing sugar daddy in Korat. Now, we're smacked in the face with the reality of needing a sugar daddy.) Poor people will prey on each other to survive, as Name does to Saifah and Sailom. They'll also help each other, like Saifah does with Name. Meanwhile, Kanghan, who's never been food-insecure a day in his life, sneers about what other people have to do to survive and makes himself out to be the victim, and we as the audience are repelled. That's on purpose. That's the show's commentary on socioeconomic issues.

Do I like that it happened in the same episode that Sailom The Magic Poor solved the rift between Poor Little Rich Boy and his Rich Dad? No. But I'm also not going to let perfect be the enemy of the good. And here's the thing about Kanghan and his ugly comment: That deconstruction that the show does on a meta-level of audience attitudes about Saifah and Name? That's an assurance that Kanghan, himself, can deconstruct his attitudes and prejudices about "the poor."

Meanwhile, this attitude of Kanghan's - They want Our money - this ties into his deepest fears and insecurities. Would you like me if I had no money, he asks Sailom (and meanwhile he knows that he has no money, he has his dad's money), despite the fact that Sailom has been telling him since he punched Kanghan in the face with a fistful of Kang's cash that Sailom doesn't care about Kanghan's money and some things can't be bought. It also means that Sailom knows immediately the worst way to hurt Kanghan - the way he's been hurt when the boy who Sailom has given everything to, the one who was supposed to protect him, the one who just promised he'd be with Sailom through everything, instead turns on a dime and throws him out like garbage. Sailom is smart and he knows just where to hit, he knows what it's going to do when he tells Kanghan he's only ever been interested in his money - it's not the least bit true, and it's still the most painful thing he could ever say.