#i hope the word that you requested isnt executed to vaguely in here!!

[daryfromthefuture]

“Safety” for Mixed Bag One-Word Prompts!

thank you for the request! as per your wish, i shall do doc (and some marty) for this one :)

"Another day, another downpour." Emmett commented as he adjusted his goggles and took another look at the repair instructions his older self had left him in the mine. The schematics appeared more complicated on the paper than they actually were. Or maybe he simply perceived it that way - those drawings did come from himself, after all.

Marty, who was sitting on the workbench, sighed as he watched the raindrops race each other down the little window. "Yeah. It's getting boring, watching the gray sky every day."

Doc lay aside his screwdriver and wiped some sweat and dirt from his brow. All this mechanical work, though easy, still was a bit of a challenge - Emmett was more of a theoretical guy; he loved to think about science and sketch plans and schemes. God knows how many unused blueprints he had piling up in his drawers.

Well, he'd have to construct the DeLorean in the next 30 years anyway. Might as well prepare himself.

"At least the work isn't all too difficult," Doc said with a smile, taking a proper look at Marty now that he could afford to take a break from building the contraption that was meant to replace the fried time circuits.

Marty just gave him a thumbs-up. "You're the doc, Doc."

The scientist had to laugh. "I guess I am, huh?"

He cleaned his oily hands with his lab coat and sat down next to the boy. The duo stared into the distance for a moment, the roar of the thunder outiside well audible due to the brief silence.

"Are you hungry? I apologize, I got so caught up in fixing the car that I forgot about lunch," Doc asked, beraking the quietness.

But Marty shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm not hungry. Can't say that about Copernicus, though." A small grin appeared on Marty's face as the mention of Copernicus' name caused the dog to whine from the other end of the room.

"Oh, thank you for reminding me." Doc got up and went to a shelf where he stored some dog food - in case he didn't have the time to go up to the house and feed his pet during his work. He opened a can and poured it into the small dog bowl right beneath the shelf. Copernicus wasted no second in throwing himself at the food.

Emmett smiled. "For such a small dog, you sure are hungry." He pat his dog on the back before making his way to Marty, who was now once again staring outside, his head in his hands.

"You had quite a bit going on lately, haven't you?", Emmett asked with sympathy in his voice. He had have no idea that he had the ability to be this gentle with someone, let alone a frightened child.

He had always seen himself as rather unable to comfort others.

But with Marty, it seemed to work just fine.

"Yeah, it's- I won't get into the details, but some shit happened and- well, you're stuck in 1885 now - as you know," Marty said, his voice shaking ever so slightly.

Doc hesitantly raised a hand to place on Marty's shoulder. He gave it a friendly squeeze. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll get this sorted out. We'll get this sorted out."

Marty chuckled. "I don't have any doubt about that. I trust you."

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and a wind howled through a tilted window in the back of the lab.

"Whoop! I didn't know that was open!" The inventor hurried across the room and quickly shut the window.

Marty followed Doc with his eyes and relaxed a little. This all seemed very familiar to him. Sometimes, these moments even made him forget that he was in 1955. Doc was Doc, and this was Doc's lab - a place he knew was one where he'd never be harmed - in whatever decade.

Not even a minute later, Emmett was back at the teenager's side. His hand moved back to sit on Marty's shoulder, well aware that Marty appreciated the gesture.

"Alright, how about I make us some nice, warm tea, and then we can resume our work after we've taken a short break?", Doc suggested.

Marty took in the atmosphere. The cold November storm outside, from which the lab shielded him. Doc, always the guiding presence, caring about him even though he'd only known him for a week. Copernicus curled up on the floor, making a happy expression in his sleep.

In a way, this was home.

Marty looked up at Doc. "You know what? I'd like that."

[silenthillmutual]

[ID: Anonymous said: this isnt like, a demand or request, just an expression of interest - you mentioned in your daniil-is-autistic post that you also think artemy is neurodivergent, and i would really enjoy seeing a similar post on that topic. thank you, have a nice day.]

(anon is referring to this post!)

i do have some thoughts that i would like to share about that topic! however comma, it probably will not be as in-depth as my post about daniil, as i am myself autistic and have had a couple years since being diagnosed to ruminate on places where that has affected my life, and so it’s easier to write about coming from a place of personal experience. i can do the same with depression, for the same reason.

i have a couple of ideas about what artemy could have:

adhd

ptsd

ocd

i won’t really be going into ptsd or ocd on this post because i feel like it’s more difficult to point the ptsd out (artemy doesn’t talk much about or flashback at all to being on the front) and because i think ocd should have its own post. it is severely misunderstood, even by other neurodivergent people. plus i think all four of the healers have it (or aspects of it), and this post is about artemy.

i feel like… something about the dsmv diagnostic criteria for adhd feels condescending to me, like it feels the way it’s worded places a lot of the blame on the person who has it? and some of the criteria like “fails to follow through on instructions”, “does not seem to listen when spoken to directly”, “has trouble holding attention on tasks” can depend greatly on the player. not as much of that is baked into artemy’s character and dialogue in the same way that social ineptitude, which is a core feature of autism, is baked into daniil’s character and dialogue.

with that being said: while i will include a few things from the diagnostic dsmv diagnositic criteria as listed on the cdc website, i am going to primarily be thinking about accounts from people with adhd. i have several friends with adhd (and i suspect that i may have it, though i’ve only come to suspect this recently and have had less time to think on it) whose experiences i will be taking into account.

other links to sources i am referring to: [adhd/autism venn diagram by tfw-adhd]  [what those symptoms look like in adults, by chadd]  [ptsd criteria on brainline]  [ocd criteria on beyondocd]

vague spoilers for pathologic classic & pathologic 2

very briefly & quickly: ptsd & ocd

the problem with going into it is this game is already a very difficult and anxiety-inducing world because of the plague and i’d argue that any of the healers could have one or both of these either before the outbreak or after it, so here are some things that stick out to me for

ptsd - overly negative thoughts or assumptions about oneself or the world (can overlap with adhd; artemy has the option to repeatedly blame himself for his father’s death), negative affect, feeling isolated, irritability or aggression, risky or destructive behavior, hypervigilance (any game that dabbles in horror aspects will expect this from you), difficulty sleeping (overlaps with adhd), depersonalization (this is a core aspect of the theatre theme of the game)

ocd - without going through the entire ybocs, i’ll just say that i think all three healers struggle with hoarding (understandably and by necessity) and hypermorality (all three protagonists believe they are the one and only person who is right, rubin is awfully judgmental of people who don’t abide by his personal standards). compulsions would be easier to point out in the game than the obsessions they are linked to, as we’re not exactly privvy to intrusive thoughts outside of the dreams. you could, however, say that artemy struggles with intrusive thoughts of causing harm even inadvertantly and argue that he takes measures to ensure that he doesn’t, won’t, and hasn’t. in classic, this is highly dependent on playstyle.

[this is my standard disclaimer that i have an official diagnosis of ptsd so i’m not just pulling this out of nowhere and am about 98% sure i have obsessive-compulsive disorder, and have researched it thoroughly.]

what’s built into the game: making careless mistakes, poor planning skills, time blindness / anxiety, executive dysfunction

pathologic is a game that sometimes feels like you’re being set up for failure. something that i missed talking about in my previous post is that it often feels like an autism/adhd simulator because it is, in classic, so very easy to screw yourself over and get locked out of an objective by picking the wrong dialogue option. while some of the correct dialogue options are obvious, others feel like a guessing game and you have to just hope you’re picking the right thing and have made a save file at the right place to go back and pick different options in the case that you’ve bungled something. hence, “making careless mistakes”. it’s a little bit easier in 2, as dialogue options that end a conversation are indicated with a diamond (thank you to whomever decided on that!), but it makes up for this by being unforgiving in other aspects. i believe the difficulty settings for imago state that the game is intended to be “almost unbearable” - and lots of people have difficulty completing it on the intended difficulty without cheats. (do not discourse about this on my post.) the game invites you to make careless mistakes and either live with or learn from them.

keeping this in mind, you’re kind of expected to have “poor planning skills” on at least your first time playing it. part of the game’s point is that you can’t do everything, and you can’t save everyone. not paying close enough attention or interpreting the instructions of the game just right in classic can cost you the lives of several of your bound.

that also feeds into time blindness & time anxiety. classic & 2 do these in different ways. in classic, you can’t run, so you have to hope you’re not busy doing something else or else hope that all of your letters come in at a time where you can hit up all the places you need to go, or you’re going to be cutting it short on time for the day. in 2, you can run, but there are far more sidequests to be completed than in classic.

i’d also argue that executive dysfunction is a core aspect of the game. you are very busy and very poor and items are very expensive, meaning that unless you know what you’re in for, either you or the town is low on resources or funds or time to do things like eat, sleep, and take care of your aches, immunity, and infection. all of which can be avoided if you don’t make careless mistakes, have good planning skills, and can manage your time wisely.

“interrupts or intrudes on others”

i don’t appear to have a screenshot of him doing this in 2, but he and daniil do have at least one conversation in which they keep interrupting each other. peak autism/adhd solidarity.

i do, however, have a screenshot example of him doing this to clara in pathologic classic

Haruspex: …Wait a second. If there was nothing but the great Bull, where did the stars and light come from? Changeling: Oh, don’t interrupt!

and as for intruding - khan feels that he does this frequently: intruding on him and capella at the station, intruding on him and notkin at the broken heart, and here he is intruding on kids at the nutshell:

We have so few places of our own - only a couple. And yet you feel the urge to impose yourself even here. Do you know what childhood is? It’s slavery. Herders treat their cattle better than parents treat their children. They lock us up like objects, mold us like statues, and still never take us remotely seriously.

he also intrudes on clara talking with block on day 11, either completely oblivious to the fact that he’s doing it or outright ignoring that he is.

“is often ‘on the go’“

i could say that this is one that is built into the way the game is organized, and it’s true! but his time spent with lara comes to mind. she’s not the only one to mention his restlessness, but i don’t keep screenshots of big vlad on hand so their day 1 dialogue is lost to the wind.

Aren’t you supposed to be terribly busy? I don’t understand why you keep coming. Or do you need my help again? I’ll wash your clothes. You’re filthy, like a chimney sweep. Revolting. While they dry, have some sleep.

“often fidgets […] or squirms in seat”

like with daniil’s body language, i don’t have any gifs to show to prove this. i’m really looking forward to seeing what idle animations he gets in the other two routes. for now i know that in the lucid dream, if you use flycam you can see him idling by swaying and rubbing his chin & that in other pantomimes he can be found constantly turning his head and looking around.

sleep problems

i don’t have the screen shot so just pretend that i do - he mentions this to the fellow traveler on, i think, day one when you go to the dead item shop. in either game, you can also only sleep for a maximum of six hours at a time, which is like..two hours less than the recommended amount, unless that’s changed.

little sense of danger & impulsivity

As usual, I act first and think later. I’ve made a panacea. But from what? What blood was that? Whose blood was that? To cure the Town, I’ll need to figure that out.

there’s actually no dialogue i can think of that addresses the danger of the situation he’s in - which is sort of the reason why i included it! though i am absolutely obsessed with classic artemy threatening grief, kingpin of the villains in town:

Bad Grief: That ain’t good! Got too soft a heart or something? Soft, eh… Well, can’t blame you. Haruspex: Got too hard of a bone structure? You watch it. I’ll break them in no time.

artemy has little to no problem offering to help daniil get ahold of organs and blood:

Bachelor: Exactly. I need tissues of a person who died of the Sand Plague. I need them today, right now! I’ve tried to get them at the cemetary, but failed miserably. The patrolmen are vigilantly watching over the dead. Haruspex: Would you like me to get you some? Bachelor: I’d reward you generously for that. Haruspex: Deal. I’ll do what I can, even though I still don’t have the right to.

‘even though i still don’t have the right to’ - he knows it’s illegal and could easily lose him reputation, but he jumps at the chance to do so. part of his route requires you being in constant danger, but later on there are options to tell daniil you won’t help him. this isn’t one of them.

in pathologic 2, you can also instigate fights with people by, to name a few: refusing to leave the house in the atrium where they have a person bound and gagged upstairs, not leaving barley the barber in grief’s lair, and picking the wrong dialogue option with the guys in the broken heart on day 11.

as referenced above, his impulsivity sometimes shows in the dialogue options you can choose. you can say things that clearly haven’t been thought through all the way. for example, this is what he says to clara bout her parents:

I wonder what you did to your old ones. There was someone gullible enough to adopt you?

and this is how she replies:

Clara: What? Why would you say that? I never even knew them. I’ve been an orphan for as long as I can remember. Artemy: I didn’t know. Right, that’s what I figured.

it’s not all that different from the sort of tactless comment a person with autism might make.

no motivation for tasks you are not interested in & hyperfixations

in pathologic 2, on day 3, daniil asks artemy to be his aide in developing a vaccine. artemy’s responses are all something dismissive and frequently quite rude. here’s the end of that conversation:

Bachelor: I will make the vaccine, but I can’t do it without you. All you need to do is be at hand and do as I say. I will take full responsibility for the situation. Haruspex: Perhaps I’ll drop by… if I have the time.

guess what never happens?

it’s understandable that the panacea is artemy’s main goal. what makes it stick out to me as a hyperfixation specifically is that, while a vaccine is daniil’s main goal, daniil manages to ask artemy about his progress with the panacea.

Bachelor: Anyway, how’s it going? Any progress?

the interest is never reciprocated.

emotional dysregulation & rejection sensitivity dysphoria

i personally think this is the most striking piece of evidence. every single perceived sleight can invoke a drastic reaction in artemy. just take day 3 for example - the perceived sleight here is the belief (based on no evidence) that daniil was snubbing him or trying to exclude him from the meeting:

Bachelor: Burakh. The situation is regretful. I just didn’t have time to warn you. Haruspex: This was ugly of you.

and then he proceeds to get into an argument with him. he can, in fact, get into snits with not just daniil, but with rubin and lara as well. i will not be taking sides in this, because who is right / who is wrong is not really the point, the point is how artemy responds to perceived sleights with increased emotional agitation.

when capella upsets him by telling him she’s taking the kids from under his care for their own protection, he can respond by comparing her to her horrible capitalist pig of a father:

You truly are your father’s daughter. Children always succeed their parents…

i can’t even remember what was said to him to get him to reply this, only that it was said to him by a teenager:

I’m a surgeon. Ever considered having your tongue removed?

he also holds onto murky’s repetitious “what is there about you to love? nothing. so i don’t.” and brings it up to her when she is infected with the sand plague on day 10. though it does bring the rather heartwarming line about murky having loved him from the start, my point remains that he has not been able to stop thinking about something murky has said that she has obviously already changed her mind about by this point in time in the game.

difficulties making & keeping friends

remember what i said about the interest in daniil’s vaccine not being reciprocated? yeah. friends, acquaintances, colleagues - they all kind of expect you to take an interest in their lives. this is where autism & adhd overlap, from my understanding - both can come with an inability to recognize social cues. in fact, i’m going to use the same example now that i used in my post about daniil (it is, after all, what inspired this ask):

Bachelor: From you? Oh, nothing. I was just sharing.

daniil thinks they’ve been having a normal conversation, but artemy hasn’t picked up on whatever social cues he’s been using. this could easily be on either one of them. though i will say, some of my easiest friendships as a person with autism have been with people who have adhd. which is why i’d suggest that daniil saying he’ll tell artemy about thanatica “the way i’d tell a close, intimate friend” is autism/adhd solidarity. despite initially not getting along, they are clearly able to communicate with each other.

i think the rest of this is really self-explanatory. despite being from the town in classic, artemy doesn’t actually appear to have any friends in it. could be a symptom of him having left much ealier (ten years ago as opposed to the five in pathologic 2), but in pathologic 2 his friendships are constantly under threat of spontaneous combustion. this day three conversation with lara sums it up nicely:

Lara: Ugh, whatever. Like it’s any of my business… Do whatever you want. Did you make peace with stakh? Artemy: Doesn’t look like it… Forget Stakh. I see now that I’m one step away from falling out with you. Why?

there’s a variety of reasons why his friendships are falling apart. but it occurs to me that there’s no mention of artemy communicating with his friends at all while he was gone, and maybe that’s contributing to it. this is not an attempt to pick sides (i think everybody’s wrong), i am just pointing this out.

adhd in adults: history of academic or career underachievement, relationship problems due to not completing tasks, chronic stress and worry over failure to accomplish goals, chronic and intense feelings of frustration / guilt / blame

artemy did not finish med school. classic has him described as a “vagrant scholar” traveling from town to town to learn instead of staying in the capital where he was sent (”always ‘on the go’” indeed). in pathologic 2 he simply states that he doesn’t have a degree and that he sucked at latin.

relationship problems mentioned under “making and keeping friendships”, but it should be noted that you can repair your friendships by completing a sidequest on day 3 to gather everyone together. 

“chronic stress and worry over failure to accomplish goals” is sort of the entirety of pathologic 2. you could say it’s built into the game, but artemy does express a lot of stress over not knowing where to turn for answers, has bizarre prophetic dreams, and is plagued by… well, the plague taunting him for not being to save his bound. both when notkin gets sick on day 4 and when all of the children get sick on day 10, he can express an extreme amount of guilt for not having the ability to cure them.

i mentioned under ptsd that artemy has a tendency to be able to blame himself for his father’s death, and i think that fits under here as well. there’s also this:

I get anxious thinking about my kids… Are they faring all right in the Lair without me?

conclusion

i do not know if i have adhd myself and i am sure there are things i am missing, especially as i have not completed artemy’s route in classic yet or started clara’s. feel free to contribute to this, i would love to see others’ input!

[brittababbles]

Can you write a Jason Todd x POC reader where the reader became Dick's friend and an intern of Bruce's after Jason died. She meets Jason for the first time at one of Bruce's galas and Jason tries to hit on her but she is not having it. But the next time she sees him is when he comes back to the manor to get first aid from Alfred after his patrol but Alfred isnt there so the reader patches him up and they hit it off.

Author’s Note: We should establish ahead oftime that I’m a firmly middle-class white woman, which makes me feel a littleunqualified to write a POC reader fic, but I gave it a try. I altered thedetails of the request just a little bit; I hope that’s okay. Obviously I haveno ownership of any of the DC characters. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCESATTEMPT SHOULDER REDUCTION AT HOME.

 Warnings: amateur surgery? Mention of injury,Jason being a bit pushy in the first part.

 So it’s true whatthey say: the best way to get a job is to know someone on the inside.

 ExecutiveAssistant to Bruce Wayne. You’re pretty sure what sold it was when you wrotedown “Dick Grayson” next to the line on the application asking if you knewanybody currently or previously employed at Wayne Enterprises. You’d known Dicksince Gotham Academy, when he’d befriended the new girl who was there on ascholarship, and you’d wavered in and out of touch with him since graduation.You’d been in an out-of-touch portion of your friendship when you’d submittedthis application, six weeks out of NYU with a business degree and back inGotham, desperate for income. Apparently he had fond memories of you, though,because you’d gotten a call back for an interview less than 24 hours later. Twointerviews and a shadowing later, you’d landed this job.

Let’s be real, youweren’t expecting Bruce Wayne’s assistant to have to assist him outside theoffice. Technically the gala was work-related. Or at least work-adjacent. You were getting paid for it. Mr. Wayne hadnodded in approval at the sight of you out of business wear and dressed up inyour copper ball gown, the braids that had taken hours to create carefullytwisted on the top of your head.

So here you were,holding a beaded clutch in one hand (that secretly contained your phone, asmall notepad, and several pens. You kept reminding yourself that this waswork), and a flute of champagne in the other, trying to decide if it wasreasonable to drink it with your boss watching. You leaned your weight slightlyonto one leg and sighed, staying within earshot of Mr. Wayne without getting underfoot.You took a small sip of the champagne and wrinkled your nose slightly againstthe taste. Expensive, and painfully dry.

“Not a champagne girl, huh?” a voice askedfrom your right.

You turned yourhead and spotted a young man grinning at you. He was vaguely familiar, but youcouldn’t quite place him.

“Jason Todd,” hesaid, extending a hand.

Ah. Dick’s littlebrother. The…dead one? You shifted your glass to your other hand and took hishand. They were strong, and more callused than you’d expected. Not the hands ofa rich kid.

“I’m –“ you began,but he interrupted you.

“I know. Iremember you. Dick’s friend,” he grinned, “You turned out...nice.”

Your eyes narrowedas his swept the length of your body.

“Uh-huh,” youresponded doubtfully.

“Wayne Gala,” heobserved, “they’re tedious. Wanna get out of here?”

“Yeah…I’m on theclock,” you said sharply, “I should probably stay close to Mr. Wayne.”

“Bruce wouldn’tnotice. He might propose business at these things but he won’t do it untilmorning.”

You fixed him withyour firmest glare.

“No,” you saidflatly.

He held up hishands in defeat, seemingly getting the message.

“Okay, okay, Ithought I’d offer,” he said.

Your glarefollowed him as he slipped across the ballroom and out of sight. You frowned atthe spot where he’d disappeared into the crowd for a second before turning yourattention to your boss, who was grasping the hand of a very important-lookingolder man. You took a deep breath, arranged a dazzling smile on your face, andstepped forward, ready for whatever Mr. Wayne needed. That was, after all, whyyou were here.

  You opened thefiling cabinet behind Mr. Wayne’s desk, slipping the manila folder into thedrawer. Time and a half for all hours outside the office made it totally worththe awkwardness of working in your boss’s study. You sank into the chair behindthe desk, reading off the laptop screen in front of you when you heard a loudcrash from the hall, followed by a shout.

“Goddammit…Alfred!Shit…” a voice called.

You poked your headaround the doorframe and spotted a silhouetted figure at the end of the darkhall, leaning slightly to one side. You slipped across the hall and grabbed theunlit candelabra off the side table opposite the door to the study. Creepingdown the hall as quietly as possible, you noticed the shadowy figure pawingrather gracelessly at the grandfather clock against the wall. You approachedsoundlessly, candelabra raised high.

“God…fuckingclock…why can’t he just…umph,” muttered the person.

A pair of headlightsflashed through the window and in the brief light you saw a flash of scarlet.The Red Hood. Your stomach clenched as you came closer; The Red Hood. What hewas doing in Mr. Wayne’s home was not a curiosity that you could even considerat this distance. You sidled up behind him and brought down the candelabrasharply.

In the subsequentscuffle, a lot of shouting echoed around the hall.

“Shit! What the…hey you’re that girl from the… Jesus woman, stop!”

“I. Won’t. Until.You. Tell. Me. Why. You’re. Here!” you yelled, punctuating each word withanother whack from the candelabra.

“Stop! It’s me!It’s me!” he yelled.

Abruptly thelights came on, courtesy of his hand slapping into the switch on the wall. Hepulled his helmet off and you were stunned at who you saw.

“Jason?”

“Yes!” he gasped,“What the hell was that for?!”

“There’s no oneelse here. It was self-defense,” you said, frowning at him.

“You just hit mewith a candlestick!”

“It was handy,”you snapped.

“Yeah, well…ack!”he broke off, clutching at his right shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”you asked, abruptly concerned.

“I think it’sdislocated,” he answered, teeth gritted, “Is Alfred here?”

“No, it’s just me.Mr. Wayne said something about going downstairs and I haven’t seen him since.”

Jason frowned.

“That’s not good,”he muttered.

You sat back onyour heals and looked him over, thinking.

 “Once completed,apply a sling to the injured arm,” the video concluded.

You and Jasonlooked at each other.

“It’s not hard,see?” Jason said calmly.

“You want me toput your shoulder back in socket based on a YouTube video?” you asked incredulously.

“You can’t make itany worse,” he answered.

“I really think Ican,” you said, shaking your head.

But he was alreadyawkwardly pulling his shirt off. Your eyes lingered on the skin beneath justlong enough to feel your cheeks heating up.

“Okay, fine. Itlooks like you need to lay on the floor,” you said, restarting the video.

Perhaps thehardest part was when the video instructed you to be patient. Steady but firmpressure was a much easier concept to describe than to execute. Jason didn’tscream. Instead he bit hard on his bottom lip until it bled.

Finally, after anaudible clunk, you felt somethingchange in the position of his shoulder. The raised portion had disappeared andhe let out a sigh.

“I think you gotit,” he said.

“I certainly hopeso,” said a voice from the door.

You both looked upto see Bruce Wayne and Alfred standing there, watching. Your eyes went wide, immediatelythinking off all the ways you could be fired. Jason, however, grinned.

“Hey, Bruce. She’sdefinitely the best assistant you’ve ever hired.”