#rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

⚠️ for them ALLLLL!

- @zeebreezin

Warning:

Ockham: Holds long grudges.

Roberts: Has shrimp neuroses.

Nite: Will sell you to January for one corn chip.

Tamara: Will agree to what you say with no intention of doing it to avoid hurting your feelings.

Jones: Utterly useless in a high-stress situation.

Rubbery Barber Surgeon: For the love of fuck do not try to pay in amber.

Graham: Girl, run.

[viric-dreams]

Oh, this is such a fun one.

Best way I could describe Ockham would be multigender, with at least some degree of fluidity between said genders. Ockham also exists somewhere on the non-monosexual spectrum, not in a purely bi/pansexual way, but also encompassing gay and lesbian identities. If you asked Ockham the answer simply would be a confused "yes". It's not something that Ockham spends much time thinking about.

Roberts/Nite is pretty unambiguously a cis gay man. Roberts strongly resists any kind of a label, and would strongly dislike the switch to a sexuality as identity model, rather than a description of behaviour. Under the right circumstance it may be possible to pull out of him that he's physically attracted to men, but even internally he's in denial that there could be a romantic component attached to this. It's become such an untouchable subject in his mind. Nite is a bit more open to himself and selected others about all elements of that attraction, but still seems to internally resist the idea of self-labels for reasons he can't consciously discern.

A pre-incarceration Jones would've likely embraced the term bisexual, had it carried today's definition. He probably would've also liked the term queer for its political implications. In the Neath, however, he's lost his feelings on identity terms (the previous appeal of identifying himself in contrast to the norms of conservative society completely gone). But he would openly admit that gender is not a factor in his attractions.

Tamara has not had much experience dating or with attraction up until this point. It was something that was more of a lighthearted thing to do and not a serious prospect. She'd always assumed that some years down the road her parents would start making introductions to future potential spouses and she'd be able to choose from there. Who can say what the road ahead brings, but she may eventually conclude that relationships don't actually interest her at all (and land on the modern day aro or aroace spectrum).

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon has a rubbery gender that defies human conceptual binaries. He doesn't even bother to explain. Other rubberies get it. But the closest human analogy in modern terms would be to identify as butch.

Graham's gender and sexuality are subject to whatever is funniest. Any information about his partner, including the very nature of their relationship, will remain shrouded in mystery for as long as cities will keep Falling.

happy pride month!

question: how would you (their writer) describe your character's gender + sexual + romantic identity, and how would the character themselves describe it? fallen london is pretty welcoming of queer people, although their vocabulary for it is naturally very different from modern day

[waterlogged-detective]

Rubbery Romance is real and alive and beautiful (Rubbery Barber Surgeon of course belongs to @viric-dreams )

[viric-dreams]

Want both an increase in Monstrous Anatomy and a fresh shave and a haircut? The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is here for You! Dual-trained in the style of the old practitioners, The Rubbery Barber Surgeon promises customer satisfaction, with an Echos back guarantee*!

*guarantee subject to conditions. The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is not responsible for unexpected missing bones, amber-encrusted mullets, increases in nightmares, wounds, or sudden loss of respect within society. Please ssossoffoorossth responsibly.

[viric-dreams]

Hey @waterlogged-detective, remember when you left this tag lying about?

[viric-dreams]

I'm notoriously bad at both reading and remembering things, so this isn't necessarily canon-accurate, just me spitballing my thoughts from the story:

-Being able to see things from a Rubbery Perspective was a joy and I am furiously recording all of this for The Rubbery Barber Surgeon

-I kind of took this in the Discworld direction, where there is Death, and Death of Rats, and they have different jobs.

-And as for why other creatures of the Neath don't come back... I personally headcanon it as, not human exceptionalism, but more like a contrarian quirk of many of them, this will to want to go back and keep doing things. Whereas if you had the perception of a Rubbery Man you'd know the Flukes' plan and how you fit into it and maybe take the river back up to where the shoal and the Flukes await. It's not perfect, but but that's where my brain took it off the cuff.

I do agree that it left more questions than it solved (but I assumed I probably missed things, because I'm notorious for that). It was interesting, in any case.

thoughts on slobgollion:

there's a lot of good about it! the writing, as ever with chandler groover, is fantastic. the premise is extremely interesting, and the mechanics of conversation with mr mcintosh were pretty enjoyable too.

i also loved the idea of getting to experience the world as a rubbery man does, and i enjoyed a lot of the writing that surrounds that concept.

but i generally feel a bit let down? it promises answers to a lot of really interesting and central questions about death, and then forgoes them for information that just raises more questions.

the ending was very opaque, but the information we do learn (that there are more skeleton-people who live in the same "realm" as the slow boat and are involved in the process of dying) just takes away from the uniqueness of the boatman for me, and a lot of the mystery of that place. and the suggestion that it's "an invisible world on top of the normal one", despite being treated as such a massive deal by the story, seems immaterial at best.

the story doesn't even explain why only humans get to come back from death! it just shunted the question from one about the mechanics of the setting to one about the whims of the skeleton men

in addition, the difficulty settings promised (to me) a more in-depth detective segment, which in reality was just one gimmick to catch on to that doesn't even involve engaging with the text.

i don't know, maybe i missed some content or didn't properly put the pieces together. but as it stands, it was really quite disappointing to me.

(if i did miss stuff, please tell me! i'd love to learn that there was something i missed to explain why it didn't work so well for me.)

[viric-dreams]

🎲 for rubbery romance please!!! 🥰

27. A kiss in greeting

[viric-dreams]

Rubbery Romance in the Neath?

[+12 Outlandish Copy]

It took The Rubbery Barber Surgeon an exceptionally tense evening to convince Darcy that his intentions with the Surgeoness were purely romantic and that he had no plans whatsoever to poach his assistant.

(thanks @waterlogged-detective for letting me run with this and your adorable character)

[viric-dreams]

Going to be so stupidly self-indulgent here. Kickstarted by @esteemed-excellency's "your OC in your clothes" drawing, except I have nowhere near the sheer amount of fashion swag that they do.

+36 Scandal to everyone involved.

The Barber Surgeon is the only one having anything even remotely resembling a good time here, and continues to be the most powerful cephalopod butch in the Neath.

[viric-dreams]

One more before bed: It drives the Rubbery Barber Surgeon up the wall when customers try to hand him amber. His prices are right there on the wall.

[viric-dreams]

Today's silly lore drop:

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is Ockham's barber. Ockham would've gone on cuttinghishertheir own hair but the Rubbery Barber Surgeon insisted heshethey come to him*. He revels in the challenge, and has ordered a pair of peligin goggles specifically to counteract the viric radiation.

*the Rubbery Barber Surgeon does not have a gender understandable to humans, but likes to present butch. And even though none of the rubberies have human hair, for some reason Londoners seem to have a problem with and question the competence of someone they think is a human female-presenting rubbery giving them a haircut. Fforrthsth forbid! Therefore, he/him pronouns.

[viric-dreams]

What's more romantic than a beachside date under the light of the Imposter Moon?

[viric-dreams]

Since I rarely specify character heights anywhere, for posterity:

Jones is 6’

The Barber Surgeon is somewhere between 5’11” and 5’8”, depending on the day.

Roberts is 5’9” (though always leaves the impression of having been taller in your memory)

Ockham is 5’7” (though possibly isn’t using the British imperial measurement system)

Graham is 5’2” (hunched over—he’d be taller if he stood up straight but he can’t)

Tamara is 5’1”

[viric-dreams]

Since the topic's been going around and getting me thinking:

Ockham enjoys the typical shows of romance, particularly those expressed physically. Heshethey does struggle though to be the only person in a relationship and the only means of physical/emotional intimacy or support for someone because of hishertheir transitory nature and personal priorities overriding romance. The Greater London Polycule is a good fit for himherthem. Emotional intimacy might be a bit more difficult because of the current identity crisis happening, but heshethey wouldn't turn down sex or any kind of physical intimacy. That's something that Ockham doesn't really have any hangups about, possibly related to living in close quarters with people most of hishertheir life and seeing it as something mundane and relatively normalised. Especially with hishertheir eclectic set of memories and experiences (many of them serpentine), Ockham finds the sexual mores of Victorian Londoners particularly inane at times. These elements also makes Ockham open to trying pretty much anything a partner may suggest, at least once.

On the other side of the spectrum is Roberts, who's actively irked by any overt signs of romance on Grand Geode, usually because that means said sequencers are distracted or shirking duties. Realistically, the negativity comes from it being something that he feels that he could never have as a consequence of both his sexuality and position (though it's not something he's self-aware enough to know, nor wants to think about). Anyone making romantic overtures at this point would be pushed away out of a mixture of him not believing that he deserves it, that said person is after some sort of advantage because of his position, and that it would be a distraction from The Work, with a healthy bit of fear of the unknown thrown in for good measure. He's built up a ridiculous amount of intricate rituals around physical contact with people that make sense only to him. Having any sort of a sex life is a nightmare when you're almost everyone's superior officer and instantly recognisable, and come with enough emotional baggage to hold every piece of sentient clothing in Polythreme, and thus regulated to quick and faceless encounters, often in foreign ports. Even then, the intricate rules persist: sex is sex, direct and perfunctory. Kissing is off limits, absolutely no lingering touches, nothing that feels too much like intimacy or involves giving up control or trusting someone. Get what you're here for and go.

Nite's lack of memory has made everything a novel option and possibility. This is not necessarily a good thing. His strong streak for showmanship and craving attention lead to some somewhat extreme behaviour. Those grand gestures that only seem to work in romance novels are exactly what appeals to his sensibilities and he's convinced that they would work in real life, and is apt to try. If boomboxes and romcoms existed in this era, he would be that guy. It clearly seems to work in the films, so absolutely worth attempting in real life. Because a lot of what he imagines romantic behaviour is comes from stories and not real life experience, he starts with the idea that this is what romance and seduction should look like. Many of these things are things he doesn't even necessarily enjoy, but he tries anyway because what does he know, maybe that's just how things are done. This does eventually modulate over time, when he gets a better sense for his own preferences, and the flair for the dramatic remains, but tempered. He is also very quick to emotionally open up and try to deepen a relationship (either romantic or otherwise), often faster than the other person is comfortable with. After a handful of negative experiences he's gotten better at this. Unlike Ockham, whose sexual tastes generally tend to be broader and has a fairly solid sense of hishertheir boundaries, Nite has the same "I'll try anything" approach, albeit it closer to an "I have to try everything to know what I like" outlook, and no moderation or sense of pacing. This has led to a handful of upsetting experiences (both for himself and any partner(s) involved) when he inevitably discovers far too late that this was not a good idea. His lack of knowledge of his own boundaries makes him dangerous to both himself and others.

Tamara's been on dates with some of her peers back in Varchas, but it was never something that intensely interested her, nor did she ever have a serious relationship. It was expected that she would eventually settle down, either with someone of her choosing from a similar class background, or through a suitable suitor introduced through her family. She did enjoy the attention that flirtation brought, but would be the first to tell you that she doesn't really know what she wants out of a partner either romantically or sexually, but of course has plenty of time to figure it out. In London, she has far more important priorities at the moment and isn't even entertaining the idea. Her initial suspicion surrounding Ockham's kindness was quickly assuaged upon realising that heshethey doesn't necessarily want anything from her at all and offering her a place to stay was simply an act of one outsider recognising another and offering a helping hand. Of course, there's plenty more regarding Ockham about which to be suspicious, but that's a different topic.

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is in a healthy and loving butch/femme relationship with The Tentaclar Surgeoness. He enjoys filling the traditional masculine role that the Surgeoness, a huge fan of pulpy romance novels, seeks in a partner. Thus far, things have gone well for them, and they seem perfectly compatible. She might just be the one. He may have visited a particular jeweler on Flute Street a couple of times. He's slowly planning a very special date night for them in the near future.

[viric-dreams]

3 for the barber surgeon, 6 for ockham?

3. Ask them to describe their love interest.

She's beautiful like forsrofflo, and brings energy to a room like glowing amber. She's spontaneous, filled with joy, and always up for a new adventure. Sorrothlolo thrimmprop !esthoxol mrrrth.

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Ockham spends a lot of time listening, and from there has a pretty good sense of who is to be trusted (and not) for advice. There are many people with whom heshethey gets on well, but absolutely would not take advice from. On the other hand, if you really got onto hishertheir bad side your chances of convincing Ockham to do anything are nearly nil, if not just to spite you in particular (Ockham may end up doing the thing that makes the most sense to himherthem, but this would be an independent decision and this advice was immediately discarded).

[viric-dreams]

B for the whole gang

B) What inspired you to create them?

Ockham: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up if some random Belgian sailor were to get impressed by the Royal Navy? Oh, they stopped doing that in 1815? There wasn't a Belgium until 1830? It's currently 1899? Yeah, uhh, snake possession."

Roberts/Nite: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up to have a Jekyll and Hyde situation with one guy trying to the sun the sun the sun the sun and the other trying to put out the sun? Let's give this guy Problems."

Tamara: "Varchas has such an interesting relationship with both the sun and Fingerkings. It has a religious element to it, but completely different to the relationship between Sequencers and the Dawn Machine. It would be interesting to take a character who grew up in a society like that and force her into the Other to see how she rebuilds her life, and which elements of similar Neath cultures she either takes on or rejects based on her upbringing and circumstance, especially if the main relationship in her life is with a manwomanperson of the Is Not, something she's been raised to fear and mistrust."

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up if your barber and/or surgeon was a squid?"