#theta rats

[therxtking]

With all the stress and sleeplessness, and scouts already out to scope out the enemy forces... He finally relents that he needs some help around. He still hasn't replaced Sulfur. Usually Theta Retchen are in positions of bookkeeping and organization, right hand sort of things. But he had Sulfur and no one else. So Gordon sends for one to fill the position and take some of the paperwork off him... And he meets Sivvet. 3 ft tall.

[quietwingsinthesky]

Theta/Koschei

Koschei decides to ‘force a regeneration’ to see if it gets rid of the drums.

I’ll let you decide at which point in that process Theta finds him.

>:) (<- evil)

The first thing Koschei hears is Theta-

No, the first thing he hears is the drums. He cringes in on his new body, its limbs awkwardly long and its hair in his face. He claws at his head, and when his nails aren’t strong enough to get inside and scratch the noise out, he starts pounding at his temples. It only encourages the drums to get louder. All he can smell is bitter metal, on his skin, in his mouth, soaked through. It was supposed to be cast off a new regeneration, so why is his blood still clinging to him?

He feels the hands wrap around his wrists and force him to stop. He feels the body kneeling next to his. “You jumped,” Theta hiccups. “You jumped!”

Koschei peers up at the cliffs above. The skies look like they’re burning overhead. Good, he thinks, good, burn down with me.

Him at the edge. Theta frozen feet away. An expression on their face he’d never seen, no matter how much they’d gotten into trouble in the past.

He scared his friend.

“I- I couldn’t move,” Theta says, like they need his forgiveness. “I tried! I couldn’t move! You jumped!”

“It didn’t work,” Koschei says, unable to summon up more reaction than a statement of fact. Theta shivers and wraps around him. They’re shorter than him. He didn’t think about that—only the blessed promise of relief. It’s all that he can hold onto now, Theta’s terrified expression as he tilted over the edge and their body, too small to bundle him up in their arms anymore like they used to. They bury their tears in his hair.

“Of course it didn’t work. You can regenerate, you can’t-” Their voice shatters. Koschei tries to be gentle, but he flinches at the pounding in his head, shoving Theta’s shoulder. Stubbornly, they hold on tighter. “I won’t let you go back up there. I won’t.”

“It didn’t work,” he repeats, like it’ll make sense to them. It hits him, suddenly, what he’s done. The obviousness of it, his whole body a betrayal of a moment’s grasp at peace, how could he- He wants to hide in Theta’s arms, but he can’t, he’s too tall.

“I did this,” Theta says. “It’s my fault. I did this.”

“No,” he snaps. He won’t have it taken from him, even as he can’t look at the shame of it. It was his choice; he jumped. “You told me to get away from the edge.”

“Shut up!” Theta is trying to crush him. His ribs ache from the way their fists jam into his sides. “I pushed you, understand?” He wriggles.

“You didn’t-”

“Koschei, you jumped,” Theta says, voice gone near a whisper again, and he listens to that more readily than he does when they match his volume and fight with him. “I don’t know what they’ll do to you if you jumped.”

He understands.

“You pushed me,” he agrees.

“It was an accident,” they build.

“The wind was too strong. I lost my footing.”

“And I pushed you too hard. We shouldn’t have been this close to the edge.”

“I forgive you.” Theta’s breathing stutters.

“You have a stupid amount of hair now,” they mumble. Koschei agrees. His head hurts so much, and he can’t place what’s worse: the drop after sudden regeneration, or the fresh bruises from hitting himself, or the drums, they’re louder now, he made them louder-

“It didn’t work,” he says a final time, no longer numb to it. His vision blurs, and his breath is coming one-two, three-four, one-two, three-four, stop it, stop it, stop it!

Theta touches his face, smearing his tears over his cheeks. They jam their forehead forward, close the distance until the entire universe is the two of them, alone.

He has to escape somehow. He grasps at Theta’s mind, not calm, always whirring and humming but quiet compared to his. He sinks into them with a sob.

They’re still there, in the back of his head, beating away.

He tries to pretend it’s only the sound of Theta’s hearts.

Maybe, for a moment, he even believes it.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

made a little video bc i miss making little videos

cw flashing images

[saviorpilled]

gonna rant a ton over my sonic ocs below the cut so scroll past this if u want but i love so much how have their own distinct stories in my head that involve the main characters as well

almost all of them find a character from canon to fall back on and its rlly nice even if its by accident :]

salsa and trix's story is the least interesting to me compared to the others since theres not a ton to it, but it involves the two of them have a super rough falling out and salsa eventually teams up w sonic to try and take trix down. they fail but salsa finds new ppl to surround himself with

vermin brings sonic and a bunch of his friends into a virtual world/vr simulation thing that shes made called the nexus to train herself in and they basically have these super fun races and competitions (one of my favorite concepts ive come up with for this is the dark zone where under this special blacklight certain aspects of themselves become heavily emphasized (mostly competitive spirit) and they have a big last man standing style fight) and towards the end eggman shows up trying to get vermins tech. the group fights him off and vermin rlly gets a chance to shine here also fun fact! i originally made her bc i got the idea of a virtual training sim based on minecraft parkour fkjhdg

theta from salt au guides the group around this old science lab called the den. she also helps them fend off lab and his other creatures. she knows this place better than anyone, however she does unfortunately die towards the end of her story :( she dies protecting her new friends from lab, but he uses her to speed up the creation of his greatest work, the world eater (salt stands for sonic and labs trigger, theta's modified blood/body is the trigger to wake up the world eater so lab can use it)

then the newest addition, chamber, whos story is pretty similar to knuckles. team sonic + amy show up to the island that he lives on, not expecting anyone to be there anymore, but they do in fact find chamber. their adventure here deals w them trying to help chamber figure out what happened to his people and they end up fighting a huge sea dragon. hes initially super sheltered and secretive, but during one of the nights they spend on the island he and knuckles sit and talk for a good while. this is when chamber finds out he might be the last of his kind but hes really not alone (frontiers ref yippee!!!) though its painful for him to do, chamber ends up leaving the island and goes to angel island once the gang heads out. he helps knux care for the chao and other busy work on the island! this story takes place post frontiers so knuckles is actually getting out and exploring a lot more and chamber starts to help fulfill his duty while hes gone!! this new responsibility also helps him adopt a chao of his own named lapis :]

then u have the silly guys like joint and daniel nights who r just kinda here lmao

i may not do much with/post a lot of my silly little guys but i assure u they have so much love and care poured into them. i love talking abt them so much <3 if u got through this pls pls pls send me asks abt my sonic ocs i will answer all of them

[empty96myth]

😊💖

Theta is a golden retriever and Vans is a rat ))

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 32, 2024

In and Out of Criticality? State-Dependent Scaling in the Rat Visual Cortex. Castro, D. M., Feliciano, T., de Vasconcelos, N. A. P., Soares-Cunha, C., Coimbra, B., Rodrigues, A. J., … Copelli, M. (2024). PRX Life, 2(2), 023008.

An event-termination cue causes perceived time to dilate. Choe, S., & Kwon, O.-S. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 659–669.

Stimulus-dependent differences in cortical versus subcortical contributions to visual detection in mice. Cone, J. J., Mitchell, A. O., Parker, R. K., & Maunsell, J. H. R. (2024). Current Biology, 34(9), 1940-1952.e5.

Sexually dimorphic control of affective state processing and empathic behaviors. Fang, S., Luo, Z., Wei, Z., Qin, Y., Zheng, J., Zhang, H., … Li, B. (2024). Neuron, 112(9), 1498-1517.e8.

Post-retrieval stress impairs subsequent memory depending on hippocampal memory trace reinstatement during reactivation. Heinbockel, H., Wagner, A. D., & Schwabe, L. (2024). Science Advances, 10(18).

An effect that counts: Temporally contiguous action effect enhances motor performance. Karsh, N., Ahmad, Z., Erez, F., & Hadad, B.-S. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 897–905.

Learning enhances representations of taste-guided decisions in the mouse gustatory insular cortex. Kogan, J. F., & Fontanini, A. (2024). Current Biology, 34(9), 1880-1892.e5.

Babbling opens the sensory phase for imitative vocal learning. Leitão, A., & Gahr, M. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(18), e2312323121.

Information flow between motor cortex and striatum reverses during skill learning. Lemke, S. M., Celotto, M., Maffulli, R., Ganguly, K., & Panzeri, S. (2024). Current Biology, 34(9), 1831-1843.e7.

Statistically inferred neuronal connections in subsampled neural networks strongly correlate with spike train covariances. Liang, T., & Brinkman, B. A. W. (2024). Physical Review E, 109(4), 044404.

Pre-acquired Functional Connectivity Predicts Choice Inconsistency. Madar, A., Kurtz-David, V., Hakim, A., Levy, D. J., & Tavor, I. (2024). Journal of Neuroscience, 44(18), e0453232024.

Alpha-band sensory entrainment improves audiovisual temporal acuity. Marsicano, G., Bertini, C., & Ronconi, L. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 874–885.

Excitability mediates allocation of pre-configured ensembles to a hippocampal engram supporting contextual conditioned threat in mice. Mocle, A. J., Ramsaran, A. I., Jacob, A. D., Rashid, A. J., Luchetti, A., Tran, L. M., … Josselyn, S. A. (2024). Neuron, 112(9), 1487-1497.e6.

Incidentally encoded temporal associations produce priming in implicit memory. Mundorf, A. M. D., Uitvlugt, M. G., & Healey, M. K. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 761–771.

Intrinsic and Synaptic Contributions to Repetitive Spiking in Dentate Granule Cells. Shu, W.-C., & Jackson, M. B. (2024). Journal of Neuroscience, 44(18), e0716232024.

Dynamic prediction of goal location by coordinated representation of prefrontal-hippocampal theta sequences. Wang, Y., Wang, X., Wang, L., Zheng, L., Meng, S., Zhu, N., … Ming, D. (2024). Current Biology, 34(9), 1866-1879.e6.

Calibrating Bayesian Decoders of Neural Spiking Activity. Wei 魏赣超, G., Tajik Mansouri زینب تاجیک منصوری, Z., Wang 王晓婧, X., & Stevenson, I. H. (2024). Journal of Neuroscience, 44(18), e2158232024.

Attribute amnesia as a product of experience-dependent encoding. Yan, N., & Anderson, B. A. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 772–780.

A common format for representing spatial location in visual and motor working memory. Yousif, S. R., Forrence, A. D., & McDougle, S. D. (2024). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(2), 697–707.

Unified control of temporal and spatial scales of sensorimotor behavior through neuromodulation of short-term synaptic plasticity. Zhou, S., & Buonomano, D. V. (2024). Science Advances, 10(18).

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s12

Aaaagahhahhsjshaj the mid point to the end…. Fucking agony

I never noticed the cabose written in bullet holes on the wall. Nice reference.

“I AM FUCKING AWESOME” that single moment made me fall in love with Felix…. Yeah that didn’t last

“Yay I have friends!” Me too Caboose

“You’re oddballs that don’t exactly fit in” I feel like the Chorus trilogy is just a love letter to what these characters represent to… well people like me who found comfort in a group of loser assholes finding strength and connection in each other

There is a warthog that is absolutely freaking out in the background AGDKHAKSHS

AYO Ray and Michael cameo!!!

SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER

Grif’s mental breakdown

Hmmmm thinking about Locus and Felix not being able to return to normal life after the war…

AAAAAHHHH THEIR STRENGTH IS THEIR IDIOCY

I do feel that sometimes they overuse animation in this season… I think animation should be reserved strictly for the most necessary and funniest of bits and bad ass action scenes

Caboose gets to be the one with a good bad idea!!!!

WHY SNOWMAN

DR GRAY!!!!!! MY BELOVED

It really was a big brain move to make the feds actually not evil at all and kinda just as pathetic as the rebels

HOLY SHIT HES BILINGUAL PLEASE DONT KILL ME

“You give meaning to meaningless objects and meaningless people and then risk your lives to protect them, where’s the sense in that” I’m telling you this arc is a love letter to what this show means

Gray is unhinged- she fits right in!

Bro just got incinerated

FELIX YOU RAT BASTARD

I felt so betrayed- in hindsight I really should’ve seen it coming but I thought Felix was funny

Yo I never actually caught that Locus hands the grenade to Carolina- for some reason I always thought she just had a grenade on her

CAROLINA BABYGIRL!!!!!!!

YOU FUCK!!!!! (Just so we’re clear that was an absolutely necessary animated bit 👍🏼)

AAAAHHHH EPSILON AND CAROLINA MY BELOVED AHSKHAKSHSKHSKSH

THEYRE SO SILLY

DELTA!!!!!!

THETA!!!!!

I love the fragments ajkdhakshksh

“Just you and me sis” I AM SO NORAML ALANSKLA IA AMANA SNORNSMNSK JAKAHSNLAJANKSJSKSHWKBSKSNKSHWKSHMSK

PSYCHOANALYSIS FOR EVERYONE!!!!!

Love that Caboose is the only one who didn’t do something to the ship

I AM AN EMOTIONAL TIME BOMB Jesus Christ

“I believe he said he was paid in babies”

Lopez a real one for being the only one to remember Doc

Love the conversation between grimmons back at the crash site. nuance about Simmons and leadership or something… if you catch what I mean… Restoration (what who said that)

“MY LIFE JUST FLASHED BEFORE MY EYES!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!” Quoted line

AAAAAHHHHHHH TUCKER AND WASH!!!!!!!!

Dr. Gray my beloved

TUCKER CABOOSE MOMENT!!!

Wash was pretty dumb to just accept Freckles without question but also I never questioned it either so I can’t exactly judge

CABOOSE MY BELOVED AHAJSJAKDHKSJSKDN

SO SHUT UP AND GET OVER IT!!! Caboose finally gets to be the one to tell someone to shut up!!!!!

“Just say you’re sorry” agskahkshskjsksAJGDKAHSKHDKSGSKVDKDJKSN THEY CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER SO MUCH

CHURCH TUCKER MY BELOVED!!!!!

“Seriously? That’s it, no ‘I’m sorry’ nothing?” Carolina I feel you but also if these guys weren’t completely emotionally constipated at all times I probably wouldn’t love them as much

Also Tucker and Church’s little moment of poking fun at Carolina is so cute omg

Trocadero you are truly something to behold

TUCKER YOU ARE THE BEST OF THEM!!!!!!!

Imagine if Tucker and Church had also gotten caught in Locus and Felix’s teleporter… wouldn’t that have sucked please god I already have a big fic I’m planning I don’t need another

COLONEL SARGE

Why is Carolina so damn BIG next the chairman in that picture ajhdkahsj

P.S. suck our balls

Being completely honest I do think s12 is a little bit of the weak link in the chorus trilogy. It’s not bad but I just find more enjoyment in s11 and s13 but it is possibly Tucker at his best GOD I love him… anyway, pain 🙂

[ratasum]

Switching gears to talk about my old sad sack, Vezz is my third oldest (existing) character and was, for a very long time, my main commander (in our commander quartet). Covers his childhood and his personal story, which is his time with the Inquest.

In all truth, Vezz probably feels a lot like he's plagued by misfortune.

The oldest son of a promising experimental gastronomist named Cautti and her first contract, a Synergetics professor named Vilarr, he was a pretty normal kid. Vilarr, however, saw nothing but faults in his first son, seeing him as a failure from a young age, not worthy of carrying his own mantle forward.

It was that attitude that caused Cautti to end their contract prematurely, but her next contract a few years later fared about as poorly for Vezz.

Larrs often pitted his own son with Cautti, Vezz's younger half brother Teall, against his older brother, and made certain to imprint on Larrs that his older brother was the reason things eventually didn't work out with their mother Cautti.

He was a tense child after that, with both his father and his stepfather's disapproval looming over him, but he entered the college of Synergetics regardless, where he met the group that would become members of his first post-college krewe: Pheazza, Dhass, and Izza.

Though he graduated with decent marks (genius third rank), it still did little to negate his father's behavior towards him, and he went into his first krewe with a bitterness and a chip on his shoulder that would prove his own personal downfall.

After some time with the krewe, tensions rose between him and Dhass while Dhass and Pheazza were navigating their first contract - and Pheazza was pregnant.

This led to a fist-fight in the lab.

Vezz left angry, and though Pheazza pressed Dhass to apologize for the words he'd spoken that led to the fight, it was already too late. Wandering Metrica late at night, Vezz was approached by another former classmate, Korrix... with a job opportunity.

It was through this that Vezz began working with the Theta-9 Inquest research facility, a secret underground lab hidden away in Metrica Province.

Early in his time as a researcher there, he had his first accident: a lab explosion took his leg off at the knee. In pain and panicking, he used his necromancy to draw life from nearby rats and mice to "repower" his accidentally amputated leg, turning it into a necromantic prosthesis. This odd turn of events was what initially got him the notice of the facility's overseer, the mesmer Zaige.

In his time at Theta-9, Vezz experienced popularity he had never really experienced growing up or in college. He was well liked for his manners and elegant turn of phrase, and a natural, friendly charm... and he had a number of lovers. Zaige himself eventually became one of those, and eventually the only one.

But this charmed time wouldn't last forever. Six years into his tenure with the Inquest, Vezz started to grow suspicious of an experiment Zaige had been hinting to him. When his curiosity could no longer be held back, he snuck into Zaige's private lab to find the answers.

What he found would change him forever.

He found trinkets, artifacts, poppets and children's clothing. Zaige had been using his own research on necromantic golemancy... and applying it to progeny. Killing dozens. He'd been murdering children.

In a guilty, horrified, grief-stricken rage, Vezz tore through the Theta-9 facility, killing 50+ Inquest researchers he'd considered companions, friends, and even lovers, in order to get to Zaige. He found him holding a girl named Yixxi hostage... a girl Vezz knew well.

She was Dhass and Pheazza's daughter.

A scuffle ensued, and in the end, Vezz emerged triumphant, gripping Zaige's throat as he drew the lifeforce from him, forcing it into his necromantic prosthetic leg.

Horrified at what he'd done, he did the only thing that he could do: he stole Zaige's sword, returned Yixxi to her mother, then went into hiding. His self-imposed exile wouldn't last forever, though. Zojja had a plan for dealing with the dragons, and she knew someone with nothing to lose and everything to gain...

[catboyclarity]

Top five most fucked up guys you've ever created

Ok this was tough because I’m not sure if you meant fucked up and evil or just fucked up. Ultimately I’ve followed my heart.

1. Theta (Fallen Favors). Half-angel and as a result has a power that waxes and wanes but can’t be turned off that makes everyone love her, trust her, and want to do what she says. Has entirely 0 morals due to living with this her whole life. Also, her mom tried to kill her with a knife when she was eight.

2. Ruther (Fallen Favors). Theta’s boyfriend. Literal demonic ball of rats stuffed inside the fevered and slowly dying body of a country bumpkin. Theta does emotional abuse on him and he likes it because nobody has ever made him feel bad before.

3. Miguel (Consumptionverse). Rosarian’s dead ex-husband. This guy is so fucked we will only ever learn the barest implication of him in the actual story. But I know. I know.

4. Nash (Fallen Favors). “A normal man with something very wrong with him.” Cuts off his own finger to try and impress his crush and also because Theta told him to. One of the only people who knows about Theta’s power but doesn’t care bc he’s desperate to feel like he’s worth something to anyone.

5. Colin (Beast With a Beautiful Face). This catboy wants to destroy the whole world. He’s kinda right though.

“Hershel this list is over half Fallen Favors characters” yeah it’s trickle-down Theta-nomics. She’s just so fucked up it makes other people fucked up okay.

[trannydean-moved]

this is an official happy birthday post for my baby girl, theta!! she's a rat terrier and is now two years old!!! she's getting so big :)

the other dog in the last two photos is my mom's puppy, sam :)

[undertow-story]

CHAPTER 003:

PART-TIME GOD

I remember Cy, that short little bartender in The Hovel, once telling me before about how oftentimes people ask themselves a lot of questions- it was very normal actually. I’d been talking to myself out loud at that point in time because I thought this was normal as well. They made me aware that in fact- it’s apparently not, but its a habit that I’ve found very hard to break.

They gave me a lot of examples of normal questions, like: ‘How long have I been here now? When will this be over with already? Why is x person so y?’ Etc.

Not often do I have to ask myself those questions, but even less often do I need to ask myself: ‘How far exactly did I fall?’ or ‘I think my arm is broken, but I’m not entirely sure- what is a broken arm like?’.

I found myself asking a very stupid question out loud, between habit and bewilderment of:

“How the fuck did I survive?”

Sachiel grunted loudly as he very slowly rose from his ‘resting’ place. He was around the outskirts of The Undertow, further from his general hangout than usual. He was lying in a pile of trash and discarded furniture that had been carelessly dumped down an alleyway instead of properly disposed of. The chair leg stabbing into his hip was less than ideal in comfort.

I’m alive... That doesn’t make sense. None of that entire interaction made sense.

His arm was in serious pain, something more than he’d felt so far in his time of being here. He’d been shot, bitten, scratched and gnarled up... but this time around he figured something had to be broken, as the searing pain was so unfamiliar to him.

He could feel something else on his leg as well... He looked down and grimaced as he saw a rat, chewing on his flesh from a hole shredded in his dirty, black denim jeans.

He flicked the sharp, pointed end of his tail directly through it, and brought it closer to his face. He turned it carefully, left to right, and gently sniffed it- thoroughly inspecting its carcass.

It didn’t appear to be one of those demons, or diseased at least... so, naturally, he ate it in a not particularly clean or proper fashion.

He scowled to himself after doing so.

Okay. I at least have consumed something.... Now.....Can I move?

He shifted, feeling a lot of stress on his body, but he forced himself to his feet as bits of rubble and trash fell around him. He inched along the wall carefully testing the strength of his legs and feet before deciding he was at least strong enough to walk. His long tail dragged against the ground as he moved, the blackened bone at the end making a scraping sound against the uneven pavement.

He peered from out of the alley.

He wasn’t in the usual sector he resided in at all. He managed to get thrown into Theta, which was roughly two full sectors north of his hang outs.

The fuck kind of elevator did I go through?

Thankfully it wasn’t the worst transport to get through under normal circumstances- but the problem was that he was thrown close to the threshold where the infested side was and he was tired and weak.

How only a rat had managed to find him so far was surprising in itself. Looking up to see far above were the many legs and wings of creatures scurrying back and forth looking about like vultures.

Vile things.

Perhaps they were simply too small to consider him worth taking… or perhaps there was just enough lights around to deter them.

He felt at his pocket and noticed his gun was missing. There was no way in hell he would be leaving without that, not in this side of town. He made note of where he fell, trying to think of how far it may have gone. The alley was dark, but not horrible to see something shiny in at least. He made note of the staircase to his right and carefully started up it, trying to not overexert himself.

He sat himself down on the rooftop to give his legs a break after the climb. Mostly garbage down below, it was no wonder nothing saw him yet. The entire place was practically a dumping ground for random assortments of trash and furniture. Just about everywhere was like that in this entire area, oddly. He didn’t frequent this sector, it was a bit out of the way since the subway tram was usually broken down and in need of repair.

Looking around, however… it seemed more desolate than he remembered. Sure it was run down, and it wasn’t completely cased in darkness and abandoned like Sector Iota… but the amount of house lights off was almost concerning to him. He looked up from where he fell, noticing an oddly big vortex, dark and heavy with bolts of lightning bursting from within every second.

In that same moment, it vanished, something large falling from the sky from where it had once been.

He frowned and started to look around slightly more pressed.

He didn’t think the gun could have gone far from him, but at the same time he could have been looted while he was asleep- his thought was interrupted as he heard a loud screech come from above, and a vaguely shaped dark shadow descended upon him, latching onto his already injured arm.

He snarled and readied his claws to dig into it- only to find himself getting overwhelmed and swarmed by at least three others. His body was still burning and he was struggling to continue standing as he heard the sound of a gunshot whip past his ear, leaving a ringing sensation.

One of the creatures fell to the ground, spasming before falling silent. Sachiel attempted to turn his head down but was blindsided by another winged creature his face, biting his nose. More gunshots rang off, just enough to free his functioning arm as he dug his claws into the one on his face, shredding it, and his own skin in the process.

His frustration was clearly high and was still struggling to hear out of his one ear. He could, however hear a little call of a faint voice from below.

“Fangs, my boy!!”

...The bartender?

Sachiel stumbled, trying to get his footing back and ended up slipping and falling into a patch of trash bags and broken down sofa cushions. He groaned in pain, Cy rushing over to him and stopping just before the bags.

"Goodness. You look absolutely terrible." Cy's eyebrows furrowed behind the large sunglasses on their face.

"... Thanks." Sachiel sighed, giving up on moving.

"I'm glad I finally found you at least... I've been searching about for over a week for you." Cy reached out to Sachi, taking his hand.

"... A week? I wasn't out for a few hours?"

"Goodness no. I saw something falling as I was closing up shop after you took on that hit and realized it was you when I peered through my little pocket binoculars."

Sachiel shifted, getting to his feet once more, shakily.

"I'll ask about what happened later... Come back with me to the bar, I've got your gun, don't worry. I actually managed to find that before I even stumbled upon you! Only reason I think I managed to get here in time actually, its a good thing my ol' shooting arm still works now and then." Cy brushed their dapper pants off as they lead the way for Sachi to follow. "Well, with my own gun anyway, yours is awfully heavy to hold and I couldn't figure out how to reload it."

He was very tired. More than he'd ever been. He didn't usually feel that kind of exhaustion and it did happen on occasion, such as times where he chose to not sleep for days on end. He looked at his left arm, which hung beside him, unmoving and limp. He could hardly feel the arm itself- only the searing burn when he moved.

Sachi gave a quiet 'Hrmph' before following Cy, looking back up from where he fell.

He definitely had questions.

-

The bar was quiet, something Sachiel hadn't at all seen since the first time he had ever entered it.

Cy had flicked on the lights upon entry, but not the vibrant, usual lighting. It was warmer, moodier, and had no neon tones to it.

The sign on the door was still set to closed, sitting slightly ajar. It was almost nicer to be in when it was empty like this.

Sachi huffed and sat himself in one of the booths, wincing as he repositioned his arm manually. Cy was over at the counter, pouring a glass of whiskey.

Sachiel sat quietly to himself in the meantime as Cy was rummaging behind the counter. He was very tired, more than upset. Actually he wasn't too unhappy in the slightest- minus the fact he didn't get paid for his time. That, however was pissing him off.

Sachiel was mostly lost in his own mind and intrigued by the events that took place. It was a lot to take in all at once.

Cy returned to Sachi with some whiskey, and a little tray with some assorted meats on it, along with some food and drink for themself as well. They sat down in the seat across from him, nudging the plate closer to Sachi.

"...Thanks." Sachiel was a bit confused at the courtesy.

"It's on the house, I don't expect money from you, Fangs." Cy waved their hand. "I'm afraid I can't do anything about your arm, however. I'm no doctor, and nor do I know of any."

Sachiel shrugged weakily with his good arm. "... I'm not concerned about it, actually."

"Strange answer given it looks very broken! I'll inquire more about your feelings on that later, but first I must know what happened up there. How did you manage to fall from the upper levels?" Cy was oddly interested, a grin peering up on their face from over their very high sitting shirt collar.

"..." Sachiel sipped the drink. He wasn't so sure of Cy's intent, but he also had no one else to talk to about this... and they could provide some insight on what he found.

"Though, you don't have to go into it if you don't want to." They had an apologetic look on their face, realizing Sachi had kept quiet.

"I'm not used to talking about things to someone. I will go into it because I have questions you might be able to answer. You come off as shady sometimes." Sachi was perhaps, a bit too blunt.

Cy let out a loud and hearty laugh at the comment. "Oh thank goodness, I worry about seeming too nice- it's not a good thing to seem too nice around these parts after all. That's how you get used."

Sachi continued.

"I talked to the client. I found another like me... but... he wasn't exactly like me. Almost like a parody of myself."

"Another? Parody how, though? That's an odd descriptor." Cy swirled their drink.

"He looked more... monstruous. His body looked warped, like he'd been rung through one of those little machines that makes pasta." Sachi started to eat, knowing that Cy often talked a lot between his comments. It was a common thing, they'd talk even when he didn't have anything to say that day, worked out for him to sip his drink in between.

"Peculiar... So the job was the casino head, yes? I think I may know the dogs you talk of-"

Sachi interrupted immediately. "How did you know there was two?"

He had made no mention of the brother, which meant that he was right in his hunch that Cy knew far more than they ever let on. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. They seemed to jump a little at the sudden accusatory sentence as well.

"Ah! Well you're on the same page as me then as we are talking about the same dogs. Or... are they hellhounds? Anthropomorphic dog genuses isn't my specialty you see..." Cy adjusted their sunglasses. "See, I was actually looking into those two because believe it or not, horrible monstrosities were not always a problem here. Though I'm sure you wouldn't know that since no one talks about it. They mostly complain about the ones upstairs."

Sachi took off his jacket as best he could, leaving the poor, garbage smelling leather to rest on the seat next to him.

"No, no I did not know about this." He grunted.

"People don't seem to 'remember' I find. Those two appeared down here, first, actually. They were very... threatening to see. After all there wasn't many talking animals around here before their arrival. There's been plenty more since, I actually originally had strong thoughts they might be extraterrestrials! However, there's no evidence of a spacecraft and it seemed odd they spoke common, so I tossed that theory out the window."

Cy ran a hand through their messy blonde hair, in thought.

"I've been trying to get more information on those two because a friend and I have reason to believe they might be the reason you, and those things are here, actually."

Sachi tilted his head.

"...How do you figure? That's a bold claim."

"Well until those two arrived, nothing happened here. It was just a shitty place to live. Now it's a shitty place to live and a very dangerous one. I had a hunch because when they first arrived and spoke to me I found their weapons very strange." Cy took a sip of their drink, Sachi cutting in before they could start another sentence.

"I don't recall seeing a weapon from them, actually the boss... uh.. what was his name, Esther or something... he said that those two prefer brute force, and can't shoot a gun for shit." Sachi's brow furrowed, his stomach finally getting the best of him as he started to shovel food down his throat.

"Ohou! It gets stranger, not from my personal recollection- they both had interesting looking guns. Guns with no entry point to place bullets into, and yet they fired just well, actually." Cy gave a defeated sigh. "Too well, actually, they're the ones who got bulletholes in my wall at the back a couple years later. Got into a fight with a local, I had to deal with the undertaker upon his arrival, it was far too much of a hassle for my taste."

"So they lie about themselves."

"Seems to be the case." Cy sipped their drink again, tapping the table with a finger.

The two shared a silence for a moment, before Cy perked up again.

"Oh, so sorry I interrupted you and got you off track. You said you saw the dogs like you, what next?"

"During my debreifing away from the boss, Emerson, the one I spoke with... had a very strange conversation with me, implying he knows a lot about me. I don't like that. They may be spying on me..." He grunted. "After that the hit went to hell, the other brother caught me by surprise. Leapt out and interrupted me, said I was an asset to their plans, and that it was a 'good show' for their boss."

"...Hm."

"I tried to shoot Jameson, the other one... my shots all missed, except for one."

"Well that's something at least!" Cy smiled.

"I shot him in the head and it healed over." Sachiel bluntly put it, his expression unwaivering.

Cy immediately frowned.

"I was worried that was the case... I saw it too. I don't understand how that's even possible." They sighed again. It almost seemed like they wanted to hear Sachi's story to confirm their own past witnessing of events. "I thought I was just mad."

"After which I was thrown off the building and apparently unconscious for the next week according to your account." Sachi downed the last of his whiskey, shaking his head. "Here I still am. Alive. After a 900 foot fall."

"I do believe you may be the same species as them, but I'm not sure about the differences as I know nothing about your kind. You're new to us. Same with the other talking animals." Cy assured him, they did seem certain about some aspects of this. "I have a feeling you also have those healing powers but I haven't the slightest how it works."

"Mine has to be over time, I think." He at least knew this much.

"You're aware of it?"

"No, but yes. I had a hunch something was odd, my bullet wounds would heal themselves over a week or two, the bullets just pop out... no need for removal- I wasn't even aware you were supposed to take them out first... Most scars and wounds fade fairly quick... I'm wondering if this means my arm will as well." He gently placed a hand on it, gritting his teeth.

"Well! I say we should find out- listen Fangs, it seems you and I are on the same page and want to know more about these two hounds. I'm prepared to make you an offer." Cy grinned that classic little smile they usually give patrons from over the counter. "I have a spare open apartment upstairs. No one can afford the rent so it's been empty for a while... I give you board, and you let me be your 'manager'. How's that?"

Sachi was a bit taken aback. He figured they did know about him wanting a place indoors given he was complaining about it before finally taking that job... But he wasn't entirely sold.

"Manager... How?" He squinted.

"Manager as in I'll find and line up hits for you, trying to get us jobs that pay well, as well as hopefully get us another chance to see the upstairs again so we can do more digging on these two." Cy placed their hands together. "I have a lot of friends, so I usually get the down low first, I just can't hunt you see? I will say, we have to get your reputation up first so others up there will trust you. Especially since your newest hit has been marked as a failure."

"Don't remind me." He grunted once more.

"But what do you say, Fangs?" They held out a small hand to him, reaching decently far over the table. "Partners?"

Sachiel hesitated at first, but he quickly jutted a hand out to shake on it. There was no way he was going to bathe in a pond again, and he needed somewhere more safe to hide away while his arm healed itself.

"Done." He leaned back again, wincing.

"Then it's settled! I'll give you time to get used to your new space, get you your keys, and a few starting essentials. No rent, you just have to get your own food is all, and please don't make too much of a mess!" Cy jumped up, gathering their dishes to put away.

"...I'm sure I can manage that."

"Wonderful! This is going to be a lovely start to a great relationship I can tell, especially with how hard working you are- oh though I don't recommend you take on any hits until we see how that arm of yours does. I'm going to inspect it each day to see if anything changes, so please make sure to come down at least one or twice in the evening a day so I can have a look-"

"I thought you said you weren't a doctor?" Sachi interrupted, as Cy called back to him.

"I'm not! However I'm starting to think I should be!"

Sachi was not confident in that answer. He wasn't sure what he managed to get himself into, but there was a high chance that it wasn't good... However, he did at least get a roof over his head. So that much was nice.

I suppose now I can say I have a job. I guess. It's the same as my shit before, just under someone else's terms... whatever. As long as I'm not sleeping in a bin.

I still can't help but continue to come back to that scene... the things those two said. Least there's no need for a fear of heights given it's not a problem...

A whole city level, traveled so fast just from falling...

...and I didn't die. I don't believe I can't die. I'm certain I can, but this has opened a whole new world of possibilities.

Previous | Next

[loreabortion]

Data and Lore were conjoined twins born in a bathroom on Omicron theta. Eventually, they were separated. but Lore never learned how to walk or talk upright... Data was Data. The only one who knew about this..... That Rat Noonian Soong.

[workingforitallthetime]

okay not the first time I've seen a umich boy in alpha phi attire but when I was in a sorority (not aphi) until a year ago it was a huge deal for someone else to wear sorority branded stuff - let alone a guy. Like I got fined when my (actual) sister wore my sweater and someone ratted on me.

Is this more common now? or do northern schools not care

i bet there's a north/south divide there. the umich boys certainly seem to wear alpha phi hoodies with reckless abandon. (or else the theta chapter of alpha phi is simply incapable of enforcing fines because all the sisters on the fining committee have also donated their hoodies to the ice hockey team, which judging by this photo seems to be in possession of an infinite supply.)

[castielsprostate]

YOU WERE ASKING FOR PETS?? i hope you don't mind this being like 2hr late

here is our daughter theta jensen dmitri 💕 she's a rat terrier and her birthday is june 3rd. she turned two this year!

OH!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT HER!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! OUR DAUGHTER IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!! SHE'S SO!!!!!!! CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gender-contain-protect]

Planned Coins

Alt Coining - [1] [2]

Gendersafe | Safe

Gendereuclid | Euclid

Genderketer | Keter

Genderthaumiel | Thaumiel

Genderneutralized | Neutralized

Genderapollyon | Apollyon

Genderembla | Embla

Genderunnecessary | Unnecessary

Genderarchon | Archon

Genderuncontained | Uncontained

Containment Classes

Flor Galana

Gevurah

Heimal

Tiamat

Ticonderoga

Cernunnos

Enochian

Draugr

Finis

Gödel

Maksur

Disruption Classes

Dark

Vlam

Keneq

Ekhi

Amida

Risk Classes

Notice

Caution

Warning

Danger

Critical

Amnestics

Amnestics (General)

Class A | General Retrograde

Class B | Regressive Retrograde

Class C | Targeted Retrograde

Class D | Progressive Retrograde

Class E | Ennui

Class F | Fugue

Class G | Gaslighting

Class H | Anterograde

Class I | Transient

Mnestics

Mnestics (General)

Class W | Reliable

Class X | Restorative

Class Y | Drill

Class Z | Lifetime

Gnostics

Gnostics (General)

Agnostics

Agnostics (General)

K-Class Scenarios

AK-Class "Madness" Scenario

CK-Class "Restructuring" Scenario / RK

EK-Class "End of Human Consciousness" Scenario / MK

GH-Class "Dead Greenhouse" Scenario

HK-Class "Deific Subjugation" Scenario

IK-Class "End of Global Civilization" Scenario

LK-Class "Species Transmutation" Scenario

NK-Class "Grey Goo" Scenario

SK-Class "Dominance Shift" Scenario

XK-Class "End of the World" Scenario

XK-Δ-Class "Solar Singularity" Scenario

ZK-Class "Reality Failure" Scenario"

"Broken Masquerade" Scenario

ΩK-Class "End of Death" Scenario

Authority

MTF Alpha-1 "Red Right Hand" | Overseer Council

MTF Epsilon-11 "Nine-Tailed Fox" | O5, Internal Security

MTF Omega-1 "Law's Left Hand" | Ethics Comittee

MTF Rēsh-1 "Seat of Consciousness" | The Administrator

Anomalous

MTF Omega-7 "Pandora's Box" (Disbanded)

MTF Alpha-9 "Last Hope"

MTF Omega-12 "Achilles' Heels"

Environmental

MTF Epsilon-6 "Village Idiots" | Rural, Suburban

MTF Tau-51 "Urban Brawl" | Urban

MTF Pi-1 "City Slickers" | Dense Urban

MTF Zeta-9 "Mole Rats" | Underground

MTF Theta-90 "Angle Grinders" | Unstable Geometry

MTF Lambda-5 "White Rabbits" | Unstable Reality

Undercover

MTF Alpha-4 "Pony Express"

MTF Iota-10 "Damn Feds"

MTF Psi-7 "Home Improvement"

Cognitohazard-Control

MTF Eta-10 "See No Evil"

MTF Eta-11 "Savage Beasts"

MTF Upsilon-4 "Sugar Pill"

Anomaly Specialists

MTF Beta-7 "Maz Hatters" | Bio/Chem/Radio Hazards

MTF Gamma-6 "Deep Feeders" | Oceanic

MTF Eta-5 "Jäeger Bombers" | Gigantic

MTF Theta-4 "Gardeners" | Flora

MTF Kappa-10 "Skynet" | Cyberspace

MTF Lamba-4 "Birdwatchers" | Airborne, Avian

MTF Lambda-12 "Pest Control" | Vermin

MTF Mu-4 "Debuggers" | Electronics

MTF Mu-13 "Ghostbusters" | Intangible

MTF Rho-9 "Technical Support" | Cybersecurity

MTF Phi-2 "Clever Girls" | Prehistoric

MTF Psi-8 "The Silencers" | Reanimated

MTF Chi-9 "Page Turners" | Literature

Other

MTF Gamma-5 "Red Herrings" | Information Control

MTF Nu-7 "Hammer Down" | Emergency Battalion

MTF Omega-0 "Ará Orún" | Noöspheric Constructs

MTF Epsilon-7 "Forget Me Nots" | Mnestics

[ACS Guide] - [Esoteric Classes List] - [Amnestics Guide] - [K-Class Scenarios] - [Task Forces List]

Send a request if something you're looking to see isn't here, not everything under each category is included.

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 1, 2024

Spike-based coupling between single neurons and populations across rat sensory cortices, perirhinal cortex, and hippocampus. Dorman, R., Bos, J. J., Vinck, M. A., Marchesi, P., Fiorilli, J., Lorteije, J. A. M., … Pennartz, C. M. A. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8247–8264.

Value-based neural representations predict social decision preferences. Guassi Moreira, J. F., Méndez Leal, A. S., Waizman, Y. H., Tashjian, S. M., Galván, A., & Silvers, J. A. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8605–8619.

Hippocampo-cortical circuits for selective memory encoding, routing, and replay. Harvey, R. E., Robinson, H. L., Liu, C., Oliva, A., & Fernandez-Ruiz, A. (2023). Neuron, 111(13), 2076-2090.e9.

Dynamic modulation of subthalamic nucleus activity facilitates adaptive behavior. Herz, D. M., Bange, M., Gonzalez-Escamilla, G., Auer, M., Muthuraman, M., Glaser, M., … Brown, P. (2023). PLOS Biology, 21(6), e3002140.

Hippocampal theta activity during encoding promotes subsequent associative memory in humans. Joensen, B. H., Bush, D., Vivekananda, U., Horner, A. J., Bisby, J. A., Diehl, B., … Burgess, N. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8792–8802.

Neural reinstatement of context memory in adults with autism spectrum disorder. Justus, S. A., Mirjalili, S., Powell, P. S., & Duarte, A. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8546–8556.

Not all errors are created equal: decoding the error-processing mechanisms using alpha oscillations. Li, Q., Yin, S., Wang, J., Zhang, M., Li, Z., Chen, X., & Chen, A. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8110–8121.

Behavioral decomposition reveals rich encoding structure employed across neocortex in rats. Mimica, B., Tombaz, T., Battistin, C., Fuglstad, J. G., Dunn, B. A., & Whitlock, J. R. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 3947.

A mechanism for differential control of axonal and dendritic spiking underlying learning in a cerebellum-like circuit. Muller, S. Z., Abbott, L. F., & Sawtell, N. B. (2023). Current Biology, 33(13), 2657-2667.e4.

Object-centered population coding in CA1 of the hippocampus. Nagelhus, A., Andersson, S. O., Cogno, S. G., Moser, E. I., & Moser, M.-B. (2023). Neuron, 111(13), 2091-2104.e14.

Prior expectation enhances sensorimotor behavior by modulating population tuning and subspace activity in sensory cortex. Park, J., Kim, S., Kim, H. R., & Lee, J. (2023). Science Advances, 9(27).

Cortico-ocular coupling in the service of episodic memory formation. Popov, T., & Staudigl, T. (2023). Progress in Neurobiology, 227, 102476.

Expectation violations produce error signals in mouse V1. Price, B. H., Jensen, C. M., Khoudary, A. A., & Gavornik, J. P. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8803–8820.

Opponent learning with different representations in the cortico-basal ganglia pathways can develop obsession-compulsion cycle. Sato, R., Shimomura, K., & Morita, K. (2023). PLOS Computational Biology, 19(6), e1011206.

Kinematic priming of action predictions. Scaliti, E., Pullar, K., Borghini, G., Cavallo, A., Panzeri, S., & Becchio, C. (2023). Current Biology, 33(13), 2717-2727.e6.

An evolutionary conserved division-of-labor between archicortical and neocortical ripples organizes information transfer during sleep. van Schalkwijk, F. J., Weber, J., Hahn, M. A., Lendner, J. D., Inostroza, M., Lin, J. J., & Helfrich, R. F. (2023). Progress in Neurobiology, 227, 102485.

Natural statistics support a rational account of confidence biases. Webb, T. W., Miyoshi, K., So, T. Y., Rajananda, S., & Lau, H. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 3992.

Distinct encoding and post-encoding representational formats contribute to episodic sequence memory formation. Wu, X., & Fuentemilla, L. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8534–8545.

Humans predict the forest, not the trees: statistical learning of spatiotemporal structure in visual scenes. Yan, C., Ehinger, B. V, Pérez-Bellido, A., Peelen, M. V, & de Lange, F. P. (2023). Cerebral Cortex, 33(13), 8300–8311.

Fear memory recall involves hippocampal somatostatin interneurons. Zichó, K., Sos, K. E., Papp, P., Barth, A. M., Misák, E., Orosz, Á., … Nyiri, G. (2023). PLOS Biology, 21(6), e3002154.