#dissection of a brain and a pig

[marsbotz]

sorry ill keep falling for ragebait but this one is so funny. UR DOING BIOLOGY???

[dr-gaytorius]

So like I go to an online program for mortuary sciences (the latter which you've probably all goeened bc I mention it pretty often bc I 💜 love it) bc the town my school is in sucks but it's the only school in my state that offers a MS program. But anyway - last semester I finished the last of my gen ed requirements and Im starting the first of my actual ma classes on the 21st and I'm really excited!

But my point RN is that I got my school books in a couple days ago and just opened the box tonight. There's so many even tho I'm only taking 3 classes (preemptively giving myself some time in hopes of getting this job w/pph) which is exciting, and they're all nicely bound, two are even hardback which I really love.

But one of the resources I had to get for my class was just labeled in the bookstore as a "science kit" lol so I'm sure you can imagine my shock when I opened a box and found 5 vacuum packed wet specimens in there lmfao oh my God. I was so worried bc the box had been sitting unopened for two days and I was like ??? OH Oh my God¿ hellow ????? What do I even do with these... Like... How do I store them lmfao?? But apparently vacuum sealed specimens have a shelf life of about a year so I can just keep them in a cool dry dark place until I need to break them out. But God. The panic.........,..................

[watercolorfreckles]

The Max - Part 2

Part 1

When Eloise closed the book and set it aside, her heart jumped to find Artisan staring.

She watched the super’s mind tick, his attention picking her apart to expose the soft and squishy pieces of her. High school lab pig dissection came to mind: pliable flesh carved open to be poked at and scrutinized against a cold table.

She’d cried in that class. It had felt cruel to play at scavenger, pecking and probing for a once-living thing's deep and hidden parts as if she were entitled to its most vulnerable insides.

Though she felt more like the pig at that moment, it felt invasive, too, to track the inner workings of Artisan’s terrifying brain.

Eloise couldn’t seem to look away.

Artisan sat up from his resting position on the bed, grabbing at the inhibitor cuff on her wrist. A startled sound choked in her throat, managing not to jerk back on pure prey instinct. Her arm twitched, cagey, in his hold even as the rest of her froze. 

Her bones ached as if aware of how fragile they were.

Then her arm went numb altogether, turning jellied and moldable. Her palm folded in on itself, pliable bones bending grotesque and wrong and– painless.., as Artisan slid the cool curve of metal over her fingers and tossed it away.

Her bones settled back into their original positions and Eloise snatched her hand away as sensation returned, pins and needles tickling her fingertips.

She stared, horrified.

She stared, impressed.

Artisan smiled and leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. “It’s an interesting story. Though Dracula is a bit simple as an antagonist, don’t you think?”

Eloise blinked. Had the past minute really happened? She glanced at the abandoned cuff on the floor. Her brain floundered to catch up.

“Um. He is singular in his goals and motives,” she managed. “He isn’t portrayed as misunderstood or sympathetic in the original text, just hungry. And spiteful. He wants food, he wants control, and he wants revenge. He is evil, not for solely being different, but for abandoning all human instinct like love and care, even though human emotions–boredom, anger, hunger–are what drive him through the story… He chooses to turn his back on his humanity, to fulfill the role of monster, even though he is capable of more. It would not be evil if he had no soul. His soul humanizes him, but the force of his will strips it away. He is a villain of his own making. I'm not sure that can be simple.”

Artisan hummed. “Do you fancy me that sort of villain?”

Eloise shook her head. Her skin still itched with the phantom touch of his power.

“Dracula wouldn't have helped me.” Her voice sounded very small in her ears. 

“Will you help me with something?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“There are always choices, Eloise. Dracula chose one straight path. I can be more…” He wet his lips. “Flexible. Helps stave off the boredom. I love a good unexpected twist.”

Eloise swallowed. “You think I’m useful. Is that why you’re protecting me? Do you plan to bleed me empty until you're full? Or…to fill me with your own blood until I become what you are? Dracula didn’t turn Mina to keep her safe… He did it to damn her.”

Artisan straightened out his spine to his full seated height. “What would you like me to do with you?”

“It doesn't matter what I want when I can't stop you.”

“I'm asking.”

Eloise tensed as a shout and bang echoed too close for comfort. She snatched a fistful of the supervillain’s sleeve and scrambled instinctively closer. 

When the noise finally subsided, Eloise looked at him. He was watching, letting her cling to him like a frightened puppy. She was practically in his lap.

Eloise let go as if burned. Heat flooded her cheeks. “S-Sorry-”

Artisan was smiling, a sharp curl of lips that sent her stomach swooping. “So which is it? You think me the monster that will bleed you dry or the scary guard dog that will protect you from the rest of them?”

She eyed him, then looked at the floor. “I think you're kinder than you let on.”

Artisan snorted. “I've never been accused of that before.”

“You asked what I want… I want to live. I want out of here, away from the violence and death. I just want to stay safe. I want to take a shower and scrub the blood out of my hair.”

Artisan leaned in. “If you help me escape, I’ll keep you alive.”

Her gaze jumped to him. “Me? How do you think I can help you?”

“Your power,” he replied, the ugly fluorescents catching the blood spots on his collar, “as you so subtly demonstrated, is to blend in. Raise no alarm bells. You can walk right past the firing squad. We can walk right past the firing squad.”

Eloise was already shaking her head. “I told you, it doesn’t always work. I can’t do it reliably on command. Besides–I can’t help a deadly supervillain escape The Max! I’d get thrown straight in here for life! I’m not even a supervillain! I’m barely super!”

Artisan’s eyes glittered, lowering his voice conspiratorily “Hm. You’d rather stay here? Unprotected? Okay. Should I just call the others over, or…?”

He stood from the creaking mattress, taking two steps toward the gaping hole where the door used to be with a teasing eyebrow quirked in her direction.

Eloise leapt to her feet. She skidded on blood-slicked shoes in her panic to grab at Artisan once more. “No-! No. Please.”

Their eyes met. That time, Eloise didn’t let go of the super’s arm.

Which would be worse? Angering Artisan and letting him break her into splintering pieces? Or being thrown to a pack of super-powered wolves? Angry, restless, nothing-to-lose, wolves…

She swallowed. “Please?”

For a moment, the cell fell into a familiar quiet, terse but not particularly uncomfortable.

Artisan turned to face her properly.

“I get you to the exit. You get me past the gunfire. The cameras are down, they’ll have no idea that you helped me. The two of us will slip free with no one the wiser. When they eventually notice us gone, after killing the other idiots who dart out into open fire, they will assume we slipped through the cracks separately. Deal?”

Eloise watched him, nerves buzzing through her body. “I didn’t know you could talk so much,” she said dumbly.

To some, that would be an insult.

Artisan snorted a laugh, clearly caught off guard. “Eloise.”

“What will you do when you’re out?” she asked, more quietly.

If she helped him escape and he went on to keep hurting people, wouldn’t their blood be on her hands?

It wasn’t fair. That would be far too much responsibility to ask of a girl who’d done nothing but do her best to stay on the sidelines, not step on any toes, and serve her time as quickly as possible. She couldn’t truly be expected to sacrifice herself in the name of altruism, could she? She wasn’t a hero. She wanted to go back to being a no-one, someone without the attention of supervillains and regulators of the Powered Peoples Registry.

And yet… she didn’t want people to die because of her choices. She didn’t want any more carnage.

Belatedly, gently, Eloise let go of his arm. Artisan tracked the movement.

“When I’m out..,” he mused, voice returned to the softer, low tone he normally used in the rare moments that he decided to speak, “I will never let them catch me again.”

Eloise’s mouth felt dry. “Business as usual?”

He shrugged. “Until I’ve regrouped. Then, I’ll come back for each and every person who trapped me in this hell hole. Every hero responsible for catching me. Every trigger-happy member of that execution squad outside. And–if any are even left alive–every guard, every staff member here, who ever locked me in this room. Ever kicked my plate of food just out of reach and laughed. Each of them who mocked me and treated me like- like cattle. And every little boot-licking coward here ‘just doing their job’; ‘just here for their paycheck.’ Their excuses for torturing us won’t matter anymore when they’re all broken and bleeding in the same mangled pile, will they?”

Eloise shivered. That sounded like a very, very dire outcome, no matter how much she agreed that the something needed to change.

“And… And me?” Her voice shrank impossibly small and fragile. “I’m staff.”

She imagined herself, a crumple of slimy sinew and shattered bones, piled with the rest of them. 

She picked at the dry skin of her lips–a nervous tic kicked into overdrive–and only stopped when the supervillain pulled her hand away from her mouth where it it began to taste of copper.

Artisan studied her, his expression giving nothing away. The thumb of his free hand smeared the bead of blood away. “No.”

“No?”

“Not you.”

Eloise’s heart squeezed. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want to. And I do whatever I want,” he said simply. “Besides. Who will read to me when you’re gone? My right-hand’s voice doesn’t have quite the same effect. His has much more of a droning quality… If he attempts to replace you, I may need earplugs.”

Eloise’s sore lips twitched into a small smile. “If we help each other get out… What happens then? What if they come after me; after us?”

He grinned and it was a sharp thing of silver cutlery and broken glass; of moonlit, gritty alleyways. “We run.”

As a reminder, this story comes from a prompt that was given both to me and to @the-modern-typewriter! She made her series on it first and it is AMAZING! Go check it out on her patreon, it's The Supermax Prison Blues! I'm not in any way trying to copy her (though naturally, some influences might creep in from obsessing over her work!) or compare our work, as she is an absolutely magical writer, and her series is completely her own!

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[thepenultimateword]

Types of Confessions : Public Confession

CW: Murder

“I love you!”

For a moment, the entire street seemed to go quiet. Cameras whirred from behind blockades. Nervous feet scraped the asphalt as police shifted, attention briefly moving from Supervillain to the battered hero who had just thrust their way into the line of fire.

Supervillain could only stare, the edge of their knife pressed to the Director’s throat. Just a smidge more pressure, and he’d bleed like the pig he was.

But there was Hero, breathing hard, hair sweaty and ragged in their face, costume in tatters. Supervillain had sent several of the syndicate to hold onto them until this business was over, but apparently they didn’t compare to a legal power user when they really wanted something.

“Don’t do it,” Hero said, stumbling forward another step. They were bleeding through one leg of their leggings. “You do it, and every officer here shoots you down. Or they catch you and dissect your brain until they figure out what went wrong. Why you can still hurt people.”

Supervillain raised their brow. “And if I do stop? What? Mr. Director here forgets I ever threatened him?”

Hero took another step. “I made a deal. I-if you stop. We can leave. Together. They won’t stop you. You don’t have to be trapped in this city anymore. You don’t have hide.”

Supervillain could feel the director’s shoulders relax a little. He was confident that Supervillain would take this out. Exchange all his bitterness for a happy ending.

“This is my magnum opus,” Supervillain said. What I’ve built my career on. You want me to give it up?”

“I love you!”

“Why should that matter?”

Hero choked.

The director stiffened.

“This isn’t about me. This is about you. This is about us. And everyone this city exploits. And crushes. And pushes under the rug. This place is supposed to be some sort of powered utopia but it’s a scheme. And I like it better when I’m the one behind the curtain.”

“Please. Please I don’t want to lose you.”

Supervillain’s heart pounded. Hero’s words only now just soaking in. They didn’t make a difference. But they felt warm in their chest. Hopeful. Grateful. Regretful.

They might never get the chance to actually kiss them. To hold them. To go on a date with them. To tell—

They could do that part. They’d intended to never say it, but well…

“I love you too.”

“Supervillain…” Hero sounded pleading. They knew it wasn’t the sort of ‘I love you’ that expected longevity.

“We could always do both.”

“Supervillain, no wait— I don’t even know if I— This isn’t how—”

They gazed directly into Hero’s eyes. “Save me, my hero.”

Then they slit the director’s throat.

[asparkinhereyes]

look, i’m not even a stem major, but there’s just something about bruce wayne that makes me want to dissect his brain and study it like how i had to dissect a pig’s heart in high school biology

[archive-professional-jaywalker]

Vermin

a short essay about being bug hearted, and killing bugs.

I think one of the most cruel thing to love might be invertebrates. Insects. Arachnid. Worms. Pest. With any other animal, it is seen as unreasonable to want to eradicate. Some insects do manage to earn human's favors, bees (but only the useful ones), moths and butterflies (but only the cute ones), and if you're facing a true bug lover, beetles and dragonflies and perhaps even spiders and centipedes and scorpions. But not all, and it's still simply reasonable, to hate even seeing them.

I've loved bugs since I was a kid. I think it felt wrong not to, because people didn't like them, and people didn't like me. I don't think I've ever understood what in how they move felt less alive for people than a puppy. Still now I love bugs. I love mosquitos and I love botflies and I love hornets and tiny annoying ants that crawl through the windows and cockroaches and the wasp that stung me on the thumb when I accidentally grabbed a stick she was resting on when I was 9.

You cannot possibly live a human life without killing countless things. It's impossible. The most vegan, most peaceful human, refusing to walk on grass to not harm the grasshopper that didn't jump fast enough, will not be able to live a life without killing an insect even accidentally. It's something I have thought about a lot overall. I'm not vegan. I've thought about it. It would make sense, I don't see a lot of difference between my own flesh and the flesh I eat. But somehow it feels even more insulting, to be something that kills, and to pretend I don't. I eat insects, too. I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how I feel about it all.

Maybe it makes me an hypocrite, to be so perturbed about the way people treat insects when I still eat meat. But it's, I think, in the end, the fracture between someone seeing a dead cow, and a dead fly. Most people wouldn't have the courage to kill a cow. They would feel guilt. In fact, a lot of people already hide the fact that meat is flesh and is, strictly speaking, part of a cadaver. People who refuse to eat a fish with the head. Pork, not pig. Beef, not cow. I hate that too. But insects ? People kill a fly without even thinking about it. It's annoying, then it's dead. A dead fly doesn't elicit guilt.

People expect me to be the same. Even knowing I love insects, it's seen as amusing that I acknowledge them as more than a mindless automaton, and, if I can, if it costs me nothing, avoid killing them. I have killed countless insects. I've had to, purposefully, many many many times. But it is, in fact, killing. I just want to be allowed to recognize that.

I work in a lab, on ants. We dissected more than a hundred, ovaries, poison gland, brains, understanding how they work, how differentiation happens and how they communicate it. Reconstructing brains to evaluate changes in different structures, measuring how many proto-egg each individual has post-dissection and correlation to dominance, reading articles and articles about theory.

These specific ants like shallow humid grooves for their nest. Today we tested a large foraging arena, brightly lit for the cameras, dry, wide, open, empty. Ants panic after being picked up even with the least harmful tools we have. When in an unfamiliar space, we've had them in the past run until they died of exhaustion, unable to find the entry of the nest to hide. Two of them were placed in the foraging arena to test the cameras, test if we could read the tags they have on their back. Again and again, they like to follow the walls, possibly because it feels less exposed. And again and again, they stop, groom each other, and calm down if they meet, huddled into each other.

I can't claim to know what's going on in ants brain, whether they feel things similarly to us. But it's hard not to project.

Ant tagged 16, and ant tagged 12, close, unmoving.

[moon-buggg]

Not so different after all

I wanted to explore Moon's relationship with mad scientist! Y/n a bit, so I wrote this drabble! It's the first piece of non-academic writing I've shared since middle school, so be kind lol

length- 585 words

warnings- vague descriptions of bodies and dismemberment (yn is taking organs out of a cadaver to preserve them, its not graphic but viewer discretion is advised)

Sun had asked you, once, how you could stomach the dirty work of your experiments. ‘The body is just meat,’ you had responded, elbow deep in a cadaver, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. As if it were perfectly normal for humans to rifle through their own for spare parts. As if you had not been shunned from your peers for this exact transgression. 

Moon wasn’t squeamish. The opening of a body so unlike his own did not unsettle him in the way it unsettled Sun. No, it wasn’t the blood, viscera, or decay that made him feel like this, like everything was wound too tight, grating and wrong.

It was you.

And watching you preserve your latest specimen (another failure, not that you would let that stop you), he could hold his tongue no longer.

“Easy. They’re all hypocrites.” The accusation is harsh and sharp on your tongue. “Did you know they had us dissecting pigs in medical school but not once did we ever oversee a human dissection? Sure the anatomy transfers decently enough, but how were we supposed to treat human patients never learning from humans? What makes our bodies worthy of preserving over pigs? That we figured out pants first?”

“How are you ok with this,” he does not gesture to the human brain currently soaking in formaldehyde, “when everyone tells you it is wrong?”

The disgust in your voice is evident. Moon had always appreciated that about you, your complete inability to mask your emotions- or was it just a lack of interest? It did not help him in deciphering you in this moment. 

You continue on, either unaware of your rambling or used to his lack of response. “I mean really, who do they think they are?-” 

Moon tuned you out. He'd heard this rant plenty of times before. Nothing about your sworn vengeance on and superiority over those who wronged you would help explain why you made him so confused. 

Why your flippant treatment of bodies reminded him of the circus’s repair tent.

You were still talking, never once stopping your task of preparing various organs for preservation. Ever quick and methodical, your hands never stopped moving. “-ean, really, the body is just a machine!” you huff, dropping the heart into a jar like it had offended you.

“...a machine,” he parrots. You remain unaware of how his eyes bore holes into the back of your head.

“Exactly! One that I will take apart and master!” Your easy confidence about such grim matters unsettles many, used to unsettle him. He crosses the laboratory with two long steps and leans over you, observing your work more closely. A body lies cold and empty on the metal gurney, its innards laid out in jars across your desk. You’ve moved on to labeling now, penning down notes in a shorthand he’s yet to decipher. The silence is… comfortable, broken only by your pen scratchings and the quiet ticking of Moon’s internal clockwork. 

You look back at him only once, a questioning but otherwise blank stare, before returning to your work. Not displeased, at least.

He continues watching as you finish labeling and move to writing in that same shorthand in a journal. He doesn’t know if you would explain it to him if he asked, so he doesn’t. He just continues to watch. And as the sun sinks in the sky, he slinks away and activates the electric lights for you before returning to his perch.

[concerningwolves]

my sister's been watching S.W.A.T and this morning I was feeling so mentally fried I watched the first episode myself, because this stuff IS easy to watch. except I should know by now that I can't watch police procedurals because the copaganda starts driving me up the fucking walls. and S.W.A.T is of the particularly insidious type that works so so hard to gloss over the problems inherent in the police force by focusing on how this particular fictional police force is Actually Good (because Diversity).

I keep circling back to this bit of an episode my sister was watching where one of the team members is enthusiastically explaining to a civilian how S.W.A.T can use cameras across the city to find any vehicle's past & current locations within seconds, and it's framed as "isn't this piece of tech SO COOL". which it's not. it's horrifying – especially in the context of a bunch of people who are allowed to go out and commit lethal force against other people, legally, with government/state backing.

And then tonight mum and I were watching Silent Witness, and I was still ruminating over S.W.A.T, so when the armed police went into this suspect's house and started yelling at & manhandling him, even though he wasn't resisting at all, a little part of me just. snapped.

Mum often expresses sadness that I don't usually watch TV in the evenings with her anymore, but this is why. she enjoys police procedurals. i used to but now im sick of them. i'm sick of the constant portrayals of these people who can ruin and end lives as heroes who help put away the Scary Nasty Freaks. i can analyse and dissect them and poke at the nuts and bolts to see precisely how the copaganda functions, but Im. So tired of doing that. because we KNOW that policing as a system is inherently broken.

we're meant to watch a guy be screamed at, forced to turn with his face to the wall, practically be shoved and talked to like he's the scum of the earth – we're meant to watch all that, and still root for the pigs. because why? because this guy is weird? because there's cannibalism fantasies on his internet search history? surely it's obvious to anyone with half a brain what the writers are doing: they're setting up this character – who I am 99% sure is a red herring – to be so unlikeable and weird and wrong, that the audience will go "oh well even though he was innocent of [x] crime, they were right to treat him like that". it plays into this punitive mindset that only serves to justify the existence of the police.

Meanwhile our news is full of stuff about institutional abuse, systemic racism, members of the police who have committed heinous acts and gotten away with it. and like most UK news sources aren't exactly unbiased so if these stories get through, it's gotta be bad. it's gotta be big. and it's not just here, either – all over the world, as we see fascism and far right movements gaining traction, reports keep coming up about police who have done terrible things with their power. I think it's impossible for anyone with an internet connection or access to a TV or radio, or who just generally exists as part of society, to not be aware that this shit is happening. that it's costing people's lives and wrecking communities.

But there are still cop shows that are obsessed with making the police look good.

[mirai1269]

What if the Guinea Pig situation was swapped with Leon and Vincent taking care of Guinea Pig Newt and MC.

Also, they Will defend the Guinea Pigs from being dissected by Reme.

The table turns... but they can't reach it-

One day, [MC] might just consider burning all of Newt's spell books. Actually, he's considering it now. That way, this would not have happened.

Staring down at him from the chair, his brother, the causer of all this chuckles in hopes of relieving the building up tension.

"Oops?" Newt squeeks. The older brother can't tell if he wants to laugh or cry.

"Oops? OOPS?! WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?!!?!?" [MC] screamed, shaking in anger. Newt backed away from his brother's harsh gaze, with little luck.

"You said you felt unsafe with those two. I just wanted to help!" Newt cried out. It didn't move [MC].

"Help?! How is being a GUINEA PIG supposed to help? And why did you turn yourself into one?! Heck, why did you turn ME into one???"

Newt looked away in shame. "I... misread... the spell..."

[MC] could feel a vein popping in his brain.

"It's an older book, the letters were all funky and-"

A sudden knock on their front door interrupted the younger brother.

"Shoot, it must be Leon." [MC] stated, jumping off of the chair. Soon, to the surprise of the brothers, the sound of two voices engaging in a... heated conversation rang through the door.

"Is that... what's Vincent doing here?" Newt asked. Now it was [MC]'s time to be shameful.

"G-good question- eep!"

The knocking was heard again, this time a bit more forceful.

"[MC]!!! COME OUT!!" Leon called, and he was not happy. [MC] could feel his little body freeze in fear.

"Honey? Could you hurry up? We're gonna be late!" Vincent joined in. Newt stared at his brother in confusion. The brunet knew he had to do something, fast.

"We have to change back. Where's that book?" [MC] asked. Newt looked up. Noticing a hanging corner of said book, the two brothers huffed in irritation. Since they were too small to climb up, they figured they could try to knock the book down by shaking the table.

With both Leon's and Vincent's angry then worried yelling seeping through the door, the situation was pretty stressfull for the two.

"It's almost down!" [MC] squeeked. Moments later, as the book began fell, the front door hit the floor with a worrying thud. Leon broke down the door.

"[MC]!!!" He screamed as he ran straight to his best friend's room. Meanwhile, Vincent waltzed in as if he owned the place. Right next to the door was a shelf, on which a few photographs of [MC] and his family (on most it was only him and Newt) were decorating the hallway (and collecting dust). Vincent observed them quietly, even gently caressing the ones [MC] was present in.

Meanwhile, the two brothers tried to search for the spell, which proved to be harder than they thought.

"This book is bigger than me right now! I can't flip these pages!" [MC] cried quietly.

"Just keep flipping!" Newt ordered. The two were so busy with the book, they failed to notice Leon bursting into the kitchen.

"What the..."

His voice, however, did snap the brothers out of their busy work.

"H-hi Leon!" Newt squeeked sheepishly.

"Did you fi- AAHH!" Vincent screamed. Leon gave him an annoyed look before approaching and kneeling down to the guinea pigs.

"Who are you? What did you do to my best friend?!" Leon demanded, as the red in his eyes flashed dangerously. Both brothers started to shake in fear.

"L-Leon it's us. I'm [MC]! Newt turned us into... this. Please help! We can't flip the pages of this darn book with these tiny hands!" [MC] cried. Leon's frown deepened.

"Yeah, nice try. Say something only the real [MC] would know, and I might believe you." Leon ordered.

Oh, [MC] hoped something like this would never come. This is it. He's going to die today. Instant game over. The original game gave so little info about this guy, what is supposed to say? That he knows he's in love with the protagonist?!

"W-well... you..." It's bad, he's stuttering. "You like..." How will Leon kill him? Snap his neck? That would at least be a fast death.

"Leon seriously! It's us! I'm really Newt! You've been in lo- I mean friends with [MC] for at least 8 years!" Newt cut in. Leon looked at him, his face softening.

"True... but anyone would know that if they stalked either me or [MC]. There's something only the real [MC] knows."

[MC] remained quiet.

'Come on, surely there's some kind of secret between these two!' The brunet cried internally. Moments of the game flashed his mind. The bad and good endings, the CG moments, his love advices. 'Wait... his love advices...'

"Uhm...Do you really want me to say that out loud?" [MC] asked. Leon frowned back at him.

"If you don't want to die." Leon bit back. [MC] gulped.

"It's just. You were so adamant on me keeping it a secret-"

"Say. It!"

The black haired guinea pig looked the boy at least a 100 times his size dead in the eyes.

"You cried at the end of '*******'." [MC] said, but the copyright beeped out his words. Leon stared at him wide eyed, his face soon turned red from both embarrassment and shock.

"You cried at that?! It wasn't even that tragic." Vincent huffed.

'Wait... he understood?' The guinea pig wondered.

Leon gently picked up [MC], which scared the crap out of the brunet, then tightly hugged him.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean what I said." He said, tears rolling down his face.

The brother's explained everything, with changing a few parts of the story of course.

"-so now, we need your help! Go to the page of the spell, the breaker spell is on the bottom of the page. Say it out loud, and it'll turn us back!" Newt said, pointing at the book.

Vincent picked it up, read through the description.

"Oh, would you look at that? It says it has a cool down of a week. Unless it's broken by true love's kiss, which breaks it in an instant~!" Vincent chirped. All three of them looked at him in shock. Vincent huff. "Okay, I was joking about the kiss. The cooldown is true though."

Newt groaned.

"Great, at least I won't have to write that math test...again."

"But wait... what should we do then? I can't reach the fridge like this." [MC] weeped. Leon gave him a small smile.

"It's okay. I could take care of you two for the time being. It'll be like having a long sleepover. Remember [MC]? Oh, how I miss those nights..." He offered. [MC] sighed.

"Well, I guess. Not like we have a choice." He answered.

"Hey, how about I help too? Taking care of such little things is hard work, and I already have experience." Vincent chimed in.

"I do too." [MC] mumbled, which earned him a nasty glare from Newt.

"I could care for [MC]." Vincent continued. His offer was quickly declined.

[prophetofthemuse]

Our biology and medical (specifically anatomical) departments have received their dissection specimens for the upcoming classes; sheep’s hearts and brains, and…

…and fetal pigs….

Oh, to Our Muse….

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles 11 big brain moments

Immediately going from Gannon's rant we wake up...SOMEWHERE.

That iconic triforce symbol glows on Shadow Link's hand.

Uh oh.

Ganondorf rants to himself smth he says during the Twilight Princess manga.

Hello Ganondorf! :D

Alright let's dissect the shit Ganondorf says real quick.

Panel 1: He's talking about Link, obviously. Who unlike Ganondorf and Zelda (Sometimes...Twilight Princess Zelda outright calls OOT Zelda herself/her so...) doesn't/never seems to remember their endless reincarnation....Which I have some THOUGHTS ON WHY but we might get to that when it's more relevant. Just keep it in your back pocket that Link never remembers "His" previous adventures.

Ganondorf's the same Ganondorf from OOT in Akira's manga series, we dunno how much FSR Zelda currently knows about her endless reincarnation because she has the soul of Hylia in her,

Panel 2: Shadow Link has never seen Ganondorf in his human form. That's established with his lines of confusion. He clearly RECONIZES him either through his presence or voice though.

Panel 3: Ganondorf ignores Shadow's question to keep rambling.

"I even thought...Two can play the split ourselves in pieces game..."

He's clearly referencing the FIRST time a Link used the four sword, as there's a previous hero of the Four Sword mentioned at the start of the FS Manga. (That's my interpretation since there's two different four swords games, SOME people think he meant the Minish Cap Link but...I disagree strongly with that shit ngl and I think the ONLY reason that idea exists is because we never got a manga for the first Four Swords game but the SEQUEL for whatever reason...? As minish cap Link was a child when he went on his journey and looked NOTHING like the OOT style adult hero we saw in the "Flashback/story" scene in FS. I'm like 99% sure it was referencing the hero from the FIRST Four Swords game because the four swords manga we HAVE is based on Four Swords Adventures from what I can tell?)

Either way, in FSR he's refencing THAT Link as the reason why he...split himself in pieces.

"This game of ours gets boring after awhile...We have to make new rules...invite new players, mix things up..."

So, this is why he used Vaati. Vaati was the "New player"

Technically an old player brought directly into the Triforce gang's bullshit as Vaati used to be a solo villain from what I understand removed from Gannon.

Shadow Link could ALSO be a part of these "New players" he's talking about.

Either way Gannon's view on the endless cycle has seemingly shifted to a "Game". A game he wants to win, obviously.

If you want a reason why he'd try taking this outlook: Dude's coping hard, he keeps losing. Looking at it like a childish game makes him retain SOME sanity he's shed after getting his ass kicked so many times. As he clearly shed a LOT of his humanity to become the pig form in the OG manga without ANY PROMTING Usually that's like, a second phase of the fight Something's different about Ganon in FSA compared to usual.

Panel 4:

Ganon muses he didn't think "A part of him" would play "Their" side.

He's obviously talking about Shadow Link at this point aiding Zelda and Link. But the dread of what Gannon's saying hasn't truly set in yet.

Panel 5:

So in Twilight Princess, Spoilers Gannon just like, straight kills himself when he feels he's losing. Man is a massive piss baby.

He does something similar here. "CAN'T KEEP ME IN A SWORD IF I END MYSELF HAHAHAHA" - Gannon.

But...There's still a part of Gannon around...As he passes the Triforce of power (Something he admits he cannot stand in Twilight Princess, if nothing else BECAUSE it ties him to Zelda and Link who have Wisdom and Courage respectively.)

So while not outright CONFORMING FSR Link and FSR Zelda HAVE the Triforce, it's heavily implied they do. Zelda at least, had it on her hand earlier in the comic. (With an outdated design of her haha but it still counts here. Haven't been any major ret cons as of rn in FSR and I'd mention any if they do come up hah)

Ganon not so subtly references the conversation Vio and Shadow had about the Triforce where Shadow admitted he wanted it to make his wishes come true.

Which just, with current context really puts into perspective that little desire of his.

Also, it's even FUNNIER that he says he wants to touch the Triforce...While being all over Vio. Who has a piece of the Triforce of courage.

Yes that was intentional and yes I was laughing my absolute ass off while drawing/writing those scenes...I was shaking that I couldn't mention that for so long lmfaooooooo.

He's a part of Gannon. Of course he wants the Triforce.

Shadow still looks like he's comprehending shit. I mean this is a LOT to take in. All this time he assumed he was NOTHING but Link's shadow. But NOW we know he's not only Link's Shadow, but a part of Gannon as well.

Ganon congrats our little man.

He gets to wield the title of the Demon King AND the Triforce of power! :D HOW LUCKY...HE GOT TWO THINGS HE WANTED! :D

BEING THE KING AND THE TRIFORCE!!!

Oh...Shadow isn't a fan of that. Especially at Gannon's prospect that he should destroy Link.

Lines that are hilarious with this new context go brr:

Haha- Well he IS A KING-

Vio just look to your left.

"I've done infinitely worse in past lives pal-"

Literally this entire scene has new meaning with how VISERIALLY ANGRY he is at the prospect they just gotta do what they have to because "it's what we're supposed to do".

Shadow Link's behavior in general in current day in FSR is just, makes much more sense with the context he KNOWS he's a part of Gannon.

His desperate urge to be nice, seemingly TOO NICE?

Well, he's trying to reject the idea he has to destroy the heroes and wants to be helpful and good.

Translation: "I don't have to be Gannon if you don't have to be Link"

Also smth you'll notice in the Gannon talks to Shadow pages: Shadow's eyes are red the whole time just like when was talking to Vaati.

Shadow's ending state in FS was a form of torture and you can't convince me otherwise.

He's in misery.

Fucked up thing to note: Shadow link feels he deserves to suffer.

We're not given his full thoughts on WHY but we can either assume because of his actions in the FSA manga OR because he's Gannon.

That's just sad.

Link's catatonic like usual.

Shadow likens Link's state to a corpse that's rotting which is, disturbing.

Unlike Gannon, he isn't getting any pleasure watching the Hero rot away mentally.

Oof. Yeah. What good's the Triforce of power when you can't use it to save someone?

You'll notice Shadow defaults to waving to get people's attention. What else can he do?

Link notices and touches him.

Which again: We know from Shadow's brief breakdown in the temple this isn't something he did a lot.

We can venture to guess from these pages, Link was usually just, not there mentally a lot of the time to notice Shadow Link and he wasn't filling the gaps because Shadow couldn't talk, because Link went mute after awhile.

Either way Shadow cherishes the times where Link acknowledges him.

If you go back and read the pages where Shadow's talking about his time with Link the main thing he talks about is how LONELY he felt.

He doesn't actually talk about Link's behavior in a negative way per say...Mostly that HE was lonely.

Like from the wording he isn't exactly BASHING Link for ignoring him, just expressing how it made him feel in the moment.

And from here we can see Shadow understands just how poorly Link was doing.

He wants to hug him-

Shadow wants to be comforted and to comfort but can't do or get either.

Poor dude is suffering.

Shadow dissects his feelings.

Vio's promise struck a cord with this dude for a lot of reasons, partially because Gannon as we know from Twilight Princess REALLY wanted Zelda to join him/another Triforce user to join him cobbled with Shadow Link himself loneliness and inability to trust his teammates led to Vio's promise of ruling the world basically made him explode with joy lol.

Gannon's literally always playing this "Game" alone. Shadow Link is lonely from his own experiences and from Gannon's. He actually doesn't MIND the idea they're all gonna be spending eternity together forever, he just doesn't wanna be locked in fighting them lmfao.

Art notes: Shadow's eyes look like Gannondorf's eyes in page 207 the "I want to be close to you Link" panel.

Zelda and Vio/Link have had a positive affect on Shadow Link as a person, so instead of 100% hating them like Gannondorf does he has a mixed bag of emotions towards them.

Another art note:

Page 208 Shadow's eyes look like the Malice eyeballs from BOTW/TOTK

Shadow Link interprets his own feelings as him wanting to be close to Zelda and Link/Vio due to his own loneliness. He's the new demon king and he doesn't want to further their fated connection through hatred alone.

Shadow's further thoughts on being Ganon and the affects it has on his behavior going forward are for sure going to be present so if something wasn't brought up here/expanded upon, it probs will later.

Something to note is Shadow's KNOWN he's a from of Gannon for 7 years and HASN'T Told any of the gang yet...Which is interesting.

Not like he could SAY that before and they've still only been separated for a day but still.

More art notes: The way they're structured in 208, is in the shape of the Triforce. Shadow on "Top" representing the Triforce of power, Zelda to the left representing wisdom and Link to the right representing courage.

It is interesting to note how Vio and Link are interchangeable in Shadow's mind at least in this instance...

From his further thoughts in 209 it's implied he's SPECICICALLY talking about Vio, but Link is still pictured...So Hm.

So it bares repeating Vio booked it to Shadow Link the second he saw him because of their unfinished business hah.

Further idea:

Shadow doesn't purely means "Vio's here" as the "dream" he's talking about.

He has a physical body again after 7 years. He's not a prisoner to his own mind anymore and has the ability to affect the world around him.

He was completely stripped of agency and ironically enough "Power" for 7 years.

Like Vio, someone he loves being there is nice too but I don't wanna understate how important Shadow's relationship to Link himself is either.

As in the series so far Shadow's blatantly done the things he stated he wishes he could have done for Link in the pages previous TO Vio because, he has the ability to now.

Basically: We don't need to shoot down Shadow's 7 year long relationship with Link just to bolster Vio and Shadow's.

Stalker lmfao.

So it's interesting to note he CRIED from Shadow's memories.

Weird moment for Dark Link. It's odd he even cried at all. He has an actual personality outside of just batting people's anxieties and fears back at them after all.

He himself seems rather calm but if you notice, his chest eyeball looks deeply emotional over it.

Question to ask: Is he crying from joy or sadness? Or some third thing?

Did he even realize he was crying? He didn't wipe his tears away.

You'll note, instead of just purely calling Shadow "the traitor" as he did earlier, he switches to calling him his title + traitor lmfao. "Treacherous demon king" he changes his language to be more accurate to his new information about Shadow Link.

Another thing: Dark Link isn't INTERACTING with Shadow Link here like he did with Vio. How he approached it was purely as a spectator.

He's not mentally fucking with Shadow here.

Which shows an odd sense of, genuine interest about Shadow's past that didn't exist earlier with Vio when he purely only said things to make Vio break down.

HE was watching those flashbacks with us and soaking in the information. He has a better understanding of Vio AND Shadow because he can see from BOTH their perspectives as you noticed...and Vaati's.

But that cute little fact isn't important rn.

And with all that word vomiting we will pick up again another time.

[dafpork]

literally dissecting my neuroses and divying up which parts can be attributed to the Pig in my brain and which parts can be attributed to the Duck in my brain

[smiggles]

the way you draw gore is so amazing, even if its not something im into in the same way you are, its still very nice to look at and the ways you color the blood and guts is 👌

that said ive been in so many anatomy classes that involved dissection so now whenever i say any gore my brain immediatley goes "oh hey just like that one fetal pig :)"

do with that information what you will

I am mass producing fetal pig content

[here4tripitaka]

To read or not to read?

Alright. Well, here I am again.

I stopped writing at chapter 60 because of the level of misogyny in JTTW. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't expecting a work of literature this old to be a shining example of respect and equality. But the level of misogyny I've seen in the book so far has been well beyond what I expected, and smuttier. Women seem to feature mostly as borderline porno plot points.

I'm still not sure that I want to subject my brain to a weekly drip-feed of this level of sexism. Also, I'm not exposed to many other sources of Chinese culture on a regular basis, and I really don't want something this chauvinistic to be my main impression of Chinese culture week after week.

Nor do I want to lose time being reactive and calling out the chauvinism week after week. Sure, there can be a point to dissecting stuff and calling it out. But I don't want to it to chew up too much of my time or energy. Besides, if all I wanted to do is to spend my life reacting to pigs, I'd hardly need to read JTTW.

So why am I back? Well, the universe seemed to be calling me back to it. And by 'universe', I mean 'social media'. Ie I saw this and this.

In all seriousness, though, I guess JTTW just kept tickling at the back of my mind. My original reasons for wanting to read it still stand. I want to learn more about Chinese culture, and JTTW is so ubiquitous. And, at the risk of stating the obvious, JTTW is awesome. I connect with it in a way that I just haven't with Romance of the Three Kingdoms (I'm not big into battles or politics) or The Water Margin (which I can see myself loving; it's just not JTTW).

I figure I'll take it chapter by chapter and see if I can engage with it without doing collateral damage to my brain. I doubt it, but let's see.

Failing that, I'll sit back and see what John Zhu does with it. I'm hoping he'll provide a bit of a buffer against the more misogynistic aspects of the book while still providing a fairly traditional account of it.

Alright. I'd better get reading and writing.

[circadeacademia]

Prompt: Surgery (Escapril Day 28)

Procedure:

Dissection of a desolate cadaver with special focus on the physiological impact of emotional distress

Introduction:

The said procedure aims to explore the anatomical structures of an agonized cadaver with a focus on understanding the physiological manifestations of a heartbreak.

Equipments:

i. A desolate cadaver: A cadaver with a history of chronic heartbreak and acute agony.

ii. Dissection instruments: scalpel (sharpened by an apathetic tongue), scissors (ready to snap at any instant) , forceps (multi functioning i.e grasping truth from the windpipe, retracting false accusations, manipulating sutures of empty consolation), gauze bandages (to fill the void of heart) and other surgical tools.

iii. Dissection table: A sterile table (any empty casket will do) equipped with enough darkness and suffocation particles.

Method:

i. A midline scalp incision was made by the tongue-sharpened scalpel, extending from the forehead to the occipital region.

ii. A craniotomy was performed with high-speed derogatory remarks to create a bone flap in shape of a crushed soul, over the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes.

iii. The dura mater was then incised with utmost neglect to expose the wilting brain tissue.

iv. The brain was then thoroughly laughed at with special attention to the limping limbic system and paranoid prefrontal cortex. Tissue samples were then collected for histological analysis to assess the impact of emotional distress for future guinea pigs.

v. Next, a midline incision was made through the worn sternum using the same scalpel infused with misery.

vi. The torn pericardium curtain was removed to expose the fractured heart.

vii. The heart was then examined for any intact cardiac chambers or other decently performing arteries. The heart was then shattered by the rhythmical hammering of a regular sized taunt.

viii. The heart was then ruthlessly excised in one piece and the cracks were sutured with delusion to put it up for auction.

ix. The cadaver was then abandoned to breathe and walk.

Reflection:

The findings of the following procedure suggest that — active exposure of victim's brain and heart to continuous emotional distress, allows the offender to shape them into malfunctioning masses.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the following procedure was a success and more such breathing cadavers are currently undergoing the same procedure to ensure the triumph of this groundbreaking surgery.

note: no cadaver was harmed in the following process, all mentioned criteria and procedures are a work of fiction.

— circadeacademia

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on this week's Brilliant Minds

so is every episode just going to start with him VSauce-ing

good to know at least two interns are geeks

did his mom just literally throw the book at him

so we have a last name for another doctor now

I swear this sounds a lot like I know how this would be solved on The X-Files

now wanting some more background info on Dana and cool/revealing to see all their art

basketball/doctor metaphor talk about patient connection

flashback strikes again and so does his hyperempathy (I swear Wolf's autistic not just faceblind)

I swear I thought they were going to play together for half a second

So that's two episodes two issues-with-reality disorders

Just like Bones, using the intern as a guinea pig to make a science point

So the mom's definitely an Enneagram 1 but do we have a name for her

And yet another death thing with his interactions with the other doctor

Really, you're gonna make a kid dissect corpses after you saw how he reacted to frogs (and given what's been set up so far with parallels why do I feel like his flashbacks might turn out to be somewhat diegetic)

solution found but kinda random

So Dana backstory and potential rivalry sitch fandom might turn lesbian (not forcing you guys to)

So there's the dragon

and while the interns play the doctor panics

frat guy needs brain surgery (insert joke here) and I'm thankful no one said "in English please" to how much terminology Nichols was spewing

now Wolf's hyperempathy is making me panic about Jessie (and wonder what the hell's the cause if the smoothies aren't)

I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to make this show sound problematic for making women enforcers of the system (with both Carol and the mom) against a maverick guy

ok so now we've seen his dad and it's a family business apparently and there's his breakthrough (it seems we have a bit of a motif of going outside yourself across the two episodes so far)

and Wolf can give a Winger speech and I feel like he's less House and more House's dramatic foil now

Did we just get as close as one could on a grounded-in-reality show to someone believing themselves better (between that and the dragon hallucination there's a bit of a pattern of supernatural-but-not this episode)

So Dana's not just the anxious one but the chaos gremlin and she feels even more like my spirit animal (apart from the whole beer-college-party-shenanigan thing but that just adds to more of her contradictions)

Houston we have a name for the mom

OK watching the trailer for next week's episode (if that's not the only way to have a neurological issue this weird) how many ways are we going to play the perception-outside-yourself theme