#well another detail there is that tarn uses a distinct oil fragrance (he would the fucker)

[lord-squiggletits]

"blind Pharma au" Please tell me more 👀

Oh shit hiiiiii dsklfjsd I'll try to write down some sorta interesting details in bullet points, I don't really have a specific "plot" for it or anything it's literally just, "everything is the same but Pharma was born blind" so here goes. Also, warning for made-up medicine, sketchy biology/scientific knowledge, and lots of headcanons

Pharma was still a forged medic, only when he finished forging everything about him was top notch except his optics. They're still there on his face and look like any seeing mech's eyes, it's just that there's just no connection between his eyes and his brain for whatever reason

This leads to a lot of discussion of what classification he should be put underneath, as Pharma has beautiful medic hands (scientific class) but is also a flight frame (typically consigned to transportation or soldiering) but is blind so how is he supposed to do any of those things (disposable class)? Pharma is sitting there through all this and gets increasingly irate at these mechs calling him useless because he can't see and this is apparently a big deal. From Pharma's perspective, he has all the tools he needs to live a normal life, but apparently because he's not "seeing" there's something wrong with him

Pharma meanwhile was forged with plenty of extra strong senses including keen hearing, echolocation, electromagnetic sensors, sonar, etc even sensitive touch and taste and smell. He can walk around and avoid colliding with other mechs without aid. He can detect objects around him even if they're of very small size.

Somehow or another Pharma ends up successfully becoming a doctor (maybe they just decided they didn't want to waste a forged medic or something) and his medical hands + his increased senses actually allow him to do just fine. Things that other mechs would observe with their eyes, Pharma can sense through his hands but also unorthodox senses like tasting/smelling faint chemical traces in the air and being able to hear small changes in patients' organs and whatnot

Yes, Pharma gets a lot of questions about "but how can you fly if you're blind???" and his answer is always that his alt mode works just fine, he just avoids flying in the city because he doesn't want to get hit by anyone.

Which actually means that Pharma spends a lot of time living among ground-frames (taking public transportation instead of flying, living in an apartment with ground floors instead of high towers flight frames usually favor) and thus he becomes accustomed to near-constant attention and more or less being a spectacle. As a result, Pharma really doesn't like being stared at or having people crowd too close to him (sometimes people on the bus would get...touchy with him, with the wonder of seeing a flight frame on the ground and all).

Pharma could navigate on his own and do his job without disability aids, but he does buy a cane at some point just because it makes things a little easier (and also he can stab/whack people with it "by accident" if they get in his personal space)

Eventually, Pharma saves enough money from his job as a doctor to buy a seeing eye drone (this is why I was reblogging your art with "blind Pharma AU" :3c ). I imagine the drone also has flying capabilities and can augment Pharma's senses with its own due to some Cybertronian Bluetooth connection or something. It gives Pharma enough extra sensory and spatial information that he CAN do things like fly in crowded areas, since the drone can help him navigate traffic and guide him from open area to open area

Why doesn't Pharma just get his eyes fixed or something? A couple of reasons, one being that Pharma insists that there's nothing to fix out of pride. From the moment he came online people talked about him like he was defective just because he couldn't see, and frankly Pharma is so offended about it that he partially wants to remain blind just to spite everyone who thinks he's odd or can't be a good doctor

Another reason that Pharma doesn't "fix his eyes" could possibly be that the cause of his blindness isn't well known (he was forged, not cold constructed, which means there are no "schematics" to explain how each piece of his frame works) and Pharma is afraid of letting anyone tinker with his body or especially his brain without knowing exactly what the potential side effects of surgery could be. I mean, Pharma literally works for the Institute before the war; he knows exactly what things like shadowplay are capable of doing, and quite frankly, he doesn't want to even risk anyone getting inside of his brain and tampering with something that could completely alter his mind

That's about everything I can think of offhand ^_^ I'm happy to answer any follow-up questions or maybe dig through my Discord DMs if you want more details!