>>@ALKOHEIST | @ALL

[frogfractions]

Does anyone have need of lipstick? I've been able to create a few tubes' worth, but I don't use much makeup myself. The benefits of eternal youth, basically. I should be able to manufacture nail polish as well, and perhaps a few other things. We can discuss based on your needs.

In news that I promise is highly, and in fact, completely unrelated, I've finished my research on the Shaper specimen. As I'm sure most of you are aware - unless we've picked up some new recruits in the past week - we had a pest problem. Basically, I dissected one.

[What follows is just straight-up a picture of a shaper's brain. There's a vial of blue blood to the left, and a plastic container full of small bones to the right of it. Off-camera, there's a few other internal organs she's separated and tucked away, but mercifully she hasn't decided to show everything to the camera.]

Would anyone like to enjoy foreign cuisine with me? The brain is supposed to be a delicacy, so we might as well give it a try. It's unlikely I'll be able to get a hold of another specimen, so it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, in a way.

And if you'd like access to my research notes, I can text them over to you. Knowledge is meant to be shared, after all. They mostly concern the creature's biology, since understandably I did not want an annoyed psychic creature bouncing around my room, and thus could not leave it alive to study its behavior. In layman's terms, I like being conscious.

Incidentally, any and all moral or ecological complaints can be forwarded to my secretary, @MODERATUS. Thank you for your time.

Comments

[dipolar]

The consequences are something that give me a bit of pause, so yes, but I can cook the hateful things. I've experienced the blood's drug-like qualities myself, if that would help any of your research.

The list you gave me is difficult and I've been having to look into certain words so that I can understand in a language I'm more familiar with. As a result, my readings have been pretty slow. I'm on Archibald Cockren's text, Nicholas Flamel's chapter. I'll do better.

A typed copy would be appreciated, thanks for your hard work.

[frogfractions]

Another man has already informed me of the blood,
but I'd appreciate it if you could describe the effects succinctly. He does not seem very.

Lucid. Even outside of the drug's effects.

And there's no shame in having difficulties. If you're willing to admit there are things you don't understand, you're already making faster progress than I was at your age. [Assuming he's a human-being in his twenties to thirties, like most people here, anyway.

A few minutes later, the typed copy arrives - it's essentially just the information provided here, with the addition of some uncertainty in regards to how the brain works and what makeup can be made with it. And some fun notes on how exactly she killed the thing quickly. (Stabbing its brain, it turns out.)]

[dipolar]

Midnighter is lucid. Don't talk like you know anything about it.

As for the shaper blood, it was like being connected to many other minds. A variety of moods, a variety of sensations. I was bare and tired and at peace and angry. It was myriad things I don't want to experience again. Enlightening at the time, but no more than a frustration now.

I'll read this over with the remaining texts you've given me. I'm sure it'll be insightful.

[frogfractions]

Backtalk? That's an admirable trait in a student. I mean that sincerely.

And I see. I'll add that to my notes, along with a few other things. It doesn't seem very useful, though - perhaps if you could use it to connect to one specific mind, but as it stands it seems more like having a panic attack.

And I'd appreciate it if you would.

[dipolar]

Why is that? I'd rather obedience.

I'd liken it to a crisis of self/identity sooner than a panic attack. I wasn't anxious at any point. it's good to know you were helping to kill the pests.

[frogfractions]

I don't intend to teach you forever. A student that's capable of reaching their own conclusions is one I can help along, provide information to. A student that just repeats what I tell them to is an assistant at best and a leech at worst.

Disassociation, almost? Or I suppose like a very particular kind of drug trip. If we could bottle it, we could probably make a profit selling it.

Then again, nobody here would buy it, and selling it elsewhen could damage the timeline. So it goes.

[dipolar]

Then you'll find a good student in me. I have no intention of letting things go unmentioned just because you're giving me info I want.

What's dissociation?

If you sell something like that, there's a risk of someone using it to drug others. I can't say I care for the idea either.

[frogfractions]

That's an excellent point, also. I imagine that our commanding officers would disapprove, too. Another point in the 'good student' category, basically.

Detachment from reality. It's common in many psychological conditions, and is a side-effect of a few drugs. If you've ever started daydreaming without realizing it, that's a very mild form of dissociation.

Though you don't seem like the type to daydream.

[dipolar]

+2 then, for insubordination. I'll remember this.

I've experienced that before. Often. Is it really so unlikely a thing?

[frogfractions]

Not unlikely, just doesn't fit your character type,
basically.

Though I don't know you that well, so it might have been presumptuous.

[dipolar]

I don't consider myself any one type. I've been all types and no types.

What type are you?

[frogfractions]

... Hm.

An intellectual, I suppose. Or at least it's what I like to think of myself as. Personalities are a lot like voices - how you sound to yourself isn't how you sound to others.

[dipolar]

You think I sound immune to daydreaming?

(takes it as a high compliment.................)

Thank you. I must get to reading, if I'm to continue sounding impressive.

[frogfractions]

Just the fact that you're trying is already impressive.

Many people refuse to learn, refuse to change their perspectives at all. The fact that you're open to fields of study you'd never previously considered is proof that you're open-minded, basically.

[dipolar]

Then I will keep doing what I am currently doing. That seems to be my best option.

I will be speaking with you in the future.