#84

[spnanonhaven]

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Comments

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

sa

Several hours of thinking about it nonstop later: yeah, I'm writing this.

Fuck my life.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

*enables*

Also very excited by this news, particularly in light of the comment re Misha entirely made of tentacles, YESSSSSSS, it will all be GLORIOUS and made of WONDER (and tentacles).

Consider yourself guaranteed at least one delighted comment :D.

How many ways can I fill Jensen's orifices with tentacles before I start repeating myself?

You know, that's harder than you'd think. *eyes unfinished tentacle story with guilty eye*

One day, Jensen's orifices. One day.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

:|

Okay, this is your fault, you get to help. I'm thinking about college romcom AU scenarios in which Misha's alien physiology may be relevant, because I'm going to let this fic be exactly as ridiculous as it wants to be, which is very. He's resistant to most toxins and immune to diseases, he sleeps one or two hours out of twenty-four (for reasons having to do with how his brain works, which I can explain if that interests you) in his "mass of tentacles" state, he can digest sugar-based polymers but not animal proteins, and he may be abnormally strong. All of this has implications regarding moving furniture, courseload, transparently avoiding Jensen, sick roommates, getting a sugar high off absentmindedly eating pencils, keggers, and...? I feel like I'm missing some obvious college AU experience that would be significantly enweirdened by Misha being a secret tentacle monster.

Misha entirely made of tentacles

I waffled about this, because what I had envisioned (a humanoid very clearly sculpted out of tentacles and just mimicking human mannerisms because it's diplomatic) obviously does not work in a present-day college situation. I considered going with the more standard retractile tentacles in sockets along the torso, but it occurred to me that Misha can just be a shapeshifter whose equivalent of Odo's "bucket of ooze" form is a heap of tentacles that actually conneted. He constructs the mass of whatever he wants to turn into out of his tentacles and then adjusts the surface characteristics to suit.

One day, Jensen's orifices. One day.

Aww. At least they have plenty of other appendages and objects to keep them busy until that day arrives.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

sa

a heap of tentacles that actually conneted.

Oh my god, what happened to this sentence? "A heap of tentacles that are not actually connected to each other."

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

Newly-enthralled-with-tentacles nonnie from upthread is ridiculously excited to read this fic.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

:DDDDD

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

Ramen.

Ramen and free food (because like hell can you afford to buy it all the time) is a must for a college experience.

Though if he doesn't eat animal proteins I'm not sure how he'll manage Ramen.

He is going with a strict vegan story? OMG, does me get gassy trying to eat animal proteins or does he get really really sick? It's not like he can go to a hospital or anything.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

sa

And yeah, why does Misha only need to sleep an hour or two?

EXPLAIN TO ALL OF MEME FOR USSSSSS.

(omg, yaaaaay)

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Misha thinks of himself as a singular entity, but is actually an extremely sophisticated hive mind; his "tentacles" are long snaky organisms that are bilaterally symmetrical on their long axes, with the major concentration of nerve tissue and some other organs (*handwave*) in the middle. His consciousness mostly resides in two big fat tentacles he keeps in his center mass, which are largely brain. All of his brains grab sleep here and there when they aren't occupied, but periodically he has to shut the whole system down at once to "sync". Maintaining any shape other than "writhing mass" requires a slight effort that he can't sustain while he does this, so until he trusts Jensen enough to sleep in his presence, he has to find closets and stuff around campus to nap in, and Jensen just thinks he never sleeps.

Because you'll probably ask (I MEAN, WHO WOULDN'T), Misha makes new bits of himself by self-fertilization, and could possibly make a whole new Misha that way (or maybe that requires genetic material from another of his kind). His bits are variously specialized. He has four tentacles that cause something like an orgasm (a kind of pleasurable seizure, which is what an orgasm is in humans too) when stimulated, though between two members of his kind this also involves the exchange of chemical and electrical information and has nothing to do with reproduction.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Oh yeah, ramen! I always forget about ramen. His equivalent of ramen and free food is, I guess, eating all of the scrap paper in the dorm room (paper is mostly cellulose, a polymer he can break down into glucose, which is as biologically useful for him as it is for us), which makes Jensen think Misha is some sort of obsessive neat-freak and consider buying a lockbox for his class notes.

OMG, does me get gassy trying to eat animal proteins or does he get really really sick? It's not like he can go to a hospital or anything.

I'm not sure. I think he digests by breaking things down into a slurry and then absorbing the nutritive stuff through his skin; for propriety's sake he creates a stomachlike chamber in his abdomen to perform these processes in. There are probably noxious byproducts of some sort, but he's got a level of control of stuff going on inside his body that we don't, so it doesn't seep out without his permission.

I think what I'm saying is that if you punch him in the stomach unexpectedly, he'll burp in your face and it'll be the worst thing you've smelled in your life and also possibly make you pass out.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

So he basically eats plant cellulose?

I bet his adoptive parents had a nicely kept lawn. (hurr hurr)

And wow, I like a heel for saying this, but now I really want someone to bunch Misha in gut, or for him to burp or something.

OMG COULD HE LIGHT THE NOXIOUS FUMES ON FIIIIIIIRE?

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Any format that a plant uses to store glucose, he can break back down into glucose, which he can use. This is notable because most terrestrial animals can't do it; even herbivores outsource breaking down cellulose to microorganisms that produce a lot of gas in the process.

And wow, I like a heel for saying this, but now I really want someone to bunch Misha in gut, or for him to burp or something.

Yeah, my first thought was that I really want to work him getting hit in the stomach into this story. I don't have the impression physical bullying of sharp-tongued loners is really a thing in college, but it could easily be an accident.

OMG COULD HE LIGHT THE NOXIOUS FUMES ON FIIIIIIIRE?

... oh dear.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

OMG I'M TAKING THAT AS A YEEEEESSSS. WOOHOO HE'S A MOTHERFUCKING DRAGON!

HEY, CAN HER SHIFT INTO A SHAPE APPROXIMATING WHAT WE CALL DRAGONS? IS THAT ALL HE HAS TO DO, OR DOES HE LIKE, NEED A LIVE SPECIMEN TO IMITATE???

AND HEY HEY HEY. HEEEEY, DOES HIS BODY COME WITH ANY FORMS OF SPECIALIZED SELF DEFENSE? THE ONLY THINGS I CAN COME UP WITH IS REVERTING BSCK INTO TENTACLE FORM AND FARTING A BUNCH OF TOXIC GAS (WHICH IS HILARIOUS).

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

There are animal proteins in Ramen?

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

Yes. all meat flavored things come from processed carcasses unless stated otherwise.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

Not all Ramen is meat-flavored.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

The most common (USian types) that you can buy in bulk are.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

da

Nonnie, nonnie, I need this story. I need it. I don't think I've ever read any story that actually spent time considering tentacle physiology and biological repercussions (not to mention social repercussions).

Depending on his major, if he's taking science or engineering courses he'll probably have lab courses with his lecture and "tutorial" courses/discussion, right? Does heat or chemicals have any effect on him that he needs to avoid? If he's immune to most toxins, can he get drunk? Does he do okay in crowds, like sporting events or theater performances? Does he use the school's swimming facility ever because he finds it comfortable or does he avoid the hell out of it?

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

I don't think I've ever read any story that actually spent time considering tentacle physiology and biological repercussions (not to mention social repercussions).

Come to think of it, huh, I don't think I've seen a fic that did much digging into the biological stuff either. There's been some good work on the social/psychological implications of being a person with tentacles on modern-day Earth, though -- did you read the Jared/Genevieve one last post? It was adorable. :DDDD

You ask some really good questions, some of which I don't know the answers to yet. So the ones I don't answer here, the answer is "Hmm, food for thought."

If he's immune to most toxins, can he get drunk?

Nope!

Does he do okay in crowds, like sporting events or theater performances?

He was adopted by humans who homeschooled him out in the middle of nowhere and he is completely unused to crowds. They're easiest when they're all doing the same thing. A bunch of humans in a park walking every-which-way is confusing and disturbing, a stadium doing the wave is no big deal.

Does he use the school's swimming facility ever because he finds it comfortable or does he avoid the hell out of it?

He's pretty much the best possible swimmer, but he is not natively aquatic; he's generally dry to the touch. He may come from a world with a soupy-thick but not actually wet atmosphere and appropriate gravity for him to be able to "swim" through it -- a small pressure-cooker world, say, which I guess answers the question about whether heat is an issue for him. Or he may be arboreal or something. He actually doesn't know.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

I really really love your last paragraph and probably in the story it's unlikely that we'll see this murky alien world that probably affects his other senses besides just heat but in terms of the ones under discussion — in that case, does he do very poorly in extreme cold? Or is the world wet but contains locales of cold seeps (okay, I know cold seeps are actually warmer but work with me here) or other areas of deep cold within their general biosphere? All these questions basically pointing to whether he reacts in a different way to various temperatures. And how those tentacles feel and/or react with human skin.

I guess on that note if his sensory experiences are wildly different from your average human's if therefore sounds in crowds affects him or if it's just alarming and confusing to be surrounded by a lot of activity. I'm quite sad for him to hear that he'll never get to enjoy the effects of, say, a good margarita, but maybe he can at least appreciate the taste.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

...

Oh my god. I get online to this epic thread of epic amazingness.

Unfortunately, my university experience was not in the US and may bear no resemblance to it.

However, thinking back...

How does Misha respond to weed? And to the kind of vodka that comes in plastic bottles? And cold, three-day-old pizza? Would he be fine with the mould but get sick off the cheese?

If Misha sneezes, is it toxic? What does food poisoning look like in a tentacle alien?

If he sleeps very little, what does he do when he gets bored? Is Jensen a bit of an insomniac, and they keep seeing each other in strange places on campus at strange hours, or is this a room-mate scenario? Or could it be a Misha/Jensen romcom in which Misha is *rooming* with Jared, so all that Mishalecki crack can be there as well, just without the sex?

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

:D

I'm more interested in your college-romcom-reading experience than your actual college experience (realism what. In any case, I have a source for college minutiae, not having attended myself), though I do think weed is kind of the universal language. And your questions have given me thoughts, so, awesome. To answer most of them:

Misha's body is generally indifferent to recreational drugs (which are basically toxins taken in quantities small enough to be entertaining). I'm undecided about how he responds to airborne particulates -- probably not badly if he's native to a planet with a really thick atmosphere, which would have a lot. He has no biological need to sneeze.

Your question about food poisoning in particular has me thinking about that h/c fic thing where one of the parties takes ill and the other one cares of them. I'd been thinking about this before, actually, in terms of Misha being apparently indifferent to his chances of catching Jensen's colds because he knows he actually can't, but it occurs to me that if Misha gets sick it's a huge fucking deal. He can't go to the hospital, he'd be discovered; his biology is such an unknown that he couldn't be treated anyway; it's impossible to tell if he's actually dying, or just down with a twenty-four-hour bug.

I might do something with this. Maybe he eats someone's environmentally conscious vegan pot brownie and discovers that THC + his digestive processes is toxic to him in a way that just breathing it in is not.

Is Jensen a bit of an insomniac, and they keep seeing each other in strange places on campus at strange hours, or is this a room-mate scenario? Or could it be a Misha/Jensen romcom in which Misha is *rooming* with Jared, so all that Mishalecki crack can be there as well, just without the sex?

Ahahahaha. You aren't far off. The prompt calls for Jensen and Misha rooming due to a housing fuckup; they're overcrowded or something, and in the shuffle the prospective roommate Jensen has been emailing with happily all summer, Jared, got shunted off to another dorm, and Misha lost his single and wound up with Jensen. Jared instantly hits it off with Misha, but Jensen can't figure out how to talk to him at all until <yet-undetermined friendship catalyst that leads to awkward attraction>. I think Jensen is an insomniac, which might go somewhere.

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

DA

The drug o' choice at my college was not weed, but shrooms, and now I am curious as to how Misha would react to psilocybin. (This is not a question, just an observation, as I'm sure you don't need to think about this to write your fic.)

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of death, can Misha die?

Also, since Misha is technically a sophisticated hive-mind, can separate tentacles branch off and and do... things? If Misha spreads himself out, does his lose his higher brains?

Re: PSA: spn_hardcore_bb

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Presumably! The story of him being found by his human adoptive parents involves an adult member of his species who was dying, but I (and the Collinses) don't know what it was dying from. I don't know if Misha is vulnerable to old age, but you could incinerate him, for example. If you killed both brain tentacles, either the whole hive would die, or it would persist as a nonsentient collective, or it would persist as a nonsentient collective and eventually produce some new brain tentacles and essentially become a new person, with a mixed selection from Misha's declarative and procedural memory and potentially with a substantially different personality.

This is one of those areas of the worldbuilding where I'm aware of the possibilities but don't have strong preferences, and nobody in the story will know any of the answers, so it isn't important for me to make up my mind.

Misha can send his tentacles off to do things, but individually they are pretty stupid. To him this feels like your foot falling asleep.