the wisest of reddit activities

[stockingfeats]

Ask Me Anything!

1. In your subject line or toplevel, post something for others to ask your character about.
   
2. Examples could be "I am a Starfleet Captain", or "I fought dinosaurs on Isla Nublar", or "I am on a quest of vengeance in 1657 Japan."
   
3. Others will come in and ask them anything!
   
4. Honesty is optional. :3
   

Comments

Re: Alien parasite and experienced mid-tier minion

[lettersfrombel]

Alien parasite you say? Tell me more.

[inside_job]

It's not how I'd choose to introduce myself, under normal circumstances.

[ But these aren't, so: she shrugs, feigning indifference. ]

Evolution's a harsh mistress. Some species get limbs and eyes and the freedom to roam; some of us get to be small and soft and need a host body to meaningfully interact with the world. So, we do what's necessary.

[lettersfrombel]

It's not just a larval state for you, then?

[inside_job]

...I'm afraid not.

Why, did you think I was someone else? Or something else?

[lettersfrombel]

Merely a bit of comparative xenobiology on my part, my dear, though I'm no scholar.

[So, not so much 'thinking you were something else' as 'compare and contrast'.]

[inside_job]

How intriguing. If you'll share your side of the comparison, I'm game.

[ Giving away information is easier to swallow when it's a trade, apparently. ]

[lettersfrombel]

Illithids. Also called mind flayers, haszakkin in my native tongue, or ghaik to the githyanki.

I don't know where their tadpoles come from and I'm not asking, but for one to grow to adulthood, it needs to be put in the brain of one of a number of humanoid species. Through the eye, which is exactly as harrowing as it sounds.

[yeah, that one haunts Bel's dreams]

Typically, over the next few days as the tadpole consumes the host's brain, the body is transformed into an illithid. They are both incredibly intelligent and possess psionic powers, so obtaining humanoids for food and reproduction is not as hard as you'd think.

[inside_job]

Convenient - even if it is grotesque even by my standards. I'm pleased to say that doesn't sound much like my people. We're called Yeerks; as I mentioned, we remain in one form our entire lives. We do wrap around our hosts' brains, but we don't harm them. That would defeat the purpose of having a host at all.

And we certainly don't clamber in through anyone's eyes. Only their ears.

[ Which is much better and more civilized(?). ]

They can only use humanoids?

[lettersfrombel]

[it at least means the host doesn't have to watch it happen, but Bel does have to stop himself from touching his own ear in response]

They can get into anything with a brain. The transformation seems to require humanoids to happen correctly. There are tales of what happens when you put a tadpole into someone or something else, and the usual answer is 'not something you want to meet'.

[inside_job]

More reason to be glad we've never encountered them. Aside from everything else, knowing my luck I'd get assigned to go collect tadpoles so we could study all the combinations. And... you mentioned psionic powers?

[ A grimace. She especially doesn't care to deal with those. ]

[lettersfrombel]

At least between the two of you, one is too small and the other's brain is already full. They might still eat your brain, but it's a quicker way to die.

I did. And that is an entirely sensible reaction to the thought.

[inside_job]

[Dryly:] Well, we have to be grateful for the small mercies, don't we?

Telepathy, I assume? [ That's a particular bugbear for perhaps obvious reasons. ] They must be powerful if they use their abilities to acquire prey.

[lettersfrombel]

[equally dryly] 'Small mercies' are what carries me through my life.

Yes, and some ability to levitate objects and themselves.

[inside_job]

Useful to know. Better to deal with them at range, by the sound of it. Have you encountered them in person?

[lettersfrombel]

Once or twice. One can prepare defenses against psionic intrusion if one knows what one is dealing with.

[inside_job]

Oh? [ Casually, as if that's not very, very interesting. ] What sort of defenses do you use?

[lettersfrombel]

Finding an apothecary who sold potions, and hoping we weren't surprised. My people have some natural resistance to mental effects, but best not to count on it alone.

[inside_job]

I certainly wouldn't, if it was my brain on the line. Pharmaceutical measures, then- I'd be interested to know the compounds involved. Psionics are such a nuisance to deal with.

[lettersfrombel]

I couldn't tell you the details, I'm afraid.