WriterCrafter

Earless Monitor Lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis), family Lanthanotidae, endemic to Borneo

ENDANGERED.

Semi-aquatic.

Closely related to the true monitor lizard in the family Varanidae.

The only member of its family.

They do have inner ears, and are capable of hearing, despite the lack of ear openings and tympana.

14/07/2026 Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom Incoming Transmission…

14/07/2026 Jean-Luc Picard @SpaceDadSupport Incoming Transmission…

Another wild Stephanie Millinger trick shot: shooting arrows with your feet from a human flag!

How hard is it to dive in front of an arrow to save your loved one?

Feat: most of the cast of min-maxed (minus Jacques who apparently wants to look after his body, and Megan who wanted to let the boys have their moment) and several of their partners!

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could watch a D&D game with these nerds…

13/07/2026 Jean-Luc Picard @SpaceDadSupport Incoming Transmission…

13/07/2026 Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom Incoming Transmission…

Pros:

Doctors paying off their medical loans with prize money

Chronically ill people getting free testing (MRIs, CAT scans, X-Rays, bloodwork, etc) and possibly a diagnosis

You can ding points for 'anxiety' and 'you just need to lose some weight'

Doctors are incentivized to find an answer, not just find something billable

Cons:

HIPAA

Each doctor can order a limited number of tests. You win the most prize money if a test that you've ordered comes back positive for something that makes sense with the symptoms. (Additional checking is required for tests with a high rate of false positives.) Prize money is split if there are multiple winners.

If no one gets a positive test, there's a smaller prize for suggesting a treatment that the patient uses while measurably improving over the course of 3-6 months. And an even smaller fallback prize for subjective improvement.

I think a fun element would be "if a chronically ill person with no degree can identify what's wrong with the patient before you do, they get a cash prize (you are still in charge of actually doing the tests that confirm or disprove it)." So if you spend six weeks doing genetic tests and X-rays but some MCAS girlie listened to a five-minute description of symptoms and went 'yeah, you've got [thing]' before you officially considered it, their chunk of the cash comes out of your winnings

And for everyone saying "this is just the House MD tournament arc"...

HOWEVER

I can imagine a game changer episode where some contestants, probably youtuber guests like Dr. Mike or something, have to guess already-diagnosed chronic illnesses of audience volunteers.

I knew that intellectually but it never truly clicked until I opened an old favorite last night to get lost in for the thousandth time. But if you’re a fanfiction author, someone out there is reading and rereading your stories. Someone out there is loving your world and words not just once but over and over and over again.

That’s amazing.

So here’s a shoutout to the readers and rereaders. The commenters and kudosers and lurkers and everyone and anyone who has ever picked a fic up and loved it.

And here’s a shoutout to the writers, in case you need a pick me up or a slight bit of love. Somewhere, out there on a screen under a sky you’ve never seen, your story is coming to life.