#chewy ask

The leader "goes missing" for recovery, which essentially is him going into hiding (none of the other residents aside from Xylitol Researcher know) in one of many residential rooms on the ship while Researcher gives him the usual check-up.

Give it another week, and the symptoms have not gone away. If anything, they have gotten worse. Not to mention Nova being alone in his containment, as comfortable as it is, does not help his mental state. Thoughts of violence and destruction that once cropped up very rarely appear in his mind more often, scaring Nova much more than it should.

Researcher arrives to give Nova another check-in, getting some... odd results from the scans that they run. They run it again, and... It's shown to them that the infection that their leader has is sourced from the very thing that destroyed Planet Xylitol. The parasite is attached to Nova's heart.

Researcher emplores Nova to make an announcement for recovery, because despite all this, he doesn't want his citizens to worry about anything. Especially not after the whole disaster they've endured. Nova reluctantly agrees.

Before any more notes can be made, Researcher is spooked by the whites of Nova's eyes being blackened. They're blood-shot, but rather than blood, it's some black bile produced by the parasite.

Other symptoms that Nova experiences over time: Blood being replaced by the black bile, lethargy, an increase of violent thoughts and an increasing desire to act on those, a lowered ability to take in nutrients, replacement of existing teeth with much sharper versions, various aches and pains ranging from mild to debilitating, other parasitic symptoms...

Rather than having only Researcher working on this task, Nova permits them to have a group of medical staff (hence where Cyborg comes in). Progress is slow, practically non-existent.

The leader becomes less and less peaceful and willing to participate in tests and scans. There's a moment where Nova nearly wails his staff on Researcher but stops himself just before. The horror between those two lingers and only becomes worse the more time passes.

And though Nova becomes more intent on destroying others, after a particularly bad scuffle with Researcher, he stops attacking them. Particularly them. Testing is resisted, but Researcher isn't harmed. It's odd- as if there isn't a point to that any longer.

Researcher has the idea of throwing Nova into space or just. Killing him outright. That way the infection doesn't get any worse- though that only means the parasite would spread through the rest of space. This thought scares the hell out of them and gets them to check themself for any form of infection. And, unfortunately, the readings come back positive for the black hole's remnant parasite.

Not only have they caught the parasite, not only is the leader unable to act like himself and needs to be actively restrained in due time, but... Testing the other medical staff almost all come back positive. With no progress on slowing or stopping this parasite, the ship may very well be doomed. It doesn't help that the infection's symptoms halt any progress between staff members.

Note the Almost. Cyborg, not being a Xylitol and being made of different components and bodily composition, is resistant to the parasite. They essentially become the last hope the more the parasite spreads and the more hosts it begins to inhabit.

Pickle Cheesecake (PC for short) is Androgyne, using He/She/Xey/Zem. She also uses any science-related neopronouns that anyone thinks of to use for her.

PC is a mad scientist who creates various kinds of inventions similar to uwo_labs or Doctor Doofenshmirtz. Though life improvement is a goal he has in mind- being able to unlock the inner magical abilities that he thinks he has is the top priority (he doesn't have any, unfortunately).

Raised in a cult without a father figure, PC was very attached to xeir mother. Xey were a bastard child, with the other parent being from someone outside the cult landing xem and xeir mother in hot water. Not only that, but the cult despised PC even MORE considering xey didn't inherit any magical abilities.

Xey were continuously pushed into trying to cast spells or do anything that's worthy of a continued life. Unfortunately, no magic was ever found in PC's dough, and as punishment to both the child and mother the cult decided to crumble the mother with PC watching before kicking PC out onto the streets at a young age.

PC eventually found an abandoned building to make her home in, in a thick forest not too far from the borders of Parfaedia. The skills that she learned in trying to fix up the place led to an interest in tinkering. :] And since she was never really taught about what you should and shouldn't do, should and shouldn't make... That led to some wild things being created!!

And due to throwing caution into the wind, PC will handle things that a person normally wouldn't go near. One of those things being radioactive material!! PC has a pet rock that powers the building that's just a chunk of Uranium. If you were to put a Geiger counter next to PC, it would have an incredibly high tick rate. She is radioactive <3

PC is friends with Nemesia, an OC belonging to @vnillatree!! PC gets into shenanigans and Nemesia usually has to look on in worry and horror.

This radioactive miscreant has a HUUUUGE crush on Butter Roll it's not even funny. PC is already a mess when it comes to interacting with others, but when it comes to Butter Roll??? He absolutely loses his mind trying to be cool and endearing. Butter Roll is unaware of this crushing and just thinks that's how PC is.

PC calls his creations his "inators". This started as a joke but that's just how he is now. The things that he makes are... interesting, to say the least.

She has tension with Almond since she doesn't have any licenses or permits for anything that she does. She doesn't even have an ID or anything since she was never really taught anything about the legal system or... most things, really.

The reason why PC has slit pupils is unknown, but it might have something to do with his radioactivity! The same reasoning can be applied to why he has fangs.

PC has a stutter and tends to ramble with his words!! The more worked up he is, the worse the stuttering and rambling is.

Her hair is incredibly greasy... It would take an intense deep cleanse to clean her up properly. It's very hard for her to take care of herself due to wanting to make progress on her inventions for the sake of unlocking her missing magic abilities.

Bredele is intersex (designated AFAB though), and (kind of) identifies as Agender! They use They/He/Zem, but are fine with any other pronouns. It doesn't matter if you use masc, fem, or androgenous terms for them!!

Unlike Langue, they found their identity very easily since they really didn't care what they aligned with. It all felt silly to them. Langue would dog on them about not being "girly enough", but even then they didn't feel like a ""real girl"" (their body always functioned oddly due to being intersex), so! They're not!

They like growing their hair out and letting their facial hair grow in, but they rarely get to do that because of work. They did have longer hair in their school years before they chopped it off for the sake of their job. They let their stubble grow in when they're on vacation, though!!

Though when it comes to relationship, they CANNOT for the life of them figure out what they like. They last assigned themself to be asexual and androromantic, but even they're not sure. It's hard for them to decipher a lot of things emotionally, especially relationships with others.

They currently hold ""possible relationship interest"" in Milk, Espresso, and Cream Cheese Tea.

Their pet is called Ditzboard, who's a ditzy little thing who trip and falls and does all manner of clumsy things but never drops its documents!!

Autism. They bit things as a child and still do sometimes when under stress. They get overstimulated, they hate the sound of their own heartbeat, they have specific tastes in food and textures, they have shutdowns (and meltdowns), they don't understand social cues very well outside of what they've had to teach themself... They also do a lot to themself to make themself feel ALIVE, though I won't specify what here.

They've held an interest in doctors since they were a kid. Hell, as a kid their favorite game series was Trauma Center. Much like how Langue played Ace Attorney when they were younger. :] Both DS games!! I like to think they shared a DS as kids.

Dele also has a keen interest in blood. It may be morbid, but they love thinking about it. It's not that they'd harm anyone for it, absolutely not, but the red fluid is something they think about and it fascinated them endlessly. They'll be bleeding and think of the blood and how it will clot and what it looks like on his skin whilst treating the injury. (They also don't have many to talk about this interest in for obvious reasons.)

Despite their visual differences, Langue and Bredele do get mistaken for each other sometimes!! Dele gets flattered, Langue gets offended.

Dele is ONE inch taller than Langue, and was born moments after Langue was. The lawyer SEETHES at the fact that Dele is better in ANY capacity. Langue will take anything they can get to prove they're better than him.

Langue's jealousy runs deep. Being the louder and more emotional of the two, they're one of Dele's worst critics. They'll lie to zem, bicker with zem, but at the end of the day they're siblings and Dele wouldn't give that up for the world. Langue, however... It's hard to say if they'd truly give up much for zem.

Bredele has learned mending magic from the spare few times they've visited Parfaedia. He's not very magically gifted, so he'll take what he can get!! Besides, it's very useful for equipment (and Langue's glasses when those crack and break too much to reform quickly).

They think Dasani Bottled Water is very unhealthy compared to other types of water bottles due to the lies Langue has told him.

Cold Brew uses They/She/He and is gender apathetic. She literally does not care what you call her so long as you fear and/or respect her.

If people thought Cappuccino was scary, then Cold Brew is on another level. Though while Cappuccino is all for a fair trial and ensuring the truth triumphs over whatever else, Cold Brew... is a bit more towards the unethical. Tampering and destroying evidence, blackmailing witnesses, what have you... all for an ensured victory.

Cold Brew is based on Manfred Von Karma.

Cold Brew works internationally and will take any case so long as they get to utterly crush the defense or get paid handsomely. It's less about the money, and more about the prospect of revenge though.

Cold Brew HATES Cappuccino and Langue. ESPECIALLY Langue. Not just because they're a defense attorney and thusly they're at odds anyways, but also because Langue's whole reputation was "built on a half-truth". Because while Langue never lost the trial with Roguefort, they never won, either.

Their pet is named 'Case Filer' which while it doesn't have an actual form to look at yet, it's a very angry nail file. It seeks out information that would help a defense case and files it down until it no longer exists.

Brew's bitterness stems from their own family being put on trial and given such harsh sentencing it made their childhood... More than a little rough. Hopping from place to place, they'd vow to get back at whoever they could as a prosecutor. If their family couldn't have peace or mercy, why should anyone else?

Parts of Brew's skin are eternally frostbitten. They cover most of these parts up, but there is a patch on their face that they can't exactly cover up without looking unprofessional. Their 'cold' demeanor is almost as literal as their frozen heart. (For design terms: The "Cold Brew" is their hair, and the "Frappé" part is their body.)

Their court record is spotless. It's suspicious, yes, but there's nothing illegal that detective work has brought to light. That is to say: No detective dares put forth any evidence against Cold Brew lest they face the consequences.

Cold Brew doesn't really like Walnut or Almond, but at least Walnut is childish enough to fall for their tricks. Almond on the other hand... They avoid him for more reasons than just distrust and distaste.

She just so happens to be a cousin twice-removed with Espresso. Neither of them know they're related, and neither of them would be able to stand each other... So that's for the better.