#the rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

Want both an increase in Monstrous Anatomy and a fresh shave and a haircut? The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is here for You! Dual-trained in the style of the old practitioners, The Rubbery Barber Surgeon promises customer satisfaction, with an Echos back guarantee*!

*guarantee subject to conditions. The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is not responsible for unexpected missing bones, amber-encrusted mullets, increases in nightmares, wounds, or sudden loss of respect within society. Please ssossoffoorossth responsibly.

#my art #fallen london #rubbery men #this is another one of those instances where i joked that a new oc just dropped #and then the joke went far beyond the amount of time you'd reasonably expect to spend on a shitpost #this is my brand at this point #dip pen #how I love you #the rubbery barber surgeon

[waterlogged-detective]

Rubbery Romance is real and alive and beautiful (Rubbery Barber Surgeon of course belongs to @viric-dreams )

#fallen london #fallen london oc #rubbery man #rubbery romance #tentacular surgeoness #my art #i did this at work uwu #i was gonna color but i actually like how it looks !!!

[viric-dreams]

Hey @waterlogged-detective, remember when you left this tag lying about?

#my art #the rubbery barber surgeon #been thinking about this for months

[viric-dreams]

Rubbery Romance in the Neath?

[+12 Outlandish Copy]

It took The Rubbery Barber Surgeon an exceptionally tense evening to convince Darcy that his intentions with the Surgeoness were purely romantic and that he had no plans whatsoever to poach his assistant.

(thanks @waterlogged-detective for letting me run with this and your adorable character)

#my art #the rubbery barber surgeon #he's a real oc now i guess #fallen london #the squabs are purely a creation of this daydream #he has a bit of squdge around the middle in reality #as the flukes intended

[viric-dreams]

Going to be so stupidly self-indulgent here. Kickstarted by @esteemed-excellency's "your OC in your clothes" drawing, except I have nowhere near the sheer amount of fashion swag that they do.

+36 Scandal to everyone involved.

The Barber Surgeon is the only one having anything even remotely resembling a good time here, and continues to be the most powerful cephalopod butch in the Neath.

#my art #ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon #graham #assigning half of them my dance clothes because that's about 70% of the time i leave the house #trying to keep everything in size was hell #because there are so few refs out there for not fitting clothing #but it got me to fight and defeat my nemeses (fabric and lineart) #hopefully

[viric-dreams]

One more before bed: It drives the Rubbery Barber Surgeon up the wall when customers try to hand him amber. His prices are right there on the wall.

#the rubbery barber surgeon #my art

[viric-dreams]

Today's silly lore drop:

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is Ockham's barber. Ockham would've gone on cuttinghishertheir own hair but the Rubbery Barber Surgeon insisted heshethey come to him*. He revels in the challenge, and has ordered a pair of peligin goggles specifically to counteract the viric radiation.

*the Rubbery Barber Surgeon does not have a gender understandable to humans, but likes to present butch. And even though none of the rubberies have human hair, for some reason Londoners seem to have a problem with and question the competence of someone they think is a human female-presenting rubbery giving them a haircut. Fforrthsth forbid! Therefore, he/him pronouns.

#ockham #the rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

What's more romantic than a beachside date under the light of the Imposter Moon?

#my art #the rubbery barber surgeon #rubbery romance is alive and well

[viric-dreams]

Since the topic's been going around and getting me thinking:

Ockham enjoys the typical shows of romance, particularly those expressed physically. Heshethey does struggle though to be the only person in a relationship and the only means of physical/emotional intimacy or support for someone because of hishertheir transitory nature and personal priorities overriding romance. The Greater London Polycule is a good fit for himherthem. Emotional intimacy might be a bit more difficult because of the current identity crisis happening, but heshethey wouldn't turn down sex or any kind of physical intimacy. That's something that Ockham doesn't really have any hangups about, possibly related to living in close quarters with people most of hishertheir life and seeing it as something mundane and relatively normalised. Especially with hishertheir eclectic set of memories and experiences (many of them serpentine), Ockham finds the sexual mores of Victorian Londoners particularly inane at times. These elements also makes Ockham open to trying pretty much anything a partner may suggest, at least once.

On the other side of the spectrum is Roberts, who's actively irked by any overt signs of romance on Grand Geode, usually because that means said sequencers are distracted or shirking duties. Realistically, the negativity comes from it being something that he feels that he could never have as a consequence of both his sexuality and position (though it's not something he's self-aware enough to know, nor wants to think about). Anyone making romantic overtures at this point would be pushed away out of a mixture of him not believing that he deserves it, that said person is after some sort of advantage because of his position, and that it would be a distraction from The Work, with a healthy bit of fear of the unknown thrown in for good measure. He's built up a ridiculous amount of intricate rituals around physical contact with people that make sense only to him. Having any sort of a sex life is a nightmare when you're almost everyone's superior officer and instantly recognisable, and come with enough emotional baggage to hold every piece of sentient clothing in Polythreme, and thus regulated to quick and faceless encounters, often in foreign ports. Even then, the intricate rules persist: sex is sex, direct and perfunctory. Kissing is off limits, absolutely no lingering touches, nothing that feels too much like intimacy or involves giving up control or trusting someone. Get what you're here for and go.

Nite's lack of memory has made everything a novel option and possibility. This is not necessarily a good thing. His strong streak for showmanship and craving attention lead to some somewhat extreme behaviour. Those grand gestures that only seem to work in romance novels are exactly what appeals to his sensibilities and he's convinced that they would work in real life, and is apt to try. If boomboxes and romcoms existed in this era, he would be that guy. It clearly seems to work in the films, so absolutely worth attempting in real life. Because a lot of what he imagines romantic behaviour is comes from stories and not real life experience, he starts with the idea that this is what romance and seduction should look like. Many of these things are things he doesn't even necessarily enjoy, but he tries anyway because what does he know, maybe that's just how things are done. This does eventually modulate over time, when he gets a better sense for his own preferences, and the flair for the dramatic remains, but tempered. He is also very quick to emotionally open up and try to deepen a relationship (either romantic or otherwise), often faster than the other person is comfortable with. After a handful of negative experiences he's gotten better at this. Unlike Ockham, whose sexual tastes generally tend to be broader and has a fairly solid sense of hishertheir boundaries, Nite has the same "I'll try anything" approach, albeit it closer to an "I have to try everything to know what I like" outlook, and no moderation or sense of pacing. This has led to a handful of upsetting experiences (both for himself and any partner(s) involved) when he inevitably discovers far too late that this was not a good idea. His lack of knowledge of his own boundaries makes him dangerous to both himself and others.

Tamara's been on dates with some of her peers back in Varchas, but it was never something that intensely interested her, nor did she ever have a serious relationship. It was expected that she would eventually settle down, either with someone of her choosing from a similar class background, or through a suitable suitor introduced through her family. She did enjoy the attention that flirtation brought, but would be the first to tell you that she doesn't really know what she wants out of a partner either romantically or sexually, but of course has plenty of time to figure it out. In London, she has far more important priorities at the moment and isn't even entertaining the idea. Her initial suspicion surrounding Ockham's kindness was quickly assuaged upon realising that heshethey doesn't necessarily want anything from her at all and offering her a place to stay was simply an act of one outsider recognising another and offering a helping hand. Of course, there's plenty more regarding Ockham about which to be suspicious, but that's a different topic.

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is in a healthy and loving butch/femme relationship with The Tentaclar Surgeoness. He enjoys filling the traditional masculine role that the Surgeoness, a huge fan of pulpy romance novels, seeks in a partner. Thus far, things have gone well for them, and they seem perfectly compatible. She might just be the one. He may have visited a particular jeweler on Flute Street a couple of times. He's slowly planning a very special date night for them in the near future.

#ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon #oh boy did this get away from me #the proportion of OCs who have healthy relationships to romance and sexuality is actually higher than i'd expected #the fucked up sequencer/revolutionary is an outlier adn should not have been counted #throwing the entire statistic into disarray #astra i'm looking you dead in the eyes over the internet when i say even on a bad day it's not worth it #avoid that old man #in any and all forms

[viric-dreams]

3 for the barber surgeon, 6 for ockham?

3. Ask them to describe their love interest.

She's beautiful like forsrofflo, and brings energy to a room like glowing amber. She's spontaneous, filled with joy, and always up for a new adventure. Sorrothlolo thrimmprop !esthoxol mrrrth.

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Ockham spends a lot of time listening, and from there has a pretty good sense of who is to be trusted (and not) for advice. There are many people with whom heshethey gets on well, but absolutely would not take advice from. On the other hand, if you really got onto hishertheir bad side your chances of convincing Ockham to do anything are nearly nil, if not just to spite you in particular (Ockham may end up doing the thing that makes the most sense to himherthem, but this would be an independent decision and this advice was immediately discarded).

#ockham #the rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

B for the whole gang

B) What inspired you to create them?

Ockham: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up if some random Belgian sailor were to get impressed by the Royal Navy? Oh, they stopped doing that in 1815? There wasn't a Belgium until 1830? It's currently 1899? Yeah, uhh, snake possession."

Roberts/Nite: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up to have a Jekyll and Hyde situation with one guy trying to the sun the sun the sun the sun and the other trying to put out the sun? Let's give this guy Problems."

Tamara: "Varchas has such an interesting relationship with both the sun and Fingerkings. It has a religious element to it, but completely different to the relationship between Sequencers and the Dawn Machine. It would be interesting to take a character who grew up in a society like that and force her into the Other to see how she rebuilds her life, and which elements of similar Neath cultures she either takes on or rejects based on her upbringing and circumstance, especially if the main relationship in her life is with a manwomanperson of the Is Not, something she's been raised to fear and mistrust."

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon: "Wouldn't it be funny and/or fucked up if your barber and/or surgeon was a squid?"

#ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon #yeah there's a theme here #margaret's short life was predicated on #'wouldn't it be funny if your petty rub against your asshole empress boss accidentally escalated into regicide #and you're now the celebrated heroine of a political movement you know absolutely nothing about'

[viric-dreams]

7 for all your characters!

7. Describe them in three words. Now let them describe themself in three words.

Ockham

Roberts/Nite

Tamara

inexperienced, heart-on-sleeve, analytic.

outgoing, perceptive, unlucky.

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon

subtle, dedicated, sllombrogoth.

content, !thrmblt, hard-working.

Graham

vampiric, rancid, old.

surrounded by fools.

Jones

steadfast, calculating, risk-averse.

soft-spoken, perceptive, effective.

#jones #graham #the rubbery barber surgeon #tamara #roberts/nite #ockham #of all of them the barber surgeon and jones probably have the most accurate self-perception #though the barber surgeon tends to err on the side of modesty and not acknowledge the breadth of his skills #and jones is aware that prison's made him more hesitant and risk-averse #but likes to think that he's able to overcome it and be objective #this is mostly true but sometimes he disappoints himself

[viric-dreams]

Random factoids on my mind tonight:

• Ockham was the second oldest of five children, only one of whom (a younger brother) survived to adulthood.

• Roberts had two older sisters, with whom he’d broken contact shortly after coming to London.

• Tamara is older than her twin brother by seven minutes.

• The Rubbery Barber Surgeon is an only child, something exceedingly rare among Rubbery Men. But he has many siblings, because rubbery families are structured differently and relations follow different definitions to how Londoners use the terms.

#ockahm #roberts/nite #Tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon #I couldn’t even begin to tell you what Graham’s fami it situation was like #he simply is

[viric-dreams]

25 for everyone! :)

Oh boy.

What subject / topic do they know a lot about that’s completely useless to the direct plot?

Ockham knows a lot about zailing for someone who will not go anywhere near the Zee. But in terms of knowledge completely unrelated to the plot: Ockham has a very good sense for looking at an object and reverse engineering how it was constructed. Like, which shapes would have to come together to create it.

If you're Nite, so much of your knowledge is apparently useless to the plot. Some of the most surprising include an unusually broad surface level knowledge of precious metals, and well over a dozen Zee shanties. Roberts has also picked up an unusual amount of trivia about vintage schooners and surface cuisines, courtesy of the Commodore's own interests.

Tamara could tell you all about the drama and gossip of the 50 most prominent families in Varchas, mostly to do with her similarly-aged peers.

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon now knows a lot about fashion and makeup, because he cares about and supports his girlfriend's interests.

#ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

future for everyone?? >:3

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility?

Hmm...

A lost Ockham starts listening to the voice calling out from the well. Let's hope Ockham doesn't hear that voice.

Worst future for whom, when it comes to Roberts and Nite? I think they're both trying to stop each respective worst ending.

Tamara's worst timeline probably involves her brother coming back into her life Wrong (a drownie? possessed by dream eels?) and having to face some sort of difficult choice related to it.

As far as Graham's concerned he's in the worst possible future. Do you have any conception of the kinds of nonsense he has to deal with on a daily basis?

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon's worst future is one without the Surgeoness. Barring something truly out of their control, this doesn't currently seem likely, so he's not thinking about it too much.

#ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #graham #the rubbery barber surgeon

[viric-dreams]

17 (I am HILARIOUS)

- @zeebreezin

Astra, turn on your location, I just wanna talk...

What do they notice first in the mirror versus what most people first notice looking at them?

Well the obvious one is that Ockham's reflection in any surface is always Snockham (the silver-eyed, exhausted looking original). Ockham isn't really sure what other people notice about himherthem, because heshethey gets the feeling that people seem to struggle with this. They don't really seem to quite see Ockham, given how they behave around himherthem.

Roberts isn't at all vain, but every time he looks into a mirror it's usually to ensure he looks presentable and professional, so he's on the lookout for whether or not he needs a shave, or whether his shirt collar is sitting correctly, for example. What other people tend to notice about him first are his eyes. The gold colour is unusual outside of Grand Geode, but that's only a minor element of it. He carries a lot of tension around his eyes and brow muscles, causing him to have this very "intense" look about him, no matter what mood he's in. It's a common experience for Sequencers to feel as if he's staring right through them, trying to pull out any inadequacies or lapses of duty or person... but his face is just like that.

Nite's spent a lot more time in front of a mirror, studying himself and trying to gain some sorts of clues about himself from the wrinkles and scars. Initially, it was his posture that made him stand out. He stands and moves like a military man, which was nearly fatal in his first meetings with the anarchists. Mercifully for him, his cover was incredibly thorough and he was able to pass the persuasive check that he was not, in fact, working for the Constables or the Bazaar.

Tamara tries not to look at mirrors, because of the danger they traditionally hold. She's exceptionally good at applying kohl without one. The first thing she tends to notice is if there's something moving within a mirror that shouldn't be. In London, the first thing people notice about her is her unusual choice of clothing. Tamara tends to go for very feminine fabrics and vivid colours, but wears them in Varchaasi styles.

The Rubbery Barber Surgeon also mostly just notices whether or not he looks presentable in mirrors. Other people seem to be fixated on the whole rubbery thing and he finds it kind of rude that people spend so much time staring at his tentacles, all the while trying to be sneaky about it and pretending they're not.

#ockham #roberts/nite #tamara #the rubbery barber surgeon