neverstudied | Victory Road IC Inbox

Maybe all mammals hear can lay eggs? It's not unheard of back on Earth, like the platypus!

[Ray doesn't respond directly to the alien thing, but he does grumble slightly. He's had this argument with Egon to know when to shut up.]

Gosh that's a hard one. I really want us all to explore the Ruins of Alph, but I've heard some really neat things about Lavender Town!

It's such a shame they got rid of that giant cemetery and replaced it with a Radio Tower, but I'm sure that means we'll get a lot of vengeful ghost activity there!

[Ray sounds

Way too excited about that idea.]

Ruins of the Alph, huh? I heard a little about that place. I was, uh, thinking of checking it out myself at some point.

... Hey, excuse me, they did what to a cemetery?

[DON'T THEY KNOW THATS LIKE. THE BEST WAY TO GET YOURSELF HAUNTED FOR ALL ETERNITY]

It could be that the biology of these creatures are drastically different to the traditional categorizations of "mammal" and "reptile" as we have back in our dimensions. Some form of evolutionary adaptation that would make it beneficial for all creatures to lay eggs as opposed to giving live birth.

[Probably has something to do with inter-species breeding. But Egon perks up at what Ray says, completely ignoring the alarm in Venkman's voice.]

A radio tower? I'd like to get a recording of any EVPs in and around the site--the radio waves may pick up and amplify the voices within the area. This could be a crucial step in deciphering the speech of the ghosts in this dimension.

Even better! We can see the affects of the radio tower and ghost activity and finally understand what they gotta say!

And aww Pete you should have seen this tower, it looked amazing! It was a skyscraper cemetery!

Trying to figure out the evolutionary development of these things sounds like a "you" job, not a "me" job.

... How would a skyscraper cemetery work? You can't bury someone on an upper floor. I guess if they're all cremated...

It may be difficult--after all, I don't know how much pre-existing knowledge there is on the subject of evolutionary biology.

[Egon rests his head between the crook of Ray's neck and shoulder. Which is difficult, given how tall Egon is, but he manages.]

Have you considered that the death rituals of this world may not be the same than that of our dimension? Several cultures have other ways in which they respect the dead--there's no telling how differently they regard the dead in this universe. It may seen odd to us, but we are also technically outsiders to this dimension and may have difficulty contextualizing certain things.

Edited 2018-12-28 05:11 (UTC)

[Ray happily makes room for him, as short as he is. Honestly he's struggling to stay awake at this point.]

Tomorrow we should see if there's a library with books on death rituals in his realm. Maybe it could help explain why they felt it was okay to replace a cemetery with a radio tower.

[Venkman shakes his head, smiling a bit. He can hear the sounds of these two idiots moving around on the bed, and it makes him almost wish he'd taken the snowy woods instead of the ferry.

You know, almost.]

Are you guys cuddling while talking about death rituals? God, you really are Spengler. No doubt about it.

[Egon yawns, grinning slightly at Venkman's comment. A rare occurrence for any Spengler.]

It's getting late. We should probably get some sleep and let Peter sleep, as well. Tomorrow we can continue this conversation. Well--today.

[Venkman can probably hear a quiet smile in his voice.]

It's been an eventful few hours, to say the least.

[Ray yawns as well, settling back into bed.]

Yeah, we gotta be well rested if we wanna be prepared for New Years.

[He missed Christmas but he's celebrating New Years damn it.]

Night Venkie! It was great talking to you.

"Getting" late? Spengs, you messaged me at 2 in the morning in the first place. It's been late.

... Goodnight. ...Love you.

...New Years, yes. Looking forward to celebrating with you, Ray.

[He HEARD that.]

Sleep well, Peter.

[That's his way of saying "I love you."]

Edited 2018-12-28 06:03 (UTC)

[Ray, meanwhile:]

I love you too!!!

[He says this way too loudly for the hour.]

[After recovering quite quickly from that whole body-swapping incident, Egon sends a message off to Venkman regarding an old but different problem.]

Venkman. I have a question regarding psychology that I was hoping you could answer, if you have the time.

do you want me to hypnotize kolliker into no longer swearing because i dont think that'll work over the pokegear

Actually, no, but that would be helpful once we meet you in person. It is in regards to Doppler, the Zubat under my care, and his incessant need to attack people for their food. Whenever he catches sight of any sort of food, regardless of whether he has already eaten or not, he immediately goes to obtain it by any means necessary. He has already knocked over multiple people in his frenzies.

I have been attempting to train him out of this behavior, though I must admit that psychology is not my forte. I was hoping you would have some advice.

i knew itd have to be ONE of your weird babies

[Venkman settles back on his bed, temporarily waking up Garfield. The Litten yawns, and moves from his spot on the pillow to curl up on Venkman's chest.]

alright, just remember- any help I can give is gonna be from a working-with-humans perspective. so don't blame me if i cant fix your bat.

first of all, give me some patient history. was he like this when you found him? has it gotten better or worse over time? does he only attack people, or other pokemon as well? How does he act when he obtains food- either at his regular meals or when he steals it?

what methods have you tried so far, and what were the consequences?

He was. The reason I captured him was because he flew into my face while I was trying to eat. As he was unexpectedly plump, I assumed that he had developed this behavior after attacking several other travelers along the route and thus being rewarded for his efforts.

He attacks indiscriminately, though he seems to favor the sound of wrappers crinkling. Whether or not the wrapper actually contains food does not matter, and he will continue to attack the victim regardless of whether or not they have anything to give him.

I have attempted to train him out of this behavior by directing this aggression towards attacking other Pokémon in battle and rewarding him for it, though it seems to have only made it worse. The last time I tried that, he attacked someone without any sort of food on them and expected me to give him a reward.

[Venkman reads this carefully for a few minutes, idly petting Garfield.]

alright, off the top of my head heres some things that could cause that sort of behavior:
-past food insecurity, very likely because he was wild and definitely had to scavenge for food; could still be in the "i must eat constantly because i dont know when i'll get a chance to eat again" stage. especially since you caught him in winter when food is already scarce
-possibly owned by another trainer before you, who spoiled him before releasing him, thus getting him used to large quantities of food
-local trainers might have been feeding him regularly, thus letting him associate humans with food rewards, and humans that don't automatically offer him food frustrate him as a result

... and ok basically you got him to REALLY associate aggression with food rewards from the sounds of things. you had the right intentions, but you didn't really tackle the PROBLEM, IE him showing aggression over food, and instead rewarded one aspect of the problem(aggression towards other pokemon) and did nothing about the other(showing aggression towards people). so of course he was going to assume that the latter was still a-ok. and even if he DIDN'T, what were you gonna do if he attacked another pokemon outside of battle just because he wanted a reward?

that said, you could maybe refine that into something that works, if you can come up with a suitable punishment- and NO electric shocks, Egon- for when he acts out. but i'd still try to shy away from ANY positive association between food and aggression at this point

Oh.

Oops.

[So no shocks? ~~THROWS PHONE]~~

I have a suspicion that the reasoning behind his behavior is the third--though, the only ways I would be able to truly confirm it is if I somehow asked Kölliker to ask him about his motives. And even then, it would be difficult for me to parse what she would say.

I am unsure if he would be able to relate the punishment towards the aggression, but...perhaps if I confined him to his containment unit for a period of time following any incident?

As for food, I will restrict all treats and unnecessary consumption unless...he is acting non-aggressively? Correct?

depends on how he feels about containment. will he see that as a positive thing or a negative thing?

that sounds a lot better. i know pokemon are supposed to want to fight, but work on making sure he understands the difference between fighting other pokemon in battle and needlessly attacking others, and reward him for non-violence. there could be complications with him not wanting to fight in battle, but that's less of a problem than "literally attacking strangers"

Well, he doesn't get food when he's in his containment unit. But other than that, I am unsure. I would thing the punishment would be simply not being able to interact with anyone, but he does not seem to be intent on forming any sort of relationship with any of the other Pokémon under my care.

Hmm. Perhaps that is something to be worked on, as well. After he stops attacking them, that is.

Have you been applying these methods to your own training?

if returning to containment doesnt work, try to observe him for a while and find something that WILL deter him. aside from, like, starving the little guy

getting him to socialize more and get better influences is good. just make sure HIS habits dont rub off on them.

none of mine are problem children like yours is. they dont attack other people and pokemon... just ME. except Bond, but she limits attacking other pokemon to in-battle stuff; and she's calmed down some since she evolved

ive been trying different methods with the ones that hate my guts, some work better than others. it all depends on their specific temperaments and what they personally respond to. Siskel + Ebert are the hardest because there's two of them and they sometimes have differing viewpoints from each other.

and the deer... but thats not an aggression thing. he's just a trauma kid. and hes one of the ones that likes me.

basically there's no "one size fits all" solution, you just gotta toy with some theories until you get something that works. thats science!

Denver seems to be more fastidious than the other Pokémon--I will attempt to expose him to Doppler. Then again, he may not be patient enough to actually tolerate his behavior. Faraday is the other Pokémon he is exposed to the most, as she only ever occasionally eats and thus poses no risk of being attacked.

Perhaps you could find something that Siskel and Ebert are able to agree on, or continue with an activity that they both view as neutral. I would suggest food or maybe some sort of leisure activity. Birds regularly preen each other as both a maintenance and social behavior--attempting to "preen" Siskel and Ebert gently may help further their trust.

Have you named the deer yet? Perhaps naming it will allow it to trust you even more and thus aid in your efforts to help it.

...I suppose no matter what branch of science, the methods and modes of experimentation remain constant.

denver probably needs someone to help take him down a peg, anyway. i dont know how the hell he turned out so haughty immediately after being born but i'm not forgiving him for spitting ice in my face

... ray's face, technically

i'll consider that, but they barely tolerate me touching them to ride them; i may lose an eye if i try to outright pet them

nah; ive been trying to think of a good name but all I can think of is "Bambi" and that feels too mean

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