Victory Road IC Inbox

[neverstudied]

"Hey, this is Dr. Peter Venkman- I'm probably busy. If you're calling about something stupid done by a Dr. Egon Spengler or a Dr. Ray Stantz, I'm sorry for whatever they did. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Comments

[pkemeter]

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.

[neverstudied]

[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

[pkemeter]

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?

[neverstudied]

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"

[pkemeter]

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?

[neverstudied]

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!

[pkemeter]

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.

[neverstudied]

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

[pkemeter]

Perhaps Lapras are naturally inclined towards this behavior. They are told to be quite graceful in the wild--perhaps their personalities reflect this.

[That's a really nice way of saying that most Lapras probably hate Venkman's guts.]

What about botanical terms or something relating to specific flora? I've heard that flowers make for good names, though I personally don't see the appeal of naming a creature after a plant's reproductive structure.

[neverstudied]

cool so you have a giant plesiosaur that was predestined to be prissy and conceited

spengs youre the one who actually knows botany

all i know is basic floriography and i only learned that so i could give you that bouquet for valentines after we first started dating

and then you got all flustered and started talking about the reproductive cycle of bees and flowers and grossed me out

[It's fine because after many, many years, Venkman is almost entirely immune to Egon rambling about weird shit.]

[pkemeter]

[and thank god he is]

Oh. Yes. I remember that. No one had given me flowers before, so the gesture was incredibly unexpected.

[mostly because...he never dated anyone before. sometimes the first guy you end up dating ends up being your partner for life]

Here are a few suggestions of botanical names off the top of my head:

• Sneezewort Yarrow
  
• Toadflax
  
• Rafflesia keithii
  
• Welwitschia mirabilis
  
• Arum Lily
  
• Aconite
  
• Dracaena cinnabari

[neverstudied]

good to know that you teaching me about the horrors of honey bee mating is something that happened in multiple dimensions

...

spengs the only one of those that's even salvageable as a name is aconite. what's that again?

[pkemeter]

The honey bee is hardly the only animal that reproduces in a similar manner. Although ducks do not die during the reproduction process.

Aconite is also known as monkshood, devil's helmet, queen of poisons, or wolfsbane. Needless to say, it is incredibly poisonous.

[neverstudied]

why did you have to remind me of ducks :-/

of course itd be some sort of weird poison i dont know why i'd expect anything different from you

my deer isnt even a poison type

[pkemeter]

It is hardly unusual. Records of aconite being used have been seen throughout history, in books both occult and practical in nature. It is known for a variety of supernatural uses, most notably being used to coat weapons to kill werewolves. However, as aconite is very poisonous, it would likely kill anyone, lycanthrope or not, after being stabbed by a weapon coated in it.

Being stabbed is also usually lethal.

If you would like more conventional names, I suppose I could offer some. Such as Amaryllis, Dahlia, Edelweiss, Larkspur, Oleander, Rue, and Zinnia.

[neverstudied]

im glad you know that stabbing is deadly. how long'd it take you to figure that one out

I kinda like Rue. What's that one?

[pkemeter]

Rue is an herb with a widespread growing region that had a variety of 'medicinal' uses in ancient times, although it is not very frequently used in modern times.

For a literal definition, it means 'regret'.

[neverstudied]

ohh yea; "rue the day" and all that, right?

definitely not a common one for a flower bouquet. not that that would've stopped ray. remember that?

mint, yellow carnations, yellow roses, narcissus, peonies, coriander flowers, begonias, petunias, spider flowers, lime blossoms, dragonswort, daffodils, fennel...

[Ray really just picked up every flower he thought looked nice and it turned into a bouquet of mixed signals.]

[pkemeter]

Oh, yes. I'm surprised you memorized them all. And the fact that the bouquet remained constant throughout dimensions.

...Still, it was a touching gesture, regardless of the symbolism behind the flowers.

Coincidentally, did your universe's Egon Spengler attempt to gift you a bundle of fungi and garlic?

[neverstudied]

i wound up going through some books showing ray what every single one of those flowers meant just to watch him squirm as he realized just what a mess he'd given me; memorized them as a result

[And because, as confusing as the bouquet was, Venkman still got the actual message intended for him. The sentiment behind it outweighed the cons. He still thinks of that bouquet whenever he sees one of the flowers Ray used in it.]

you sure god damn did, egon. most of it grown from your own fungus garden

[pkemeter]

[haha gay rights]

Ah. I thought you would have appreciated it due to the unique and interesting properties of fungi as well as garlic's ability to ward off supernatural creatures. I did not think that non-plant organisms fell under the domain of floriography.

...What did you end up doing with that, anyways?

[neverstudied]

[it is my duty as a gay motherfucker to take this idiot and throw out all the gross straight bullshit that bill murray had for him, and make him a gay sap in retaliation]

it was endearing, to be honest

once i got past the knee jerk "what the hell is this supposed to mean" reaction

the edible stuff I wound up using to make packaged ramen taste a little better; the poisonous mushrooms- which, by the way, thank GOD you told me which ones were which- i kept

tried to figure out how to grow them but then my roommate at the time's cat tried to get into them and he got mad about me keeping poisonous fungi around

[He may have said something about Egon being a bad influence. Coincidentally, the semester after that is when Venkman started rooming with Egon.]

why do all of our threads end up being gay i swear i dont intend to do this

[pkemeter]

[He feels somewhat touched at that? Even though the incident in question was over ten years ago and also this Venkman is from a completely different dimension. He's just a bastard who's in love.]

Ah, yes. Then again, I believe that at the time, owning pets in residence halls was against the residential agreement.

Then again, so were open flames and pressure cookers and marijuana.

...It's been a long time since then, hasn't it?

Its because we're gay and theyre gay [drugs cw]

[neverstudied]

thank god that cat was quiet. he used to hide it in the closet whenever inspection came by

... god remember when ray and i first found out you had a bong and we both flipped the fuck out because we'd both just assumed you'd never even been high before

yea. been a long time since were professors, let alone in college

yea. Yeah [more drugs cw]

[pkemeter]

I distinctly remember that, yes. I also remember the first time you witnessed me under the influence of marijuana, you were somewhat unnerved by my behavior.

If I am being entirely honest, Peter, I do not think much of the time I spent being a professor. I mostly recall students complaining about the courses I taught.

[because he hardly even showed up to his own goddamn classes]