Forget Me Not(alt Title; Substories To Cry And Sob To)

Forget me not (alt title; Substories to Cry and Sob to)

Tatsuo Shinada

Recent drawings.

LOTS of Abyssal Half-Life AU guard lore barf below the cut

CONTEXT NOTE: In this AU setting, the guards of Black Mesa are a species of humanoid fungus that share a psychic bond with one another, as well as communicating in pheromones that human noses can pick up on. Otis is the living blackbox of the species and can bounce it back from extinction if need be.

Abyss — 09:45

Barney phenotypes (names pending) 

 "Black Coffee Addict" = Heavy eyebags. Naturally dark eyelids. Pale skin. Mouths filled with slightly more teeth than a human. Smile awkwardly. Sub-phenotypes exist within this branch. 

"BETA" = Faces are often always in some sort of exaggerated expression. Show WAYYYY too much gum when smiling. Large mouths. Many many more teeth than a human. Small irises. Stare-y. 

"Defective" = Very rare. Only produced via barneys who have extremely damaged telomeres, or occur by a pre-existing barney's body reacting to it's own damaged telomeres. Humanoid, until you look closer and realize they are very fucked up. Guard genotypes -Barney -Otis(ändrad)

09:46

It is unknown which phenotype Calhoun belonged to before infection.

09:48

defective barneys typically have highly deformed hands and faces. Eyesockets have no eyes inside of them and mouths are often misshapen holes

09:50

they can look somewhat convincingly human if you REALLY SQUINT or something

09:52

>realize how catastrophic it'd be for the Combine to get their hands on Otis [infinite synth army]

 Otis probably hecked off somewhere where the Combine wouldn't be able to reach

09:54

also imagining that the earth is full of slowly gestating barney pods that were left from the absolute BLOODSHED of the Resonance Cascade fills me with glee. just thinking about a bunch of rogue guards popping out of the earth one day and ravenously biting or cooking Combine to death... hell yeah

09:56

I know the Combine would've probably sterilized the earth and make the fungal guards a critically endangered species but let me dream

09:58

Eli: "Otis? Where the hell are you?" 

Otis on the other side of the radio, crackling: "Borealis!" 

 the perfect hiding spot

Abyss — 17:42

next question to tackle for myself = how long does it take for a barney to gestate?

17:46

if we assume that growing a full human in a womb takes around 10-13 years, then it's likely that a generation of barneys already popped out of the earth during the Combine takeover. If these were the ones purely from Black Mesa, then it's reasonable to believe that barney blood was spilled over a larger radius, letting the spores grow basically wherever they may have landed with a blood splatter. So, perhaps in another 13-or-so years after that, a new generation will pop up again (assuming the Combine didn't inject the earth with a poison that would make barney growth impossible)

17:48

but since the guard organism is a species with a mass-memory it's also possible that future barney growths and primal root systems developed in a much sturdier way. Previous generations could've had soft roots that were easy to cut off for removal of a gestation pod, while these new ones might be carnivorous and highly sturdy.

17:49

purely because I wanna have underground Combine terraformation locations that have been completely overrun by primal growths

17:54

Alyx, seeing a multitude of Combine unit corpses strung up and absorbed partly by roots: "This place is freaking me out..."

When passive, the primal growths act as a proto-communications system for the greater mycelium, picking up psychic orders from supreme monarch alpha Alpha Barney Calhoun. Thanks to Calhoun, the roots do not attack any passive human lifeform, nor vortigaunt. However, when the roots detect Combine lifeforms nearby, they will become agitated and begin various harmful activities upon said Combine (gripping, strangulation, tearing, absorption, acid, etc.)

18:00

Underground settlements overrun with primal growths have an inherent air of "you are a visitor here, so please behave" semi-hostility, and you can smell something growing within the walls.

>think about the entire guard mycelium having pretty good Combine internal workings knowledge thanks to Calhoun's mole job

 delicious

Abyss —  18:30

my friend John hypothesized that the Combine would see the mycelium and all it produces as significant threats, which could've paused the entire terraforming process. Mostly in the retaliation that the primal roots enacted as the Combine attempted to wipe out the mycelium for a second time, which ended up in a lot of Combine units either being driven out forcefully or killed within root-occupied space. it's gonna be a friggin' party when the third generation of barneys pop outta the ground

18:32

Otis is a dumb guy but I think even he knows that the Combine would loooove to get their hands on him in order to produce an infinite amount of barneys that could be used to create soldiers and ground forces, hence why he decided to accidentally stumble his way to the Borealis in order to hide. Conditions surrounding the Borealis are too frigid to support mycelium life, save for Otis himself who is immortal.

18:33

ask Otis and he would not be able to tell you where exactly the Borealis is or how to get there

>post Abyssal Gordon art >regular folks from the Half-Life fandom enjoy it UNEXPECTED BUT NOT UNWELCOME

Defective barneys (sometimes rarely referred to as "elders") are barney instances that have extremely damaged telomeres, and are in the process of reverting to a more fungal state. They're formed either by extremely old barneys, or produced by younger barneys that haven't undergone a telomere refresher in a while. 

Defectives are quite rare due to both Black Mesa "cleanups" that ensures their barney workforce remains healthy, as well as in-colony cannibalism (in which younger members will reclaim the aging fungal flesh for repurposing)

They are just as intelligent and passive as other average barney instances, and are not affected by typical age-related ailments.