find out where it all went wrong.
Apr. 1st, 2022 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cogitatiocanon information. Arknights is a wonderful game with a very intense plot that is unfortunately gated behind "get good scrub" and a zillion different mini-events! Operator stories are also gated behind Trust, aka general usage, and as such, it can honestly be really difficult to find different bits of character lore even if you're a seasoned veteran of the game (which I am not: I've only been playing on and off since May 2022). |
PRTS: Dr. {nickname} fell silent. Whether silent protest or refusal to communicate, I believe it is an expression of an autism spectrum disorder. Please, by all means. The system treats all equally.
I know, I know, autism headcanons can be controversial, but this is explicitly stated in-game. For the canonblind, PRTS is essentially an advanced AI program that, uh, runs on the Doctor's phone, but it is also capable of establishing a direct neural connection to the Doctor's brain; as such, even though it's being a little smarmy here, I assume that its diagnosis of the Doctor as being on the autism spectrum is unbiased and probably correct. The Doctor's autism mostly manifests as a tendency to fall silent and hyperfocus on tasks that have been assigned to them, but I also hypothesize that their autism is largely why the Doctor has a tendency to overwork and is rather particular when it comes to food. More on the food topic later. I'm too lazy to collect all the various citations for this, but the Doctor also rarely stops reading even while having conversations with other people, which is also common with people on the spectrum.
The Doctor's official concept art reveals that they're always wearing their combat headset, which comes equipped with a throat mic. This isn't uncommon equipment for combat operations where people might have to whisper or just talk over loud explosions, but since the Doctor is usually kept out of the line of fire and not usually involved in stealth missions, my guess is that the mic is needed because the Doctor's voice is extremely husky (as it is in the anime), making the throat equipment an actual necessity to pick up their voice in the quality needed for any battlefield comms system. The headset also functions as a normal music player, according to Ebenholz's comment about wanting to find out what music the Doctor listens to. I haven't been able to figure out what that bracelet-looking thing is, to be honest. The note next to the long piece of equipment on the bracelet simply reads "old" — after some thought, I think it's actually a case for a recording device, and they normally store it in their ponytail like a pen. (It is implied through various Stories and Operator Records that the Doctor is aware that most of their conversations are automatically recorded.)
A normal day.
Before your eyes is the ceiling of an ordinary living room in Rhodes Island. The furnishings look just as ordinary, though the hum of the ventilation system seems a bit deeper than in other cabins.
You know why. It is one of the most inconspicuous parts of your many peculiarities.
You wash up perfunctorily. This part isn't so different from ordinary people. You take special medication to maintain your condition. This part is a bit different from ordinary people.
Next, you don the full-body protective clothing that hampers your normal activities, but considering your physical condition, it is necessary. It may also be temporary, depending on your recovery.
These are all orders from Dr. Kal'tsit. According to her, you used to know more about these things than she did; but now, only she can look after your health.
'What about it...?'
'Wait, I think I see it.'
'The Doctor's putting on some muscle?!'
'Even though it's just a little bit, that is unmistakably muscle!'
This isn't really obscure information or anything — it's obvious from the very beginning of the game that the Doctor is physically frail, and in the anime, they had to be literally carried throughout most of the evacuation from Chernobog. The Doctor is most likely frail due to muscle atrophy from their time in the Sarcophagus; however, I would like to point out that Kal'tsit has given them full physical clearance to do most things. Their current fragility is mostly just due to a lack of desire to exercise and apply themselves to even getting to a normal baseline of adult human strength. Why work out when there are books and reports to read? Sideroca's story and dialogue with the Doctor suggests that the only way to coerce the Doctor into going to the gym is by bribing them with home-cooked food.
The exact reason as to why the Doctor has to stay in their medical suit isn't really laid out in Vigilo itself, but Roberta's interactions with them suggest that they're extremely sensitive to allergens. They don't seem to have issues eating different and dangerous things, so I guess it's just that their skin is very delicate. (Roberta's interactions with the Doctor are really cute in general!)
This is sort of obvious in the anime, but the Doctor's hair is actually pretty long; their bangs have grown out past their eyes a fair bit and their concept art shows that it reaches their shoulders. They seem to usually keep it tied back in a low ponytail, but Goldenglow's dialogue implies that they're in need of a trim. Since it's usually encased in their hood, I'd surmise that it also tends to be a bit unkempt and unstyled. At least Susie and Roberta are around to keep the Doctor looking decent...
Kal'tsit: Those memories are episodic, chiefly concerning the subjective awareness of your identity, and even more so about all your experiences before you fell asleep in the Chernobog sarcophagus.
The Doctor is actually quite regularly seized by pre-amnesia flashbacks but just kind of keeps it to themselves. Sometimes they try to push their mind to remember more, but it usually doesn't turn up anything more than a few bits of dialogue or the faces of people they don't know anymore. It's emotionally stressful and is part of why they'll stay up late and then sleep at any opportune moment: their dreams regularly turn into stress and anxiety nightmares that they themselves don't really understand. Priestess often speaks in these dreams as well, leaving the Doctor more confused and upset than anything else.
I don't have a specific citation for this because of how regularly it's mentioned by various Operators, particularly the Medics: the Doctor actually doesn't dislike eating. The Doctor will actually binge eat snacks and generally enjoys delicious food. However, they have a tendency to neglect to actually eat when they're distracted by their daily tasks, which means they more often than not wind up eating... like shit, to put it bluntly. Most of the time, the Doctor only eats emergency rations or instant noodles. If they're actively working, they'll usually do whatever it takes to ingest food in less than two minutes and then go back to work. Their tendency to binge eat snacks — even poor Rosmontis's snacks! — is also a manifestation of this unfortunate habit of being unwilling to stop doing something to make themselves a real meal. Funnily enough, I also feel like it's implied that the "extremely dangerous" sanity potions are actually just... sugary energy drinks? Doctor, please eat properly...
This is really stupid because the canonicity of trust taps are a little dubious, but since most Operators tend to react as though they were actually touched... the Doctor will actually, genuinely, randomly give out hugs, touches, and headpats to their Operators as needed. Why? Literally just because they think it's funny. A couple of Operators are probably under the assumption that the Doctor is bad at reading social cues, but the truth is, the Doctor absolutely knows it's weird. They just like being unabashedly, unashamedly weird on occasion. Accept your trust-building touches. Enjoy headpats.
There are scenes in Vigilo that established this from the start, and scenes from Babel that confirmed this, but the Doctor, despite being supremely intelligent and capable, is actually not particularly self-assured. In fact, it would be accurate to say that the Doctor is deeply insecure. Part of the problem with them is that they are intelligent to the point of overprocessing. The Doctor questions themselves constantly; they are not sure that what they are doing is correct; they think and rethink and overthink; they often cry over decisions that they've already made. Most Operators will never see the Doctor fall apart, however, because they are perfectly aware that their legitimacy as a leader in Rhodes Island will be questioned if they are constantly seen having nervous breakdowns, and so they intentionally project the image of being confident and self-assured instead.
