Z 92111 - OUROBOROS

you add a bunch of genes to a human and what do you get?

a big monter fish lady

anyways, this is Crane after a substantial amount of damage/time. as it turns out giving a human that's been heavily genetically modified regeneration levels of a planarian isn't a great idea, but the idea was there!

cyrophobia

oh if this has more lore i would love to know this is so cool

cyanide-cafe

Yes!! She actually has a significant amount of lore. She's one of my more fleshed-out Pressure characters :] Born in 1965, [REDACTED] "Crane" Sorrows was born into a family with a long, disastrous past of prion disease. For those unaware, prion diseases are neurodegenerative diseases caused by misfolded protein accumulating in the brain. The most known prion diseases include Chronic Wasting Disease, found in deer, Mad Cow Disease, found in cows, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease, which is usually caused in humans by exposure to Mad Cow-infected meat. Specifically, Crane's maternal side of the family has been plagued with Fatal Familial Insomnia, or FFI. She wasn't entirely sure if she had it too, but she basically grew up with the lingering threat of her loved ones succumbing to it, several of which did. FFI progresses in 4 key stages, generally starting at the age of 40 or so, and starts with insomnia and anxiety, followed by hallucinations caused by lack of sleep. Then, the brain is physically incapable of sleep, and the person rapidly begins to burn weight to stay awake. Due to the lack of sleep over three months, the brain starts to basically fall apart at the seams, resulting in dementia and an almost unresponsive state. Comatose. Then, death.

From her hardship, she became interested in Urbanshade. She'd heard from a family friend who worked there, Valdis Morrow, that the company had the potential to cure such illnesses. If she could stomach some morbid sights, she could help or lead these efforts.

She started her job with Urbanshade sometime in 1991. Though she became quickly aware of the fact that Urbanshade wasn't what it seemed, she continued with her work, lost in the idea that even though a few suffered, thousands would benefit... eventually ascending to the role of Senior Genetecist in 2001.

Most of her experiments were on lab mice, as Crane herself couldn't stomach hurting someone she was intending to help. She had done the occasional experiment on herself to prove its effectiveness, but nothing to the extent of her final research topic: Immortality.

Of course, she wasn't interested in immortality itself. She found the concept of immortality cruel. But if she could secure her job by telling Urbanshade executives that she's working on immortality for Mr. Shade himself..

In reality, she was researching the regenerative properties of Planarians, or flatworms. She grew curious as to whether or not Planarian DNA could be used to reverse or counteract neural degeneration. With a confirmed diagnosis of FFI on September 21st, 2011, she decided the best plan of action was to test the near-finalized "IUK" DNA set on herself. For the things she was incapable of doing, she recruited Valdis to help her with it.

And, to an extent, it was successful. Her FFI never progressed. With some cosmetic changes to sort out, she could be happy knowing that all of this research, all of this suffering around her- it led to something good. It just needed some finishing touches and it could be perfect. She could do some real good out there.

And she did make some edits. It was very nearly finished by October 2025. And then, well... you know. Sebastian. The blacksite falling.

When she was "released" from her "cell", which was just her bedroom, that she was not at all trapped in, Sebastian was quick to assume she was an experiment. And with his.. demeanor, and the blood on him, she quickly took this role as her new identity. She couldn't let her research go to waste.

By 2025, her form had changed quite a bit since 2011/2012. She started off a little chunky, before losing most of her weight during her experiments. Before the events of Pressure, she started to bulk up again, and after Sebastian released her, her form started to change for the worse. The stress of the situation, and the countless injuries she obtained started to take a toll on her.

She hadn't thought that the regeneration would regenerate inhuman DNA. The DNA it was bound with, specifically [Flatworm, Shark, Nudibranch, Man'o'war, Velvet Worm] started to take over her already inhuman features, erasing the little humanity she had left, and her personality was soon to be erased as well.

The last thing she did before she was officially "lost" to her mutations was pray to the Guardian Angel. She wasn't religious, but all she could do was beg for forgiveness. She should have left, she shouldn't have given her research to Urbanshade. She feels she is at least indirectly responsible for most of the suffering in those facilities, and she isn't wrong: most of her research was used to start new experiments, likely including Sebastian.

She doesn't know what the Guardian Angel said. She hopes it was forgiveness, but knows she doesn't deserve it.

On a lighter note, she does end up friendly with Eyefestation to an extent. Her regeneration renders her immune to Eyefestation's radiation :] Sebastian does eventually find her research and sends it out to Innovation Inc. He avoids her when possible, despite her usually non-aggressive nature.

She's a threat to Expendables though. They're small, and food sized. Oh well!

cyrophobia

oh my goodness!! thank you so much!! i'm going to love reading this... i love hearing about ocs and their lore, especially pressure ocs since they can be really unique [and this one certainly caught my attention]

cyanide-cafe

i'm happy you asked about my fishe lore!!! i do tend to loredump occasionally and the opportunity to loredump on my sad monster fish was not one I could ignore!! thank you for asking :D