They Turned Out Perfect Aw Yeah.

They turned out perfect aw yeah.

Mutuals I am shoving warm muffins through your screens.

I made double chocolate banana muffins :3 they baked around 40 ish minutes.

Idk I’m just curious. Please reblog if you want

pondering baking crimes (wants to replace flour in a cookie recipe with mostly cocoa)

thoughts continue to percolate on Jobswap AU

So, as aforementioned, Therion is a surgeon apothecary who lost faith in himself and his profession after losing a patient who had some significance to him after a preventable accident and then being accosted by the family in his grief. He gave up the whole thing for several years, living in relative isolation close to Bolderfall. Until one day, when a desperate woman shows up at the door and begs for his help. She had heard he was an apothecary with knife skills, and sought him out immediately. Her younger sister, she says, has a giant growth on her neck, and if it doesn't come off soon, it's going to kill her. Other apothecaries have tried, but they all said it was impossible, that it was too difficult to remove it without damaging her wind pipe or major arteries. Or something. Idk. The point is that this situation is really dire and this kid reminds him of the patient he lost so he pulls the scalpel out 'one last time' to save her. She lives, and he remembers why he took up the mantle to start- the purpose of the apothecary. Doing this, he takes his journey.

Chapters two and three are mostly unrelated, basically chapters of Black Jack. Therion goes from town to town, sometimes charging ridiculous amounts of money for surgery, sometimes performing completely free of charge. He saves whoever he can, and those who abuse his abilities for their own gain find themselves with karmic retribution. Throughout the whole thing, though, there's the undercurrent of something worse happening. Another surgeon like him, traveling and charging ridiculous fees. He's a miracle worker, they say- he provides entire new organs when old ones fail, pulls people back from the very brink of death. But when his patients can't pay up, they mysteriously disappear...

Chapter four. Therion meets Darius. Fellow apothecary, wealthy fellow, personal doctor to the Ciannos. He has a proposal for Therion- they go into business, establish their own practice, charge out the nose and turn away all who don't pay. They both have reputations- Therion is the Beast Apothecary, a medic who works so fast and so precise it's almost inhuman, not afraid to use unorthodox methods to achieve his results. Darius is the Miracle Apothecary, a man who can seemingly bring people back from the brink of death with tools and materials nobody else has. The two of them together could do whatever they want, and who would stop them? Therion declines- he prefers the freedom of traveling where he pleases and doing as he wishes. A partnership would complicate things, and put him on more of a leash than he'd like. Besides, he's heard...rumors about what happens to his patients that don't pay up. Darius threatens him and leaves, and Therion investigates later on. Maybe follows some goons from the home of someone who hasn't paid, maybe scopes out Darius's 'hideout' by putting together information given to him by locals. Either way, he gets in, and discovers that Darius has been kidnapping the patients who don't pay up and harvesting their blood and tissue and organs. Horrifying! He fucking kills Darius. Darius tries to give him that 'you're no better than me' schtick but it doesnt work because he's regained his faith! In himself! In his profession! And I'm American so in my head it's a whole criticism of the for-profit healthcare industry!!! FUCK you Darius

Because I like it when stories cross over and it isn't actually a game trying to make sure you can complete all the stories in whatever order you want, Darius is also a major player in Alfyn's story! Alfyn lost his parents to the plague that swept through Clearbrook as a child. He survived thanks to a traveling apothecary, but he had nowhere to go after that ('but what about zeph' idk shh dont worry about it), and ended up turning to a life of petty theft after hitching a ride to Saintsbridge. He joins up with a group of thieves called the Red Hoods, as their newest and youngest member. They're all pretty cool people, somewhere between Robin Hood and Ye Olde Mutual Aid Organization. They look out for themselves and the little guy, steal from the rich, give to the poor, skim a bit off the top.

These guys are his best friends for years, he hones his skills as a thief, learned how the world works and how to help, basically everything he knows he learned from the Red Hoods. All is well until six years before present day, when Alfyn is fifteen. The Red Hoods plan a heist on the Ciannos, a crime family that's been terrorizing locals and hoarding money. Alfyn is briefly held up by helping a kid do something, look for their cat or whatever but makes it to the meeting point in time to see that they were lured into a trap. He peeks from behind a doorway, seeing a red-haired figure laugh about how gullible they were, how trusting and naive they all were for trusting each other. All of his friends are beaten and bloodied, some already dead. One sees him from the doorway and tells him to run, to get out while he still can. To keep the Red Hoods alive. Unable to act, Alfyn flees, only barely evading becoming a victim himself.

Years later he's still saddled with grief and survivor's guilt, thinking that if he had just said no to the kid who asked for help, if he had just taken a different route, if he had just been there to scout ahead, if, if, if. He's carried on the name of the Red Hoods as a one-man gang, unable to bring himself to allow anyone else into his heart that he could just lose in an instant again. He leaves calling cards after robbing the wealthy and unjust blind and redistributing it among the lower class. He does this until he happens to redistribute the wealth from the one family he shouldn't have- the Ravuses. From here it's basically Therion's story, except with Alfyn. You know how it goes. Get the Dragonstones and we'll remove the Blackmail Bracelet.

The end of his story coincides with Therion's story (also thematically appropriate bc im incapable of not giving them a slow burn romance) when they finally confront Darius. Darius comments on how the 'little coward thief' or whatever finally grew a spine, and how he can meet his end like the rest of his little friends. No longer afraid, Alfyn loudly declares that as long as he's alive, the Red Hoods will never die, and in a moment of solidarity, the rest of the party declares that they too are Red Hoods. Its very touching and inspirational and worthy of some Toby Fox music and then they beat the everloving shit out of Darius.

I am aware there are several holes in this story. And to that I say: Don't Worry About It.

hi! I would be VERY interested in hearing the symbolism in therion’s pokemon team!

So the FIRST member of Therion's team is Hisuian Zoroark. This is non-negotiable for me if you dont give him one of these im blocking you on sight (lying)

So there is of course the obvious symbolism of HZoroark's lore, which is that a unovan zorua/zoroark died while consumed by anger or hatred, for humans, for pokemon, or both. This is very much something that Therion went through BUT in my mind his relationship with Ember (her name) goes deeper. He's known this Zorua since he was a child, probably found it alone and scared in the forest. Might've been each other's only friends. Either way, he and Ember are practically inseparable. They travel together, thieve together, eat together, whatever. They're still inseparable during Therion's time with Darius, as much as Darius tries to keep Therion's social circle to him alone. When the betrayal happens, she's there for it too. She tries to defend Therion, uses her illusions and tries to hurt Darius, but she's no match for his Arbok and is sent falling after her human.

Therion probably wouldn't have survived that fall if it wasn't for Ember.

She wasn't as lucky as he was, dying on impact. But it didn't last long. Therion didn't even regain consciousness before she had reincarnated into Hisuian Zoroark, filled with hatred towards humans, who only ever hurt her and her best friend. She probably took care of Therion while he recovered, used her illusions to keep the scavengers at bay and brought him water, berries, help, if she could find it. She accompanies him all over Orsterra, and even though she's very wary of the other travelers at first, she listens to Therion, who says they're okay and won't hurt them. By the end (but sooner than Therion) she's warmed up to them enough that she'd start making pleasant illusions for them (she is like her human in that she puts up a tough exterior but is a big softie with a 'giving gifts' love language).

Until the end of Therion's story, she's the only pokemon he ever has that he has ever given a proper name (he will name a Meowth Linde later). He believes - and was likely taught by Darius - that giving them names will get you attached to them, make you think of them as more than tools. Make you rely on them. And you can't let yourself do that, think that anything in the life of a thief is more than temporary. Not that it's worked - he says he doesn't care about his pokemon, but he's a dedicated trainer who cares deeply about all of them.

And the one who illustrates this best is Crobat, the second-oldest member of his party.

The thing about Crobat is that it's a high-friendship evolution pokemon. They can be found in the wild in theory, but in practice, that trainer will probably have put it a lot of time and care for it to evolve into this. A lot of time and care and affection for a pokemon like Zubat, which is a common annoyance. How many jokes in the world where we DONT have pokemon flying around exist about how annoying zubat are? He caught this pokemon that's considered a pest- maybe on accident, maybe out of desperation for more firepower, maybe fully on purpose - and raised it with the care and attention that let it become Crobat. i dont want to say the same thing three times so ill just leave it at that. I think Therion has a habit of befriending pokemon that he sees some of himself in.

Third member of the party is Mimikyu!

Am I perhaps already personally biased towards ghost types? yes. Do I think Therion would be mostly ghost and dark types regardless? also yes.

The thing with Mimikyu is like...god I could probably just copy the bulbapedia entry for its biology word for word and you'd get why I added it. This is a pokemon that only ever wears a mask. You do not see it outside of its facade. If you try to see it under the mask, it will lash out to stop you. It takes great care to maintain its facade, spend time and energy and effort, as if its very life depended on nobody being able to know it. It's hard to keep up the facade. It's so, so hard, and it's even harder to do it right. So it cries, on the inside. But to show the world that you might be weak is tantamount to suicide, so it stays strong outside.

anyway. I like the mental image of Therion patching up Mimikyu's mask for it. Lets it borrow his scarf while he sews it back up. Taking the time and attention to detail for his little friend, who he insists he does not care about. Darius probably mocked Therion for catching such a pathetic-looking pokemon. and then he found out Mimikyu knew wood hammer and Darius shut his stupid mouth about it forever.

Runerigus is Therion's fourth pokemon.

I know that Unovan Yamask is maybe slightly more relevant to Therion thematically (death mask ghost who longs for a time before), but it's very hard to overlook the evolutionary conditions for Runerigus- Traveling to a certain spot in a desert/canyon area after taking at least 49 HP worth of damage. I'd still argue that there's thematic relevance with Galarian Yamask being a vengeful spirit. Maybe. Therion isn't so much looking for revenge as he is looking to rebuild his life. Still, I think it's all relevant enough to warrant a spot in his party.

Number five is Ceruledge!

Ceruledge is a pokemon that's more representative of Therion in terms of combat and mechanics than it is narratively (i mean. all ghost types are thematically relevant to him but you get it).

I'm just gonna quote bulbapedia here:

"Ceruledge is merciless and will do anything to win a battle. It prefers to do close-quarters combat, with a mix of sneak and surprise attacks. By using its quick speed to locate a foe's blind spots, it will then move closer before slashing them with its large swords. Any cuts from Ceruledge's swords will cause wounds that leak life energy, which the swords then absorb."

Idk man. Sounds like Therion to me

Aaaaand last up is Honchkrow!

Like. The initial thought here really was just 'haha funny crime bird' but like. what are the two thief animals. cats and crows. and what is therion if not either or both of those. i dont have any deeper thoughts on honchkrow lol

That! Is all I have for now i might redo some other ones like olberics but right now therions the one i have Mega Brainworms about so. thank u for asking ilu :)

Adding from my textbook because screw it I'm thinking of it now

But also it has to ferment longer than regular doughs! So if you put it in the fridge. That could be the issue.

Recipe from my textbook cut in half because otherwise you have 2 pounds of bread owo; :

Bread flour: 10 ounces

Water: 4 ounces

Instant yeast: 0.13 ounces

Egg yolks: 2 ounces (iirc that's like... 4 chicken egg yolks)

Sugar: 0.75 ounces

Malt syrup (can likely sub corn syrup, honey, or more sugar): 0.07 ounces

Salt: 0.2 ounces (1 teaspoon)

Vegetable oil: 1 ounce

Throw everything into your bowl (a stand mixer with a dough hook will save your arms) and combine together. Do not put salt on top of yeast. Water should be warm but not hot/boiling. If using a stand mixer it takes about 5 minutes to combine everything together on the lowest setting then you knead the shit out of it for 15 minutes. It has to ferment around 1 and a half hours at room temperature.

Then you shape the dough as desired, let rise again, and apply an egg wash before baking. Bakes at 400F or 200C

If you don't have a scale there's 8 ounces to a cup 2 Tablespoons to an ounce 8 teaspoons to an ounce I'm sleepy so the recipe is now a math problem.

Good Luck.

colby i need your help i keep baking challahs and they keep coming out flat. what am i doing wrong

There can be a number of issues at play here. The main one I can think of is if the yeast gets killed thus preventing the dough from rising. It could be underworked. I can grab a recipe in the morning with step by step instructions from my old textbook. Sometimes people just have bad luck with certain recipes (looks at one of my aunts).

Things that kill yeast: water too hot. Salt too close.

If too cold the yeast will be slow to activate. They sleepy. (You can put dough in the fridge to slow fermentation. This is the opposite of putting it in a proofer, which is warm and humid)