Medic

Reblog if you’re taller than Crash Bandicoot

I'm trying to write a post about tick safety and avoiding tick bites, but a lot of the info on websites is like "Avoid going in the woods, in plants, and where there are wild animals" and "Activities like hiking and gardening can put you at risk" and I'm like thanks! This is worthless!

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

If you're careful, you can usually catch ticks before they bite you, but if one does bite you, it's not the end of the world. Since tickborne diseases are different regionally i suspect this advice will differ based on where you are, but the important thing is remove the tick with tweezers (DON'T use butter, a lit match, or anything that kills the tick while it's still attached, please) and contact a doctor to see what to watch for. Most illnesses you can catch from ticks are easily treatable if you recognize them when symptoms first appear

Thinking about medic being afraid of mortality.

Not in the normal way that humans are, but like... You know.

He's done everything in his power to make sure he *won't die*

He's made deals with religious entities he doesn't even believe in, he's gone against every law of science he can possibly break to find out what combination of organs and chemicals and horrible unethical surgeries will make someone invincible. He's done everything he can, and maybe it's enough.... For him.

But then he fell in love.

He fell for Scout. He fell for a clumsy little idiot who doesn't have any sense of self preservation. Scout charges headlong into a stream of bullets guarded by nothing but his thin, Mann Co issue t shirt and the hope he's fast enough to dodge it all. He's not, he never is, and Medic is so constantly aware of it.

But he can't recreate everything he did on scout. Scout isn't going to be the invincible übermensch that he made himself into, scout is always just gonna be a skinny kid from Boston with a buck toothed smile that, for some reason, medic can't stay away from.

He's waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, furiously checking Scouts pulse and making sure he's okay, because what if he just... Fades away? What if he's just gone one moment and that's it? All his work is for nothing because he can't enjoy it with anyone? He can't enjoy being alone anymore, not now that he's waking up every day with a muffled "mornin' tough guy, you sleep good?" in his ear. He can't live as the most powerful man in the world anymore, not if it means he can work late at night without Scout coming in and blabbering in his ear about something he has no interest about. Not if it means he's got to sleep alone again. Not if it means that he has to go back to being blissfully unattached, apathetic to human life, just doing whatever benefits *him*.

Because things were definitely easier without Scout, he didn't have any worries, any panicked nightmares about watching him bleed out because he's so painfully and horribly *human*

But as stressful as it is, hes... Happy. And he's never had that before. He's been content, he's been curious, he's been manic and obsessed, but never just... Happy. Happy to lay on the couch with a comforting weight on his chest, the weight of a much smaller man who loves him for everything he does no matter how insane. And he loves scout too, despite everything.

He can't function anymore. Everything he knew, everything he's been working for, it's all.... Worthless now, isn't it? All for a boy half his age with the emotional awareness of someone even younger.

But he would still choose scout. Every time.

WOAH! I love your art style

Devours it

But seriously tho, THANK YOU SO MUCH it means a lot to know that people like my art style thank you :]!!!!! This is my persona? That I just made up btw ›:]

Who Is Scout's Ma?

She's a character we know extremely little about, however when you stop to consider the IMPLICATIONS of what little we DO know, things start to get interesting:

1. She lives in the roughest part of Boston ("if you were from where I was from, you'd be dead") but dresses quite elegantly.

2. She had 8 boys, all of whom she raised BY HERSELF, and yet somehow she finds the time to maintain this impeccable appearance.

3. Scout clearly loves and admires her to a point where it's one of the few things he'll drop his "tough guy" act for, and dialogue in the comics like "Ma's gonna kill me if she finds out" implies he also still fears her disapproval, despite being a fully autonomous adult.

4. Spy, despite what he likes to pretend, is clearly head-over-heels for her. He even had her likeness engraved on his fanciest gun! (Note the distinct hairband & hoop earrings) For a man who avoids attachment to the point where he never lets anyone see his face, that's an unusual degree of infatuation.

5. None of Scout's brothers left Boston while he was growing up, despite a few of them presumably being adults by then. Not only this, they were still all getting into fights together, implying they were both continuing to live with or near their mother and brothers, AND had reasons to brawl with others beyond just some adolescent street scuffle.

My Theory:

Scout's Ma is the matriarch of a Boston-based crime family.

It explains her elegant appearance, how she and Spy were able to meet, why their bond clearly goes beyond a one-off fling, why she was able to be in Scout's life so much despite the financial burdens of being a single mother of 8, and why all of said 8 were continuing to get into fights with other locals. They weren't just some street gang, they were enforcers. It also explains why/how Scout got into mercenary work, his many mafia-themed weapons, and why he continues to fear her ire even as an adult.

Plus, take a look at this unused angle of the last photo from Meet The Spy:

You'd THINK a single mother from the rough side of Boston wouldn't appear so in-her-element on a fancy date with The Spy, and yet her appearance and demeanour here just SCREAM "confident and in control."

Scout's Ma is Boston's Godmother, and I desperately wish to see someone draw her as such.

These are some TF2 References that I've made! I've also posted them on Twitter If y'all are interested! I hope this helps you draw the mercs a bit easier, I know it's definitely helped me out!!!

debating if it would be funnier to have a bumper sticker saying "my other ride is a [exact make and model of the car the sticker is on]" or "my other ride is a [equally shitty but different car]"

Whomp whomp 2.0

SNIPERMEDIC

love at first deathtaunt