[Cosmosdex] The Universal Encyclopedia

[Cosmosdex]

Q-7314
     

Plague Bat / The Obsessive

Q-7314
“I've never met anyone so determined to rip their own skin off and pour disinfectant in the open wound in my life. nvn” — N-2422

Art by, Artem1s

Part of the Notail collection

Emblem by Artem1s
  • Strength-1
  • Intelligence-10
  • Charisma-2
  • Endurance-5
  • Agility-10
  • Luck-10

Age: 279 years
Size: 5'3" ft tall
Species: Notail

Job: Former Notail Leader
Likes: Cleanliness, Sanitation, Hand sanitizer, Soap, Fire, Other people (but only if they're clean)
Dislikes: Clockworks, Disease, Dirty people, Clockworks, Contamination, Being unclean, Clockworks, Loose sanitation regulations, N-classes, Don't forget clockworks
Notable contributions: Q-7314 is a former Q-class leader who made great strides in clockwork containment with minimal collateral damage, only to suffer a mental breakdown that currently leaves them recovering in a church of the Neo.

Traits
[Dedicated] Positive trait
This character is commonly hard-working and is unlikely to fail most of their tasks. This character is also careful with their work and makes less mistakes than most.
[Inventive] Positive trait
This character is able to easily come up with new ideas and may be able to lessen the cost for current items. In a tough situation this character is likely able to use simple items to create make-shift weapons or items.
[Calming Prescence] Positive trait
This character has an effect on other characters ranging from calming the aggressive and adversarial drives of other organic beings, producing a slight euphoric feeling, producing a sense of trust, or slight sedation.
[Clean Freak] Negative trait
This character is obsessed with being clean, and if they do get dirty somehow, they will suffer a sanity loss. This character will also keep their living environment as clean as they're able, and can get frustrated if it's dirtied up.
[PTSD] Negative trait
This character suffers from stress induced by a tramatic event that happened to them. The event and symptoms widely range person to person, but common symptoms include having issues sleeping, overall stress, emotional detachment, heavy anxiety, and may sometimes also include having flashbacks and hostility.
[Softie] Negative trait
This character is easily moved when they see somebody down on their luck. While this character may end up making some friends this way, they will end up helping others even if they can't afford it. This character suffers severe morale losses when made to be "mean", but doesn't feel any obligation to be nice to villainous people.
[Monomaniacal] Negative trait
This character displays an obsessive focus on a single thing or related group of things. It may be difficult to get them to do things unrelated to their obsession, and can be extremely agitated when their obsession isn't "respected".
[Get Well Soon] Ability trait
Whenever this character is injured or gets sick, they will receive treats such as chocolate or honey proportionally to the severity of their injury. This skill does work on paper cuts, but the treats will look gross and taste like cardboard. The character needs an empty inventory slot for this skill to work.

Original Creator: Artem1s


Physical Description

Q-7314 is, for the most part, rather ordinary looking for a notail. They're a short person, with short black hair, and their antennas typically droop forward only to bend sharply downwards near the tip. Q-7314 almost always has a small pack with them, filled with things like markers, hand sanitizer, and cleaning wipes. This pack used to contain a set of matches as well, but currently Q-7314 is not permitted to keep any fire starting supplies on their person.

They can always be seen wearing multiple layers no matter the weather, and they never allow any of their skin to show if at all possible; the only way to tell its color is from their ears, as they even wear gloves to hide their hands. If, despite this, one were to catch a glimpse of their arms anyway, they would see that they're covered in messy, jagged scars, and the skin of their left forearm from the elbow halfway down to the wrist has been replaced with that of a much paler notail. This skin is scarred as well, but the damage is much, much less severe.

All of Q-7314's shirts have the name Q-7 printed on them, as well as the numbers "314" scrawled in washable marker next to it. When asked why they write the extra numbers instead of using a method that doesn't force them to touch it up throughout the day, Q-7314 simply states that they don't plan on remaining Q-7314 for much longer, so there's no point in updating their clothes.

Their mask is that of a white bat with a dark gray snout and ears, as well as a pair of dark gray dots above the eyes, and they always make a ^'u'^ expression.

Personality

Q-7314's entire self is consumed by one desire: to eliminate all clockworks from the universe, permanently. Every single one of their other personality traits are second to this, and if it means getting closer to this ultimate goal, Q-7314 will readily go against their own comfort and morals. To them, nothing in the world matters more.

As part of this, they have a particular loathing for anyone working in clockwork containment that they feel slacks off; nothing in the universe angers them more than a lazy or careless Q-class. It should be noted that Q-7314's hatred extends even to safe clockworks; the only exceptions to their contempt are safe clockworks that work in clockwork containment themselves. In their eyes, clockworks who do this have "redeemed" themselves by "going after their own kind", but they, of course, will still be held to even stricter standards of work ethic than the ones they hold non-clockworks working in containment to.

In addition to their obsession with eliminating clockworks, they are similarly obsessed with cleanliness, sanitation, and hygiene, to the point of following numerous rituals with no other purpose than to ease their intense anxieties, even though they tell themself they need to do these things to stay clean. These include things like washing their hands dozens of times a day, often scratching the skin so hard that it bleeds, as well as frequently bathing and changing their clothes whenever they perceive themself to have become "tainted". Q-7314 is extremely avoidant of what they deem "dirty" situations and stays away from them when possible - and it should be noted that this definition is neither consistent nor rational, as some dirty jobs they are perfectly willing to do while some clean situations they find unbearable - with one major exception: their obsession with eliminating clockworks ranks above their obsession with keeping themself "uncontaminated", and so Q-7314 will gladly take up missions sending them to clean up infected areas despite their fears.

Q-7314 can become aggressive if they feel like either of these obsessions are not being taken seriously, as in their mind, both of these things really are just that important and they find it ridiculous that anyone would disagree. This can result in things like them scolding the Q-classes under their command for only showering once after a mission instead of at least twice or thrice the way Q-7314 themself would, or else becoming frustrated if they feel like a cleanup job that would be thorough by most standards doesn't meet their own. Additionally, although they generally don't blame people for incidents caused entirely by bad luck, if a situation was 90% bad luck and 10% the fault of a certain person, Q-7314 will usually place the entire weight of blame upon them. These combined with their own withdrawal from anything unrelated to work results in Q-7314 having few relationships that aren't strictly professional; their intense neuroses simply make them too stressful to talk to in any other capacity if the person isn't particularly tolerant.

If anyone manages to see past these two great obsessions of theirs - a difficult feat indeed - they would find an overall nervous but softhearted person. Q-7314 is almost completely preoccupied by their anxieties and obsessions, but they do retain a strange sort of gentleness anyway. In their eyes, killing an uninfected person just to get at an infected person is a horrible tragedy, and although they are willing to do it if they feel as though there is no better option, Q-7314 still tries to avoid collateral deaths as much as possible. If an entire city needs to be torched to save the planet, then so be it, but to them, other options should be explored first when the situation allows it. It should be noted that this does not apply to any infected, but innocent, person - Q-7314 has no qualms about ending such people's lives no matter how desperately they may plead.

Q-7314 is currently undergoing treatment for their various mental health issues at a notail church, and is vocal about their desire to leave as soon as possible so they can get back to work. Q-7314's job is the most important thing to them in the world, and being unable to do it grates on them heavily. They will readily tell anyone who asks about how they're definitely well enough to leave, and perhaps even never needed to sent to church in the first place, but records of the incident that sent them there seem to tell a different story.

History

Q-7314 was always unusually gentle for a Q-class. When they were sent to the forest, they were one of the few to actually leave with their mallon alive; back when it first became clear to them that the cause of the diseases ravaging their area of the woods was none other than their own beloved capture creature, they went to the nearest town with a V-class and asked desperately if there was anything they could do. The V-class, perhaps new to the assignment and not understanding how much they were allowed to explain, simply shrugged and said they couldn't perform the surgery that would fix the issue until it was time for Q-7314 to leave, as this was meant to be a forest trial of theirs, and so although Q-7314 left without a solution, they did know one thing: it was possible to fix their capture creature, and as a result they refused to let it die before then.

And so, Q-7314 lay a trap for their own capture creature, barricading it in a cave and leaving only a tiny opening for them to shove food for it through. While it would've been far easier to simply kill it and move on - not only are mallons bred to be flighty and fast to prevent this exact strategy, 100% of the responsibility of feeding it would be up to Q-7314, and it could do them no good when locked up anyway - Q-7314 was determined; they didn't want to allow any kind of pointless death, even if it meant extra hardship for them.

As soon as their time was up, they dragged their mallon out of the woods and to a V-class, where they asked once again for it to be cured of its infectiousness. This time, the V-class acquiesced.

For the most part, this experience defined Q-7314's early missions as a Q-class. Though not entirely soft - that early devotion that caused them to do anything in their power to save their infected mallon was eventually trained out, and they became more than willing to kill the infected no matter how much they begged and torch cities if they truly felt them to be beyond hope - Q-7314 was still committed to saving as many uninfected lives as possible. It was the motto they lived by; if there was any way to eliminate a threat with minimal loss of life, they would do anything in their power to carry that out.

This attitude led them to save a child's life while on a mission one day; it had been mistakenly left behind during an evacuation, and unfortunately wandered in on Q-7314 and their team dealing with a group of infected. Q-7314, upon seeing the child, immediately picked them up, sprinted to the nearest cluster of buildings and shoved them in a hiding place before running back to help their comrades. Together, they and their team were able to eliminate the threat, and when they picked up the child to return to its family, the parents showered Q-7314 in gratitude. They were invited to dinner at the family's home before they and their crew was scheduled to leave, and though the other Q-classes thought it was stupid - in their minds, Q-7314 shouldn't have wasted time on such a thing in the first place - Q-7314's chest burst with pride. This was just another reminder that sometimes, sometimes, the difficult and scary work that defined their life was worth it as long as it meant people like these could continue to exist in peace.

Little did they know, this small action saved their life. Unbeknownst to any member of the team, this particular strain of clockworks was both incredibly resilient and reproduced quickly, so when one notail inadvertently ended up with a trace of it on their hands, everything they touched subsequently was infected as well.

This notail happened to be in charge of meals.

And so, when everyone went to eat that night, everyone who ate anything from the crew rations unknowingly became infected themselves. Only Q-7314 didn't eat, and this was only because they had already eaten dinner with the rescued child's family, and so only Q-7314 remained uncontaminated. That night after the ship had already taken off to head back to Eukaryote, without even realizing, the entire team save for them succumbed to the infection; although some retained enough of their mental faculties to start a fire and jump in, the majority were unable to, and so Q-7314 was left to deal with the problem themself.

In such a confined space with so many infected and such an intense strain, it required a miracle for Q-7314 to survive at all, let alone survive without becoming infected themself, and yet that was exactly what they did. Somehow, they were able to fight off their former crewmates - killing every single one - and last the remaining several hours before the ship would land, and when it did, they stumbled out onto the grass and immediately requested that they be tested for infection.

Several tests were conducted, all with a single result: negative. Despite everything, Q-7314 was completely clean, and they would be permitted to continue their work.

But although Q-7314 was free of any physical evidence of their ordeal, the mental scars were deep. From that day onwards, they refused to eat anything they hadn't prepared themself, and became obsessed with hygiene and contamination. Q-7314 began covering up completely at all times, even to the point of refusing to go outside without gloves on, and wherever they established a living space of their own - be it a small apartment while on leave, a single room while on roomier ships, or even just a bed or the corner of a room while in more cramped conditions - they obsessively sanitized it and refused to allow anyone else in, convinced that no one else was as strict about safety regulations as they were. They developed countless washing rituals, washing their hands constantly and bathing 3-4 times a day, sometimes even more if time permitted. Soon enough all their free time was consumed by their fixation on contamination, but no matter how much unnecessary hardship their many rituals caused them, Q-7314 was unable to stop, unable to cope any other way with the memories of that night.

This was also the root of their obsessive hatred of clockworks, and although Q-7314 never fully lost their gentle determination to always complete a mission with as few civilian deaths as possible, this was where their fear and obsession began to overtake it.

Q-7314 themself suffered greatly as a result of their compulsions and fears, but they also drove them to work harder than they ever had before. In addition to that, they simply lasted much longer than many other Q-classes usually did; they weren't particularly strong or durable, but they were very careful, very focused, very fast, and most of all, very, very lucky, allowing them to survive many missions their comrades could not. This, combined with their single-minded dedication, caused them to catching the higher ups' attention, and they rapidly shot up the Q-class ranks.

Eventually, Q-7314 submitted an application for the position of Q-7. When asked why, their simple answer was that they felt that the Q-7 at the time simply wasn't as dedicated as they were and should prove themself if they really wanted to keep their authority. At this point Q-7314 was well known for their work, enough so that their application was actually looked at, and so both they and Q-7 were given tasks to determine who would be a better fit for the position. Q-7314 completed them all with ease, and after both sets of results were compared, they were eventually promoted.

Their heavy mental health issues caused problems in their personal life, but, at least at first, didn't interfere with their work, which suited Q-7314 - now Q-7 - just fine. When before they had been sweet and social, always with a large number of friends, they became bitter and withdrawn, maintaining some of their previous friendships but establishing no new ones. All they needed to do was stamp out the clockwork threat once and for all; everything else came second.

This worked out, at least for a while.

The number of infected - as well as the number of dead civilians due to clockworks in general - dropped sharply during Q-7314's stint as Q-7. But over the years, Q-7's obsession with cleanliness and anxiety over infection began to grow and grow until it was nearly unmanageable. Their hands and arms needed perpetual bandaging as a result of the wounds they would inflict on themself washing the skin until it bled, and anyone touching their bare skin when they didn't expect it could send Q-7 into a panic attack. Still, for a time they were able to continue their work despite their personal problems, until one day it all came crashing down.

It was a small incident, they insist, just blown out of proportion. Q-7 was simply washing their hands in their ship's kitchen on the way back from a difficult mission, when one of their subordinates walked in seeking a glass of water. When they saw that Q-7 was washing themself so roughly that their claws dug deep gashes into their arms, they yelped and grabbed one of Q-7's hands in an attempt to get them to stop while they called out for someone to get their leader medical attention. This was a bad move; Q-7 shrieked and pushed them away with all of their strength, and immediately began attacking the part of their arm the other notail had touched, roughly ripping out skin and injuring themself terribly. It had been decades since Q-7 had allowed anyone to touch any of their exposed skin, and as a result, their anxieties only had time to swell to the point that when it happened on accident, they were completely unable to deal with it. The ship's medic was able to patch them up, but Q-7 needed to be restrained and had still injured themself so badly in their frenzy that they required a skin graft. Something that serious couldn't be ignored.

As soon as the ship landed on a notail planet, Q-7 was swiftly sent to the N-classes for treatment. It was hoped that half a year at church would be enough - they had been an excellent leader, after all, and a swift return would be ideal - but this problem had been left to fester for over 154 years. It would take far longer than a handful of months to heal.

But Q-7's duties wouldn't wait just because they were in treatment, and when it became apparent that they would need much more than the allotted time to get better, they were stripped of their rank and applications for the spot were opened up. To their utter humiliation, they had gone from Q-7 back to Q-7314, all over what they felt was just a personal issue that they could definitely keep under control, if only given the chance to.

As of now they're still in recovery; as much as Q-7314 may loathe their circumstances, they refuse to leave notail society just to escape treatment. According to them, they might be out of commission for the time being, but they insist that it won't be for much longer; they're determined to be declared well enough to leave, and their first goal upon accomplishing that is to earn their job back.

No matter what.

Special

Perfect, If Only: Q-7314 is very good at coming up with "unusual" solutions to problems, particularly those involving clockwork containment. They have a particular knack for looking at a situation and seeing how best to resolve it with minimal loss of life, both of civilians and of those under their command, and their obsessive focus makes them incredibly thorough when cleaning up an area, ensuring the smallest chance possible of the disease making a resurgence. Their inability to put this to what they feel is its proper use in their current circumstances frustrates Q-7314 endlessly.

Trivia

• Although Q-7314 does not demand that others call them Q-7, and they do not introduce themself as such, they become extremely pleased if anyone does call them by that name. After all, to them, it is only a matter of time before they can reclaim their position.

• Their original mallon died of old age a very long time ago. Unable to tolerate pets after their ordeal, Q-7314 never sought a replacement.

• Q-7314 has been in treatment for three years now. When the cosmosdex team asked the N-classes in charge of their care when it was estimated that they might be released, all they did was shrug and say that it's difficult to treat an illness the inflicted refuses to accept is a problem at all.

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