#BUT CAN DO THAT WITH DOUBLE AMPUTEE TOO

[monty-glasses-roxy]

(Non-animal animatronics turned organic anon) I'm glad you'r fine with It, I was worried my previous ask was coming off as criticism for something that as far as I know you already figured It out.

Also If you don't mind suggestions maybe you could have the daycare attendants new forms look like their previous form but organic, for example their head would be wide instead of a faceplate, the rays resembling petals, their nose pointed in the middle instead on their right, the cracks replaced by scars, and their missing foot... Well It's still missing and Its now a stub, those boys need a prosthetic leg, or crutches, or a wheelchair? Again this is just a suggestion so you don't have to write them like that If you don't want to and instead stick to the anthropomorphic animal idea.

Interesting suggestion!! Not sure what I'll do in the end. We'll see when I get there I suppose ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And yeah some kind of crutches for them at least. The Meteor isn't erasing disabilities at all, meaning your attendant keeps the missing foot! I'll have to look up specifically foot amputee accessibility needs since it's been a while since I looked up stuff for leg amputees and I don't know if that'll be exactly the same anyway, but yeah! Forgot about that so thanks for the reminder!!!

I was thinking the physical changes between the three could also be like a chamelon? Just fades into the right shades and stuff? I dunno really. They could be a cyborg of sorts, giving them the ability to eat and what not, but still retain things like the spinning rays and stuff. That could be fun. Dunno how I'd do that, but we'll see!

There's plenty of options for them and I dunno where it'll all fall when I get there, so it's like a mystery for all of us I guess lmao

[cy-cyborg]

Please stop using disabilities you don't have as comparisons.

I saw a video trying to explain that autistic people don't make eye contact because it can be painful for them (good, this is true) and telling them to "just do it anyway" is ridiculous, saying "you wouldn't tell a wheelchair user to "just walk, its better for you" so don't tell autistic people to just make eye contact".

But people do. They do all the time. It's well documented that doctors will withhold their ok for patients to get a wheelchair (which is needed unless you're paying out of pocket, because insurance and most public disability services like the NDIS need proof from a doctor). I've known people who can hardly walk and are having to fight because the doctor still insists it better for them to walk, even if it's painful and sevearly limiting their quality of life.

Then in the comments, someone pointed out that people do say that to wheelchair users (good, this is true) but then continued on by saying "unless you just don't have legs" which is just as bad as the origonal.

I had to fight to get my first wheelchair as a double leg amputee, and every wheelchair since then I've had to justify not wanting the "better option" (prosthetics) to the government so they'll approve me for the funding. Doctors and even strangers too, all want to know why I'm not walking, why I'm not using prosthetics all the time. When I go on trips with my family I'm told to "just walk" so they don't have to pack my wheelchair. at my own graduation from university I was chastised by the organisers for not bringing my prosthetics (because wearing them was exceptionally painful back then and i hadnt worn them in nearly 3 months. I had asked before if this would be ok. they knew) because the venue was accessible but not the part of the venue the graduates were in. On the topic of university they also put my class in the only non-wheelchair accessible room and held meetings i was expected to take part in, in the non-accessible lunch room. When I complained, I was told to just use my legs for a few minutes so I could get into my classes. Being an amputee with no legs didn't shield me from these experiences either, it often made it worse.

I have all 3 of the disabilities mentioned (autistic, wheelchair user, amputee). If you don't have the disability you're using for a comparison, don't use it. Please

[razorblade180]

Random MHA chapter 427 thoughts (spoilers duh)

Midoriya is a better man than me because I’m not getting called a murderer hatefully by someone who worshiped The Hero Killer. Sir, your idol tried to kill my friend’s brother who’s just a nice person.

“You should make it a comic” is unironically a really cold response. That’s crazy.

It makes complete sense society does not give a fuck about Tomura. There’s a difference between sympathy and empathy; even if they learned everything, it’s a hard sell to make people care about someone who took their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, etc.

I do find it a little obtuse to pin society for people like Tomura and Dabi specifically when the main reason they were such a problem is literally because the personification of evil (AFO) was plotting on these for decades. Yeah Endeavor is major key for Dabi but that boy would’ve burned to death as a child or been found by his dad/firemen if AFO wasn’t being unhinged. Honestly if we’re talking about Hero Society failing anyone specifically by its structure, it’s Toga cause not having any solution for child development regarding taboo quirks like hers is insane. Spinner’s issue essentially racism and that’s a complex problem before hero society. That’s just a societal problem in general! I personally can’t pin that blame on hero society specifically.

I see so many people hating on Deku after reading this and I just don’t get it. The 15 year old boy literally did everything he could and gave up everything but his life for a person who by no means was going to turn over a new leaf and did not feel bad about his actions.

Overhaul has been nothing but a mentally broken/unstable double amputee that’s been in confinement ever since he lost. Don’t really understand why there’s a need to kick this guy more since the villain he was has been dead forever. He’s also objectively done less atrocities and yet nobody seems to feel bad for him. Dude was also an orphan taken in by organized crime too but since he abused a child we got to learn about he deserves no sympathy? Okay. Oh we’re supposed to feel absolutely devastated by Tomura though? Pfft, I’m not. “You should feel bad about Eri forever.” Okay, but can you he do that with prosthetics and a mental institution since Y’know… he doesn’t have a quirk.

Seriously, if the message is “society should do better when it comes to how villains happen” then at least give Overhaul the ability to eat without help. I agree with the idea of Eri not seeing him but like… that dude could rebuild Japan quickly with his quirk. That MF could probably fix Dabi if he tried. Maybe I’m not hero material cause with Eri’s consent, I would’ve negotiated giving his arms back so he could fix grandpa; but before he gets to save grandpa he fixes the country and gravely injured heroes. Does it cheapen some events? Perhaps. Do I want Bakugo and Deku to not have medical problems at 22? Also yes. I’m typically not big on undoing lots of things but it’s not like the heroes didn’t earn a portion of their life back. You can spin it positively. If Endeavor isn’t in a wheel chair, then nobody has to aid him cause I’m pretty sure his wife and Todoroki are just nice enough to wheel him around but they could be doing better things.

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! So, I have a character that lost both part of her right arm and right leg in a battle. Now, she has prosthetics but doesn‘t wear them all the time (to my understanding that is pretty common for people with limb diffrences), so I‘m wondering what kind of mobility aid she could use while not wearing them and I‘m not really sure. Crutches kind of need both arms, so it would require her to still wear her arm-prosthetic. And to my understanding manual wheelchairs need to be moved with both arms (one for each wheel) or you‘ll just go in circles. But at the same time, a electric wheelchair kind of feels like it would be too much? Do you maybe have some advice for this?

Hi!

Someone with the use of one arm can use a manual wheelchair!

It could be modified to have something known as the one arm drive. That could be either a lever that's attached to the wheels, or a double hand rim on the active side. There are also some additional modifications to the latter, where it allows you to steer with the foot.

If you're looking for this kind of solution, I would recommend researching resources for wheelchair users with hemiplegia rather than a double amputation like that. It's just infinitely more common, so you will get a lot more results while having largely the same main solutions.

There are some other options - a manual wheelchair can be used without hands at all. Now, it depends on the length of her residual limb, but there are quadruple amputees who use protective covers for their stumps and push the wheelchair by pushing the wheels rather than grabbing the hand rims. If you look at athletes like Bob Lujano, you can see that their wheelchairs are slightly modified to accommodate that. So maybe that could be an option as well if her amputation isn't too high?

Lastly, I don't think a powerchair would be "too much". I would agree that a group 3 powerchair designed for people with very complex neurologic disabilities wouldn't make much sense (because it wouldn't fit her needs), but there's a ton of different wheelchairs out there. There are lightweight, low-backrest powerchairs as well that she could use. Pushing a manual wheelchair with two arms is a lot of work already, let alone with only one - I think that it would be simply easier on her (and her shoulder) to use a powerchair. I don't want to make any assumptions, but I would recommend looking into and reflecting on why a bigger mobility aid that would work for her feels like "too much"?

I hope this helps! :-)

mod Sasza

[vigilantempathy]

Headcanon on Daniel Molloy's Sexual Orientation

TLDR: Bisexual (/pansexual/omnisexual/...) people exist. Spoilers for IWTV Season 2!

HC: Daniel Molloy is a bi guy who was comfortable being openly queer and very active in the queer community in the "Free Love" scene of the 1970s. However, the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s led to him effectively re-closeting himself. And his failed marriages and inability to maintain intimate relationships made him choose to be alone, which let him avoid reassessing his sexual orientation/identity.

In the 1970s, Daniel met Louis and Armand for the first time in a gay bar. During the first 1973 scene, in S1E6, the bartender at Polynesian Mary's asks Daniel "Do you have money tonight, Danny?" indicating he's there often enough to have a reputation and be known on a first-name basis, so he's not just there because "it was a good place to score" like he lies to Louis during their present-day interview. (Contrast with the nondescript and anonymous recountings of the blacked-out fragments of memory punctuating the rest of Daniel's drug-fueled escapades.) In S2E5, young!Daniel makes obvious passes at both Louis and Armand, telling Louis "I can cheer you up" and taking his shirt off; offering to Armand, "I could be on my knees in a second".

It's not like Daniel was trying to pass for heterosexual in 1973.

In the ad for Daniel's pay-to-order journalism class at the start of S1E1, the first few news clippings selected to show his journalism cred are about the HIV/AIDS crisis and are oriented towards representing LGBT+ activism in response to it, indicating that this was a focus of Daniel's early journalism. In S2E5, one of 1973!Daniel's interview tapes that Armand grills him on focuses on Kevin, a Vietnam vet and his double-amputee Vietnamese refugee boyfriend who live in the Castro together. (The Castro is the historically gay neighborhood in San Francisco where queer activist Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official in California.)

Daniel, even as early as the 1970s and throughout the increased stigmatization of homosexuality in the 1980s, wanted to tell the stories of the queer community.

But telling the stories of the queer community in the 1980s meant telling the stories of lives and loved ones lost to the AIDS crisis, before research had yielded medical management regimens or any understanding about how to prevent the spread of HIV. AIDS was still seen as "the gay plague". AIDS was still a death sentence.

And Daniel likes women, too. And had the readily available excuse of any of his queer relationships/encounters/community in the 1970s being about the drugs, or a result of them. He could claim he was an addict willing to do anything for drugs rather than a queer man who had an easier time acting on his non-heterosexual attractions while high. And he's the reporter who catches the stories that slip through the cracks, he made a name for himself getting the angle none of the mainstream outlets can see, so he could still engage with the queer community as an "interviewer" and "journalist" and straight-passing "ally". He could likely publish more articles and books at that time as an ally journalist telling the queer perspective than he would have as a stigmatized/blacklisted openly queer journalist. Being an "ally" would give him access to platforms and audiences that would never hear a queer perspective otherwise.

Even though Daniel re-closeted himself and "passed" for decades as a straight ally, he never turned his back on the queer community or stopped trying to tell queer stories or represent queer lives.

But that let him continue to justify his re-closeting to himself as "I can do more good for the queer community as an ally." And even as the AIDS crisis shifted into AZT, then single-pill ART, then PrEP, even as HIV became a manageable chronic illness, even as decades passed and times changed and LGBTQ+ representation changed, Daniel stayed closeted.

And in that time he fell genuinely in love with Alice, who initially refused to marry him even though she wanted to because he'd given her no reason to trust him, eventually agreed to marry him, and later divorced him. Decades later, he still gets emotional talking about Alice. And then he got married, again, and divorced, again. He says he "ruined two marriages" and "fucked up two daughters." All that mattered was his work. It was his lifeline. It was his legacy. Interpersonal relationships were not.

He ruined all his romantic relationships. He ruined his families. And it was easier to be alone after that, and it was an easy excuse for why he continued to choose to be alone. But it was also a continuation of the logic behind his initial intentional re-closeting during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s: "I can do more good this way."

1980s Daniel: "I can do more good telling the queer perspective as an ally than as a member of the queer community. If I'm just an ally, people will actually read these stories."

2020s Daniel: "I can do more good alone. If I try dating again, I'll just wind up ruining someone else. And there are still stories that need to be told; work can keep me busy."

He was openly bisexual/queer in the 1970s, then bisexual/queer but intentionally "straight-passing" and in exclusively heterosexual relationships from the 1980s until the show's present-day, and still bisexual/queer throughout his interviews with Louis and Armand.

Bisexual orientation, attraction to multiple genders, and queer identity don't go away when a bisexual person is in heterosexual relationships/homosexual relationships/single. Daniel in a gay bar in the 1970s was bisexual; Daniel in love with Alice in Paris was still bisexual; Daniel married to women and ultimately divorced from them was still bisexual; Daniel in S2E5 being obviously disappointed to learn that he and Louis didn't get it on in the 1970s and making big vulnerable eyes at him in present-day when he jokes, "do you want to [have sex] now?" is still bisexual.

But now it's 2022 and Daniel's ruined two marriages and estranged from his kids and opted to be alone for a long time and may as well have been married to his work, and he's just been diagnosed with Parkinson's and he's anticipating dying alone.

And instead he flies to Dubai, has a bunch of really long therapy sessions with two absurdly gorgeous openly gay vampires (both of whom he has made passes at, back when he was still openly queer), many of which focus on the vampires' respective sexual orientation journeys of self-discovery and coming out, even more of which focus on stupid-hot queer gothic romances between various configurations of stupid-hot gothic romantic queers , and one of which involves him meeting Louis and Armand in a gay bar in the 1970s back when he was still openly queer. Mortal-ass, Parkinson's-impaired, forever-alone, septuagenarian Daniel Molloy brings his factchecking skills and token snark to a duel with an angelically beautiful 500-year-old master gaslighter with superpowers and Daniel fucking WINS, and if that isn't Viagra for the soul, I don't know what is. And instead of dying alone, Daniel Molloy gets to live forever.

Louis comes to see vampirism as a gift because it allows him time to work through his issues and become someone he can learn to live with.

Daniel might come to see vampirism as a gift because it gives him time (and a community, and motivation in the form of an assortment of really hot vampires who are suddenly all single thanks to Daniel's mad homewrecking/therapy skills) to figure out how to live an openly bisexual/queer life.

So it's 2024, Daniel Molloy is newly immortal and invincible and has the virility of a fledgling and wants to explore his queer identity. The rest of the world better hydrate well and buckle the fuck up.

[octahyde]

Do you have any original characters for TWST?

(As a preface I do have another OC I ship with Chenya, Beau Rhodes, but… I haven’t done much with him besides conceptualizing him. Maybe I should do more since I don’t talk about it enough but TreyRid really really is my romantic canonxcanon TWST OTP and I love it desperately even if I never talk about it. I’ve also been fucking around lately with middle freak Ortho having a form he can use on the surface but ehhh that’s not really an OC thing.)

Ok here it is… The #yumeshit lore post. I actually wanna start getting into like the yume community on BlueSky or something because it has a lot more male yumes than tumb (or rather twit does but my main is a permalocked personal and they’re all slowly but surely jumping ship to BlueSky LMAO), so I might as well explain The Lore in detail. 

As a preface I spend a LOT more time thinking about them when they’re older, because 1) self actualization and 2) why would I EVER want to willingly think about being a teenager again. I literally describe high school as “a haze of undiagnosed mental illness, and also drama club”. no thanx. It’s just not like… too lore noteworthy vs the stuff that actually happens in canon lol.  Here’s what they look like as adults. I’ve mentioned working on a Shrouds piece that took 2 months I finally finished last week, and this is it:

(Side note- along with being a tgirl I hc Idia is a double below the knee amputee after the incident that killed Ortho)

also feel like I should say… Trix’s views on Rook don’t reflect mine LMAO. I have mixed feelings on Rook, but overall my feelings lean positive towards him. He’s a total freak and it’s funny as fuck and I love it. So if you like him don’t try to take the dynamic too personally, it’s the way it is for a laff more than anything.

Beatrice “Trixie” “Trix” Hart is a catch all self insert of mine; mostly for platonic yume. (She was made as a self insert assistant for Klavier Gavin, hence the name, and is also platonic with syl(gags) sylv(throws up in my mouth a little) Sylvain Jose Gautier. If you wanna know about those you can ask ig, I don’t have a ref for 3H Beatrice but I did draw AA Trixie when I came up with her.) She started out as a girl (and I still view her as such in those universes) but for TWST he’s specifically a guy because. Well. This game made me realize I was a transhet man and especially yume helped me sort that out along with being st4t exclusive LOL

Trix is a Pomefiore second year bnuuy beastman from the Shaftlands, Class C (same class as Azul and Jamil). It just kind of really conveniently worked out that my sonas usually have upright brown bnuuy years like the Snow White bunnies and I’m so artistic Pomefiore was the only dorm that makes sense LOL. His Book 7 cameo on Rook’s shelf…

He’s in Film Research Club, and is unique because he joined specifically for crew work, not acting. He’s very extroverted in club and with people he’s close to, but he can be surprisingly introverted when he’s not comfortable. (Ambivert moment). He specializes in practical magic with his sewing and art, and Hates PE. (He likes flying, though.)

His unique magic is My Sweet Heart, which lets him see memories and emotions from people if he grasps their right hand and puts his hand over their heart. 

Caycay is his Number One BFF. I don’t know how they met his first year, but it was basically an immediate click (#trans recognizes #trans. #real #recognizes #real.). Trix walks to class with him every morning, and they frequently go to cafe collabs on the weekend and after class, being sure to leave some of their food out of their magicam posts lest they earn the wrath of their wardens LMAO. If Trix needs someone, Caycay is There for him.

Him and Vil are also VERY close. During his first year, there was an incident that lead to him being roommates with Vil, despite her being a second year and him being first. Trix Really does not like to talk about it, and while Vil would be fine telling people, she doesn’t out of respect for him. She also appreciates someone around club that’s enthusiastic about crew work, and tends to let him lead costume and prop work.

It’s Very clear he has a huge crush on her and that she doesn’t reciprocate. Sometimes she might throw him a bone and give him a little extra praise though LMAO. They do have a very bad fight toward the end of Vil’s third year though, and they go years without talking after. 

His closeness with Vil leaves him some leverage for defending Epel. (#nonpassing recognizes #nonpassing. #real recognizes #real.) It’s mostly in vain, though, but Epel appreciates being looked out for a LOT. Especially because, despite how artistic and fashionable Trix is, his personality is MUCH more down to earth than other Pomefiore students. He’s the biggest advocate for Epel transferring to Savanaclaw his second year and someone who Epel confides a lot into.

Rook’s nickname for him is Monsieur Lapin (Floyd’s is Sea Bunny. Floyd doesn’t come up so I figure I might as well say it heh.). He hates Rook. He thinks Rook is a freak. Especially as a beastman he thinks Rook is super fucking weird. Rook loves Trix’s artwork and his personal journey with beauty and adores him a lot as his beloved underclassman. He knows Trix hates him. He doesn’t care. Trix hates him So Much.

He doesn’t know Ortho much minus the guy who sits next to Caycay’s companion pre Book 6, but once Ortho joins Film Research Trix gets attached REALLY fast. He’s always wanted a younger sibling so he dotes on Ortho constantly, and they rec each other anime and games all the time. (Trix gets him into Professor Layton and he LOVES it.) He learns… a lot about Idia and Ortho’s relationship through this.

Lilia also got asked to tutor him for history once because Trix can’t do homework For Shit and needs help finishing assignments despite his test scores. This backfires because they don’t get anything done ever, but most importantly for The Lore they trade socials and thus Trix is friends with Muscle Red and knows who he is.

Ok. Now the meat of it. The #yumeshit. 

I think it’s probably obvious, but Trix is a nonpassing trans guy. NRC being an all boys school makes him feel safer, but… when he’s not at NRC, even if it’s just in the foothill town, he girlmodes. Being misgendered hurts a lot less that way. (No this is not projecting. Just kidding it is. Please help me.)

As a way of getting respite from this, he VTubes as a magical boy with a voice changer. I don’t have a proper ref but his sona is like the best design I’ve ever done and I’m lowkey mad about it. Anyways. While his interests aren’t really a secret irl it’s always kind of surprising when someone that doesn’t know him finds out he’s into nerdy things, but he gets REALLY invested in the games he’s playing and he has A Lot of info and interpretations to share. And despite his bright design, he gets most excited from horror. He’s not a huge indie by any means but he has a solid following. 

And when Muscle Red sees there’s a well known horror game Gloomurai likes on the docket, well, he HAS to invite them to watch his friend with him! They’ve been telling him how their favorite speedrunner retired and they need someone new to watch, anyways. 

Idia’s very pensive at first, seeing such a bright and sparkly character playing Resident Evil 7, a horror game with a very disgusting atmosphere and themes to match. Probably going to overreact to everything and pretend to be super scared and upset to look cute for views. But he’s watching with Muscle Red, and he wouldn’t make her watch something cringey like that, would he…?

As the game starts up, he starts gushing about what an amazing atmosphere the game has. The entire thing is filthy, and that leads to an overwhelming feeling of dread and disgust- even moreso with the family. His eyes light up when he points out an early scene is referencing The Blair Witch Project.

When it comes to things outside of gameplay itself, he really knows his stuff. Despite how mad him dying for the hundredth time on an extremely easy stealth section makes her, it’s nice to see such a passionate horror otaku. She almost doesn’t mind it because she likes listening to him talk. (Almost.)

Idia starts watching him with Muscle Red regularly. She’s too shy to talk in chat, so she just gives a lot of questionably large donos when he does things. 

He gives a lot of half joking “thank you for funding my doll collection” responses at first, but then says Gloom should chat if they’re comfortable. He’d love to get to know someone who is giving him all this money, and they’re considered a legend in chat for it. She’s nervous (she has no idea why), but she does slowly start chatting and attaching messages to her donos. Soon, she’s a regular in the chat and community. 

So active, in fact, she finds herself with a dm asking for her discord one day. A message follows shortly after about how he appreciates her involvement and wants to get to know her better- now that she’s more talkative, he thinks she’s really funny. 

From there starts a quickly blooming online friendship. They talk whenever they get the chance, though he strictly has to go to bed early or he’ll get chewed out by his housewarden. (A female housewarden…? Is he even forced into the girl dorms at his school?) Idia’s never forthcoming with private info, though, and he seems pretty hesitant with how feminine he is irl to give much past vague detail, either. 

Meanwhile, Trix has to be incredibly careful when lights out and Rook makes the rounds with how late he’s staying up. He is the number one person Trix would rather Die than see his conversation history when confiscating his phone. Gloom’s rude but funny and he loves hearing about X Obscure Game Yaoi Ship. (Sometimes he becomes a casual fan of the series and ship in question- he has been commissioned a LOT to draw her Star Rogue OTP by her.) (He also gets converted to Luisley probably.)

Offline, though, Idia and Trix’s relationship is… awkward. One time during remedial gym lessons when both of them had to run laps in his first year, Trix started complaining about missing club and how he needed to fix his make up, and Idia, being Idia, made a really snide comment about it. Trix snapped at her, and while to him it was just having a bad day, Idia… never really recovered from it. 

In the next year her only exposure was daily convos that were way too peppy for so early in the morning with the extrovert that sat next to her. (I’ve always hced Idia and Caycay sit next to each other in class and straight up forget this isn’t actually canon on a regular basis.) At some point, he started taking curious glances at Idia, which didn’t help at all.

Trix starts getting suspicions about Idia from the few times he does hear her talk, and how similar it sounds. Has he met her before…? But surely he would remember knowing someone as distinctive as Idia, right? 

He has absolutely zero involvement in Book 6 also. With everything going on (because their vice warden ROOK LITERALLY LEFT WITH NO WARNING OR BACKUP PLAN, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DID, HE IS THE WORST PERSON ALIVE WHO HAS EVER BEEN BORN), him and his roommate end up being the ones to take charge and keep Pomefiore in order. I feel like with Idia yumes in particular Book 6 is a Big Thing because like, Book 6, so I feel like this is important info.

(He IS in Book 7 though. His dream is in between Epel and Rook’s. It’s about being amab :’( He doesn’t take waking up and being back in his actual body well.)

Her and Ortho coming back clear any doubts in his mind: Gloom suddenly leaving on the night of the incident, with zero word since, only to long back on with a “sry, irl stuff happened,” the day after the Shrouds come back? She’s Gloom. Especially getting to know Ortho in club and listening to him talk about her, there is literally no other option. 

He was planning on confronting her about it… then Book 7 happened. Obviously how it ends could change this, but for now once everything’s settled Idia gets a discord notif saying he has to talk to her, and he wants to in person. She tries to say it would be too hard to arrange, only to get a simple response: “Ignihyde Lounge. One hour. You’ll know when you see me.”

She is, unsurprisingly, horrified. How did he figure out? Does he hate her now that he knows she’s a freak? Is he coming to tell her how he can’t believe he befriended someone so pathetic? He’s going to tell everyone all the things she said in confidence. “Lol, you guys thought Shroud was a freak before? Get a load of this!”

Luckily, Trix told Ortho about it. He’s able to coax Idia out and helps her to the dorm lounge, holding her hand along the way. 

And indeed, the one Pomefiore uniform in Ignihyde’s dorm lounge sticks out like a sore thumb. Her heart rate explodes. He’s who she’s been talking to this entire time?! No. No. Absolutely no way. She’s not doing this. She tries to turn and run away, but her brother’s death grip (why did she give him all that strength?) keeps her in place.

He looks around awkwardly as he walks up. “Hey, uh… sorry about that time I snapped at you. Ortho told me it really freaked you out.” Trying to calm her down would hopefully make this easier.. “Do… you want to go somewhere more private? You’re even paler than normal.”

Yes. I do. Alone. And I want to forget this even happened. Unfortunately for her, the look on her bother’s face told her it was a mandatory quest. Defeated, she leads him back to her room. 

He sits uncomfortably stiff on her bed. Idia hides in her chair, turned away from him. He tells her that he doesn’t hate her, that he doesn’t think she’s pathetic. No response. Luckily, he invited Ortho for backup. 

“He really wants to be your friend, Idia! He’s the still same person you’ve been talking to online. And he’s really nice. He’s the one who recommended those games to me!”

Taking a cue on how exhausted she is mentally, Trix gets up and walks to the door. “Just… think about it, okay?”

Think about what? The fact that this person she got close to was actually a loud extrovert who hung around a bunch of normies? That he knows all of the rumors about her? Forget real life- he could go online and tell everyone what a freak Gloomurai was irl, too. 

They don’t talk anywhere for like a week and Trix doesn’t walk to class with Caycay, but then they do talk it out. It’s really hard and REALLY scary for Idia, but she’s able to accept him into her life as a friend. He ends up being a really big pillar of stability for her, and he already knows about her own transness and boymoding which makes him even safer.

And… that’s how they are to the end of her third year! Friends. And really, not looking for anything past that. 

Idia gets a really REALLY nice condo in the Kingdom of Heroes for her internship. (Which she mostly even only uses the upper half of. Smfh) She also gets two cats; a white one, Clear, and a gray one, Ryoji. I’m sure you can guess who they’re named after. Reminder that Idia is canonically a fujoshi. Anyways.

Trix visits during school breaks with Ortho… he also stays in Ortho’s room with him while he’s there. For the most part it’s a lot of just comfy stuff like gaming and watching movies, Ortho taking Trix out to see things and such. Over Winter break while visiting Trix edits one of the Film Research pieces for the culture fair bc he’s club president now… By the time of said fair with 4th years presentations it’s very obvious to like Everyone how they feel. (And they probably know it themselves but try to ignore it because neither feels ready for a relationship).

A really REALLY big point worth noting during this time period (and this is all I’ll say bc I know it’s a difficult topic) is that they see each others cutting scars for the first time. They never really comment on or talk about it, but there’s a wordless understanding and comfort between them afterwards. 

Idia’s staying on the surface for at least a few years to see if researching with Olympos resources can give any new perspectives on blot or her curse. If Trix wants to stay for his internship, there’s plenty of room. She doesn’t admit it, but she really wants him to stay. Unfortunately, though, he’s always been interested in the Queendom of Roses and opts for an editing internship with a publisher there.

It’s more of the same; he visits her more regularly because he’s not limited to NRC’s schedule, and he still streams and she still watches and talks to him. He also adopts Chunky who LIVES FOREVER AND NEVER DIES, EVER. There’s an undeniable closeness between them but neither are still ready to actually act, even if it’s clear they may as well already be together lol. 

During this time she also starts getting him transformation potions to help with dysphoria from STYX while he transitions.

After his internship, he’s able to get a job at the Kingdom of Heroes office of the publisher he interned for. He may or may not have chosen to transfer on purpose- there’s plenty of space there, anyways, so much so he can have his own room big enough to both sleep and work in. Ortho’s out on his own acting internship with Vil’s agency, so for the most part it’s just them and their cats in this huge place lmao. It’s really easy to coexist because there’s space when they need it and Idia’s like entire gamer zone on the upper level when they wanna do stuff together. It works out really well.

There are a whole bunch of headcanons of mine about STYX and the Shrouds and their relationships that I’m not really comfortable going into. However, when they overblotted together, Idia and Ortho did something… really traumatic unrelated to Middle Freak Ortho’s death that Idia blames herself for. She still has regular nightmares about it, and while Trix usually isn’t around from the breakdowns because he’s in his room when they happen, this time he fell asleep upstairs and heard all of it.

He goes in to check on her, and she’s really closed off. He’s eventually able to get her to tell him what happened and her guilt, but… He already knew. Ortho told him years ago when they were all still at NRC. He was waiting for her to tell him on her own terms.

Idia does uhh not take this being hidden from her well! He rationalizes that knowing it and never judging her and standing by her side this entire time means he truly does care and doesn’t blame her. He holds her hand and for the first time says it:

“I love you.”

Idia looks at him wide eyed for a second before turning away.

“You need to leave.”

He’s allowed to stay- she’s not going to just throw him on the street- but he is not allowed upstairs near her. She needs time to process everything. Especially how he hurt her trust. 

Eventually they are able to talk it out though and end up in a relationship. YIPEE!!!!!! Ortho moves in permanently around this time with his internship over with his 2 dogs to add to the family. :)

There’s a lot of stuff with STYX and Woe I haven’t fuuuuuully sorted out the details of, but Idia does eventually have to go back for a while to put her research to use and put an end to things. I think this period is really tough because she does Not want Trix to see what a horrible place it is and how it’s the source of so many awful things it was so she tries to leave him. She doesn’t obv and she’s able to successfully find a solution to the Phantom problem.

Once she’s back, though, she does have a near immediate breakdown- with it all over, her brain can actually like. Process what her life was up to that point and she just kind of snaps. She ends up hospitalized for a few months to keep her safe from a HORRIFIC schizophrenic break. Trix uses STYX Bux for a place to stay so he can visit her near daily and help her through it. There’s also a REALLY bad incident with Ortho.

Minus that though from there it’s… really just them being happy, healing, and transitioning with each other. Idia becomes an indie game dev and Trix becomes a horror writer. He still streams (she started vtubing somewhere along the way too), but they’ve never publicly posted about their relationship. It’s really funny because it’s like blatant but they just try to act like it isn’t LMAO.

As they get older, they move to a small, quiet place in the Queendom of Roses. They have 3 kids (who I also have ocs for but that’s WAY too cringe) who are very well loved. Ortho also lives with them and they have a very happy family. :)

TL;DR: Idia wins the VTuber Fuck A Fan contest.

[mzminola]

Mattel has finally given us an amputee Barbie whose prosthetic has KNEE ARTICULATION and she immediately SOLD OUT AT PRE-ORDER!

Background: Barbie always has multiple lines running, some for the long haul, some for just a few years. Usually dolls within one line will all have the same level of articulation as each other.

The current basic line, Fashionista (one doll, one outfit, maybe an accessory), has minimal articulation: neck, both hip sockets, both shoulder sockets. Most of the Dreamtopia dolls are like this too.

The "made to move" body type (currently featured in the sports dolls, Looks, and most of the Inspiring Women) has the most articulation. Neck, torso, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle. And the elbows & knees are each two points of articulation. So they can sit cross-legged or seiza.

The Extra/Fancy/Fly lines are in a middle zone. Yes wrist, no ankle, no torso, and the elbows & knees are just one articulation point instead of two. So they can sit on a chair or edge of a shelf, but not cross-legged very easily, and not seiza.

Then there's some further variations for specific playsets. A doll with a violin who has elbow articulation, but not knee. The bathtime doll whose knees bend but elbows don't. Ballerinas with double-articulation knees and single-articulation elbows. Etc.

Several years back Barbie also introduced multiple body types to their adult Barbies (rather than just height differences indicating a little sister). Classic, Curvy, Tall, Petite. Later Hero/Athletic as well. I think Ken even finally has two or maybe even three body types, but don't quote me on that.

The Fashionista line has seen the most disability representation. Barbies & Kens with sculpted-on hearing aids, several prosthetic users, albinism, Down Syndrome (who I believe were sculpted a new body type), wheelchair users*, vitiligo, blindness, and possibly more I haven't come across yet.

*These are the exception to Fashionistas being the minimal articulation, using the made-to-move bodies.

The Chelsea dolls (who replaced Kelly a while back) also have a couple wheelchair users and a Chelsea with a brace for her scoliosis.

So far I don't think Dreamtopia (fantasy stuff like mermaids, fairies, unicorns, princesses, etc) dolls have had disability representation. However, one of the amputee Fashionistas has pink hair and a purple prosthetic, so if a child wants to put her in that playscape she will fit in with the other brightly colored dolls.

NOW, Mattel just announced the DeluxeStyle line. Lots of shiny pink fabric, a few accessories. Four dolls in the initial release, multiple body types. And they have that mid-level articulation I described earlier, like the Extra line (who I suspect they're replacing). So their ankles don't bend, but their knees do. As well as swiveling at the hip sockets.

And one of the dolls. Has a sparkly pink prosthetic leg.

The line is in pre-order. She sold out. So fucking fast. We are HYPED for this doll and I'm really hoping her popularity will mean an expansion of disabled dolls from the Fashionista line to the more complicated ones.

[ill-say-anything-i-hafta]

I wrote a Jack & Crutchie story for @loiteringandlurking re: his post about Jack who is an amputee.

One-Handed

In the circulation yard, Crutchie watches the new kid with the knotted-up shirt sleeve, watches how he holds the top of his bag open with his stump and then shoves the papes in one-handed. Crutchie knows that dance; he's got two good arms himself, but one of 'em's always occupied. It ain't as easy as it looks.

Kid says his name is Jack. He's straight from a factory job -- by way of the charity hospital on Hudson Street -- and can't hawk a headline for shit, but he can tie a bootlace real tight, a hard-won skill he's clearly proud of. First, he does up the dangling lace on Crutchie's bad foot. Then he tackles the other side for good measure. Double knots on both scuffed boots. And Crutchie lets him. For once, he don't care who sees him getting help because it makes the guy so happy.

Crutchie lets Jack follow him around, too. Teaches him the ropes. Why not?

::::

August in the crowded dormitory bedroom, hot and airless. Most of the boys have stripped to their undershirts, including Jack, sprawled out on his bottom bunk. Crutchie glances quickly away from the place where his right forearm abruptly ends, the scar still red and angry, and looks down at the sketch slowly developing. A nighttime scene in a desolate place, a wolf howling next to twin pine trees, mountains in the background, a crescent moon riding overhead. Jack scratches his pencil along the wolf's back. His neck flushes with frustration. He still ain't used to drawing with his left hand.

"Looks real good," Crutchie says quietly.

Jack spits out the rubber eraser he's been holding in his teeth. It lands on his pillow and Crutchie waits for him to say something mean. But he only uses the eraser to rub at some of the smudges. "Not every day you gets to see talent like this up close, huh?"

::::

Someone sends word that Jack's old man is doing poorly, so he stops by with a carton of cigarettes he bought. The place is a tenement on Mulberry, prostitutes coming and going. Jack insists that Crutchie wait on the stoop to protect their pile of newly bought evening Worlds. He's back in less than ten minutes, looking slightly out of breath.

"If he lives so close, how come you don't stay with him?"

"Well, I used to," Jack says, though that don't answer the question at all.

"He hit ya?"

"Nah, never." Jack seems to realize he's walking too fast and slows his pace. "Sorry. I think maybe ... I think seein' me makes him feel bad. So I just don't go by there too much."

Crutchie knows exactly what Jack means, and it makes him mad. He stops in the middle of the street to call the headline to an old woman in a kerchief. Jack waits, lighting a cigarette one-handed, while Crutchie juggles his crutch to make change. "You's still a kid," he says. "Your pops should be helpin' you out. If he ain't gonna do that, the least he could do is be proud of how good you is doin'."

"He don't need to be proud. I's just livin my life," Jack says. "Not everybody's gonna understand." He slings his good arm around Crutchie's shoulders. "But I got you."

::::

Ladies like Crutchie. They always have. They want to help him; they buy his papes and sometimes they gives him food and things. But it's girls that like Jack Kelly -- girls their same age.

And Jack seems to like them back, too. He'll pick someone out special to pass the time with, take her to the music halls -- he can sell a hundred twenty papes on a good day and always burns through his money -- draw pictures for her, tell her all about the Wild West. When the boys at Duane Street tease him, Jack tells them to shut up: this is the one.

Somehow, none of them girls ever is. But when it ends, Jack don't seem too heartbroken. Nothing bothers Jack, nothing Crutchie has ever seen.

Maybe he is the wolf in the picture. Maybe he is the moon.

Seems awfully lonesome.

::::

When Jack talks about New Mexico, Crutchie can't help but worry. He's been working to support himself ever since he was eight, but he's only ever done the kind of jobs people think a cripple can do. Who says anybody would hire guys like them them for farm labor?

Jack hooks his right arm over the top rung of the fire escape ladder and reaches his hand down to take the crutch. He says, "We'll just hafta show 'em, pal. We can find a way to do most anything we wants to. Can't we?" And he pulls Crutchie up behind him.

They stand together on top of the world. No mountains, no majestic pines. Just them and the buildings that crowd all around them, the landscape of the city where he was born. Life ain't fair; he's always knowed that. But in this moment, Crutchie thinks what Jack says might be true.

Because he ain't never felt sorry for Jack, not for a minute. Why would he? Maybe there is folks out there who won't feel sorry for him neither, who will see him for all that he is.

FIN.

[deva-arts]

Hey! so!

This is a spooky post, okay? it's really edgy so please be warned if you don't like dark themes! <3

Not sure if this is an unnecessary warning or not but better safe than sorry :'D I've got a lot of fluffy drawings queued after this ehehe I just wanted to do something angsty

A-4. Hm.

C-1.  You said something, Atius?

A-4. There is a recurring trend here; it heals faster and more efficiently when under pressure. These were all times when we cut costs on anesthesia.

C-1. Interesting... More effectively you say?

A-4. Yes. Remarkably so, I'd say the injur-... affected areas have a much higher rate of functionality than they held previously. Just look at the cardiopulmonary results from a year ago to now- I'd even go as far as to say that it's possible to have more successful splices on this specimen in the future.

C-1. What is stopping us from doing this from now on?

A-4. Ah.. I would advise against it. There’s the question of excessive stress-

C-1. A non-issue, our goal is progress.

A-4. As well as the scarring-

C-1. We never truly cared about cosmetics, now did we?

A-4. This might also worsen its mental state-

C-1. Mental state? Ha! It's a good thing we start cutting some costs then. We let it get too comfortable at the cost of precious time. Its tolerance has made things terribly expensive for daily practice. I say let it scream, they stop eventually. Do consider providing our staff with adequate noise protection though.

A-4. ...Understood, Cain.

C-1. Atius?

A-4. Yes sir?

C-1. You say that physical duress makes it... Better? Stronger?

A-4. At the cost of physical and m-mental integrity, yes. It makes for an unnaturally fast healing process.

C-1. It’s a wonder why we even bothered waiting between procedures!

A-4. ...

C-1. You say this is observable in other parts of its body as well?

A-4. ...Sir...

C-1. Answer me, Atius. You know what you signed.

A-4. Yes sir. 

A-4. ...

A-4. As you can see on the following diagrams, the specimen has been performing optimally in concordance with our standards. Fall simulations led to a higher observable bone density. Strength output has improved post-muscle failure. Flexibility has grown after hyperextension. This goes without mentioning fight simulations, which have ameliorated reaction time, effectiveness, and overall damage output. The only issue is altitude tolerance; pressure trials have been unsuccessful as of late.

C-1. How durable... It's the sort of reform I expect from immortals.

A-4. ...

A-4. I must ask you to reconsider though, Cain— the forced heal leaves a harsher effect on his-

C-1. Looks like we did something right after all.

A-4. ...

C-1. ...Mm. So these are all of our projections?

A-4. ...Yes.

C-1. I see. Vision isn't on par with our metrics. Fix this.

A-4. Cain, there isn't any more we can do to increase this field. We've used all sorts of methods to achieve this.

C-1. Then break his eyes next.

-

And thus, here is the biggest antagonist to Vincent's story- Cain. He's might be even worse than Titan. You'll hate him! I hope.

Cain is a human-passing, vampiric variant who feeds off of the pain and suffering of others. He became a monocular double amputee by his own son in hopes that he would never be able to harm someone else. A torturer by heart, he joins careers that give him the opportunity to consume the most to anesthetize himself and offset his own discomfort. He gets his fix by being the head of hundreds of processing units, including Project Venus, where he assured the CFO that he would deliver the results they were robbed of by Roxanne.

Thus, he is free to do anything with the rough draft, so long as they get results, improvement, and new data on this modified species.

By any means necessary....

[novelmonger]

1-4 & 10-12 for The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, 9-15 for FMA, 1 & 16-18 for Anne of Green Gables, 8-12 for Half-Magic, and 1, 3, 19, and 20 for The Little Riders, please?

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry

what got you into this story?

My dear friend @rainintheevening recommended it to me, and I'm so glad she did! I wasn't even 20 pages in before I looked up from the page and went, "Ohoho, this book was definitely written for me!"

2. describe it in one or two sentences.

Charley Sutherland has always had the ability to read characters out of books and into real life. But when Uriah Heep, the villain from David Copperfield, begins to cause trouble, his older brother (who is perfectly ordinary in every way) will have to go to great lengths to help him out of his predicament.

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

IT'S ABOUT BROTHERS

IT'S A BOOK ABOUT BOOKS

It started to look like the ending was going to be tragic, BUT IT WASN'T I CRYYYYYYYYYY T^T

4. assign this story a hyper-specific genre name, e.g. "inspirational religious semi-horror sci-fi western" (yes, that's Trigun)

Speculative literary brother fiction crossover thriller

10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?

"Brother" by Kodaline

I mean, would you look at these lyrics?

Oh brother, we'll go deeper than the ink Beneath the skin of our tattoos Though we don't share the same blood You're my brother and I love you that's the truth

;aldksj;sdkfl;sdkfldslkfj TT___TT

11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?

Umm...maybe like a 4? Rob is a very normal kind of guy, and while I'm not a lawyer like him, most of the things he does are fairly ordinary, all things considered. (Well, it's not an ordinary situation at all, but I mean he doesn't have hidden magic or anything.) There's nothing particularly special about him except the lengths he's willing to go to for his brother. And I'd like to think I would do the same for my siblings if need be.

12. assuming your loved ones would be there, would you want to live in the world of the story?

YES. A world where I could potentially meet my favorite characters from beloved stories? Yeah, okay, some of the more unsavory characters show up too, but...like...I could have tea with Dumbledore. I could share crunchings and munchings with Gurgi. I could hang out with Pippi Longstocking! Maybe I could even give Kaladin Stormblessed a hug :')

Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

9. give the most UNHELPFUL and/or SILLY summary possible.

A fake human uses a double amputee, a tin can, a war criminal, a butcher, and some old guy to try to become God. He fails because he didn't brush up on meteorology enough.

10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?

Funny you should ask, because I've got several ideas floating around in my head that I could actually make a reality if I just sat down and took the time! The first AMV idea I ever got, years and years ago, was one set to "Memories" by Within Temptation.

11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?

Lol. 1. I would die immediately. I don't have a head for numbers or science, so I would probably be horrible at alchemy. Even if I somehow got clap-alchemy from the Truth (though how I'd be able to manage human transmutation to get that far is anyone's guess), I would fail miserably to do the things Ed does, because I am very flabby and weak and cowardly. Also I don't think I would have the gumption to do half the things he does, like pushing through the pain of automail surgery. Yeah, sorry, the world is doomed if I'm put in Ed's place.

12. assuming your loved ones would be there, would you want to live in the world of the story?

As much as I adore this story, I think I'd actually say no. There's so much danger and war on every side, and I don't much fancy the thought of losing my soul to a whirling vortex (even if my soul does get put back!). I've already laid out how I wouldn't be an alchemist, so there wouldn't even be that to compensate. Maybe I'd visit after it's no longer a fascist military state, though.

13. tell me an out-of-context piece of worldbuilding or lore!

Did you know that Amestris was the wife of Artaxerxes, king of Persia?

14. how likely do you think this story is to break a reader's heart? If you're not done with the story, just guess.

I'm biased, but I think it's pretty much guaranteed. If your heart doesn't break at least a little bit at a certain little girl and her dog, I'm not sure you have one. And there are so many other parts where I cried really hard, not least at the ending of the first anime. All I wanted to do after I finished it the first time was lie in my bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out how to carry on with my life ^^'

15. what time are you most likely to be found reading/watching this story? (time of year, time of day, season of life, whatever makes sense to you)

ALL DAY ALL THE TIME.

Lol, that would have been my answer in my teenage years, but admittedly my attention has strayed to other fandoms more recently. I'm still down to read/watch FMA anytime at the drop of a hat, but these days I'm most likely to dip back into it this time of year, because I always try to have something to post for FMA Day on October 3rd. (Which reminds me, I need to get cracking on that D:)

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

what got you into this story?

I guess you could call it peer pressure, kinda? I just kept hearing people praising it over the years, until finally I decided I should probably see what all the fuss was about, rather than just writing it off as Not For Me because I decided that back when I was eight or something. And once I did start reading, it didn't take long for Anne to win me over ^_^

16. do you think this story has broad appeal, or is it meant for a very specific audience? if it's more "niche", what kind of person would most enjoy this story?

I do think it has broad appeal, though I'd still say it's not for everybody. Clearly, Baby Novie decided it wasn't for her because there wasn't enough high adventure in it. I think most people would be able to find something relatable or at least enjoyable about it, but some people might need to wait until they're mature enough to appreciate its merits ;)

17. compare this story to your usual tastes. how does it differ from what you've already enjoyed?

I usually prefer books with more fantastical elements in them, or at least adventuring, and that was especially true when I tried to read this book as a kid. I will certainly read the occasional historical fiction about ordinary, everyday ups and downs, but even so, I'm usually more inclined to reach for something like Austen or Dickens that has a more complicated, twisty-turny plot.

18. compare this story to your usual tastes. what parts of it are exactly the kind of thing you've always loved?

I'm actually kind of surprised this was never assigned for school, because it feels a lot like the kind of book I read a lot, and probably one I would have enjoyed more than some of the other stuff we had to read. If I'd only made the connection that it takes place around the same time as the Mandie books, I probably would have really latched onto it (even though Anne isn't about mysteries), because that was my bread and butter for several years as a kid. And Anne of Green Gables would have been much less embarrassing to return to as an adult ^^' Another element that is common to many stories I love is how friendship is treasured so highly.

Half Magic by Edward Eager

8. what questions are or were you most excited to learn the answers to while experiencing the story for the first time?

Oh man, it's been so long since the first time I read this book, I can't really remember. Especially because I was never really an "active reader" as a kid. I never stopped to ask questions, I just inhaled stories, and whatever happened in it, that was how it obviously had to be ^^' And by now, I've read the book so many times I know it back to front, and there aren't really any more questions that I care about.

At a guess, though, I might have wondered where the talisman came from and where I could get one :P

9. give the most UNHELPFUL and/or SILLY summary possible.

This book teaches you about fractions :)

10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?

Uhhhh...I really don't know. Probably some kind of instrumental track, maybe piano? And it would just be a montage of the whole story, I think.

11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?

I'd say a 4 or a 5. I'd like to think I'd do pretty well at remembering not to say "I wish" out loud as much as they do, but that's never how these things go. But most of the times I say that, it's usually just things like "I wish I could remember..." or "I wish I knew why..." And I don't see how the consequences of that kind of accidental wish could be too dire XD

12. assuming your loved ones would be there, would you want to live in the world of the story?

A THOUSAND TIMES YES. How many times did I daydream about what my siblings and I would do if we got a wish-granting adventure like in the books? It might be a little annoying to have to put up with 1920s America or whenever it's supposed to be, but...wish-granting talisman. Come on.

The Little Riders by Margaretha Shemin

what got you into this story?

This was assigned for school. I don't remember when exactly that was, but I think it was a read-aloud rather than one I read to myself, so maybe first or second grade? And I just remember it being one of the books that stood out to me amongst all the others.

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

It offers a unique perspective on WWII, humanizing the Nazi soldiers when most of the time, we're all content to just think of them as nothing but monsters.

It's tense and exciting - will the soldier find the little riders?!

Illustrated by Peter Spier, a staple of my childhood picture books!

19. pitch an idea for a sequel or spinoff novel for this story!

What about a parallel story about the soldier's family? What was their experience like during the war?

20. what's the WORST thing about this story, in your opinion? (feel free to be positive, e.g. "it's not longer", if you want!)

Okay, yes, I could definitely do with a longer version of this book. I would have liked more exploration of Johanna's experience of being an American girl growing up in Holland with her grandparents. Did she have culture shock at first? Does she feel more at home in Holland now? For the lack of exploration they do into her unique situation, I almost think it would have been better to just have her be a Dutch girl who's lived in Holland all her life. The extra details of her father being in the U.S. Navy kind of feels superfluous.

Story Ask Game

[averagejoey2000]

Sorry for the odd question, but is 29 too old to start school in order to become a merchant mariner?

my graduating class included a 33 year old woman, a 42 year old man with adult children, and a 64 year old man. we do not have any age requirements like the military. we also don't have a PT program, you only have to be able enough to work. I know an engineer who is a double below the knee amputee with prosthetic feet.

can you see in color, vision correctable to 20/40, hear, walk up stairs, step through a watertight door with a 20 inch sill, lift a 40 pound box, walk while crouching, fit a scba respirator?

for older starters, (USA) I recommend the 6 state academies: Cal Maritime, Texas A&M (but actually don't go to Texas, fuck those guys), SUNY Maritime, Massachusetts Maritime, Maine Maritime, or Great Lakes Maritime. you might see search results about USMMA (kingspoint) but they are a service academy for navy reserves, they have the same age and fitness requirements of The Navy, 29 is too old to start there. the upside of going to school is that you start as an officer, the pay is better, the work is not backbreaking, and you get to avoid the sometimes embarrassing situation of being ordered around by someone half your age.

if you hawsepipe, which is to say start at the entry level ratings and work your way up, you don't have to take school debt and you make money the whole time, but the work is harder and the path to advancement is longer.

it's a common arrangement that every Mariner spends half her year at sea. if you start as an a Ordinary Seafarer (entry deck), your promotion scale will look like this

Ordinary to Able (1080 sea days, 6 calendar years and an exam)

Able to 3rd officer (360 sea days, 2 calendar years and an exam)

3rd officer to 2nd officer (360 sea days, 2 calendar years and no exam)

2nd officer to 1st officer (360 sea days and an exam)

first officer to master (360 sea days and no exam)

3 exams and 14 years to make Captain.

from the academy you start at 3rd officer

4 years of school and an exam for cadet to 3/O. 6 more years and an exam to make Captain. the total path being 14 years minimum for hawsepipers and 10 years for academy grads. there are programs and waivers, for instance if you go to Military Sealift Command and join the ordinary to Able advancement program, you only need 540 days of time on deck and you go to a school that counts for the other half.

[lookindasketchy]

Genji Shimada isn't the best example for writing disabled characters.

Disclaimer: I am speaking as an able-bodied writer/artist, and will not be the voice of disabled people. Disabled people can, have, and will speak for themselves. They are entitled to their own opinions.

At best, he isn't the best. At worst? It's worse than you think, folks.

I know, I know, this sounds dumb. It's pretty obvious that Genji isn't the best example for writing disabled characters. Hell, when people (I'm "people") first think about Genji they think "green cyborg ninja dude" rather than the "green cyborg AMPUTEE dude". Disabled or not.

I need to shout this into the internet void that although I love Genji Shimada from Overwatch, I literally cannot defend him on any other points literary-wise. I need to shout this into the internet void because, I thought he WAS a good example for writing a disabled character. He's not. And while, at the end of the day, he's a fictional character, Genji is conceptualized and made by REAL people. And that's gotta count for something.

As to why he's not the best example? He knocks off a good chunk of the tropes that are a big (please) no-no in the large majority of the disabled community.

Karmically Disabled trope? he was a pompous asshole before he got his shit rocked by his brother. Check.

Hiding my "ugly face" with a MASK trope? I've played the dating sim and heard those Halloween voice lines, y'all. While they aren't CANON canon, it's still in-game. Checkity-check.

Upgrade my Body/ Fully functioning trope? do you see his double jumps, slashes and shuriken arm? BIG ASS check.

Overcoming Disability? YALL. OBVIOUSLY A CHECK.

“Overcoming bombards disabled people. It’s everywhere. I think of Whoopi Goldberg. In airports and along freeways, I see her plastered on billboards sponsored by the Foundation for a Better Life (FBL). Head in hands, she furrows her forehead in frustration. Or is it bemusement? She casts her eyes up, looking directly at her viewers. The tagline reads, ‘Overcaem dyslexia,’ coyly misspelling overcame. Underneath those two words brimming with stereotypes sits a red box containing the phrase ‘HARD WORK,’ and below that, the command ‘Pass It On.’… That disabled people can only succeed by overcoming disability is an ableist cliche…. To pose individual hard work rather than broad-based disability access, as the key to success for people with dyslexia is absurd and ableist” (Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure, 8-9).

I'm pleading for writers/creators to try and reach out to sensitivity readers and editors for advice on writing things they haven't experienced. Or at least, do the bare minimum and RESEARCH. (Blizzard. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge. Diversity editors too for like everything goddammit c'mon do I HAVE to spoon-feed this to you?!!)

I need to do more research and find sensitivity readers.

Why am I doing this? Why did I make this post? Because I thought (and a part of me still thinks) that Genji is super cool that I made my own oc/original character off of him with essentially the same backstory (brother nearly kills younger brother and now must find peace).

I made this post because I did it too.

How do I "fix" my oc's backstory? I don't know. But dammit I'll find a way. And that starts with researchin'.

Shout out to Dr. Derek Newman-Stille (they/them), researcher and teacher at Trent University in Canada. They're a "Queer, Disabled academic, artist, activist, and author," and you can find their Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/dereknewmanstille/

As well as the https://spoonieauthorsnetwork.com , a website full of resources of accessibility consultants, disability tropes to avoid, and sensitivity and disabled editors by disabled diverse people. (Also where I found out the existence of Dr. Derek Newman-Stille lol.)

Shoutout to the mods over @cripplecharacters , another great resource for looking up tropes to avoid, and plenty...PLENTY more. Seriously go check'em out.

[cy-cyborg]

Hello! First, I just wanted to say I love your blog so much!! It's been very insightful for me (an abled bodied person) to learn about amputees and physical disabilities 🥰🥰🥰

I've been in the early stages of planning my novel and was planning on using cyborgs as a big part of the story. The more I thought about the robot limbs, surgeries, living circumstances, and so on, I realized they parallel so much of what irl people today go through. Which is why your blog is so great! I really hope I can capture a lot of the nuance writing characters because I'm already so invested into their lives.

As for my question (sorry if it's been asked before...) but do people with leg prosthetics use wheel chairs after they relearned how to walk? If so, is it an occasional thing? Hopefully, my question makes sense.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! That's actually part of the reason why I use "cyborg" in my name - well the main reason was because of a joke but I kept it because it works as a parallel lol.

As for your question, absolutely! It's most common in double leg amputees, but I know of a few single leg amps who also use wheelchairs too. the reason why is that prosthetics aren't a magic cure-all like a lot of folks think they are and they do come with downsides. The more leg you lost, the bigger those downsides tend to be. For some people, those downsides are just too much, or they just don't want to deal with it, so they use other mobility aids like wheelchairs (lots of single leg amputees also use crutches too), even if a prosthetic technically seems to work fine for them

For me personally, I have a chronic illness. I don't know what it is but I know one of the effects is that I have very limited energy. Putting on my prosthetics (one above knee, one below knee) takes a lot of time and energy, and i'm usually exhausted by the time i even get it on, so it's just not worth it for me unless it's something really important/I know is going to be inaccessible for my wheelchair (and even then I usually just won't go lol). Even before my chronic illness manifested though, when I used my legs a lot more than I do now and would have very little issues with them at all, I still sometimes used my wheelchair because I have shit time management skills and just didn't leave myself enough time in the morning to get ready lol. My wheelchair was faster so I'd just take that to work/uni/school instead. Also if I just wasn't feeling good, didn't sleep well the night before or a host of other reasons that would leave me with just a little less energy than usual, id sometimes decide to just use my wheelchair instead to make things a bit easier on myself.

I also had a mate who was a single leg, above knee amputee. I think I saw him wear his leg like... twice? in the 5+ years I knew him. He was really good and confident on it, and had no real issues with using it, but when I asked why never wore it, he said he just didn't like how the socket felt. It, and I quote "comes up too high, I don't like how close it is to my junk". Which honestly, is fair lol.

Prosthetics can also be really hard on people's remaining joints, especially the hips, so they get harder to use as you get older too, which is another common reason for people to learn to use them, and then decide later it's not for them.

There's a lot of reasons, but a lot of the time it just boils down to they weren't the right tool for that person. Sometimes that can for big reasons, sometimes it can be for something really minor. It just depends on the person and their needs and wants.

[nomsfaultau]

Fault!Tubbo prosthetics +thoughts

I’m still not completely sold on the design I’m using, and have been workshopping it for months at this point. Feedback is encouraged, though as a note Fault!Tubbo is a traumatic double below-the-knee amputee who possesses neither proper materials, medical knowledge, nor human biology. Below the cut is essentially an outline of my thought process. It’s kinda long given I’ve been planning/researching for a few years about this plot line, and wanted to consolidate information for Fault. 

The construction: The Blade first set upon the project of creating the prosthetics with his usual level of intensity that he brings to all tasks. Wilbur ‘gathered’ most of the materials as their chief dirty crime boy, and Tommy painted them with his TI-Red. Philza offered welding abilities and also some experience from a few decades he spent as a pirate. But for the most part, the project was the collaboration between The Blade and Tubbo, going back and forth in planning and implementation. The ability for the pair to cooperate was a huge step in their relationship, even if (despite what The Blade hoped) this in no way meant Tubbo forgave him for the injury. Cause. Duh. 

The materials available were severely limited, cobbled together with stolen cans, belts, wood, and a pair of shoes. With little outside resources or information, the design was both crude and imperfect. Lots of testing was required, particularly to suit the irregularities of Tubbos’ biology. 

One advantage of being a skin suit pilot by a swarm of bees was that Tubbo could pour bees into their purposefully hollowed-out prosthetic, allowing increased control of movement. One major difference between Tubbo and a typical human amputee was that they couldn’t wear a shrinker sock (even if they had one), and couldn’t rest their stump in the prosthetic. The ability to hover helped this particular challenge to some degree, but constant flying was exhausting and negated the intention of the prosthetics. It made for a big design hurdle, but everyone’s particularly cautious about it given the last time they restricted the stumps Tubbos’ gradual regeneration collapsed inward and left them with permanent nerve damage. Additionally, SBI have to refit/rebuild the prosthetics far more often given the slowly lengthening limbs that they don’t want to interfere with. I reckon this would make prosthetics extremely difficult once they’re getting to ankle/feet territory, but since that won’t happen for an estimated half a million words, it’s not my problem yet. Tubbo will have to utilize a number of different designs, likely further stressing the scarce supplies the anomalies can muster. 

General details:

Tommy painted the prosthetics with crimson stars and flowers in reference to an earlier scene where Tommy helped Tubbo through a crisis, wherein both of them managed to find a hope to latch onto, both in each other and the future. Freedom to always see the stars; a return to the field of flowers that Tubbo called home. 

Tubbos’ adjustment period was pretty rough, given no one knew what they were doing, and were also dealing with a lot of other problems. Tubbo definitely did not get the recommended slow increase in usage time as the group tends to walk approximately 7-10 hours daily to avoid the Foundation. This greatly frustrated them, but the rest of the group (especially Philza) made sure they didn’t push themselves too hard.

They had to add more straps than typical to better secure the prosthetics, as where usually gravity would keep them more secured, Tubbo kept accidentally hovering away and leaving the prosthetics behind. 

Tubbo was annoyed at being forced to wear shoes for the first time since they were 5, but it was easier to use them in the design for balance. 

When other Hivemind members front they don’t know how to use the prosthetics because they’d never had practice. Rhodes felt they were inconvenient, but Jasmine didn’t care because she just flew everywhere anyway. 

The prosthetics made flying more cumbersome because of their weight and the limited space to put bees inside compared to Tubbos’ original legs. 

The cloth used to cushion the stumps had dinosaurs on it for Jasmine.

Tubbo tended to prefer them off, which brought them at odds with ‘sleeps in his shoes’ Wilbur, who insisted it’d be safer to always have them on considering how often they need to jolt into action to avoid the Foundation. 

They often accidentally left them in weird places and then used a swarm to fly the legs over. 

They got very grouchy and snappish on bad pain days, and Tubbo, Wilbur, and Tommy commiserated together when the weather messed with their scars. 

As a final note, Tubbo was intended to lose their legs from the very beginning of Fault, long before I even decided to make it a fic and it was still in its infant comic phase. Given the years-long endeavor this was (and still is), alongside my own personal growth as an author/person and the research I did in an attempt to more accurately portray Tubbos’ disabilities, I realized the problematic trope of a ‘disability cure’ that was embedded in my story through Tubbos’ ability to gradually regenerate the body they inhabit. It was impossible to write out the injury, given how deeply it affected their planned actions, relationships, and character arc. Furthermore, isn’t that the problem of the trope to begin with? That disabilities are written out, glossed over, ignored, much like people attempt to do in real life. The regeneration likewise had narrative purposes, particularly in the Foundation’s experimentation with it. So I had a problem on my hands. 

The main way I attempt to address this is in a series of short and long-term accompanying effects to avoid depicting a full cure. 

Short Term:

Phantom pain

Not having legs for the vast majority of the fic, ie months. 

Another trope of course being a professor X figure. I.e., using telekinesis/flight to negate the disability. Tubbo has this to an extent with their swarms/literal wings. Part of my response to that was during the escape they lost significant portions of their hive. This has actual meaning since I’m the type of person to mathematically pinpoint the approximate amount of bee population needed to move a flesh-honeycomb structure mimicking a human body. 

Their capacity to lift a weight lowered significantly to the point that moving around their own body was taxing, particularly in flight. No doubt this was me projecting my own chronic fatigue onto them but psh no one’s gonna notice. 

Long term: 

Scarring

Even more trauma

Nerve damage/chronic pain. The last major long-term effect comes around as a result of failure to properly manage their traumatic amputation. Given they had approximately fifteen minutes of professional medical intervention and then were shoved into a siege situation followed by living on the run, there was little knowledge or supplies. Tubbo proceeded to poorly cope via a combination of intensive pain medication, heavy disassociation, and ignoring the problem in favor of bigger, flashier problems. Given they didn’t have blood or flesh, the ignored injury luckily didn’t get hella infected and kill them. But due to the aforementioned healing factor, the regenerating leg couldn’t properly grow while bandaged, instead growing inward in a way that caused further health problems. Amateur surgery was attempted by Wilbur to clear out some degree of damage, resulting in further growth being unhindered but leaving Tubbo with scarring and nerve damage that never goes away. 

The goal is to attempt to portray their disabilities to the best of my ability with regards to the fantasy elements present in the work. While on a surface level the amputations are “healed” there are many complications associated with it. Temporary disabilities of course also exist, and most people will at some point encounter one in their lifetime. My goal is to portray a mixture of short and long-term symptoms, as well as how Tubbo messily copes with them. I don’t intend to get into the emotional aspects here but OH BOY. Are there many! 

As with most major (and admittedly incredibly minor) aspects of this story, research is an ongoing process. I’m not sure that there’s much purpose in this, other than the autistic urge to write papers about my own stories. 

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

ANTHONY LOWE JR

So let me get this right. This dude was shot by an officer in Texas. Had both his legs amputated (so he's got 2 stumps).

Then he's holding a knife in California (accused of stabbing someone) when a cop rolls up and comes out with their stun-gun.

Anthony gets out of his wheelchair and tries to flee (as best as you can with two stumps).

And cops shoot him TEN TIMES killing him.

Look. I get he's accused of stabbing a guy. BUT HE'S ONLY GOT STUMPS. WHAT THE FUCK IS HE GONNA DO? HE CAN'T OUTRUN YOU. And let me remind you HIS LAST RUN IN WITH THE POLICE IS EXACTLY WHY HE'S A DOUBLE AMPUTEE. SHIT, I'D RUN TOO IF THE LAST TIME I SAW POLICE I LOST BOTH MY LEGS.

Image to humanize him.

-fae

[hecatombi]

001. MISC. PHYSICAL HEADCANONS

(( here is a bunch of miscellaneous physical headcanons i have about the guys, going from the ones with the least changes to the most! Vash and Chai .. are going to have a lot more due to the nature of my insane fixation on them. ))

👇THIS IS A LONG ASS POST! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.👇

ASH WILLIAMS

Ash has five different prosthetic hands, and several chainsaw stumps to attach to his hand.

He prefers to keep his hair as swoopy and voluminous as he had it in army of darkness ( even old ash. sorry ihate his slick combed back look )

GARY GOODSPEED

Gary naturally has heterochromia and blue + brown eyes, but after his possession by invictus, they are a striking bright pink. and it's permanent! Here's a ref i drew of him with them.

Post invictus, he grows his hair out and wears a far more complicated outfit. Like the concept art for the FS graphic novel.

JOSEPH JOESTAR

On top of having a prosthetic right arm, Joseph ALSO has a prosthetic left leg. This is because of the fact that LAVA HIT HIS KNEE CAP IN THAT FINAL BATTLE WITH KARS THERE IS NO WAY THAT DIDN'T DESTROY IT BEYOND REPAIR!!!!! So, double amputee.

When he is upset or mad, Joseph's hand clicks and wriggles around every joint independantly, and it is typically the only tell that he's angry or upset in any way if he's trying to hide the fact.

Joseph's arm was made by the SPW. not. who they're from in canon. <:) On top of that, it has several different functions, and a different appearance from canon. There are 5 star shaped buttons on it with varying uses. I.. still need to decide them, though.

He is NEVER ever seen without the remaining burnt headband of Caesar's. Ever. A common stim he has is twirling the ends of it.

CHAI

Now, i have a big ol' about page coming for Chai soon, but let's start here.

To get things out of the way; Chai has HORRIFICALLY poor vision. He refuses to get glasses though, because he is certain it makes him look like a nerd. He really, REALLY NEEDS THEM though. He's more farsighted.

Chai always had arrhythmia and other heart defects before his surgery at Vandelay. On top of that, he did not have mobility in his left arm at all, which is why he went in for the arm surgery. They told him they'd help with his heart too, but ...

.. the MP3 player + core replaced his heart entirely. And also gave him top surgery for free, even though he'd been too poor to afford it, as his breasts got in the way of the core. However, his top scars are more than just that; there are thick scars, branding him with the vandelay logo down his entire torso, becauuuuse...

His insides and organs had to be reworked to physically accept such a drastic change to his body. I'm talking moved around, and more than just his heart and arm replaced with robotics.

He straight up is an eldritch, terrifying mess of organs and wires in there. He doesn't know how much of him is robotic and how much is organic anymore. I draw this from the factt hat when electrocuted, Chai's skeleton shows up -- but his skeleton also includes the magnetic waste management tool in his arm, as well as the fact that the things he survives physically NOBODY ELSE CAN. AT ALL. like jesus christ he is somehow so resilient to things literally nobody else in game is under the same circumstances. Also, his body and brain can be hacked directly from his arm. You can't do that with organics, only tech.

So... that's why I think he's more robot than person now. Or cybernetic, if you want to get technical. W/e

His life span has been extended by an unknown amount, and he will age significantly slower if at all due to this change in his body. Oh, and the outer shell of the arm is made of a compound that is not metal. Dont know what it is, but it's still just as strong and durable.

It is possible for Chai to sync with other robotic beings in the same way he synced with 808( his cat ); you have a 50/50 chance of hearing the music that always plays in his head forever, like 808 now does, OR hearing the world moving to a musical beat for the rest of your life. Until he dies, anyways -- if / when he does.

His music core is shown to thump and beat like a heart, and if it pounds hard enough, it's enough to jerk his chest and cause him to get a little dazed-- it's definitely uncomfortable when it thumps so hard. I think he watches it cause he's nervous if his heart is fucking up or something, given that was a BIG health anxiety his entire life. Only 808 managed to snap him out of it, as you can see here.

Speaking of that, post surgery? He LITERALLY can not process anything beyond music and beat he can not hear. For the rest of his life, he will always move to a beat nobody can hear; the environment makes music around him; you can see in this example here how everything in the environment and even his own movements fall largely to the beat of the song. See the video below for an example of this.

He will never be able to hear or see the world regularly again. Not that Chai minds; he LOVES music. Adores it, even. He'd be happy to live with this the rest of his life. Which is good, cause he really has to.

He picked up cat tendencies from 808 when they synchronized, just as 808 picked up chai mannerisms ( like the way he fights & love of rock and roll ). They often mirror each other because Chai is influencing 808's expression more than you'd think! They pretty much share a single braincell now.

And, to close it all off; the surgery also gave him insane durability, as already discussed.. but it ALSO gave him nuts dashing techniques, and an ability to jump to a ridiculous degree. He's a very sturdy man now!

VASH SAVEREM

Vash only LOOKS human, but as we know, he certainly ISNT. He's a Plant; an independant variety, which is exceedingly rare. Plants are strange fusions of literal plants, angels, and mechanical blueprints that all meld together to make a more techno-organic being.

Because he only LOOKS human, I have PLENTY of hc's about his body and form and how they actually differentiate from your typical human.

First and foremost; he's trans. ALL plants are born female, no exceptions, as said by canon; which makes vash canonically trans. Pretty cool, right? but, in canon, where he doesn't have this -- he has plant private parts ( flower based ) and one of his breasts left. He has no desire to bind or for top surgery, as his chest is small anyways -- but he lost one of them a long time ago. More about the state of his body later, but this is important to still note.

Now, his teeth. He has fangs that he has filed down to look smaller, but they are still pretty sharp. His teeth are NOT defined like a humans; it's like .. kind of a solid plate of metal for bone? Teeth? With only vague outlines of where they should separate.

His eyes are an unnatural piercing blue, which we already know; however, the reason he wears those big orange glasses may surprise you! They're actually marksman glasses, which are known to be orange; however, they also serve as a neutralizer to his eyes. If you look at his glasses head on, through them, his eyes look like a neutral blue-gray. However, if you take off his glasses, they're still a BRIGHTLY inhuman blue.

And yes, they glow in the dark.

In BLUE and UV LIGHT specifically, his plant marks will show no matter what. Though, in blue light, they're much fainter / mostly in the eyes ( and they make them glow as you see in the example below ), while in UV all light patterns are exposed. When he heals plants, these also become pretty visible -- but if he has too use TOO much of his angelic power, one of two things could happen.

He goes comatose and unresponsive for a short while; blank stare, unable to react or process anything around them. Sometimes he can snap out of it, sometimes he can't. It really depends.

His hair will brown or blacken. If you know what this means, have a gold star! If you don't, this means he is ACTIVELY shortening his life span and using too much of his power at once. When a plant's hair browns or blackens, it means they no longer have limitless energy.

Side note; since we see that since birth, Vash has had BROWN EYEBROWS ( whereas all plants are born with blonde hair and blonde eyebrows, and blue eyes, NO MATTER WHAT ); i have a headcanon that because Nai is based on a toxic albino plant that was never meant to live in the reboot, he subconciously saved Nai at birth. He was always the stronger twin in terms of health, where Nai was sicker.

Also .. despite his glasses being pretty normal marksman glasses, he can do this thing where he reflects everything in the environment BUT his eyes subconciously; it's a big tell that he's trying to stay distant and not let people read his next expressions. He often does this to distance himself or when he's being vague. It happens a bunch in moments specifically where he does that in show, so im adopting that as a little weird plant quirk he can do. Call it manipulation of light and reflection, I suppose, since he IS a plant...

He's way taller than he looks. He will keep continuously growing for the rest of his life til a certain point, to which his true height would be around 9 ft to 10 ft tall at the least when in humanoid form. However, as of right now, he is 7'5 in his natural body. Here's the fun part though; he actually SHIFTS HIS BONES and condenses his weight and appearance to look more humanlike, but that still leaves him at a hefty 6'5. Even despite this effort to appear smaller and more unassuming, due to the poor nutrition on Gunsmoke, nearly every human is much, much smaller than him. Unless they've been genetically and unethically modified, of course. Then they can get fucking giant . But, nobody matches his height on an average basis there.

when he's in his full 7'5 ( and growing!! ) form, his limbs are gangly, and too long. His eyes look Bigger, and his skin a little bluer; his fingertips get elongated with a black gradient like all his plant sisters. Example here.

His angel arm is something he does not bring out due to a great deal of trauma with that and knives; he does not have access to a full plant angel form. What he DOES have access to is a gigantic angel arm, and three pairs of wings; parts of his body transform into an eldritch mechanical angel kind of being, but not all of his body can. This is because of his twin, Nai / Knives having the other half. Had Nai never existed, Vash would have full access to his plant angel form. He is one of the most powerful plants of his kind with said angel arm, but ... he'd sooner kill himself than ever use it. There'sa a whole rant i have about how he feels having been forced to have it out, but .. that's for later.

Now, for this paragraph, heads up for y'all for mentions of starvation and body dysmorphia, over all bad condition of a body. The next red text you'll see is where discussion of this stops. as is pretty heavily established, Vash has a great deal of body dysmoprhia. He is absolutely letting his body fall apart at the seams, and frequently punishes himself for "failing" to protect people by starving himself, despite needing it to survive / have energy and heavily enjoying food. That is why he's so damn scrawny! Which is unfortunate, but he has so so many complexes ( shout i make a separate infodump about this too? ) tht this is just par for the course. Now, he could heal the scars and shit on his body faster if he wanted to, but he's pretty self conscious about it. He will let any humans hurt him if he deems it justified, and unforch, he usually does. He lets them beat him senseless, cut him up, shoot him -- nothing he couldn't survive, anything goes. his body is straight up canonically barely held together by thick staples and grates of metal over exposed muscle.

This is part of why he never takes off his coat, ever. Or those long sleeved shirts of his. I mean, he might to shower or clean up wounds, but...... very rarely does he do this. He just takes whatever beating humans give him cause he feels he deserves it, and deals with it.

Warning over!

With all the heavy stuff said, here's a few final short hcs.

He photosynthesizes some, and really enjoys basking in the sun.

He's a very light sleeper and rarely ever gets decent sleep. He's pretty much always exhausted, but never lets it show.

CAN'T EVER LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC. it puts him into SERIOUS triggered mode and gets him too panicked to think straight, even after Nai / Knives died.

His hair looks like normal hair, but it absolutely DOES NOT feel like it. It feels like really soft velvety flower petals, and will always keep this consistency.

He's got inhumanly amazing marksmanship, yet somehow, being drunk ( should he ever GET drunk ) improves it more. Yes, I stole this bit from 98 vash but i think it's funny and it's my interpretation so this is what i keep. ok? :)

And lastly ...

He stims by reloading and loading guns :3

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed! Should I make a part 2 sometime? :p