#I am not in this for the exercise I am in this for skill. I want to get my skill level back up where it was

[i-hope-this-is-a-phase]

the crowd yearns for blind cdream yap

SO, there are three AUs I've developed (with the help of the Dreblr server):

C!Dream born blind, service animal Spirit AU

C!Dream turned blind after prison, Drunz hurt/comfort AU

CC!Dream born blind, face reveal AU

(As a reminder, I am a blind person, I know how this all works).

C!Dream Born Blind Sprit Service Animal AU

(@yasminthespiritfaninnit helped me with this AU)

C!Dream was born with cloudy eyes (cataracts). When his parents realized he couldn't see, they threw him to the streets. He managed to survive long enough to find Sapnap and George, and together, they lived into adulthood.

C!Dream was always able to gauge weaknesses in people, so he did a lot of the planning to get food, find places to stay, etc. Moreover, Sapnap and Dream loved him for his wit and humor, so he wasn't in danger of dying because of his blindness.

Around 15, they come across an abandoned mare. She's a bit underweight since she didn't know how to live in the wild, but with some help, she gains enough weight back to handle a saddle and rider.

While Sapnap and George like her, Dream adores her. He's the one who gets her apples, makes sure her coat is all clean of dirt and ticks, and removes pebbles from her shoes. He nicknames her "Spirit," for her fighting spirit, and they become inseparable. While on Spirit, he can be much more mobile (since Spirit isn't going to crash herself on purpose), and his confidence in himself grows. For years, they are a duo, up until the fateful day when Wilbur and Tommy take her from him...

C!Dream Turned Blind After Prison Drunz Hurt/Comfort AU

So, you know how Quackity lost an eye because of Techno?

Yeah....he takes out his anger on Dream in prison.

Quackity rationalizes that Dream hs no need for eyes since he's never leaving, and Sam accepts that in this AU. So, when Techno frees Dream, Dream can no longer see.

This messes Dream up ofc.

Parkour, PVP, observation, and all skills inherent to him are now fundamentally changed forever. Sure, he can adapt new techniques, but all the OG techniques? Made obsolete.

But, at first, they don't realize it's permanent. Or at least, Dream refuses to.

They try revival at first. But, as Punz (and Dream) already knows, revival cannot cure "canon" injuries, and these are permanent.

Next, Dream tries healing potions. Every variation, every dosage. Nothing.

Punz gently tries to tell Dream this might be permanent. Dream refuses to acknowledge them.

Golden apples, god apples, trying to talk to XD, nothing.

Finally, Dream breaks down. Like, catatonic state breaks down. He refuses to eat or sleep because what's the point?

Ofc, it's Punz that manages to bring him back, like every time he revives him. Won't go into detail yet 'cause spoilers, but suffice to say, Dream ends up on the war path for Quackity :)

CC!Dream born blind, face reveal AU

Ngl, this is my favorite :)

So, right before George moves to Florida, Dream mentions:

"Oh hey, btw, I'm blind btw."

George thinks this is a joke, but he arrives in Florida, and low and behold, Dream is actually blind.

He does have some vision (retina pigmentosa), but it's only a pinhole of vision. He relies a bit on his vision, but he primarily relies on audio technology.

The main reason why he stayed indoors is he has agoraphobia (fear of the outside), which is common in blind people. He does have a cane, but he's hesitant to use it, and he didn't qualify for a guide dog for a long time because he couldn't meet exercise requirements.

When Dream face reveals and mentions his blindness, there is a HUGE controversy about him not disclosing the audio technology. People say it was cheating, people accuse him of deliberately lying, the usual. Dream does come out and say Technoblade was aware of it during the duel (since some people were accusing Techno of "taking advantage of Dream's blindness), but MCC was never made aware.

There's more but spoilers :)

Controversy aside, Dream goes to TwitchCon and breaks down. He's very nervous about his cane, people keep trying to pull him off alone to talk to him, and he's really freaked out. Luckily, George steps up and acts as a sighted guide. They navigate TwitchCon together, and it's super fun.

The whole fic delves into ableism, agoraphobia, independence, and more. One day, it'll be more than an outline, but for now, it stays at that

[miodiodavinci]

im being so so brave but also i am gripping you by the shoulders and leaning in and letting you know i am so tired of being brave

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time again! What's the verb for punching a punching bag that is more general so it can include things like kicks and elbow strikes? Using the punching bag sounds weird but I am struggling to come up with another verb for it

[anghraine]

I think it's interesting that when Gandalf describes Denethor's ability to "perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men," he ties it less to his wisdom or general insightfulness (though he possesses both) than to his difference from "other men of this time," his near total Númenóreanness, and as bolded here, the active exercise of his will.

Tolkien also attributes Denethor's resilience against Sauron (by contrast with Saruman) to not only his right to use the Anor-stone, but "great strength of will." He notes that Sauron had no servant with greater mental powers than Saruman or Denethor, and Gandalf remarks that Denethor was "too great" to be subdued to Sauron's will.

Denethor and Gandalf have a strange and unsettling silent confrontation, carried on by their gazes, yet it strikes Pippin as like "a line of smouldering fire" and "as if reading each other's mind." Gandalf afterwards says Pippin was stuck between two "terrible old men," lumping Denethor in with himself. Pippin also sees some kind of kinship between Denethor and Gandalf, as Sam saw between Faramir and Gandalf.

In his letters, Tolkien said that the ancient Númenóreans became barely distinguishable from Elves in appearance and in their powers of mind. In Unfinished Tales, he notes that they loved their horses, and when a Númenórean had a strong bond with a horse, it was said that the horse could be summoned "by thought alone."

In LOTR, Faramir—who has inherited Denethor's Númenóreanness/wizardliness—has a reputation for command over both animals and men. When everyone else is thrown by their horses upon being chased by five Nazgûl, he not only keeps his seat, but mysteriously gets his horse to ride back towards the Nazgûl. And during the retreat across the Pelennor, the soldiers in the city conclude that Faramir must be with the men who are managing to retreat in order, repeating Beregond's remark that he has some undefined command over both men and beasts.

Gandalf suggests that this is a result of Faramir pitting himself against the effects of the Nazgûl in some way, but his abilities (whatever they are) are outmatched. In the event, the effect of Faramir's Aura of Courage commanding abilities remains until he's shot and finally falls to the Black Breath.

Faramir also makes repeated references to perceiving or reading things in Gollum's mind. At one point, he describes Gollum's mind as dark and closed, yet unable to prevent Faramir from detecting that he's holding something back about Cirith Ungol specifically. Noticeably, this only happens when Faramir orders Gollum to look at him (which Gollum does "unwillingly"), and the light drains from his eyes as he meets Faramir's. It seems decidedly reminiscent of the later Gandalf vs Denethor duel-by-eye-contact.

Faramir's exact words about Gollum's secrecy are "That much I perceived clearly in his mind," in reference to his earlier questioning of him. He says that he can "read" previous murders in Gollum and Gollum cries out in pain when he tries to lie to him.

When Faramir gives staves to Frodo and Sam, he says that a "virtue" of finding and returning has been placed on them, with zero explanation of what he means by that. He adds a hope that the virtue will not altogether fail under Sauron's power in Mordor. He describes the people who did the woodwork but not who placed the virtues (it doesn't seem inherent to the wood itself, given his phrasing).

We do know that Dúnedain can potentially embed enchantments into items. The Barrow-daggers carried by Merry and Pippin are specifically enchanted against the Witch-king of Angmar by an unknown Dúnadan of the North, and when Merry stabs the Witch-king, the dagger breaks enough spells for Éowyn's ordinary sword to finish the job.

Meanwhile, Aragorn uses his healing powers to help the city, wishing for the presence of Elrond, because he is their eldest of their kind and more powerful. Aragorn, also, has at least some part of this ability to actively exercise his will and mental powers, perhaps an equal share, though he uses it less often.

In the book, he doesn't physically attack the Mouth of Sauron, but instead holds his gaze (again, eye contact is important!). There's another silent struggle that involves no weaponry or any other contact.

He prevails in some way over the Mouth of Sauron (not a warped creature of Sauron in the book, but a cruel Númenórean who has "learned great sorcery"). The Mouth indignantly says he has diplomatic immunity and can't be attacked like this.

But, I mean, maybe they're all just smart and perceptive, it's really unclear.

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

from now on I think I might embrace a slight linguistic shift and stop saying that I want attention or special treatment and instead say that I want glory and honor.

meaning I want attention (glory) and special treatment (honor), of course, but said in a way that makes me sound like more of a man's man

[seaofreverie]

We should normalize bringing these sort of "small talk ideas" cards to meetings with other people so that it's possible to avoid the awkwardness of not knowing what to talk about to kick things off or if it's considered normal to talk about this specific thing and AUGHGHFCG all this stuff.

[arodrwho]

also GOD my BOSS wants me to PRESENT SOMETHING during a MEETING as a stupid STRETCH GOAL. like ma'am. please. i'm dying here

[ariennebeak]

first baldurs gate character for my first time digitally rendering :D (timelapse under cut)

[diomedrian]

I have to learn business management from scratch while studying supply chain analytics and i don't want to leave classics behind so im at the very least trying to keep up with translation (and failing actually) and i have to work on my personal skills so im looking for a theatre class (social anxiety is absolutely not helpful) all the while running and exercising cos i've got a lot to be angry about. So YEAH ✌🏼✌🏼

[13eyond13]

.

[tj-crochets]

Hey y'all! Weird question time again, this time about push-ups! So I have a weird assortment of health issues, which makes most exercise in general somewhere between difficult, impossible, and inadvisable, but back before I got sick I was learning to do handstands and I loved it. Long story short, my new meds are helping, but it's been more than a decade and I want to work myself into being able to do handstands again without my arms collapsing and landing on my head, so I've been trying to strengthen my arms a little at a time So far, that's mostly been pushups*, but today I tried pushups with my feet elevated and that was significantly easier than normal pushups??? I'm pretty sure it's working different muscles, but it's also closer to a handstand, so have I been doing pushups wrong this whole time if my goal is handstands??? Also, are there other exercises you'd recommend if my goal is handstands? I want to really overprepare my arms in particular, because sometimes when my blood pressure is wonky my muscles are weaker than they should be, so I can't rely on them reacting correctly and I really don't want to fall on my head

*I also have a weird headstand trainer contraption thing that's basically like a shoulder rest so you can be upside down, like a headstand, without putting all your weight on your head? idk how to describe it but it helps practice the "being upside down" and "various torso muscles keeping you balanced while upside down" parts of handstands. I have no idea what it's called my mom was thrilled I wanted to do handstands and sent it to me

[blackwaxidol]

So do you have an example of how us peasants could catch out terfs without shinigami eyes or are we all supposed to be as psychic as you lol

?

[moiled-spilk]

it’s also insane to me that they said “reads harry potter uncritically” where did I say uncritically?????? do you think I like harry potter because I don’t see the inherent anti semetism, racism, fatphobia and transphobia?? no I read it because it’s fucking whimsical. insane concept but you can like a piece of media without giving seven gajillion dollars to the creator every time you turn a page and even if I don’t support her financially (which I make a conscious effort not to I pirate the books) she is still a billionaire with shares in one of the largest theme parks in the entire fucking world. it is insane to me how quickly people on this website just make assumptions about you. yes I’m a classist transphobe because I like harry potter and think assuming everyone can or wants to read high literature is kind of weird. go. outside. I beg of you.

No babe it’s so cool and hot that you always insist that fantasy books written to meet a 4th graders’ comprehension skills have more complex themes and a greater sense of praxis than anything written for adults

[murasaki-sama]

I have made this, a little (mostly complete) booklet containing the 114 (and doesn’t that number bother me at times) that I have memorized or wish to memorize in the future. I shall now be spending a significant part of each day working on doing just that!

[britneyshakespeare]

for me, consulting writing advice is always more confusing than not. like when you tell me to start my literary essay with "an attention-grabbing first sentence" i'm like, i've literally been told my whole life that every thought i have about literature is boring to most people. my own attention is already siezed; as for "grabbing" other people's, you can't ask me how i expect to do that.

[cringelordofchaos]

i hate myself.