#amboolents

[farahsamboolents]

[Image ID: A topographical map of Hawkins from Stranger Things. The main part of town is highlighted in a pinkish red while the outskirts have a pale purple. There are various lakes surrounding the town. /End ID]

(I am going to be working on a more in-depth Image ID, once that is done this post will be edited to include it)

DONE! I made a map of Hawkins with an absurd amount of detail, I really really had fun with it. It is Hopper's map to a tee, although there were some paths that were so pale that I just sort of winged itand hoped for the best. This will also be available in SVG form! Once it like, actually uploads instead of crashing, that is.

Oh, and, if the map doesn't make sense, don't blame me, blame the props department on Stranger Things.

[farahsamboolents]

another thing to note: the shape of the cane’s handle will affect how your character holds it, and! it takes up an entire hand! when i’m out and about with friends and we need to google something or text another friend, i’ll often say, “hey can someone with more hands than me do that?” because generally, the same hand that i use my phone with is the hand i use for my cane (this is not a universal thing, it’s just a me thing. it can be your character thing too! just don’t assume all cane users are like this)

i have two canes: one with a hook handle, and one with a t-shape handle.

often with the t-shape i find myself unconsciously rearranging my fingers, so that the actual cane bit is in between different fingers. and the “canes fall” bit above? goes extra when you’re absentmindedly fiddling with it :P

with the hook handle, it’s very handy to hook around my arm, which frees up my second hand! once it’s no longer in my hand though, i have less control over it, and oh my god the amount of things i have accidentally knocked that thing into is mortifying.

oh, and i have two canes because one is a really pretty fancy light up cane! it is also too tall for me cuz i measured wrong and that shit matters. i can only wear it with high heels, which, tbh, works for how pretty it is so that worked out for me. but if i tried to use it with flat shoes i would ruin my shoulder.

on a more fun note, the cane makes for a super easy pointing device. i’m real short. it’s sooo convenient to be in a store and when you’re asking an employee for help, just raise your cane and be like “that SPECIFIC one on the top shelf, thank you!”

How to write a cane user character

(Written by a cane user)

A few months ago, I wrote a small guide on good disabled characters and why they were good that gathered quite the attention, and I thought that doing another more specific guide this time would be interesting for writers or just people that are curious ! This guide will include general informations, some things to do, some things to avoid and some ideas that might revolve cane users's lives.

Things to know about cane users

Cane users are pretty diverse, and putting us in little boxes usually isn't the best idea if you want to make a character that has substance and isn't just "the disabled one". Here some infos about cane users that might be helpful knowledge !

Canes don't have ages. Most cane users in media are portrayed to be old, but truly, anyone can have the need to wield a cane ! I've been using mine ever since I was 17.

Can users can have a large variety of problems for their canes. Some canes are used to avoid pain from effort. Some canes are used for balance purposes. Some canes are to make walking less exhausting (works the same as walking sticks !) And sometimes, it's multiple problems at once.

Not everyone needs their cane 24/7. Some always need it, some can make small efforts without it but overall often need it, and some people, like me, can spend quite a lot of time without it. I almost never use my cane in my house, and mostly take it outside !

People with canes can run. We're not necessarily slow, I'm even faster than a lot of my friends.

Not using a cane can come with consequences, but not always. Some people might be able to walk without a cane but then suffer horrible consequences, but for others, canes are just a commodity for specific occasions.

Canes don't have to be looked down upon. Look at some characters with canes that look cool as hell ! Arsène Lupin, Roguefort Cookie, Brook ... Their canes serve their style !

We can be pretty healthy. Some people can have canes just because they were born with a bent leg and that's it. Our cane doesn't define our health status.

Canes aren't a curse. Think of them as something positive. It's a tool to make our lives better. You don't see someone sitting on a chair and think "awh, it's sad that they need a chair". It's more something like "hey it's cool that this chair is here so they can sit down"

Things to do

Make them use their cane. And when I mean use, I mean that canes are just funky long sticks usually made out of metal. Have fun with it ! Let them use it as a weapon ! Trust me, one hit in the knees with a cane and you're DOWN. Use it to reach stuff that's too high for everyone ! Have fun. Be creative.

Let them decorate their cane. It's an extension of their body ! You usually put on clothes that you like, don't you ? It's the same for a cane. If they like cutesy stuff, let them paint in it pastel colors ! If they like a more flashy style, add some stickers on it ! If they're a fancy person, give them a beautiful crafted cane with jewels on it !

You can make them a little shy or uneasy about their cane. Some people don't feel worthy of confident enough to wield one. It's not rare to see people think they're "not disabled enough to do so"

But on the other hand, you can do the complete opposite !! Make them proud of that cane ! Make them act like they're feeling pretty and more confident with it ! One thing i like to think about with my own cane is that I look like a cool gentleman. That boosted my confidence immensely.

Things to avoid

Don't make it their whole world. And by that, I do not mean that their cane shouldn't be a defining trait of their personality. Think of Toph from ATLA. She is blind, and you usually can't think of her character without describing her as blind. However, that isn't her entire personality trait. Make cane users have a goal in life, friends who enjoy them for who they are and not just pity them, have fun ... Don't just make them the disabled one.

Don't try to make the character's life just a plain disaster unless it's the focus of your story and you really know what you're talking about. Having a character who's always in pain, who feels bad about relying on their cane and/or who's angry at the entire world for being disabled is a REALLY tricky subject to use if you don't want them to be either a mass of unhappiness and angst for no good reason or some inspirational porn of the character who inside is deeply tortured but outside keeps up a facade because they shouldn't cry to avoid making others uneasy.

Do not, and I repeat, do NOT try to heal them, especially in a magical way. Bad idea. A lot of disabled people's goal isn't to be healed. It's to live a normal life. Making it so the ultimate goal for them is to be healed makes it as if they were worthless as long as they were disabled. Making their situation better physically or mentally is one thing. Curing them completely is really bad. "But some disabled folks want to be cured !" True, true. But if you are able bodied, I'm not sure if you can have the right mind to understand all of the complex details about this situation that leads to someone's life choices and the end result may look like you think the only thing that can make disabled people happy is being freed from their condition. I think it's best to just avoid it altogether. If you need a more nuanced idea, try to give them a solution that still has a few downs ! For exemple, a prosthetic that feels like a real arm, acts like a real arm and basically replaces it perfectly is a full cure. But a prosthetic that takes time to adjust to, needs repairs sometimes and doesn't look 100% like an arm can be a better narrative choice

Smaller thing, but don't make the handle uneasy to wield if you draw the character design. You can decorate most of the cane, but if you have chunky spiky decorations on the place you're supposed to clench your hand over, you're gonna hurt yourself. I've seen quite a lot of jewel handles or sculpted metal handles and usually their not good. If it's detailed metal, your hand will end up cramped in little parts and it can hurt. If it's a jewel, it's so easy for it to slip out of your hand it's unpractical.

List of tropes/ideas of scenes/details about canes to help you write new situations !

If you walk with a cane during winter, you can't put your hand in your jacket to get warm and there's a high chance your hand will get freezing. So after a long walk, you get an excuse for another character to hold their hand and warm them up.

If the handle is metallic, you get the opposite problem during summer. You can burn yourself so easy ! Easy accident if you want someone to help and get closer to the disabled person without it necessarily involving their disability.

Canes are SUPER useful when you're walking upon heights. They make things really easy, just like hiking poles on mountains ! I live on volcanoes and whenever we clim on a harsh slope, I'm always the first to get up there. Good moment for your character to get a boost of confidence if they get all the way up somewhere before their friends !

The first time using your cane feels magical. If you have chronic pains, it makes you feel like your pain disapear. If you can't walk right, it feels like everything is suddenly alright. The moment where a character chooses to wield a cane can be huge for character development. It's a moment of fear because of the impact a cane has on their appearance, but also a moment of confidence and relief.

Canes fall. All the time. And after a while, it becomes fucking comical. Trust me, putting a cane against the wall, seeing it fall and doing it three times again in a row while it doesn't want to stay up makes you embarrassed but also makes you want to laugh because of how stupid it looks.

When you get a cane, you stop being invisible. When you walk outside, generally speaking, people don't look at you. They don't care about you. But when you get a cane, people start to stare at you for no other reasons that you have a cane. Half of them are just curious, especially if you're young. The other half has a very specific look. The "oh, you poor thing" look. Which is, trust me, particularly awful to get, especially when you're just existing and doing nothing special. How does your character react to this ? How do they feel about it ?

I believe that is all I had in mind. I may add some more details in the future if I get other ideas, but this should already be a good start. I would be thrilled to answer questions if you have some, either in my askbox or through DMs.

I will tag this post with characters holding canes that aren't necessarily considered cane users but that some people may be interested in writing as such. Feel free to tell me if you'd like to see tags being added !

Edit : I'm highly encouraging everyone to look at the tag section under this post where a lot of other can users are sharing their experiences !!

[river-neurodivergent-willow]

I do not like how people now think "becoming" nonspeaking is not rare and will happen if you just unmask or burnout and it is frustrating when people say to me like there is a good chance they will. :(

Most people who "become" (loose the ability to speak fully and cannot speak at all times, even alone for a very long time or forever lots more than a few weeks) ) nonspeaking already have had a history of issues with speech and are normally not LSN first.

It feels upsetting when people talk to me and say about how they might become nonspeaking because they are being burnt out!!! Most of the nonspeaking people I have heard about who have become nonspeaking late in life (age 10+) I have heard through my mum in her parents groups for parents of autistic people, because most do not have the ability like me to communicate online very well.

I could speak before and was not semi verbal but I did have some small speech challenges growing up such as a small speech delay and some words I could not say correctly (for example I said "gymnastics" like "ginastics" and ambulance like "amboolance") and I often spoke extremely loud and could not control how loud I spoke to the point my mum considered I could be hearing impaired. But still it is very rare for someone who could speak as well as I could to completely fully loose the ability to speak. I did not even know that being nonspeaking and "becoming" nonspeaking is a thing when my regression happened!!!!

It just frustrates me because some people treat it like this thing that is very not rare and common and very possible for them even if they have LSN and are fully verbal with no speech issues at all

[urlocallesbiab]

no

[clockworkcheetah]

still wanna know what interior of the amboolents is

[karilynch]

The amboolents in Dirk Gently is my religion now. 

[a-boonormous-tale]

(((Here are all the Boo OCs I drew so far!

I’m gonna post all the relevant art, that I already posted on my main blog here as well, just to keep everything at least a little bit organized! Please consider that most of these are very old!)))

[tagarilaghost]

I thought you might wanna meet 3 OCs of mine? Maybe I‘ll do an ask blog for all my Boo OCs, but I‘m like... not so sure.(Old drawing again)

Anyways, here are their names:

Left top: Boolinda (Pun of Linda)

Right top: Amboolance (Pun of Ambulance)

Middle Bottom: Boolt (Pun of Bolt)

I also got some headcanons for them! (Warning: Murder)

Boolt:

Gender: Male

-He absolutely HATES the living! Every single one of them.

-He ENJOYS killing humans and because of that the King likes his rough and grumpy character.

-Boolt also wears a pistol under that bandana, that he can use perfectly. He's a master of shooting.

-Boolt is one of the closest friends of his majesty and (normally) does everything what King Boo orders without hesitating.

Boolinda:

Gender: Female

-She's by far the kindest Boo in the whole mansion.

-Boolinda normally takes care of the Boo-siblings (she also makes sure that they don't MAKE and GET into trouble)

-She is older than his spookyness-She was the one who looked after King Boo when he was young-> They have a very good relation to each other -> They both describe them as good old friends (King Boo hates it when someone says that Boolinda was some sort of mother for his majesty).

-Boolinda is a very talented fashion designer and was also one in her past life.

-She still organizes all the clothes which lie around in the mansion.

Amboolance:

Gender: Male

-His job in the mansion is... uh... well... as you can see he's a Doctor... He should normally take care of injuries, but Boos don't really get hurt. They're ghosts after all.

-He cares for some injured humans if King Boo orders him to do so.

-Amboolance always carries a first aid kit with him. ALWAYS.

-He knows his majesty quite a long time, but not as long as Boolt and Boolinda do.

[farahsamboolents]

hi i’m writing one like this, if anyone would like to check it out here ya goooo

yes it’s incomplete but i only have one chapter to go plus the epilogue, both of which are fully planned and at least partially written

anyway thanks for letting me self promo and thanks for the other recs y’allllll

listen i know we’re all fans of the “oblivious steve / knows whats up eddie” dynamic, but i dont know why bc “oblivious eddie / knows whats up steve” is Infinitely Funnier. just

eddie : aahhh i have fallen for another straight boy, when will my common sense come back from the war

meanwhile steve, talking to robin : it will be a fall wedding and we will wear red ties

like im just saying eddie was talking abt stancy getting back together while steve was staring at his lips, and i think we should appreciate that dynamic more idk

[farahsamboolents]

[image ID: a digital painting of Farah Black from Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.]

i love her

[elijahwoodnot]

Todd Brotzman is canonically kind of terrible at driving cause he gets all nervous and jittery behind the wheel (but he always volunteers to drive him and Dirk places cause Dirk’s driving makes him even more nervous)

they end up either walking or relying on Farah to tote them around in her Jeep about 90% of the time 

[gourmetpanic]

That’s a thought--

What happens when Francis Cardenas - The Boy, Project Moloch, The Reality Editor, the child who could create things in the real world while dreaming -  falls asleep in Wendimoor?

He’s shown to be able to edit the reality of Wendimoor freely while conscious, because Wendimoor was created in a dream and he is now in that dream world as of the end of Season 2 (even though it’s now real and everyone in it is awake) - he’s able to create one last thing (The Amboolents) in the real world, because he’s technically dreaming while in Wendimoor. But do the things he dreams about while asleep in Wendimoor get created? Or would that put him in an Inception scenario of a dream within a dream? 

...Does Francis need to sleep in Wendimoor at all? 

[h3rmitsunited]

[hhuta]

Oh my god you watched Dirk gently???? Yes!!! I rarely see people posts about it anymore and it was my favourite show for so long I'm so excited youve watched it!! Please share your thoughts 👀👀👀 I'm a starving man 😔 idk what to ask do I ask about your favourite character?? Your thoughts on the stuff that was gonna happen in s3??? Should I ask if you prefer s1 or s2??? Idk please thoughts

cooonnooorrrrrr u know the showwwww!!!!! aaaa!!

mY THOUGHTS ARE: dirk is my child and i will protect him forever.

literally all i can think about. i got so attached to him, i cant believe theres literally nOTHING ELSE OF HIM FOR ME TO WATCH. LIKE. ITS OVER??????? IM GONNA HAVE TO READ THE BOOKS THAT ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE SHOW TO FILL THE VOID????????????????????? THIS IS WHY I STOPPED WATCHING TV SHOWS I HATE IT HERE

anyways. as u can see hes my fave character by far. i fell in love with him so fast :( hes so funny and dumb but also very smart 😔😔😔 and he suffered so much!!!!!!!!!! oh my god i wanted to fight everyone who was mean to him!!!!!!!!!! i only respect hobbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love him too! i also love estevez and zimmerfield andnnnddd dodontnttt eveeennnn!!! getttt meee stARARTETDDDDD ON THEIIRRRRRR ENEDNDNINGGGSSSSS Because it doesnt exist. i dont acknowledge it. pure bullshit. i was truly close to te a r s during zimmerfield [redacted] scene???? did u??? did u see that shit????? THE TENDERNESS? WHAT THE F U CK WAS THAT ABOUT IM. im ok.

ah i love bart too so i fucking hATED HOW S2 ENDED FOR HER. WHY DIDNT SHE STAY WITH PANTO IN THE FAIRYTALE LAANNDDDDD OH MYGOODDDDDDD their dynamic was so good... and speaking of him, of course i love a gay icon, love his boyfriend too, another dumb gay!!! so many dumb gays. so much representation. im sad we didnt get to see a lot of them. i was so fuckign afraid they were also going to fucking die no i would riot!! i was ready to say "sO GLAD THIS GOT CANCELELDLDLD!!! OF COURSE THE GAYS GOT KILLED !!! NOT EVEN FICTIONAL FICTIONAL GAYS ARE SAFE!!" KJljdslklk i really was prepared for the worse after what happened to my other kings...... ill never get over that

and to be honest i was not vibing with the second season at first (probably, for sure..ly bc of what happened to my kings in s1. all these new characters were being introduced, i felt like pure shit just wanted them back. i couldnt properly enjoy it) also the whole.. fantasy thing.... is not my thing... idk... from the start, when i saw the fucking wand i wanted to scream dlkjas i knew it wasnt going to be for me. but i think it got better as it went on, it just didnt captivate me like the plot from s1. i didnt follow it as well? i enjoyed how i could easily pick up the little clues in s1 but tbh i think that just reflects dirk's state cuz we sorta follow his pov... he was v e r y lost during s2 and that rubbed on me!!! i didnt enJOYYYY ONE BITTT SEEING HIMMM SO FUCKING SAD... he was just sad and freaking out and he just needed a friend >:( and todd ugh he pissed me off a lot of the time dlkajskl........... ill never forget him saying dirk deserved to be alone 🚶‍♂️being a dirkette isnt easy.

but anyways its not like s2 was bad and dumb (im editing this and i just remember them trying to make todd/farah a thing. absolutely loathed that. that was bad and dumb. faratina for the win), the weird stuff did make sense in the end. of course thats what a child would imagine, even the scissors as weapons made sense. aND AMBOOLENTS. IDK IF U REMEMBER THAT BUT GOD IT MADE ME LAUGH SO MUCH. also suzie was a good villain and tina and hobbs were amazing 🥰aGAIN I WAS SO READY FOR ONE OR BOTH OF THEM TO DIE.... no this fear really ruined things for me lkdjalsk.... oh mona !!! lOVE HER TOO! shes so pretty, first of all. when i saw her glowing eyes in the first ep i was like heyyyy 💕ANyways her character???? like?? so interesting??? not knowing who shes supposed to be?!?!?! i got hooked right awayyyy when she said that

oh my god i wish s3 existed and it was about heeerrrr. mona and dirk would be great besties 😔 and he would finally have his actual detective agency :(((((( but do u mean what i want to happen or this that might have happened? cuz im only looking at dirk/assistent romance lkdjakls mister sir lieutenant assistent was funny and so brave for putting up with friedkin so hes prepared for dirks intelligent dumbness and i want to see dirk happy its a win win. TODD BEING A ROCKSTAR AGAIN YES! all the other stuff yes too except bart teaming up with ken idek why she would do that after he 1. became a dick and 2. betrayed her (PLUS he shot dirk, im resentful, therefore i hate him forever and i dont want bart near him ever again)

sooooooo unfair that the show only has 2 seasons..... its such a rich universe with good characters.... all of them.. amanda and farah got great character development.. i already miss it im so sad..... im strongly considering making a sideblog to reblog stuff..

but what are your thoughtssss? tell me anything !!! do u have a fave episode? since i just finished s2, i remember loving S2xE6. the concert aftermath was really funny also dirk in pink <3

fashion icon <33

[meltedhorror]

I need the amboolance

would an amboolance just make ghost sounds

[misunderstoodclearly]

Why Amboolents?

You might be wondering why i have given myself the title Amboolents uwu

Its a joke from Dirk Gently's Holistic detective agency ;)

(Trust me its so good- omfg. Watch it!!)