#and cause a lot of damage to the surrounding systems

[cookinguptales]

man, there are days when I'm like "idk how much the ketamine treatments help" but then there are days like today where I woke up with a rib out of joint and I suffered for hours before giving in and taking my treatment a day early (which was okayed by my doctor) and I fell asleep during the treatment and woke up like. rib back in and only mildly sore.

like using this stuff is not perfect (the dehydration alone is hard to deal with) but there are days when it's such a lifesaver.

[edenaziraphale]

There's a lot to be said about the weaknesses and strengths of the writing in Dragon Age games, but for me there's nothing that trumps the way the writers' implicit biases shine through in their treatment of various characters. Anders and Solas showcase the very worst of this. Functionally Anders and Solas could (and I would go so far as to say should) operate as foils to one another. Anders is a victim of decades of abuse at the hands of both individuals and a system that demonized him from a very young age. We are given information about his childhood and time spent in the circle that makes it explicitly clear that Circles are an unjust and abusive system that traumatized him so much that he fled multiple times regardless of the fact that he knew the abuse would escalate each time he escaped. In the end, he chooses to chance death and lifelong struggle via conscription because it is his only shot at escaping his current reality. After that, in DA2, it's made clear that Kirkwall's circle is even worse. Karl is made tranquil, the templars are mad with power, and it's heavily implied that the tranquil are utilized as sex slaves and that some templars may even be selecting mages for tranquility based on their desire for them alone. In the light of all of that, Anders makes a very desperate and destructive choice. Regardless of how players feel about his actions, it's not really up for debate that the context surrounding them creates mitigating circumstances and a sympathetic backing. He was attempting to affect positive change for a group of people facing fates that the game makes clear are worse than death. Despite this, the game's writing treats him as an unsympathetic villain whose actions are not only reprehensible, but completely beyond the realm of human understanding. That dynamic at the end of DA2 carries into DAI. Solas, on the other hand, is on a quest to undo his own actions. His initial construction of the Veil and the problems that it caused can be viewed with (some) similarity to Anders circumstances in that Solas was attempting to right a wrong done by someone else, but the key difference is that, unlike Anders, who was a powerless victim attempting to free other powerless victims, Solas was on a revenge quest to avenge the death of his friend and had an incredible amount of power within the system that he existed as a part of.

His actions had horrific consequences that birthed what is essentially an entirely new existence for everyone in Thedas eons before the start of any of the games. He finds the outcome of his own actions intolerable, and seeks to reverse them. He harms friends and allies to do so, and makes it explicitly clear that he does not care who he harms or what the consequences are to Thedas or the people who live there in his quest to bring back the version of the world that he liked better. Functionally, Solas makes an excellent villain. He stands out from Anders (who operates in his narrative as a symbol of the rage and disenfranchisement of the powerless) as a representation of power and ego unchecked and the damage that they can cause.

Unfortunately, the writing of the game treats him as though he is the tragically complex victim of forces outside of his control when he is in fact the over-powered puppeteer. He is very much the master of his own destiny and he intends to be the master of everyone else's destiny as well by ripping apart the fabric of reality. No character in the series better demonstrates the writer's biases than Varric, who, as a narrator for DA2, essentially acts as the moral arbiter telling players how they should and should not feel about events, explaining what is and is not moral. His reactions to Anders stand out in sharp relief against what we see of his reaction to Solas in the Veilguard releases so far.

To be clear, I don't hate Solas as a character. I think as a villain, he works very well. His complete and total disregard for the wellbeing of others paired with his affect of wise and gentle mage are compelling to witness. His motivations are understandable from the selfish and self-centered core of us as people. He's a fantastic reminder of what happens when we decide that we know what's best with no input from others, when we pursue our desires above all else beneath the veneer of wisdom. He's fun, well rounded, and interesting. He is not, however, a tragic and morally justified sadboi victim of circumstance, and I resent that the writers treated him as though he was.

[nonaltercdd]

For being a dissociative disorder the CDDs are the ones who I see less of dissociative symptoms be talked about in the community

So I thought, why not make a post about some of the dissociative symptoms the CDD has!!

Depersonalization: Depersonalization is one of the big levels of dissociation that, in certain cases, can be categorized as a disorder in company of derealization. Depersonalization can present in various forms, but as general definition it's when someone it's so dissociated from themselves that they don't feel connected to their body or sense of self, just like you were external to yourself

Derealization: Derealization is one of the big leves of dissociation that, in certain cases, can be categorized as a disorder in company of depersonalization. Derealization can present in various forms, but as genera definition it's when you feel strange, fake, unreal and distorted your reality and all the things surrounding you.

Depersonalization and derealization tent to come hand in hand and sometimes together, this is most common between systems and it can overlap with a lot of other things making the experience more unique and worst for the pwCDD

"Autopilot" mode: Autopilot is a state of being in which your body reacts to what is needed and, like the name suggest, in an autopilot mode, is not necessarily a depersonalization mode cause it can come from more light dissociation, and sometimes you don't even feel it or realizate it happens (when depersonalization tend to be a semi-conscious and aware state), even though it can come hand in hand is not always like that

Crisis identity: Alters aside, being pwCDD can give you a lot of crisis identity, and when it comes to dissociative part is one you feel some kind of blurriness, disconnection, confusion and lost about you, can be because of many factors and can lead to severe impact in your personal view to the point of not being sure if you're you and questioning a lot of things about you, this kind of dissociative behavior can overlap with many factors which makes it worse

Emotional amnesia: Emotional amnesia is an specific kind of dissociative amnesia characterized by remembering the facts and/or events but feeling emotionally disconnected to that, not feeling or remembering the feelings regarding that memorie/event, and the sense of third person regarding the event, is being emotionally separated

Blackout amnesia: Blackout amnesia is one of the most named kinds of amnesia a pwCDD will experience, though is less common than emotional amnesia, the blackout amnesia is characterized by forgetting all about what you experienced, counting emotion and memory

Dissociative amnesia: Dissociative amnesia is a very big spectrum, this is why it's a diagnosis/disorder by its own. But for being general dissociative amnesia is when you dissociate things about yourself, this can be memories, important information, daily life, etc, to a point you end up forgetting that information

Flashback: Did you know that flashbacks are a dissociative response to trauma? You didn't? Now you know! Flashbacks are a way in which your brain dissociates from reality to relive a memory or experience you previously have, in this connotation, a traumatic experience

"Non-pain" mode: Sometimes even hurting yourself (accident or not) you can't feel the pain of that, it's like that physical damage isn't yours, this is a kind of dissociation more connected to how the brain is connected to your body and the sense of physical pain. SO sometimes your brain, aiming to protect you, dissociates from the physical pain to be "safe"

Denial: In some cases denial can be a dissociative response as a way for keeping you away from understanding and knowing you have certain trauma and passed trough certain experience. When you deny having or passing through something you tend to dissociate the memory and sometimes to the reality as a way to try keep yourself safe

Daydreaming: Daydreaming is a dissociative coping mechanism and sometimes it can come to the point of being maladaptive and dangerous for yourself. Daydreaming is a way in which trough dissociation your brain makes up a new "reality" in hopes to scape the real life and reality

Emotional disruption: Did you know that if you feel sad and then you stop being sad is dissociation? One of the dissociative ways of coping with a stressful and heavy emotion is "turning off" your emotions, or in the other hand, feeling like the past emotion was replaced by another one, it's important to note that this mood change is without any apparent explanation and you cannot return to the previous emotion cause you know feel detached to it, like isn't yours anymore. In the other hand you can be ok and a new emotion comes up to you, you feel detached to this emotion and don't have any idea where it come from and why are you feeling it, but you do, and it doesn't feels yours

Skill variation: Having in one moment one skill and in the other don't, having different skill abilities in which one time you can be good and other not that good, and all the variations within the ability to do certain skill (can be any skill, like writing, talking, moving, drawing, etc.)

"Emotionless" state: The emotionless state is when, for one or another reason, you feel empty, null, like you lack any kind of emotions, like there's a void in whee your emotions should be, this emotional dissociation can happen for many reason and in company of other symptoms, though sometimes one doesn't notice it because of this emotionless state

This are some of the dissociative symptoms I can recall at the moment, maybe there are more that I didn't put here and you want to add in comments/reblogs or you can ask me to add them to this list

Well some of this symptoms can overlap with the alter part of the disorder they're not 100% attached to them and it's important to recognize this as very prominent symptoms of the disorder, after all this is a dissociative disorder, isn't it?

If you want to add more to this or ask a question go ahead, we'll see it 100% sure!!

[rorah]

The mentally stable Dimitri Fire emblem 3 hopes.

It surprises me that there's still ppl claiming so, but then I remember we're talking about 3h interpretations and I have to make peace with it.

But that doesn't stop me from venting a little bit in this little space I have lol. Actually, it dries me and makes me feel bad to bring this up because I will have to talk bad about Dedue, and I don't want to talk Bad about Dedue. He's a genuinely good boy. But "Human" nonetheless, which means Flaws. I like Felix too but he's become some sort of a clown that doesn't make me feel too bad. I like Felix tho, In a different way.

Mostly talking about these two because the take that "Dimitri has better support system" baffles me because, technically, these two are his support system in HopesVerse. The persons who Dimitri relays on and seek solace/advice/support. The rest doesn't really tackle any of his personal struggles (aside from the Mage!Mitri frustrated dream, but that's out of the bad equation in our 'mentally unwell' set of pixels, and Shez only has a glimpse). Contrary, to Houses verse where the whole blue lions cast knew about his shit, didn't know what to do, but didn't leave either.

I tackled this topic with other person on Twitter who was (or still is) on board with this take and the phrase they used was They contained him better, which of course I agree and remarked that was exactly the problem. Contain him is gonna be contra productive. I used a water dam analogy, where the structure of such dam is damaged, and the pressure of water keeps accumulating. Causing a foreseeable damage for the dam itself and the surroundings. You don't need to be a genius to understand it, you need experience or knowledge for mental ill topics tho.

I really don't want to extend so much on here because it's mostly just, rant format more than a proper analysis so I just want to point out these two things in their support conversations.

First, Dedue. Encourage him to keep on the vengeful path. Which we know was the final goal of Azure Moon and if you payed attention to 3 houses message. The whole Vengeful argument was something Bad, to keep it simple. Despite Dimitri actively looking for answers/guidance for something that, in a rational state he can see clearly like vengeance will consume his life (also Shez and Felix called out this behavior). Dedue answer only encourage him to keep on that path, because he would do that 💔. Presenting 2 oposite views is a great formula for confusion and disorientation. Now, Dedue's role is primary SUPPORT, not guidance nor orientation. He will support his shit no matter what, and we are quite aware of that if played Houses.

Second, Felix. Felix is a special case. He is smart but also an idiot lacks A LOT of soft skills to actually be of help. He's the only one who knows in this verse about Dimitri having a mental issue. In their A support to say the least, so they don't close or solve anything. What makes it more worrisome is the fact that Felix conceals the issue as a secret.

"So try to keep that whole "removing their heads" thing in check, yeah? We can just call it our little secret."

this extract here makes me feel so unwell 😭help

The whole burden falls over him and his lack of skills and wisdom on the matter will be too much for him later on. He at least, will be able to recognize that the problem is beyond of his capabilities and will look for help. Felix himself has his own issues and journey where he needs to learn. He's forced to get pass beyond some of his angry teen behavior but hasn't completely get over it.

There is a lot more to tackle, but that requires more work and time. What are the topics some of you think is important to cover around understanding the Hopes verse resolution? Dimitri's route? something? Do you think the route without Byleth is better? With that being said, I would like to delve deeper into character analysis, and the role each played for the Lords too. That also requires to talk about the Byleth and needs a whole analysis on their own, which requires time (which i don't have much lol) To end this vent, I would like to encourage people to do a little research for the terminology they're using like "Support System". Who makes it up and how it operates successfully. The fact that ppl saying "he has better support system" only because he didn't go feral on the run alone is not entirely valid. A reminder that people can feel alone with or without people around them. And containing the issue within doesn't solve any problem. At best, it's presented later. At worse, it gets worse.

[thewayuarent]

Handling an addiction. Part 1.

Cause oh we need to have this conversation

Disclaimer: I am not a professional, and I won’t pretend to be. This is based on my personal experience as someone who is/was in several relationships with people who struggle from different forms of addiction. I want to clarify that I do understand all characters and while I’m going to critique them I do not blame them. The very important thing to remember is that it's a very complicated topic and there is no clear right answer to it. Let's keep in mind that any conversation about any difficult topic is always mostly one-sided and it's impossible to talk about everything once. This is about addiction and only about it, but all characters are way more then that one topic. Are we good now? Let's go.

So, let’s talk about Ray’s addiction and how people in his life are failing to handle it. 

The most important thing to remember is: addiction is a disease. By definition of most medical associations all over the world. Addiction is not a personal choice. And while it doesn’t excuse Ray’s behaviour throughout the show, it explains it. And this is a big difference. Ray as a character is much more than just his addiction, absolutely. But his addiction is a huge part of who he is and how he behaves and we need to constantly remember about it.

This conversation begins every week after every episode. Most people who seem to understand the complexity of his situation are also people who have a lot of sympathy and understanding towards him, and this is great. There are also a lot of people who feel towards him mostly annoyance and desire for him to stop without understanding why he can't - and this list starts from characters in the show. It’s, again, understandable. It’s also the worst thing you can do towards someone who struggles from addiction. 

So let’s start from Ray’s friend group and we’ll go from the least harmful to most harmful characters’ behaviour.

Boston. Yeah, shockingly, I know. But the fact is - Boston actually has the best-ish (from the worst so it’s not a high ground here) approach towards Ray’s addiction. And why? Well, cause he doesn’t give a fuck and doesn’t pretend to do. Boston is way far from the good support system Ray actually needs but at least he never judges Ray for his habits. He won’t help him, sure, but he won’t damage him harder (well, he is, but on a different topic).

We don’t actually know a lot about this friend group dynamic outside of their current drama and one episode happened two years ago. But we kind of can assume (cause Mew said it twice - in episodes 1 and 6) that Boston at least on some level was periodically responsible for taking Ray home. Which is really weird for me, by the way, cause both times Mew said Boston will take care of him Boston was also drinking. Not on Ray’s level, but still not in a shape to drive. But whatever. 

Don’t get me wrong, Boston is a shitty friend. He’s the one called Ray a burden in episode 1 which led to Ray rushing out.

And he intentionally targets Ray more than once towards the show about Mew, which is absolutely harmful and not helpful (can we talk about the weird obsession Boston has about Ray and Mew having sex? Like dude relax, nobody cares. Well, Top does).

He is absolutely not someone you want to have in your support system while trying to heal (not if Ray’s trying but we’ll get to that in part 2). But at least he is honest about not wanting to handle an addict. And the truth is: no one in this friends group wants to. And it’s fine, actually, more on that in a minute. But oh the level of hypocrisy the other two have.

Cheum. So, I truly don’t understand what the show is trying to tell us with this one. It’s either a clear critique on the hypocrisy people tend to have towards addicts or an attempt to show how addiction ruins not only people with it but also their surroundings. And if it’s the second one then I have a problem with how it’s shown.

There is a gold rule of cinema: show, don’t tell. We are told more than once that Cheum and Mew were actively trying to stop Ray. But what we’re actually shown is way different. The thing is, they are college kids. They drink a lot. They party a lot. And if we see this group all together they are either in university or drinking (except for the iconic pool scene). And specifically Cheum seems to get drunk pretty often. So while we’re told they tried to help Ray we’re shown only how they actually (unintentionally!!) support his behaviour or ignore it. And what should I think?

I think that they missed the point when Ray’s habits became an actual addiction. And I understand why - it’s a very easy thing to miss. I think that before his suicide attempt they did’t notice his mental struggles. I think after that they were shocked and scared and they didn’t know how to handle it so they chose to ignore it. This is a very common reaction and it’s understandable. 

The very important moment to remember is they don’t owe Ray anything. They can choose to help him and support him or not to deal with it. Handling an addiction is so hard and frustrating and exhausting for every participant. And if they choose to not get themselves into it - it’s normal. It doesn’t make them bad people, as choosing to help doesn't make somebody a better person. It’s a choice and every choice matters.

But if you make this choice - be true to it. Don’t play the “I tried to help you but you don’t want it so it’s on you” card. People with addiction didn’t choose to be that way. But people in their lives? They have an actual choice. No one will judge you if it’s not for you (at least normal people won’t). It’s honestly way better than staying only to constantly remind an addict how bad he is - he knows it already.

The thing I have to say to Cheum is - go away. It’s harsh, but it needs to be said. Don’t lie to yourself or Ray. Tell him (in very careful way) that you are tired, that you can’t handle it, that he needs help you can’t provide. Or stay, but do your research and prepare yourself to long hard work. But don’t continue to constantly drink with him to then be surprised why he can’t get better. Cheum is absolutely not responsible for Ray's actions. But she is responsible for hers. 

The one time I was almost agree with her was that scene.

Because bringing drugs was a very fucked up thing to do - Ray puts at risk not only himself but the whole group and he deserves to be called out on that. But. She continues to put all the blame on Ray - the thing she does the whole episode and it’s just frustrating as hell -  forgetting about Mew. Mew, who actually has a lot of responsibility in that situation.

Mew. Well, he does the worst thing you can imagine to do with a person like Ray. I get it, he’s hurt, I totally understand why he does what he does. I don't think he intends to hurt Ray. But.

Mew forgets a critically important thing here - can you guess which one? - right, that Ray is an addict. Mew can do all this stuff and be fine afterwards. It is always a risk that he won’t, of course, but his superiority complex tells him he’ll be fine. And I also think so - I mean, he's a young adult, he can try partying and drinking and drugs and be totally okay after.

He can turn back. Ray can’t.

Mew did help Ray in his worst moment that one time two years ago, and it is worth remembering. And after that Mew tried his best to distance himself from Ray’s struggles - again, understandable. He was trying to talk with Ray and while it was really bad - I still give him the benefit of a doubt. He is young, he’s not a specialist, he didn’t do any research and he thinks it might work.

But a moment he decides to let loose he turns to Ray for help. Because Ray will never judge him - both cause his idolisation and cause it’s not his place to judge, he does all this stuff himself. And this is absolutely terrible. I’m sorry, but it is. Mew, the same as everyone else, doesn’t owe Ray his help or time or support. But while it is not necessary for him to help Ray, it is a necessity to not actively - and this time intentionally - support him in this.

For Mew everything happening is episode 8 is a journey, a new experience. For Ray it's a fucking relapse.

He knows Ray is an addict. He just doesn’t care at the moment. But it can be so, so dangerous for Ray. Mew started this spiraling down journey, but it’s Ray who will end up at the bottom.

And for everyone who says Ray is also an active participant - he is. But he is not. He has a disease. And he gets in a situation where a person he idolises, his favourite human being, finally doesn’t judge him. Instead, Mew supports him. Mew wants to be like him. Can you imagine even a possibility where Ray in this situation says no? It’s impossible, not in the state he’s in right now.

And this is why I critisize this friend group. This is why they deserve to be criticized. Because this is a depiction of how these things work in reality too. You don't have to help him. But the least thing you can do - if you deside to stay in his life - is to have a compassion towards him and don't get him worse.

In part two I will talk about Ray’s current state and of course about the one person who kind of does the better job here - and why Sand is able to do it.

[genericpuff]

ok as someone disabled with severe motor skill issues i really hate the argument that "anyone can learn art" and that it's completely accessible to everyone. it's not. there are lots of disabled folks who are getting left out of this discussion with the ableist argument that anyone can do art and if you can't you're just not trying hard enough (which is an argument a lot of abled people tend to use against disabled folks in general). i'm against ai art and will never use it but we have got to stop acting like art is an accessible hobby to everyone because there is unfortunately a lot of people who would love to become artists but will never be able to because of our disabilities.

nah you right! I try to be mindful of that sort of thing but it does admittedly fly under my radar at times because I'm not someone living with a physical disability (and thus it's not as front-of-mind as someone who is) so thanks for catching me on that, many apologies. My argument was regarding the people I've seen who have exclusively used "well I've tried to learn how to draw and it's hard / took too much time / etc." as their driving argument (of which there are just. so many) when like. these are realities for many artists who have been doing this for years, too, including those who are disabled. yeah, making art takes time and practice and a lot of hard work! welcome to the party LOL

but I also understand how keeping that argument so simplified can be exclusionary to those who do genuinely face barriers when pursuing art due to living with disabilities. I've met and observed the work of many disabled artists - webcomic artists, game designers, musicians, etc. - who are out there making their stuff and it comes with all its own unique struggles that shouldn't be forgotten about or overlooked in the discussion regarding AI art, struggles that bar many people from even getting into making art from the starting gun.

I do genuinely believe that art can come from anywhere, that anyone is capable of expressing themselves through whatever medium that compels them... but you're right that many artistic mediums in and of themselves are not wholly accessible to everyone. And I hope to god that more tools are developed to help those who are both working artists as well as aspiring ones.

But AI, in its current state, just isn't one of them. And I'm seeing this sentiment being yelled from the rooftops by many disabled artists who firmly believe that the ends do not justify the means - that they don't want the medium to become more accessible if it comes at the cost of other artists (many who are disabled themselves!) whose work and livelihoods are being replaced with cheap carbon copies. AI art doesn't allow anyone to actually participate in the joy of creating straight from the heart, it just takes from others' joy and spits it back out with an impression of what it thinks the joy of creation is supposed to look like through lifeless pixels. That's not even getting into just how much damage it's already actively causing to our environment, and how quickly AI has started to replace other surrounding industries as well.

Separately from that, you're right, paying for art is a luxury for many, but that's all the more reason why we shouldn't be supporting the current climate surrounding AI IMO which is the crux of what my argument was in that previous Simpsons meme post. Many people do face severe limitations in trying to create their art; the people I'm referring to who are heavily pro-AI are often not those same people and only face the limitations of their own entitlement, which is destroying the livelihoods of many human artists. Is it worth participating in AI art to save money if that same participation perpetuates a growing system that's costing people their livelihoods?

Maybe some day we'll get AI tools that are less predatory and destructive and help those who want to create art do so. Maybe we'll finally get some stricter regulations around what companies are allowed to get away with in their respective industries. I'd like to think also that the rise of AI art will, by extension, make human-made art all the more valuable. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish for tools that made making webcomics just a teeeeny bit more efficient without being completely unethical LOL But until any of those scenarios prove to be true, we're dealing with a monster of our own design that will never stop eating even after we've all been consumed. The toothpaste is out of the tube.

[itsallpoliticsstupid]

Throughout the election, I maintained to my boyfriend that I couldn't call who would win. Because it was just too close. I think that was always untrue, in my heart I always knew that Kamala didn't have a chance at becoming President.

I think there are a number of reasons for this. The car crash of a Presidential debate between Biden and Trump; the way she became the democratic candidate; her stance on the Israel/Gaza war, which turned away a lot of her more 'traditional' voters; the fact that, outside of abortion, there didn't seem to be any other real issue that she was running on - I mean I could literally go on and on. But it just felt everything was against her.

For me though, it boils down to 3 major issues:

The Economy

The fact Biden decided to run for a second term

'Democracy' (e.g. the way she became candidate)

And other Political Analysts will likely disagree with me, but I'm used to it.

The Economy

We look first at the economy. This is a huge motivating factor to why somebody would vote for a candidate. Under the democrats cost of living has increased, and people are struggling to maintain a good quality of life.

An average voter is going to ascribe that to the Government, and in this case the Democrats.

They're not going to know, or care, that the cost of living increase is a global issue caused by world events. Such as the War in Ukraine, War in the Middle East and Climate Change making large scale production more difficult due to the instability of the land.

So if the opposing Political Party are using that big issue to their advantage, claiming that they will help lower taxes for the normal working family, of course that's going to be an incentive to vote for them regardless of the other issues surrounding that candidate/party.

Biden's decision to stand

I think the moment Biden decided to go for a second term was the moment the democrats had no hope of winning the election.

It had become apparent quite late on in his presidency that he was struggling with his neurological health and it should have been advised much earlier that he shouldn't run for a second term.

Had he stepped away much earlier, they could have bought in a candidate who could run from the off. Somebody who would be able to put what they stood for across much earlier, and could really make an impact in an election.

Because really, who knows what Kamala stood for? Outside of the abortion rights, I can't tell you one thing. Yes, I wanted her to win, but that's because I do believe Trump will cause damage globally. But, I don't know what Kamala's policies were. Or what she really stood for. It felt like the democrats were more interested in damaging the Republican party's image than really showing what they were about.

In essence, negative campaigning. Which came to a head when she referred to him as a fascist.

And it just goes to show that negative campaigning doesn't work.

Democracy (How she became the candidate)

This leads me to the final point. How Kamala became candidate. In a parliamentary system, nobody would blink twice if you had a change of leader candidate half way through an election. Because you vote for the party, not the candidate.

I think changing the candidate half way through this election process made people feel a bit...off. And is probably why so many people said that threat to democracy was a core issue for them. Because, if it was mainly democrats answering the threat to democracy being a core issue, the election would have been a hell of a lot different.

Anyway, that's just my opinion and assessment.

It sucks right now but, as I said in my country after Brexit, you will get through, whether in the US or in another country. It will be a deeply uncertain, challenging time, but all you can do right now is have faith that things won't be as bad as we all believe.

Take care of yourselves in America. I may wait for the next 4 years to pass before reconsidering relocating over there for work.

[emiplayzmc]

Radio Comet Addison (Hex: a97183)

-Height is 6'0" (72. in.), and he's one of the oldest Addisons in Cyber City - he refuses to say his exact age.

-A radio star in the 50s and 70s in Cyber City specialising in radio ad sponsors, he worked at the same station that Broadcast does, and mentored him in the showhosting business when he first started working there. He quite liked Broadcast's hyperactive and enthusiastic nature.

-He gets frequent headaches and CPU overloads for seemingly no reason.

-He's got a big ego, priding himself on his voice and talent which was easily wounded if people badmouthed it - he was also quite snoopy, and knew things about pretty much everyone at the station. Despite these flaws, he's quite a patient man, which made him a pretty good mentor.

-He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

-He's the first carrier of a virus that doesn't have a known source - aka, he's Patient 0 of it. Hence, he's also the main spreader of the virus by compulsion to do so and conditioning so as to not lose himself completely until a victim is found and infected. He targets and chooses prey, and stalks them like a komodo dragon until the right time to infect comes. He tries to do it as little as possible, but the longer he goes without infecting, the more the virus compels him to do so until it eventually puppets him itself until a victim is found, no matter if it was an intended target or not.

-Because of the damage to his body the virus causes, his original voicebox is shattered, as well as one of his original eyes giving out - the tendency for his parts to give out now has caused a bit of a scavenging and hoarding habit with him, stealing parts from Addison bodies he finds occasionally in the Trash Zone and stashing them in spots he frequents if he needs to fix himself. He keeps his old voicebox in his pocket, but his new one doesn't do him much good since it's also somewhat decayed and broken. The corruption of his Freeze Ring caused his remaining eye to go mostly dark and leak oil as well, save for a dot of ice-blue surrounded by hot pink that acts as the pupil and iris.

-He's very bitter that Cyber City sort of gave up on him after a time... even if the virus was keeping him from just throwing himself at the first opportunity to be saved, he still somewhat had hope that someone would still look for him. The people he entertained still cared, right? He wouldn't just be replaced by a new starlet that caught their eyes...

-Mostly because of his bitterness, partly because of already existing feelings of unease and discontent, he despises the Addison species now, and hates what he is by extension. He despises what they're used for and made to do for their entire lives, and also hates that pretty much everything in the Cyber World - and the whole of the Dark Worlds, to his knowledge - have one purpose that they stick to for their lives, and if you fall out of the system, you're as good as forgotten to them. There have been many times where he's contemplated scavenging and body and trying to masquerade as a Swatchling or something, just to get OUT of being an Addison and try to re-enter society and get himself fixed, but he just never goes through with it. Whether out of fear or the virus or just calling it off, who knows?

-It's unknown what the virus does to a host's systems EXACTLY, but clearly Radio doesn't take it well. It's caused his systems and parts to slowly deteriorate over time, causing him to have to learn to fix himself with whatever means he can. It doesn't help that his Freeze Ring is also corrupted because of the virus, causing him a lot of pain that can only be curbed by taking the ring off, or constantly be eating healing items - HP is a different thing from his body's deterioration.

Anywaysss, FINAL PINK ADDI REF SHEET! That's all of my Pink Addis done! ^-^ Just because, here's a playlist I made for Radio / Zero because yes :]

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xomIoF8QEoTwIYNco9MgS?si=cs86h9udR-KWN5pHg88dDQ&pi=TdO11IHvQqqb-

[materialsscienceandengineering]

New method to break down forever chemicals uses nanoparticles and ultrasound

What do firefighting foam, non-stick cookware, water-repellent textiles and pesticides all have in common? They all contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS—human-made chemicals that don't break down naturally. It's no wonder, then, that PFAS are now contaminating soil and water and can also be detected in the bodies of humans and animals. The dangers are well known: these forever chemicals can damage the liver, trigger hormonal disorders and cause cancer, to mention just a few of their effects. Researchers in the group under Salvador Pané i Vidal, Professor at ETH Zurich's Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, have developed a new method to break down a subgroup of PFAS called perfluorooctane sulfonates, or PFOS. Due to their toxicity, PFOS are now severely restricted or even banned. The study is published in the journal Small Science. "The main problem is that the molecules consist of long carbon chains surrounded by fluorine atoms. This carbon-fluorine bond is so strong that you need a lot of energy to break it," says Andrea Veciana, a doctoral student of Pané i Vidal's.

Read more.

[itsclydebitches]

Sometimes the negativity attracting Grimm thing makes me think of questions like, how did slavery exist for so long? It wasn't abolished until the great war and we are told how Mistral and Mantle both used it a lot.

Like in a world where monsters literally seek out negativity to kill people and this causes mass damage and such..

How the heck could any version of the slave trade, a brutal system built on pain, suffering and humiliation exist in remnant? Let alone having been a widespread system for 2 successful kingdoms?

This. The longer the show has gone on the less that part of the worldbuilding makes sense. It's a cool idea, but as always RWBY doesn't put in the work to keep it cohesive.

I vaguely remember thinking about this years ago when I was first watching the show. Not in relation to slavery/the general oppression of the faunus, but wondering where the line was between "Average amount of negative emotion that doesn't attract grimm and therefore allows a society to function" and "Amount that tips the scale and results in a coordinated attack." I can distinctly recall first watching the attack on Beacon and going, "Oh, so having a whole stadium of people reacting to a girl being killed - not to mention the reveal that she's secretly an android - is enough to attract most of the grimm in the surrounding area. That makes sense. Plus, this was all orchestrated by Cinder who knew that would happen. Great villain plan!" (This was back in the day when RWBY had a lot more going for it.) Even so, that kind of excessive negativity obviously exists in a kingdom where slavery exists, yet grimm aren't factored into issues like the faunus revolution, or even on a smaller scale like Cinder's abuse. There's no acknowledgement of excessive attacks as a result, or why people would continue such industries when it poses such a threat to everyone in the area. I mean, people frequently do things that are dangerous/reckless/stupid for a number of reasons (money being one of them...), but the show still needs to grapple with that, even if it's only in an offhand way. Where are the self-serving "revolutionaries" that oppose faunus enslavement not because they care for them, but because they fear the grimm their torture might bring? Where are the people who look to the lack of grimm in their well-to-do areas - a result of Atlas' defenses and the richer homes being further from the walls - and use it as "proof" that the faunus actually love working in the mines? Clearly if they didn't we would have been overrun by grimm by now!

By working with your worldbuilding rather than just dropping it until you need an excuse for a non-villain fight, RWBY could actually add a lot of realism and nuance here.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

can I hydraulic press my gallifreyan?

Can I hydraulic press my Gallifreyan?

This is more interesting than anyone's possibly thinking, because ...

AKA How much pressure would break Gallifreyan bone?

Theoretical biology ahead.

💀 Gallifreyan Bone Structure

Gallifreyan bones aren't like your average human bones. Here's why:

Cortical Bone: Their cortical bone is denser than humans, which makes it much harder to break. Think of it as having an extra layer of super tough armour.

Spongy Bone: Inside, they have more spongy bone filled with collagen, which helps absorb shocks and reduces the risk of fractures. This acts like a built-in shock absorber, distributing impact forces across a wider area and preventing localised stress fractures.

Hyaline Cartilage: Found at the ends of their bones, this cartilage is denser and more flexible, reducing contact stress between the bones and allowing for a greater range of movement. This flexibility contributes to their bones' ability to bend slightly without breaking under pressure.

Periosteum: This outer protective layer is thicker and contains a lot of collagen, which means their bones can bend slightly under pressure without breaking. This elasticity allows for a degree of give, which helps dissipate force and prevent fractures.

Ropiri Fluid: Unique to Gallifreyans, this jelly-like fat surrounds their bones, protecting their circulatory, nervous, and respiratory systems. This fluid acts as a cushion, absorbing and distributing impact forces that would otherwise damage the bones and internal systems.

🦴 Strength Comparison

Human femur bones can handle about 1,700 psi before they break. Let's compare that to Gallifreyan bones:

Density: Gallifreyan bones are denser, probably handling at least double the pressure. This increased density adds to the overall toughness and resistance to fracturing.

Flexibility: Their bones can bend slightly under pressure, distributing the force more evenly and reducing the chance of a break. This means that even under high stress, their bones are less likely to snap.

Shock Absorption: With more spongy bone and hyaline cartilage, they can absorb impacts better, further reducing the likelihood of fractures. This shock absorption is critical in high-impact scenarios, allowing the bones to withstand greater forces.

Considering these enhancements, we can reasonably estimate that the strongest Gallifreyan bones might handle around 4,000-5,000 psi or more before breaking.

🌟 Considerations

Weaker Bones: Smaller or weaker bones, like those in the hands or feet, would have a lower psi threshold.

Age and Health: The Gallifreyan's age and any pre-existing conditions would affect bone strength. Older Gallifreyans or those with skeletal diseases might have weaker bones.

Regeneration: Those who've just regenerated are WAY more squashable, because their bones are essentially not completely 'solid', so to speak.

Direction of Force: The direction and type of force applied matter. A compressive force along the length of a bone is different from a perpendicular or torsional force.

Other injuries: Of course, taking this action will cause plenty of other injuries that aren't all about bones.

🤔 So, The Hydraulic Press?

A lot of construction or lab hydraulic presses exert something like 1000-3000 psi (obviously, higher grades exert more, but that doesn't make this an interesting question). Take all this into account, and apply some reality. You can do the maths, I believe in you.

🏫 So…

While a standard hydraulic press might crush the strongest human bones with ease, you'd need at least double that pressure to fracture the stronger Gallifreyan bones. So, while it might be a fun thought experiment, trying to hydraulic press a Gallifreyan is a little impractical and also kind of cruel. Let's leave the Gallifreyans to their adventures and not to the mercy of industrial machinery, just this once.

Related:

How many bones are in a Gallifreyan skeleton?: Counting them bones.

Factoid: What’s one of the vulnerabilities of a freshly-regenerated Gallifreyan?

Factoid: What methods could permanently kill a Gallifreyan?

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[system-of-a-feather]

I honestly really like testing out #sysconversation and trying to contribute to the baseline norms of the tag, but on the topic of tulpacourse and talking about it in a much less "we need to push to get a bare minimum fundamental respect and acknowledgement to the damage done" area and really just trying to get more into the nuance and intricacies of it - I really don't think pushing for the "no one is allowed to say or use the word tulpa" is anything helpful or really productive to the complexity of the issue.

(And for those that don't know, I'm a practicing eclectic Buddhist - Zen and Tibetan being particular focuses, diagnosed DID system in late stage recovery, and am Chinese/Indonesian and honestly the topic of tulpacourse is something I find to be a really interesting discussion; additionally we played a pretty notable role in the "tulpa terminology is cultural appropriation)

I very very much do appreciate all the non-Buddhist non-AAPI individuals who have been pushing for our voices to be heard and spreading information on the appropriation surrounding the term because honestly, especially in the syscourse community, there was a lot of dismissiveness of our voices and honestly just outright racism and stereotyping. If I had to choose between what the environment around the topic was before and people over correcting and stating "you can't use the term tulpa or you are racist" or similar things; I MUCH prefer and love the latter and its largely why I've been relatively limited in talking about it cause honestly, in large, I don't expect people - at least those in the syscourse community - to have the attention, care, or really discussion skills to explore any further nuance between the black and white dichotomy of "racist vs anti-racist" behavior and I'd find myself incredibly annoyed if me bringing nuance to the table ended up being used by people who literally don't care about AAPI or Buddhist cultures to justify their behavior.

That said, I have some more faith in the #sysconversation tag and community so maybe I'll talk about it more under the assumption yall aren't here to prove one thing or the other and more so to talk and share perspectives on complex experiences.

I think when we talk about tulpacourse, there are a few realms and perspectives to take on it that have an important value and consideration when going into making a more developed and clear stance on tulpacourse related things.

The practice / concept of Tulpamancy / Willogenic and, more specifically AND generally, the Intentional Creation of Parts and the debate on if that is "valid" or "okay" or "racist" or whatever

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it relates to white / western orientalism, stereotypes, asian mysticism, and overall colonialist / appropriation nature of how white / western people interact with AAPI cultures

The perception and present impact of the term "tulpa" as it has on and is perceived by AAPI cultures and individuals

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it relates to Buddhism - particularly Tibetian Buddhism - in terms of the history (and oppression) of Buddhist cultures across countries and cultures

The term "tulpa" and the origins as it related to Buddhism - particularly Tibetian Buddhism - in terms of the philosophy and practices that Buddhists / Tibetian Buddhists

The perception and present impact of the term "tulpa" as it has on and is perceived by Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhist cultures

The present attitudes, practices, and values that are found within the tulpamancy community and how those have changed and developed over time in relation to it's origins and history - for better or worse

The present and practical actions and values held by the current online tulpa community in relation to system environments, CDD environments, Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhist environments and culture, and AAPI individuals and culture.

The current status of the tulpamancy community and what practical and realistic approaches can be done to improve the community in a way that respects an existing subculture that does benefit a non-negligible amount of individuals while ALSO respecting potentially harmed or hurt historically marginalized communities

I find that a lot of individuals focus on one, maybe two of these perspectives and sub-discussions to the debate and call it the "most important" one that should determine how people "should" act and speak and exist, but imo that takes a largely results in a perspective, approach, and future plan that does not address a lot of the issues that go into it.

Our system unironically spends a lot of time internally debating each other (for fun, we trade roles and perspectives a lot since we are in a position to talk and have developed opinions of the first seven) about this topic and if you individually only hold one of the topics in mind, you can end up with really conflicting directions to go.

It's complicated but at least of the first six, the general understanding and perspective / insight we've come to are

Literally this shouldn't really be a topic of consideration in #sysconversation because questioning validity is such a pointless and stupid argument that I would is not really a humored one; yes the practice / action / development and presentation of parts through intentional means is fine and OK; many cultures don't align with the Standard Singular Self narrative, people know themselves and are free to express themselves as is most helpful and natural to them, I'd like to assume people are being genuine and honest rather than stating they are "faking" or "quirkifying" things and honestly that type of verbage tends to be more common in conservative environments than I like to be affiliated with

From an AAPI lens, the term "tulpa" is just another aggression in a LONG and honestly violent history of racism, appropriation, objectification and fetishism of AAPI culture and it is absolutely something that should not be brushed off as ok; it can be incredibly retraumatizing in terms of cultural / generational trauma for such things to be completely ignored and neglected; its a responsibility as someone who is AAPI and as allies of it to stand against it

Presently, a lot of AAPI individuals have stated harm from it and presently, anti-AAPI and AAPI-hate have been openly seen in tulpamancy communities; that said, the consensus is not a monolith and there is inevitably a diversity of opinions

The term comes from appropriative cultures and ADN is "a racist white bitch" as I've seen it stated in tumblr tulpacourse. There is a large disagreement within the tulpamancy community whether it "is related to / comes from Buddhist ideas" or "has nothing to do with Buddhism whatsoever" and I say that just as an outsider who have had people push both at me, leaving me very confused. Overall, from what I've seen, a lot of indiviudals who use the tulpa term can range from anywhere between "respectable individuals who are open to discussion and acknowledge the history to where the history is less harmful" to The MLP Brony Saga TM of generally turning the concept into so far divorced and bastardized from the original concept.

This one I could honestly write a 400 page essay on and I can't really say I have a firm consensus on because I actually have not learned enough about the actual practices within the tulpamancy community to be certain on my perspectives; but as I get further into my practices and studies of Buddhism - especially Tibetian Buddhism - I've had a lot more complex perspectives and opinions. On a very generally Buddhist lens, I actually love to see people exploring themselves within their parts and dismantling some of the concept of the solidity and absoluteness of the concept of "self" and really learning to interact and engage with parts of themselves in manners like this through meditation. I think there is a lot of a realm for it to become unhealthy, harmful, and increase the clinging to "self" but overall, I think it has the potential to also be incredibly helpful and beautiful. From what I've understood of the principles of Tibetian Buddhism that I believe the ADN pulled from, I don't necessarily think it is inherently all that bad on a theoretical level. Additionally, from a general Buddhist lens, the whole idea of saying what people can and can't do, or sweating and trying to direct people's behaviors according to a "good" or "bad" behavior is incredibly non-important and honestly a means of adding suffering to both yourself and other's. So from a Buddhist lens, the response is "its interesting" - nothing more, nothing less.

Once again Buddhist / Tibetian Buddhists are not a monolith and honestly I don't know enough to have a clean take on it. I do believe there is a lot of individuals that come from heavily persecuted histories (particularly Tibetian Buddhists) that are likely a lot more charged on it per the nature of cultural / generational trauma. That being said, I have only really heard of one person with that history and that is from someone online talking to said person and reporting that they found it hurtful and sad that a practice they were persecuted against was turned into something it was not. It isn't the most credible voice if ONLY because its a game of telephone, but its a reasonable, realistic, and understandable sentiment to have and I think its worth acknowledging when discussing these sorts of things.

I'm honestly getting a bit tired of typing on this so I'll likely call it quits for Part 1 on me rambling about this, but I've honestly come to find that as a whole, our system really finds that there is a lot more to this topic than "one side good one side bad" especially if we are intending to address the topic in a way that can promote education, awareness, and an overall better community for all individuals.

Our AAPI lens and our Buddhist lens have historically clashed a lot, as it has with just a number of our other backgrounds and our values in allying with individuals with trauma histories (cultural or not) AND our value for the complex diversity of human experiences, self expression and phenomenon.

I don't really have a closing statement or anything for this, but I wanted to share it some as food for thought; anyone is welcome to engage in good faith conversation and discussion.

[pancakeke]

I want to get a pocket knife that holds either a razor blade or a scalpel blade because I want to make sure I have a very sharp blade for propagating plants.

I didn't take it seriously when people said to use a super sharp cutting instrument to take plant cuttings because I was ignorant and didn't know the purpose (also no one ever added a purpose. I'm not even sure if they all actually knew or if they were just repeating the only info they had been told.)

But I looked it up and dull blades cause a lot of cellular damage via crushing to the area surrounding the cut area. And that damage causes those cells to die and decay. Then that decaying plant matter can release compounds that damage and cause additional decay to the living part of the cutting. Plus any dead and decaying plant matter can create a hospitable environment for fungi that may also harm living plant tissue.

You want to cut with a super sharp blade to minimize the amount of damage you do to the plant, which in turn reduces the amount of plant matter that will die and cause problems as the cutting is trying to establish itself as an independent plant.

I had greater success with cuttings I took using a hobby knife + new blade but that knife was not super easy to hold in this application. Also it wasn't easy to use on thicker stems. I need something with a contoured grip and beefier blade, though not so big that it's overkill for the average stem.

I also read that leaving cuttings in open air for 1-2 days will increase the success of propagation. The reasoning was that the cut will begin to heal and scab over, sealing its wound and protecting its living tissue from external damage (additional decay + mold). Supposedly keeping the cutting out of water (or whatever rooting medium) makes it easier for the cutting to form that scab.

I'm not sure if there's any legitimacy to that method though because I always assumed that the cutting would need some sort of open wound for its vascular system to continue taking in water until it grows root tissue. But I'm not a plant scientist and don't know for sure. Maybe the inability to take in water would force a cutting to grow roots faster or something.

[kaukont-ramblings]

i mentioned my theory on deltarune being a metaphor for trauma/DID so i’m dumping some of my thoughts on that concept in this post. thought it might be interesting to consider so here’s an entire post about kris probably having some kind of dissociative disorder.

okay so like all the other clinically insanely autistic people i’ve met in the general deltarune community, i’ve watched an absurd amount of theory videos talking about what deltarune really means, what its story is trying to convey, and the larger narratives of its characters.

now. i have my own thoughts and feelings on the story and its characters which ill try not to let cloud my judgment or division of canon versus fanon. but even with those things in mind, i have never watched a deltarune theory that i fully agreed with whenever it came to the essay’s conclusion. i think there’s been a lot of discussion and debate surrounding what neurological or mental disorders kris might have dealt with or currently be dealing with, but i think it's likely tied to something in their past that’s haunting them, and i wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with december holiday’s disappearance.

i think the events of deltarune are going to serve kris and noelle as a way to come to terms with the events that happened so they can finally move on. truthfully, i don't know if we're going to be able to save dess. it's possible that regardless of what ending you go for, it's a story about how you approach moving on from trauma, not fixing the event entirely. i think we're going to meet something akin to her in the dark world, how we react upon finding her is ultimately going to determine how kris and noelle move on from their shared trauma. toby fox has stated that there is only one ending, but it's going to be shaped by what you've done up to that point.

of course, snowgrave would be absolutely devastating if this were the case. we meet december holiday, and noelle is going to be too far dissociated from the fact that she's been taught to act hostile towards any and all entities. when the time comes to save her sister, we might not be given a choice. the damage we've caused is too much, and noelle kills her without a second thought. noelle will have "moved on" from the trauma of dess's disappearance, but in a way that's caused her to be destructive to those around her.

my current deltarune theory surrounding kris is that they have a dissociative disorder (likely DID), and that ralsei is an alter in their system. hence why he knows everything about the light and dark world, but doesn’t have any access to interacting with that world beyond kris’s existing prior knowledge. this is why he knows the outside world’s layout, how he travels between worlds and simply meets up with susie and kris in the cyber world. you, the player are a third alter in that system- possibly tying to the goner maker at the start of chapter one. but kris’s soul has been split in some way, and i think ralsei is the direct result of that.

i think that in the weird route, there is going to be a segment after dess is killed (however that may play out) and kris is forced to watch the results of your actions that they truly retaliate for the last time. i know i'm not the first to envision a vessel versus kris fight in some regards, but i have a hunch that toby fox will be able to pull something similar off in a way that doesn't feel cliche or overdone.

the dark world is a physical manifestation of kris’s headspace. ralsei knows that kris and the player are two different alters within their system, so he uses segments of the game where the player is away from them to tell kris… something. this might be information on how to create dark worlds hence them opening one at the end of chapter two but it’s unclear. we don’t really have much info on what ralsei says in these segments, but we know that he and kris have some sort of relationship they don’t want the player interfering with.

i think ralsei being an alter of kris’s would make the most sense- both from the perspective of the characters and their relationships with one another. ralsei is everything kris wishes they were- both in appearance and personality. kris wanted to look like their adoptive family and to be like their older brother, so they made up a persona named ralsei to fit that precise role. it’s possible that ralsei is even a prominent personality within kris’s system, given the fact that kris is known to be able to bake, play the piano, among other things that they refuse to do in front of the player and that ralsei seems to share. things that only they can do on their own accord, the player can’t interact with these particular hobbies because those skills are specific to kris (or possibly ralsei) in particular. i think this is honestly where a lot of the third entity theories come from. you and kris share a body, and there’s a chance that there is some third entity pulling the strings that we don’t know about. i think it’s interesting to think about the possibility of that third entity being ralsei.

this is yet another reason i don't think ralsei being evil would make sense. he very clearly has good intentions for kris and susie, but his character's main point of conflict seems very inward. i think we’re going to explore ralsei’s psyche and mental state more in depth, in a way that we get to understand where he’s coming from as kris’s protector. ralsei is unapologetically kind and understanding, to the extent that he becomes a walking doormat to those around him. it’s an unhealthy perspective and coping mechanism, one very contrasted to kris’s stoic, more silent protagonist persona.

anyways. tl;dr i think the roaring is a metaphor for kris (and possibly noelle’s) ptsd, and by extension kris’s plurality. i think that kris is very afraid of what confronting their trauma will look like, and so they use the dark world as a way to hide from the reality they’re living in- one where dess and asriel are both gone for one reason or another.

[cottoncandyswirl828]

Zuma Appreciation Week: Day 7 - Ryder and Zuma

Ah, what could be a better way to round off Zuma Appreciation Week than a tribute to the age-old friendship between a boy and his dog. We don’t really get to see Ryder just hanging out and bonding with the pups anymore, which is a real shame since the bond Ryder has with his pups is clearly a strong one. They all share such a sweet connection with each other and let’s face it; we’re all a little jealous of Ryder for having six adorable talking pups that he gets to spend all his time with. That boy is living every dog lover’s dream. Zuma Appreciation Week has been a lot of work but also so much fun to do, I’m really glad I could do this, so let’s end this on a high note, complete with some headcanoned backstory.

“You won’t get away with this, Moby!”

“And what makes you think you and your little Paw Patrol can stop me?”

Moby swam off in his Moby-mobile, taking with him the magic clam shell of Puplantis he had stolen, with Ryder and Zuma in hot pursuit.

“Hahaha! Without the magic pearls, Puplantis will crumble. Then the mer-pups will have to leave and I can have Puplantis all to myself! No more annoying singing or dancing or big celebrations, just me and my inventions!”

McSquidly gave a squeak of annoyance.

“… And McSquidly too.”

“Not if we have anything to say about it!” Ryder declared, as he and Zuma followed Moby into a system of underwater caves. “Zuma, see if you can find a shortcut so you can get ahead of him, then we’ll have him surrounded.”

“Aye-aye! Ruff! Sonar!”

Using his pup pack’s sonar device, Zuma quickly mapped out the cave system and found a series of tunnels that could get him in front of Moby.

“Bingo.”

Ryder and Zuma split up, with Ryder continuing to pursue Moby as Zuma slipped into a tunnel that Moby had failed to notice.

“Come on, McSquidly, we’ve already shaken one of them, just have to lose the other and we’ll be home free.”

A sharp turn caused Moby’s vehicle to hit the cave wall. Not enough to damage it, but enough to shake McSquidly from his perch on top of the sub, causing the squid to reach their tentacles over the windshield of the Moby-mobile.

“McSquidly! I can’t see!”

The Moby-mobile started to swerve wildly out of control, banging against the walls and ceiling of the cave as Moby continued to try and steer blindly.

“That’s far enough Moby- Woah!” Zuma popped out of the side tunnel, blocking Moby’s path which led to the two vehicles colliding. Zuma was more than grateful that Ryder had built their vehicles to be able to withstand heavy blows, otherwise that crash could’ve been pretty bad for him.

“You again? Where did you come from?”

“The jig is up Moby! Now hand over the clam shell, it doesn’t belong to you.”

Moby growled as he looked between Ryder and Zuma, realizing he was trapped between them. Then a sudden rumble shook the cave.

“Ryder! My sonar says the caves are starting to collapse, we gotta get out of here!”

Rocks started to fall from the roof of the cave, causing a small opening to form. Moby smiled as he saw his chance to escape.

“McSquidly! Ink ‘em!”

McSquidly nodded and shot a cloud of ink at Ryder and Zuma, blinding them. Meanwhile, Moby slammed his vehicle into the crack in the ceiling, making it big enough for him to escape but causing more of the cave to collapse in the process.

“And for good measure…” Moby used his sub to push a large boulder over the hole he created, preventing Zuma and Ryder from following him.

As Moby made his escape, more rocks came tumbling down on Ryder and Zuma, landing on Ryder’s sub and trapping him in a pile of rubble.

“Ryder!”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. You need to go after Moby and get the clam shell back.”

“No way! I’m not leaving you here in a crumbling cave!”

“But Moby’s getting awa-”

“Moby can wait! You can’t! This cave is coming down fast, if you stay here, you’ll be crushed!”

“So will you. I’ll be fine, just get out of here.”

Zuma sighed, he should’ve known it was less about catching Moby and more about getting him out of danger.

“I’m not leaving this cave without you! Either both of us get out of here or neither of us do! Now let me get rid of those rocks.”

Zuma used the claw arms of his sub to lift the rocks off Ryder’s sub, while using his own sub to block any more rocks from falling on Ryder.

“Be careful, Zuma!”

Once all the rocks were cleared, Ryder tried to start up his sub, but one of the larger rocks had crushed one of the sub’s propellers.

“Dang it. Go on without me, I’ll only slow you down.”

Instead of arguing, Zuma just grabbed Ryder's sub with one of his claw arms and began dragging him through the cave.

"Zuma! You won't make it out in time with my sub weighing you down! Please, just leave me, I can find my own way out."

"No way! If I was in your position, you wouldn't have left me, so I'm not leaving you!"

The caves were beginning to completely collapse at this point. Zuma had to swerve and dodge falling boulders as he towed Ryder through the cave, doing a double-take every time there was a near-miss to ensure Ryder hadn't been hit.

The cave entrance was finally in sight, but rocks and boulders were quickly piling up, threatening to block their way out.

"You won't be fast enough to get out before the entrance is blocked if you keep towing me! You have to let me go, I'll call for back-up and Rubble can-"

"NO! We can make it! We just need to keep going!"

"Zuma, I promise I'll be fine, just-"

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU TO DIE IN A CAVE LIKE THEY DID TO ME!"

Zuma pushed his sub's engines to their absolute limit, shooting through the water faster than he'd ever dared to go before and making it out of the cave right before the entrance was blocked completely.

Zuma sighed in relief and let himself relax into the seat of his sub. "See? I told you we'd make it out."

But Ryder gave him a weird look that Zuma couldn't quite place, he seemed... Sad? Worried? Sympathetic? Zuma couldn't find the right words to describe it.

"Zuma... What is it you said about being left in a cave to die?"

"Oh, just a bad memory from my puppyhood is all. You don't need to worry about it."

Ryder wasn't at all convinced. He got out of his sub and gestured for Zuma to do the same, which he reluctantly did.

"That cave you were left in... Was it the same cave I found you in?" Zuma was quiet, but he nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Zuma thought for a moment, and an awkward silence passed between them.

"... I used to live in a shelter for strays. The shelter was pretty understaffed so we didn't get a lot of outdoor time, but one day we were all taken to the beach for a beach day. It was actually the first time I'd ever been to a beach, and I had so much fun. There was so much space to run and play, and I wanted to explore everything, so when I found the cave I just had to see what was inside. But, then there was a cave in. Everything was suddenly pitch black, and I could hear people shouting from the other side. When they realized I was the only one inside, they just... Left me... Said that one tiny pup just wasn't worth the effort to move all those rocks... So they just left me in the cave and went back to the shelter."

Zuma was starting to cry at this point, and Ryder wrapped his arms tightly around his pup.

"I… I just couldn't leave you in there! All alone in a dark cave. I didn't want you to think I didn't care, or that you weren't worth the effort. And I... I didn't want to be alone either. I didn't think I could handle being in another crumbling cave without you there. I was just too scared."

Zuma wrapped his front paws around Ryder’s neck, whimpering and nuzzling his chin as much as their scuba masks would allow.

“Hey, it’s okay, Zuma. Everything’s okay now. And even though you were scared, I’m very proud of you for being brave and for not giving up.”

“You’ll always be worth the effort, Ryder, even if it means being in a dangerous spot, it’ll always be worth it.”

“And you are too, Zuma. Those people made a huge mistake leaving you behind, because they missed out on an amazing pup. You were more than worth the effort it took to find you in that cave. If I could go back in time and do things differently, the only thing I would change is I’d adopt you sooner, before the whole cave disaster happened.”

Zuma smiled, wishing he could wipe the tears from his eyes. “Thanks, Ryder. I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that.”

“Anytime, Zuma.”

A beep sounded from Ryder’s pup-pad.

“Ryder!” Chase’s voice called from the other end, “I found Moby and got the clam shell back!”

“Great work, Chase! We’ll meet you back at Puplantis.”

Zuma blushed slightly in embarrassment, he had almost forgotten about Moby and the clam shell.

“Glad Chase was able to catch him after I let him get away.”

“You didn’t ‘let’ him get away, you saw there was a more immediate danger and took care of that first.”

“Well, maybe next time don’t be so insistent on being a martyr.”

“No promises.”

[skydishh2]

Supervillain x Villain - Nerves

touch starved/whump

The Villain gasped with the pain of bruised insides and whatever had knocked them off their feet. Curled up on the floor of the Supervillain's cave, the humidity of the clammy ground chilled them to the core. They shivered and cracked their eyes open. Spindrels of clustered light emerged from their diaphram like a beacon.

The Supervillain emerged from the shadows a minute later. Their steps were slow and diliberate, as to not scare the Villain off. The Villain couldn't have moved anyway. They were rooted in place and could only watch as the Supervillain drew closer. 

Their face was obsured until they crouched down, eye level with the Villain. Their face didn't give anything away, but their expression was soft and their voice was smoother. "Hello."

The Villain shivered. Panic ensured their gaze couldn't settle on any one place for too long. 

The Supervillain's hand slowly reached out and touched the light emanating from the Villain. Quickly they got their hand tangled and weaving through the web, stretching the strings to get a better view. The treaturous luminescence kissed their cheeks. Their gaze snapped back down to the Villain and the Villain felt their breath disappear, flinching away when a hand touched their shoulder.

"I need you on your back, please. Do you mind turning over?" 

The Villain wrenched their eyes shut and pressed their forehead further into the ground. A small groan escaped the Villain's lips. They couldn't hide from the Supervillain much at all. 

"I know, I know," It almost sounded like the Supervillain would be content to wait. "I can make it feel better for you, if you'd like."

The hand on the Villain's shoulder became insistent, nudging them onto their back from their side. They shivered at the new cold seeping through their shirt, and cracked their eyes open to see the Supervillain regarding them with a pleased expression. 

Their hand trailed from the Villain's shoulder, across their collar bone, and down the middle of their chest, until it was resting on their sternum where the light grew from. The Supervillain marveled at the glactic luster with awe. It had gotten bigger and brighter with the movement and stretched halfway to the ceiling, far above their heads. 

The Villain somehow found their voice, "What is that?"

"Nervous system," The Supervillain muttered. Their hands reached up and started tugging the clusters closer, so they weren't so far out of reach. The Villain grew colder somehow. The Supervillain glanced down again, "Are you scared?" 

The Villain's nod was almost undetectable. The smiling Supervillain reached down and cupped their cheek and some of the empty ache they'd been experiencing ebbed. They clenched their jaw knowing leaning into it was out of the question. They couldn't keep their eyes closed either— it was dangerous not to watch, but the Villain already felt so helpless anyway.

"You'll be alright." The Supervillain convinced them and pulled away. The Villain's drowsy eyes slotted open and watched as they studied the strings of light between the Supervillain's fingers. In the their grasp they became almost tangeable. The Supervillain coaxed a random string out, hooked their finger around it, and tugged.

The Villain quickly snapped out of their revorie at the involuntary jolt. This was not the place to relax. The Villain felt more focused on their surroundings now than before, and focused their gaze on the room. But then the Supervillain was pressing them down by the shoulders, already so quick to soothe the damage that they'd caused.

"No." The Supervillain chided, "Stay with me. No wandering off."

The Villain swallowed hard at the contact.

"Tell me, how did that feel? Did it hurt?" Their sole attention was on the Villain, and it felt as overwhelming as the jolt had been.

"I don't…" The Villain tried to shake the fog away. "It felt weird."

"Hm, we'll work on that," The Supervillain sounded disappointed. "I know it's a lot right now." They absentmindely tapped as they continued sifting through the strings. 

"Hm," They said after a moment. "Your pain reception rate is above average. How do you typically feel in your day to day?" The Villain felt almost, dissconected in this moment. They stared at the ceiling, and let their eyes trace incomprehensible patterns. 

Their voice came from far away, "Fine."

"What did I say about wandering?" 

A hand on their jaw brought them back in an instant. The Supervillain's other hand was settled on their chest. "Are you in pain?" They didn't wait for a response. "Describe it."

The Villain felt dredges of humiliation grow from their chest like a weed. The Supervillain's expression stayed patiently content with waiting, but their eyes began to wander upwards, betraying their restiveness. Their hands began moving— lightly at first. The coaxing stroke of a jaw or a light scratch on the chest.

The Villain grew annoyed by it's effectiveness. They fidgited under the touch until the Supervillain looked back at them with raised eyebrows. "How are you feeling?"

"Warm." The Villain thought it was strange they'd felt so cold before. But their heartbeat had picked up pace so their breath caught up to match. And while they could still feel the smooth dark ground of the cave below them, it was now a welcome contrast to the fever. "It feels like— I can't see clearly."

"Mhm." The Supervillain's hand followed the hitch of breath that the Villain took, and scratched their nails across collarbone. "What else?"

"I don't—" The Villain shook their head, trying to get their thoughts in order. With clarity, they realized rhythm of the Supervillain's fingers on their aching skin made it difficult to think. "You need to stop doing that."

"But you light up so beautifully," The Supervillain marveled. As if to prove it, they dragged a finger down one side of the Villain's ribs. It caused a shudder through the Villain so violent, they almost missed what the Supervillain was talking about. The tendrils of light branched out like a tree, shuddering and straining to reach the walls of the room. 

The Supervillain curled one dancing strand around their finger and held the line still.

The Villain writhed, curling into themself and biting into the flesh of their own arm. When drew in a vicious breath with the intention to scream, the Supervillain released them.

The cave went pitch black, the light diminished.

The Villain's face felt soaked with tears and they concealed their face in their arms. The steady hand was a welcome, tangible feeling. Patienty rubbing out sore muscles and tense knots.

"Shhh… It didn't hurt too bad," The Supervillain whispered, caressing the Villain's back. Listening deeply to hear their hitched breaths and wracking sobs. "You're okay."