#definitely for some people

[babyspacebatclone]

Ok, here’s what I do.

I’m going to put the description of my visualization meditation under a cut, because I’m fully aware it may disturb people with fairly reasonable triggers.

I don’t know if it will work for anyone who’s not me.

But I’ve been doing this for over two decades to relax my own body, even before my own heading-towards chronic arthritis-induced pain.

There’s a tl;dr at the end, if anyone needs it but still cares.

So, I’m going to give two versions of this, because again I’m sure the one I actually use would squick a lot of people out.

First, get comfortable - whatever that means for you.

For me, that’s raising the head of my adjustable bed, putting a body pillow under my thighs to keep my legs at a good bend, have pillows on either side of my torso to rest my arms, and my weighted blanket arranged so it doesn’t stress my feet/ankles.

Completely by accident, I am recreating a zero gravity chair. Anyway…

image source

Get comfy. If it helps, get some relaxing music or nature sounds.

Now, imagine you’re a robot.

I’m serious, because the visualization is going to be disassembling yourself piece by piece, servicing each, then putting them away in a box.

I start with my feet.

I take off my toes, one by one. Carefully undoing the wiring and screws holding on the metal, gently testing the joints of each toe.

Oil what’s needed, maybe give a light polish, check that there’s nothing gritty clogging anything.

After each toe has been serviced, it goes into a foam box with holes perfectly sized for each.

Now, I service each foot. Then each ankle.

Long muscles tend to go faster, with more care on imagining opening up and servicing each mechanical joint, because as said above arthritis.

The spine is gently popping out each vertebrae, tailbone up, just free and unconstrained from the neighbors.

And, importantly, after each part is services it goes in its prepared box.

It’s not connected to me anymore.

Each mechanical part is all cared for and resting, away from me, turned off.

For me, this visualization leaves each serviced body part - deliciously numb. A faint, heavy white noise static, completely removed as I continue the body scan through my body.

Except, well, when I’m doing it I don’t bother with the entire “robot” distancing.

I’m imagining using fine metal skewers to literally stretch out the muscles laterally, teasing at the nerves until they go limp, popping the bones cleanly and safely apart.

It’s as bloodless and fantastical as the robot version, completely divorced from any biological reality.

And after servicing each loosened body part still goes into a box, away from the still functioning nervous system, away from the core of me.

If it’s my head or brain that needs loosening up, well, more skewers, literally opening up the unrealistic butter slime brain, letting air circulate.

If that fails, well, it’s time to start chopping up into fine cubes. Puree them down, make dough, knead it up like a pizza crust until everything feels homogeneous and diffused.

I’d do it to parts of my body, too, except none of them ever need the escalation like my brain.

Except the neck, that gets the rack treatment sometimes…

Anyway.

No clue if this could be helpful for anyone else.

But TL;DR:

Starting from your toes, pop off each body part in whatever fantasy works for you - robot, ball jointed doll, anatomically correct rag doll - and visualize “servicing” each part. Oil the joints, tighten the elastic, remove and replace the stuffing.

Once each part has been renewed, put it in a box to rest while you continue through the body scan.

Just focus on each body part in turn, imagining analogues to the complaint of each specific part, being completely mindful and present at however small or large a part of your body as you need to.

Then, move on. Each part has been dealt with, and requires no more focus.

Body awareness is absolute shit for chronic illness. “Become aware of your body. Pay attention to how your body feels” great now I’m noticing the bone aching soreness that is permeating my entire body, thanks for that. My mind was automatically filtering that out for my but I sure am aware of it now!

I need like the opposite. I need “leave your body entirely and forget it exists” meditation.

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[nortsauce]

i am compiling a list of Freaknix wright moments bc. i see absolutely no one talking about his. preferences.

[calmbigdipper]

I believe Fugo and Trish would be besties in the most awkward way possible

[razmerry]

modern gambit has two concerns and those are 1.) wife and 2.) cats. I love it

[dootznbootz]

Penelope is also Athena's pet/blorbo/special little mortal/etc. and if you think otherwise you're straight up wrong.

You're also wrong if you think Athena only likes Penelope because of Odysseus and/or Telemachus. As if Athena didn't see a young Penelope pull some shit and immediately think "Oh! Another mind to mold! C'mere you! Let's do some riddles and weaving!". Athena was happy that two of her favorite pets have met and fell in love!

[xitsensunmoon]

My first ever comic con! And first cosplay too. Of course it's gonna be my boy :] Ramblings about the process are under the cut(Let me know if?? You would want me to elaborate with process images for any of the steps?)

The costume took me forever to make, as I've never done any machine sewing, sculpting, fabric dying or spray painting before but learning all of these was so fucking fun!! I never realised just how many different skills go into making a cosplay but it was so worth it!!!

Almost all of the clothes(except the hat) were purchased first as bases, but all of the detailing was added by me. All of the fabric used was originally just scraps that I was given for free so I needed to learn how to dye and dye all of the stars, they were originally white.

The sewing machine was its own beast that brought me tons of frustration from the lack of skill and knowledge (it was devastating to find out that 95% of fuck ups were my fault and not the machine's lmao). But as a result, a hat sewn from scratch, all of the fur trims, embroidery on the corset, stars and the collar(which is very hard to see on the pictures unfortunately) was all added manually. The stars and the stripes(on the back of the cape) were attached using heat-and-bond adhesive (I WISH I knew about such thing just when I started working on this. It would save me so much time and nerves.)

Then I found out about polymorph(mouldable plastic) and it has become the next thing I wanted to learn, to sculpt the claws and the fangs(yes, they're handmade jfksjs). The claws I then primed and painted in trillion coats because I wasn't satisfied with the colour of the spray paint. The fangs I moulded to my own teeth and then stained with tea to match the colour of my teeth :)c

As for makeup, I used Mehron Paradise water activated paints. At first I wanted to try to save money and bought myself Snazaroo instead, which unfortunately turned out to be a waste. Snazaroo didn't hold on my face for longer than 2 hours, cracking and peeling awfully. Mehron on the other hand survived 11 hours of me smiling, talking, emoting and such and didn't even crease at the smile lines(I'm actually shocked about that). It obviously works like any other makeup which means your skin texture and wrinkles won't go anywhere but Mehron's elasticity pleasantly surprised me. It did obviously smear from sweat and saliva(if you're eating and licking your lips) but if you don't touch the skin it just dries again, self setting. But if it's dry it's fully smear-proof. Highly recommend!

And last but not least, I've decided against painting my hands as it was very risky that I will stain everything I touch at the smallest hint of sweat. So instead I got myself gloves-tights(? Not sure how they're called but it's made from the same fabric as tights) and painted them with normal acrylic paint(did you know you could dye fabric with acrylic paint? I personally didn't), then heat set with an iron and voilà, they're reusable, my hands are not stained after an exhausting day and I don't stain everything I touch. It worked wonderfully which honestly was a surprise as I was really sceptical that acrylic paint will somehow stay in place.

I think this whole thing took me minimum of 6 months with big-big breaks for my school and life in general. But I'm really proud! This project taught me so many new skills and I couldn't have been happier about learning new knowledge, even if it sucked to fail in the meantime.

Everyone at the con was really nice and gave me a large confidence boost even tho it was my first time and I had no idea what I was doing. Taking photos with other people was really awkward/new for me as I hate cameras so I really had no idea how to pose/behave in front of one. But that's okay I think. This whole experience definitely made me want to do this again, so I think that will come with experience. Thank you for reading this far, hope you enjoyed this little summary :)

[bubblingsteam]

[idolomantises]

I'm ngl i kinda wish people wouldn't look at a character I create, see that they're mean, and then immediately assume by default they're actually super tragic and a sad woobie. And I'm not even saying this to be like "people need to appreciate 2-dimensional villains!" because I don't agree with those people either.

It's like if a character is a jerk, it either needs to be justified with a sad backstory, or they need to be a saturday morning cartoon villain. it can't just be a part of their personality.

[egophiliac]

OMG EGO HAVE YOU SEEN THE BOOK 7 CATER CARD YET

80s britpunk Cater is such an incredible direction to take. his Sid Vicious jacket! his little british police cap! I wouldn't have anticipated that going full-on Sex Pistols would be his alternate self but it is SO fitting actually. 😭

(also th-the crown symbol?! the gavel?! is housewarden Cater real because I will TRANSCEND --)

[knifearo]

this year my challenge for everyone is to unlearn the association between love and morality. love is not something that is inherently morally good, and the absence of love is not something that is inherently bad. sex without love isn't morally bankrupt, it's just an action. people without love aren't less kind or less good, they're just people. when we can get past this false (and often unnoticed) dichotomy of good love/evil lovelessness then i think we are going to be able to take leaps and bounds in sex positivity, aro advocacy, certain discussions of mental health...

[arospecsyourblockdudes]

To every trans person realizing their gender makes them straight:

You are good. Not despite your sexuality but because of it. Please don’t let yourself be ashamed about it.

There are queer people who say male heterosexuality is disgusting. There are queer people who say female heterosexuality is stupidity. There are queer people who will laugh about how silly and nasty it would be to be straight only to halfheartedly say “oh I guess trans straight people are the exception!” There are transphobes who pretend they’d care more about you if you just admit to your internalized homophobia/lesbophobia and stop being trans.

They’re all so fucking wrong. You are good for who you love. You are not ‘one of the good ones’, you are just simply good. Anyone who says otherwise is a fucking idiot.

You have a place in the queer community. You belong there as much as anyone else

[violent138]

I feel like the Robins probably watched horror movies to really up their game, taking notes on the gestures and body language that would creep you out. "Criminals are a superstitious lot", so yeah the guy in full body armour that could beat you up would suck, but a small child, somewhere in the dark, with an echoing laugh all around you as you fire off a hail of bullets, somehow dodging everything and gleefully messing you up. That's psychological warfare.

[elsecrytt]

okay but jjk somnophilia is like

gojo "please please pleaaaaase let me put it in while you're sleeping PLEASE i swear i'll make you cum i proooomise please let's try it once pleeaaase. YOU can put it in ME whenever you want!!! any time any place anything you want in any of my holes!! wake me up with it!! it'll be soooo hot" satoru

vs

nanami "i have kink charts for both of us and they have sliding scales and notes section for each one. we can mark hard boundaries for what state of consciousness we want for ourselves or our partners, giving or receiving, what sex acts, etc. we'll set up a safe word and a safe gesture and then we can start trying things out" kento

vs

geto "sorry i fell asleep while eating you out, it will happen again. no, i won't stop eating you out when i fall unconscious. just tear me off your pussy if you don't like it" suguru

[feelo-fick]

chilaios telepathy compilation. btw.

also these ones arent telepathy i just think its fun that they defend eachother + are on the same page about alchohol :

[karalovesallthegirls]

Also have another “first words spoken to you are on your skin” soulmate AU idea where Kara is a journalist assigned to shadow the controversial CEO of L-Corp for the day. It’s a big deal for her to get this assignment, so of course she trips the second she’s near the other woman and tries awkwardly to redeem herself.

The CEO stares at her almost in shock, and then says nothing. At all. Ever, for the entire day.

Kara spends hours following Lena Luthor around trying to fill the silence, but no amount of questions get her to talk. Lena almost seems to be running away at some points - like she’s trying to lose her? - and the few times she’s managed to catch her actually talking to someone she goes silent the second she sees Kara.

She asks around if Miss Luthor is usually like this and everyone looks at her like she’s crazy. Apparently she’s the only one who gets the silent treatment. By the end of her first day shadowing she’s walking away with half a page of observations and not a single quote. Miss Grant is going to kill her.

But that’s okay. It’s fine, this isn’t over. She has four days of shadowing ahead of her and she’ll be damned if she doesn’t finish this with a quote from the woman herself. It’s only a matter of time.