#i don't mean to make light of actual medical problems

[hylianengineer]

darling, if you want an excuse to infodump, I am here for you! I would love to learn all about radiation!

Thank you! Oh, gosh, where to start?

So, technically, 'radiation' can refer to all kinds of electromagnetic radiation from visible light to radio waves to microwaves to UV to what everyone actually MEANS when they say radiation: ioninzing radiation. That's the stuff that has enough energy to ionize other atoms - and therefore can cause damage to things like humans. It's what you think of when you hear about radioactivity, nuclear power plants, or the Chernobyl accident.

This is going under a cut now because it's getting VERY long:

Ionizing radiation, though, is not one singular thing - it breaks down into a bunch of other types. Some of them are particles with mass (alpha particles which are essentially helium nuclei minus the electrons, beta particles with are JUST electrons but they go really fast, neutrons which are also like a very high-energy version of the ones inside of atoms) and some of them are essentially weird light (gamma rays, x-rays).

But mostly people talk about alpha, beta, and gamma radiation when it comes to radioactivity. I'm honestly not sure why. I think they might be more common in nature on earth than some of the other stuff?

Other key point - radiation is all around us all the time. So are various radioactive substances - stuff that emits radiation. You've heard of carbon dating? That works because some tiny percentage of all the carbon on earth is carbon-14, which is radioactive. That means you, a being made of carbon, are slightly radioactive.

Also if you've heard the whole 'bananas are radioactive' thing - yes it's true, no it won't hurt you, and that radioactivity comes from the potassium-40 isotope, which makes up a small fraction of all the potassium on earth. You, a human being, also contain potassium. This also contributes to you being slightly radioactive.

Outer space is radioactive for various reasons, including that stars are powered by nuclear fission reactions. And they're just spewing radiation across the cosmos. Some of that winds up on earth and we call it cosmic radiation.

The amount of radiation we're all exposed to from normal, everyday stuff is pretty harmless, and it's called background radiation. In addition to carbon, potassium, and outer space, it comes from lots of other things including rocks and soil (uranium, for instance, is naturally occurring and way more widespread than you'd think, though often within other minerals - it's not always uranium ore) and various human activities (remember how we exploded some nuclear bombs like eighty years ago? some of that stuff's still floating around). Medical scans like x-rays are also a fairly significant contributor to the average annual dose of radiation. There are way more human activities that create or concentrate radioactive substances, but I won't get into all of them because this is long enough already.

When radiation gets dangerous is at levels significantly above background. Remember what I said about it ionizing other atoms? Well, sometimes that damages things like cells and DNA. Your body has mechanisms to try and repair that damage, but they don't always work perfectly and if those systems get overwhelmed by really high levels of damage, you've got problems.

Radiation can hurt you in two main ways: acute and long-term problems. The most obvious acute example is radiation sickness - radiation burns are also a thing. That happens when you get a BIG dose in a short period of time. If you get a smaller dose, especially repeated small doses over time, that's where increased cancer risk becomes a problem.

Oh, I forgot to mention - the different between radiation exposure and contamination is key here. Exposure is like when you get an x-ray - the radiation passes through you and either leaves ro gets absorbed. You are not carrying x-rays around with you afterwards. Contamination is like if you touched a piece of uranium ore and got dust on your hands - you are carrying the source of radioactivity around on your person. It is continually producing radiation which you are being exposed to, and you can spread the dust or whatever to other people and objects. You can get rid of it by washing your hands - most of the time.

Contamination on your skin isn't that bad because you can just wash it off. However, if your food or water has radioactive stuff in it, or if the dust is in the air and you breathe it... that's bad. Potentially very bad. Your body tends to absorb that stuff and hang onto it - how long depends on what nuclide the radioactive material is made of. A nuclide is like an isotope, but for radioactive stuff. You know how isotopes are slightly different versions of elements, with different numbers of neutrons than usual? Nuclides are slightly different versions of elements which have different amounts of nuclear stability - some are stable and some are radioactive, meaning that their nucleus is unstable and needs to emit radiation in order to stabilize itself. That's why radiation happens. Radionuclides are the unstable ones.

Anyways, some nuclides get absorbed into the body really easily and are hard to get out once they're in there. Some are more dangerous than others. Your body is going to slowly excrete them over time, and they'll also be decaying, but they can still be in there long enough to cause plenty of problems.

One of the radionuclides that was really concerning after Chernobyl was Iodine--131. This is because your thyroid loves to absorb iodine - any iodine. It does not know or care the difference between the normal versus radioactive stuff. And if it absorbs the radioactive iodine, then it's gonna hang out there for a while and damage your thyroid cells, which can cause cancer. And after Chernobyl, that's exactly what it did. People who were nearby did experience higher than usual rates of thyroid cancer in the years afterwards.

So. Internal contamination can be scary. Radioiodine is actually one of a few radionuclides where an effective medical treatment exists. However, that comes with a LOT of caveats. The drug is called potassium iodide, and it works by flooding the thyroid with safe, non-radioactive iodine before or shortly after exposure to radioiodine. The goal is to make your thyroid absorb that instead and go 'no thanks, I'm full' when the radioactive stuff comes along. Then your body will excrete it faster and it won't cause as much damage.

But potassium iodide (aka KI, because potassium is K on the periodic table) only works if it's taken within a few hours before or after exposure, and then it only works for 24 hours. It can have serious side effects if taken for too long, and people can be allergic to it - especially people will shellfish allergies, for some reason. And it won't protect you from any other type of radiation - only radioiodine.

With most other internal radioactive contamination, you just gotta treat symptoms.

There are ten million other things I could rant about but I'm running out of stream so I'm gonna stop for now. Thanks for asking!

[j-egg-ssica]

just like me fr fr

[sunderwight]

Thinking about an Arcane canon divergence AU where Viktor was actually sitting closer to Mel when Jinx's rocket hit.

Mel says that she wasn't really conscious of protecting herself & Jayce, and while that could mean that the magic just chose to protect Jayce too because of their relationship and her affection for him, I'm going to assume that since she must've also physically lunged in his direction that it was more that her self-protection had an area of effect that she was subconsciously able to extend towards him.

But with the two of them sitting further away, she doesn't make it. She gets far enough to semi-unintentionally shield Viktor instead, but Jayce gets blasted into the rubble, just like Viktor was in canon.

And this fucks Viktor up ENTIRELY.

He was prepared to die to destroy the hexcore, or at least he told himself that. He had been preparing for the eventuality of his own death for some time.

But Jayce dying? Suddenly? Violently? Right in front of Viktor? Just like Sky did, barely a blink ago, and perhaps even more shockingly given that they weren't even in the potentially-dangerous environment of the lab?

No. Nope. New plan -- when the medics tell Viktor there's nothing more they can do, then the hexcore is going to save Jayce. Viktor will make it save Jayce. Even if he has to shove Jayce into some kind of stasis pod modeled after Orianna's while he figures out the nuts and bolts. He tries not to think about becoming just like his old teacher. Mostly fails. Does it anyway. There's no one to really stop him, after all. Jayce's mother is also clinging to whatever hope can be found, the council is in tatters, Cassandra is dead and Caitlyn is thoroughly distracted, and Mel also has bigger fish to fry than whatever Viktor might be doing with Jayce's basically-dead body.

It takes Viktor longer to figure out how to fix Jayce than it took him to just come out of the cocoon himself in cannon. After all, he's mostly tailored his experiments to his own body, and also, he's got to deal with his own health problems at the same time. This eventually drives him back to Singed, to experiments with shimmer, and Vander, making test subjects out of the shimmer addicts desperate enough to do anything for another hit, using Vander to heal himself so that he can heal Jayce, and grappling with the immorality of it all. He always told himself that he wanted to help the people. But in the grim light of tragedy, all he really wants now is his partner back.

Eventually he does get Jayce into his very own Goopy Carbonite Block.

After that, though, I'm at a bit of a loss. What would the hexcore do to Jayce? I don't think he'd go the same route as Viktor, but obviously the arcane would have an (almost certainly negative) effect on him, and the hexcore itself seems to very much want to replicate and absorb everyone into it. Or are whatever "aims" it might have necessarily rooted in actual person interpreting them? Were the hexcore and the hallucinatory Sky only like that because things were essentially being filtered through Viktor? Would the hexcore's own aims change with its host? Or would it basically be the same but have more difficulties in getting Jayce to cooperate?

Much to consider for that part.

[happyhauntt]

a lack of caffeine — spencer reid.

writing masterlist | askbox

─── summary: caffeine makes the world go 'round. that's something you and spencer can agree on.

─── pairing: spencer reid x autistic!medical examiner!reader.

─── warnings: fluff, reader is autistic & a mom, spencer's iq gets slashed to sixty when he talks to pretty girls and it's my favourite thing. no use of y/n. swearing. i really fucking struggled with this it's so boring. thank you to everyone who requested a part 2!

─── word count: 1.8k.

     The call comes in at four in the morning.

     The screen reads three missed calls by the time its incessant buzzing rouses you from your slumber, and you pull it out from beneath your pillow. Squinting at the sudden brightness of it, an unlisted number stares back at you as your phone keeps vibrating insistently in your grip.

     When you finally wake up enough to realise it could be work, you answer it. Agent Hotchner's familiar voice is stern and low and only a little apologetic as he informs you that you're going to be required in the field for a new case, and you should be at the airfield within the hour.

     There isn't enough time to ask any questions before the line clicks, and you're left blinking into the dim light of your bedroom as you try to gather your bearings.

     Sleep itches at the corners of your eyes, all gritty and blurry, and though part of your mind recalls reading this little clause in the contract you’d signed, that constant availability takes on a whole new meaning when you work for the BAU, you still take a moment to fantasise about pushing Aaron Hotchner off a cliff.

     You’re not a morning person. And you would argue that 4AM isn’t even the morning, it’s the middle of the night, and why can’t serial killers do their business during normal business hours?

     A new case. Not your first case since joining the unit as their resident independent medical examiner, but the first where you would join the rest of the team in the field. The first where you'll be required to exert federal authority over county coroners, where you'll have to step on toes in order to get the job done.

     You know they won't take too well to an outsider coming in and derailing their whole thing. You know you wouldn't. You used to be one of them, not that long ago.

     Ah, shit. As the drowsiness begins to fade out of your body, a light panic trickles in. Your skin starts to buzz as if you put your finger into a live socket. You grip your phone so hard it leaves a mark on your palm.

     It takes ten minutes to get ready, stumbling around your room and shoving clothes into a bag. You don't really care about matching socks, but you count out your underwear three times and hope you won't run out before the case is done. Do they have laundries you'll be able to use? Have the other members of the BAU ever encountered this problem? Should you pack your hair straightener or is it really going to matter?

     When you've finally dragged a brush through your hair and dumped the last of your toiletries into a ziploc bag, a dull realisation strikes you.

     Jackie.

     Going toe-to-toe with a rabid raccoon might be more appealing than waking up your sister-in-law in the middle of the night, but you don't really have much choice. She has to know what's going on, she'll be in charge of your daughter for however long you'll be gone, and leaving a note on the kitchen counter feels like the wrong move to make in this instance.

     Is there a protocol for this? A single-parent handbook you can check out at the library? This is something you really should've talked about when you got the job, you know that. You'd known it would require you to travel on occasion, often without prior notice, but it hadn't seemed like a big deal at the time. You'd brushed it under the rug, labelled it to be discussed later as if you and Jackie have ever actually sat down and done that.

     A thousand things sit unsaid between you. That rug has got a little mountain under it by now, almost impossible to ignore. It’s really only a matter of time before you trip over it.

     “Jackie. Jackie.”

     Your sister-in-law grumbles when you sneak into her room and poke her, hard and repeatedly, until she threatens to bite you. The news of your leaving doesn't take her by surprise — exhaustion seems to dull the stung of it — and she promises to call twice a day, every day, before she buries her face back into the pillow and starts to snore like a lawnmower.

     You hope she never, ever changes.

     Pressing a kiss to your sleeping daughter's forehead is the last thing you do before you finally manage to drag yourself out of the apartment. A dull ache thuds in your chest, where your heart should be. She'd looked so peaceful, so sweet, and you can't recall a time since she was born that you'd been apart from her for longer than a day. Her bright, happy giggle and wide eyes flash through your mind.

     As your car peels out of the parking garage, you feel distinctly like a piece of laundry someone hung out to dry and then forgot about.

     The sun is just beginning to kiss the horizon as you pull up to the airfield. Long streaks of a pink-fingered dawn creep across the sky. You flash your identification at the security guard and pull up alongside the jet, scrambling to grab your bag from the passenger seat.

     It doesn't surprise you that you're the last to arrive, but you'd hoped that wouldn't be the case.

     The clock just strikes 5AM as you clatter up the steps, practically falling into the aircraft. Technically, you're on time, but it still feels like you're late for class and your teacher is about to put it on your permanent record. A kind-faced hostess greets you, offers to stow your bag, and you flash her a sheepish smile as you hand it over and pass through the curtains into the main cabin.

     "Holy shit."

     You can't help yourself. Every single member of the team turns to look at you, craning their necks to see exactly who they're dealing with, but you can't even bring yourself to care. "This is a jet. It's actually... a jet."

     You blink at the open space as your jaw goes a little slack. Do you sound a little insane? Sure, and ordinarily you'd feel self-conscious with several pairs of unfamiliar eyes gawking at you, analysing your every movement as if it's their job to do so — and it actually is — but this honestly insane.

     You had no idea the BAU had this kind of budget. Do they own the plane? Do they rent it? Is it publically funded by the taxpayer, and why can't they fly commercial? Like, you're not complaining at all, those leather seats look so comfortable, but why—?

     An austere voice says your name once, twice, and you blink, looking up to find the furrowed brow of your boss frowning at you down the aisle.

     "Take a seat, doctor, we're about to take off."

     His tone leaves no room for argument. A flush rises in your cheeks, and you manage to stammer out an apology before throwing yourself into the nearest available seat, buckling your seatbelt.

     "It's a good thing you're the M.E and not a profiler, sweetcheeks." One of the agents nearest to you leans across the aisle. A charming grin spreads over his face as he offers up his hand in greeting. "Derek Morgan."

     "Oh, I know," you reply, shaking his hand firmly. "I, uh, looked you guys up after Dr. Reid paid a visit to the underworld and I didn't recognise him. Figured I should be a little more familiar with the other members of my team."

     "The underworld?" A blonde woman you realise must be Agent Jareau gives you a friendly, if slightly confused, smile.

     You shrug, suddenly a little embarrassed. Group settings have never been your thing. Too many people, too many unfamiliar eyes, far too many voices clashing together until it all becomes a sensory nightmare.

     You much prefer your little lab, and one-on-one conversations, usually with the unlucky cadavers that find themselves on your slab. They never talk back.

     "It's just what I call the morgue," you tell her. A loose bit of skin hangs off the edge of your nail, and you really, really want to pick at it. Fatigue hovers at the edge of your consciousness, and as the plane engines begin to roar, you find yourself wishing you’d made a coffee before leaving the apartment.

     You would have been late, for sure, but life would feel worth living so, y’know. Swings and roundabouts.

     "In Greek mythology, the underworld is where an individual goes after death. Early ideas suggest that someone’s essence, their psyche, is separated from their corpse at the point of death and transported to the underworld. Accounts differ on whether any judgement occurs, depending on which scholarship you’re citing." A familiar voice pipes up from the back of the plane and you glance over. The rich brown eyes looking back fill you with an odd warmth.

     More at ease with a familiar face, you settle back in your seat and lift your hand in a lazy wave. "Good morning, Dr Reid. It's nice to see you when I'm not elbow-deep in someone's intestines."

     Agent Jareau wrinkles her nose. "Now I'm really glad I didn't have time for breakfast."

     Reid's ears turn bright pink and he looks away, stuttering out his reply. "It's good to see you too. Uh, well, not good, given the circumstances, since there's a serial killer on the loose, but good because—"

     "We get the picture, Reid," Agent Hotchner cuts him off, and Reid turns his gaze back to the small window, a little flustered. Hotch looks, bizarrely, like he's trying not to smile. "Welcome to the team. We'll go over the case details once we're in the air."

     “Is there coffee in the air?” There might be a murder mid-flight otherwise. Really, how do they function at this time in the morning? The plane judders as it rolls over the tarmac, heading for the runway. “Or tea, or soda, or— Honestly, I’ll take whatever. I just don’t want to fall asleep in a body cavity later on.”

     Again.

     Reid finds himself nodding, entirely against his will. There’s something about the peculiar medical examiner, something he can’t quite put his finger on, but it makes him want to keep talking. More than usual, at least.

     He wonders if there’s duct tape on board. Or a parachute.

     “There’s coffee,” he confirms. Is his voice a little high?

     “Dr. Reid, I could kiss you—”

     Oh, hell. Judging by the way Morgan has a hand pressed to his mouth, stifling an obscenely loud chuckle, Reid suspects he’s never going to hear the end of this.

[fattummyt]

Genji Shimada/Gender Neutral Reader - Physical Therapy 🌶️

Summary: After months of physical therapy, Genji arrives with complaints of lacking feeling in his new penis prosthetic. In order to remedy this, you offer a more hands on approach.

Tags: hand job, professional demeanor, doctor/patient, prosthetics, medical examination, medical kink, light masochism, light sadism, pain play,

Warnings: explicit

Author's Notes: L/N = Last name.

Read it on AO3 here!

"Doctor L/N."

"Mr. Shimada. How have you been doing since we last met? Enjoying your new prosthetic?"

His prosthetic penis, to be exact.

"That's... What I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure, what's the issue?"

"I... do not have feeling in my... penis."

You gave him a peculiar look.

"Are you experiencing involuntary arousal, at least?"

"No-- not physically, I mean. Despite having sexual urges, I cannot become erect."

"Let's see. Perhaps there's a problem with the unit. Would you mind removing your codpiece?"

Genji nodded determinedly, rather easily removing the fairly intricate piece of metal and setting it aside.

Clearly this is a process he's grown accustomed to.

The matte black phallus laid flaccid against his thigh.

Despite his initial obliviousness when it was first installed, he appeared rather nervous observing it now.

"Can you show me what you typically do to stimulate an erection?"

"Yes." He took the shaft in hand, shifting it around oddly before stroking it limp with his fingers.

"Have you tried any other methods of stimulation? Vibration? Or perhaps even Oral?"

Genji chuckled nervously behind his mask, "I am not that ambitious yet, Doctor L/N. Just stroking."

"That's odd. It was working just fine during initial tests."

"I was not able to masturbate some of the days you requested due to missions. Could this possibly explain my dysfunction?"

"Not to this degree. Could I examine you for a moment?"

"Y-yes, of course." He replied.

You turned, dropping your clipboard on the counter as you fetched a pair of latex gloves.

"This should be a fairly routine examination so you don't need to worry about any new sensations."

He reclined back on the exam table.

"I trust you won't have any trouble making me aroused, Dr. L/N."

"You know the funny thing about arousal is." You snapped your glove against your wrist and he felt himself shudder a bit. "The issue may not always be a matter of physical stimulation, but rather, mental."

"Do you understand what I mean, Mr. Shimada?" You approached, standing beside him now.

"I am... not sure I understand, Dr. L/N."

You grabbed hold of his shaft squeezing it so hard he sat straight up, gripping your wrist.

"D-doctor--"

"Was that too hard?"

He groaned, nodding quickly as you loosened your hold, stroking tepidly up his shaft.

"I'm sorry, I had to test my theory. Do you feel any arousal now?"

"N-no." He started. "Well -- actually yes."

"That's a good sign." You smiled, his cock growing stiffer in your grip. "Perhaps pain is more of what you need?"

"N–no!" Genji interrupted. "I believe this method is doing just fine."

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your arousal right now?"

"Um, a four." Genji swallowed.

"Great. You're making fast progress."

"Thank you, Dr. L/N." He replied, involuntarily flexing his thighs.

You sped up your stroking now and Genji found the visor of his mask growing foggy with his faster breaths.

"Tell me, Mr. Shimada. Do you feel a clenching in your muscles, or maybe a faint trembling in your limbs?"

His nodding was delayed, distracted by the soft crinkling and the subtle warmth of your gloved hand against his cock.

A slick, clear liquid dribbled down his tip onto your glove and you paused stroking for a moment to examine the stringy consistency between your fingers.

"You're even developing preejaculate faster than I expected. Do you typically use an external liquid lubricant, or do you prefer more natural substitutes?"

"I," He swallowed. "Prefer it dry."

"From now on, I suggest using a silicone based lubrication in the future to prolong your erection."

"But for the sake of preference today, I'll just stick to your natural precum."

Genji swallowed a muffled moan behind his visor before responding. "Yes thank you-- Doctor."

You rubbed your thumb along his tip, smearing the precum all along his head and a sensation that could only be described as electricity jolted through his body.

"Docto--" "--Interesting. Your penis seems to be reacting fine now. In fact you appear to be hypersensitive. Are you alright with this? Overstimulation could make reaching orgasm more difficult."

"Yes-yes." He pressed his fingers into the cushioned seat below him.

"Great. If you ever feel like you can't handle it, just let me know and we can adjust those settings."

Despite his hollow mask, you could hear the quiet, pitchy breaths he attempted to silence.

"How would you rate your arousal now?"

"Hach --eight."

"Great. And how would you rate your pleasure?"

He swallowed, shuddering slightly before replying. "E-ight."

"Amazing." You replied. He offered a small whimper in reply.

"S-sorry, I d-do not, usually make th-this much noise."

"You're perfectly fine. I can't stress the importance of positive vocal affirmations during self pleasure. Especially in your case, Mr. Shimada. Consider ejaculation the cooldown to an intense physical therapy session."

"Y-you want me to moan?"

"Use any vocal feedback that you feel is beneficial to your arousal. Understand?"

He nodded energetically. "Absolutely."

A low, desperate moan echoed from inside his helmet.

He replied with a breathy sigh as you slowed, stroking longingly from the base of his shaft with a tight fist, forcing more precum from his tip.

"Doctor." He moaned, grasping your free hand which rested on his seat.

The metal musculature on his chest was beginning to grow noticeably hotter under your touch.

"I'm g-going to cum, Doctor."

"Great. Now that you're nearing ejaculation, let your body relax and your mind wander. Don't concern yourself with social limitations. Do what you feel will best encourage a strong orgasm."

"Y-yes, Doctor." He panted.

His mask opened as his head fell back, unabashedly groaning into the air as his muscles strained, gripping your hand intensely as his voice trailed off into rhythmic, distressed grunts of ecstasy.

His cock throbbed as warm, white cum rolled down your knuckles to the floor beneath.

Your hand lingered there just a moment before you pulled away, fetching a tissue from the box just underneath the examination table.

"How was that? Mr. Shimada?"

Genji, penis still semi erect, breathed audibly as his cock throbbed with aftershocks. Only able to offer you a subtle nod.

"Fantastic. Feel free to catch your breath as I finish up here with your paperwork."

By the time you returned to speak with Genji his codpiece had returned to where it sat, covering his crotch. While his overall appearance may have seemed a little worse for wear, his overall disposition seemed upbeat and attentive.

"You're all ready to go, Mr. Shimada."

"Thank you. Doctor."

"Are there any more questions you have for me, before you go?"

"Yes, uh. About today's examination–"

"Doctor patient confidentiality." You smiled.

"Um, no. I was going to ask… about getting a check up exam next month?"

You were taken aback, chuckling briefly, before waving him toward you. "Let's get you scheduled."

Read the fic on AO3! | Read more of my fics on Tumblr | Patreon | Website

Too funny not to share

[fungifanart]

And I'll Keep On Dancing

Characters: Male reader, Zayne

CW: Heart problems

Word count: 642

Notes: Greetings Love and Deepspace fandom. I come bearing a gift. I hope it is to your liking. (@ameleii / @leichor get behind me)

-----------------------------------------------------

Considering the consistent tardiness of a certain regular patient, Zayne's learned to have low expectations for the rest of them, but, of course, this doesn't stop his current patient from surprising him by arriving 20 minutes early.

Having already gotten his exam equipment ready, he tells the receptionist to send the patient up.

After another couple minutes, in walks, slightly unsteadily, a man not too much younger than Zayne who carefully sits across from the doctor.

"Y/n L/n." Zayne says while skimming over the man's medical records, "Here for a checkup after a mild heart attack."

"T-that's right." The other man says while fidgeting, "I guess I went too hard when I was practicing my dance routine for an upcoming performance, so...here we are."

"I see." Zayne says, "Your records say that you have no history of heart problems or conditions, so this may be an isolated incident. However, we still need to check for abnormalities and I have some medicines to prescribe you regardless." He finishes while picking up his first tool.

After the tests are done, Zayne begins writing down the results in silence, which is then broken by the other man clearing his throat.

"So, uh, doctor?" He asks hesitantly, drawing Zayne's attention, "Do you know how long it'll take for my heart to recover?"

Setting his clipboard down, Zayne turns towards the other man, "Fortunately, the side effects of the heart attack are light enough that it should only take a maximum of 3 weeks to fully heal, provided that you don't exert yourself beyond walking and climbing up stairs.”

He begins turning away upon finishing his sentence, thinking his assessment would prove satisfactory, but then his patient's distressed voice fills the room.

"WH-- Three weeks?! That's such a long time! How am I supposed to get ready for my dance performance if I can't even practice for three whole weeks???" Y/n exclaims with his hands on his head.

Feeling frustrated, Zayne turns back towards his patient, "First, I said a MAXIMUM of three weeks. Meaning there's a possibility that you'll be healed before then. Second, I fail to comprehend your obsession with something as frivolous as dancing."

With an offended gasp, the other man quickly goes on the offensive, "Ex-CUSE me, doctor, but A) it's my JOB to make this performance look good and B) have you NEVER experienced the magic of a well-executed dance performance? I can't deprive that of the people who paid money to see it!"

"I have not, nor do I have any interest in such things." Zayne replies bluntly while going back to writing his notes.

"Tch, I'll bet you're fun at parties, Dr. Killjoy." The other man says with puffed-out cheeks, causing the doctor's hand to stumble slightly.

"Killjoy...?" Zayne says as the lead on his pencil snaps.

"You heard me. There's not a drop of whimsy or wonder in that soul of yours, is there?" Y/n says while crossing his arms at him.

"Hmph, and you think watching a dance performance could give me this 'whimsy' you're so fond of?" Zayne asks while brushing the lead pieces off his clipboard dismissively.

"I do, actually." Y/n says while puffing out his chest, "Once my heart's recovered, you can come to my performance, gain a new perspective on life and tell me your thoughts afterwards!"

"You say that like I'd take the time out of my busy schedule for that in the first place." Zayne responds curtly.

"Aww, is someone afwaid of twying something new?" The other man says mockingly.

Not one to be looked down on, Zayne relents, "Very well. I'll go along with this little delusion of yours, if only to prove that such things don't have as much influence as you seem to think."

"Heh, it's a date, then." The man says triumphantly.

[olderthannetfic]

A common anti talking point is that "problematic" content is fine as long as it's portrayed in a bad light, and I know this is mostly a way for them to say "porn bad", but, like... if we exclude stupidity, is this even a common issue at all?

I try to think of what they could otherwise mean, because I read a lot of things they'd hate, but even the cutesy stuff has dark undertones, or is clearly done with the reader meant to understand that at least one character involved is a freak. Even with porn, I'm not sure I've seen many that didn't lean into how taboo it is. The closest trend I can think of is age gap romances where the protagonist is 16 and going for someone in their 30s, but even those make sure you're extremely aware of the age difference the entire time since that's the appeal. Or an anime where the siblings are REALLY close and no one comments, but as a viewer I can still clearly pick up that these are codependent freaks.

Is this a me thing? Do I just not see these swarms of insidious positive portrayals and they're actually everywhere? I don't doubt there are bad writers that fumble their stories, and I'm less likely to read those long enough to find out, so is that what they're referring to? Or is it really always just porn is evil?

--

No, people being dumb as a box of rocks and not grasping that weird internet porn is not a how-to manual is not that common a problem.

However, being traumatized and having zero useful mental health support is.

A lot of anti talking points are coming from a place of toxic coping. mechanisms where someone thinks that if they can just control everything around them The Bad Thing can't happen again, to them or to anyone else.

Blaming the influence of bad fiction is a very common step for people who haven't had enough time or safety to accept that, no, actually, the person they trusted hurt them on purpose because they felt like it, not because Media Made Them Do It.

Or that maybe their dumb teen self handled some situations badly, but it's because teens often do that and/or because no decent adult was around to ask them why they seemed upset, not because it was fiction's job to teach them boundaries. It's a lot easier to blame the concrete experience of reading something that modeled bad behavior than the highly amorphous negative space where good offline role models who paid attention and gave a fuck should have been.

--

Some people are self-medicating with a rage high. A few are nasty ringleaders trying to power trip. Lots are just scared dumbasses who haven't grasped that it's okay to have dark fantasies.

A lot of it is just people with the hubris to say "Well, I have decent reading comprehension and can spot subtext, but what if all these other people can't?"

[dxmedstudent]

Things to not say to infertile folks:

A lot of people don't really know what to say when discussing infertility, and a lot of people who are struggling with it complain that people say hurtful or triggering things to them - often unintentionally.

So I thought I'd write a guide about what not to say, taken , unfortunatelyfrom hearing or seeing people express these opinions:

You just need to relax/get drunk/go on holiday/not stress so much/not want it so much.

Telling someone to be more relaxed or less stressed doesn't work - kind of like telling someone to calm them down doesn't, in fact, calm them down. It also minimises the fact that a lot of people with fertility problems have actual medical problems causing the situation, which may require treatment or might even be untreatable.

It also comes with the (likely unintentional) implication that it's your fault for not conceiving because unlike everyone else, you're just not relaxing enough. You fail at relaxing. You're doing trying wrong.

So you can't have kids? Like, at all?

Putting aside that it is a little insensitive to say this, technically infertility means that a couple tried to have kids for a year or more but were unsuccessful. Infertility is reduced fertility, and sometimes the term subfertity is seen as more accurate.

People can be told that they have a condition that affects fertility like fibroids, PCOS or endometriosis, but they may still conceive if having unprotected PIV sex and should still use contraception if they do not wish to get pregnant.

This is also why folks on T and folks on oestrogen/progesterone HRT should talk to their team about contraception, whether they are cis or trans. Whilst taking HRT can sometimes reduce fertility it does NOT render you sterile and people often need to use an additional contraceptive.

Sterility means being completely unable to have kids - for example, if you have had both gonads removed.

Infertile couples can sometimes eventually have children unassisted, and most infertile couples manage to conceive with fertility treatment.

Have you tried having sex/tracking ovulation/insert absolutely beginner knowledge here)?

Oh crap, we've been mistakenly putting it up the ass this entire time! Silly me!

Unless you're the couple's doctor and your job is to walk them through every possible issue and make sure nothing is missed, please assume that they have done their research and have the basic stuff down.  Treat people as if they are sensible and competent. Believe people when they say there is a problem. Leave the diagnosing to their fertility team.

Because when you think about it, if a couple have been trying for like 3 years and you ask them if they've tried LH strips, it's kind of patronising.

You didn't become an expert just because you accidentally got pregnant 5 years ago or conceived first try with your second. People who have been struggling with a health problem for years have usually done a ton of reading, speaking to healthcare professionals and lots of tests - they almost certainly know a lot more than you about it.

Oh yeah, I know how you feel! I've been trying for 2 months / hope to have kids and I'm terrified of being infertile, I couldn't stand that. It would ruin my life!

There's a place for sharing your concerns, but please don't expect people suffering a condition to have to console you about how bad it would be for you to live their life. Infertile people don't want to hear that their life is your worst nightmare, it's just a rude thing to tell someone.

Don't tell people with coeliac you'd die if you couldn't eat pasta, don't tell people who are blind that you'd end yourself if you couldn't paint or watch TV. Just ... have some tact.

Ha, being a parent is hard, are you sure you want that? Would you take one of mine?

No, Debra.

Please stop making light of someone's personal grief or disability. This is like making boomer "I hate my wife" jokes to someone who just lost their spouse.

But what do I say, then? I don't know what to say!

I've legitimately seen people say the most insensitive thinfs and then turn around to say this.

But...

You don't have to say anything- believe it or not you don't have to offer an opinion or advice on sonething you know nothing about. They aren't waiting on YOU to fix their problem or give them advice on something a team of specialists hasn't been able to fix.

If someone tells you that they are having fertility issues, just tell them you're sorry to hear that and that you hope it works for them soon. Or ask them if they want to talk about it and let them know you are there to listen.

More things not to say after the cut...

My friend's aunt's cousin was about to have infertility treatment, then they just had twins! I'm sure that will happen for you, when you stop trying!

Everyone tells us their one in a million "miracle stories"... but they just aren't fun to hear, for many people with infertility. They may give some people hope, but they can make people feel even more isolated and unlucky because we KNOW how unlikely it is that we'll have that same luck.

Also for most of us, stopping trying would make actually conceiving and carrying to term extremely unlikely. Please don't discourage people from seeking medical help when they need it.

Well I don't think IVF/using a donor/single parent families/lgbtq families is right/natural.

It's great that you don't need it and don't have to have it, then! But your opinion is kind of irrelevant to everyone else.

Lots of modern medicine isn't natural - and as a doctor, I REALLY don't think "naturalness" or your personal comfort level with a treatment you are completely ignorant about is a relevant metric for how beneficial a medical treatment is to the people who need it. 

We've spent all of human civilisation working to give us more tools (and better ones) to help people. IVF is a tool. It's an accommodation for a disability or inability due to circumstances that lets some people overcome their medical conditions or circumstances.

Are you saying that to cancer patients? To people wearing a cast for their broken arm? To people wearing a prosthesis for their amputated leg? I absolutely hope not. Please do not do that.

Other people's medical treatments are between them and their clinicians. If you don't like it? You're free to not have said treatment. If you don't want kids, you are free to not have any. I'm a passionate advocate for access to reproductive care, contraception and abortion.

But if you're pro abortion, you cannot meaningfully be anti-fertility treatment. Because you either believe in bodily autonomy or you don't. You can't pick and choose only when it benefits you.

I just think that if you can't have kids naturally, then your body/nother nature/God is telling you something and you should just stop trying. Maybe your genes are just bad and shouldn't be spread. Maybe you just wouldn't make a great parent.

Look, nature is stupid. It gives kids type 1 diabetes and genetic conditions that kill them in infancy and gives your loved ones cancer. Do you go around telling everyone that they should just due or accept being permanently seriously ill or disabled because nature gave them an illness? Do you refuse all modern medicine because you should be listening to nature's plan for your body? I bloody well hope not, because that's dumb when modern medicine exists.

There are all sorts of dumb reasons why people are infertile - why would having a tube blocked by endometriosis or slow sperm make someone a bad parent? Why are you literally telling someone to their face, whose meducal problems you dont even understand, that you think they are just too defective to make a family?

Let's stay away from the eugenics, shall we? We could have a nuanced conversation about how genetic testing of embryos can potentially reduce or eliminate rare fatal diseases which kill children and have no hope of a life without significant suffering. And how most couples who have IVF successfully go on to have healthy chikdren who live normal lives. But no, Steve, stopping your mate with a mild varicocele from having children is not going to revolutionise the human race or fulfil some alternate divine fate.

Well, fertility is a first world problem, some people have real problems, we should be focusing on that instead.

Actually, it's a problem for millions of peole, around the world. The IVF industry is huge in certain parts of the Global south, for example India.

People think it's a white rich people problem because most of the people who can  afford to undergo fertility treatment privately or adopt...are the wealthy. But it's always been a problem - that affects people across cultures, socioeconomic groups and sexualities. And infertility has often been accompanied with shame and ostracisation. Stigmatising fertility care hurts everyone. Especially the poor.

Many LGBTQ couples need fertility care - whether because their gender affirming surgery or HRT or health complicates things, or they and their partner's combination of gametes makes things tricky. Making fertility care less taboo and more accessible helps them too. The conversation very often side tracks and ignores them but their struggle is valid too.

You people only want kids because they are brainwashed by the patriarchy. Infertility wouldn't be an issue if women were emancipated and not brainwashed by the patriarchy.

Look, I've been feminist in online spaces since before some of you were born. I'm not unaware of the patriarchy and how it colours our choices.

But we have to stop infantilising women abd removing their agency. I know single women and lesbians who have spent decades working through their issues with the patriarchy...who still want kids and are dealing with fertility treatment. Sure, we will never be entirely free from the many ways society affects us. But that doesn't mean we're all blindly falling into motherhood.

You don't want kids, that's great. But it doesn't mean that every single woman choosing to have them is brainwashed and unable to understand what she is getting into - and it's pretty misogynistic to frame it that way.

Nobody should be having kids because the economy/environment/etc

OK there's a conversation to be had about cutting our carbon footprint and being aware of how our choices affect others and the planet. We should all be trying to live more sustainably - I say as I wear thrifted clothes whilst typing this on the train.

But... are you saying that to able bodied people having kids? Are you sacrificing everything that you want for the cause? Or is the easiest thing to give up the thing that someone else wants? I'm all for encouraging everyone to be mindful of the planet but we shouldn't be restricting the rights of people with a disability to make that happen.

We make choices for ourselves, not for other people.

Why not adopt or foster? Adopt don't shop!

Well this is a whole post in itself...but basically, please assume that anyone who is trying for kids for a while... has at least considered adoption. Please tryst people to choose the right option for them and their family.

Children are not puppies, and the massive adoption industry isn't always ethical or safe, can be hugely expensive (often moreso than IVF in some places!), and also doesn't actually guarantee that they get to have a child at the end of it.

There can be a lot of trauma and complicated feelings for the adopted child and their birth family and many kids need very specialised support that not every potential adoptive parent can provide.

There are also far more infertile couples than kids who need adoption - so not every individualor couple could adopt. Many kids just need temporary fostering with the aim of placing them back with their family, which is important but very different.

I intend to flesh out this argument more in a separate post but IMO adoption should ideally be rare - because birth parents should have free access to contraception, abortion and be empowered and supported to look after and raise their kids within their communities if they want them. Adoption should serve the needs of the child, not the potential parents. And certainly not the agencies.

If you truly believe there are millions of kids out there needing a home, why aren't you adopting? Why aren't you clamouring for every fertile couples to adopt? Because on some level society still that's these kids as a consolation prize. And because many of the people judging infertile couples for having IVF over adoption aren't all that invested in actially learning about these kids or helping them.

Infertile people aren't solely responsible for solving complex societal problems on their own. This is something that we as a whole society need to address.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

So, it seems like eyes may be one of the most important organs for Gallifreyans. Does this impact the optometry and ophthalmology fields significantly, or are they pretty much the same as on Earth?

How does Gallifreyan ophthalmology work?

The layman might be forgiven for thinking the hearts of a Gallifreyan are obviously the most important part of their biology, but while yeah, they're pretty important, Gallifreyan eyes are definitely high on the list.

Their eyes are essential to their culture and technology, and any problems can be very disabling. So, while we don't actually know that much about Gallifreyan medical care (honest to God, if I had one script for Big Finish ...), we can definitely figure out a few things.

🏥 A Different Kind of Eye Care

Gallifreyan medical science is obviously light years ahead of Earth. Treatments can heal skin wounds in under half an hour, and regrow limbs from a single spit sample in just two days. But when it comes to eyes, things get a bit trickier. Gallifreyan eyes are critical to their day-to-day existence—without them, a Gallifreyan is at a significant disadvantage.

This logically makes ophthalmology one of the most specialised and crucial medical fields. It's not just about fixing vision; it's about maintaining an integral part of a Gallifreyan’s ability to interact with the world and even identify themselves. Without their eyes, Gallifreyans would be unable to use advanced technologies and could face a complete disconnect from their homeworld.

🔬 Eye'll Be Seeing You

Gallifreyan vision goes above and beyond human abilities—they can see a wider range of colours, in much greater detail, and even perceive minute details from far distances. They also have topographical sensitivity, allowing them to detect distortions in space and time. This superior vision makes their eyes crucial to their cognitive function and daily Time Lord-y life.

While minor visual issues, like short-sightedness or long-sightedness, are easily corrected with glasses, more serious problems are far more complex to address. Given how important their eyes are for everything from personal identification to using advanced technology, any injury to the eyes should be taken extremely seriously. This means that the field of ophthalmology would likely include highly specialised techniques to manage and treat these critical conditions.

💡 Specialised Care and Advanced Technology

Gallifreyan medical technology would be equipped with cutting-edge devices and surgical techniques designed to help restore sight. Unlike Earth technology, these devices could involve advanced cybernetic implants or nanotechnology, allowing near-perfect visual restoration.

In addition to conventional treatments, there would likely be offshoots within the field. For example, telepathic specialists might work with blind Gallifreyans to help establish a psychic bond with a specially trained creature (yes, kind of like a guide dog - it's a thing on Gallifrey too).

Another interesting angle could involve the use of genetically engineered tissue or cellular regeneration to replace damaged or lost parts of the eye. This approach would focus on restoring the natural function of the eye rather than relying on external devices, aligning more closely with the Gallifreyan focus on regeneration and internal healing processes.

🏫 So ...

The medical field surrounding Gallifreyan eyes is likely highly specialised and stretches out into several areas, including telepathy. While their ophthalmology probably isn't exactly like Earth's, it likely shares similar goals in terms of maintaining vision and treating injuries, but with a much more advanced technological edge.

Related:

💬|👁️🦮Do Gallifreyans use a Braille-like system for the visually impaired?: If Gallifreyan Braille exists, and how it could work.

🤔|👁️🦮How do Gallifreyans cope with extreme vision loss?

💬|👁️✨Could a Time Lord be deaf or mute after regeneration?: Sensory impairments from regenerations and how society could perceive these people.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜MasterpostIf 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 😴

[mouseratz]

in light of the new American report, to reiterate:

- ROGD is not a thing. it is a lot of parents of trans kids essentially going "my trans kid has friends online that are also trans and therefore it is their fault" being made into a Thing, and supports the concept of transness as a "contagion" (as well as a flimsy trend). it sucks.

- many of these treatments are not new. the Nazis burned German records of transgender healthcare, for example. also a bunch of them are routinely, regularly used for cis children and adults safely*.

(*intersex people are often not given a choice in the matter and can have a lot of bad experiences with some of these treatments, though, so, not universally, but that's often more an issue of consent & forcing a child to conform to one sex even if they'd be safe and healthy as they were.)

but generally, we know what gender-affirming treatments do unless there's a complication with another physical condition.

- on that note, I'm pretty damn sure being trans and getting gender affirming care does not cause any psychiatric conditions. there is certainly a correlation....but is that causation? or is it, perhaps, that certain groups of people face extra stress? hm.

-'adverse cognitive impacts' this is a nothingburger. it could make you feel bad, I guess?

-the bone density thing can happen....BUT as a result of not having enough of either t or e in your system (for example, if your body has an issue naturally producing either of these hormones, you will have to take at least one of them for the rest of your life or your bones will have problems).

- many of the other side effects are like, technically....? risks, but typically if improperly done, or again, interacting with another specific medical condition.....and usually the risk is not much different from that of cis people from the shit I've seen, but I'm not a doctor. there are reasons doctors usually take your bloodwork before starting any of these medications, for proper dosing & to check for certain big problems (and they STILL can fuck it up, because they are often undereducated on how to treat trans patients even though the knowledge on how to do so already exists.) But that's true of anything, really.

-infertility does happen sometimes. it's like an actual problem you might have. but some people have that happen either way (and some trans people can still have bio kids/impregnate/get pregnant, for the record. I just don't think infertility is as scary a possibility as certain people make it out to be.)

-regret is also true of anything you do ever. and the data we do have....keeps those numbers pretty low. because many of the gender affirming surgeries are prohibitively expensive and hard to access, too, so like, restricting them further isn't really gonna help except make the people who need them worse off.

-anyway. the whole thing is that they don't believe the data we currently have on any of this stuff and it doesn't matter if your kid needs any of these treatments, they just don't know what's good for them. and also conversion therapy is good actually but it's also mean that you would call it that :(

this is transparently cruel and will be used to enable further abuse of trans kids. so great stuff here

[lrgoescrazy]

bshshshshs the way you color skin is AMAZING the light scatter and reflection and stuff is awesome

what are your OCs like?? what are some cool things about their dynamic and reasons why? anything you want to talk about but don't get a lot of chances to?

omg THANK you i was just chilling and I instantly got like 10 notifications thank you sm!! ngl almost no one asks me about my OCs so don't mind if I absolute drop a bomb on you lmaoo

jayden (chinese guy with devil horns hair and eyepatch) thinks in a very black and white way, his two solutions to any problem are to beat it up or hug it out, no in between. and he loves snacks, one of the first parts of my comic (not gonna be posted for a long time unfortunately) is just him getting mad at a little spirit cuz it takes a bite out of his cookie!!

speaking of spirits the lore of my universe is kinda crazy too, there's a spirit world and tons of demons and cool creatures, and how it works is that ANYTHING you believe exists, exists in the spirit world its a true show for imagination lol and I love being able to just come up with wacky creatures or terrifying god-like beings.

also i said universe, not earth, for a reason. cuz there are ALIENS in my universe (the alien arc is gonna be soooo long, my plan for my comic is to include every character and plotline I've ever created, and I have been making OCs/stories since I was in elementary school) and I've made whole solar systems and technology and alien biology

magic is also a thing and it's closely tied with the spirit world. puma guy (no name yet but he's the purple blonde guy with eyepatch, and was literally created as a joke cuz I wanted to make a funny plotline about a flipped version of jayden) is a magician and he's very good at it too, and in my universe magic is actually quite closely tied to science, and for example, you cant just make an apple appear out of thin air, it has to obey (at least some, teleportation is completely not understood) the laws of physics and nature.

jayden is super happy all the time and he's rarely serious. he's very nonchalant about violence but it's not necessarily the first action he'll take. he cares a lot about justice and what's right though, he can't even comprehend that some ppl are truly evil, he innately believes people to be good because that's just what his morals are. he cares a lot more about other people than himself. also his Chinese name is 尊强 (zun qiang) which literally means something like "honour strong" he also has an evil sword with a demon in it that he can control cuz he has a bigger stronger demon inside him (unironically why his nails are black, he's not emo its the DEMON)

also i have something in my story called "levels" which is the shape inside my character's eyes (they all have one). jayden has a star, puma guy has a flower, yael has a backwards play button etc. what level you are is how many sides the shape has, with a curve counting as one side, so since jayden has a star, he is a Level 10. scientifically and medically its not called a level, but more like "spiritual fingerprint" since its unique for every person and cant be changed, its a literal part of your spirit. the levels actually do have an impact spiritually cuz the higher level you are, the better you are at seeing sprits and stuff which isn't necessarily better as the greatest warlord in history also had the highest level of 14 and went insane and died cuz of all the spirits he was seeing.

also prince lefayze (long hair dude with blue eyes) technically is level 1 but the monarchy insists that they are actually level infinity and just better than everyone else. lefayze is obv part of the very corrupt monarchy but he's quite cut off from what goes on and genuinely has no clue about all the horrible things going on until jayden comes in cuz he's basically forced to work for the monarchy but he takes his chance to get closer to the prince and show him how messed up the king (his father) and basically everyone else is. the king literally makes decisions in the prince's name, so this makes him quite the target even though the prince has never actually made any policies or statements, he's just a figurehead.

the fact that hes a target makes a lot of ppl try and kill him for valid reasons, although their hate is misplaced cuz again, he's not even doing anything, he's clueless.

i havent posted this dude, but there's a guy named fernando (I took his name from that abba song I kid you not, also took yael's name from new soul by yael naim, cuz that song is fr her) and he's... not on friendly terms with jayden, and that's being nice. I'll reveal what actually happens later, but he's the one who took jayden's eye, and no one's happy about that.

also the main cast of my TEN OCs (most are not posted) can turn into animals, jayden can turn into a lion, lefayze into a wolf, yael into an owl, Fernando into a deer, puma guy into... well, a puma etc

yael i've only posted once but i don't draw her a lot even though I've developed quite a lot of lore for her (involves autism and childhood trauma, very serious stuff actually, my story has comedy and very tragic/messed up stuff, but her story is one of the saddest) and she always ends up being the middleman between all the people fighting around her cuz she's dating fernando but she also doesn't think his actions towards jayden were fair, so it's kinda just complicated.

puma guy, being the opposite of jayden, is very serious all the time and he beats nazis up, that's literally his whole thing (very relevant in modern times I know) and he wants a relationship real bad, and it certainly isn't hard to find ppl who like him cuz he is attractive, but he can't talk to them!! he suddenly loses his ability to speak coherently around people he respects or people he likes, and it kinda messes things up for him. not to mention, since he's fighting all the time, it's just hard to manage a relationship, so even when he gets someone he isn't able to keep it going and it usually comes to an end. also he's probably got the strongest virtues of all my OCs, he only beats up bad people and he doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, always tries to be a good person (thank his parents lmao)

puma guy is literally the only one with a healthy relationship with his parents, the way he was raised by them did make his extremely selfless and it made him not complain (if he didn't want to eat veggies or smth his dad would just say "my dad was in the camps, eat up" and his mom wouldn't help cuz she would also just say "well my dad was starving and his house got bombed" ww2 generational trauma goes crazy

so puma guy bottles up all his problems and refuses to care for himself cuz "other ppl are doing worse than me" I love writing complex characters man

jayden and puma guy dont quite have the absolute hate for each other like jayden and Fernando, but because they are literally written to be opposites, they often disagree on simple issues (classic "I want to paint the wall blue" "I want to paint the wall pink") and they kinda have a really funny competition between them.

jayden and the prince... oh boy where do we even start. well I'll get this out of the way, they like each other a LOT, and its an interesting dynamic cuz jayden is always getting hurt to protect the prince, and the prince always feels really bad cuz he too cares about jayden.

i have one other character who's also fleshed out, but I haven't posted them (I really should tbh, but my current ref is literally more than a year old) and their name is rocksalt, and they are very blunt, no nonsense, say it like it is kinda person. they don't really show fear and they kinda just have a nonchalant attitude. very suited for being involved in laws and stuff. also they can turn into a cobra and again, more childhood trauma.

last thing... i have an old written story about jayden and his love for boba, it involves gang members and the old boba shop owner... who literally ends up in the hospital and has an IV filled with boba. and I wrote that for school, no joke. not to mention, I got a really high score on it the teacher was raving about it brooo

i lied about last thing, i also made a whole entire plushy of puma guy, except its a silly fat cat and that is literally the FIRST depiction of him and the first concept of him I ever made, a lot of the elements of his design make sense when you see the plushy

[twstfanblog]

LMAO jack is worried about the wrong thing! A period≠heat but ovulation=heat

Also, in theory, couldn't Yuu just ask for maternity pads? After people give birth hospitals usually give them huge pads so that they can heal without worrying about staining their clothes and bed with blood. Although I can see why they don't get those because 1) all boys school kinda makes people forget those exist 2) that would attract attention cause what do you mean a staff member at NRC is buying maternity pads monthly??? 3) Crowley probably doesn't know, and while that's mostly a good thing, it can also mean that they can't bring stuff that could tie to pregnancy on school grounds on a regular basis without some permission

Lowkey, the biology difference Period Drama brings to light can be so annoying to deal with because it always calls into question what else it effects. The reason Twist girls dont get periods is that instead of removing the lining altogether, their internal magic just refreshs it to it's former state. Which more than likely will extend to what happens after birth. And if it didnt, again, Magic. They can just heal things very easily with spells and potions in a hospital setting. So more than likely maternal pads don't exist past an actual sheet they put down for the birth that's then removed after they heal the mother up.

I made this idea for a reason based purely on the idea that periods dont happen in Twist because MAGIC. It's a lot of world building potential for a world that always had magic as an alternative to common problems plus how that would change things as an evolution standpoint.

Im guessing you're coming from the period drama romance series. But yeah they are flying blind a lot and will make their own wrong assumptions on how the period actually works. As much as Jack knows, you get your period because you aren't pregnant -> its probably to make you more likely to have children to avoid this painful process -> this is a really kinda fucked up heat.

Im not stating the things im writing in this series as facts, not until the Ignihyde part where Idia and Yuu really deep dive because Idia needs to properly update her medical file and to do so he needs to actually understand what the fuck is happening and he doesn't trust Yuu's second hand knowledge.

Peace and love. This feels charged the more I read it over, but I really just mean it as a way to explain the way my world building shaped up from this one silly idea.

[darlenicy]

A topic for the Trix hc: how often do they think about the Roman Empire?

Jk, here are more normal ones:

How do they deal with getting sick? I mean, do they try to perform their usual duties despite feeling bad or do they write the will right away? Maybe both?

What are their reactions to getting rickrolled?

What b-day present would they like to receive most of all?

Ofc, you don't have to answer each question if you don't feel like it!! ♡

thanks for the input, kittie <3

A topic for the Trix hc: how often do they think about the Roman Empire?

Darcy is a bookwork and has probably read about it. Probably even the 6 volumes by Edward Gibbon. If she reads, she reads. And she remembers it all. I think Darcy is the kind of person, who learns from history and therefore studies it to avoid mistakes.

Icy has zero interest in earth history. The place has no magic and she is not fucking interested about a planet, as unimportant as earch (no I don't count s4 canon thank you, still love roxy). What she studied, and knows it by heart is the Fall of Domino for sure.

Stormy...you really expect Stormy to be interested in old, dusty history? lmao

How do they deal with getting sick? I mean, do they try to perform their usual duties despite feeling bad or do they write the will right away? Maybe both?

Icy is a workaholic. She works until she collapses (which happens actually). When she has overdone is again, it' mostly Darcy who cares for her, takes her to bed, sees, that she drinks enough and gets the medication. Stormy just laughs at her and pokes her into the cheek because now she can without getting frozen.

Darcy is way more reasonable. If she feels the slightest bit of headache or has circulation problems, she will stop working so hard, get breaks and if it gets worse try some natural medicine. As I mentioned somewhere, Darcy is a potion girl and she knows how mother nature can cure a little sickness. Ngl she would get along well with Flora. She's not the lazy one who stays in bed, but if she feels really bad or her mental health collapses again, she'll just stay in bed. The curtains closed, no light and good night (if Liliss lets her)

Stormy is the kind of girl, that takes the hardcore medication even if she only sneezes once. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, no matter what. She always carries a little bag with her in which she keeps the medication. She is sensitive to weather changes and easily gets a headache from it. So what she does, is rather taking too much medication than too less. (Darcy always tries to make her take some natural medicine but she declines. Icy just shakes her head and doesn't bother with it).

What are their reactions to getting rickrolled?

really had to google that lol

Icy would get angry. Nobody pranks her. She will finf out who did it by all costs, and then woe betide them!

Darcy actually likes the song.

Stormy is actually pretty good with computers and online games etc. so she will know before she klicks on it and simply doesn't do it. She is the one who sent it to Icy btw.

What b-day present would they like to receive most of all?

Icy: Funny though, but she actually likes well picked gifts. She appreciates if someone put thought into it. It doesn't matter if it's cheap or expensive. The thoght behind it counts. Unless you are very close to her, she won't show you how happy she is about it tho.

Darcy: books. gift the girl books and she's happy. At some point Riven even had to make himself a list, because he has zero idea of dark romance and they all look the same to him. So he made a list, so that he doesn't get her the same book twice. She also likes non-fiction and history books.

Stormy: Depends on her current obsession. Her fire for a topic burns bright, when she's into it but she easily loses interest in it after some time, so it's hard to gift her something fandom related. She really likes bath bombs, body lotions and body washs and collects them. She has a vast collection and always picks the one she's in the moos for. She also has a thing with travel size hand lotions and keeps some of them in her medication bag.

Sooooo that's it for now!! Thank you for inspiring me <3 also I stole a headcanon of @thewillowofveles because I share it too. It's linked to her post

[jenroses]

I am in so much pain.

It's probably temporary but by which I mean "I should have an hour or so of complete relief Tuesday when they do a medial branch block" and if that works for an hour, they will follow it up in an unspecified amount of time with a nerve ablation.

You see, my spine is falling apart. On approximately six levels I have foraminal stenosis, disks bulging or slipped, and substantial spinal arthritis. Also bone spurs. None of those locations include the place where my spine takes a random hitch in what my doctor calls "mild scoliosis" and which I call "what the hell it's not supposed to bend like that and also I'm 52 and no one ever told me shit about scoliosis and I know they looked."

Anyway the cervical segments manifest in migraines sometimes and if I don't use a travel pillow to keep my shoulders off my ears when I side sleep my arms start to have Issues. But those are okay right now.

The problem now is in my lumbar and sacrum, where Something Has Gone Wrong and there are multiple nerves getting pinched and thus I have shooting pains, pins and needles and electric shock sensations down my left leg most of the time and my right leg occasionally.

My baseline chronic pain used to be a 3-4.

It's now 7 on a good day.

I also have me/cfs, and i cannot adequately express to you how fundamentally draining it is to hurt all the time.

Because I'm having a procedure tomorrow, I'm off my supplements. No turmeric extract, which is a startlingly heavy lifter in the inflammation department.

No fish oil, which seems to increase my coping ability.

And I haven't been able to take naproxen, which is a rare breakthrough med for me, since Thursday.

Which leaves oxycodone. I hate oxycodone, because it constipates me and isn't very effective at the levels which don't give me a headache.

I've been sleeping in 3-4 hour medicated chunks. The lidocaine patches which usually help are not really doing it.

Sitting up HURTS like a mofo. Standing up sends shooting pains down my leg and lights up buzzing up and down my thigh.

Nevertheless I've spent the last three weeks in Christmas/birthday prep mode, mostly directing other people's cleaning efforts but building a 3d printer and computer for my kid, and having to micromanage party prep because no one else seems to actually see the messes.

The party is over. I am lying in bed on oxycodone that has brought my pain level down to about a 5. 10 is kidney stones and childbirth. Standing up a few hours ago put me at a 9.

I managed to cobble together 6 or 7 hours of net sleep last night in 3 chunks.

In a bit I will apply a massage lotion and use gua sha stones to work on my hip and thigh. It is a very temporary relief but I need all the relief I can find. If the massage did not fatigue me, I'd do it every damn day. But overstressing my hands makes them hurt.

It's hard to remember that I have not always been in pain and that I will not always be in pain.

Fuck insurance companies and their requirements for me to go though so much to get the actual issues addressed.

Fuck Medicaid for not covering any of this shit when I had it.

Fuck fatphobic doctors who just shrugged and said "you're too fat to operate on" when I asked for help 2 years ago. The doctors I'm working with now are the second opinion but if I'd gotten real help 2 years ago I'd be better off already.

Anyway fuck everything. I'm getting 100% of my dopamine from the lovely comments people are leaving on my fanfics. So I've been posting rapidly. There's a good chance this is my last fanfic.

We're supposed to go to Costa Rica in February. I hope I can.

[undignifiend]

(Another AU hypothetical involving my Gumm-Gumm OCs somehow farting around Topside and not indulging their usual level of villainy. Still working on their dynamic, but I thought this was fun enough to share. All three are nerds to varying degrees.)

+++++

"You know. The Moon Problem," Zahn said.

"I... don't know," Jim admitted. "What is that?"

"Tell me, what is moonlight?"

Jim was already getting tired of Zahn's tendency to answer questions with questions. "It's... It's moonlight. What other word would we use?"

Zahn huffed, and one of his eyes twitched. "Which means...?" he prompted.

"I'm starting to grasp why he doesn't know how to navigate at night," Ulvek muttered from his corner.

Jim tried not to take whatever offense that was supposed to mean. "Is this like, a riddle?"

"No, just basic fact," Zahn snapped. "What is moonlight?"

"Wait, don't you specifically need moonlight in your spells or whatever?" Jim asked. "Is it inherently magical?"

"Everything is inherently magical, that's the first thing you should know," Ulvek grunted sagely in the background. 

"Are fleshlings not reading Al-Kindi anymore?" Dezoka asked. "His Stellar Ray Theory was foundational in - "

Louder, and slightly over his fellows, Zahn griped "That's a completely different lesson, now focus and tell me what moonlight is made of!"

"...Light?"

"What kind of light?!" Zahn roared, grasping his horns. "Does it generate its own?! Hand and Eye! - Where does the vast majority of visible light come from in our solar system!"

"Sunlight! It's reflected sunlight!" Jim peeked over the edge of the table he'd leapt behind with an irritated "Sheesh!" At least whenever Blinky got dramatic while giving a lesson, he was having fun.

"And yet!" Zahn thrust his arm out the cave entrance, waving it around. He seemed to have forgotten his ire entirely, launching fully into an enthusiastic lecture. "I can do this all night, and none of my tissue samples would reveal any petrification, not even on the cellular level! Whatever's so deadly about sunlight doesn't reflect! Or refract, otherwise eclipses would be just as fatal as broad daylight. Both these reasons are why ambient light doesn't bother us, either.

"Sunlight's fatal property," he continued, "for us at least, only hits on the first pass, and only in a straight line. It doesn't bounce. Which is fundamentally different behavior from light itself. The theory goes that if we can figure out how to isolate that property, it would be shown to belong to a new type of sub-particle. This explains every experiment we've recorded on the topic, but we haven't been able to demonstrate, conclusively, just what this sneaky little glorkhole really is, or how to counter it aside from blocking it with solid matter or shadow magic. Due to its properties, it's exceptionally difficult to track down when it's not killing a troll. So until our medical team has a breakthrough, or until we can find a way to isolate it, we're left with inferring the thing's existence."

"Oh. Kinda like Dark Matter?" Jim asked.

Ulvek's hiss carried all the seriousness of clicking his tongue. "Nah, that's like this era's version of Aether. It's a cool theory, and the best your physicists got right now, but it stems from a multidimensional 'optical' illusion your folk haven't solved yet. See, when the space-time 'ripples' of gravitational radiation intersect, they distort the - "

"Actually, yeah, that makes Dark Matter a fair comparison here," Zahn gave Ulvek a stink-eye for his meddling. "These theories are, respectively, the best we got right now to explain what we think we've figured out. It may be a new sub-particle. I admit some personal bias in hoping so. That sounds like it would be easier to develop a more lasting counter against. But it might be a property inherent to sunlight that we've misunderstood."

"It absolutely is!" Dezoka piped up, pulling her helmet off. An ash-colored mane bristled once freed, half-plastered to the sides of her face from sweat, and sticking up oddly in a way that almost hid her horns. One of her upper fangs was missing, the empty space pairing with a vertical lip scar. "The Moon Problem is stupid! We can tolerate up to a certain threshold of ultraviolet radiation, just like we can tolerate up to a certain amount of heat, or water, or annoyances."

"Get back to me when you get that peer-reviewed, Captain," Zahn growled.

"Every troll ever can peer review that!" Dezoka insisted. "You ever been stung by sunlight reflecting off a knight's armor? I have! Why do you think they were so obsessed with keeping it shiny? The fatal property does bounce! Just not always in great enough quantities to overwhelm our regeneration rate!"

"I promise it does not bounce!" Zahn argued. "It's illusory pain! A trick of the brain! Psychological warfare's the name a' - "

"No rap battles in front of the fleshlings," Ulvek warned apologetically. "Weird hypothesis aside, your flow's too powerful."

Both Zahn and Dezoka answered with dejected little huffs.

"But!" Zahn perked up immediately. "Point is, reflected sunlight creeps into Power of Suggestion territory. Your instincts treat it like it's gonna hurt, in order to keep you wary and alive. But it's as harmless as waving a finger through a candle flame! You've always freaked out and withdrawn too soon to find out! Soon as sunup, I'll get the fleshling to stand outside with a mirror, and I'll prove it to you."

Dezoka gave Jim a long-suffering glance as her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Alright…" She pointed a claw firmly at Zahn in the next instant. "But it's gonna be a tiny mirror, you have to wear a cloak - and keep the hood up to protect your eyes! And when you need sun-salve, you're gonna ask very nicely."

"You know, changeling magic provides some unique context to the Problem," Ulvek muttered thoughtfully. "The Pale Lady is a genius. Mass-shunting and glamour can only get you so far, she actually figured out a way to 'trick' either sunlight or troll cells with borrowed human DNA. But from what I think I understand of the ritual, it's almost like just the impression of that DNA acts as an effective shield. Like she more-or-less conditionally assigned the idea of 'fleshling' to a troll, and it worked. I've only seen that kind of technique succeed as a temporary counter-curse. Which lends some serious credibility to her theory on - "

"So what if we try the reverse?" Zahn asked, tapping his chin. "Figure out how she did it, and try assigning 'non-stalkling troll' to something else, and see what sunlight does to it?"

Dezoka's lips pulled back in a false smile closer to a grimace. "Sure. Why not invent some new, cursed reverse-Impure with an identity-bond and a weakness to sunlight?" The false-smile vanished. "Seriously, for once, I want you to take a moment to actually think about the ethical - "

"I'll call it the Basilisk Cannon!" Zahn declared. "If I can harnass this technique in aimable form - "

"Yeah, I'm not gonna let you do that," Jim noted.

"Can't spare enough resources for something that stupid anyway," Dezoka attempted to reassure.

"That's exactly what you said about the Embiggenator!" Zahn pointed at Dezoka accusingly. "And I made you eat those words!"

"You gotta stop taking them as a challenge," Dezoka groaned.

[batbusiness-schooldropout]

Fun(ish) story time!

So I had to get an MRI recently and the me one I had (12 years ago. I was a minor btw) didn't go well. I freaked out and apparently tried to run away

(I don't remember anything after them telling me that my heart rate was too high and that I needed to calm down so I can neither confirm or deny these accusations)

Anyway apparently this means that my medical records show that I have claustrophobia. And every step of the way I go "I don't have claustrophobia, I actually enjoy small spaces, I don't know why I freaked out last time" and everyone I talk to says "take this Valium. Just in case."

Cool. Let me take a med that I've never had before and don't know how it will react with my other meds rather than trust that I've matured in 12 years and might possibly not react the same way.

But then my friend pointed out that since I don't know why I freaked out the first time, I don't know if I'll freak out again.

So I take the Valium. Which, for better or worse, didn't do much besides make it hard to focus.

MRI time. After one more round of anxiety inducing 50 questions, and one more round of "says here, you have claustrophobia" "I don't have claustrophobia, I don't know why I freaked out last time" we get into the MRI room, which has had a major cosmetic change since I was last in there

Instead of everything being an unsettling off-white and, for lack of a better word, clinical it has a black ceiling with a galaxy vinyl on the lights, the windows are much bigger, the machine has several blue accents. Much better vibe overall. Current theory is that the vibes 12 years were atrocious, and I, as a connoisseur of only the finest vibes, could not handle it.

So we're doing great for the first half, no problems, not so much as an itchy nose, almost took a nap, in fact. Then, they get me out of the tube to put the contrast dye in me.

Claustrophobic I am not. I am, however, scared shitless of needles.

But that's no trouble we all knew about that before we got here, if you kind gentleman would just help get this contraption off my face so I can stretch. Oh I can't stretch. I have to stay completely still. So the photos match up. So I have to stay still while you poke me with a needle that I can't see.

This. This is what the Valium was for.